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

Started by zomgmouse, January 14, 2021, 11:12:22 AM

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El Unicornio, mang

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) - Nothing story, but I loved the visuals/atmosphere and emotion of this. I know that it was filmed in California standing in for Iran due to budget/censorship reasons, but it adds another strange otherworldly feel to it. Transcends place and time often.

Small Man Big Horse

Dr No (1963) - When I saw that this first Bond movie was set in Jamaica and knew that it had a part Chinese villain I winced but it's surprisingly only slightly racist and only "Of its time" rather than deliberately offensive. For me it was still a huge disappointment though, the first half is vaguely entertaining and Connery has some charisma, but the fight scenes and chase sequences are simplistic and there's a sod load of filler. The second half of the film is a real dud however, once they eventually arrive on Crab Island they fuck about being annoying for ages before eventually meeting Dr No, there's an okay scene where he realises Bond's a twat, but then the ending completely lacks excitement. Bond essentially wins the day by turning a big wheel and punching a couple of people, and I was taken aback by just how dull it all was, there's no real tension or sense of high stakes or anything like that, before Bond runs off and has another shag and that's that. 4.7/10

Egyptian Feast

It would have been interesting if they'd kept the ending from the novel:
Spoiler alert
Bond defeats No by dropping a huge poo on his head
[close]
.

dead-ced-dead

Quote from: El Unicornio, mang on October 15, 2021, 02:08:31 PM
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) - Nothing story, but I loved the visuals/atmosphere and emotion of this. I know that it was filmed in California standing in for Iran due to budget/censorship reasons, but it adds another strange otherworldly feel to it. Transcends place and time often.

One of my favourite scenes in a film from the last ten years comes from that film:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuN4wcDGlIc

Custard

Quote from: El Unicornio, mang on October 15, 2021, 02:08:31 PM
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) - Nothing story, but I loved the visuals/atmosphere and emotion of this. I know that it was filmed in California standing in for Iran due to budget/censorship reasons, but it adds another strange otherworldly feel to it. Transcends place and time often.

Yeah, good film that. The graphic novel is decent too, though I preferred the film as it had quite a unique feel and atmosphere

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Egyptian Feast on October 15, 2021, 04:21:29 PM
It would have been interesting if they'd kept the ending from the novel:
Spoiler alert
Bond defeats No by dropping a huge poo on his head
[close]
.

Ha, I thought you were joking but a quick trip to wikipedia shows you were right. And I agree to, that would have gained it at least one whole point, if not two!

sevendaughters

Straub-Huillet double bill: Class Relations and The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach. Strict, austere, severe, and rigorous filmmaking with two different effects: CR takes Kafka's America and makes it more rigidly about alienation as exploitation amongst the classes on an Atlantic liner, while the Chronicle is a slyly beautiful and heartbreaking biography about Bach and his second wife dealing with death through his music. Absolutely not for everyone or indeed very few people at all, but I liked both.

El Unicornio, mang

Quote from: dead-ced-dead on October 15, 2021, 04:26:15 PM
One of my favourite scenes in a film from the last ten years comes from that film:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuN4wcDGlIc

I knew which scene this would be before clicking it. Yeah, really good and captures that kind of moment perfectly.

Small Man Big Horse

The Rabbi's Cat (2011) - From the director of Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life (a film I enjoyed an awful lot as it goes, and which is why I sought this out), comes this very unusual adaptation of a French comic that's a right old odd mix of things. Set in the Jewish community of Algeria in the 1920's, after a cat swallows a parrot he can suddenly talk, though it varies as to who he talks too and in what language. Then after a cousin comes to visit it becomes a road trip movie as he has helped a Russian Jew flee his country, and they travel to Ethiopia to find a supposedly hidden city where black Jews live. From the brief description that I read I presumed it would be more of a fantastical affair but a large aspect of this is an exploration of Judaism and other religions, and it's sometimes a little heavy handed on that front, but the cat's wry observations keep it entertaining even if I'm not quite sure what to make of certain elements. 6.66/10

Small Man Big Horse

La Voyage Du Prince (2019) - From the director of Louise By The Shore comes another beautifully animated film, though this even more simplistic than that film and it's sadly to it's detriment. In a society very similar to that of the 1920's highly evolved monkeys live drab, fruitless lives, but when a monkey from a previous unknown country arrives all he does is highlight their xenophobia and ignorance. It mocks consumerism and pushes forward the idea that we should return to nature and a simpler lifestyle, and while it's not anything I disagree with I wish there'd been more nuance, and the characters had contained a little more depth. 6.4/10

Inspector Norse

Pity 2018 Greek film which by virtue of its dark quirkiness earns instant comparisons to Lanthimos, but I really liked this in its own right. It's the tale of a lawyer who enjoys the pity and sympathy of others so much after his wife has a life-threatening accident, that he goes to extreme measures to recapture the feeling after she recovers. It's got its familiar arthouse tropes: still, carefully-framed shots, Mozart's Requiem on the soundtrack, heightened super-stylised colours (it's like watching a Hockney painting), precocious piano-playing bourgeois teenager etc; but the film is really made by its lead Yannis Drakopolous, a man with a glorious face and a wonderful hangdog demeanour, striding sadly round as if defeated by his own purpose. The guy would fit right into a series of Fargo or indeed Coens film.

Small Man Big Horse

The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) - Horrendous old white men psychologically brutalize a nineteen year old woman. It's anchored by a stunning performance from Renée Jeanne Falconetti but director  Carl Theodor Dreyer also captures the ugliness of the male characters as they pray on Joan to stunning effect, and the photography is impressive throughout, it's perhaps a little repetitive but the ending is a powerful one. 7.1/10

Egyptian Feast

One Cut Of The Dead (2017) I'm glad I took advice and avoided reading anything about this, so I was completely unprepared for how shockingly
Spoiler alert
sweet and wholesome it was. Just an absolute joy.
[close]

zomgmouse

Quote from: Inspector Norse on October 17, 2021, 05:55:40 PM
Pity 2018 Greek film which by virtue of its dark quirkiness earns instant comparisons to Lanthimos, but I really liked this in its own right. It's the tale of a lawyer who enjoys the pity and sympathy of others so much after his wife has a life-threatening accident, that he goes to extreme measures to recapture the feeling after she recovers. It's got its familiar arthouse tropes: still, carefully-framed shots, Mozart's Requiem on the soundtrack, heightened super-stylised colours (it's like watching a Hockney painting), precocious piano-playing bourgeois teenager etc; but the film is really made by its lead Yannis Drakopolous, a man with a glorious face and a wonderful hangdog demeanour, striding sadly round as if defeated by his own purpose. The guy would fit right into a series of Fargo or indeed Coens film.

i liked this a lot - watched all of makridis' films (three features + one short) earlier this year. the two other features are quite good but this one is definitely my favourite of the bunch. his short "the last fakir" is here: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7u16om

frajer

The Uninvited (1944)

I'd heard mixed reviews about this and some people said it creaked terribly viewed through modern eyes, but I found I didn't care one bit. It's certainly of its time but is a gorgeous melodrama that may not be outright scary but is subtly chilling. The visuals are fabulous (those wilting flowers!) and the performances are all winning and engaging, especially Ray Milland wearing the lead role admirably lightly. Only real flaw I could find was the plot contrivances don't all add up at the end, but the emotional resonances and heightened atmosphere it conjures mean this doesn't really matter. Absolutely lush.

(The visual essay on the Criterion disc is fab too. It only runs 25 mins but contains more interesting and well-researched info than some feature-length docs.)

Small Man Big Horse

The Cheap Detective (1978) Peter Falk, Madeline Kahn, Stockard Channing, Sid Caesar, Eileen Brennan, Ann Margaret, Dom DeLuise and a number of other well known names star in Neil Simon's noir spoof which is almost always mocking Bogart movies including The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca. Visually it's a bit drab, I think it's one of the brownest films I've ever seen as the decor in every location is largely mundane, but luckily the script and performances are so strong that it isn't a huge problem, though I still found myself wishing that it was a little better looking than it is. 7.2/10

zomgmouse

ah you watched it! excellent. glad you enjoyed

Famous Mortimer

Ghost Fever

Sherman Hemsley, American sitcom star of the 70s and 80s, paid for most of the production of this, which left him nearly bankrupt when it was an enormous flop. Really bizarre, but not in a good way, tale of two cops going to serve eviction papers to a house they...think is empty? But there are ghosts in there and all sorts.

Small Man Big Horse

#1488
Quote from: zomgmouse on October 18, 2021, 11:22:14 PM
ah you watched it! excellent. glad you enjoyed

Thanks, and for my money it's slightly better than Murder By Death, though there's not a huge amount in it.

Tickled (2016) - Documentary by two New Zealand journalists who investigate the world of competitive endurance tickling, but when they approach one of the production companies involved they get a weirdly homophobic and threatening email telling them to cease and desist. T
Spoiler alert
hey naturally do the opposite, and it quickly becomes an expose of a deeply strange individual who has spent his life making videos of people being tickled, and then making their lives hellish by exposing them online.
[close]
It's a gripping piece which moves at a great pace, and becomes more and more fascinating as it goes on. 8.0/10

Edit: Just discovered the existence of a follow up short film, The Tickle King, which is pretty fascinating if you've seen Tickled - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPBFzGM6F_k - though I wouldn't watch it if you haven't seen the movie but plan too.

Famous Mortimer

I believe the Australian comedian Ash Williams is in one of those docs, and he tells some interesting stories about being in that world on his podcast.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Famous Mortimer on October 19, 2021, 07:49:05 PM
I believe the Australian comedian Ash Williams is in one of those docs, and he tells some interesting stories about being in that world on his podcast.

I looked him up and apparently he was asked but declined, though did make a tickling video himself before he was famous, hence his link to the documentary.

The Day The Earth Caught Fire (1961) - Filled with hard boiled, cynical journalists this is a beautifully scripted thriller where after both the US and Russia test nuclear weapons at pretty much the same time it triggers... well, possibly the end of the world, though there is a last ditch attempt to save it. Some of the effects are slightly patchy but otherwise this is sublime stuff, chilling and utterly believable, and comes with some of the best dialogue I've ever heard in a film. 8.5/10

As an aside, weirdly there's a tiny bit of nudity as you can see lead actress Janet Munro topless in a mirror, now I'm no prude but it really is odd as it's a blink and you'll miss it moment, and I can't understand why it's there at all, especially given what the BBFC was like in the early 60's.

phantom_power

Blink and you'll miss it Michael Caine as well

Blumf

Possibly the only good thing the Daily Express has been involved in.

sevendaughters

rewatched Weekend for the first time in yonks. last time I didn't like it, this time I think it is an assured masterpiece. new wave bogs Godard down: he is a comedic director with a really trenchant eye for bizarre juxtapositions that explode thought. looking for narrative satisfaction then go elsewhere - but if you're looking to get provoked, come here.

zomgmouse

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on October 21, 2021, 08:15:11 PM
The Day The Earth Caught Fire (1961) - Filled with hard boiled, cynical journalists this is a beautifully scripted thriller where after both the US and Russia test nuclear weapons at pretty much the same time it triggers... well, possibly the end of the world, though there is a last ditch attempt to save it. Some of the effects are slightly patchy but otherwise this is sublime stuff, chilling and utterly believable, and comes with some of the best dialogue I've ever heard in a film. 8.5/10

As an aside, weirdly there's a tiny bit of nudity as you can see lead actress Janet Munro topless in a mirror, now I'm no prude but it really is odd as it's a blink and you'll miss it moment, and I can't understand why it's there at all, especially given what the BBFC was like in the early 60's.

tremendous film!!!!!!

PeasOnSticks

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on October 17, 2021, 06:26:58 PM
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) - Horrendous old white men psychologically brutalize a nineteen year old woman. It's anchored by a stunning performance from Renée Jeanne Falconetti but director  Carl Theodor Dreyer also captures the ugliness of the male characters as they pray on Joan to stunning effect, and the photography is impressive throughout, it's perhaps a little repetitive but the ending is a powerful one. 7.1/10

Have you seen Dreyer's Ordet? A remarkable, brilliant film.

chveik

Quote from: sevendaughters on October 21, 2021, 11:33:43 PM
rewatched Weekend for the first time in yonks. last time I didn't like it, this time I think it is an assured masterpiece. new wave bogs Godard down: he is a comedic director with a really trenchant eye for bizarre juxtapositions that explode thought. looking for narrative satisfaction then go elsewhere - but if you're looking to get provoked, come here.

glad you saw the light!

Famous Mortimer

Guardian Angel

Enough Godard and Dreyer talk! We've got a Cynthia Rothrock movie to admire!

She's a cop, her partner / fiance dies, she goes all Riggs in Lethal Weapon until she gets a gig as a bodyguard for the former boyfriend of the fiance's murderer. There's action and a MacGuffin and a surprising amount of light romantic chemistry and it's as solidly entertaining as anything else from top-notch VHS people PM Entertainment.

steveh

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on October 21, 2021, 08:15:11 PM
As an aside, weirdly there's a tiny bit of nudity as you can see lead actress Janet Munro topless in a mirror, now I'm no prude but it really is odd as it's a blink and you'll miss it moment, and I can't understand why it's there at all, especially given what the BBFC was like in the early 60's.

Rated X on its original release so maybe the studio wanted that certificate as they thought it would improve its success? Val Guest did also go on to write and direct Au Pair Girls and Confessions of a Window Cleaner.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: phantom_power on October 21, 2021, 09:16:46 PM
Blink and you'll miss it Michael Caine as well

I read about that afterwards but have to admit I didn't spot him at the time.

Quote from: Blumf on October 21, 2021, 11:16:49 PM
Possibly the only good thing the Daily Express has been involved in.

When I was watching it I did think that the actor playing the editor was a bit weak, but presumed it was a deliberate choice to play him a bit stiff and sniffy, only to then find out it was the real editor playing a version of himself.

Quote from: steveh on October 22, 2021, 08:52:38 AM
Rated X on its original release so maybe the studio wanted that certificate as they thought it would improve its success? Val Guest did also go on to write and direct Au Pair Girls and Confessions of a Window Cleaner.

That might make sense I guess. And yeesh, that's all a bit of a come down career wise, even though I know the Confessions films were successful at the time.

Quote from: PeasOnSticks on October 22, 2021, 12:24:48 AM
Have you seen Dreyer's Ordet? A remarkable, brilliant film.

I haven't, this was the first Dreyer film I've seen but will definitely check out more of his work.