Return of the RECENT VIEWING

[Darkness_Fish]

Watched this with my son earlier today, he's rubbish at handling tension in films, he practically starts crying, literally buries his head behind the cushions. I wish this film had affected me that much. It's decent enough, and looks good, but it's not fully engaging. I'm not convinced that portraying the hardship that a rich white western family had to go through is really the best angle to cover the sheer enormity of the tsunami, but perhaps I'm just picky.

[Darkness_Fish]

Hmm. For this type of thing, it was ok. I think part of the genius behind this film, is that given the absolute apocalypse of smugly casual Superhero shite that's been fouling our screens lately, it's taken on the lack of sense-of-adventure head-on. There's no danger in films anymore, there's no-one to identify with, so lets make it as brazenly so as possible, it's all a game, you don't need to care. Ok, there's some half-arsed real-life poverty bollocks, and the usual anti-corporate message coming from a big corporations, but that's all tacked on. It's throwing a lot of pop-culture, film and video-game references at the screen, and you don't need to care, just let it wash over, and forget about it tomorrow. Rather this than Thor Ragnarok, say I.
Btw, for a great actor, Mark Rylance has been really shit in at least two films now, the other being The BFG. Awful in this, even though he has little more than a cameo, he doesn't seem to know if he's playing Garth from Wayne's World, or an autistic teenager. Just seems to hit completely the wrong notes.

[Jimbly]

Battle for Algiers.

I hadn't seen this in years, forgotten how powerful it was. Highly recommended if you haven't seen it.

[Darkness_Fish]

British comedy horror, concerning a chubby ginger bloke, and his cocky tosspot of a friend's attempts to get him laid before his 30th birthday. Along come two attractive women, who are surprisingly eager to head off with the two, and whose intentions may be a little ... psychotic. Works better as a comedy than a horror, it's got an earthiness that really appeals, it's half Texas Chainsaw Massacre, half Shaun of the Dead. I liked it a lot.

Then ...



Which was as poor as you'd expect it to be. I liked one of the Wrong Turn sequels, the one with Henry Rollins, which played itself for good camp fun, knowing it was shit. This just didn't have the same joie de mort. Just unpleasant from start to finish, really.

and finally ...



Which was a belated Easter present for my wife. Really does everything you want from a daft family film, looks great, has some great performances from a quality cast, and has a heart of purest schmaltz. Lovely stuff.

[naughty boy]

Barcelona cinema, three nights on the trot. The Florida Project, The Death of Stalin and The Shape of Water. All fucking excellent. I'm a happy boy.

[toomanyhatz]

A bit disappointing, frankly. A bit cartoonish - some of the dialog in particular reads like a high school history assignment - though the acting is generally good - particularly Bruce Dern as Joe Kennedy.

Unless you're really interested in the incident - which the movie speculates on, but really doesn't offer any new facts - it's not worth rushing to see. A decent TV movie masquerading as important cinema.

[Goat Boy]

Pickpocket

I’ve tried but I really don’t like Bresson.

The performances of the actors in particular, drained from any emotion always appear so listless, which is maybe the point because everybody is seemingly living in some kind of purgatorial state but it’s not something I can get with. I understand this multi-take pruning of “performance” was deliberate but the effect is distracting and artificial. I feel no emotion watching his films at all. I dislike his view of humanity too. He seems obsessed by the idea of redemption and sin which is not something I can relate to either.

[hippopotamus]

Just came back from seeing Isle of Dogs




I was not sure if I would like it, but I was obviously hoping I would.
I think I've officially gone from being an apologetic Wes Anderson fan, to wanting to learn anyone who says he's just a pastiche.

One of my prevailing thoughts while watching this film, is that despite having such a definable aesthetic, he can't be said to be a one trick pony.
Even for having similarities to Fantastic Mr. Fox for being a sort of Animal-centric, stop animation. It's (another) brand new kind of film.
I think graduating through the likes of Rushmore and Royal Tannenbaums, Moonrise Kingdom was ambitious (and I decided on recent viewing, I did like it) and Grand Budapest Hotel managed to grasp at real meaning for all it's solourful whimsy. And here, even when he could get away with making an aesthetically pleasing cartoon for an established fandom who could forgive him a lot... the film manages to say a lot of things. It's nuanced... and not even ironic. I think what impressed me most is making a film in the current political climate that manages to inspire and not paint everything black and white (even if that is the prevailing colour scheme.) I also really enjoyed that a large portion of the film is unsubtitled and not explained in English, which lets the visuals do the story telling. It's just good film making.

Also, I really like dogs, so maybe I was always going to like it.

I already would like to watch it again.

[Jimbly]

I hate his films. Don't get the appeal at all.

[`]

I hate his films. Don't get the appeal at all.

Ditto. Too clever by two thirds for my tastes I'm afraid

[hippopotamus]

I hate his films. Don't get the appeal at all.

Ditto. Too clever by two thirds for my tastes I'm afraid

What does that mean?

[Goat Boy]

I don't find them too clever.

I do find them annoying from what I've seen though

[Penk!]

I find him irritating and hollow but he can be amusing and imaginative too.

For someone renowned for his visual style, though, those dogs look really rubbish.

And he looks like a nonce.

[hippopotamus]

I find him irritating and hollow but he can be amusing and imaginative too.

For someone renowned for his visual style, though, those dogs look really rubbish.

And he looks like a nonce.

I like the personal attack style film review.

[hippopotamus]

I don't find them too clever.

I do find them annoying from what I've seen though

I think it's a bit of a pity he's become such an Entity. The more I think of it, the more I don't think it makes much sense to lump all his films together, as though they are all trying to achieve the same thing. I suppose if you found his camera angles and general aesthetic offensive, that would probably be grounds to dismiss them all... and that's okay. I like some, I don't like some, I love two or three.

[Goat Boy]

I find him punchable. He's the kind of man I'd probably sneer at in the street.

I quite liked Rushmore though but I don't think he ever fulfilled his early promise.

I hated Moonrise Kingdom and the Darjeeling Limited. The Grand Budapest Hotel seemed to get really good reviews but I'd turned off by that point. Maybe he's matured, I dunno, but I really don't feel like I'm missing out.

[naughty boy]

I really enjoyed The Grand Budapest Hotel. It's a romp. So much fun.

[Darkness_Fish]

Yeah, I liked The Grand Budapest Hotel, but I haven't seen anything else he's made. He definitely looks like a nonce though, and his suit offends me.

[Matt Wilson]

There's been too much talk about highbrow directors like Wes Anderson, time to take it to a more lowbrow level. A level I'm much more comfortable with.


Cheech & Chong's Up in Smoke

The beginning of stoner comedy. There had been a few albums before this, and there would be a few more films after (the second of which is worth your time as well), but this is the one best remembered by aficionados. It's not great, and you really should not watch it straight. Get as high as you can take it, and then throw this on. If you're not laughing within a few minutes, it's not for you. And there's nothing wrong with that.

[Darkness_Fish]

I'm keeping it lowbrow, too:



Probably the best Final Destination since the second one, though it loses steam in the middle, it's hard to keep the mousetrap-style convoluted deaths interesting, and the eye-surgery scene just doesn't work at all. It's also distracting that one of the actors looks like Tom Cruise trying to hide behind enormous eyebrows.