What Non-New Films Have You Seen? (2021 Edition)

[Blumf]

Shazam! (2019)
Finally got around to watching this. Nor great, but good. Could have done with a little trimming to sharpen it up, didn't need to be 2 hours, and the seven sins were visually indistinct. But Mark Strong was solid, and it was fun seeing the kids goofing about with super powers.

[EOLAN]

Baxter, Vera Baxter. Hypnotic beyond belief. Sometimes beyond comprehension. I liked it, I think, but struggled to stay connected despite its mesmerising nature. I wonder if Angela Schanelec was inspired by Duras.

This one had totally slipped me by! I guess I only put on my watchlist the ones he actually directed. Are any of the ones he didn't worth it?

I think Speak Easily is touted as one of the better of the Keaton/Durant sound collaborations; so maybe give that a try. Only one I have seen and why having a lot of restraints of Keaton films of the time; does have some good interactions with Durante and other female characters. Also; it at least benefits from being a Pre-Code film with a lot of salaciousness.
Have to wait towards the end for a strong string of visual gags. First half is a bit bland and does pick-up; but still not reaching anywhere near his own directed films. 

[Artie Fufkin]

The Day The Earth Caught Fire - sort of a proto-Threads. Very grim detailing of the slow breakdown of society following a climate-changing event. Early blink-and-you'll-miss-it uncredited appearances from Michael Caine and Peter Butterworth a well

Watched this last night. Really good, yeah.

Spoiler alert

Having said that, the actor who played the guy who ran the paper was quite possibly the worst actor EVAH.
And, yes I know it was filmed in 1961, but some of the effects were laughable. "Oh, no! There's a tidal wave coming up the Thames!" No there isn't, that's just 2 toy boats in a bath tub, isn't it?

[close]

Really nicely done, though. Great atmosphere to it.

[Blumf]

Having said that, the actor who played the guy who ran the paper was quite possibly the worst actor EVAH.

Apparently a real journo, who broke the story on the R101 disaster.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Christiansen

I'll just add my name to the fan club of The Day The Earth Caught Fire. Proper, no-nonsense disaster film. Even had me gripped as a kid.

[Artie Fufkin]

Apparently a real journo, who broke the story on the R101 disaster.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Christiansen

Oh, wow! That's a top piece of trivia! Nice one.
He was still shit though.

[JesusAndYourBush]

Dark Encounter (2019)

A decent enough production but let down by stupid dialogue - or rather a lack of dialogue when there should have been some.  Despite various people seeing lights in the sky, aliens, etc, nobody communicated this with each other, nobody mentioned aliens.  In scenes where lights were seen outside the house there should have been a babble of voices because everyone in the house would quite naturally have reacted to what they'd just seen etc, but not much was said at all.  Many scenes were noticeable for the lack of communication between people.  Unnatural dialogue.  It totally takes you out of the moment and makes you remember you're just watching a film.

[dissolute ocelot]

Irma Vep (1996) - I've seen enough Olivier Assayas films to know they tend to be more like sketches towards movies rather than proper plots with screenplays and endings. Irma Vep is a reflection on the state of French film at the time in contrast to the alternative aesthetic of Hong Kong action cinemas, so you get a young Maggie Cheung playing herself in a latex catsuit making a dubiously-conceived film in Paris. Irma Vep is largely improvised and feels like dropping into cool parties and cool-but-disorganised film companies. There's a shitload of references to French cinema, some fairly obvious like casting New Wave star Jean-Pierre Léaud (The 400 Blows) as a fading director (he seems to have spent the last 25 years playing ironic commentaries on his fresh-faced youth like Last days of Louis XIV), lots that I'm sure I don't know. Like much of Assayas, lightweight fun. (There's a Scottish band called Irma Vep who are considerably less sexy.)

Down With Love (2003) - Insanely overdesigned 1960s-set romcom about publishing/magazines. Again, packed with filmic references, this time from 60s romcoms and musicals. Ewan MacGregor is charming, Renee Zellweger is also charming, and there's lots of misunderstanding, pretence, sexual tension, and all the usual romcom features. But what makes it stand out is how amazing it looks visually. If you like nice frocks and swinging bachelor pads and splitscreens, watch. Oh and David Hyde Pierce (excellent), Sarah Paulson, and Tony Randall.

[amputeeporn]

Promising Young Woman

I Care A Lot

Both stunning female empowerment thrillers - neither one quite perfect but both a blast from start to finish with powerful central performances. Seeing them back to back made it feel a bit like the film world is properly waking up again/releasing high calibre films that have been in Covid stasis.

[chveik]

two-lane blacktop - dead good, a five bagger

high noon - pretty good, read an interesting essay about it afterwards, a much more intelligent film than I thought it was. john wayne was a fucking melt, apparently it was un-american to make a film where good people act a bit cowardly. the poor screenwriter was blacklisted.

the stranger - orson welles plays a nazi trying to fit in a shithole town as an american teacher. butchered by the studios of course, the plot makes no fucking sense, some nice shots typical of welles remain but when you end up rooting for the nazi because the american town folks are too fucking dull surely something has gone wrong.

ride the high country - nice fight between the good cowboys and the inbred rapey miners but not bloody enough for peckinpah's standards.

twenty days without war  - there's a very cool scene where the main character (a russian war journalist during ww2 that has witnessed the battle of stalingrad) struggles to make a speech in front of a crowd of industry workers. quite interesting contrast between the realities of war and the romanticized story he has to tell people at the home front so that they don't despair.

and some other shit but I'm getting tired

[EOLAN]

On High Noon. The recent rewatch. Just couldn't get over how incompetent the sheriff was. Watched one of the other famous films that is an allegory for the HUAC and Mccarthyism.
On The Waterfront. Stunning film. The parallels the director is trying to make is absolutely laughable.

[chveik]

On High Noon. The recent rewatch. Just couldn't get over how incompetent the sheriff was.

what do you mean?

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

On The Waterfront. Stunning film. The parallels the director is trying to make is absolutely laughable.

I don't understand this either, as you appear to be contradicting yourself. Can you clarify? It will bother me if you don't!

[chveik]

I'm guessing the parallel is that kazan ratted on his communists pals while in the film brando's character testified against a mobster. the idea that these two events could be comprehended in the same way is ludicrous

[Famous Mortimer]

Time Bandits

Still bloody good. It must be 25 years since I last saw it, and it holds up.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I'm guessing the parallel is that kazan ratted on his communists pals while in the film brando's character testified against a mobster. the idea that these two events could be comprehended in the same way is ludicrous

Ah, right. Ta. Eolan didn't express that point clearly. You did. Again: ta.

[Custard]

Absolutely love High Noon. One of my favourite films

It builds tension beautifully, and the payoff is cathartic and gripping

I like it so much I even bought a framed picture of the poster. Need to rewatch it again soon, as it's been a while

As Tony Soprano said, Gary Cooper - the strong, silent type

[Sebastian Cobb]

Yesterday I watched:

Space is the Place - didn't really know what was going on at points, other than Sun Ra creating a place for his people. Music was good.

The Brood - Creepy Cronenberg horror, feels like the weird kid things were a bit of a Don't Look Now ripoff but good.

[EOLAN]

I'm guessing the parallel is that kazan ratted on his communists pals while in the film brando's character testified against a mobster. the idea that these two events could be comprehended in the same way is ludicrous

Yep pretty much this. That a few young idealistic cinematic and theatrical friends had small political meetings in the communist party pre WW2, mainly as idealogues does not really compare to a bunch of power hungry murdering mobsters.

The film is just a great film independent of the political parallels it is trying to make just totally falls flat.

[Dr Syntax Head]

Jellyfish on that BBC player. Bleak. A cryer.

[Pearly-Dewdrops Drops]

The Neon Demon - I hate calling things pretentious, but if you make a ridiculous film that prominently features your monogram on the title card, I have to call it pretentious. It didn't work as a psychological horror, because prior to the abrupt climax the only eerie thing that happens involves Keanu Reeves yelling at a mountain lion in a hotel room.

[SteveDave]

Copland

Sylvester Stallone plays a deaf man like he's got learning difficulties in this film that's jam packed with everyone from gangster films playing bad cops.

I liked it overall (it was a bit Western-y) but thought the end shoot-out all in slow motion was ridiculous.

[greenman]

The Neon Demon - I hate calling things pretentious, but if you make a ridiculous film that prominently features your monogram on the title card, I have to call it pretentious. It didn't work as a psychological horror, because prior to the abrupt climax the only eerie thing that happens involves Keanu Reeves yelling at a mountain lion in a hotel room.

To be fair I think part of the idea its "pretentious" comes down to the way some of his fans react to his work, just as a load of atmospheric bunk about high fashion with a nice soundtrack its a worthwhile watch IMHO even its a bit edge lordy and mean spirited.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Copland

Sylvester Stallone plays a deaf man like he's got learning difficulties in this film that's jam packed with everyone from gangster films playing bad cops.

I liked it overall (it was a bit Western-y) but thought the end shoot-out all in slow motion was ridiculous.

Oh, I think Sly is pretty good in that film. I suppose you could argue that he's slightly too low-key, as he was obviously trying to show that he could still do 'proper' naturalistic acting after years starring in high-octane action blockbusters. But his performance suits the character he's playing: a depressed, introverted schlub.

But yeah, it's not a bad film. I think people expected a lot more from it at the time: a gritty crime drama starring De Niro, Keitel, Liotta and Stallone?! That sounds amazing! But it's not amazing, it's merely quite good. A decent contemporary western.

[SteveDave]

Oh, I think Sly is pretty good in that film. I suppose you could argue that he's slightly too low-key, as he was obviously trying to show that he could still do 'proper' naturalistic acting after years starring in high-octane action blockbusters. But his performance suits the character he's playing: a depressed, introverted schlub.

But yeah, it's not a bad film. I think people expected a lot more from it at the time: a gritty crime drama starring De Niro, Keitel, Liotta and Stallone?! That sounds amazing! But it's not amazing, it's merely quite good. A decent contemporary western.

I was also startled to see how much like Talia Shire his love interest looked in it.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I watched The Great Dictator which was great.

Then I watched Under the Silver Lake and didn't really rate it much. I do like a good slacker movie usually though.

[zomgmouse]

A Cottage on Dartmoor. Very good British silent film. Some truly impressive shots and editing, though the story was somewhat unengaging, apart from the ending.

A short Varda documentary, Ydessa, the Bears, etc., about an artist's installation that featured many many teddy bears. Interesting exploration of the various themes and motivations and processes involved.

Mountains May Depart. Really really liked this, though the third act dropped a little, mainly due to the young man's acting. But the rest was quite phenomenal.

[phantom_power]

Tougher Than Leather - Great music, great evocation of early hip hop and 80s New York. Dogshit film

[samadriel]

I watched The Great Dictator which was great.

When I saw the antifascist speech near the end, I was surprised I hadn't seen it before in a million memes and other references, as it was both really good and quite old; it was entirely fresh to me. I concluded that not many people had actually seen The Great Dictator.

[rjd2]

The Neon Demon - I hate calling things pretentious, but if you make a ridiculous film that prominently features your monogram on the title card, I have to call it pretentious. It didn't work as a psychological horror, because prior to the abrupt climax the only eerie thing that happens involves Keanu Reeves yelling at a mountain lion in a hotel room.

Yeah its very lazy to call something pretentious at times, but it really is.

Refn has made some bangers such as the Pusher trilogy, Bronson and Drive but all his recent output has been unbearable.

Only God Forgives was dismal and To Old To Die Young was at times unwatchable. It had some memorable moments, but not a fucking clue what he was trying to achieve.

All those misses , the word pretentious seems apt.

Odd how you can make something as fun and accessible as Drive then all that shite.

I watched A Touch of Zen on Mubi a three hour martial epic.

Also watched Fury from 1936, it was peak Friz until the fucking ending.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I was also startled to see how much like Talia Shire his love interest looked in it.

Blimey, she's her double. Yo Adrian.