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

[SteveDave]

THX 1138

Fuckinell. What a waste of time and effort on everyone's part.

NEW PAGE- FUCK YOU LUCAS

[Blumf]

Was it the original version, or the Lucas specialised one?

[SteveDave]

Was it the original version, or the Lucas specialised one?

The Blu-Raymond one. But does it really matter? I presume the original is still fucking dull.

[Shit Good Nose]

The Blu-Raymond one. But does it really matter? I presume the original is still fucking dull.

Lucas special has Jar-Jar doing an anal gape for the ghosts of Anakin, Obi-Wan and Yoda.  They all slip rolled up notes in his rectum.

[zomgmouse]

Re Elliott Gould in the 70s - you gotta see California Split!

[Sebastian Cobb]

Re Elliott Gould in the 70s - you gotta see California Split!

It's great innit.

[SteveDave]

Re Elliott Gould in the 70s - you gotta see California Split!

I'll watch it this weekend. Ooh it co-stars George Segal. I hear he plays the banjo.

[Inspector Norse]

I'll watch it this weekend. Ooh it co-stars George Segal. I hear he plays the banjo.

Not the most challenging of roles.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Lost in Translation I'd somehow managed never to see this. Didn't think much of it in the end: it came across a bit contrived and idealised, slightly condescending (and on occasion plain racist) in its treatment of the Japanese, while the characters were too self-absorbed despite a few nice moments in the middle when they cut loose. Nice woozy atmosphere and soundtrack.

I didn't like it much when it first came out but watched it recently and loved it, captured feelings I can't quite explain. I'm also just a sucker for films about people being out of their depth in foreign countries. The scene where ScarJo is walking around the gardens and that music is beautiful.

Defending Your Life (1991) - I'm surprised this has such good reviews. A man dies and goes to a place where people have to prove their life was worthwhile to get to the "next level". Albert Brooks doing his terrible one liner schtick (one about squinting while looking in a mirror and thinking he was looking at a Chinaman), which somehow Meryl Streep finds absolutely hilarious, and so charming that she falls in love with him about 2 minutes after meeting him.

[Rizla]

THX 1138

Fuckinell. What a waste of time and effort on everyone's part.

NEW PAGE- FUCK YOU LUCAS

I saw this on TV late 80's, think it was a Moviedrome double bill with A Boy And His Dog; as a young Star Wars obsessed lad it really struck a chord, much speculation as to whether it was set in the SW universe etc. To digress slightly, I remember a schoolchum's insistence that his uncle had a 4th Star Wars film on video, that was in b&w and involved Chewbacca's wife and kids - bollocks he does, we all cried, and gave him dead arms. Anyway, last time I tried to watch THX it was the "improved" version, and I had to turn it off. Fucking ruined it. Same when I tried to show the mrs the film called Star Wars, first cgi Bantha I saw, OFF. Cos fuck that.

[kittens]

watched Hausu today. it was alright. dunno. i guess i was expecting a lot. it was fun and silly. a solid three star (GOOD) movie

[SavageHedgehog]

Defending Your Life (1991) - I'm surprised this has such good reviews. A man dies and goes to a place where people have to prove their life was worthwhile to get to the "next level". Albert Brooks doing his terrible one liner schtick (one about squinting while looking in a mirror and thinking he was looking at a Chinaman), which somehow Meryl Streep finds absolutely hilarious, and so charming that she falls in love with him about 2 minutes after meeting him.

I remember enjoying it when I was it 20 years ago, but in retrospect I do wonder if Albert Brooks films were something middle brow baby boomer critics found significantly funnier than everyone else, much like Billy Crystal.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I reckon Crystal's finest work was Throw Momma off the Train.

[McChesney Duntz]

I remember enjoying it when I was it 20 years ago, but in retrospect I do wonder if Albert Brooks films were something middle brow baby boomer critics found significantly funnier than everyone else, much like Billy Crystal.

Oh, Albert Brooks movies are so much better than Billy Crystal movies, at least the first three are[nb]I mean, without it, Rip Torn would never have been cast in The Larry Sanders Show, so that's gotta count for something![/nb] DYL is kind of a tipping point for a lot of people - I love it, but whatever. Real Life and Modern Romance and Lost in America, though - I'll not hear a word against any of them. And I'm not a boomer, haven't been a semi-professional film critic in a couple decades, and - well, I may well be middlebrow, but I'll be getting that fixed once my insurance goes through.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I watched Gumnaam, a 60's Bollywood interpretation of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None.

It was great fun.

[shagatha crustie]

Luca Guadagnino's A Bigger Splash, the one he did before Call Me By Your Name. Have generally felt like I should avoid/would dislike his films but I got drawn in by a MUBI ad using one of the film's best scenes, featuring 'Emotional Rescue' by the Stones.

Anywho it lost its momentum in the last act, but I liked it - a scathing look at the entitlement of the celebrity class, and how their privilege and self-regard eats itself. The villa setting and style of the drama reminded me a bit of Joanna Hogg's Unrelated. Very sexy in places. Ralph Fiennes turns in a great performance as a cunty hedonistic posh middle-aged record producer.

Some odd choices - random deployment of Popol Vuh's music from Aguirre?

[peanutbutter]

Rocky III
Was doing cocaine for the first time and wanted something that would go well with it, figured the opening of this would be pretty much perfect. Absolutely was, had a fucking ball.
It's a shame the fight at the end doesn't really work, it's just a bit of a victory lap with zero drama and Mr T's weaknesses are a lot more apparent, but the part with the cocaine was great.

Rocky IV
I'm about as irony poisoned as you can get, love watching a big piece of shit, but this film sucks and doesn't even feel fun about it. Whereas III absolutely destroys the first two films sentimental weight, it at least feels a bit connected to that world and Mr T is super fucking fun with the perfect dumb rock song for it all, the Rocky/Creed relationship is kinda really sweet in its super camp silly way too.
Utterly hollow horrible Reagan era bullshit, feels like it's almost deliberately trying to be shit at points with the montages.
Have always thought it was the low point of the series and Stallone as a human being and I still think that way. At least V seems to show some level of guilt over what he had done to his character here.
Now, I do think my absolute contempt for anything that feels a bit too strongly of the Reagan era (term 2 especially) probably plays a big part in my feelings. Can't even find much fun to look back on for that whole period, its just cunts winning everything with the retrospective knowledge that, beyond some token social victories, they just kept winning right up to today.

Executive Decision
Honestly kinda fucking loved this. Dumb 90s Kurt Russell thriller.
Was super jarring to see a lot of models used for some of the scenes of the two planes instead of CGI, must've been one of the last films to not at least cover up that shit with some extra CGI in post?

[Small Man Big Horse]

watched Hausu today. it was alright. dunno. i guess i was expecting a lot. it was fun and silly. a solid three star (GOOD) movie

I'm blaming the heat, it's the only possible reason you didn't love this masterpiece.

Hot Fuzz (2007) - For my money this is the best thing Pegg, Frost and Jones have done movie wise, either together or separately. An extremely tight, affectionate homage to action flicks with a distinctly British feel, all of the cast are pretty damn amazing, Jones' direction is stylish and fun, and there's just something extremely lovable about it in general. 8.3/10

[Sin Agog]

I'm blaming the heat, it's the only possible reason you didn't love this masterpiece.

Hot Fuzz (2007) - For my money this is the best thing Pegg, Frost and Jones have done movie wise, either together or separately. An extremely tight, affectionate homage to action flicks with a distinctly British feel, all of the cast are pretty damn amazing, Jones' direction is stylish and fun, and there's just something extremely lovable about it in general. 8.3/10

Who's Jones?

[Egyptian Feast]

Get Crazy, a film I hadn't heard of until someone was raving about it on Twitter recently and I'm still annoyed I only found about it. The director of Rock n' Roll High School does a follow-up starring Malcolm McDowell as a singer named Reggie Wanker and nobody's told me about this until now?

Reggie Wanker certainly didn't disappoint. McDowell bossing the stage was a highlight in a film so stuffed with mayhem it's going to take a few viewings to take it all in. Great supporting cast of "fucking hell, that's the holodoc from Star Trek" people and superstars in a better universe such as Dick Miller, Howard Kaylan, Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov. I didn't recognise John Densmore as Reggie's mad drummer, but his solo was an unexpected comedy highlight. Then there's Lou Reed giving a surprisingly funny performance as the reclusive singer Auden, who turns out to be the most wholesome musician in the movie.

It flopped out of existence and only seems to have been released on VHS (perhaps only in the US), but at least it's available on YouTube. A perfect film to stick on at 10:41 on a very refreshed New Year's Eve, so you can ring in 1983 and sing 'Auld Lang Syne' along with the cast.

[Shit Good Nose]

It flopped out of existence and only seems to have been released on VHS (perhaps only in the US)

Also released on (pan and scan) laserdisc in the US in the late 80s/early 90s.  Sadly mine succumbed to total disc rot (having been made in Sony's laserdisc pressing factory, which was notorious for poor manufacturing and using cheap materials) within a few years of me buying it from new.  One of only three LDs I lost to disc rot (the other two being the Criterion and Director's Cut releases of Blade Runner, the former particularly galling as it included photos of a load of Syd Mead pre-production drawings and models that I've not seen in any other home video release of the film [although most if not all of them have since been printed in books and/or found their way onto various websites]).

[the science eel]

It's great innit.

SOOOOOOO great

[Hand Solo]

SOOOOOOO great

Very similarly:

[Sebastian Cobb]

I watched that and felt like it was just treading the same ground, less well.

Sure, if California Split didn't exist, it'd be great, but it does and as such feels like a bit of an imitation.

The Cooler on the other hand seems to be underrated I think. And Hard Eight of course.

[Custard]

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

Didn't think much of this when I first saw it, back in 05, but enjoyed it better this time. Robert Downey Jr seems to be having fun, so that's nice to see

Think I still prefer Shane Black's The Nice Guys, mind. That was a riot

[El Unicornio, mang]

Rocky III
Was doing cocaine for the first time and wanted something that would go well with it, figured the opening of this would be pretty much perfect. Absolutely was, had a fucking ball.
It's a shame the fight at the end doesn't really work, it's just a bit of a victory lap with zero drama and Mr T's weaknesses are a lot more apparent, but the part with the cocaine was great.

Rocky IV
I'm about as irony poisoned as you can get, love watching a big piece of shit, but this film sucks and doesn't even feel fun about it. Whereas III absolutely destroys the first two films sentimental weight, it at least feels a bit connected to that world and Mr T is super fucking fun with the perfect dumb rock song for it all, the Rocky/Creed relationship is kinda really sweet in its super camp silly way too.
Utterly hollow horrible Reagan era bullshit, feels like it's almost deliberately trying to be shit at points with the montages.
Have always thought it was the low point of the series and Stallone as a human being and I still think that way. At least V seems to show some level of guilt over what he had done to his character here.
Now, I do think my absolute contempt for anything that feels a bit too strongly of the Reagan era (term 2 especially) probably plays a big part in my feelings. Can't even find much fun to look back on for that whole period, its just cunts winning everything with the retrospective knowledge that, beyond some token social victories, they just kept winning right up to today.

I might have to reviisit all the Rocky films. I still think the first one holds up, and I like the fact that he actually loses the big fight at the end, which I guess was unthinkable for the sequels.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Who's Jones?

It's my nickname for Edgar Wright. I've no idea why, but I'm going to have to stick with that excuse now.

[Famous Mortimer]

Get Crazy, a film I hadn't heard of until someone was raving about it on Twitter recently and I'm still annoyed I only found about it. The director of Rock n' Roll High School does a follow-up starring Malcolm McDowell as a singer named Reggie Wanker and nobody's told me about this until now?

Get Crazy (1983)
I'd never heard of this before - it's an Allan Arkush movie, and has lots of the Corman players in it. Bit like Airplane crossed with a concert film - constant gags along with Lou Reed as Dylan-alike Auden, spending most of his time onscreen in the back of a cab on his way to the venue; Malcolm MacDowell as Reggie Wanker, a kind of Jagger-ish singer, who had it written into his contract he be allowed to sing all his character's songs; Lee Ving playing an even wilder version of himself; Daniel Stern as the stage manager and Ed Begley Jr as the evil property developer.

There's a giant sentient joint as one of the audience members, and an absolute mountain of drugs consumed by every character (the energy of the movie felt like everyone was on coke too). It's pretty great, and it's available on Youtube (only ever had a VHS release, too complicated music rights for a proper DVD or blu-ray, apparently).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrIRmMNi800

It was right after a post of yours, too :(

[Shit Good Nose]

I might have to reviisit all the Rocky films. I still think the first one holds up, and I like the fact that he actually loses the big fight at the end, which I guess was unthinkable for the sequels.

2 is almost as good as the first and I've always considered it as a direct continuation (so Rocky 1 Part 2).  3 has its moments, but it's where it starts to go a bit mawkish and, for boxing fans, completely unrealistic, and that fucking robot needs to go.  4 is stupid but entertaining - Stallone is doing something with it at the moment as he's going through loads of footage that never made it into the film.  There are rumours/assumptions that he's going to re-edit it and ground it more to tie it in with Creed, but the more likely reality is that the whole lot are being prepped for some re-release (possibly a box set of all the films - including the Creeds - on 4K [my assumption based on absolutely nothing]).  5 should be a lot better than it is - vibes of the first one, and the original script for it is brilliant, but it suffered from Stallone's tinkering at the 11th hour when he decided to completely change the ending when there was something like a week's worth of filming left, and also Avildsen's poor direction (by 5 he'd mostly had a string of misfires that were mediocre at best, with his one decent film - Lean On Me - being good almost solely due to the script and being based on an interesting true story).  Rocky Balboa and the first Creed are both good and cut from the same cloth as the first two, with Balboa in particular being very heartfelt and full of genuine pathos (compare it to Ron Howard's in your face schmaltzy sick-making soft focus nightmare Cinderella Man, the popularity and critical reception of which still bewilders me to this day).  I still think

Spoiler alert

Rocky should have lost outright (because it was all about him going the distance again, so a win or loss didn't really matter)

[close]

whilst a mate who is a boxing AND Rocky fan maintains that the ending as-is is actually more realistic.  Anyway, Creed 2 is back in Rocky 4 territory (for obvious reasons) and gets a bit silly again.

My personal ranking:
1~2
Rocky Balboa
Creed
4
3 (3 is objectively the better film overall, but 4 is a lot more entertaining and consistent in tone)
Creed 2
5

[Sin Agog]

It was right after a post of yours, too :(

Don't act like the cock of the walk, mister.  Famous Mortimer is the cock of nothing!  SMBH reviewed Get Crazy only a few weeks ago:

Get Crazy (1983) - It's New Year's Eve 1982, and a concert is being set up where Reggie Wanker (Malcolm McDowell) will see in the new year with a bunch of other unusual musician types including Lou Reed and Piggy (aka punk singer Lee Ving). But oh no, Colin Beverly (Ed Begley Jnr) wants to ruin everything by buying the venue and knocking it down and building a skyscraper on top of it, and he's prepared to blow it up if it helps him get his way, so stage manager Neil (Daniel Stern) and his new beau Willy Loman (Gail Edwards) have to save the day, all the while staging a gig no one will ever forget. It's an unusual old thing, half sort of concert film half very silly almost Airplane-esque comedy, and it's definitely something of an acquired taste, but it tickled my fancy and then some, and is a film I'm all rather fond of. 7.7/10

Edit: It's up on youtube if anyone fancies watching it - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-w0z68nFzk

Allan Arkush talked about it a little bit on a great ep of Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast. https://podbay.fm/podcast/883308059/e/1538971200