Return of the RECENT VIEWING

[Minnie the Minx]

Only seen that once many moons ago but it has always stuck with me. Pete Postlethwaite was a treasure.

Yes, although he was quite an arse in that!

[Matt Wilson]

The Hot Rock

Fairly entertaining caper film with a post Butch Cassidy/pre Sting Robert Redford. New York locales and a William Goldman script (played for laughs) still don't great cinema make. I'd never seen it.

[naughty boy]

Most of you probably know enough about the subject, right? I'll just say that this is a documentary that's worthy of him. It's conventional - linear - but the voice of RW (literally) is featured throughout - atypically sober, open and honest.

You get the full picture - friends, family and lovers fulsome in their praise. He was an incredible talent, a once-in-a-generation comic genius. But there's a sadness that takes over the story once he becomes famous, and watching this you're really pulled through all the emotions. Despite the joy he brought to so many lives, and all the great work he left behind, I think his is a tragic tale. Although it was great to be reminded of his brilliance, it left me feeling terribly sad.

[Geezee]

I wonder about that - what's the evidence for him being a once-in-a-generation comic genius? He certainly had his moments. But I wonder how docs like that handle the undeniably saccharine, awful side of his work. We saw the Whitney Houston doc recently and while it does occasionally highlight the fact that she was effectively producing sugary, meaningless pop, there is no real critical appraisal of this - instead just her fans lavishing praise on her brilliance and plenty of talk of the records she broke. I can imagine something similar with Robin Williams. I mean do they in any way delve into the fact that this man is responsible for some of the worst movies of all time?

[Matt Wilson]

I wonder about that - what's the evidence for him being a once-in-a-generation comic genius? He certainly had his moments. But I wonder how docs like that handle the undeniably saccharine, awful side of his work. We saw the Whitney Houston doc recently and while it does occasionally highlight the fact that she was effectively producing sugary, meaningless pop, there is no real critical appraisal of this - instead just her fans lavishing praise on her brilliance and plenty of talk of the records she broke. I can imagine something similar with Robin Williams. I mean do they in any way delve into the fact that this man is responsible for some of the worst movies of all time?

Why would he be responsible for them? He didn't write the parts. Plenty (all?) of great actors have made shit films. Does that make them 'responsible?' Filmmaking is a collaborative process and no one has a perfect record of successes.

[naughty boy]

Yeah, everybody involved in any art produces shit at some stage. It doesn't say much about the person really.


I'll give you a couple of examples of RW's genius, OK?

One: there's film of him doing improv and his reactions to other people's lines are insanely fast and funny. To be that fast AND that funny without knowing in advance what he was going to be hit with indicates a very special mind. It worked like no other I can think of.

Two: he finished his studies at Juilliard early. They have very high standards there, and they really push their students. And they said there was nothing more they could do with him. Can you imagine that? They threw their hands up and said he knew it all already! That's one fuck of an admission from a school that prestigious. He stunned them all with (for example) incredibly accurate imitations of French, Spanish, Russian and German speakers of English (I think that was early on in his studies).


Look - if you don't want to call it 'genius', then fine. I'm not too hung up on that term. But saying he was 'very talented', or that he had a 'great mind' just isn't enough.

Watch the doc - it's very good. It's just a bit of a heartbreaker. Pam Dawber's recollections hit me hardest, somehow.

[Minnie the Minx]

I’ve been trying to get through as many of Satyajit Ray’s films before Filmstruck disappears this weekend. The other night I watched ‘The Elephant God’ which had a completely different mood to everything else I have watched so far, but the colours were gorgeous and it was wonderful to see some proper 1970’s Indian flares.

[Jimbly]

We are continuing with our Black and White film watching. Last night it was To Have And Have Not. Top drawer Bogart and Bacall defined sultry.

[$P.Muff$]

One: there's film of him doing improv and his reactions to other people's lines are insanely fast and funny. To be that fast AND that funny without knowing in advance what he was going to be hit with indicates a very special mind. It worked like no other I can think of.

Copious amounts of cocaine played a huge role in his spitfire wit. I always found him extremely annoying, but I don't doubt that he was a very smart individual.

[naughty boy]

One: there's film of him doing improv and his reactions to other people's lines are insanely fast and funny. To be that fast AND that funny without knowing in advance what he was going to be hit with indicates a very special mind. It worked like no other I can think of.

Copious amounts of cocaine played a huge role in his spitfire wit. I always found him extremely annoying, but I don't doubt that he was a very smart individual.

The cocaine might account for the speed at which he operated, but not his wit. That was something he was born with - and this is evidenced by the documentary. And anyway he was clean for much of his career.

I get the 'annoying' thing, I really do. I used to feel the same way. I'm sure he was hard work at times. But you realise he was a fine actor and quite often he played it very subtly - he wasn't always off on a tear (maybe he's most famous for those roles - Mork and Mindy, Good Morning Vietnam). And his kids speak of how much fun, and how loving he was.

[$P.Muff$]

Thing is, even if he was sober (and I'm not trying to denigrate drug users, I am one) he always reminded me of a cokehead. They get on my nerves. I'm a chill kinda guy. But yeah, I imagine having him for a father would have been a hoot.

[the masked man]

I wonder about that - what's the evidence for him being a once-in-a-generation comic genius? He certainly had his moments. But I wonder how docs like that handle the undeniably saccharine, awful side of his work. We saw the Whitney Houston doc recently and while it does occasionally highlight the fact that she was effectively producing sugary, meaningless pop, there is no real critical appraisal of this - instead just her fans lavishing praise on her brilliance and plenty of talk of the records she broke. I can imagine something similar with Robin Williams. I mean do they in any way delve into the fact that this man is responsible for some of the worst movies of all time?

Why would he be responsible for them? He didn't write the parts. Plenty (all?) of great actors have made shit films. Does that make them 'responsible?' Filmmaking is a collaborative process and no one has a perfect record of successes.

He chose the roles, and has responsibility for that. It's a similar story with De Niro, who in his later years has made a pile of utterly terrible movies, ruining the memory of his early career. Whereas someone like Jeff Bridges has chosen roles very well and has very few cinematic clunkers on his CV.

[Snarfyguy]

Wreck it Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks the Internet

An orgy of brand and product placement, this was redeemed by a sweet story, although it had a tendency to get a bit lost in the weeds of its own conceit. Needless to say, the little one enjoyed it.

[Matt Wilson]

I wonder about that - what's the evidence for him being a once-in-a-generation comic genius? He certainly had his moments. But I wonder how docs like that handle the undeniably saccharine, awful side of his work. We saw the Whitney Houston doc recently and while it does occasionally highlight the fact that she was effectively producing sugary, meaningless pop, there is no real critical appraisal of this - instead just her fans lavishing praise on her brilliance and plenty of talk of the records she broke. I can imagine something similar with Robin Williams. I mean do they in any way delve into the fact that this man is responsible for some of the worst movies of all time?

Why would he be responsible for them? He didn't write the parts. Plenty (all?) of great actors have made shit films. Does that make them 'responsible?' Filmmaking is a collaborative process and no one has a perfect record of successes.

He chose the roles, and has responsibility for that. It's a similar story with De Niro, who in his later years has made a pile of utterly terrible movies, ruining the memory of his early career. Whereas someone like Jeff Bridges has chosen roles very well and has very few cinematic clunkers on his CV.

All that means is that choosing good projects for yourself is important to you, personally. Bridges is great because he never disappoints, but he has also never reached the manic heights of a Brando or a DeNiro either. Or even a Williams for that matter.

[Snarfyguy]

All that means is that choosing good projects for yourself is important to you, personally.

Huh? How could it be otherwise?

[naughty boy]

could be that they just need the $$$

[Matt Wilson]

No one knows the outcome of a film project when they agree to do it. I've heard many actors say that they went into the role with the best intentions but circumstances outside their control conspired to make the end result disappointing. Endless rewrites to the script, the studio taking away the picture and tacking on audience-pleasing endings, the director not choosing the best takes of a scene, weird editing, etc. Since so many people are involved with the final product, I don't blame one actor for a film not working, when there's usually a multitude of reasons involved.

Not to mention virtually every great artist has been responsible for sub par work. To say "Oh, that guy's no good because he made shit films along with the great ones" shows a lack of appreciation for the film medium itself, or, at best a naivete regarding the process of movie-making.

[Matt Wilson]

And then there's the notion of an artist taking on a commercial project simply because he wants to pay the bills. There's that story of a reporter asking Michael Caine about one of his more dubious choices (was it a Jaws sequel?), the guy asked Caine if he'd even seen the picture. "No," said Caine, "but I've seen the house that film paid for and it looks quite nice, thank you."

[algroth]

Just watched Widows myself. I was worried from the previews that it'd play out as a Snowman/Counsellor-type affair where a lot of talent was poured into what ultimately plays and looks like your average heist thriller, but I'm glad to inform, it's a Steve McQueen film through and through, it shares basically the same feel for pace, framing and almost lyrically fluid montage that the rest of his work has, and is paired with that effortless sensibility to it all that makes his stuff feel so unique and genuine in a moment where most contemporary 'auteurs' seem so driven by their search for style and cinematic virtuosity that their works feel plastic and overwrought in comparison. I like that it's at once something of a crowd-pleaser heist film, but at the same time has a way of capturing the American setting in a way that is very unfiltered, replete with all the warts, idiosyncracies and grotesqueness that makes it feel very genuine and rooted. This is proper political filmmaking through and through, even if at times the film may suffer due to wearing some of its commentary as overtext, and the odd farfetched story beat which, to be frank, is just about what you'd expect from a script that comes from the author behind Gone Girl. But these few missteps hardly affected my enjoyment of the whole, and the end result is thoroughly engaging, imbued with a propelling energy, and simply unmissable. Worth a watch on the big screen.

[algroth]

Also I feel bad for Garret Dillahunt, he's a great actor and's got arguably a bigger role than a few of the people billed in the poster, but still he gets completely ignored. Shame.