What Non-New Films Have You Seen? (2019 Edition)

[Gulftastic]

And that the 'What are you??' guy that Bats dangles over a building edge is Moxy out off of Auf Wiedersehen Pet. He also appears on the Prince soundtrack album.

[St_Eddie]

Oddly enough, I literally rewatched Tim Burton's Batman last night (the first time that I'd seen it in at least a decade).  I had no idea about it being the 30th anniversary or anything.  What are the chances, hey?

It hasn't held up as well as I'd like but overall, I still enjoyed it a great deal.  My main issues with the films were...

* A tonal inconsistency; particularly in regards to Jack Nicholson's Joker.  In some scenes, he plays it incredibly dark and menacing and then in other scenes, he's giving a full on ultra camp Ceaser Romero style take on the character (it's a great performance overall, mind.  Even though it's an inconsistent performance, Nicholson's never less than thoroughly engaging throughout).

* The the pacing is off.  The story doesn't flow in an organic way.  You can really feel the editing at times.

* Tim Burton notoriously had a bit of a had time during the shoot, as he was at constant loggerheads with the studio executives.  They wanted a standard action flick, whereas Burton wanted to make, well... a Tim Burton film, with a focus on the strange; a kind of bizarre character study.  There's nothing particularly unusual about this clash between artist and studio, when it comes to tent-pole releases but in the case of Batman, you can see which elements were Burton getting to do his thing (some scenes and shots are very Tim Burton) and then at other times, you can tell that the studio got their way and one can almost feel the disinterest of the director coming through onscreen.

Still, all being said and done; it's an entertaining movie.  I especially adore the cinematography and the general design of the sets and world.  Tim Burton's Batman remains one of the few superhero flicks which I actually do enjoy (I'm not a fan of the genre in general).  A great score by Danny Elfman too, it has to be said.

10/10 - The best movie titled Batman released in the year 1989.

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FUN FACT: Mac MacDonald (perhaps best known as Captain Hollister in Red Dwarf) played one of the Joker's goons.  There's an interesting interview with him about his role in the film here.

Something I never knew until now - the actor playing the young Jack Napier in the flashback to the Wayne's murder? Hugo Blick, writer of Operation Good Guys, Marion & Geoff, The Shadow Line etc.

Oh, wow!  It is and all!  It's Smiler McCarthy!  I never knew that.  What an interesting piece of trivia.  Ta.

[zomgmouse]

The Last Movie. All over the place but hell what a spirit.

A Woman Under the Influence. Astounding. Packs punch after punch. Incredibly shot and performed and paced. Absolutely wowed me.

[zomgmouse]

Radioactive Dreams. Average 80s post-apocalypse, not really much in terms of ideas, plot, characterisation or anything else really.

Six-String Samurai. Not sure the core conceit sustained this for its entire runtime - especially with a snivelling kid on its tail - but it was enjoyable enough.

Wolf. Quite good though not remarkable - performances are solid, and a varied supporting cast. Interesting to see more emphasis on the early days of werewolf transition.

When the Wind Blows. The book was incredible and so this didn't quite stand up to it but it was very affecting and a decent attempt at transposing the narrative. "It'll all be over by Christmas." Heck of a great writer. Although is it just me or do the voices of the characters not really match up with what they seem like visually/the way I'd imagined them?

Floating Weeds. Good Ozu, a remake of his silent film of nearly the same name. Not terribly much improvement over the silent version to be honest - and the seams are a bit too visible.

[St_Eddie]

Wolf. Quite good though not remarkable - performances are solid, and a varied supporting cast. Interesting to see more emphasis on the early days of werewolf transition.

I watched this for the first time a few years ago.  I was expecting a bad film, due to all of the negative criticism which I'd read over the years, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised.  Jack Nicholson is perfect casting for a man displaying wolf like behaviour.  The urinal scene is the magnificent.  Incidentally, Wolf makes for a great double feature with The Witches of Eastwick.

[zomgmouse]

I watched this for the first time a few years ago.  I was expecting a bad film, due to all of the negative criticism which I'd read over the years, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised.  Jack Nicholson is perfect casting for a man displaying wolf like behaviour.  The urinal scene is the magnificent.  Incidentally, Wolf makes for a great double feature with The Witches of Eastwick.

Yeah it's absolutely not bad at all! Not Nichols' finest moment but still.
Interesting how Nicholson (just realised - Nichols and Nicholson) really tempers himself and his performance at the beginning and in "human" form.

[phantom_power]

The Baby - Pretty well made for such a batshit crazy film, but also quite boring for such a batshit crazy film. Worth watching for the final scene though
Happiness of the Katakuris - Another batshit crazy film but a lot more fun
Stop Making Sense - Best concert film ever. I love how the audience is incidental for the most part and at the end you get shots of them dancing their arses off

[St_Eddie]

Interesting how Nicholson (just realised - Nichols and Nicholson) really tempers himself and his performance at the beginning and in "human" form.

Would have been nice if he'd done the same thing for The Shining, to better illustrate his descent into madness.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Bathtubs Over Broadway (2018) - A fantastic documentary from The Late Show With David Letterman writer Steve Young about the incredibly odd genre of Industrial Musicals - ones which were created in the 50's, 60's and 70's by various companies for their staff alone, and which tended to be performed or shown just the once at corporate events. Young only stumbled upon their existence after discovering a promotional album of one of the shows and then became obsessed by them, tracking down more and more of the albums, the fans who love them, and the actors and writers who contributed to making them. It's a sweet touching affair but also very funny as some of the songs are just so bizarrely inane yet also strangely lovable, and I was extremely fond of this in general. 8.1/10

[Egyptian Feast]

Bathtubs Over Broadway (2018) - A fantastic documentary from The Late Show With David Letterman writer Steve Young about the incredibly odd genre of Industrial Musicals - ones which were created in the 50's, 60's and 70's by various companies for their staff alone, and which tended to be performed or shown just the once at corporate events. Young only stumbled upon their existence after discovering a promotional album of one of the shows and then became obsessed by them, tracking down more and more of the albums, the fans who love them, and the actors and writers who contributed to making them. It's a sweet touching affair but also very funny as some of the songs are just so bizarrely inane yet also strangely lovable, and I was extremely fond of this in general. 8.1/10

Sounds fantastic. Cheers for the heads-up!

[Shaky]

Radioactive Dreams. Average 80s post-apocalypse, not really much in terms of ideas, plot, characterisation or anything else really.

I spent ages a few weeks ago trying to find out the name of this as I dimly recalled the synopsis and thought it might be worth a watch. Watched the trailer and a few clips and didn't feel the need to proceed any further.

[phantom_power]

Sugarland Express - A brilliant film. Spielberg should go back to making these small scale films, though I doubt he is capable of that common touch any more. Every supporting character seems like they were just brought in off the street, in a good way

[St_Eddie]

Sugarland Express - A brilliant film. Spielberg should go back to making these small scale films, though I doubt he is capable of that common touch any more.

Aye, like Ridley Scott, Steven Spielberg is yet another director who's become too complacent and comfortable to hold much hope of ever making anything truly remarkable again.  Complacency is the dearth of creativity.

[phantom_power]

I don't think it is complacency so much as spending too long living a rarefied life so he couldn't make something with that level of verisimilitude again.

[St_Eddie]

I don't think it is complacency so much as spending too long living a rarefied life so he couldn't make something with that level of verisimilitude again.

Well, a little from column A and a little from column B ("living a rarefied life" is what I meant when I said "comfortable").  The other factor is being surrounded by sycophantic, toadying "yes" men during pre-production and on-set production, too in awe to question the genius of an auteur director, even when their ideas are shite.

[phantom_power]

I am not sure Spielberg falls into that category. He is no Lucas certainly. I was more thinking that he wouldn't (and possibly couldn't) do such a small scale film any more, with relatively unknown actors, low stakes and about normal people in slightly extraordinary circumstances. I would say he was still capable of something remarkable, just not that sort of remarkable

[Sin Agog]

I am not sure Spielberg falls into that category. He is no Lucas certainly. I was more thinking that he wouldn't (and possibly couldn't) do such a small scale film any more, with relatively unknown actors, low stakes and about normal people in slightly extraordinary circumstances. I would say he was still capable of something remarkable, just not that sort of remarkable

Doesn't tick all of those boxes, but The Post seemed like his attempt at doing that.  Shot on the fly in no time at all and put out within six months of conception.  The result, of course, was baby boomery neolib pablum, but it had a little of that All The Presidents Men spark in places.

[Famous Mortimer]

I've been watching all those complete movies I've had on my Youtube "watch later" playlist.

Krush The Serpent (2002)
I wish I could go back and punch past-me in the face for adding this (presumably because the writer / star was in a few good B-movies back in the 90s). Significantly worse than the home video you made with your friends when you were 13. It's about God, I guess.

Expect To Die (1997)
The same producer (Jalal Merhi) also made a movie about people doing martial arts in virtual reality the previous year, with a weirdly similar title - "Expect No Mercy". He evidently had something else to say about the whole topic, so we got this. David Bradley (not the British guy) and Evan Lurie, both good fighters and decent actors, mean it's not a complete waste of time.

[Phil_A]

I've been watching all those complete movies I've had on my Youtube "watch later" playlist.

Krush The Serpent (2002)
I wish I could go back and punch past-me in the face for adding this (presumably because the writer / star was in a few good B-movies back in the 90s). Significantly worse than the home video you made with your friends when you were 13. It's about God, I guess.

Expect To Die (1997)
The same producer (Jalal Merhi) also made a movie about people doing martial arts in virtual reality the previous year, with a weirdly similar title - "Expect No Mercy". He evidently had something else to say about the whole topic, so we got this. David Bradley (not the British guy) and Evan Lurie, both good fighters and decent actors, mean it's not a complete waste of time.

Expect No Mercy has one of the all-time great "Villain Speech" scenes. Seriously, it's magical.

https://youtu.be/66P0iR6SyFI?t=3986

[Famous Mortimer]

Oh aye, it's a belter (and it was nice to see the bloke who was in "Highlander: The Series" as one of the chief goons in it as well).

Next on my list, although I don't remember ever adding it to my "watch later", is 1993's "Guns and Lipstick", starring Sally Kirkland and James Hong. Fingers crossed it's a winner!

[Sebastian Cobb]

The Double Life of Veronique

[Sebastian Cobb]

The Rocketeer.

[St_Eddie]

Well, those are indeed two films which exist.  Would you care to give your thoughts upon them?

[Small Man Big Horse]

Bye Bye Birde (1963) - A charming and fun romcom musical based around an Elvis-esque singer being drafted, who thanks to Dick Van Dyke and Janet Leigh is set to make one last performance on the Ed Sullivan Show where he'll kiss a lucky fan. But complications ensue when said girl's boyfriend gets jealous while Van Dyke's mother messes up his relationship with Leigh, and then the Moscow Ballet pop up and almost screw up the whole thing completely. There's a bit of filler around the hour point which stops it from being an all time classic but it's bloody great in general, the songs are a blast and it has a gorgeously daft ending. 8.0/10

[Gulftastic]

The Rocketeer.

I saw that in the cinema back in the day, and never since. Were Jennifer Connolly's knockers as impressive as my memory tells me?

[St_Eddie]

I saw that in the cinema back in the day, and never since.

You should rewatch it.  It's an entertaining movie; a charming throwback to the adventures of the Hollywood of old.  It's a real feelgood movie.

[Gulftastic]

You should rewatch it.  It's a lovely and entertaining movie; a charming throwback to the adventures of old  Hollywood.

I do remember enjoying it. And not just for the afor mentioned Miss Connolly.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Your memory isn't lying tbh.

Tonight I saw a cheapo indie crime thriller starring David from 6 feet under. It was decent. Not exactly predictable, but not far off it. Entertaining enough.

[Famous Mortimer]

Guns And Lipstick

As mentioned above. Sally Kirkland in what feels like a cover version of the VI Warshawski movie from a few years previously, with lots of people I also like from cheesy B-movies of the 80s and 90s in it. Too many twists and turns, like you stopped caring about what was going on because you knew something would happen to render it all moot in a few minutes.

[zomgmouse]

The Day After. It's no Threads, but it's a decently dramatic imagining of a just-before and just-after nuclear attack scenario in the Midwestern USA. Jason Robards is very good in this.

Grandmother's Gold. This is technically from 2018 so not very "non-new" but I'm not sure it'd be robust enough for its own thread - however I found this extremely silly and funny. And it's available for free on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHRRL2t9LKk as is a lot of Alvarez's content. Is anyone familiar with him?

Dead Man's Letters. Another extremely haunting and depressing and cramped post-apocalypse sci-fi from the director of Visitor to a Museum.