Return of the RECENT VIEWING

[Darkness_Fish]

Annual traditional viewing, always has to happen once my wife's birthday is out of the way.

[Samoan]

Valmont (1989) is Milos Forman's take on the 1782 novel "Les Liaisons dangereuses" and it is sumptuous.
Annette Bening's portrayal of the seductive, scheming, game-playing Marquise de Merteuil is one of her most accomplished lead performances and there's an (surprise to me) appearance by Ian McNeice, now well known on British TV as Bert Large from Doc Martin, playing Valmont's trusty man servant Azolan.

[driftin]

Psychopathy, incest, narcissism, hallucinations, ultra-violence, Carrie Fisher. A proper Christmas classic.

[Darkness_Fish]

The best Christmas film after It's a Wonderful Life (which it references occasionally). And don't give me no Die Hard nonsense.

[Matt Wilson]

The Sea Hawk

Watched this a couple of nights ago. Supreme Hollywood entertainment from Warner Brothers right before WWII. Flynn is in fine swashbuckling form, like he's channeling Doug Fairbanks or something. Good sets, decent story (he's pirating Spanish ships for England, you see), competent Michael Curtiz direction, etc. If you like that sort of thing - this will check every box. Stellar transfer too.

[Jimbly]

Laibach: Liberation Day.

a documentry of Laibach's cultural visit to North Korea. Fantastic stuff.

[driftin]

A 1962 sexploitation comedy with Universal's classic monsters in it. It was on MUBI and it's endorsed by Nic Winding Refn so I thought I'd give it a go.

It's utter shite.

[pcqgod]

Dark comedy about two women vying to be the unofficial consort of England's Queen Anne, reveling in the more perverse aspects of courtly life of the times. The best performance is by Olivia Colman as the Queen.

[Darkness_Fish]

Keeping it seasonal:

[northernsky]

Keeping it seasonal:

That's a terrific film!
We should all watch it as a Margot Kidder tribute this year.

[Samoan]

...

It's utter shite.

Of course it was. Had you not the slightest clue beforehand?

[driftin]

...

It's utter shite.

Of course it was. Had you not the slightest clue beforehand?

No, I'd never heard of it before and thought it'd be fun. Was I supposed to know it or something?

[driftin]

If Philip K. Dick made a Telltale videogame it'd be something like this. What a weird, ultra meta, highly inventive piece of... television? Probably the most Black Mirrorish episode ever. Episode? What is anything?

[driftin]

This is incredible.

[driftin]

So's this.

[Darkness_Fish]

I hadn't seen this since I was a teenager, and recent viewings of the Denzel remake made me wonder if it was as good as I recalled. It is. Oozes class and grit, and doesn't waste a second of its running time, even down to the final gesundheit.

[Matt Wilson]

Definitely, there was something about those 1970's films set in NYC which is timeless. This is one of the better ones, actually.

[Snarfyguy]

This doesn't really amount to much, but it's a pleasure watching the cast members (also featuring Sylvia Miles and a couple of instantly recognizable character actors) strut their stuff.

[Darkness_Fish]

Something of a pleasure compared to the recent slew of smugly bland 'live action' superhero flicks. Much more stylish and smart, the comic-book art aesthetic is carried through with aplomb. I felt the second half weakened a tad, the extra characters were a little silly and unnecessary, but I'd take this over another CGI mugfest anyday.

[Matt Wilson]

Anne of the Thousand Days

The last of Richard Burton's seven nominated performances to make it to blu ray. I'd never seen it before, and It's pretty good. Not entirely historically accurate, but close enough - this story of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn and their dissociation from the Church of Rome in order to be betrothed is well acted, photographed, written, etc. Not a classic but a good transfer and I was entertained.

The Barefoot Contessa
Schlocky Hollywood melodrama which was a big hit in 1954 - a year which Bogie had no less than three successes (this, Sabrina, and The Caine Mutiny), and all of them worthy to some extent. A screenplay dealing with films, rags-to-riches, and a homosexual element buried in the production code. The transfer is okay but could be better. Another one I'd never seen.