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

[sevendaughters]

I read the first two or three of the Martin Beck novels, but when I moved overseas, that was one of the collections I thought I could do without. Pisser.

strangely this is not an adaptation of Man on the Balcony but The Abominable Man. Never read any but picked up the first from the library tonight.

[Famous Mortimer]

strangely this is not an adaptation of Man on the Balcony but The Abominable Man. Never read any but picked up the first from the library tonight.

They aren't exactly zany page-turners, but there's a heck of a lot to enjoy about them.

[phantom_power]

Paris, Texas (1984) - Fucking brilliant, as I imagine most of you already know. Amazing to think that this was written by the same person as Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. They both have that "middle of nowhere" vibe I suppose. It wasn't quite what I expected. Less "Harry Dean Stanton wandering around in the desert" for a start but a beautiful, evocative film with great performances, cinematography and, obviously, music. Natassja Kinski was so fucking pretty as well (right, Klaus?)

[Egyptian Feast]

Paris, Texas (1984) - Fucking brilliant, as I imagine most of you already know. Amazing to think that this was written by the same person as Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.

Hat truly fucked.

[peanutbutter]

Paris, Texas (1984) - Fucking brilliant, as I imagine most of you already know. Amazing to think that this was written by the same person as Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. They both have that "middle of nowhere" vibe I suppose. It wasn't quite what I expected. Less "Harry Dean Stanton wandering around in the desert" for a start but a beautiful, evocative film with great performances, cinematography and, obviously, music. Natassja Kinski was so fucking pretty as well (right, Klaus?)

yeah but... when the other writer is Sam Shepherd it becomes a bit less amazing.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Ghost in the Shell and Ex Machina are on back-to-back on film4 tonight if anyone's at a loose end.

[phantom_power]

yeah but... when the other writer is Sam Shepherd it becomes a bit less amazing.

Yeah but still. You couldn't think of two more tonally different films. He also wrote the remake of Breathless and a few other things a bit more like Paris, Texas than Chainsaw, Texas. The Wikipedia for TCM2 says it is a satire of horror films, which may explain it more

[Sebastian Cobb]

I rewatched Hellraiser. I know a lot of horror fans don't like it because it's not scary enough or it's a bit pretentious but I think it's great. The effects with Frank and the Cenobites are great and I've always found them quite creepy.

[Blumf]

Come Play with Me (1977)
Been meaning to cross this one off, just out of curiosity. I wasn't expecting much, but it's barely that.

On the plus side, lots of 'oh it's him, what's his name' spotting fun to be had. And a few scenes had some charm to them (the one where the muscley bloke went in for an unwitting irrigation was daft fun)

However, overall it's just a dull mess that's outdone by the Carry On films for erotism and plot.

Watch Percy (1971) instead.

[Jim Bob]

I rewatched Hellraiser. I know a lot of horror fans don't like it because it's not scary enough or it's a bit pretentious...

What are you basing this upon?  I don’t know if that’s what general audiences think, but speaking as a horror hound, I can assure you that Hellraiser is very well regarded among the community.  I can’t think of a single time that I’ve encountered a fellow horror fan who doesn’t like it, much less for the reasons which you state.

[greenman]

Its certainly not free of criticism but I don't recall seeing it actively disliked that often.

[Jim Bob]

Its certainly not free of criticism...

Oh, absolutely.  I myself have criticisms of the film but as you say, it’s not generally outright disliked by the majority of horror fans.  Quite the opposite, in fact.

[Blumf]

It's probably the sequels that are making it seem like the original is unliked.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I rewatched Two Lane Blacktop, I can't tell if it's minimalist or dull.

[Blumf]

After a mention on another thread, watched The Day of the Locust (1975).
A delightfully nasty thing, and an astounding ending (Did Alan Parker & Gerald Scarfe see this?). Enjoyment only tempered by the fact that, it's still Hollywood navel gazing, and that it ultimately didn't have the bite it should have, as we've seen that the rotten place is still an ugly mess today.

Have The Simpsons ever made any reference to this? Seeing as there's an obvious link.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

My Winnipeg

Filmmaker/installation artist/self-facilitating media node Guy Maddin presents this rather unusual portrait of the city in which he grew up.

While apparently commissioned as a straight documentary, Maddin instead takes what he calls a "docufantasia" approach to the subject. This includes a framing narrative about his doomed bid to escape the city, animated segments and dramatic re-enactments of his childhood that resemble deleted scenes from Eraserhead. The murky monochrome 8mm (or maybe 16mm, I'm not sure) footage adds to the otherworldy atmosphere, as does Maddin's stream of consciousness voiceover. I genuinely couldn't tell if the whole thing was tongue in cheek or hilariously pretentious. I ultimately settled on the former, but either way it's an entertaining ride.

I was surprised to learn that it was made in 2008, as it looks and feels older, like the sort of thing Channel 4 would have broadcast late at night in the early '90s. For all its angsty weirdness, it actually gave me a cosy feeling of nostalgia.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Ingmar Bergman's To Joy. It was great and maudlin.

[sevendaughters]

My Winnipeg

Filmmaker/installation artist/self-facilitating media node Guy Maddin presents this rather unusual portrait of the city in which he grew up.

While apparently commissioned as a straight documentary, Maddin instead takes what he calls a "docufantasia" approach to the subject. This includes a framing narrative about his doomed bid to escape the city, animated segments and dramatic re-enactments of his childhood that resemble deleted scenes from Eraserhead. The murky monochrome 8mm (or maybe 16mm, I'm not sure) footage adds to the otherworldy atmosphere, as does Maddin's stream of consciousness voiceover. I genuinely couldn't tell if the whole thing was tongue in cheek or hilariously pretentious. I ultimately settled on the former, but either way it's an entertaining ride.

I was surprised to learn that it was made in 2008, as it looks and feels older, like the sort of thing Channel 4 would have broadcast late at night in the early '90s. For all its angsty weirdness, it actually gave me a cosy feeling of nostalgia.

gonna watch some Guy Maddin this year. this and The Saddest Music In The World are on the list.

I watched Avicii: True Stories on iPlayer after Limmy mentioned it. I'm no fan of his music but once you brush past that (and a load of talking heads unctuously telling you he's a genius) the story is interesting as his body starts to fail him through constant touring and a pathological addiction to stress. He's being pushed beyond his limit, perhaps with his management sensing this might just be a moment in the sun. He grants the director full access and gifts him an interesting modern parable, but the assembly feels rushed and half-told so the result feels like missing an open goal.

[Mister Six]

'Fighting With My Family'.

Enjoyable enough. Good performances all round. I think I might have liked it more if I wasn't a wrestling fan as the obvious bits of nonsense shone through. Implying that Paige won the title in an unplanned shoot on live TV being the biggest clanger.

Especially as they've spent the rest of the film making it quite clear the whole thing is choreographed and stage-managed. Still, I really enjoyed it. Think the documentary would be more interesting though. I assume there is one, from the credits.

[sevendaughters]

REQUIEM FOR A VILLAGE - experimental documentary about the march of progress as seen from the perspective of a graveyard caretaker in a rural setting. Strange and interesting complement to 'folk horror' stuff like Penda's Fen and The Wicker Man, but a good piece that stands up for itself.

WAKE IN FRIGHT - Aussie thriller about a teacher on a bum assignment in the outback getting waylaid in a mining town full of pissheads and freaks. Not a horror and indeed it's the main character's inability to pull the rod from his arse that leads to trouble, though the film not-so-subtly makes you think trouble is coming with every working larrikin drunk. A kangaroo is stabbed to death and Donald Pleasence tries to bum someone. Recommended!

[Enrico Palazzo]

WAKE IN FRIGHT - Aussie thriller about a teacher on a bum assignment in the outback getting waylaid in a mining town full of pissheads and freaks. Not a horror and indeed it's the main character's inability to pull the rod from his arse that leads to trouble, though the film not-so-subtly makes you think trouble is coming with every working larrikin drunk. A kangaroo is stabbed to death and Donald Pleasence tries to bum someone. Recommended!

Watched this documentary about two Finnish barmaids who get a summer job in an outback Aussie hotel pub. Very similar to Wake in Fright but the real thing is more disturbing - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5723774/. It's a very compelling but grim watch.

As a result I keep getting pop-up ads from TripAdvisor asking if I want to book a stay at the hotel in the film.

[SteK]

Mirage from 1965 is a cracker, very Hitchcock, saw it years ago and was mesmerised. Nabbed a HD copy of t'internet and was re-mesmerised. I understand it was banned for a long time as where all Dmytryk's films as he was labelled a communist in the McCarthy Witchhunt…..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirage_(1965_film)

[Keebleman]

Ingmar Bergman's To Joy. It was great and maudlin.

I watched that yesterday, and his even earlier Thirst last week.  Both are very strong pieces, with interesting characters, excellent acting and an already rich cinematic sensibility which keeps them visually compelling even though most scenes in both films are basically two people in a room talking to each other.  Thirst was probably the better film of the two overall, but I thought the climax of To Joy had an emotional punch I can't remember feeling anywhere else in Bergman's movies.

[peanutbutter]

The Friends of Eddie Coyle
Absolutely packed screening, not sure if it was just the overspill from Uncut Gems or what but it was very odd. Sometimes love when these retrospective deals get a far bigger crowd than you expect (Short Cuts about a year ago with 200+ people realising the film was far better than they were expecting was a fucking treat) but it killed this. There's a super slow no-suspense surveillance scene in the middle and you could feel the whole audience losing their attention all at once.
Mitchum's great, and I really like the way the ending is handled, but the audience killed it.

Shout out to the guy beside me who flipped his phone over every 30 seconds to check it, then started putting it in his pocket but not removing his hand from his pocket so he could still pull it out every 30 seconds. Just leave at that point, dude.

[MiddleRabbit]

I watched The White Reindeer last weekend. A Finnish film from 1952.  Unfortunately there weren't any English subtitles so I probably missed out on one or two nuances, but I still enjoyed it.

It's this tribe of reindeer herders, focussing on one woman who marries a reindeer herder after a particularly exciting reindeer sledge race but then he can't be arsed with shagging her because, I guess, he's tired after a hard day looking after hundreds of reindeer.

She goes to this shaman to, presumably, get something to randy her husband up but she ends up turning into a white reindeer, then back into herself, except now she's a vampire but she can turn into the White reindeer whenever she wants.  This doesn't appear to excite her husband, sex wise.  Having said that, she does end up on the end of a shaft that he propels at her, but neither of them are thrilled about it.

The scenes of lassoing reindeer and pulling them in look absolutely crackers, with practically no special effects at all.  The reindeer race is the same level of lunacy.  It must have been as dangerous as hell.

Anyway, the main thing I learned is that Lapland in 1952 could easily have doubled as a post apocalyptic dystopia. If there's  a nuclear war, my money'd be on Finnish reindeer herders from 1952 to be the ones who survive, and sooner them than me.

[sevendaughters]

I watched a British film from a few years ago called THE GOOB.

It's about a kid who, over the summer after finishing school, works on a farm in rural Norfolk. His boss, played by Sean Harris, is also banging his mum (and a load of other people too) and is a massive massive twat.

So much so that this one character probably wrecked the film for me. Levity was trampled all over. Shane Meadows makes things like Milky getting his head literally kicked in feel so much worse because there's a lot of light and humour. This was just all pitched at the same low-level disappointment/abuse.

Harris is a devotee of the Stanislavsky Method (ie. method acting), staying in character all the time. I think it's kind of bullshit. You never hear of method nice guys. It was the same sawn-off cockendery as he put into his Ian Curtis.

There's a couple of pro-forma social realist poetic moments, like riding a moped through a field at dusk, or copping a feel in a wildflower meadow with a sexy Polish fruit picker.

In short: didn't like it.

[Cuellar]

Watching Videodrome that has popped up on Netflix. I want to persevere but the sight of James Woods getting it on with Debbie Harry offends my sensibilities so much I might have to turn it off.

[Blumf]

What about James Woods getting out on with a TV?

[Cuellar]

Oh he can do what he likes with those.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Videodrome is a masterpiece.