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March 28, 2024, 11:34:56 AM

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What non-new films have you seen? (2022 edition)

Started by Famous Mortimer, January 01, 2022, 02:18:34 PM

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dissolute ocelot

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on June 29, 2022, 12:52:20 PMI get that but it didn't resonate with me in the way some other angry not-so-young men films about not nice people did, like Hud or something.
I didn't mean to sound patronising. I just meant, it's a film where some people think Jack Nicholson's character is cool, even/especially when being shitty to the waitress, but he really isn't cool. But I empathise with his anomie if not his treating waiting staff like shit.

Sebastian Cobb

I didn't really think you were trying to be patronising mate. Tbh I think a lot of it was I found the characters a bit over-acted or caricaturey. Jack's pisshead mate was probably the worst, Jack's waitress character was the most sympathetic but also poorly drawn, his posh family were all freaks.

zomgmouse

Hiroshi Shimizu retrospective at the cinémathèque. Pretty packed screening so I wasn't really feeling comfortable so I'm not sure I fully appreciated the double this week but it was nice to watch some prints on a big screen.

This week it was Ornamental Hairpin, which is meant to be one of his more renowned films but which I found a little bit devoid of substance. Also a lesser-known one of his called A Woman Crying in Spring, which I thought was better, more characterful and more poetic.

Mobius


Sebastian Cobb

Watched Beavis and Butthead do America in preparation for watching the new one. I'd forgotten how trippy the scenes can be when it's at it's best, and puerile as it is, was much funnier than memory served.

dude-1981

Limitless - Good fun and no lessons were learnt. Enjoyed it.

Dangal - My first Bollywood film. Good fun story, sort of thing you've seen 100 times before, half an hour too long.

4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days - Romanian abortion drama set in 1989... As tough a watch as it sounds, but very good.

45 Years - Boring old people film. Maybe I'll try it again in 20 years.

Black Rain - Interesting Ridley Scott film from 89. My plan is to watch all his stuff, this probably isn't one of his finest.

Focus - Forgotten Will Smith flick from a few years back. Passed the time and was quite fun, and hey watching Margot Robbie is never a chore.

famethrowa


Sebastian Cobb

Last night I watched Polanski's The Tenant, it was alright, but a bit like Chinatown there's something a bit stilted and clinical about it all (imo). It kind of feels like a story I've seen before

Spoiler alert
including the 'waking up and being the person at the start of the film' thing
[close]

French setting was kind of cool though.

Stigdu

There are some directors whose films I refuse to watch, usually based around rape charges or liking young girls. Polanski's one of them. He's actually a really good director, and I've enjoyed what I've seen of his (Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown, Frantic, Death and the Maiden, The Pianist) but what he did would taint my enjoyment of his films. Same goes for Victor Salva.

Sebastian Cobb

Well good news, I downloaded the film for nothing so morally speaking I'm fine.

Stigdu

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on July 04, 2022, 11:12:22 AMWell good news, I downloaded the film for nothing so morally speaking I'm fine.

Huzzah!

Sonny_Jim

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on July 02, 2022, 11:58:56 AMI'd forgotten how trippy the scenes can be when it's at it's best, and puerile as it is, was much funnier than memory served.
Exactly my experience when I rewatched it last year.  Mike Judge really does know how to make something work, doesn't he?

zomgmouse

Central Park. As part of a Frederick Wiseman retrospective. Never seen any of his documentaries but I was won over by this. A little too much of boards and meetings talking but otherwise a brilliant observational style and apt editing.

The Emperor Waltz. It's a Billy Wilder film so it's hardly going to be charmless but it's surely one of his low points. The Crosby-Fontaine chemistry is fine, there's some nice costumes and sets, but the love story is drawn out and the musical numbers get quite repetitive. I suppose the charm does keep it afloat in the end.

phantom_power

The Silent Partner (1978) - Absolutely cracking thriller starring Elliott Gould as bank teller who works out his bank is about to be robbed and siphons some money off for himself, and Christopher Plummer as the robber who works it out, leading to a great, uber-70s cat and mouse yarn. Written by Curtis Hansen and also starring Susannah York and an early role for John Candy. Highly recommended and up there with other 70s thrillers like Taking of Pelham 123

zomgmouse

Forgot to mention I also watched Going in Style (original not the Zach Braff remake), a heist film in which three old men decide to rob a bank. Tremendously sweet, the central friendship is truly touching and the light humour is incredibly endearing.

The Barkleys of Broadway. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers' final film together, and their first in ten years. They sure do have fantastic chemistry together, and the story is an amusing one. Also Oscar Levant continues to be a marvel.

The Unscrupulous Ones. Brazilian New Wave film about two friends who want to pull a blackmail scam involving nude photos. I liked it, particularly the end, but I don't think I really fully got this, and in fact there seems to be something a little inscrutable for me in 60s Brazilian cinema.

Kanchenjungha. My first Satyajit Ray and by no means my last. This was breezy yet with plenty of profundity, an examination of patriarchy, post-colonialism and class beneath a tale of holiday romances. Remarkably done.

Blumf

Quote from: phantom_power on July 07, 2022, 06:35:39 AMThe Silent Partner (1978) - Absolutely cracking thriller

Yep, it started turning up on various channels in recent years and it is a little gem. Charley Varrick (1973) is another close match, but then the 70s were awash with such films, most of them top notch.

Stigdu

Quote from: phantom_power on July 07, 2022, 06:35:39 AMThe Silent Partner (1978) - Absolutely cracking thriller starring Elliott Gould as bank teller who works out his bank is about to be robbed and siphons some money off for himself, and Christopher Plummer as the robber who works it out, leading to a great, uber-70s cat and mouse yarn. Written by Curtis Hansen and also starring Susannah York and an early role for John Candy. Highly recommended and up there with other 70s thrillers like Taking of Pelham 123

I'd love to see this - where did you catch it? It's the one with the head in the fish tank, right?

phantom_power

Unfortunately I acquired it by ill means. I don't think it is streaming anywhere at the moment

dissolute ocelot

La Règle du jeu (The rules of the game, 1939) - Renoir's satire of the French upper class isn't exactly subtle. There is hunting of defenceless animals, people in elaborate costumes performing stage shows, and a character collects automata. But it still has a lightness of touch that's sometimes reminiscent of classic Hollywood comedy. Except with more infidelity and dead rabbits. Great opening scenes, with the master French aviator landing at a crowded airport, and making a not exactly heroic announcement. The version I watched didn't subtitle a scene in which several characters put on a skit pretending to be bearded Jewish men, so I'm wondering quite how offensive it was.  But apart from that, it has a lot of the delightfulness of Partie de campagne, but with a more obvious message.

phantom_power

Sunset (1988) - Forgotten Bruce Willis film about Tom Mix signing up to play Wyatt Earp in a 30s cowboy film and then teaming up with the real deal (James Garner) to solve a murder. Fun but pretty lightweight. Written and Directed by Blake Edwards but quite restrained by his standards. A good evocation of that period where cowboy films overlapped with real cowboy lore

Small Man Big Horse

Nodame Cantabile 2 (2010) - The sequel to the 2009 film and also the tv series, this still contains some beautifully played music and characters who are a pleasure to spend time with, but it's more predictable than the first and contains a lot less magic realism and fantasy sections, while many of the supporting characters are barely heard from. It's still something I'm fond of, but it's a shame it wasn't as inventive as it's predecessor. 7.4/10

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

You Don't Mess With the Zohan

Adam Sandler's career often gets divided between his few dramas on the good side and his comedy movies on the bad. Perhaps it should actually be divided between the lazy ones and the ones where he actually puts in some effort. This is one of the latter.

Sandler plays the titular Zohan, Israeli special forces top operative who, tired of all the fighting, fakes his death and flees to New York to pursue his dream of being a hairdresser.

Don't get me wrong, it is still lowbrow as all fuck (the film's chief running gag is Zohan bonking old ladies) but there is a sense of energy and inventiveness that you don't get in Sandler's holiday resort movies. A lot of cartoonishly surreal touches and physical comedy - Zohan is a straight up superhuman, which everyone consistently underreacts to. Stick some more credible comedy star in the lead and I wouldn't even have felt the need to spend so long qualifying all my praise.

Small Man Big Horse

I quite enjoyed Zohan too, I'm not convinced there's not some dodgy racism in it, but like you said, there were some great moments of absurd and physical comedy.

The Man Who Never Was (1956) - The first film version of the true story of Operation Mincemeat (most recently retold on screen with Colin Firth, while I caught a really great musical version last week at Riverside Studios) where to fool the nazi's in to thinking Britain planned to invade Greece they dumped a dead body in the sea with a suitcase handcuffed to his wrist filled with top secret documents. What makes this interesting is that it was based on a book produced by one of the two men involved in the Operation itself, Ewen Montagu, who even turns up for a brief cameo as an air marshal, and so Montagu is shown in a far more heroic light than he probably deserved and all of the elements where he was suspected of trading secrets with his communist Brother are absent. It also takes a very different direction to the musical around the hour point with a fictional bit of nonsense involving a supposed undercover Nazi spy checking out if our man ever really existed, some of which is dull but I guess it adds tension to the ending at least. Overall I'm not quite sure if I'd enjoyed this as much if I hadn't been comparing it to not only the true real life story but also the musical, but I imagine if you'd not heard of either it'd still be something you might find quite intriguing. 7.1/10

phantom_power

Simon (1980) - A shady scientific group brainwash Alan Arkin into thinking he is an alien for...some...reason. Written and Directed by Marshall Brickman, who wrote some of Woody Allen's early films, including Sleeper which this very much resembles. It isn't entirely successful but has enough funny bits and good performances to see you through.

PlanktonSideburns

Phantom of the Opera

What a CUNT Andrew Lloyd webber is

And I like musicals usually

Mobius

Watched this movie called Would You Rather - like a milder version of Saw, where some rich bloke hosts a dinner for a bunch of people and plays a game of Would You Rather and the winner gets some money.

It wasn't too bad, pretty average but my partner wanted to watch it.

zomgmouse

Quote from: phantom_power on July 10, 2022, 07:19:09 PMSimon (1980) - A shady scientific group brainwash Alan Arkin into thinking he is an alien for...some...reason. Written and Directed by Marshall Brickman, who wrote some of Woody Allen's early films, including Sleeper which this very much resembles. It isn't entirely successful but has enough funny bits and good performances to see you through.

have been meaning to see this for ages, was going to watch it later this month i think

rjd2

Benedetta 8/10

Set in the 17th century, our favorite pervert Verhoeven is having a ball as his gaze sets on a female nun who may be the second coming. If you like wooden virgin Mary dildo's , sensuality, Charlotte Rampling hamming it up delightfully then you are in for a treat.

Its not his best work but its definitely one of his most playful and I don't say this sarcastically one of his most accessible .

 Paul is 83 what a man.

The Conversation 10/10

I'm a pleb and a proud pleb, but imagine posting on this site and not having seen this movie, the shame of it all. We all know the premise, Hackman is a lonely man who eavesdrops in your most personal conversations. Its Hackman's favorite film of his and yeah I understand why. Harrison Ford, Robert Duvall and John Cazale all rock up to add support.

Clean Slate 7/10

French film, a police chief who is a laughing stock at home and work after meeting fellow police officers decides to stand up for himself and it all goes a bit wrong. Its pretty dark and some times amusing as our lead is a leach , user and a wee bit racist, buts its a decent watch if a little to long. Isabelle Huppert adds the star power to the supporting cast.

Sonny_Jim

Thief (1981) - Watched this because James Caan carked it.  Very good Michael Mann thriller, I get the feeling the developers of GTAV watched this a few times.  Probably the best thing I've seen Caan in, definitely worth a watch imo.

Red Rocket (2021) - Bleak drama (although Wikipedia reckons it's a dark comedy) about a grifter coming back to his home town.  Really enjoyed this.

phantom_power

Quote from: zomgmouse on July 10, 2022, 11:48:50 PMhave been meaning to see this for ages, was going to watch it later this month i think

I would say it is definitely worth a watch but don't expect a masterpiece. If you like Sleeper you will like this I would say