Last (x) movies you saw

Beyond the Hills, new film from Cristian Mungiu is so so so good. Subject matter looks radioactive but it's so forgiving and accepting and bleak
core question seems to be can faith support you in a world where god has left us to our own devices and the answer is up for grabs but you walk away with sympathy for pretty much every character
it's also a christ story but ymmv
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2258281/

i watched the way we were on tcm the other day and it was a real snooze-a-rama

xp yea im looking fwd to 'beyond the hills', think it's on demand, etc starting tomorrow

get on that! Film is great.
I guess I'll finally try his other films now.

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983, Nagisa Oshima) has redeeming facet

which was...?

that's the only rosenbaum rating i could remember.

RPM (1970) Watched it cause my dad was an extra in it....long ago...

This is 40 which I at least semi enjoyed. Felt self conscious about laughing in a cinema with 2 other people in. Not sure what the alternatives at the cinema at that time were, maybe a Wixard of OZz an hour later and a Django which I'd missed the beginning of.
Thought i read a good review in the Guardian and it did have some funny bits I thought. Obvioulsy some bits taht were supposed to be and weren't. the scenes with each of the 2 shop assistants were presumably supposed to be but weren't that is the confrontation about stealing bits.

Saw We Need To Talk About Kevin at the start of teh week and thought it pretty great. Have wanted to see it since it came out but as far as I know it never reached cinemas here.

Also saw a bit of the Garland Wizard of Oz last week and thought it very strange. Must be interesting on acid. But it just has some very strange elements, the distorted vocals in MUnchkinland among them & the sets too. Heard the new Oz bases its sets on these ones. Didn't watch it through which I should really do I guess not seen it in years, maybe decades.
I heard the munchkin actors were like total hellraisers at the time the film was made, not sure how true that is, just thinking i might have read it in a Keeneth Anger and he fabricateda lot of the Babbylon contents from what I hear.

had a inadvertant double-feature of verite-based movies - 'manic' (3/5) f/ joe gordon-levitt, don cheadle & zooey d in a not-as-bad-as-it-sounds, disaffected youths in a safehouse/psych ward; be warned there is a scene of moshing + bonding 2 the deftones & 'project x' (4/5)

also both written by michael bacall i guess? hm also credits on scott pilgrim & 21 jump st, i love this guy

good line in proj x of "my dad got me a lawyer, even that jew thinks we're fucked"

also watched 'fitzcarraldo', shit is epic

fitzcarraldo is so dope

Downeast is a worthwhile business documentary about an italian expat trying to open a lobster factory in maine and running into issues with the local government when he tries to launch against their (very much partisan) complaints. Interesting look into a small community and the machinations of small government left unmoderated. This one's gonna be on POV / PBS shortly; worth the time on TV.

there are some really funny critic review pullquotes of proj x (sry for rampant c&p'ing)

Hewitt ended his review by stating that the film was "possibly the worst film of the last 20 years.

Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter was similarly critical, calling it "grimly depressing, glumly unfunny teensploitation",

Melissa Anderson of The Village Voice who felt the film promoted "skull-numbing hedonism without consequences", and "second-nature misogyny", and that the only purpose of the male characters is to "'get high, fuck bitches.'"[39]

Robbie Collin of The Telegraph called the film "flamboyantly loathsome on every imaginable level"

Several reviewers were particularly critical towards Cooper and his character. Hewitt called him "the most annoying movie character since Jar Jar Binks",[36] while others similarly described him as "singularly loathsome, venal and without humor",[37] "supremely annoying",[38] "that dick in a sweater-vest"[39] and a "misogynistic" imitation of Jonah Hill "minus the timing, sad sack appeal and motormouth grace".[40]

I don't think I could ever bring myself to watch a movie starring a poor man's Jonah Hill.

i need to see fitz again

L'Atalante (Vigo, 1934) 4/5
Cache (Hidden) (Haneke, 2005) 4.5/5 This was my first Haneke and I really dug it. Lots to think about.
The People Vs. Larry Flynt (Forman, 1996) 3/5
Fargo (Coen Bros, 1996) 4.5/5

Walked out of the new Oz movie after about 20 minutes. Shitty + the 3d was fucking with me.

Mouchette (Bresson): 4.5 out of 5.
The Major and the Minor (Wilder): 3.5 out of 5

Watched Tootsie again last night. Still wonderful.

Battle in Heaven (Reygadas, 2005)
Eccentricities of a Blonde-haired Girl (Manoel De Oliveira, 2009)

Beyond the Hills (Christian Mungui, 2012) - The script was tight, the shots (how many shots of people not looking at the camera, oh the alienation), the perfomances expertly handled, as was mood (how the snow arrives as the exorcism begins and the central relationship cannot be again - no ice-breaker on earth to repair the damage).

The cinema will not be better this year.

I Wish (Koreeda, 2012) - making it for an awesome but tiring dbl bill today.

The Machine That Kills Bad People - Took a flier on it as it was a criterion; interesting scenery and a deathnotesque plot but nothing to recommend it

Want to see Beyond the Hills but don't know if I can take the trauma. 4 months 3 weeks 2 days was incredible but this might be a harrowing experience too far.

i didn't think it was harrowing! I was expecting it to be harrowing! it was rough, but thoughtful and deeply fair and even minded.
so i gotta ask if 4 months is as harrowing as it looks.

Stromboli (Rossellini, 1950)
Europa '51 (Rossellini, 1952)
Sono yo no tsuma (Ozu, 1930) aka That Night's Wife, though an imdb commenter says that a better translation is "My Wife on That Night"

hey xyzzzz- was yr reygedas pick prompted by catching post tenebras lux? curious what you made of it if so

The Amazing Spider-Man (Webb, 2012)
Happiness (Medvedkin, 1935)
Lonesome (Fejos, 1928)

Lonesome and Happiness neck and neck, with the latter by a nose. Notable for referring to its protagonist as "The Loser" all throughout. His wife gets a name, 4/5ths of the way through - "Anna Loser".

the southerner (renoir, 1945): 3.5/5
manhunter (mann, 1986): 4/5
UHF (levey, 1989): 4/5
bad boys (rosenthal, 1983): 4/5
dirty work (saget, 1998): 2/5
warlock (dmytryk, 1959): 4/5
the warriors (walter hill, 1979): 5/5
a bronx tale (deniro, 1994): 4.5/5

so i gotta ask if 4 months is as harrowing as it looks.

i guess it was sustained pyschological tension, beyond the hills gives the impression of being more physically brutal? no spoilers! might go see it if the stars align.

aka That Night's Wife, though an imdb commenter says that a better translation is "My Wife on That Night"

その夜 = that evening
の = a possessive like 's in english or "of" but coming after the word it modifies
妻 = tsuma = wife

So "That Night's Wife" or "The Wife of That Night" seem like accurate translations.

ledge: it's really not more physically brutal than is absolutely necessary, there's real restraint shown. without spoilers, there are shots that any US director would feel compelled to include to drive the metaphors home that Mungiu avoids

mini-Howard Hawks marathon tonight, w/ the remainder being 1980s detritus:

monkey business (hawks, 1952): 3.5/5
el dorado (hawks, 1966): 4.5/5
rumble fish (francis ford coppola, 1983): 3.5/5 (Mickey Rourke establishing his lifelong pattern of rising above his material)
secret of my success (herbert ross, 1987): 2/5 (now i understand late-1980s Michael J Fox hatred)
xanadu (robert greenwald, 1980): 3/5 (believe it or not, 1st time i've seen this -- this is the movie that Moulin Rouge should have been)

The Long Goodbye- weird and wonderful
Stand By Me- great when Dreyfuss isn't drooling all over it
The Great and Powerful Oz- one of the worst
Wreck-it-Ralph- great

keep the lights on (preferred 'weekend' overall - some of the dialogue is a bit spotty - but i admired its compassion and it looked great)
le cercle rouge (drags at points and some of it is really ridiculous but i like melville's understatement and also alain delon with a mustache)
artists and models (not crazy about the conspiracy subplot in the last half-hr but loved the rest - kept wondering if claes oldenberg was a tashlin fan?)
the life and death of colonel blimp (glad i managed to stay awake through it on this second viewing)

奇妙なサーカス [strange circus] (sono, 2005)

Watched "The Last Exorcist" on Amazon Prime last night and it was so stupid I set my iPad on fire afterwards.

Side by Side (2012) - Felt kinda bad for Keanu when he's earnestly bemoaning the death of film and most of the directors seem to already be over it. Love the way David Lynch says his name though. Also, Christopher Nolan comes off as a dick even though he's ostensibly on the side of good

Life of Pi (2012) - Really not as bad as i expected. A good survival tale is always compelling and the effects work on the tiger is damned impressive

California Split (1974) - Brilliant. As a portrait of male friendship it's quite touching but it's also a really bleak look at obsessive gambling. Oh and Gould is on another planet in this thing, practically every line is quotable

hey xyzzzz- was yr reygedas pick prompted by catching post tenebras lux? curious what you made of it if so

― schlump, Monday, 18 March 2013 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'll be catching that sometime soon (think it opens in london in a week or two), will post if I have anything...

Side by Side (2012) - Felt kinda bad for Keanu when he's earnestly bemoaning the death of film and most of the directors seem to already be over it. Love the way David Lynch says his name though. Also, Christopher Nolan comes off as a dick even though he's ostensibly on the side of good

there is a guy in this movie who blindly proselytises for digital in a really disgusting way. he is the industry stooge. he is feeding cigarettes to your children. he is pouring waste into your water supply.

nb not george lucas

is it Danny Boyle

i have mostly been 'catching up' on alleged british classics i've never actually seen, from this list:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BFI_Top_100_British_films

the 39 steps 4/5
madness of king george 2/5
saturday night and sunday morning 3/5
parker 2/5
wreck-it ralph 3/5
brighton rock 3/5
brief encounter 4/5
4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days 4/5
the full monty 2/5

(xpost) I think all the gambling-related scenes in California Split are fantastic. There's a Cassavetes film playing alongside all that stuff, and I don't think some of that dates especially well. But there's a lot more of the first than the second, so it's probably my second favorite Altman film.

the scene where Gould sizes up the players at the big poker game is all-time

Shut Up and Play the Hits 4/5
Last Days of Disco 3/5
Django Unchained 3/5
Cabin in the Woods 5/5

love California Split

moneyball
the passion of joan of arc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzZ_ANWL_yM

"If you see your chips floating up and away from you, you know the game is too tough for us."

'california split' has one of the best endings too

skyfall - 3/5 not bad but overlong and sick of this post-nolan thing where we have to get into the psychological motivations of the hero (he was an orphan zzzz). not as good as 'casino royale' either

lemmy - 2/5 ok i guess but the amount of celebrity fawning can be a bit sickening

the filth and the fury - 4/5 this is how you do a rock documentary

From Up on Poppy Hill was... worth it if you're a Ghibli fan? Maybe not if you're not.

Bit of a minor Ghibli that one, probably a solid 3/5 though.

Kes - (5/5) My first viewing. One of the most remarkable films about childhood I've seen. Up there with "400 Blow" for me, maybe even surpasses it. Poetry.

Cloud Atlas - (2.5/5) Dunderheaded ambition. And ugly as sin to boot. But oddly entertaining.

Born to Be Bad - (3.5/5)

He Ran All The Way - (3/5) Nobody played "messed up" like John Garfield. I also enjoyed Shelley Winters' proto-Lorraine Bracco.

Robert Altman film festival chez moi:

Thieves Like Us (1974): 4/5 -- why isn't this one more highly regarded by Altman stans?!?
Popeye (1980): 3/5 -- kinda crap, but fun
OC & Stiggs (1985): 2/5 -- definitely crap and not fun; neat car, though
Vincent & Theo (1990): 3.5/5 -- nice pictures
Gosford Park (2001): 3/5 -- "Downton Abbey" bored me, too. overrated snoozefest.

tonight's batch:

Crash (Paul Haggis, 2004): 2/5 -- nb: i didn't think much of magnolia, either.
The Man Who Wasn't There (Ethan & Joel Cohn, 2001): 4.5/5
Armadillo (Janus Metz, 2010): 4.5/5 -- the Danish Restrepo