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

[Small Man Big Horse]

Stuck (2018) - Screw up nurse Heather Matarazzo is arrested after stealing medication to give to an ill patient but fortunately for her she gets sarky Judge Joel Hale who puts her under house arrest rather than carting her off to jail. She hasn't got anywhere to go though so ends up staying with her ex, who she falls for once again, the only problem being is that he's now engaged. There's lots of stoner humour but it's slightly smarter than I thought it was going to be and for once isn't that predictable, it's nothing amazing but it's amusing enough. 6.5/10

[Sebastian Cobb]

Tonight I watched that Ghostbox Cowboy, which I think I kind of enjoyed, and Only God Forgives, which I thought was an over-stylised revenge film, it's been done much better before.

[Shit Good Nose]

Only God Forgives, which I thought was an over-stylised revenge film, it's been done much better before.

Couldn't help but think of Vic and Bob when the guy runs out with a frying pan.  Made me laugh at the rest of it.

[wooders1978]

Watched kings of summer again last night - really should be a bigger film than it is - very funny coming of age number with a fantastic cast

[zomgmouse]

Kaboom. Really fun and weird and frenetic. Liked it a lot.

Last Night. Surprisingly affecting film set in Toronto in the final six hours before the world ends. Follows a bunch of characters (including an appearance by David Cronenberg) and their intersecting lives. The final segment when the world is about to end is pretty phenomenal.

Glen and Randa. Pretty basic 70s counterculture sort of thing. Post-apocalyptic. Has sparks of something but it's buried in a deep nothingness.

My Breakfast with Blassie. Andy Kaufman and former professional wrestler Fred Blassie have breakfast in a semi-improvised parody of My Dinner with Andre. It's incredible.

I'm from Hollywood. Short posthumous documentary on Andy Kaufman's professional wrestling "career" made (partly) by his wife (whom he met on the set of the above film). Features talking heads among which is Robin Williams. Also incredible.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Last night I watched the Argentinian film Wild Tales, a collection of 6 short stories about people who when faced with the stress of bad circumstances go absolutely tonto. A decent black comedy really.

[St_Eddie]

Last night I watched the Argentinian film Wild Tales, a collection of 6 short stories about people who when faced with the stress of bad circumstances go absolutely tonto. A decent black comedy really.

An absolutely phenomenal film; one of my favourite anthologies.

[Blinder Data]

I think Wild Tales' European release was not helped by coming out around the same time as the Germanwings Flight 9525 incident.

[St_Eddie]

I think Wild Tales' European release was not helped by coming out around the same time as the Germanwings Flight 9525 incident.

Oh, interesting.  Yeah, I could see that making the opening scene rather unfortunate.

[Sebastian Cobb]

His Girl Friday, decent, snappy dialogue and farce.

[zomgmouse]

Idaho Transfer. Peter Fonda directed this time travel apocalypse drama which has a nice lo-fi feel to it and some cool moments.

Where Have All the People Gone?. Decent TV film where solar flares turn some people into dust and leave some people alive and the people who are left alive try to survive. Pretty solid.

The Ascent. The Larisa Shepitko season has started at the cinémathèque, beginning with this incredible piece of cinema about two soldiers in wartime in Russia. Superbly harrowing and bleak but it's surprisingly a lot more active and full of panic than I was expecting.

You and Me. Another Shepitko - exploring relationships, regret and the feeling of being stuck.

Sexmission. Polish sci-fi comedy from 1984 that - on the surface - is about two men who have been cryogenically frozen and wake up in a future where men have been eradicated and only women exist - but is really a satire on communism. Actually pretty good.

The Seed of Man. A plague wipes out most of humanity and two survivors make a new life of it in an abandoned house. Italian ennui and deconstruction. It's alright - Ferreri seems to have a penchant for languid introspection but it doesn't quite pay off here.

[phantom_power]

The Mutilator - odd 80s slasher. It starts out like a teen comedy, and even has a perky "Fall Break" theme tune (its original title) and then the last half an hour is full of drawn out gaps between gory set pieces. And then it ends with out-takes like it forgot it was a teen comedy for a bit. Some decent performances for this sort of thing but pretty dull overall and there is seemingly no reason for the killer to go on a spree

2000 Maniacs - fun 60s gorefest. Again very drawn out. A feature of these low budget shockers seems to be that they use every bit of usable footage they have, which isn't surprising I suppose. The twist ending comes out of nowhere, makes no sense or real difference to the film as a whole

They Came Together - Under-rated, under-seen spoof of romantic comedies with Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler. It is really the Airplane of romcoms in the way it throws every kind of joke into the mix and doesn't really care about reality or consequences, all built round a solid cliche plot

[Blinder Data]

We Need to Talk about Kevin. Wurrrrgh, what an experience. Not sure I'd ever rewatch it but a supreme technical achievement based on a sparse script. The dream-like sound editing was top notch. Excellent performances from Swinton and the psycho. Gets under your skin and then some.

Cons: heavy-handed with the old symbolism and perhaps a tad overlong.

It was bloody unBEARable at times - the lychee! Aaaaaaah

[Small Man Big Horse]

Sexmission. Polish sci-fi comedy from 1984 that - on the surface - is about two men who have been cryogenically frozen and wake up in a future where men have been eradicated and only women exist - but is really a satire on communism. Actually pretty good.

A friend of mine saw that when we were at school and raved on about it for decades, desperate to see it again but never able to track it down until I downloaded it a couple of years ago. I liked it too, and in 2015 commented "A Polish 80's sci-fi satire where two men are frozen for what is supposed to be only three years, but wake up about fifty years later to a world where all men are dead, and the women are living underground. It's a bizarre oddity, quite funny in places, but the satire is a bit heavy handed and it's hard to like the two male leads that much, despite getting the feeling that we're supposed to. Still, I'd definitely recommend it as it is pretty unusual, and has a great ending too."

They Came Together - Under-rated, under-seen spoof of romantic comedies with Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler. It is really the Airplane of romcoms in the way it throws every kind of joke into the mix and doesn't really care about reality or consequences, all built round a solid cliche plot

I love that film and was fortunate to see it when the London Sundance Festival screened it with David Wain present for a Q&A afterwards, given how good it is I'm amazed it hasn't picked up a cult following over the years.

[Sin Agog]

Caught Stunt Rock last night.  Brian Trenchard-Smith is certainly one of my favourite purveyors of b-movie goodness, but I'd start with the completely inexplicable Turkey Shoot and Dead-End Drive-In (about a movie theater concentration camp) if you haven't seen anything by him.  If Stunt Rock had a script, it must have fit on a fingernail.  It's this weird stew of a biodoc/showreel on the genuinely impressive stunt work of Aussie stuntman Grant Page, and a concert film on the homely magician hard rockers, Sorcery.  The connective thread is Page is cousins with the dude who plays the devil in their stage show.  That band is hilariously naff, and I wouldn't be surprised if some members of Tap saw this movie and came up with the Stonehenge sequence.  Hanging out with Page, the wannabe stunt woman lead actress in the movie he's working on, and the journalist love interest who doesn't get why Page puts himself in such danger, is a chilled lark, though.  I love the unashamed half-arsity of Oz films from this era.  Nowhere near Trenchard-Smith's best work, but I do sort of admire whatever producer said, 'The marks love stunts and they love rockstars... Mix them together and we'll be laughing all the way to the bank.  Oh, and let's save time and money by skipping the whole writing a script thing.  We can be shooting by next Tuesday!'

[Shit Good Nose]

Sexmission. Polish sci-fi comedy from 1984 that - on the surface - is about two men who have been cryogenically frozen and wake up in a future where men have been eradicated and only women exist - but is really a satire on communism. Actually pretty good.

A friend of mine saw that when we were at school and raved on about it for decades, desperate to see it again but never able to track it down until I downloaded it a couple of years ago. I liked it too, and in 2015 commented "A Polish 80's sci-fi satire where two men are frozen for what is supposed to be only three years, but wake up about fifty years later to a world where all men are dead, and the women are living underground. It's a bizarre oddity, quite funny in places, but the satire is a bit heavy handed and it's hard to like the two male leads that much, despite getting the feeling that we're supposed to. Still, I'd definitely recommend it as it is pretty unusual, and has a great ending too."

I love Sexmission.  I think it was the first Eastern European comedy, perhaps even the first Eastern European film I ever saw, on a ropey betamax way back in the very early 90s.  I've got it on DVD somewhere (bought at one of the Memorabilia shows at the NEC in the late 90s, from one of those stalls that had DVDs from all over the world - including all the banned stuff like Cannibal Holocaust and hardcore porn - where they charged £25 a pop), but not seen it for a good while.  Verging on family friendly despite the title, if memory serves?


Put myself through Scarface (the DePalma one) again last night.  I know I don't like it, and I know I never will, I just saw that it was on ITV4 the other night (pleasantly surprised it was fully uncut and in the correct aspect ratio) and as I hadn't seen it for at least fifteen years...

Yeah, still shit.  An absolutely fist chewingly bad soundtrack (that's SO disco even Nile Rodgers said "bit TOO much" [he didn't]), fuck knows what Pacino's doing ("chey main, chey - me name Tony Montana, main.  Eh - FOKK jyoo main!!"), Michelle Pfeiffer seems like she's still learning to act, makes Eastenders look positively low key... and then there's Oliver Stone's coke fueled script.  I can only dream of what the film would have been like had Sidney Lumet remained in the director's chair and Stone wasn't bought on to rewrite...

Bewildering that it's thought of so highly.

I dunno, I just generally don't really get on with DePalma and think he's the most over-rated director of that group (it would be John Milius, were it not for Big Wednesday and Dillinger).  There's very few films of his I think are genuinely decent.  But his tone is all over the place, for the most part he doesn't seem capable of coaxing decent performances out of his actors, and then there's that almost Tarantino-esque derivativeism.

[zomgmouse]

I think Phantom of the Paradise is great, Carrie is spectacular and I absolutely love Blow Out. Scarface is predominantly tosh.

[Shit Good Nose]

I think Phantom of the Paradise is great, Carrie is spectacular and I absolutely love Blow Out. Scarface is predominantly tosh.

My problem with Blow Out is that it's doubly derivative.  Travolta's absolutely brilliant in it, though.  Gotta give both DePalma and scientology boy due props for that.

[St_Eddie]

We Need to Talk about Kevin. Wurrrrgh, what an experience. Not sure I'd ever rewatch it but a supreme technical achievement based on a sparse script. The dream-like sound editing was top notch. Excellent performances from Swinton and the psycho. Gets under your skin and then some.

Cons: heavy-handed with the old symbolism and perhaps a tad overlong.

It was bloody unBEARable at times - the lychee! Aaaaaaah

We Need to Talk About Kevin is an outstanding film.  Definitely a difficult watch but masterfully executed.

[Epic Bisto]

Same here.  Watched this while the missus was pregnant and it was a marvellous yet thoroughly draining film.  I have no desire to see it again either, but I'm glad I did see it.

Currently watching Black Joy.  Grim mid 70s location footage of that London, Norman Beaton, Floella Benjamin cursing up a storm, Vivian Stanshall and a killer soundtrack.  Fantastic stuff.

Got the missus a new blu-ray of the Divine/Tab Hunter vehicle Lust In The Dust for her birthday so we'll probably watch it later once the nipper is asleep.

[Shit Good Nose]

Got the missus a new blu-ray of the Divine/Tab Hunter vehicle Lust In The Dust for her birthday so we'll probably watch it later once the nipper is asleep.

"I've had carnal knowledge of over two hundred women.  And two goats."

"And a chicken?"

(Makes the so-so hand gesture)


Promises to be a LOT funnier than it is, but it's light fun.

[Small Man Big Horse]

The Dead Inside (2011) - Very odd musical about a writer who's creating a zombie short story (which we get to see excerpts from), the first thirty minutes seem to be a comedy until she has a breakdown, stabs her boyfriend and is institutionalised. Upon coming home she seems okay, and then the next minute she's suddenly floating above her boyfriend in the middle of the night and he thinks she's possessed. The possession thing could have worked as a metaphor for mental illness (and does seem to be at times) bar that she really does have a ghost inside of her, and then it really fucks up when it comes to the end, disappointing me a good deal. 5.4/10

Colma The Musical (2006) - Very low budget musical about three friends who have graduated high school and don't know what to do with their lives. It's shot with a digital camera and doesn't look great but the songs are really fun, the performances strong, and the script impressed in general and even though some of the characters are twattish at times the film's very aware of this. I wasn't completely won over by the ending but as a whole this is pretty impressive given the miniscule budget.  7.7/10

[DukeDeMondo]

Moses Und Aron. 1973 (or 75, depending on who you talk to). Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet's absolutely fucking mesmerising take on Arnold Schoenberg's opera of the same name. Apparently Schoenberg shaved an A off of Aaron because he didn't want 13 letters in the title.

I don't know very much about opera and haven't heard or seen very much, next to nothing, but what little I have heard or seen didn't often sound or look very much like this. I'm not a musicologist so I can't articulate very well what goes on in the ears throughout, but it's unsettling and atonal and abrasive and utterly beautiful.

The first shot is of the back of Moses's head as he's listening to the cacophonous gabbling of an offscreen God, and it's held for an absolute age. Back of his head just. Sold. I'm in. Bold as fuck. Knew something special was coming.

It does that sort of thing a lot, it turns out. It's a film preoccupied with stuff that exceeds representation, and our view is often as compromised and obstructed as Moses's is when he's trying his damndest to see the whole of the infinite in a burning bush, there.

But there is spectacle of a sort. A bizarre sort of dancing will erupt out of nowhere. Naked men will race across the frame at a moment's notice. The head of a decapitated baist will watch unmoved.

It's got more than a wee bit of Pasolini's Gospel According To Matthew about it. More than a wee bit, I'd say.

Dedicated to Holger Meins of the Red Army Faction.

Schoenberg never actually finished the opera, so when we reach the third act here the music collapses and it's a captive Aaron lain in the filth and the muck and Moses barking at him only in "talk."

It's amazing. Immediately shot into my Top 5 Bible Films. Easily up there.     

[steveh]

If Stunt Rock had a script, it must have fit on a fingernail.

It's a terrible film which does seem like they were making it up as they went along but the trailer is great and all you really need to watch. There's a Grant Page documentary on (I think) the Dead End Drive In Blu-ray which covers some of the stunts from it and is much better, though it at times does remind you of the John Thompson deaf stunt man from The Fast Show.

As a genre Ozsploitation has perhaps just a handful of classics before you get to some real crud.

[St_Eddie]

If Stunt Rock had a script, it must have fit on a fingernail.

Pete Seeger and Lee Hays consider a rewrite.

[Artie Fufkin]

They Came Together - Under-rated, under-seen spoof of romantic comedies with Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler. It is really the Airplane of romcoms in the way it throws every kind of joke into the mix and doesn't really care about reality or consequences, all built round a solid cliche plot

Watched this with Mrs Fufkin last night. There was a, probably, poor taste breast cancer joke at the start, so she decided she was gonna hate it, even though she gets wet for Paul Rudd. I thought it was pretty good, actually. Airplane lite, yeah? There was a great, really subtle, breaking the fourth wall bit at the start, which I loved. Overall, silly, but fun.

[zomgmouse]

My problem with Blow Out is that it's doubly derivative.  Travolta's absolutely brilliant in it, though.  Gotta give both DePalma and scientology boy due props for that.

Derivative of what? Blow-Up? I thought it was cracking.

[zomgmouse]

Currently watching Black Joy.  Grim mid 70s location footage of that London, Norman Beaton, Floella Benjamin cursing up a storm, Vivian Stanshall and a killer soundtrack.  Fantastic stuff.

This looks cool - do you have an online copy by any chance?

[Shit Good Nose]

Derivative of what? Blow-Up? I thought it was cracking.

Blow-Up and The Conversation.

[holyzombiejesus]

They Came Together - Under-rated, under-seen spoof of romantic comedies with Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler. It is really the Airplane of romcoms in the way it throws every kind of joke into the mix and doesn't really care about reality or consequences, all built round a solid cliche plot

We watched this last night on your recommendation; it was good fun, especially as one of the characters (Trevor, the scheming workmate) looked like a blonde Pancreas.