Film you recently watched: part 3

Hence the numerous exquisitely framed opening shots that pull back to another masterpiece of setting then pull back to yet another beautiful image... Truly he was the матрёшка of film-making. That was a sumptuous cinematographic analogue to masturbating. When there's a cleaned, restored print shown locally I will definitely see it on the big screen.

One major irritation was, even with his limited number of lines, how come a bloke called "Charles Patrick Ryan O'Neal" couldn't do a credible Irish accent*?

*Mean culpa in advance for the large number of Irelandish and Norn Ironish 'Orns who will soon be pointing out the error of that outlandish statement.

 

Tonight while going through my VHS collection I watched a recording I made 15 years ago of one of my favourite films, 12 Angry Men (I'd never seen it before recording it).

It's a fascinating example of the diversity of personalities that you're guaranteed to get when people get together in most situations, whether it's in a jury, football team, office, or internet forums such as this, with the mix of the good, bad and flawed and the conflicts that can arise. And it's a masterpiece of cinematic economy - the entire film (itself only 95 minutes, but feels longer but in a good way) literally takes place in only three locations, the courtroom, just outside the court and the jury room, only two characters are named and right at the end, and the film score is basically based on one theme but very effectively in underscoring the drama, and the way it comes back majestically in the bittersweet ending (the boy is acquitted, but he could still be guilty and he doesn't seem to have much to look forward to) never fails to send shivers down my spine.

I wonder if they ever considered remaking this in later decades with at least one woman and at least one non-white person on the jury? Perhaps it wouldn't have matched the austere power of the original, but it might have added another dimension to the conflict with the same kind of prejudiced remarks as those said to the immigrant and the guy from the slum ("You women with your feminist propaganda waltz in here and think you can tell us how to run the show" etc).

 

This does look interesting:

https://www.metacritic.com/movie/songbird/trailers

 

Two this weekend:

"Tenet" was visually very impressive, full of good performances, but left me slightly confused (or is that overwhelmed by the action?) - PS I came to this knowing absolutely nothing about the film.

"Ready Player One" - which we really, really enjoyed even if many of the cultural references went over the head of my son. After watching it (and I'm showing how well my finger's on the pulse of the zeitgeist I only learnt of this recently after watching Trevor Noah interviewing the author of the original book plugging its sequel) I read with interest that Spielberg wasn't keen about making the sequel as he described the original as one of the hardest films he's ever made.

 

Worthy of an offshoot thread about films that have become synonymous with an idea or passed a concept into popular culture, like Groundhog Day.

 

Not a film originally but: Catch 22

 

I've never understood the lack of love (outright hostility) that film gets...

 

watched tenet over the weekend, I like nolan and I like films that make you think , I have to be honest I finished feeling puzzled but the more I dwell on it the more I just think it was crap and full of plot holes, inconsistencies and a poor starting idea.

I liked ready player one, it had fairly bad reviews but thought it was quite enjoyable.

 

Pink Panther Strikes Again with Peter Sellers.

I've never seen those films, but this was quite funny. Fell asleep on about 40 mins through to the end however.

 

As is inevitable with book to movie adaptations, the book is far better than the film. If you enjoyed the film, you'll likely really enjoy the book. The book is a far whack darker than the movie.

Spielberg changed an awful lot of stuff that really didn't need to be changed. He also changed some things due to not being able to secure the licensing rights required to execute the scene (e.g. the scene referencing "The Shining" isn't in the book; another movie features instead). Overall, that contributed to a significantly altered final offering which is a lesser work than the book it is based on.

If you enjoyed the cultural references in the movie, though, you're bound to love the book. It's just littered with them, and they're frequently integral to the story.

 

Due to the reference in RP1

Spoiler

of the 'Alien chest-burster' scene my 13YO son requested this as tonight's film (it looks like we'll be celebrating Advent with a nightly showing of the "Alien" franchise).

For a film that's over 40 years old and I last saw when it was first released on VHS, I was very surprised how well it 'held up' and how much we both enjoyed it. Equally surprising when discussing the film I remarked how much of it has been "...ripped-off..." by subsequent film and game producers my ASD son corrected me with "...influenced by...". Really looking forward to tomorrow night's instalment which I think the best one (and the 'prequels' which I thoroughly enjoyed)...

 

I watched Tenet last night

I still have no idea what it is about but I think I enjoyed it

 

Number 2 last night and I'd forgotten just what an absolutely cracking piece of film-making that was. Number 3 tonight which I've only seen in the cinema when it was released - from what I remembered it was 'alright' but I can't help noticing it has got panned by everyone else.

 

Jingle All The Way. The greatest Christmas film/overall film/single thing ever made.

 

We just watched Wonder Woman 1984 since it's free in the US on HBO Max, and we already had a subscription.

The first WW was quite good, easily the best of the DC movies (which isn't saying much, admittedly). WW 1984 is nothing like that movie. It's poor from start to finish; not the fault of the actors, the script is dire.

The biggest jaw dropping train wreck of the whole movie is that

Spoiler

Wonder Woman de facto rapes a guy and is complicit in stealing his body

and we're supposed to somehow see that as a romantic love story.

The only way to make this movie enjoyable was to ridicule it the whole way through....which my wife and I duly did.

Very poor - do not waste money on this one.

 

yep watched it yesterday , liked the first one , thought it was pretty poor

 

Just watched a Street Cat named Bob. True story and quite harrowing at times but well worth 90 mins of your time

 

Wrong fred m8.

This is for movie suggestions, not analyzing our next manager and his first game in charge.

 

Just saw Parasite - if anyone hasn't seen it yet, it's absolutely brilliant

 

Anyone seen/a fan of Powell/Pressburger films? I just got a DVD set of all 11 of them for Christmas.

I've already seen three of them, 49th Parallel, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp and A Matter of Life and Death. The first two feature wonderful and stirring speeches by Anton Walbrook and the third is actually one of my favourite films.

 

I've watched a couple of films recently that I quite enjoyed.

One was a classic Western from the 90's that I had never got round to seeing before "Dances With Wolves" it was on Sony Movies through Sky. The Other was an action thriller from 2017 Starring Samuel L Jackson called "The Hitman's Body Guard" which was on Fim4 also through Sky.

Both well worth a watch IMO.

 

That reminds me. I saw a sci-fi movie from the 70s the other day, was quite enjoyable.

It's called "Star Wars: A New Hope", and I reckon it's well worth a look.

 

Someone's introduced me to "The Critical Drinker". I don't know who said the if you come across a very well-written review then you don't need to actually personally experience the subject work:

 

Fat Man on a Beach (1973 TV short) A poet wanders about the beach, reads his poetry, reminisces engagingly and reflects on life and death. I've got this on a BS Johnson DVD but I'm sure you'll be able to find it somewhere on t'internet thingy if, like me, you're really running out of things to watch during lockdown

 

Is there titty and explosions?

 

This has just been published on POPBITCH. I don't know how kosher it is so caveat emptor:

100 years of Russian and Soviet movies to watch online

Soviet sci-fi movies are, generally, really "out there" - other than the classics (Tarkovsky) I can't really name them as I only know their titles in Lithuanian which were usually very different to the Russian originals.

Where Soviet/Russian film making really excels are war movies. Soviet ones (pre 1990) have a cast of thousands, use original Nazi/Soviet kit and are just amazing - the "Liberation" series of films (5) stands out telling the story of Operation Bagration (the Soviet push to Berlin). There are also 'small' stories such as the harrowing "Come and See": an account of a young boy trying to join the partisans. Post-Soviet war films are a very different kettle of fish and were the only means of criticising the perceived 'history' of what went on from "War" (a story set in the Chechen Conflict that was aimed at the English speaking market and starred the hauntingly beautiful Lithuanian actress Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė) and films which examined the Soviet experience in Afghanistan ("Leaving Afghanistan" and "9th Company") stand out.

There also a number of modern Russian WW2 TV series on the site that I'm not familiar with - don't forget WW2 is sacred in modern day Russia it's used politically in a manner that would shame the most ardent Brexiteer. I did look for the masterpiece "Shtrafbat" but I would assume (m)any that are on there would be of the same high standard.

 

That Songbird film is now free on Amazon, it was ok at the start then I got bored and lost interest.

 

The White Tiger on Netflix is very enjoyable

 

Just watched an Australian film called Babyteeth on Netflix. I’m not a parent but probably a tough/thought provoking watch if you are.

 

It could do with a few car chases, some fighting and a few sex scenes to liven it up, but I still quite liked The Dig (Netflix again)