MOVIES!

Valentino: The Last Emperor (thx for recommendation)
I Like Killing Flies - not sure why people try to make a hero out of this douche
Black Swan
Enter the Void - wanted to check out the "famous opening credits" and it's on Netflix Instant so I just flipped it on for a bit but didn't watch past the first 10 minutes. worth seeing?

https://www2.bc.edu/~yanno/Chinatown.jpg

Watched Chinatown for the very first time. Terrific slow-burn neo-noir, obviously, and I would say career bests for both Nicholson and Faye Dunaway. Also, does this contain the two best cameo appearances by film directors? John Huston is just chilling, and then there's Polanski himself, of course. "Hey kitty-cat, you know what happens to nosey fellows? They lose their noses".
Though maybe the real star of the movie is L.A. itself; sun-bleached and unforgiving.

well Huston's role is hardly a cameo. Also he was acting pretty regularly in other ppl's films by then.

i havent seen chinatown in a minute. i think i was too young to "get it" the first time i saw it

I took a class on Polanski and wrote a paper about Chinatown. Some interesting thoughts that came from that include the fact that although it's often discussed as an updated noir or an homage to noir, it is a decidedly contrary perversion of the cliches of noir. Major themes such as the classic idea of not trusting the femme fatale because in the end she's out to get you. In chinatown at every turn Jack doubts and doesn't trust Faye, and many of the events that take place in the movie are caused by this, by Jack not realizing that she is in fact the victim. And it's all about the consequences of actions, Jack later on visiting Burt Young and we see that he beat his wife because of Jack's information, all the way to the end where the first cop is actually firing a warning shot and Jack gets in his way, which causes the second cop to fire the fatal shot. So Jack is absolutely not the noir hero.

There was also a lot of fun stuff like all these things coming in pairs with one thing missing or flawed, like pulling the guy out of the water and he has one shoe, breaking one of the tailights of the car, letting the car break one of the two watches, all the way to the ridiculous foreshadowing of Faye lying in bed saying "There's a flaw in one of my eyes".

Anyway, great movie on many many levels.

>well Huston's role is hardly a cameo. Also he was acting pretty regularly in other ppl's films by then.

re: ridiculous over the top Huston roles, recently saw Myra Breckinridge. was expecting it to be 'bad' but actually really enjoyed it.

also saw Elizabeth Taylor in 'The Driver's Seat', on youtube. Yeesh. Not exactly good, but... Elizabeth Taylor. Incredibly stilted dialogue that's trying so hard to be non-sequituous that it ends up even more inexplicable than I think it was trying for.

and saw the Ballet Russes documentary. Mostly interviews, but the short 8mm/16mm film stock of the productions from the 30s/40s/50s is enough to make a Ballet fan out of anyone within seconds. Lots of Leonid Massine from the decades before The Red Shoes, and definitely a great next stop after Black Swan.

Myra Breckinridge is awesome! You only just saw it???

had been saving it. saw it with the Prelingers, we'd been meaning to watch it for a few years now but we're all ludicrously busy

yeah - I have movies that I have been "saving" - I know what you mean.

people keep telling me I'm an idiot for "saving" the Godfather movies.

i saw them for the first time last year. they are good!

weird choice since so many movies and tv shows reference them

Borzage's "Street Angel", excellent, Janet Gaynor especially good.

i saw some ~thillers~

The Woman

- this felt like a decent film ruined in the cutting room; soundtrack possibly worse than the crow ost.

A Lonely Place to Die
Kill List
The Veteran
The Dead

- really enjoying these new uk genre movie vibes. none of these made any sense, but they made up for in viciousness, or nightmarish atmosphere, or both (kill list).

The Yellow Sea

- hong-jin na quickly approaching all-time status imo.

watched: robert siodmaks' menschen am sontag (1930) — his first film, with a script written by a very young billy wilder. naturalistic acting by non-professional actors, gentle humor and beautiful sunlit scenery. 4/5

working my way through this:

http://www.criterion.com/boxsets/769-america-lost-and-found-the-bbs-story

cant believe i hadn't ever watched easy rider or head before-- so great

Head is just a good movie full stop

This is not as much a 'good' movie but I'm definitely glad I saw it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Freedom

& it can't be overstated how much fun this one is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_for_Living_(film)

need to see more lubitsch

just watched: loulou (maurice pialat, 1980) — isabelle huppert and a hunky gerard d. seems to be about unconventional relationships, one's expectations clashing with another's. realistic acting, frank eroticism. very nice.

just heard: lulu — metallica and a hunky lou r. seems to be about unconventional relationships, one's expectations clashing with another's. realistic acting, frank eroticism. very nice.

ew

satantango
videodrome

chantal akerman: the new york films (early experimental shorts) — studies of space and movement that seem like studies for "jeanne dielman"
birth (glazer) - expected to hate this after reading about the premise but found it pretty affecting
playtime - 2nd viewing, looked amazing on a decent hdtv. noticed lot of hidden gags i hadn't noticed before.

some movies i got queued up

* On the silver globe

* schizopolis

* clean shaven

* she monkeys

* conspirators of pleasure

saw finisterrae while nodding off: i was dreaming up bits that could have been in, like at one point the 2 characters come across a white electric oven in the middle of the forest, one said "well go on, then" the other stuck his head in and looked around. then i woke up .

lol that would work perfectly in finisterrae

HOLY MOTORS

barmy

also at munich ff this year

it looks pretty from a distance - dreadful, ugly, but short polish feature about awful people
shut up and play the hits - looked + sounded great
robot and frank - twee indie scifi. ok i guess.

shut up and play the hits

oh shit that's next week right?

there's prob a thread where people are talking about it

yeah I posted about it a bit on the main LCD sound system thread

http://annyas.com/screenshots/images/1972/dont-torture-a-duckling-title-still.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-tE5OEjF-hGs/TW8x6Tm0B6I/AAAAAAAAAnQ/yzsV1JLT_mE/s1600/pdvd979.png

don't torture a duckling

anyone recommend a good movie recommendations book? kinda like the 1001 movies you must see (is that one any good?)

i have this and its good

https://i.imgur.com/eQIGUP8.jpg