Last (x) movies you saw

Camille Claudel 1915 (Dumont, 2013) 4/5
The Grapes of Wrath (Ford, 1940) 4/5
The Stuart Hall Project (Akomfrah, 2013) 4/5
3 Women (Altman, 1977) 5/5
Ikiru (Kurosawa, 1952) 3/5
I Know Where I'm Going! (Powell/Pressburger, 1945) 4/5
The Act of Killing (Oppenheimer, 2012) 4/5
Blue is the Warmest Colour (Kechiche, 2013) 4/5
Leviathan (Castaing-Taylor/Paravel, 2012) 3/5
Gone with the Wind (Fleming, 1939) 3/5
Like Someone in Love (Kiarostami, 2012) 4/5
Post Tenbras Lux (Reygadas, 2012) 4/5
West of Memphis (Berg, 2012) 3/5
Le Pont Du Nord (Rivette, 1981) 4/5
Nebraska (Payne, 2013) 3/5
The Titfield Thunderbolt (Crichton, 1953) 3/5
Computer Chess (Bujalski, 2013) 4/5

Bit low on Ikuru there, its prob my fave Kurosawa.

Fill the Void (Rama Burshtein, 2013) - amongst the family vs. duty blah (and it was blah, whatever the community this is set under its a familiar bloody story not so refreshingly told) there were a couple of terrific comi scenes (the woman who interrupted a crucial meeting to get the rabbi to choose a new cooker for her, that was inspired)

The Innocents (Jack Clayton, 1961) - actually unsettling. I must see more films w/Deborah Kerr in them.

Django Unchained (Tarantino, 2013)*
Fanny & Alexander (Bergman, 1982)
Iron Monkey (Yuen, 1993)
Miami Vice (Mann, 2006)
Casino (Scorcese, 1995)
As Tears Go By (Wong, 1988)
Before Midnight (Linklater, 2013)
The Devil, Probably (Bresson, 1977)

The * means rewatch, btw. I really loved Fanny & Alexander and The Devil, Probably, I think I prefer Bresson's seventies to his sixties. Though his fifties are the best, obviously.

Should I watch the theatrical or miniseries version of Fanny and Alexander?

I've only watched the mini-series - stretched out over two days - so I'm not 100% sure. But I have a hard time imagining that two hours could be removed without the story suffering quite a lot. It really lives in the details.

V good piece on Fill the Void in S&S, wasn't feeling it in the end (think the footage of a nervous bride-to-be is terrific too and Jonathan doesn't mention the last shot where the couple are about to spend their night together, her final gaze was full of that nervousness, she is v good).

I suppose I should read some Jane Austen.

Should I watch the theatrical or miniseries version of Fanny and Alexander?

― oldbowie (WilliamC), Tuesday, December 31, 2013 10:53 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Miniseries! Never actually seen the theatrical cut myself, but I'm told its missing the "chair story" sequence, a scene which I frankly could not imagine my life without.

did you like As Tears Go By Frederick?

Adaptation (Jonze, 2002) 9/10
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Spielberg, 1977) 8/10
Raiders of the Lost Ark (Spielberg, 1981) 9/10 rewatch
Toy Story 2 (Lasseter, 1999) 6/10
Touki Bouki (Mambety, 1973) 7/10
Anchorman 2 (McKay, 2013) 5/10
Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence (Oshima, 1983) 7/10
The Housemaid (Kim, 1960) 9/10
Alice In Wonderland (Hepworth, 1903) 6/10
Way Down East (Griffith, 1920) 7/10

I'd say the pick of these was The Housemaid. quality thriller.

The Lincoln Lawyer (5/10)
Scanners (6.5/10)
Hideaway (4/10)
Hush (5/10)
History of the Eagles (7/10)
The Wolf of Wall Street (4/10)
American Hustle (7.5/10)
Inside Llewyn Davis (7/10)
Road to Perdition (6.5/10)
Nebraska (8/10)

The dreaded half-point; sorry for messing up the whole system.

gravity 7/10
the stepford wives (04 one) 5/10
ice cold in alex 7/10
johnny mad dog 6/10
*adventureland 6/10
spanking the monkey 7/10
the magdalene sisters 8/10
gertrud 5/10
*bridesmaids 8/10
up 8/10

* rewatch

some like it hot- this was funny you should look it up

In December:

American Hustle (2.5/5)
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2.5/5)
August: Osage County (3/5)
Bastards (4/5)
Camille Claudel 1915 (3.5/5)
A Christmas Story (4/5)
Faust (3.5/5)
Gremlins (4/5)
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2/5)
Inside Llewyn Davis (4/5)
The Last Time I Saw Macao (3.5/5)
Like Someone in Love (3/5)
The Lords of Salem (3.5/5)
Meet Me in St. Louis (4.5/5)
Museum Hours (4/5)
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (3/5)
Passion (3.5/5)
The Past (3.5/5)
Post Tenebras Lux (4/5)
Room 237 (4/5)
Saving Mr. Banks (1.5/5)
Stories We Tell (3/5)
This Is Martin Bonner (3/5)
A Touch of Sin (4/5)
Viola (3.5/5)
The Wind Rises (3/5)
The Wolf of Wall Street (2.5/5)

The Selfish Giant (Clio Barnard, 2013) - Familiar miserablism, occasional bleak beauty. The kid's a livewire urchin, but charmless. 6/10
The Lone Ranger (Verbinski, 2013) - When I heard the William Tell Overture I forgot all about the mess leading up to it. A good western in here somewhere. 7/10
Laurence Anyways (Dolan, 2013) - I particularly liked the party scene set to Visage's "Fade to Grey", and shot like a New Romantic video. 7/10
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller, 2013) - Stiller is emotionless even in his wildest dreams. 4/10
Lovelace (Jeffrey Friedman, 2013) - A brave performance by Amanda Seyfried, but the film is a coy, movie-of-the-week Boogie Nights. 4/10
Robin Redbreast (James MacTaggart, 1970) - Excellent recently unearthed English folk-horror full of subtle menace and memorably creepy performances. 8/10
Bastards (Claire Denis, 2013) - Got a Fire Walk With Me vibe from this moody, elliptical thriller. Sexy. 7/10
Blue is the Warmest Color (Kechiche, 2013) - Not as sexy as Bastards. Adele Exarchopoulos gives good face. 7/10
Frozen (Jennifer Lee, 2013) - it may pass the Bechdel Test, but the female characters all look like Bratz dolls. 5/10
The Night of the Hunter (Laughton, '55) - Still stunning Bible black shadowplay. "Weren't you afraid, little lambs, down there in all that dark?". 9/10
Kiss Me, Damn It (Stian Kristiansen, 2013) - Norwegian film similar to last years (similarly titled) Turn Me On, Dammit, but far more conventional. 5/10

the wolf of wall street - 9/10
drug war - 8/10
roadhouse - 7/10

smh at that lincoln lawyer score clemenza

I was surprised--thought I'd like it more. McConaughey's pretty good, but I liked him in Mud better. Didn't think Ryan Phillippe was up to his part, and the blustery blues soundtrack got on my nerves.

i tried to watch linc lawyer recently on tnt or whatever and it seemed much worse than like any random ep of L&O so i turned it off

how much L&O do u watch

Larry Crowne (2011, Hanks)
Fast and the Furious, the (2001, Rob Cohen)
Endless Summer, the (1966, Bruce Brown)
Weekend (2011, Haigh)

xp honestly v few in like the last ~10 yrs so maybe thats a bad comparison pt idk

the loved ones (09 sean byrne) 3.5/5
the wolf of wall street (13 scorsese) 3/5
le havre (11 kaurismaki) 2.5/5
all the light in the sky (13 swanberg) 3.5/5
night and fog ('55 resnais) 5/5
belle de jour (67 bunuel) 4/5

i thought it was more like A REally Good L&O. its a meat and potatoes legal thriller but it hit all my buttons

did you like As Tears Go By Frederick?

I have to admit I found it a bit tough, actually. I mean, it's fine and every fan of Wong Karwai should see it, but I think it's astonishing how big of a leap he takes with Days of Being Wild. Like a lot of debut-films, it's very uneven,and it seems bogged down by the conventions of it's filmculture.

Hangover-films:

The Godfather II
North by Northwest
City of God

witchfinder general
spider (cronenberg)
black moon (malle)
robot carnival

Good Ol' Freda 3.5/5
Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me Now 4/5
1 (Formula One doc) 4/5
Margin Call 4/5
The Place Beyond The Pines 2/5
End of Watch 4/5

just the cream of the last 2 months:

*Intolerance (1916, Griffith) 10/10
*The Lady Eve (1941, Sturges) 10/10
Sylvia Scarlett (1935, Cukor) 9/10
*Chimes at Midnight (1965, Welles) 9/10 (major flaw: the sound sucks)
*Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979, Herzog) 9/10
Ceiling Zero (1936, Hawks) 8/10
*Remember the Night (1940, Leisen) 8/10
*The Big Sky (1952, Hawks) 8/10
*The Actress (1953, Cukor) 8/10
Lucky Luciano (1973, Rosi) 8/10
*Smile (1975, Ritchie) 8/10
*Love Among the Ruins (1975, Cukor) (TV) 8/10
A Touch of Sin (2013, Jia) 8/10
All Is Lost (2013, Chandor) 8/10 (twice)
Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy? (2013, Gondry) 8/10
At Berkeley (2013, Wiseman) 8/10
The Square (2013, Noujaim) 8/10

*rewatches

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (2013) 3.5/5
Frances Ha (2012) 3/5
Christmas in Connecticut (1944) 2.5/5
The Shop Around the Corner (1940) rewatch; 5/5
Imitation of Life (1959) 5/5
The Band Wagon (1953) 4/5
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) 4/5
Drug War (2012) 4/5
Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay (2012) 2.5/5
Prince Avalanche (2013) 3/5
We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks (2013) 3.5/5
The World’s End (2013) 2/5
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) 4/5

The Lost Necklace Of The Dove (5/5)
The Wolf Of Wall Street (4/5)
Aprés Mai (3/5)
Tokyo Ga (3/5)

Inside llewyn Davis - really good
Her - worthwhile
Hunger Games: Catching Fire - ok
American Hustle - sort of lame
Frances Ha - good

Paradise: Faith (3/5)
Star Trek Into Darkness (3/5)
The Wolf of Wall Street (2/5)
Inside Llewyn Davis (4/5)
Cluny Brown (rewatched: 4/5)

Prisoners (2013) hokum, pity as it looked good and there was potential in two lead performances/characters

lol i watched tht last night also -- agreed, theres not really much there; it held my interest but it so wants to have it every way & that makes it even more empty

jackman hammer-destroying the sink was p cool tbh

thought jackman was going somewhere p interesting with the guy until he just became a flatface moron, pity

also- missed probably about half the dialogue, ludicrous mix

tho i mean it was free so maybe that was just us hem hem

is Jake nude in it

no but his hair is ridiculous idk if that's a help or hindrance

https://static.squarespace.com/static/51b3dc8ee4b051b96ceb10de/51ce6099e4b0d911b4489b79/51ce618ae4b0d911b4497922/1372436555069/1000w/trailer-for-the-intense-hugh-jackman-thriller-prisoners-header.jpg

that and worse at times tbh

his hair is OUT OF CONTROL in the scene that still is from

The Great Beauty (4/5) - could have done with a bit of pruning, Sorrentino's best yet though
Mouchette (5/5) -
Fahrenheit 451 (3/5) - weirdly stilted dialogue and inexplicable use of a heavily-accented German actor in the lead role make for a strange viewing experience. Great fire engine though! Can Julie Christie actually act?
The Honeymoon Killers (5/5) - up there with Carnival Of Souls and Blast Of Silence as great debuts by directors who never seemed to do anything much else.
Ikarie XB-1 (4/5) - Czech SF from the early 1960s, seems to have influenced both Star Trek and 2001. Awesome futuristic disco scene, midway between Earth and Alpha Centauri. Music by Zdenek Liska, who really needs more of his scores reissued.
Pierrot Le Fou (3/5) - not sure if Godard's really dated that well tbh.
Les Enfants Terrible (3/5) - bit of a fascinating mess, maybe Cocteau should have just directed it himself.
Los Olvidados (5/5) - best film I've seen from Bunuel's Mexican period, could have lapsed into either sentimentality or cynicism but thankfully doesn't.
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (5/5) - knowing what's coming (on a 2nd viewing) doesn't make this any easier to sit through. SPOILER imdb page suggests Otilia is maybe pregnant herself, just when you thought it couldn't get any worse.
Mother Joan Of The Angels (5/5) - Polish adaptation of The Devils Of Loudon,but starting after the events depicted in Russel's The Devils. Second Run DVD are really pulling out some great East European obscurities of yesteryear, Daisies is the only disappointing one I've seen so far.

Mouchette - can't think of anything to say about it you couldn't say about any Bresson. Um, the DVD making of feature is worth a look.

ikarie is on my list, need to see that.

Runner Runner (1/5) - I don't get the public's acceptance of Ben Affleck. This guy is poison.
The Lone Ranger (3/5) - Verbinski is a mess of a director here but the visuals are gorgeous.
Blue Jasmine (2/5)
Ginger Baker In Africa (4/5)

that Ginger Baker doc is crazy!

affleck gets out-acted by justin timberlake in that movie

He gets out-acted by a rattan chair at one point I think!
I kept watching because Gemma Arterton.

affleck's been acting longer than i've been alive and he still uses his eyebrows like this guy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uxSGRNLA6o

Blue Jasmine shold be a 3/5 from me. Thought Cate B summoned more out of that flimsy script than it deserved. I couldn't stop watching her.

H4A that video reminds me of something Buñuel wrote to the effect that "eyebrow" acting was a dead giveaway for him of a shitty actor.