What Non-New Films Have You Seen? (2020 Edition)

[phantom_power]

I wasn't troubled by it, more amused at what was deemed acceptable at that time, presuming it was deemed acceptable. I mean, they aren't nice characters but it's more about how they women react than how they are treated

[sevendaughters]

SEX LIES AND VIDEOTAPE - had some really misplaced expectations for this, when it's basically a love story that comes out through exploration and realisation of kink and that sex isn't just a physical function. I quite liked it, liked how dramatically minimal it was, just 4 people more-or-less all rebounding and changing with each interaction.

[Shit Good Nose]

I wasn't troubled by it, more amused at what was deemed acceptable at that time, presuming it was deemed acceptable. I mean, they aren't nice characters but it's more about how they women react than how they are treated

Apologies - on second read my post came across as a bit arsey.  Not what was meant or intended.  Sorry love.  (slaps you across the face and then cups your bum)

[phantom_power]

It's just a weird bit in general. He looks at her bum when she bends over, goes over to her and slaps her in the face. She sees this as an explicit come-on and they go into another room for some sexy time. It implies either a past relationship that isn't mentioned, or that she has sex with him because of the threat of violence and she knows that he is a bad man that will do bad things to her. Either way it is very subtle and 70s

[grassbath]

Repulsion (1965). Mad that I'd never thought to check this out before. Chills on a whole other level. The last shot will stay with me for a long time.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Another Day Of Life (2018) - Fascinating animated documentary about the Polish reporter Ryszard Kapuscinski and the journey he took across Angola during the country's fight for independence. It's a deeply personal story, and one that's enormously affecting as it shows the difference one man can sometimes make, and the importance of remembering those who gave their lives in the hope of making their country a better place. 8.1/10

The Haunting - An atmospheric, beautifully shot film with an only occasionally melodramatic script, it contains some superb performances and the way it builds up tension is masterful. 7.6/10

[JesusAndYourBush]

Tried to watch Oceans Twelve on TV earlier this evening.  The plot was silly and boring and for a socalled action movie there wasn't enough action.  After an hour I realised I wasn't enjoying it, merely enduring it, and I bailed.  I watch some crap, but that was crap.
(I've seen 11 & 13 and thought they were ok.)

[Blumf]

Tried to watch Oceans Twelve on TV earlier this evening.

Saw it too... well, tried for a bit but the music was cranked up so loud vs the dialogue, I just dropped the volume and ignored it. There was a woman, think it was Catherine Zeta-Jones, who had a permanent look of surprise/confusion in all her scenes. No idea what that was all about.

[Shit Good Nose]

Saw it too... well, tried for a bit but the music was cranked up so loud vs the dialogue, I just dropped the volume and ignored it. There was a woman, think it was Catherine Zeta-Jones, who had a permanent look of surprise/confusion in all her scenes. No idea what that was all about.

I think that's what SMBH enjoyed about The Haunting ;)

[Small Man Big Horse]

I think that's what SMBH enjoyed about The Haunting ;)

Ha! But before this rumour spirals out of control I need to stress I was talking about the 1963 version and should have mentioned that, I've no idea if the 1999 remake is any good but the fact that it was nominated for five razzies suggests it plausibly might not be.

[Shit Good Nose]

Ha! But before this rumour spirals out of control I need to stress I was talking about the 1963 version and should have mentioned that, I've no idea if the 1999 remake is any good but the fact that it was nominated for five razzies suggests it plausibly might not be.

It is abysmal.  Only really worth it for the production design (which is genuinely pretty spiffing).

But yeah, the original is a little masterpiece.  It still shits me up to this day, and I'm not one that gets scared by films.  So it's even more amazing given that practically nothing happens in the whole thing.

[RicoMNKN]

Ghost World
Not seen it since it was in the cinema about 20 years ago.  I remember liking it at the time, but I was pleasantly surprised by how well it plays when you view it at a different age - Steve Buscemi's character means you watch it as a film about middle aged loneliness, when before I saw it more as a teen movie.  Found it really rather heartwarming.

[phantom_power]

Day of the Locust (1975) - Another great, morally grey 70s film. Quite odd in that the top billed star doesn't appear for about an hour (and his character is called Homer Simpson). Nightmarish ending as well, and in general a real evisceration of 1930s Hollywood and the studio system.

POP FACT: The annoying blonde kid is played by Jackie Earl Haley, Rorschach in Watchmen and Freddie in the shit Nightmare on Elm Street remake. Also, the director is played by William Castle, director of The Tingler and other horror films

Schlesinger really was the bollocks in the 60s and 70s. He should be seen as an equal to Scorcese, Coppola and the like but seems to have been relegated from that top tier for some reason

[Blumf]

Oooh, saw this a few weeks back and didn't pick up on Jackie Earl Haley.

I'll ask again, did the people behind the Pink Floyd film The Wall acknowledge any inspiration from Day of the Locust?

Also, more generally, what's the meaning behind that Jeepers Creepers song? I can see it being either about spousal abuse (black eyes) or cuckold child (not the father's eyes).

[phantom_power]

Isn't it just Karen Black's wonky eyes?

Actually I just saw it as being a reflection of the voyeurism that all the characters displayed in one form or another. Or it could just be an annoying song that Black uses to wind up her dad and that kid uses to be even more annoying than normal

[Blumf]

Yeah, but the song predates the film, just wondering what it's meaning was.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

The Raid 2

The first Raid film is, of course, an all time action masterpiece. This takes what was great about that and... sort of chucks it aside. Where the original was pared down to the bone, this is a somewhat bloated would be epic that crams 90 minutes of plot into a 2 and a half hour running time, as our hero Rama takes on a rather clichéd mission to infiltrate a crime syndicate on the cusp of war.

To be fair, the action scenes are still inventive and well staged (the film is well shot in general), but they're spread more thinly than before and tend to drag on a bit. Towards the end, Rama takes so much punishment that it has the (presumably unintended) effect of making him seem as invincible as any superhero. Much like its action peer, the John Wick series, this shows that bigger isn't always better.

[Famous Mortimer]

I'm not troubled by its 70s view and treatment of women given it was made in the 70s and not 2010s,

As phantom_power didn't say he was troubled either, looks like you agree.

[Shit Good Nose]

The English Patient - for years I was convinced I'd seen this, only to realise when I started watching it last night that I was getting it confused with The Constant Gardener.  Okay and looks amazing, but not really my cup of tea - too much melodramatic swooning for me.  Almost like a Merchant Ivory film.

Hellzapoppin - fucking hell.  I mean FUCKING HELL!!!!!  I've purposely avoided it for years on the basis that it's a 40s musical (I really REALLY don't like musicals - there are less than 10 that I can sit through and probably only 5 or 6 that I actually like), but decided to bite the bullet last night.  Christ, it makes peak Marx Brothers films seem absolutely pedestrian.  It is relentless and WAY ahead of its time - that opening 10 or so minutes when it's setting up the premise with its Airplane levels of gaggery.  However, someone does need to do a fan edit and strip out all the scenes and songs where Jane Frazee and Robert Paige are professing their love for each other.  They're from an entirely different film.

The Last Temptation of Christ - about the seventh or eighth time I've watched it now and I still can't take it seriously with all its Bronx accents and Irvin Kershner and Andre Gregory on the cusp of playing comedy jews.  All that being the case, its controversy (admittedly diminishing over time) and that fact that so many others DO take it so seriously has always bewildered me.  But the final scene and Peter Gabriel's score are both excellent.

Shaft - the more recent one.  Having seen the John Singleton reboot at the cinema and absolutely hated it, my expectations were VERY low for this, but actually it was alright.  Turning it into an-almost spoof was a good move I think, although Samuel L Tracksuit really should stop trying to hide his age and gut now (not that I can talk).

Okja - wasn't ever overly bothered about seeing this as my lack of enthusiasm for the Korean new wave (which is actually getting on for 25 years odd now!) is well known, but Mrs Nose wanted to see it and I was intrigued about its East-meets-West vibe.  It was...interesting.  Certainly food for thought (no pun intended).  Can't decide whether Jake Gyllenhaal was brilliant or terrible.  Doubt I'll ever watch it again, though.

The Virgin Spring - only my second ever viewing, but felt like my first as it was Criterion's restoration, compared to the fuzzy one I taped on VHS off BBC2 god knows how many years ago.  I'm no Bergman fan, but Spring is bloody brilliant and has lost none of its foreboding and savagery.  Every time someone talks about Wes Craven's (frankly rubbish) Last House On the Left, I always tell them to watch The Virgin Spring instead.  If nothing else, at least it doesn't have a sub-Smokey and the Bandit comedy cop duo.

[phantom_power]

Edge of Tomorrow - best Cruise film in years, unfairly maligned by critics on release and ignored by the public. It has a clear and economical script that, like Groundhog Day, hints at the unfathomable amount repeated days without being too obvious or ignoring it completely. It is also clever enough to realise that people would like to see Cruise die over and over again and revels in it

Yellowbeard - how can so many talented people make such a terrible, lazy, nothing of a film. And so many rape jokes

Moana - really enjoyable, continuing the hot streak Disney were on at the time. Not as good as Tangled but better than Frozen

Retreat - pretty decent three-hander with Cillian Murphy, Thandie Newton and Jamie Bell about a couple who go to a remote Scottish island and then stuff happens that is best not to spoil

The Brood - pretty shonky early Cronenberg.

Crazy Rich Asians - bog standard romcom. I was a bit disappointed as I was expecting something a bit more interesting given the hype but I think a lot of that was down to the positive representation of Asians, which is admirable and necessary in its own right but doesn't make the film any better. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I knew how trad it would be going in, as it does hit those beats very well

[greenman]

Going back to Wenders remasters picke dup the German sutdio channel release of Paris Texas...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07YMFVRWL/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

A very big improvement on the previous BR quality wise, in terms of colours as well it keeps the bright 80's look besides maybe taking the extreme neon blue out of the daytime skys which I wasn't as much a fan of anyway.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I've got the Axiom release of that. I thought it looked great tbh.

[phantom_power]

Carrie - I had no real interest in watching this. I saw it as a teenager and thought it was boring but Edgar Wright was singing its praises on some TV programme so I thought I would give it another shit. I an so glad I did because it is a brilliant film, gloriously garish and almost Argento-esque. It isn't so much a horror as a psychodrama and the whole film is one bit intro to the main event at the prom. I don't think I understood the different dynamics between the people that made the ending so effective

[Small Man Big Horse]

Hellzapoppin - fucking hell.  I mean FUCKING HELL!!!!!  I've purposely avoided it for years on the basis that it's a 40s musical (I really REALLY don't like musicals - there are less than 10 that I can sit through and probably only 5 or 6 that I actually like), but decided to bite the bullet last night.  Christ, it makes peak Marx Brothers films seem absolutely pedestrian.  It is relentless and WAY ahead of its time - that opening 10 or so minutes when it's setting up the premise with its Airplane levels of gaggery.  However, someone does need to do a fan edit and strip out all the scenes and songs where Jane Frazee and Robert Paige are professing their love for each other.  They're from an entirely different film.

It's one of my all time favourite films so I'm glad you liked it, I watched their follow up, Crazy House, recently and it suffers even more from it feeling like there are elements from a completely different film inserted in to it, and while there's about thirty minutes of very funny comedy there's also another fifty minutes of rather bland inanity sadly, and even the musical numbers didn't do it for me which surprised as I'm normally a sucker for such things.

[Shit Good Nose]

It's one of my all time favourite films so I'm glad you liked it, I watched their follow up, Crazy House, recently and it suffers even more from it feeling like there are elements from a completely different film inserted in to it, and while there's about thirty minutes of very funny comedy there's also another fifty minutes of rather bland inanity sadly, and even the musical numbers didn't do it for me which surprised as I'm normally a sucker for such things.

I might give Crazy House a go - I can always skip through the dead air - as this from the Wiki synopsis made me giggle just imagining it:
"The mere mention of Olsen and Johnson's names evacuates the studio and terrorizes the management and personnel."

[grassbath]

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie - the shorter cut, '78 I think? The most 70s film ever, seedy bejewelled tit-shaking and existential urban grimness. It's a disorienting film (can't imagine what the longer one is like) but the payoff is great, even if it's hard to pin down why. When he's enlightened but delirious and is getting the lighting guy to put the spot on the waitresses. Need to watch more Cassavetes really, there's a handful of the biggies on the BFI Player.

'People dont know what they are doing, myself included. They dont know what to want or feel. It's only in the movies that they know what their problems are and have game plans for dealing with them.'

[Small Man Big Horse]

I might give Crazy House a go - I can always skip through the dead air - as this from the Wiki synopsis made me giggle just imagining it:
"The mere mention of Olsen and Johnson's names evacuates the studio and terrorizes the management and personnel."

I think if you skip past the songs you'll probably like it a fair deal, and the gag mentioned above is carried out in a fantastic fashion.

[Famous Mortimer]

Roadside Prophets

My local did an "Ad-Rock The Actor" night yesterday, so we got this and "Lost Angels" (which was shite, I thought). John Doe was a surprisingly good leading man, and he and Mr Horovitz are both loved by the camera. A guy in some manual labour job meets a new guy, who dies in a bar, but after mentioning a place called Eldorado. So Doe decides to take his ashes and bury them in Eldorado, and picks up Ad-Rock along the way. It's a road movie, with them and the various people they meet. Pretty slight, as a story, but it's really well shot and it has a great atmosphere and soundtrack and is the perfect movie to watch while your friend Sakinah leans on you and your friend Steven and complains about the guy who just stood her up, then buys you tequila.

[Inspector Norse]

The Revenant - magnificent cinematography, good no-holds-barred acting, dull script, empty characters, overall sense of a film made for awards rather than to say anything. Reminded me a lot of Roma in that sense of being aesthetically stunning but textually and thematically vacant. The bear was the best-developed character.
The bit where the bird flew out of Leo's dead wife's throat had me in stitches.

Up the Yangtze - interesting documentary about modernisation and industrialisation along the titular river, following two Chinese teens starting jobs on a river cruise boat. More spectacular scenery and an intriguing, unjudgmental look at how these massive projects and drives affect ordinary people, although bits feel oddly staged (the girl in the film doesn't get the boat job until after filming starts, for example). I found the sections where they got off the boat and looked at stuff more involving than the soapy life-on-board bits.

A White, White Day - Actually a new film but do I need to make a thread? Icelandic drama about a widowed policeman refusing to come to terms with his wife's death. It's got very good reviews but I found it so-so: there were certainly some strong scenes and it was overall an interesting tale of a man trying to understand his grief and alienating those around him, and the central performance was powerful, but also rather one-note in portraying the protagonist as a grumpy introvert, and (unlike most reviewers, it seems) I thought the direction drab and characterless, an uninspired mix of ideas from different sources without making any cohesive impression.

[peanutbutter]

Edge of Tomorrow - best Cruise film in years, unfairly maligned by critics on release and ignored by the public. It has a clear and economical script that, like Groundhog Day, hints at the unfathomable amount repeated days without being too obvious or ignoring it completely. It is also clever enough to realise that people would like to see Cruise die over and over again and revels in it

Is this some kind of historical rewrite that film was given to market itself? Has 90% on rotten tomatoes (and it was definitely in that range or higher on release too) and I remember a fuckton of writeups expressing bafflement over its commercial failure.