Last (x) movies you saw

never seen it, it was in derek malcolm's century of films so sort of mindful of eventually watching it
rocha's 'deus e o diabo' is astonishingly good from around that time

Was underwhelmed by Terra em Transe but he is U+K so watch it.

Idade de Terra (his last film) is amazing. Its a weird cross between a film essay and a neo-realist film with passages of over-long improv, Cassavetes-like.

Apols but I'll put this in: Glauber Rocha/Third cinema

Check out Memories of Underdevelopment, definitely worth it.

U+K?

I think Terra am Transe might be my favourite Rocha, though I've only seen Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol and Antonio das Mortes, and Terra am Transe will be the first one I rewatch. Will check out Idade de Terra (boy, he made a lot of Terra-films, huh?) Also, for an update on Third Cinema, check out a film from 2010 called Road to Ythaca, which I watched at PIX. Made for a thousand euros, a road-movie with four mourning guys, but then also a sci-fi-flick, a ghost story, and a meta-discussion on how to make films in Brazil. Updates some Rocha-stuff. Don't know if it's possible to find, but check it out.

Urgent & Key

Ah, ok. That is otm.

Wow, I didn't know this existed: http://www.filmlinc.com/films/on-sale/aya-of-yop-city

big fan of the comic series, would love to see this

Billy Liar (Schlesinger, 1962)
Belle de Jour (Buñuel, 1967)
Paisan (Rossellini, 1946)
Day of Wrath (Dreyer, 1943)
The Long Voyage Home (Ford, 1940)
An American In Paris (Minnelli, 1951)
Pain & Gain (Bay, 2013)

This year so far:

Pacific Rim (2013, del Toro)
Saving Mr. Banks (2013, John Lee Hancock)
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013, Abrams)
Frozen (2013, Buck & Lee)
World War Z (2013, Forster)
Wolf of Wall Street, the (2013, Scorsese)

What can I say, I'm not watching a lot right now.

Fascination (Rollin)- so, so great; the bad-dream atmosphere reminds me a little of Bunuel or Lynch in places and that last scene in the dovecote (rookery? whatever it's called) is gorgeous
The Fearless Vampire Killers, Or, Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are In My Neck (Polanski)- an absolute turd; fails in almost every possible way. Komeda tries his best, I like the poster, and the opening credits are nice I guess?
Jodorowsky's Dune (Pavich)- it would have been an absolute disaster but I could listen to Jodorowsky talk about it for hours. Do wish it had spent more time with Brontis, since he seemed to have some understandably ambivalent feelings about the whole endeavor
Diabolique (Clouzot)
The Pervert's Guide to Ideology (Fiennes)- immensely enjoyable. Maybe a little light on argument in favor of entertainment? I'm not really qualified to say. Was pleasantly surprised (just a moment ago) to learn the director used to work with Peter Greenaway
The Cat O'Nine Tails (Argento)- probably the best of the "animal trilogy"; the James Franciscus/Karl Malden pair is certainly more fun than either Tony Musante or Michael Brandon
Four Flies on Grey Velvet (Argento)- one of the few Argento I hadn't seen before, and the only one from his "classic" period. Brandon sucks, as noted above, but Mimsy Farmer is wonderful. And that ending sequence! This is a weird fucking movie you guys.

Ratings proudly attached:

Concerning Violence (7/10)
Love and Terror on the Howling Plains of Nowhere (6.5/10)
Blue Collar (8/10)
Mugshot (7/10)
Guidelines (7/10)
Beyond Clueless (7/10)
A Very Special Favor (5/10)
The Killing (8.5/10)
The Client (6/10)
The Kids Are All Right (7/10)
Jesus’ Son (7.5/10)
Je t'aime je t'aime
Primal Fear (6.5/10)

I didn’t attach a rating to Je t'aime je t'aime. I want to see it again--whatever I give it would be too low, as I typically drifted a bit. But I did like it. So obviously a precursor to Groundhog Day, The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and I’m sure lots else.

Thought Laura Linney gave the best performance in Primal Fear, not Norton (kind of showy). I’ve never seen her so hard-bitten.

Utamaro and His Five Women (Mizoguchi, 1946)
Record of a Tenement Gentleman (Ozu, 1947)
L'Avventura (Antonioni, 1960)
Godzilla (Edwards, 2014)
Limelight (Chaplin, 1952)
Where Now Are the Dreams of Youth? (Ozu, 1932)
Much Ado About Nothing (Whedon, 2012)

what'd you think of Much Ado

I want to see it but I've been kinda meh about making the effort

It was pretty, and there were lols aplenty at the wordplay (I hadn't read the play, so it was all new to me) and Fillion and one of the Buffy goobers as cops. I had trouble getting my head around the anachronistic behavior of some of the characters in a modern-day setting, especially Hero swooning on being accused instead of busting out a load of "what is this paternalistic bullshit?!?!?!" And Claudio and Leonato being instantly willing to believe the worst. Beatrice and Benedick's sparring was fun.

WmC, how did u see Utamaro?

Hulu+/Criterion

An Autumn Afternoon (Ozu, 1962) - looking great and shiny in the restore.
One Day Pina Asked Me and The man with the suitcase (Chantal Akerman, 1982) - talked more about it on the thread dedicated to Akerman. These monthly screens are a highlight of the cinema going year.
A Chris Marker programme at the Whitechapel: Sunday in Peking (1956), If I had Four Camels (1966). The latter is a predecessor to Sans Soleil, the mind is alert to all and the words are there to match. He was such a great writer, truly curious. Would've made a great teacher in the way he is able to give matter in a way that allows a response for more conversation. He never dictates.

It was pretty, and there were lols aplenty at the wordplay (I hadn't read the play, so it was all new to me) and Fillion and one of the Buffy goobers as cops. I had trouble getting my head around the anachronistic behavior of some of the characters in a modern-day setting, especially Hero swooning on being accused instead of busting out a load of "what is this paternalistic bullshit?!?!?!" And Claudio and Leonato being instantly willing to believe the worst. Beatrice and Benedick's sparring was fun.

I had affection for it despite thinking that the woman cast as Beatrice wasn't very good.

Also there was a terrible doc about Marker's first film, when he was given some more money by the French govt to cover the Helsinki Olympics. The bits of the doc itself were great but the filmmaker is a terrible writer -- she was too in thrall of Marker -- It didn't help that she didn't have resources unfortunately. In the best section, where she talks about the film itself she refers to what William Klein went on to do in the crowd scenes but she never had the footage from his films (or wasn't allowed to show any). I've seen the films so knew about the wide angle shots in Algiers but you couldn't do a direct comparison.

Resurrection (1980, Petrie) 6/10
Out of the Furnace (2013, Cooper) 5/10
*Othello (1952, Welles) 10/10
The Future (2011, July) 5/10
Providence (1977, Resnais) 6/10
Big Trouble (1986, Cassavetes) 4/10
In the Name of the Father (1971, Bellocchio) 7/10
Heavy Traffic (1973, Bakshi) 7/10
Drinking Buddies (2013, Swanberg) 6/10
Coonskin (1975, Bakshi)6/10
*Monsieur Verdoux (1947, Chaplin) 8/10
Home Town (1930, Mizoguchi) 6/10
White Threads of the Waterfall (1933, Mizoguchi) 7/10
Miyamoto Musashi (1944, Mizoguchi) 7/10
Outrageous! (1977, Benner) 6/10
Under the Skin (2013, Glazer) 7/10
The Human Comedy (1943, Brown) 6/10
*Dr. Strangelove, or:... (1964, Kubrick) 10/10
A Geisha (1953, Mizoguchi) 8/10

*rewatches

A Thousand Clowns (1965)
Fatso (1980)
Labor Day (2013)

Movies I've watched this month

Troll Hunter 6/10
Inside Llewyn Davis 8/10
Clear History 4/10
Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead 8/10
Ikiru 7/10
Withnail and I 10/10
Please Give 4/10

Museum Hours 8/10
The Immigrant 5/10
Snowpiercer 6/10
The Specialists 3/10

i was underwhelmed by 'the immigrant' also

Avalon (2011, axel petersen) - is like if claire denis interpreted 'sexy beast' 8/10
Palo Alto (2014, gia coppola) - ending is off but p much everything else works to a degree, emma roberts and nat wolff are both excellent 8/10
The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964, arthur lubin) - fish don knotts! is surprisingly v cute & the animation & interplay w/ real life looks great;Taglines: will leave you limp with laughter! 7/10

Ace in the Hole (Wilder, 1951) - 8/10
Frank (Lenny Abrahamson, 2014) - 7/10
Le Doulos (Melville, 1962) - 8/10
North By Northwest (Hitchcock, 1959) - 10/10*
Good Vibrations (Lisa Barros d'Sa, Glen Leyburn, 2012) - 6/10
Godzilla (Gareth Edwards, 2014) - 4/10
A Kid in King Arthur's Court (Michael Gottlieb, 1995) - 2/10
Alternative 3 (Christopher Miles, 1977) - 5/10
Made in USA (Goddard, 1966) - 7/10
Pierrot le Fou (Goddard, 1965) - 9/10*
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (Tony Richardson, 1962) - 8/10*

*re-watch

The Tenant (Polanski)
Rabid w/commentary (Cronenberg)
Deep Red (Argento)
The Shout (Skolimowski)
A Walk Through H (Greenaway)
L'Important C'est D'aimer w/commentary (Zulawski)
Crank (Neveldine/Taylor)
Crank: High Voltage (Neveldine/Taylor)
The Hellstrom Chronicle (Green)

The Grand Budapest Hotel (Anderson, 2014)
The Amazing Spider Man 2 (Webb, 2014)
Mud (Nichols, 2012)
The Bling Ring (Copolla, 2013)
Behind The Candelabra (Soderburgh, 2013)
Margaret (Lonergan, 2011)*
La Jetee (Marker, 1962)
Sans Soleil (Marker, 1983)
Le Samourai (Melville, 1967)

Lone Survivor: This was hysterical. The number of bullets each guy took was Schwarzenegger-esque. Helpful tip from the film: if you ever break one of your leg bones just push it back into your leg and you should be able to walk with only a slight limp. And: I was impressed by how much RPG ammo the bad guys had even though they were on foot in the woods.

I loved the running bit about how everyone would have lived if only selfish liberals would let the military buy more Apaches.

The bad Taliban guy wore black accented clothing and had black rings around his eyes and the good Pashtunwali guy wore white accented clothing and had other softening touches in his wardrobe.

The kid they let go (despite his really asking to be murdered due to his obvious thought crimes) was hella good at parkour.

The Great Beauty (2013) 3.5/5
Let the Fire Burn (2013) 4/5
Under the Skin (2013) 4/5
Muscle Shoals (2013) 2.5/5
Finding Vivian Meyer (2013) 3.5/5
The Raid: Redemption (2011) 3/5
Color Me Obsessed: A Film About the Replacements (2012) 3/5
Broadcast News (1987; rewatch) 4/5
Possession (1981; rewatch) 4.5/5

Wild Palms (8.0)
Life Upside Down (7.0)
The Crossing Guard (6.5)
The Pleasures of Being Out of Step (7.5)
Advise and Consent (8.5)
Flipped (5.5)
The Good Girl (7.0)
Art School Confidential (7.0)
Ides of March (7.0)
We Are the Best! (7.0)
Regarding Susan Sontag (7.5)

wolf of wall street really is kinda boring in the final analysis huh

only the last 2-1/2 hours

polyphonic why do you hate Our Boys?

Fort Apache (Ford, 1948) 7/10
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (Ford, 1949) 5/10
Rio Grande (Ford, 1950) 6/10
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoise (Bunuel, 1972) 9/10
Death Wish 2 (Winner, 1982) 2/10
*Rear Window (Hitchcock, 1954) 9/10
Tiny Furniture (Dunham, 2010) 7/10

*rewatch

*Blue Velvet (Lynch) & deleted scenes
Gamer (Neveldine/Taylor)
*Possession (Zulawski)
Mean Girls (Waters)
*Blow-Up (Antonioni) (w/Peter Brunette commentary)
*Black Sunday/Mask of Satan (Bava)
Hell Comes to Frogtown (Kizer/Jackson)

Bright Days Ahead (2014) 5 out of 10
Le Bonheur (1965) 8 out of 10
Young & Beautiful (2013) 7 out of 10
The Immigrant (2014) 8 out of 10

Threepenny Opera (Pabst, 1931, German version)
Germany Year Zero (Rossellini, 1948)
Carlos (Assayas, 2010, long version)
Permanent Vacation (Jarmusch, 1980)
Wild Strawberries (Bergman, 1957)
The Man Who Left His Will on Film (Oshima, 1970)
Popeye (Altman, 1980)

LouLou (Pialat, 1980) 8/10
Ikarie XB1 (Polak, 1963) 7/10
Blue Ruin (Saulnier, 2013) 7/10
Death Line (Sherman, 1972) 8/10
Dexys - Nowhere is Home (Evans & Kelly, 2014)

Perverts Guide to Ideology - basically a two+ hr long zizek lecture about expressions of ideology in film. I really enjoyed it and it bolstered my sense that zizek really shines as a cultural philosopher like this (as opposed to other realms he might occasionally dip into)

all at SIFF:

The Case Against 8
The Double
The Congress
Obvious Child
We Are The Best!
Whitey: United States of America vs. James J. Bulger
The Signal
Boyhood
Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter

All Is Lost is kind of a morbid superhero daydream for rich people about how even when you do everything right, the world is going to be hard on you but don't worry because you'll be respected in the final analysis and saved by the hand of a just god.

A touch of Sin (Jia Zhangke, 2013) - this was great. No real false notes (apart from people in the bus watching the action film, like I needed pointing out the violence here was going to be 'for real'). Love the slow cinema bits (the woman wonadering about after dropping her lover at the train station, hanging out, thinking about one suspects nothing much), and how the animals and nature that are worked into the story.

The Soft Skin (Truffaut, 1964) - glad I'm seeing these now. 400 Blows is almost like the only really amazing thing Truffaut made.

*The Bird With the Crystal Plumage (Argento) (with Alan Jones & Kim Newman commentary)
His Girl Friday (Hawks) (Bringing Up Baby >>>>>>>> His Girl Friday, fwiw; the politics are really offputtingly shitty in HGF, too, but more importantly it's just not as funny and Cary Grant's character is a tremendous creep)
Windows (Greenaway)
Intervals (Greenaway)
The Perfume of the Lady in Black (Barilli) (THIS. IS. BEST. I am on a goddamn crusade to force everyone I meet to watch this movie. Formally it's a particularly beautiful example of mid-70's horror in the vein of Bava- not a giallo, but adjacent to it- but the content and tone are all Polanski's apartment trilogy. At this point I've started just picking up anything I can find cheap with Mimsy Farmer sight unseen.)
*La Femme Publique (Zulawski) (with Daniel Bird & Andrzej Zulawski commentary) (Z talks Dostoevsky, reflexivity, lenses & handheld camera work, hates Greenaway and loves Blade Runner)
*Black Sunday (Bava) (with Tim Lucas commentary)
Mickey One (Penn)

I think Shoot the Piano Player is right there with The 400 Blows.

^Yes.

what politics in His Girl Friday, exactly? It's based on a classic stage comedy where the 2 leads are men, u know. And it's hilarious. Yes, Walter Burns is a classic creep, comedies are often about them.

Margaret (2011, Lonergan, director's cut) 7/10 (*release ver was 8)
The Famous Sword Bijomaru (1945, Mizoguchi) 6/10
Portrait of Madame Yuki) (1950, Mizoguchi) 7/10
*Which Way to the Front? (1970, Lewis) 3/10
The 47 Ronin (1941, Mizoguchi) 7/10
Accident (1967, Losey) 7/10
Only Lovers Left Alive (2013, Jarmusch) 6/10
Maine-Océan (1986, Rozier) 7/10
Liquid Sky (1982, Tsukerman) 6/10
Tenderness of the Wolves (1973, Lommel) 6/10
The Love of the Actress Sumako (1947, Mizoguchi) 7/10
Miss Oyu (1951, Mizoguchi) 8/10
Victory of Women (1946, Mizoguchi) 6/10
My Love Has Been Burning (1949, Mizoguchi) 7/10
Gebo and the Shadow (2012, Oliveira) 8/10

*rewatch

I think Shoot the Piano Player is right there with The 400 Blows.

― clemenza, Wednesday, June 4, 2014 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^Yes.

― You guys are caterpillar (Telephone thing), Wednesday, June 4, 2014 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ok I've yet to see that one.

HGF is much funnier than BUB (which is really more horrifying than funny).

HGF/The Front Page basically has no respect for anyone or anything except the forward momentum of yellow journalism.