Last (x) movies you saw

Mauvis Sang (1986) 3/5
The Harder They Come (1972) 2.5/5
Moonrise Kingdom (2012) 4/5
The Avengers (2012) 3/5
Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns (2003) 2.5/5
Kiss Me Deadly (1955; 2nd viewing) 4.5/5
Routine Pleasures (1986) 3/5
Divorce, Italian Style (1961) 4/5

crazy, stupid, love (ficarra, requa 2011) 1/5
the birds (hitchcock '63) 4/5
and the pursuit of happiness (malle '86) 4/5
phenomena (argento '85) 1.5/5
a good marriage (rohmer '82) 3/5
basket case (henenlotter '82) 3.5/5
safe men (john hamburg '98) 1.5/5

oh i also saw

green fish (lee chang-dong '97) 4/5
the innocents (jack clayton '61) 2.5/5

John Carter (Andrew Stanton, 2012) 2/5
Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee, 2005) 4/5
Prometheus (Ridley Scott, 2012) 4/5
The Black Balloon (Elisa Down, 2008) 3/5
The Rocky Road To Dublin (Peter Lennon, 1968) 5/5
To Live And Die In LA (William Friedkin, 1985) 4/5
Take Shelter (Jeff Nichols, 2011) 3.5/5

Dance, Girl, Dance (Arzner, 1940) 2/5 (D-)
Chronicle (Trank, 2012) 4/5 (B+)
Rampart (Moverman, 2011) 4/5 (B+)
Dick (Fleming, 1999) 3/5 (C+)
Creative Nonfiction (Dunham, 2009) 4/5 (B-)
Tiny Furniture (Dunham, 2010) 3/5 (C)
The Ides of March (Clooney, 2011) 4/5 (B)
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (Shatner, 1989) 2/5 (D)
Cars 2 (Lasseter and Lewis, 2011) 2/5 (D-)
The Incredible Shrinkng Man (Arnold, 1957) 4/5 (B-)
The China Syndrome (Bridges, 1979) 4/5 (B)

Burma Soldier biography of a normal ranking soldier in the Burmese army who had been in a unit mapping the locations of landmines and blown up. Talked about how the higher ranks had ordered the use of villagers as (I think) unpaid porters and human shields.

After the accident the protaganist became an activist speaking out about the system he had been part of which got him in serious trouble with that system.

Interesting fact thrown up as background is that Ne Win supposedly the Burmese socialist leader at one point devalued all currency not divisible by the number 9. I need to find out more about him but he seems to have been the leader of the native freedom fighting in WWII. once he came to power in 1962 he made his own ethnic group centrally powerful. I think there are 18 main ethnicities in Burma and there has been a lot of oppression of ethnicities since that point.

Burma sounds like its seriously messed up, especially since its thought by some that getting outside investment in the prevailing regime is going to cut down on atrocities. I really need to find out what the best material to read on the country is since it does sound atrocious and has been so for the last 50 years plus.

Into The Family played for a couple of days and am glad I caught it -- bloody marvelous.

Wanna see this, though who knows whel I'll get a chance

Will watch Magic Mike and the Wes Anderson this weekend.

In the last week:

Eyes of Laura Mars
We Need To Talk About What a Terrible Movie Kevin Is
On Dangerous Ground

On We Need To Talk...

Everyone seems to hate this with the exception of Walter Chaw, often my most trusted critic. He compares Ramsey to Arbus on film.

John Carter (2011): C+
The Thing (1982): A-
Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter (1974): C-
Prometheus (2012): B-
Moonrise Kingdom (2012): B+

Big Fun in the Big Town (1986): A

Everyone seems to hate this with the exception of Walter Chaw

I liked Kevin quite a bit too, but not enough to drown myself in the sea of negative takes. Better to shore myself up to howl about how terrible the new Dardennes BS is.

Still never seen a dardennes joint.

See The Son. Skip the rest.

Carancho (Pablo Tapero, 2010) - I hate Children of Men, so I found myself not caring for the end...not much that was all that arresting before that. More stories of trying to get money or drugs or both in Argentina. Must have been bored out of my mind to go into that.

Death Watch (Bernard Tavernier, 1980) - from his best period surely (Coup de Torchon was made a year later). Keitel is his good restrained self, and got a look at Romy Schneider - liked what I saw.

Sweet Movie (Dusan Makavejev, 1974) - this film is apparently still banned in Britain. Has that quality of once seen, never forgotten - would be a double bill from hell w/Salo.

Angels' Share (Ken Loach, 2012) - really pleasant, quite funny, sympathetic characters, healthy dose of Tory hate. Tick, tick, tick. What more could you want?

xtreme Private Eros - Kazuo Hara doc from '74 and a stone cold classic where he wants to make a film of his wife he has recently split up with "to be close to her" (and their son). So he watched her get into and out of relationships w/1) another lover in Okinawa, 2) a black GI soldier, whom she has another baby with, and 3) watches her give birth to this baby (soldier had run off by then) by herself in Hara's flat in Tokyo (this is an incredible 10 min sequence) and then 4) finally join a commune, where her kids are taken care of while she works nights in a strip club.

In between Kazuo starts an affair w/one of the crew working in the doc, and he makes her interview his wife, too. All v layered, and v sweet, as you can imagine.

― xyzzzz__, Friday, February 17, 2012 6:44 AM (4 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^watched this today, no joke that 1st birth scene is 1 of the best things ever recorded; this whole thing is basically a better feminist text than andrea dworkins whole life

i also watched http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boost

adapted from a novel ben stein (!) wrote abt ludes -
http://www.theuncool.com/journalism/ludes-book-review-ny-times/

amanda blake aka miss kitty from gunsmoke has a few scenes as a coke dealer/user

barbara : that was 20…jesus, no, it was 25 years ago. I was the top call girl in Vegas. That was before I moved to this burg and started dealing coke. Had it all, before i got busted. Lost all my old customers…the stars, the politicians, all my connections.

tv (jeopardy) "…are incorporated in this state?"

Linda: "What is Delaware?"

james woods: "Hey, good one, buddy. (pats Lindas leg)"

tv "listen to this, he has $12,000"

barbara: "I know your hooter's hollowed through, but…I still recommend coke over all those downers Mark's been feeding you. Those are dangerous.

james woods: "I'm going to knock off everything once I put my plan into operation."

barbara "stick with coke. Don't mix your chemicals"

http://i46.tinypic.com/bgs56w.jpg
http://i46.tinypic.com/2mh7t3a.jpg

it gets a !__! out of 5

Hey Johnny, that's awesome - it is an amazing doc, for many reasons, and should be better known.

Effi Briest (Fassbinder, 1974) - a 'blank' and highly literal (plenty of narrated quotation) adaptation of Fontane's novel. Haven't read the source material, but I'd say the distance in time and its subtleties present -- with the haunted house episodes, which incidentally don't come off that well -- an opportunity for Fassbinder to be less direct with the whole 'bourgeois marriage is a woman's prison full stop'. In Martha he just hammers the point but there is still 40 mins left you know.

Ajantrik (Ghatak, 1958) - I would always have one of his movies in a (silyl as that is) top 10 of all time, but the more of his mere eight films I see the harder it is to know which one. This is surprise of the year, a movie as modern in its construction (its play with sound effects/design to make the car 'human') and themes (disintegration by fusion of man with technology ws novel stuff then) as Hiroshima Mon Amour. I love that it looks forward to Taxi Driver, Crash AND the Herbie movies!

The Night Porter (Cavani, 1974) - Bogarde and Rampling reunion (both were on Visconti's The Dammed, similar themes and all). Surely the best 'art house' effort by either of them (well Bogarde has The Servat). There is a staggering 10 min sequence of the two of them in the Opera house, exchanging glances, getting reacquainted, over music (that looks forward to The Piano Teacher) that takes the breath away - the acting here is a marvel, you truly buy in to what they shared - no matter how ridiculous this is played out in subsequent scenes.

Touki Bouki (Mambety, 1973) - no amount of new wave watching will prepare for the fragmented story of this Senegalese couple's attempt to get a ship to Paris. Brilliant use of repeated music, but I had my struggles with it. Would need to watch this in a cinema to hold my concentration.

Harvest 3000 Years (Gerima, 1975) - Ethiopian drama relating the harshness and exploitation of life on the land. Needs a restoration but I think there are too many extended sequences that you simply zone out of and is a very self-concious avant-garde effort. Not enough to the script.

First 1/2 of Helter Skelter the 1976 movie about the Tate-La Bianca murders based on the writing of Victor Bugliosi the prosecuter in the case. Seems pretty well done for the time & for a tv movie which I think it is.
Being shown in 2 2hr pieces on consecutive nights on True Movies.
Got 3 awards or was nominated for them at the time.

& the guy playing Manson also later played ED Gein I think in the film of the same name.

last film at the cinema = bela tarr's the turin horse, a very great horror film

last film on dvd = lamberto bava's demons, a very entertaining horror movie

in between naps, have also been re-watching antonioni's blow up - david hemmings is SUCH a dick in it! lots of it has dated horribly - the scene where vanessa redgrave smokes a joint and nods her head to a groovy jazz rec is truly cringe-making - but the sequences in the park still seem very fresh and contemporary. antonioni's use of silence, the way that the wind ripples the trees, the distance between subject and camera and the way that the characters move through the exterior and interior spaces is just masterly - don't think anybody has ever been better at placing the camera than old M.A.

Ninja Wars
The Iron Cross
Full Moon Over Paris
The Passion Of Beatrice
Merry Go Round

Phantom of Liberty (Bunuel, 1974) - This should've perhaps gotten a bigger run than Charm of the Bourgeoisie.... Comparatively the humour dies down a bit, anarchic as always, although you perceive a dash of misogny in the scene where only women crowd the serial killer poet at the end of his trial for an autograph. otoh, he hates on everyone and their hypocrisies elsewhere...the review from Tom Milne is a pretty good piece of writing -- almost every review of his that is photocopied onto bfi program notes are just that -- but I wonder if Bunuel is too easy to decode at times. Everyone laughs at the jokes but what do people think of being told they act like ostriches?

Scenes from the Class Struggle in Portugal (Kramer, 1977) - very good doc (didn't like Ice, or should I say I haven't cracked its structure)/ 'action report' on what was going on then. The music was tight, from Fado to Portuguese psych (?)

Bigger run than Charm... at the Jean-Claude Carriere retro taking place at the bfi.

flashpoint (william tannen '84) 4.5/5
marnie (hitchcock '64) 2.5/5
a zed & two noughts (greenaway '85) 3/5
anatomy of a murder (preminger '59) 3.5/5
mean girls (mark waters '04) 3/5
m. butterfly (cronenberg '93) 2.5/5
everbody wins (reisz '90) 2.5/5
melvin and howard (demme '80) 3.5/5
gasland (josh fox 2010) 3.5/5
in search of a midnight kiss (alex holdrige '08) 2.5/5
cherish (finn taylor, 2002) 2.5/5
2 days in new york (delpy, 2012) 3.5/5
texas killing fields (ami mann, 2011) 2/5
a tale of springtime (rohmer, '90) 3.5/5

Nazis at the Centre of the Earth
hadn't realised they were making schlock like this anymore but the listings for the syfy channel had this year down. Looks very tv movie.
Apparently the route from the antarctic to Pelucidar or whatever its called was discovered by the Nazis who needed new scientific minds to help them remain alive. Unfortunately most of the team they kidnap while being supposedly very bright scientists aren't racially pure aryans.
didn't watch the whole thing through but Syfy's been showing some really <<<<<B Movies over the last few months.

Oh yeah went to see that new thing about a wallcrawling webhead yesterday and quite enjoyed it. Thought the new variation on the origin was a good update, not sure if it's the version used in comics recently cos I haven't been paying the character much attention in that media.

Full Metal Jacket (1987, Stanley Kubrick) 4/5
Gypsy (2011, Martin Šulík) 2/5
The Disorderly Orderly (1964, Frank Tashlin) 4/5
The Last Days of Disco (1998, Whit Stillman) 4/5
Barcelona (1994, Whit Stillman) 3/5
The Gold Rush (1925, Charles Chaplin) 5/5
The Great Silence (1968, Sergio Corbucci) 4/5
The Price of Power (1969, Tonino Valerii) 3/5
To Rome with Love (2012, Woody Allen) 1/5
Unforgivable (2011, Andre Techine) 3/5
Damsels in Distress (2012, Whit Stillman) 3/5
Americano (2011, Mathieu Demy) 2/5
Tahrir: Liberation Square (2011, Stefano Savona) 3/5

Re Full Metal Jacket - I saw the Private Pyle suicide scene when I was really young, maybe 10 or 11...every time I watch it I still feel like I'm having some sort of waking nightmare. Great movie.

that scene is the reason Kubrick said he wanted to film the book it's based on. I'm writing about it so, more later.

Its the best scene but it always fell apart, which I thought ws intentional - don't care for anti-war/war films.

francesco, giullare di dio (rossellini, 1950) 4/5
grin without a cat (marker, 1977) 3.5/5
in the belly of an architect (greenaway, 1988) 4.5/5
russian ark (sokurov, 2002) 5/5
the ghost and mrs. muir (mankiewicz, 1947) 3.5/5

Broken Blossoms (D.W. Griffith, 1919) - Wonderfully atmospheric, and a surprisingly brutal and emotionally intense story of two star-cross'd lovers. Lillian Gish is heartbreaking as the tragic waif-child, beaten by her racist father for falling in love with a Chinese immigrant. 5/5.

The Assassination Bureau (Basil Deardon, 1969) - A typically late-sixties British caper movie, albeit set in the Edwardian era. The head of a secret organisation of hired killers, Oliver Reed, has to dash across Europe avoiding being bumped off by his own hit men. Great comic performance by Diana Rigg, as the thoroughly modern Miss who accompanies him on his knockabout journey. 3/5.

The Descendants (Alexander Payne, 2011) - Beautifully judged character piece that avoids cloying sentimentality in delivering a devastatingly emotional story. 4/5.

Martha Marcy May Marlene (Sean Durkin, 2011) - Loved the haunted, hazy vibe of this. Elizabeth Olson's quietly powerful performance floored me. 4/5.

Carnage (Polanski, 2011) - Started off silly, got sillier as it went along. Saved by the grade 'A' acting talent involved, who all clearly enjoyed the workout. 2.5/5

Chronicle (Josh Trank) - Risible 'found footage' nonsense. Three annoying dorks get super powers, put on a magic show and get nerd rage. Stick with Misfits. 1/5.

To Live and Die in LA (Friedkin, 1985) - A great LA movie, though one fixed very much in time by its Wang Chung soundtrack and the fact that it looks and feels like a grittier Miami Vice episode. 3.5/5

Young Adult (Jason Reitman, 2011) - Best use of a mixtape in a movie? <3 Charlize. 3/5

Anchoress (Chris Newby, 1993) - Based on the life of Christine Carpenter who became an Anchoress (a woman who, for religious reasons, voluntarily lives in a tiny walled-up cell in a church) in 1325. Slow, and moodily filmed in black and white, with lots of shots of either wide, bleak landscapes, or long, detailed close-ups. It's not without moments of levity, however, and the cast are largely good, especially Christopher Ecclestone. But Toyah Wilcox, surprisingly, almost steals the show. 3/5.

Oliver Reed was considered for the role of James Bond after appearing in 'The Assassination Bureau', instead they wheeled Connery out for a second go and then Roger Moore. Shame as he would have made an excellent Bond, urbane, charismatic a little thuggish.

The Ring (Hitchcock, 1929) - this is part of the Hitch fest that is going on at the BFI/various venues (this was screened at the Hackney Empire, the kind of venue that might have screened this back in the day). Couple of sequences really looked forward to the kind of thing he might be known for:

- at a party the jealous husband has visions of his wife's debauchery and infidelity - illustrated by this terrific juxtaposition of the distorted piano, swirls of faces in the crowd, and straight-ish pics of her dancing with another woman. He ends by screaming across a room of people talking - everyone's surprised, and the audience laughed so the comic effect was achieved.

- the boxing scene is amazing: sure Scorcese ripped this off for Raging Bull. Lots of weird angles and points of view (beneath the ref's legs).

And then the soundtrack was especially commissioned and played by Soweto Kinch. Certainly did the job - a couple of occasions I was happy to close my eyes and zone out of the film. At times it was too much of a concious re-creation, there was no space for anything too risky - apart from a bit of flute.

The film itself was lovingly restored - not sure how much of a scandal this was. At a time when it was hard to get a divorce, here was a story of a woman who carried on seeing a flame after she got married to someone else, and delays her final choice until the boxing match (the ring is a wedding ring as well as a boxing ring). So there is that dimension to contend with. You can see his misogny there from the beginning, and yet she is the master of her situation.

Would have been hilarious if there was a draw: two husbands?

The film had lots of solid comedy, and blighted by some racism.

Billion Dollar Brain
one of Michael Caine's Harry Palmer films. Wish I'd concentrated on it a bit more instead of flitting around the flat.
What I saw was pretty cool. Karl Malden as a conman/agent and Ed Begley as a Texan billionaire anti-communist.
1967 and I think it felt like it.

^^Directed by Ken Russell! And one of the last appearances of Francoise Dorleac (Catherine Deneuve's sister.)

Green Card (Peter Weir, 1990) 1/5
Tess (Roman Polanski, 1979) 2/5
The Basketball Diaries (Scott Kalvert, 1995) 2/5
Biutiful (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, 2010) 3/5
Au Hasard Balthazar (Robert Bresson, 1966) 3/5
Rock Of Ages (Adam Shankman, 2012) 0.5/5
21 Jump Street (Phil Lord, Chris Miller, 2012) 1.5/5
Radio On (Christopher Petit, 1980) 2/5
Martha Marcy May Marlene (Sean Durkin, 2011) 2.5/5
Super (James Gunn, 2010) 4/5

the sailor who fell from grace with the sea (lewis john carlino, '76) 3.5/5
snow on tha bluff (damon russell, 2012) 3.5/5
marina abramovic: the artist is present (matthew akers, 2012) 3.5/5
the last run (richard fleischer, '71) 3/5
hopscotch (ronald neame, '80) 3/5
mean streets (scorsese, '73) 5/5
mildred pierce (curtiz '45) 2/5
housekeeping (forsyth, '87) 4/5

Margaret - really quite bad, but compelling nonetheless
Man With The Golden Arm - have been meaning to see this at years but was a little underwhelmed
Moonrise Kingdom - not bad
Streetwise - great
Beasts Of The Southern Wild - Had a lot of problems with its view of poverty, cloying soundtrack, but (mostly) loved the way it was shot

Margaret - on #teamfoxsearchlight with this one
The Heartbreak Kid/A New Leaf - Elaine May double bill - never taking an Ian Penman film rec seriously again

Hara Kiri - Miike remake. Prefer the subtlety of the Kobayashi original. Miike's hand a little too heavy on this one. I felt like standing up and shouting "Ok, we get it!" during some scenes.

High Plains Drifter - Strange film. Almost Altman-esque in its baked early 70s California kookiness but redeemed by Eastwood's presence.

Jackie Brown - again and again. Blu-ray this time and as great as ever.

Antarctica - Sad Japanese film about Antarctic expedition and lost sled dogs. Didn't see it coming and I cried. One of Vangelis' best scores.

>Hara Kiri - Miike remake. Prefer the subtlety of the Kobayashi original.

!!!

the original is so good though it will be difficult to resist seeing an update

The Human Condition (can you believe it? I didn't see the ending coming. and yet the entire 10 hour long film is simultaneously the ending of the film.)
Deconstructing Dad (excellent documentary on Raymond Scott by his son. almost uncomfortably personal at times, yet it makes for an unusually powerful film because it's so loaded, and as you can imagine the access to his home movies / photographs is unbeatable so the film is chockfull of amazing archival footage, I will probably watch this again)
Joseph Campbell & Bill Moyers - The Power of Myth episodes I - III
Horrors of Malformed Men (pretty silly, a little boring, nowhere near as a good as Blind Beast)
L'amour braque (<3 <3 <3 Zulawski)

Hey Milton if you haven't already rent the Jos. Campbell lectures that exist on dvd. Forget the title at the moment but well worth it.

The only aspect of Green Card that made me laugh (i had seen it way back when it was released, i was 13) was the skillful application of make-up to put some expression or emotion on andie mcdowells face. what a shit actress.

Beasts Of The Southern Wild - Had a lot of problems with its view of poverty

how so? I liked it a lot

Jiro Dreams of Sushi: 2/5
Wanderlust: 1/5

My Week With Marilyn (2011): 2/5
Rampart (2011): 3/5
Gilda (1946): 3/5
Moonrise Kingdom (2012): 4/5
The Grey (2011): 4/5
The London Rock'n'Roll Show (1973): 3/5
Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie (2011): 1/5
The Asphalt Jungle (1950): 4/5
Bill Cunningham's New York (2008): 3/5

My dad recommended The Grey. Expected this silly adventure movie but should have known better: my dad has insanely good taste in movies. (Cue: ILXORs hating this movie and saying it's actually a dreadful movie. lol). Anyway I thought it was rrreally good.

Beasts of the Southern Wild was ok and I also had a problem with its WPA-esque romanticizing of rural squalor.