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

[greenman]

Picked that up recently when Second Sight had a sale and it really is the nuts isn't it. Studio Canal releasing the four Carpenter films they had access to on remastered 4K the other year was a bloody gift.

I think theres actually more Carpenter on UHD disk than any other director, those releases plus Halloween and Christine in the US, talk about The Thing happening as well.

[Dex Sawash]

Double shite feature last night

Parker 2013 Statham film I only realized I had already seen about an hour in. Quite poorly done, even for a Statham film. Jennifer Lopez isn't too bad in it, Bunk from The Wire is terrible. Gary Bussey seems barely alive.

Ava (2020 ) Jessica Chastain is black ops killing machine. John Malkovich is a black ops killing machine. Common (the rapper) ex-boyfriend of Ava is a very bad actor. The story is weak and unoriginal.

[frajer]

I think theres actually more Carpenter on UHD disk than any other director, talk about The Thing happening as well.

Ha yeah there might well be! That's very pleasing to think. As phantom_power said, his run of films in the 70s/80s is brilliant.

Also a big fan of In The Mouth of Madness. Would love that to get the full Arrow Video treatment.

[sevendaughters]

Lucky Grandma (2019) - deeply disappointing Chinese-language US indie film about an old woman who 'finds' (steals) a bag full of cash on an expired mafia man. Empty.

The Mole Agent (2020) - Chilean documentary/meta-documentary about a widower recruited by a PA to go undercover in an old folks' home. There's a litle element of seriousness but most of it is accidental Fielder-esque comedy. Quite good.

[Blumf]

Rocky 1, 2 & 3 - Seeing as ITV4 were showing them all and I never went past the first before. First is obviously a nice bit of late-70s grime with a heart of gold. 2 and 3 weren't bad either, I liked the mutual respect between Balboa and Creed. By 3 we're seeing the template go a bit stale, but Lawrence Tureaud does a great job playing the bastard nutter proto-Tyson, really believable, pretty scary.

Gave up on 4, just too fucking ridiculous. But the first 3 are definitely a worthwhile watch. May catch up with the later restart films (Balboa and Creed) if they ever turn up on TV at the right time.

Raging Bull - Also happened to turn up on TV, and I had just enjoyed those Rocky films, so might as well. Eeh, it's Scorsese, so it's well done, but it's also about Italian-American men being cunts to their wives. I'm not one of them types that goes all "oooh no, I can watch violence against women", but it really felt like there wasn't much else to the story. Guy's good at boxing, (doesn't quiet) learns too late there's more to life than boxing. Couldn't find any real reason to care about LaMotta. Also, although well shot, the fight scenes didn't really work as fights for me, just a collection of well framed punches but no overall flow.

So there you have it, Rocky is better than Raging Bull. Don't know if I've tripped the iconoclast alarm there, take it up with my robot butler.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Raging Bull ... although well shot, the fight scenes didn't really work as fights for me, just a collection of well framed punches but no overall flow.

If I may go all Pseuds Corner, it's not really about boxing. They aren't trying to work as fights, but expressionistic depictions of anger and violence (hence all the wild animal noises on the soundtrack).

One slightly naff bit that's always stuck in my brain is the scene in which his brother is blanking him after their big bust up years prior. They pass by a shop with a big 'Closed' sign in the window - because his brother isn't open to reconciling, see? As Scorsese symbolism goes, it's up there with the rat at the end of The Departed.

Parker

Ava

This reminds me; What is point naming films after the lead character like that? It makes sense for biopics of famous people, but what am I supposed to get from Parker? Is it the riveting tale of how one man created a line of fountain pens against all odds, or a spinoff from Thunderbirds?[nb]Bad example perhaps, as I know it's actually based off a vaguely well known series of novels - although previous adaptations changed the character's name, so he can't be that much of a draw.[/nb]

I supposed the aforementioned Rocky did the same thing (which could have been even more confusing for anyone expecting a film about Rocky Marciano) but even Indiana Jones and Rambo had to wait until the sequels to get their names in the titles.

[frajer]

I think the unknown name title can work okay for artier films, but it really does make action films sound like they're going to be shite.

When trailers and posters told us Keanu Reeves IS "John Wick" I remember being massively surprised that the film was actually good.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

John Wick. The heartwarming story of how candles were invented.

[dissolute ocelot]

I think the unknown name title can work okay for artier films, but it really does make action films sound like they're going to be shite.

When trailers and posters told us Keanu Reeves IS "John Wick" I remember being massively surprised that the film was actually good.

Yeah, it sort of makes sense for something like Jack Reacher where the books are very successful (and the films are solidly mediocre). But why would you go see a film named after someone you've never heard of? Are we supposed to believe the filmmakers have done such a good job coming up with the lead character's name that you have to see it? With something like Harry Brown (great name there, guys) the assumption must be that Michael Caine's name on the poster is five times as big as the title and it's interchangeable with every other movie in which he plays an elderly bad lad.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Also, titles that start with American... can chuff off as well.

[Dex Sawash]

This reminds me; What is point naming films after the lead

When I googled them each to be sure I didn't say they starred Marky Mark or Matt Damon accidentally, the auto suggest second choices were AVA 2 and Parker 2. Maybe it is so big fans of barely watchable films can search for sequels easier.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Hesher is a good example. What on Earth is that supposed to mean? Is it the main character's name, his job, or something else?[nb]It's his name, as if that makes things any clearer.[/nb]

[chveik]

Raging Bull - Also happened to turn up on TV, and I had just enjoyed those Rocky films, so might as well. Eeh, it's Scorsese, so it's well done, but it's also about Italian-American men being cunts to their wives. I'm not one of them types that goes all "oooh no, I can watch violence against women", but it really felt like there wasn't much else to the story. Guy's good at boxing, (doesn't quiet) learns too late there's more to life than boxing. Couldn't find any real reason to care about LaMotta. Also, although well shot, the fight scenes didn't really work as fights for me, just a collection of well framed punches but no overall flow.

So there you have it, Rocky is better than Raging Bull. Don't know if I've tripped the iconoclast alarm there, take it up with my robot butler.

rewatched it recently and i think it's more a film about (as the kids say these days) 'toxic masculinity' and the madonna/whore complex than a sports drama.

[PlanktonSideburns]

Rocky 1, 2 & 3 - Seeing as ITV4 were showing them all and I never went past the first before. First is obviously a nice bit of late-70s grime with a heart of gold. 2 and 3 weren't bad either, I liked the mutual respect between Balboa and Creed. By 3 we're seeing the template go a bit stale, but Lawrence Tureaud does a great job playing the bastard nutter proto-Tyson, really believable, pretty scary.

Gave up on 4, just too fucking ridiculous. But the first 3 are definitely a worthwhile watch. May catch up with the later restart films (Balboa and Creed) if they ever turn up on TV at the right time.

Raging Bull - Also happened to turn up on TV, and I had just enjoyed those Rocky films, so might as well. Eeh, it's Scorsese, so it's well done, but it's also about Italian-American men being cunts to their wives. I'm not one of them types that goes all "oooh no, I can watch violence against women", but it really felt like there wasn't much else to the story. Guy's good at boxing, (doesn't quiet) learns too late there's more to life than boxing. Couldn't find any real reason to care about LaMotta. Also, although well shot, the fight scenes didn't really work as fights for me, just a collection of well framed punches but no overall flow.

So there you have it, Rocky is better than Raging Bull. Don't know if I've tripped the iconoclast alarm there, take it up with my robot butler.

Agree on raging bull. Who cares about this prick?

[PlanktonSideburns]

rewatched it recently and i think it's more a film about (as the kids say these days) 'toxic masculinity' and the madonna/whore complex than a sports drama.

Nah its a film about a cunt and his berk mates

Raging Knobhead

Should be called

[chveik]

yes he's a cunt, that's the fucking point

[PlanktonSideburns]

That's it?

[PlanktonSideburns]

Can't throw a rock in this town with out it bouncing off a Couplea cunts

Maybe it's just a busmans holiday for me

[chveik]

That's it?

an interesting cunt, like Travis Bickle and Rupert Pupkin

[El Unicornio, mang]

I watched it recently on Blu-Ray, still love it although De Niro's fake nose really stands out in HD. LaMotta is a pitiful figure, unable to solve his problems without resorting to violence or threats (as a child he was forced by his Dad to fight the neighbourhood toughies for cash which probably contributed to this), feelings of inadequacy and jealousy. But also part of a world where he's in some ways controlled by more powerful men. Great fight scenes, incredible editing (particularly the sound editing) and a wonderful soundtrack. Definitely find it to be Scorsese's most depressing film though (although ironically it was the film which brought him out of a deep depression).

[PlanktonSideburns]

an interesting cunt, like Travis Bickle and Rupert Pupkin

Not even the best cunt in the beatles

[Blumf]

an interesting cunt, like Travis Bickle and Rupert Pupkin

That's just it, he's not. Bickle and Pupkin are interesting characters (and do interesting things), LaMotta is just an aggressive cunt, ten a penny in Scorsese films. I don't think you learn much from him, or about him, that you don't get within the first 10-15 minutes of the film.

[PlanktonSideburns]

Is there a best cunt in film thread?

Not best villain, specifically best CUNT

[zomgmouse]

Boy Meets Girl. Debut of Leos Carax. Jaunty yet depressed vibes. Wears its French New Wave influences on its sleeve. I liked it but didn't knock me out.

Summer Interlude. Earlyish Ingmar Bergman. Pleasantly light.

I Kiss Your Hand, Madame. Earlyish Marlene Dietrich. Pleasantly light.

Every-Night Dreams. Earlyish Mikio Naruse. Pleasantly melodramatic.

The Meetings of Anna. After seeing Jeanne Dielman last year and being utterly blown away I thought I'd watch another Akerman. This one is almost just as brilliant; wholeheartedly melancholy.

The Valley of the Bees. Czech medieval-set drama. I find it incredibly hard to connect to Very Serious Films About Faith so this probably didn't do for me what it could for others but it's undoubtedly impressive and well-made with many striking moments.

[dissolute ocelot]

Black Girl (La noire de..., 1966) - groundbreaking Senegalese film, a minimalist chamber drama about a young African woman who works for a French couple and goes with them to the south of France where she finds herself reduced to kitchen slave and subject to the racist attentions of their friends and casual cruelty of the wife. It's largely set in the family's small French apartment - they're clearly not rich but still have all the power over the lead character - with some scenes in Dakar. It's generally shot in a realist way, but there are some excellent point-of-view shots and good use of a kid with a mask. Very impressive. The DVD also has a short film Barom Sarret (1963) about a man and his horse which is great. Despite its themes, immensely pleasurable to find there is so much world cinema to discover.

I also watched Strictly Ballroom (1992) - a big bundle of cliches but lots of fun and great dancing. Another film about the brutalising influence of colonialism. Seriously, was suburban/small-town Australia as grotesque as films depict it?

[sevendaughters]

love The Meetings of Anna and Black Girl and Borrom Sarret (think this is the first black-made sub-Saharan film, quite a feat, and it is good!).

what I like about The Meetings of Anna is how you can input your own reading: is she manipulative, shrugging off trauma, confused, enjoying, etc. I think I preferred this to Jeanne Dielman actually.

[Blue Jam]

John Wick. The heartwarming story of how candles were invented.

And then used to

Spoiler alert

burn a puppy to death

[close]

.

Watched that yesterday, didnae like it

[amputeeporn]

an interesting cunt, like Travis Bickle and Rupert Pupkin

I've still never seen the film, but the parts about Raging Bull in Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, the seminal Peter Biskind book about 70s Hollywood are great, and filled with fascinating tidbits and moments of intrigue. Been a minute since I read the book now, but from memory:

Paul Schrader's script - while fascinating to Scorsese and De Niro - was loathed by almost everyone else. One reaction from the producer set to make it was along the lines of 'This guy's just a piece of shit' - it was certainly the commonly held opinion. From memory, the book traffics in a rumour that De Niro was the driving force, that he identified something elemental in LaMotta, and that HE did a huge rewrite on the script himself, uncredited, and that was the version that found at least some glimmers of humanity and got the film greenlit (which until then looked impossible).

I'll definitely watch it because it's my favourite era of Hollywood - and because especially if it's difficult material, I admire Martie and Robbie persevering to try and deliver their vision. At the same time, the book mentioned a scene where he's punching his own erection with rage or something, so I've always known I'll have to be in the mood for it...

Funnily enough, LaMotta ended up as a neighbour of Doug Stanhope's in Bisbee, Arizona, and he did a routine about how fucked up he was.

[bakabaka]

Thought I'd introduce my son to a classic comedy or ten, starting with Blazing Saddles. I've not seen it probably since the 80's but always thought it was the most 'Mel Brooks' of his movies.

They made anti-racist movies differently back then; the number of times the word 'ni**er' was used was incredible and turned it into a very different film.

But it made the post-film discussion with my son was much more interesting than expected.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Thought I'd introduce my son to a classic comedy or ten, starting with Blazing Saddles. I've not seen it probably since the 80's but always thought it was the most 'Mel Brooks' of his movies.

They made anti-racist movies differently back then; the number of times the word 'ni**er' was used was incredible and turned it into a very different film.

But it made the post-film discussion with my son was much more interesting than expected.

I watched that for the first time in about three decades about a month ago and while I liked it I didn't love it, there's some really funny moments for sure and the cast are all great but I found it a little repetitive. Also on the parody front I watched Top Secret for the first time since I was a teenager and loved it, the plot is weak but it's packed full of absurd madness that made me laugh a lot, and the underwater finale is one of the funniest things I've seen in years.