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 » 28 Jul 2018, 02:33

PENK wrote: Or maybe it's just that with these films, you can't watch them too close together. Because they are all basically the same, aren't they?


That's pretty much it. And the two you just watched are better than the first three if memory serves. Bond-lite. Or Bourne-lite if that's your taste.

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Darkness_Fish
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Darkness_Fish » 29 Jul 2018, 21:18

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My wife really likes this film for some reason. A reasonable update of Rear Window for the MTV generation, but it seems to sag quite a bit in the middle, so you lose interest and suddenly you look up and there's a fight in a dungeon going on, which seems really out of place. Actually spent about half an hour last night pausing the film and looking through Abba videos, to find out what song the 'sinister' incidental music reminded us of. It was the verses to "Money Money Money".
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.

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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Matt Wilson » 31 Jul 2018, 02:17

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A Matter of Life & Death

The Archers' view of life after death is given a stunning transfer in this new Criterion blu of their first post WWll picture. As beautiful as The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, The Red Shoes, Black Narcissus, etc. Which is to say among the most spectacular uses of the technicolor lens as you're likely to see. It leaps out at you. It's almost impossible not to be impressed if you're viewing it on a large screen monitor. The story is somewhat hokey, but serviceable. The Britishness of the entire enterprise permeates everything, of course. The American prosecutor in heaven is emblematic of an anti-Britishness which Powell & Pressburger felt threatened by. He's obviously the villain of the piece, and the Frenchman is embarrassingly foppish and every Gallic stereotype you can think of is on display in the screenplay. This doesn't ruin the movie though and it's recommended.

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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Jimbly » 31 Jul 2018, 16:50

At the same time Massey lists British faults throughout history during the trial. One of my favourite films.
So Long Kid, Take A Bow.

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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Samoan » 02 Aug 2018, 19:55

The Bunker

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I stumbled upon this on TV one evening, depicting the events surrounding Adolf Hitler's last weeks in and around his underground bunker in Berlin before and during the battle for the city.
Totally and utterly vile and repellent but required viewing.






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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Jimbly » 04 Aug 2018, 09:01

Out with the not quite as wee as he used to be Wee Guy. we saw Ant-Man and The Wasp. Great fun and very enjoyable, doesnt take itself too seriously.
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Darkness_Fish » 06 Aug 2018, 09:27

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Modern tinder-era take on Fatal Attraction, where an up and coming ad exec who uses an online dating service for one-night stands meets a girl who won't accept his rejections. Quite short, snappy, and effective, I thought. The twist is fairly obvious, but the film is engaging enough with two particularly convincing lead performances.
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.

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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Darkness_Fish » 07 Aug 2018, 21:15

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I was quite impressed with this, though I think it walks a fine line between attempting to be an articulate insightful film, and remembering to actually entertain the kids, and sometimes gets the balance wrong. The whole debate about whether laws are moral in and of themselves didn't seem to amuse Tom as much as the baby kicking the shit out of a racoon, for instance. Still, it's definitely a vast improvement on all the Marvel shit that gets vomited onto our screens at the moment.
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.

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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Matt Wilson » 08 Aug 2018, 03:57

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Cross of Iron

I just recently got an Oppo 203 disc player and installed the chip to make it region-free. I'm indulging in some region B blus and this is the first one I played. The British blu of Cross of Iron is excellent. A good transfer (though a tad on the greenish side), with decent supplements. I should've gone region free years ago. Peckinpah's last good movie.

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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby pcqgod » 08 Aug 2018, 19:10

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Unfriended: Dark Web (2018)

Like the previous movie in the series, you are watching a computer screen through the entire movie. Also like the first, it works pretty well, at least until the concept of evil, omnipotent dark webbers who can see and hear everything you do and can be anywhere and everywhere gets out of hand.

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Mission Impossible: Fallout (2018)

I love this movie because it has incredible, borderline superhero-type action but doesn't fall into that post-Matrix trap of making the action look easy, with heroes shooting with pin-point accuracy while doing double backflips, or whatever. There's real grit and danger portrayed. The characters and dialogue still aren't particularly memorable, and there are sufficient twists and turns, rogue double agents stolen nukes and platitudes about helping people to make it a comfortable Hollywood blockbuster.

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Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)

A truly soulless and surprisingly flat action/adventure featuring characters and plot that could have been knocked off by any hack Young Adult writer in 30 minutes. While watching this, I was actually having a mental conversation with myself along these lines: Me: "Remember 'Wizard of Oz'? That was a good move." Me: "yeah. Remember 'Fellowship of the Ring'?....etc.
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Matt Wilson » 09 Aug 2018, 02:03

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Convoy

Night two of my region B blu ray fest: Peckinpah's unfortunate Convoy gets the Brit treatment with a fine transfer and plenty of extras. The film is a muddled mess with a reported original 3 1/2 hour cut reduced to its less-than-two hour theatrical version. Honestly, the movie is crap, and only a masochist could sit through a longer cut. Even Kristofferson in his ultra-cool '70s days couldn't redeem this.

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The Ipcress File
Considered a classic in its day, it holds up fairly well I guess. There's that silly '60s spy stuff concerning brain washing and Caine makes a pretty good anti-Bond (he was really on a role in the mid '60s through the mid '70s, wasn't he? Zulu, this, Alfie, The Italian Job, Get Carter, Sleuth, The Man Who Would be King, etc.). Transfer is okay, though it could probably do with a bit of freshening up. Another region B disc from the UK.

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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Darkness_Fish » 10 Aug 2018, 10:05

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Polish comedy-horror, that isn't really a horror at all, and as a comedy is so black as to be ashen. The wedding-day celebrations of an Israeli and his Polish bride appear to be slightly marred by the apparent possession of the groom by a dybbuk. Of course, the family don't want anything to seem remiss on the big day, so as the groom becomes more unpredictable, the more alcohol is served, the more devastating the party becomes. Bacchanalian excess, ghost stories, and holocaust references, all tied up in one oddly entertaining film.

As if to underline how bleak this film is, the director committed suicide during his stay at a film festival where he was on promotional duties.
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.

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Matt Wilson
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Matt Wilson » 11 Aug 2018, 06:24

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The Samurai Trilogy

Hiroshi Inagaki's Samurai trilogy has been called Japan's Gone with the Wind, and it's easy to see why. Not that there's much of a romance to this historical epic but the sweep and grandeur of these pictures are as entertaining as anything Mifune did with Kurosawa. The movies center on a real life ronin samurai named Musashi Miyamoto who lived to duel and sharpen his technique. Apparently, he's more famous in Japan than virtually any other historical figure. Anyway, this upgrade of my old Criterion DVDs was long overdue and it makes me want more Japanese cinema in my home video library.

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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby driftin » 12 Aug 2018, 04:38

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Just lovely.

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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Snarfyguy » 13 Aug 2018, 20:42

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Seemed almost like more of a war movie with a super hero in it than a super hero movie proper. But my seven year-old liked it (except for the parts with kissing) and it's more aimed at her than me, so I'm not complaining when I say I found it predictable and 1/2 an hour too long but otherwise okay.


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Very enjoyable, although I confess that, between the characters' stoned mumbling and the show's use of slang/dialect, my comprehension of the dialogue is probably around 75%.
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Jimbly » 13 Aug 2018, 22:14

Snarfyguy wrote:Image

Seemed almost like more of a war movie with a super hero in it than a super hero movie proper. But my seven year-old liked it (except for the parts with kissing) and it's more aimed at her than me, so I'm not complaining when I say I found it predictable and 1/2 an hour too long but otherwise okay.



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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Snarfyguy » 14 Aug 2018, 00:12

^^^ Well done. They looked very, er, lifelike.
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Jimbly » 14 Aug 2018, 16:51

Snarfyguy wrote:^^^ Well done. They looked very, er, lifelike.


The very man.


https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.dail ... 566562.amp
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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby Matt Wilson » 16 Aug 2018, 04:55

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The Dead Zone
Another one of my region B blus. I like the movie, one of Stephen King's better film adaptations, and certainly Walken's best leading performance. I hadn't seen it in decades, since it came out probably. It's been almost forgotten now since other, glitzier King pictures like It, The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption succeeded it. One of Cronenberg's better efforts too. The transfer could be better, and there's no subtitles.

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Queimada
Brando himself considered this one of his best performances, and this 129 minute version (the original theatrical version ran 132 minutes) is the best home video version available. It's in German with English subtitles, and the English language version is strangely available as a bonus feature. The print is a bit washed out and the whole endeavor could use a restoration but we should be glad to have it as such. As a film it's okay, there are better movies about English imperialism and the creation of banana republics, but its importance in the Brando myth is important to me and as such, it comes recommended.

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Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

Finney's breakthrough and one of the finest British films of the era. Is this the best kitchen sink drama? I dunno, is that term even in use anymore? Britain's new wave might not have panned out as much as the French one, but pictures like this, Look Back in Anger, A Taste of Honey, This Sporting Life, Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, etc. have certainly stood the test of time. This is why I switched to a region-free disc player - this particular movie isn't even available in America on blu.

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The Addiction

Ferrara's little high IQ bloodsucker B&W movie from the '90s still holds up. It's not Bad Lieutenant (or even King of New York) but it does have a Christopher Walken cameo, lots of cool photography, and enough Nietzsche, Nazi, philosophy, and deconstructionist existentialism to make you ponder its meaning for days. Are vampires really Übermensches? Hmmm....

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Re: Return of the RECENT VIEWING

Postby driftin » 24 Aug 2018, 17:44

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Not only one of the best action films of the decade but one of the best films period. The action scenes are superb and will remain so but the level of detail in its world building, its characterisation and arcs, its rich themes all interwoven into its fabric just become so much more apparent with every viewing.


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