Return of the RECENT VIEWING

..and why not?
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Matt Wilson
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Matt Wilson » 08 Jul 2018, 05:55

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Sweet Smell of Success

OMG is this a great movie. I hadn't seen it in a few years. The dialogue is pitch-perfect, the photography is stellar. A noir? Maybe, but a great drama for sure. Tony Curtis was never better - hard to believe he wasn't nominated for best actor. Lancaster shines as well and the whole thing is bathed in a wonderful New York '50s glow. One of the great films.

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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Jimbly » 08 Jul 2018, 11:14

Matt Wilson wrote:It is a great picture, and probably better than Bullitt in terms of great counter culture-era detective films. It certainly has a coherent plot, which the McQueen flick really doesn't. I just reviewed The Seven Ups, which is kind of similar, but not as good, of course. It's too bad Friedkin couldn't have continued with the same quality he had in The French Connection and The Exorcist, though I imagine Sorcerer and even To Live and Die in LA are worthy.


Sorcerer is great as I posted earlier. Live and Die in LA isn't great, Mtv cinema, all pastel shades and Wang Chung.
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Jimbly » 08 Jul 2018, 11:23

I watched The Killing Fields, it succeeds in showing some of the madness of the Khmer Rouge. It however nearly blows it at the end with the cliched use of Imagine.
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby driftin » 08 Jul 2018, 16:07

Jeemo wrote:I watched The Killing Fields, it succeeds in showing some of the madness of the Khmer Rouge. It however nearly blows it at the end with the cliched use of Imagine.

I think everything about that film's music is bad. Mike Oldfield's score is so cheesy that it grates against the sombre tone and imagery.

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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Matt Wilson » 08 Jul 2018, 17:08

Jeemo wrote: Live and Die in LA isn't great, Mtv cinema, all pastel shades and Wang Chung.


I've got it, and don't mind it at all.

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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Jimbly » 08 Jul 2018, 17:26

driftin wrote:
Jeemo wrote:I watched The Killing Fields, it succeeds in showing some of the madness of the Khmer Rouge. It however nearly blows it at the end with the cliched use of Imagine.

I think everything about that film's music is bad. Mike Oldfield's score is so cheesy that it grates against the sombre tone and imagery.


The only thing I noticed about the score was that it didn't really sound like Mike Oldfield.The use of Imagine was cheese overload. I wonder who was responsible for, Robinson, Joffe or Putnum
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Darkness_Fish » 08 Jul 2018, 22:07

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Shitstorm.

Has to be one of the worst films I've ever watched, it just takes the most clichéd parts of other really shit blockbusters, and crams them into the most pointless, vacuous sci-fi catastrophe film ever. The CGI is pretty much PS2 game cut-scene standard at best, the plot atrocious and nonsensical, the acting beyond belief. How did they convince Ed Harris and Andy Garcia to appear in this shit?
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Matt Wilson » 09 Jul 2018, 00:32

You know when you guys post reviews of films like that, and then proclaim them to be shit, I gotta wonder - what did you think they were gonna be like?

I mean didn't the poster clue you in?

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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Geezee » 09 Jul 2018, 00:32

Jeemo wrote:I watched The Killing Fields, it succeeds in showing some of the madness of the Khmer Rouge. It however nearly blows it at the end with the cliched use of Imagine.


I think it’s context here is maybe being misunderstood - I’ve always interpreted the use of Imagine as a commentary on effectually what would happen if you took Lennon’s lyrics to their natural conclusion: mass murder. The lyrics may as well be the Khmer Rouge manifesto. I think it’s one of the most effective, conflicted use of music in a movie.
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Darkness_Fish » 09 Jul 2018, 09:13

Matt Wilson wrote:You know when you guys post reviews of films like that, and then proclaim them to be shit, I gotta wonder - what did you think they were gonna be like?

I mean didn't the poster clue you in?

Yeah, but when I'm saying shit, I'm meaning in comparison to San Andreas, Armageddon, or The Day After Tomorrow. Y'know, cheesy blockbusters one and all where you know what you're going to get. It's alright to have low expectations for a film, it's not ok for those expectations not to be met. This is a level so much below those.

I recommend it as an experience.
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Jimbly » 09 Jul 2018, 10:21

Geezee wrote:
Jeemo wrote:I watched The Killing Fields, it succeeds in showing some of the madness of the Khmer Rouge. It however nearly blows it at the end with the cliched use of Imagine.


I think it’s context here is maybe being misunderstood - I’ve always interpreted the use of Imagine as a commentary on effectually what would happen if you took Lennon’s lyrics to their natural conclusion: mass murder. The lyrics may as well be the Khmer Rouge manifesto. I think it’s one of the most effective, conflicted use of music in a movie.


Given that Puttnam was the producer, I think you might be overreaching. Although he made films that had a message at times he was at heart a populist. I can't see that he would think that Imagine would be as bleak as you think.

I would have thought it was the "living life in peace" angle they were after.

Interesting thoughts though.
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Geezee » 09 Jul 2018, 10:33

It definitely makes or breaks its use in the scene - as you say, if it's just being used at face-value it's pretty mawkish (and very out of tune with the rest of the picture) - but it it is being used with a political agenda it's very effective (imo). I'd need to watch it again, but I'm pretty sure the sections of the song that are being used are the "imagine no possessions" etc, which to me appear to immediately link it to Khmer Rouge dogma.

Either way, one of my favourite movies. The acting is first-rate all around, and beautifully put together. And while Schanberg/Waterson is of course in the movie a lot, I like that it takes as its starting point the Cambodian experience, not the Western experience of the Cambodian experience (almost no other Western-made movie of these kinds of things does that).
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Jimbly » 09 Jul 2018, 10:49

I'll need to rewatch the ending and see.
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby pcqgod » 09 Jul 2018, 15:17

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Fireworks (2017, US 2018)

Animated feature from the producer of 'Your Name.' This one is kind of a teenage 'Groundhog Day,' except every time the young male protagonist turns back time to make his dream date with the girl he fancies not end in disaster, he is seemingly shunted into an increasingly surreal world. There is a lot to like about 'Fireworks,' including beautiful animation, beautiful score, humor, and characters and situations you can relate to, but it does seem a bit melodramatic at times and never achieves that mixture of comedy and serious drama that 'Your Name' so successfully managed.
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Matt Wilson » 13 Jul 2018, 05:10

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Where the Sidewalk Ends

Fairly good Otto Preminger noir which reteams him with Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney, of Laura fame. The transfer is ace, the storyline about a violent cop who kills a man accidentally and covers it up is serviceable, and the photography is luminous. Noirs and westerns, they do seem to be my favorites.

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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby pcqgod » 13 Jul 2018, 15:47

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Sorry to Bother You (2018)

This is an odd, satirical movie. It does rely on some fairly standard "aren't white people racist and also nerdy?" humor, but displays plenty of imagination, a fresh and dynamic directorial style, and goes off on some fairly bizarre tangents. Overall impressive debut for director Boots Riley.
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Matt Wilson » 14 Jul 2018, 07:13

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Bull Durham

Still the greatest baseball movie ever made. Hell, probably in the top five sports films ever as well. From when Costner was still in his ascendency and Sarandon was at her sexiest. It made Robbins a star as well. It's the screenplay that makes it though.

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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Jimbly » 14 Jul 2018, 23:24

I watched the French Connection II, not a patch on the original but worth it for another sublime Hackman performance. Great short interview with Hackman in the extras.
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby pcqgod » 15 Jul 2018, 15:47

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Battle of the Sexes (2017)

Overall entertaining movie chronicling the struggle by Billy Jean King (Emma Stone) to get female tennis players paid as much as male players on the professional circuit. This struggle of course culminates in her symbolic victory over the clown prince of the senior male circuit, Bobby Riggs (Steve Carrell in a wonderfully over-the-top performance), which was really kind of an anti-climax since it never seemed close, at least as I remember the match.
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby the masked man » 16 Jul 2018, 22:27

Matt Wilson wrote:Image
Sweet Smell of Success

OMG is this a great movie. I hadn't seen it in a few years. The dialogue is pitch-perfect, the photography is stellar. A noir? Maybe, but a great drama for sure. Tony Curtis was never better - hard to believe he wasn't nominated for best actor. Lancaster shines as well and the whole thing is bathed in a wonderful New York '50s glow. One of the great films.


Magnificent film. I often feel that the 50s is my favourite Hollywood decade, and this is one of the films I'd quote to support this argument. The high contrast photography is incredible, the dialogue is whip-smart, the performances are on point, and the subject matter is incendiary. Could a mainstream Hollywood film of the era be hinting at incest? Yes it was. A film that stands alone. There's nothing quite like it.


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