Last (x) movies you saw

the ruling class (medak 72, 6/10)
d'est (akerman 93, 8/10)
black narcissus (powell and pressburger 47, 8/10)* (rewatched)
the man who fell to earth (roeg 76, 8/10)*
pina (wenders 2011, 7/10)
river of grass (reichardt 94, 6/10)
duelle (rivette 76, 8/10)
noroît (rivette 76, 7??/10???)

Noroît is the kind of experimental film where both the stakes and the outcome are unclear, but many of its setpieces are stunning, especially the cascade of laughter and shrieks ("performed" and "sincere") during the pirates' amateur theatrical and the wild choreography of the concluding massacre at the masked ball. Duelle's premise is so strange that I was taken aback by how enveloping the film felt, film noir dissected into a series of dreamlike gestures.

I also kind of love how far Rivette was willing to go with camp aesthetics in these films, especially in the costume design; the later films of his I've seen seem somewhat more austere in this regard.

https://thefilmstage.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/noroit1.jpg
https://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/noroit42.jpg
http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/duelleberto.jpg
http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/duelle51.jpg

I also kind of love how far Rivette was willing to go with camp aesthetics in these films

It's definitely a theatrical aesthetic - the idea of 'dress-up' is important to lots of Rivette - or, "the romance of certain old clothes".

https://www.filmlinc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/celineandjulie3-1600x900-c-default.jpg

As yr first still indicates (and it's great to finally have access to high quality images from these films), never undestimate the 'supernatural element' in Rivette either (alternative title for Celine and Julie - "Phantom Ladies over Paris", which is p much the plot of Duelle).

Rivette was supposedly a big reader of occult and supernatural literature. There's an interview on the dvd of "Story of Marie And Julien" where he spends a bit of time correcting the interviewer on the differences between ghosts and phantoms.

new hansen-løve/huppert film got me with deployment of the fleetwoods' unchained melody

Love and Mercy (Phlad, 2014) 6/10
Budawanny (Quinn, 1987) 7/10
The Childhood Of A Leader (Corbet, 2016) 6/10
Sing Street (Carney, 2016) 8/10
Close-Up (Kiarostami, 1990) 8/10

Close-Up = Sing Street? You are grounded, young man

Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans. My dad would have loved this. Me, I just wound up feeling sorry for Chad McQueen, who comes off like a pathetic sycophant crawling around in his daddy's shadow.

Close-Up = Sing Street? You are grounded, young man

― The Hon. J. Piedmont Mumblethunder (Dr Morbius), 10 September 2016 00:54 (ten hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Cheers bruv

I'm always going to be a bit more lenient with the ratings when it comes to Irish films. Sing Street was way better than my expectations. The 50's Prom scene almost had me welling up and Jack Reynor is fantastic in it also. It reminded me a bit of "We are the best". Finding your identity through music and so on although Sing Street panders to its millennial audience a bit. Very much a 00's interpretation of 80's Ireland. Also no-one was talking about priests molesting children in Ireland 1985 and I'm pretty sure musos like Jack Reynor's character would have been championing The Smiths or The Alarm rather than Duran Duran

The Childhood Of A Leader (Corbet, 2016) 6/10

Not a success in toto but what an unusual subject for an American actor's directorial debut.

Tracing adult fascism to an indulged and unhappy childhood brought to mind Haneke's White Ribbon, which is much the better film - though I liked the way Corbet was humble (or confident) enough to step aside and let the amazing Scott Walker score do a lot of the work, particularly in the final ten minutes or so.

To the point that the film literally starts with the sound of the orchestra tuning up and the conductor's voice

Things to Come (Hansen-løve, 2016) - Loved how un-dramatic this was (2016 is a very undramatic, understated films). Awful things happen but Huppert simply keeps getting on with the business of life and work, and she is perfect playing that. There are some parallels to The Piano Teacher: the over-bearing mother (what got me thinking this was the mother's wish to move back in with her daughter "And where will you sleep?"), the precocious student, philosophy and classical music (with the former as something for the mind but having no actual effect on actions or anything much, and yet it forms a strong backdrop). Differences too (Haneke will always churn it out somewhere to get a reaction from you, Hansen-løve wants to simply put something we all immediately recognise on the screen and ponder on how bizarre it all still is), but very very good.

Andrei Rublev (Tarkovsky, 1966) - Good to catch on a bigger screen.

Saw "Out of the Past" last night in the cinema. Bliss.

xp re "getting on with it" I loved how you got a sense of her as someone who rarely stands still as the camera followed her around the house, down the street, round the classroom &c

The Childhood Of A Leader = We Need To Talk About Kevin (Becoming A Fascist Dictator)

Scott Walker score was awesome tho. Pulverising like heavy metal classical

I thought the Walker score, like most scores by stars(i.e. Greenwood) who regard this work as extracurricular, obtrusive and inapposite; it would've worked much better as its own album.

loved Childhood of a Leader. Bit slow to start but it won me over. The child lead was excellent. The score was astounding.

Wiener Dog, however, was a turd. Black Beauty reimagined as a late 2000s quirky indie black comedy with a sausage dog instead of a horse.

xp re "getting on with it" I loved how you got a sense of her as someone who rarely stands still as the camera followed her around the house, down the street, round the classroom &c

― meh 😐 (wins), Saturday, 10 September 2016 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yes I suppose its that sense of constant motion that keeps her from drowning. The focus on what she still has - her job, her kids (while they have left home she still sees them and their lives), making the most out of her friendship with her former student to get away to a couple of retreats away from the city.

However there were scenes of Huppert crying and alone in her bed. Those were pretty key in establishing her as someone that feels (even before the divorce happened you got the sense of her as relatively unemotional and relentless), and this is a big difference with her character in The Piano Teacher, who is a monster by comparison. One of her best performances and a tight story/script.

Mustang (Ergüven, 2015) 8/10
Anomalisa (Kaufman, 2015) 8/10
Zootopia (Howard/Moore/Bush, 2016) 7/10
The Shallows (Collett-Serra, 2016) 6/10
Last Vegas (Turteltaub, 2013) 3/10
Stalker (Tarkovsky, 1979) 7/10
The Bloodstained Butterfly (Tessari, 1971) 6/10
Burroughs: the Movie (Brookner, 1983) 7/10
The Neon Demon (Refn, 2015) 5/10
For the Love of Spock (Nimoy, 2016) 5/10

rewatches:
Go (Liman, 1999) 7/10
eXistenZ (Cronenberg, 1999) 8/10
Cobra (Cosmatos, 1986) 3/10
Bright Light Big City (Bridges, 1988) 4/10
High-Rise (Wheatley, 2016) 7/10

Bought a DVD that contains both of John Hyams' Universal Soldier sequels, Regeneration and Day of Reckoning. Regeneration is extremely dark, but really well directed. The action is crisp and clear, with no shaky-cam bullshit. The fight scenes are really well staged, with some amazing stunts very obviously done by the performers themselves (the primary villain is an MMA fighter turned "actor", Andrei Arlovski). Jean-Claude Van Damme looks really broken down in this, which gives his fights even more impact. I'm definitely looking forward to watching Day of Reckoning.

Switch (Edwards, 1991)
Rob Roy (Caton-Jones, 1995)
Splash (Howard, 1984)
The New Centurions (Fleischer, 1972)
The Coca-Cola Kid (Makavejev, 1985)

how is The Coca-Cola Kid? maybe the last Eric Roberts vehicle that got good reviews

I thought it was pretty good, Roberts is solid and Greta Scacchi is great.

Just got finished watching Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, and I think it might be the best movie I've seen all year. US: Regeneration was an extremely dark, morose movie about PTSD, disguised as a direct-to-video action sequel, and US: DoR is a straight-up horror movie that combines elements of Blade Runner, Apocalypse Now, and Gaspar Noé into something I've never seen before. Jean-Claude Van Damme plays the Colonel Kurtz role in this one, with Dolph Lundgren as his #2/enforcer; basically, they're hiding out in the swamp in Louisiana (I think?) with a bunch of other Universal Soldiers, all of whom have broken free of their government mental leashes and are now free to do whatever they want. But mostly what they do is hang out in their underground bunker, flexing and occasionally picking one of their number to beat the living shit out of. It's a real rat-overcrowding kind of situation. But the primary plot is centered on this guy John, whose family is murdered by Van Damme's character as the movie opens, in Noé-esque POV. When he comes out of the coma that JCVD beat him into, he goes hunting for him. Gradually, more and more is revealed about JCVD's plan, John's past, etc., etc. All of this is punctuated by periodic outbursts of truly mind-blasting violence. There's a fight in a sporting goods store between John and another dude known as "the Plumber" that's fucking amazing, and it's their second fight - the first time they meet, the Plumber comes at John with an axe and winds up getting half his foot chopped off, while John loses three fingers. (This is an extremely violent and gory movie. Not To Be Watched With The Kids In The Room.) Seriously, I can't believe what I just saw. Highest recommendation.

*Alps (2011, Lanthimos) 7/10
The Academy of Muses (2015, Guerin) 6/10
*The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968, Aldrich) 5/10
*The Glass Shield (1994, Burnett) 8/10
A Gentleman of Paris (1927, d'Arrast) 6/10
*Death by Hanging (1968, Oshima) 6/10
The Truth About Bebe Donge (1952, Decoin) 7/10
Razzia (1955, Decoin) 7/10
Witness in the City (1959, Molinaro) 8/10
Body and Soul (1931, Santell) 5/10
*Candy Mountain (1988, Frank, Wurlitzer) 7/10

also assorted Fatty Arbuckle shorts (1913-14)

he throws people through walls

I will have to check out The Glass Shield. I've only seen KOS and To Sleep With Anger and they both amazing movies.

only film to date featuring Ice Cube and Elliott Gould

ive been counting the days til they reunite

as nurse and assisted-living client

Phoenix (Petzold, 2014)
Run All Night (Collet-Serra, 2015)
Li'l Quinquin (Dumont, 2014)
No End (Kieslowski, 1985)
Melancholia (Von Trier, 2011)
A Most Wanted Man (Corbijn, 2014)
High-Rise (Wheatley, 2015)
Obsession (Dmytryk, 1949)
Ivan's Childhood (Tarkovsky, 1962)

Big thanks to the Killer of Sheep recommendations upthread, watched it last night and was pretty blown away.

Love and Friendship (Stillman, 2016)
Persuasion (Michell, 1995)
Separate Tables (Mann, 1958)
Syndromes and a Century (Weerasethakul, 2006)
Only Yesterday (Takahata, 1991)

Only Yesterday is fantastic. It's crazy that it took so long to get a North American release.

xp

KOS sort of reminds me of Rossellini's Germany Year Zero, which is another one I keep re-watching.

There was not a single thing about Hell or High Water I did not like. Its politics are weirdly fascinating - it works as both a far left and far right fantasy - but at the least, even though this could have been made or set just about any time in the past several decades, it felt like one of the most firmly contemporary movies I've seen in years.

I'll extend the list in a few days but A Bigger Splash delighted me more than any movie I've seen in weeks: sunburned Matthias Schoenaerts, mute Tilda Swinton, Italy, rocks, pools, Tattoo You.

Ralph Fiennes' best work too.

Just watched Sicario 'cause it was free on Hulu. Suggested marketing slogan: "You can't spell cartel without art!"

Whichever one of you psychos recommended "Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning," you were right that it is worthwhile, if almost entirely unpleasant. It's like Gaspar Noe directing a straight to video "Terminator" sequel.

Toldja.

Hell or High Water (Mackenzie, 2016) 7/10
Anthropoid (Ellis, 2016) 6/10
The Dead (Huston, 1987) 8/10
Taste of Cherry (Kiarostami, 1997) 9/10
Misery Loves Comedy (Pollak, 2015) 6/10

Rewatches:

Six Degrees of Separation (Schepisi, 1993) 8/10
The Wolf of Wall Street (Scorsese, 2013) 8/10
Predator 2 (Hopkins, 1990) 7/10

Re-watched most of Thief last night.

And now I'm re-watching John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness, which I find legitimately frightening for some reason.

It's spooky and underrated, despite being (or maybe because it is?) half-baked.

The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum (Mizoguchi, 1939)
The Machine That Kills Bad People (Rossellini, 1952)
Street of Sham (Mizoguchi, 1956)
Q Planes (Whelan, 1939)
Nosferatu the Vampyre (Herzog, 1979)
*The Fly (Cronenberg, 1986)
The Devils (Russell, 1971)

Midnight Special (Nichols, 2016) 5/10
*Suspicion (Hitchcock, 1941) 7/10
Everybody Wants Some!! (Linklater, 2016) 7/10
*Hugo (Scorsese, 2011) 4/10
45 Years (Haigh, 2015) 7/10
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (Nelson, 2015) 6/10
Zootopia (Howard and Moore, 2016) 8/10
*Pan’s Labyrinth (del Toro, 2006) 9/10
Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon (Tirola, 2015) 6/10
The VVitch (Eggers, 2016) 7/10
*Slumdog Millionaire (Boyle, 2008) 3/10

*rewatch

Julietta (Almodovar, 2016) - really good and I've a friend who looks like the lead (older versh, who happened to text me asking whether I wanted to see it while I was in the cinema).
El Sur (Erice, 1983) - loved the father's evasions.
Nathalie Granger (Duras, 1972) - the space, I mean the emptiness is half-way realised. Friend I was with rightly pointed out Depardieu's character was forced.

El Sur (Erice, 1983) - loved the father's evasions.

For some reason while watching this I kept thinking that the father (and the actor playing him) could've stepped in from a Jess Franco film, which gave the film a kind of Spanish Gothic edge throughout - that genre feeling, plus the stuff w/ the pendulum and that great scene when the father and the daughter were water divining. Think it's interesting how both of Erice's fiction films edge up to horror and the allure of the dark - all those shadows, dark costumes. Spanish cinema has a lot of houses, and they're all haunted.