Return of the RECENT VIEWING

[pcqgod]

London Fields (2018)

Watching this movie is like seeing someone walking around with his fly down; an uncomfortably embarrassing feeling of seeing someone make a fool of themselves yet completely oblivious. In this case it's Billy Bob Thornton, or Amber Heard, or the person who wrote the screenplay or just about anyone associated with this film who didn't recognize what a sophomoric and utterly dull attempt to be meta or post-modern (or whatever they were shooting for) this movie is. Supposedly it's based on a great book, but if the monologues you hear in this movie are based on the author's words, I have to doubt it, unless they are so clever and meta on some level that it completely eluded me.

[Snarfyguy]

At the dawn the television age a young seminary student chucks it in favor of dedicating himself to children's TV programming. With his disarmingly ingenuous manner and refusal to patronize youngsters, his show became an unlikely but enduring programming mainstay, driven by the engine of his own fundamentally kind, sincere persona. He didn't shy away from weighty topics either; frightening or confusing events were examined without pandering to an audience he considered worthy of treatment with dignity.

I give it five hankies - a total tearjerker.

[Matt Wilson]

Down by Law
Three disparate people are in the same New Orleans jail cell and escape to the bayou. It's a Jim Jarmusch film, so dialog is minimalist, style/ambiance is key and the use of non actors marvelously photographed is the appeal. Better than Mystery Train but not as interesting as Dead Man to me. Perhaps my fave Tom Waits performance.

[Jimbly]

I watched the three Godfather films this week. I love all three. First time I've properly looked at the additional scenes. Hyman Roth as a youth being introduced to Vito. I wish they'd release the chronological version.

[Matt Wilson]

I don't know why you'd want the chronological version of that, what would be the point? Anyway, yes - the first two are masterpieces, the third is better than its reputation suggests.

[Snarfyguy]

I don't know why you'd want the chronological version of that, what would be the point? Anyway, yes - the first two are masterpieces, the third is better than its reputation suggests.

They showed an edit of I and II on television in the 70s or early 80s that presented that put the sequences in chron order. I didn't see it, but I recall it was pretty well received. Interesting idea.

[pcqgod]

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

Ironically enough, considering the subject matter, this movie comes across as pretty tame, television movie level entertainment, no real invention or subversiveness (aside from flashing negative reviews of the title song during the montage of its recording). Few scenes have real dramatic power, but the closing scenes will probably bring a tear to your eye or a lump in throat if you're a fan.

[Jimbly]

I don't know why you'd want the chronological version of that, what would be the point? Anyway, yes - the first two are masterpieces, the third is better than its reputation suggests.

I'd want it because it's a different perspective. I saw it years ago and they used some material thst didnt make the released version.

[Matt Wilson]

I remember watching the chronological TV version. There may have been a scene or two added in but I don't recall. Nonetheless, this idea of tinkering with the original film is not for me. I wouldn't want to see Memento or Pulp Fiction in a linear sequence either. When Lucas added in CGI characters to the original Star Wars trilogy, or when Spielberg gave us a different version of Close Encounters I didn't like it either. Coppola's Apocalypse Now Redux sucks. Not one of the added scenes increased my appreciation of the picture.

[Minnie the Minx]

Last night we started to watch the original version of The Woman in Black. We had started watching it on Halloween but were too tired to stay up and watch it all. I had seen it before, and recalled being terrified by it. About 25 minutes in last night, we couldn't watch anymore because we felt so uneasy and scared. Two grown arse adults! We ended up watching re-runs of Smack the Pony instead.

[Samoan]

The One was up against it from the get go escaping from an island nation during wartime.
British WW2 POW camps were either in the wet, windy, rural and remote north west of England from which if you escaped you'd soon succumb to exposure or starvation or prisoners were shipped over to Canada.
Two failed escape attempts later, once by feigning Dutch Allied air force identity, The One and a contingent of fellow German prisoners are shipped to the frozen wastes of Halifax, Nova Scotia and aided by a three day Canadian rail road trip and a crate of Montreal's finest apples, things start to look up.

This is the true story of Franz von Werra, a Luftwaffe pilot who was the only German prisoner-of-war in Britain ever to successfully escape and get back to Germany.

[Matt Wilson]

3 Women

Altman's films usually fit into three categories for me: The good/great, the above average/average, and the not-so-good/abysmal. He made just as many weak movies as he did good ones, that's for sure. The first category would include MASH, McCabe & Mrs Miller, The Long Goodbye, Nashville, The Player, Short Cuts, and Gosford Park. The middle category would include this, Thieves Like Us, California Split, Secret Honor and a few more. Unfortunately, most of his other films fall into the last category. The story of 3 Women came to him in a dream, and it has more than a few similarities to Bergman's Persona. Except that picture is a masterpiece, this is merely pretty good. Neither a satire, nor a deconstructionist view on Hollywood tropes/genres. An upgrade to my Criterion DVD.

[Davey the Fat Boy]

3 Women

Altman's films usually fit into three categories for me: The good/great, the above average/average, and the not-so-good/abysmal. He made just as many weak movies as he did good ones, that's for sure. The first category would include MASH, McCabe & Mrs Miller, The Long Goodbye, Nashville, The Player, Short Cuts, and Gosford Park. The middle category would include this, Thieves Like Us, California Split, Secret Honor and a few more. Unfortunately, most of his other films fall into the last category. The story of 3 Women came to him in a dream, and it has more than a few similarities to Bergman's Persona. Except that picture is a masterpiece, this is merely pretty good. Neither a satire, nor a deconstructionist view on Hollywood tropes/genres. An upgrade to my Criterion DVD.

3 Women is top tier Altman. Only McCabe & Mrs. Miller and Nashville truly rival it.

[Geezee]

And Gosford Park needs to be moved down to the trash pile.

[naughty boy]

Definitely.

California Split might be my favourite, actually.

At least he put Short Cuts and Nashville in the right category.

[Samoan]

And Gosford Park needs to be moved down to the trash pile.

Agreed.
I'd like to put A Wedding in the middle category.
Out in it's own category perhaps as it features a lot of dance and which I like a lot, as I did ballet is The Company.

[GoogaMooga]

Altman is best with an ensemble cast and overlapping dialogue. Plus "adventurous" zooms...

[naughty boy]

Altman is best with an ensemble cast and overlapping dialogue. Plus "adventurous" zooms...

He's the BEST with ensemble casts! That's why I love him. Him and Forman.

[naughty boy]

I really should see Short Cuts again...

[naughty boy]

That Cold Day In The Park Blu-ray going for 9 quid on Amazon - any good?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/That-Masters-C ... A383380011