Last (x) movies you saw

The last movie I saw was "Ten Canoes" on DVD a few days ago. It is a fable set in pre-Westernized Australia and all the characters are aboriginal. The story is told extremely simply, but its simplicity is so whole and complete that it becomes a great virtue. I really liked it.

The last few movies before that were... I forget.

http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/102165/1302233/eternal-sunshine-of-the-spotless-mind.jpg

Zero Dark Thirty, pretty good though I don't feel over-sympathetic to the main protagonists, torturers etc.
Wondered where I recognised th eguy who's doing the torturing in the first scene from but remembered he was th e3rd brother in Lawlesss on the way home.
Thought it was a pretty well-made film but maybe the politics just disagreed with me.

Continuing my trek through childhood faves that there is no way I should have ever been allowed to watch at the time, tonight I reconfirmed that The Last Boy Scout is still awesome.

ikiru is as good as i remembered it

Good run with a couple of turkeys for good measure.

Dredd (Travis, 2012) B+
Now Voyager (Rapper, 1942) B
Annie (Houston, 1982) D
Down By Law (Jarmusch, 1986) A
Henry Fool (Hartley, 1996) B. Keen to see the sequel 'Fay Grim', which looks interesting to say the least.
Detached (Kaye, 2011) C-
Babylon (Rosso, 1980) B (A for the soundtrack)
Tabu (Gomes, 2012) B
The Lady Vanishes (Hitchcock, 1938) B+
Back Stages (Arbuckle, 1919) B
Holy Motors (Carax, 2012) A-

There is very little to recommend Fay Grimm, unfortunately, and I say this as someone who considers Henry Fool one of the best films if the 90s.

That's a shame. What's the problem with it? Do the dutch angles ruin it or is something more systemic?

Ridiculous plot, forced political "commentary," no need to exist.

Part-time Work of a Domestic Slave (Kluge, 1971) - this has a harrowing abortion scene with the rest of the story placing the protagnist right in the middle of gender/class politics and activism. Its told in an elliptic fashion and the last scene I can't even make up an interpretation for, which makes it all the more interesting to me.

Some other stuff which I can't remember (6/10)

End of Watch (David Ayer, 2012) - Fairly standard buddy cop movie elevated by fine performances, a shakycam immediacy, and Anna Kendrick doing the moves to "The Birdie Song". 4/5

Damsels in Distress (Whit Stillman, 2012) - Loved Greta Gerwig as a Tracy Flick/Max Fischer style campus busybody going into a "tailspin". Uneven but endearing.3.5/5

Fists in the Pocket (Marco Bellocchio, 1965) - Italian New Waver about a crazy, dysfunctional family that fights and fucks one another.The pug-like Lou Castel is riveting in the central role. 3.5/5

Take This Waltz (Sarah Polley, 2012) - The moment I heard the strains of some twee, sensitive indie guitar being plucked on the soundtrack in the opening seconds, I knew I was in for a tough time. I like pretty much everyone involved, but this was so grating and naff. 1/5

Castle of Cagliostro (Miyazaki, 1979) - Not up there with Spirited Away or Porco Rosso, but this caper is still one of my favourite Miyazaki films. Slightly overpopulated with good guys, but it's breakneck paced good fun all the way. 3.5/5

Moonrise Kingdom (Anderson, 2012) - Holds up brilliantly on rewatch. It delivers a neat dose of Anderson's neat-and-tidy dollhouse aesthetic, but is also one of his warmest, wittiest and human films. 4/5

The Girl From Rio (Jess Franco, 1968) - Ineptly made sleazy kitsch about an all female city called Femina, where the women dress in go-go boots, capes and not much else and dream of overthrowing the patriarchy, but not if a charmless, Bond like ladykiller hero has anything to do with it. Not sexy/funny enough by far and amateurishly made. Shirley Eaton and George Sanders look depressed. 1.5/5

Django Unchained (Tarantino, 2012) - "Hello, little troublemaker". His best looking film? I liked the use of different Western locations: the muddy one-horse towns, the open prairie, snowy mountain trails, hissing swamps, and of course the cotton fields. 4/5

Lincoln (Spielberg, 2013) - Surprised by the amount of humour and the Machiavellian political chicanery going on in this. It's 'In the Loop, 1865'. Enthralling, great ensemble cast, beautifully shot and all the rest, and Spielberg still managing to find his favourite subplot involving a boy who has a troubled relationship with his father. 4/5

Not much lately, but I have been leaving TCM on for long stretches, so --

Lord of the Flies (Brook, 1963)
The 39 Steps (Hitchcock, 1935)
The Lady Vanishes (Hitchcock, 1938)
Sabotage (Hitchcock, 1936)

Sabotage was surprisingly grim, with the heroine's little brother getting blown to bits by a bomb he unknowingly carried on a London bus.

Hitch regretted that scene -- http://youtu.be/-dhbSUP9mhk?t=2m28s

Primer (Carruth, 2004)
World of Apu (Ray, 1959)
Play Time (Tati, 1967)

the big lebowski for the x time while drunk and doing other stuff is much fun

Cabaret (Fosse, 1972)

Dumbo (Sharpsteen, 1941) Was kind of surprised to see any of the classic Disneys available to stream on Netflix...

Cloud Atlas : Impenetrable and uninteresting. The team behind this should've watched something like Raul Ruiz' "Combat d'amour en songe" to see how intertwining character arcs and storylines are carried out. I couldn't hang.
The Last Temptation Of Christ : Gets better every time for me.

Lincoln on THursday
& The IMpossible on Monday

Lincoln has DDL doing a convincing portrayal. I guess it's a good film did leave me wanting to check a couple of historic facts. Who was the native American in Sherman's party & what happened with the confederate peace delegation.

Found The Impossible pretty moving though maybe a tad melodramatic. Won't go into the racial supposed controversy but the nationality of the family did strike me as odd when I heard where the originals came from at the end of the film.
Find it difficult to believe that the 2 characters you see close ups of the immediate effects of the tsunami hitting were actually moving afterwards and as intact as they were. Thought when you see where Naomi was standing when the wave hit was a pretty terrible place to be & also Lucas diving under the swimming pool at that point seemed to be asking for trouble.

Buck Privates (1941, Lubin)
Help, the (2011, Taylor) I just watched shit.
Artist, the (2011, Hazanavicius) Really lazily constructed with many purposeless shots. the kind of movie you might enjoy more while being distracted.
Meek's Cutoff (2011, Reichardt)
Contraband (2012, Kormakur) Script is great trash but the movie takes itself seriously.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) might have been better with a smaller budget

snowed in & watched for the 1st time -

tiptoes - 3/5 - wish i could see the 2.5 hr directors cut; feel like, among other things, mcconaghey leaving his wife/kid is really chopped 2 shit; oldman is really good in this, too bad ppl think its a joke, it is not really a comedy @ all

lawrence of arabia - 4.5/5 - is really dope, love the arc of the character & how dark and drained out it is @ the end; otoole is amazing

teeth (mitchell lichtenstein, 2007)
gozu (takashi miike, 2003)
memories of murder (bong joon-ho, 2003)
the fearless vampire killers (polanski, 1967)
the neverending story (petersen, 1984)

Making my way through these Varda docs (linked on the Marker thread). Around for one more week.

RÉPONSE DE FEMMES (Orig.) / 1975 / France / 8 min
ELSA LA ROSE (Orig.) / 1965 / France / 20 min
LES DITES CARIATIDES (Orig.) / 1984 / France / 13 min
MUR MURS (Orig.) / 81 / France / 80 min
DOCUMENTEUR (Orig.) / 1981 / France / 63 min
UNCLE YANCO (Orig.) / 1967 / France / 22 min

Paranorman
quarter through lawless

both great looking but dumb/lazy

xp wow, thanks! have only seen cleo... & beaches of agnes but <3 both.

Bullhead (Michaël R. Roskam, 2011) - michael mann's film of the year according to the poster! I thought it was decent. It was late and I was drunk but although they were on some DO YOU SEE shit with the cattle hormones/testosterone plot the performances were good.

McBain (James Glickenhaus, 1991) - this is fucking nonsense and not even fun with it, bar the odd walken moment.

The Invisible War - 4/5: Most of the people who were involved in the interviews were part of the legal case, and so it didn't feel as objective as I'd prefer for such an important issue, but I was very moved by it nonetheless. I was happy to learn that Panetta had made the most crucial, basic change of taking decision-making away from the unit commanders, but clearly there's a long way to go.

Searching for Sugarman - 4/5: I adore the sort of music that Sixto Rodriguez made, and yet somehow had never heard him before. Reading up about Rodriguez after the movie, there are some inconsistencies. They sweetened the story a bit to make it more fun. But Rodriguez seems like a wonderful guy, and I loved his daughters. The difference between the idyllic beauty of Cape Town and the wintry city streets of Detroit was great. Could have done without some of the animation.

Certified Copy - awaiting the "alternate ending" in the deleted scene involving the boy in the intro at a mental asylum, holding a snowglobe...

McBain (James Glickenhaus, 1991) - this is fucking nonsense and not even fun with it, bar the odd walken moment.

Woah, McBain is a real movie?! Does he get Mendoza in the end?

Godspell (Greene, 1973) 3/5 Can't decide if my favourite bit was when Jesus and the disciples are partying in the fountain or the bit when the pharisees are a robotic monster.
The Red Shoes (Archers, 1948) 4.5/5 such a colourful and fun movie. I love how long and fantastical the ballet section is. I saw Play Time last week and it strikes me how both are one-of-a-kind type movies.
The Killing (Kubrick, 1956) 3.5/5 quality noir.
Cruel Intentions (Kumble, 1999) 2.5/5 stop judging me!

I tried to watch Pickpocket (sat night) and Close-Up (sun night) but was too tired to give either the attention they deserved.

An Autumn Afternoon (Ozu, 1962)
I Was Born, But... (Ozu, 1932)

oh, an alternate ending for certified copy ..

les glaneurs et la glaneuse (varda). graceful and seems so effortless, 10/10.
la mala educacion (almodovar), good as usual.

Slither (1973, Zieff) 6/10
Hearts of the West (1975, Zieff) 7/10
Footnote (2011, Cedar) 6/10
Perret in France and Algeria (2012, Emigholz) 8/10
Five Broken Cameras 7/10
Troublemakers (1966, Macover, Fruchter) 7/10
The Contract (1977, Kiarostami) 7/10
Sitting Pretty (1933, Brown) 6/10
Silver Linings Playbook 5/10
Moonrise Kingdom 9/10
Killer Joe 5/10

I.D. (Phil Davis, 1995) 3/5
7 Psychopaths (Martin McDonagh, 2012) 1/5
Jamon Jamon (Bigas Luna, 1992) 4/5
Southern Comfort (Walter Hill, 1981) 4/5

argo yeah ok
flight yeah ok, to a point
lawless never ok
network better than ok but got a bit much
manhattan great
nashville didnt get this but enjoyed it anyway

Beauty is Embarrassing (2012; 3/5)
Searching for Sugar Man (2012; 4/5)
The Long Day Closes (1992; 5/5)
Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948; 5/5)
The Imposter (2012; 3.5/5)
In a Lonely Place (1950; 2nd viewing; 5/5)
The Man Who Left His Will on Film (1970; 3/5)
Safety Not Guaranteed (2012; 2/5)

Pickpocket (Bresson, 1959) 4/5 To me this wasn't quite up there with the other two bressons i've seen. good tho nonetheless.
Close-up (Kiarostami, 1990) 4.5/5 awesome
Berberian Sound Studio (Strickland, 2012) 4/5 I liked this a lot
Happy Together (Kar-Wai, 1997) 3.5/5 good
Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Bunuel, 1972) 3.5/5 fun but unsettling (lol satire)

Inescapable: cut rate South African/Canadian remake of Taken without any pacing that thinks it's far more clever than it is. not a good film

Amour: 5/5

"Happy Together (Kar-Wai, 1997)"

"Jaws (Stephen, 1975)"

i just stopped halfway through code unknown so i can finish it fully awake; holy shit this is good.

sweet dreams

The Bitter Buddha, q+a with filmmaker and Eddie Pepitone followed, of course I had to ask a babbling non-question like every q+a of any kind

L’UNIVERS DE JACQUES DEMY (Orig.) (Varda, 1993) - always good to see film footage but yu can't help feeling she is guarded abut Demy in a way Varda might not be about herself in her other films. Makes the silence on his death strange.

nashville didnt get this but enjoyed it anyway

― lance armstrong will have been delighted (darraghmac)

Just noticed this, would like to hear more. If you enjoyed it, I think you did get it.

Ha that's fair, having read the threads on it.

enjoyed it but thought it was pretentious overrated rubbish

If you mean the film itself, as opposed to all that's been written about it, I don't totally understand the charge of pretentiousness. To me that always goes hand in hand with excessive solemnity, which is not Nashville. I can certainly understand where someone might find it unfunny or glib.

Nakhville

Naffville?

M*A*S*H*

should have called it M*E*S*S*

The Too Long Goodbye