Return of the RECENT VIEWING
- Darkness_Fish
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING
Competent, if slightly ropy thriller from Wes Carpenter. The scenes on the plane are actually quite well done, the tension between the two leads is handled well, and the situation almost feels sensible. However, the plot is absolutely inane nonsense, revolving around the need to build up a profile of a hotel manager, stalk her and her family, so she can change the room allocation of a politician. So they can fire an RPG at him. Hmm....
Like fast-moving clouds casting shadows against a hillside, the melody-loop shuddered with a sense of the sublime, the awful unknowable majesty of the world.
- Geezee
- Posts: 12798
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING
Darkness_Fish wrote:
Competent, if slightly ropy thriller from Wes Carpenter. The scenes on the plane are actually quite well done, the tension between the two leads is handled well, and the situation almost feels sensible. However, the plot is absolutely inane nonsense, revolving around the need to build up a profile of a hotel manager, stalk her and her family, so she can change the room allocation of a politician. So they can fire an RPG at him. Hmm....
Think Cillian Murphy is one of the best in the business - but his movies aren't always very good at all.
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- Matt Wilson
- Psychedelic Cowpunk
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING
Emperor of the North Pole
Another Lee Marvin picture from his late '60s early '70s prime. This involves hoboes in the depression era riding trains when conductors would force them off, even to the point of death. Not bad - marginally better than Hell in the Pacific, which I reviewed the other day. Excellent transfer of an above average (but no better) film.
- Dr Markus
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING
Whiplash.
It was an enjoyable movie if somewhat forced. The music, especially the drumming, was AMAZING. (Well to me it was, some proper jazz fans will probably say it was amateurish, I bow to your knowledge). Simmions was good fun and is a better actor than I thought. I'm imaging that it is as ruthless as the film makes out to make it in the uni, and the film left that in no doubt. The end was a bit of cop out in my opinion, and lastly, if Teller is one of the rising stars in Hollywood, Hollywood is in trouble. He's shit.
Drama Queenie wrote:You are a chauvinist of the quaintest kind. About as threatening as Jack Duckworth, you are a harmless relic of that cherished era when things were 'different'. Now get back to drawing a moustache on that page three model
- northernsky
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING
I was slightly concerned that his droll, one step removed from reality style would sit awkwardly with the painful truths of the refugee crisis. I shouldn't have worried - this is splendid.
- harvey k-tel
- Long Player
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING
Matt Wilson wrote:
Hell in the Pacific
Pretty good Lee Marvin/Tishuro Mifune survival film about two WWII soldiers (one American, one Japanese) stranded on an island in the Pacific. Minimal dialogue, interesting plot. They become friends, of course. Average transfer as usual, from Kino Lorber. I should do a thread on Marvin. That guy made a lot of good movies and even some great ones.
Is that the one where they're both scrambling around a lagoon chucking things at one another? That film's great!
Tempora mutatur et nos mutamur in illis
- Dr Markus
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING
Harvey K-Tel wrote:Matt Wilson wrote:
Hell in the Pacific
Pretty good Lee Marvin/Tishuro Mifune survival film about two WWII soldiers (one American, one Japanese) stranded on an island in the Pacific. Minimal dialogue, interesting plot. They become friends, of course. Average transfer as usual, from Kino Lorber. I should do a thread on Marvin. That guy made a lot of good movies and even some great ones.
Is that the one where they're both scrambling around a lagoon chucking things at one another? That film's great!
The remake was WAY better
NOT.
Drama Queenie wrote:You are a chauvinist of the quaintest kind. About as threatening as Jack Duckworth, you are a harmless relic of that cherished era when things were 'different'. Now get back to drawing a moustache on that page three model
- joels344
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING
Watched some brilliant films today, while feeling under the weather. Seems to be the best way to recover is with some pure cinema. Out of these two, I believe Kwaidan will be a new addition to my favorite films list. It was an absolute masterpiece and joy to experience from start to end. This film proves, yet again, why Kobayashi is one of the greatest filmmakers to exist and arguably the finest from Japan. Every story in the film ended up being engaging, haunting, and visually substantial in their own unique way. It wouldn't be right to rank them, because it must be experienced as an entire package. This film is an essential work and one that cannot be missed.
I'll also add that Nostalghia is unfortunately overlooked amongst Tarkovsky's already important filmography. I see why some may not enjoy it as much as his other works, because it seems to be a challenging and perplexing work. However, the dedication and ending payoff is well worth the patience. It's one of his most human and emotional films with stunning cinematography (I'd say right there with Zerkalo and Andrei Rublev). I love how it was able to incorporate architecture, landscape, cultural confusion, philosophical concepts, language and nature's elements into one cohesive film.
I'll also add that Nostalghia is unfortunately overlooked amongst Tarkovsky's already important filmography. I see why some may not enjoy it as much as his other works, because it seems to be a challenging and perplexing work. However, the dedication and ending payoff is well worth the patience. It's one of his most human and emotional films with stunning cinematography (I'd say right there with Zerkalo and Andrei Rublev). I love how it was able to incorporate architecture, landscape, cultural confusion, philosophical concepts, language and nature's elements into one cohesive film.
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- Matt Wilson
- Psychedelic Cowpunk
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING
The Reivers
I've never known exactly what to think of this late '60s McQueen picture. It's entertaining enough, concerning the coming of age of an eleven-year-old boy and taken from a Faulkner novel. There's casual racism, thievery and prostitution, and it's certainly handled fairly well, but I'm not so sure it's all that special. I can watch it about every ten years or so and not miss it (it's been way longer than that since I saw it last, actually). Like a lot of cult films I've been reviewing lately, some people love it. This blu has the best transfer possible though - it's virtually perfect. No subtitles, unfortunately.
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- joels344
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING
90s Cup Champion, The Prog Cup 2019 Champion
- Matt Wilson
- Psychedelic Cowpunk
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING
What's that, Joels344?
- algroth
- Posts: 5714
- Joined: 04 Apr 2010, 03:12
Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING
Matt Wilson wrote:What's that, Joels344?
I'll reply for him. It's The Saragossa Manuscript, a pretty Buñuelesque Polish film. Was also at some point declared by him as his all-time favorite film (and was also mentioned by Coppola and Scorsese as a favorite too; same for Jerry García). It's great stuff, formally inventive, very humorous and engaging. Worth checking out!
- Dr Markus
- Posts: 17670
- Joined: 07 Jan 2012, 18:16
Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING
A fitting end to an underrated and one of the best trilogies around in the past 10 to 15 years. Thanks fuck considering Burton tried to kill it . Always been a fan of the originals, yes all of them, and this does them justice. The story can be a little too much at times, but the themes of 'heavy lies the crown', personal vendetta over the good of the rest of the apes, sacrifice for the greater good, one person to start a revolt etc all get touched on here and it works even though it does sound like a busy movie. Some will be disappointed at the lack of the massive ape vs human war scenes but I don't think it was needed to be honest. I'd like to see Serkis get some non CGI roles to see how good he really is. I've seen him as Ian dury and in brighton rock where he was good, I think there's a good actor underneath all the CGI.
Anyway, this film was brilliant, so was the whole trilogy, a worthy successor to the originals.
Drama Queenie wrote:You are a chauvinist of the quaintest kind. About as threatening as Jack Duckworth, you are a harmless relic of that cherished era when things were 'different'. Now get back to drawing a moustache on that page three model
- joels344
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING
algroth wrote:Matt Wilson wrote:What's that, Joels344?
I'll reply for him. It's The Saragossa Manuscript, a pretty Buñuelesque Polish film. Was also at some point declared by him as his all-time favorite film (and was also mentioned by Coppola and Scorsese as a favorite too; same for Jerry García). It's great stuff, formally inventive, very humorous and engaging. Worth checking out!
Yeah, all of this. It's a fantastic, and memorable film with impeccable shot compositions. Unfortunately, Wojciech Has films are difficult to find here in the States, so there's no proper/legal way of watching or streaming his work. Hopefully, one day Criterion will restore and release some of his films, because I'd love to see them remastered on BluRay.
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- Matt Wilson
- Psychedelic Cowpunk
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING
Prime Cut
You want a weird early '70s crime film? Look no farther than Prime Cut. Lee Marvin and Gene Hackman (with Sissy Spacek in her first role) star in a off-the-beaten-path story of a crime boss (Hackman) in Kansas City who sells both cattle meat and women, and the Chicago killer (Marvin) who is hired to either get 500,000 dollars owed the mob from the crime boss, or kill him - whichever is easier. The thing is - Hackman has people he disagrees with cut up as meat in his factory as well. Pretty gross, eh? Throw in a lot of gratuitous nudity (we first see Spacek that way) and violence and it's almost '70s business as usual. This could have been better, as it is - it's not bad. I still like it better than Hell in the Pacific, but not quite as good as Emperor of the North, which I reviewed last week. That's probably it for me and Lee Marvin movies for awhile.
- jimboo
- Posts: 7316
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING
Damn fine movie that is.
If I jerk- the handle jerk- the handle you'll thrill me and thrill me
- Darkness_Fish
- Posts: 7793
- Joined: 27 Jul 2015, 09:58
Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING
Ok, I know there's not many around here who are going to be big fans, and I'm pretty sure that we'd all hoped that the minions had fucked off for good. But this is quite good; better than The Minions film, which felt quite forced and desperate, and probably better than DM2. It's fairly lacking in the plot department and the 80s references are shoe-horned in just to try and keep the parents happy, but for a bunch of set-pieces sewn together, it's quite funny and has a nice eye for detail.
Like fast-moving clouds casting shadows against a hillside, the melody-loop shuddered with a sense of the sublime, the awful unknowable majesty of the world.
- Snarfyguy
- Dominated by the Obscure
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING
Very enjoyable. Moodysson has a great feel for his characters.
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING
The Great Defector wrote:
A fitting end to an underrated and one of the best trilogies around in the past 10 to 15 years. Thanks fuck considering Burton tried to kill it . Always been a fan of the originals, yes all of them, and this does them justice. The story can be a little too much at times, but the themes of 'heavy lies the crown', personal vendetta over the good of the rest of the apes, sacrifice for the greater good, one person to start a revolt etc all get touched on here and it works even though it does sound like a busy movie. Some will be disappointed at the lack of the massive ape vs human war scenes but I don't think it was needed to be honest. I'd like to see Serkis get some non CGI roles to see how good he really is. I've seen him as Ian dury and in brighton rock where he was good, I think there's a good actor underneath all the CGI.
Anyway, this film was brilliant, so was the whole trilogy, a worthy successor to the originals.
Saw it yesterday. The second is my favorite but this was good. Also, some good references to the first set of movies, if you caught them, with the forbidden zone and "Nova."
Don't fake the funk on a nasty dunk!