Last (x) movies you saw

actually one thing that intrigued me this time is how japanese people received sans soleil, if they did at all, but i couldn't really find any anecdotes about this

Drive
Cabin In The Woods
Marwencol

I'm on a pretty good run.

Smokin Aces which is a Guy Richie like cornucopia of cameos by somewhat interesting characters. Thing about a contract being put out on a cocaine headed egotistical Las Vegas magician with mob connections.
Somewhat watchable I guess, some laughs and pretty violent.

Getting reshown quite frequently on ITV4 or something. thankfully they're not cutting films up as much as they used to on the terrestrial channel some years back. Story wouldn't have made any sense if they did that though, bit confused as it was.

Haven't seen Common act before, have a cd from him from 10 odd years back with cameos from some odd choices like Laetitia Ssadier etc.

Compliance (Craig Zobel, '12) - The events depicted in this film are so outrageous and implausible that they could only be true. 4/5

Looper (Rian Johnson, '12) - The second-best time travel movie Bruce Willis has ever made. 3.5/5

Cosmopolis (Cronenberg, '12) - Pity the poor #TeamEdward members who turned up to this out of loyalty. 2.5/5

Premium Rush (David Koep, '12) - Entertaining, uncomplicated chase movie. Michael Shannon is really good.

The Unbookables - Documentary thing that follows a group of drunken stand-up comics as they travel in their battered RV from dive venue to chicken-wire protected stage dive venue in the US. Grippingly awful. 4/5

Indie Game the Movie - I know about indie music, but I don't know a thing about indie games, so I wasn't sure if any of this would make sense to me. Early on, though, someone says "I just do what I do, and if anyone else likes it that's a bonus" (or words to that affect), so I knew I was going to be okay. 4/5

marwencol is great

Seconded.

precious (lee daniels, 2009)
dawn of the dead (zack snyder, 2004)...this is a great zombie movie
once upon a time in anatolia (nuri bilge ceylan, 2011)....fell asleep watching this one
this must be the place (paolo sorentino, 2011)....pretentious tosh
metropolis (fritz lang, 1927)
man with a movie camera (dziga vertov, 1929)....this is amazing
the king speech (tom hooper, 2010)....a pleasant sunday evening movie, nothing fantastic though
ondine (neil jordan, 2009)....mediocre
howards end (james ivory, 1992)
hot tub time machine (steven pink, 2010).....i love this movie
triumph of the will (leni riefenstahl, 1935)

North By Northwest (good clean fun)
The Prestige (also good clean fun)
Ed Wood (same again, loved landau)
The Fly (awesome)

once upon a time in anatolia (nuri bilge ceylan, 2011)....fell asleep watching this one

prob the best new film i've seen this year (only Turin Horse comes close)

Tales of the Night is lovely animation, terrible translation/voice acting/script

Cabin In The Woods (rollicking)
Moonlight Kingdom (kind of alright if edging on the parodic)
Martha Macy May Marlene (could've been better)
Take Shelter(very good)

loved anatolia
still think about the scene in the dark room w/the candle
& still think about the costumes. beautiful smalltown village mayor clothes, woollen hats.

Anna Karenina
very good looking, highly stylised film scripted by Tom Stoppard which can be a good sign.
Interesting use of narrative technique I guess, was kit based on a stage play or did the idea of using a theatre set like that come independently?

Anyway, kind of went to see it largely because they had a couple of screenings of films per day this week in the Luxury Screen which I've never been in for the normal price rather than the hiked one. Normally €6 more to see things in there, I guess the seats are a little more comfortable & have the option of being wider if there's not a full audience.
Might be bothered to go to Taken 2 in there over the weekend since there are showings at 11.40 each day.

Go see some films day:
Samsara - I might've dozed through a bit of the early parts of this, but it's a decent companion piece to Baraka. A little surprised by the reviews saying it was pretty but no message - it seemed to be clearly saying "Here is the state of humanity in 2012: Better luck next time, eh?"

Brave - I'm amused by the challop that it fails the Bechdel test, largely because it also is the Bechdel test incarnate. And a decent Pixar film as well.

Resident Evil Retribution - I'd (re/)watched and generally enjoyed the earlier films on my iPhone earlier in the month - this was actually the first one that actually felt like it would have a video game adaptation, which is not a good look for the series. Also too much Aliens in its DNA.

The Queen of Versailles - I liked that this was largely amoral on the stars - meaning that they damned themselves out of their own mouths by and large. That said, one of the shots caused a noise of disapproval such as I have never heard from a theatre.

Killing Me Softly - I'm surprised that none of the reviews I've seen have mentioned the Coens - apart from anything else, Richard Jenkins was both A+++ and reminded me of JK Simmons in Burn After Reading - except here everyone except Brad Pitt is a dope.

Stars in shorts: ugh. What was I thinking?

Assault on Precinct 13 the '05 remake.
sort of well done but nowhere near as atmospheric as the John carpenter original.
& I was wondering on the idea of original when I watched this last night. Is the Carpenter a translocation of an earlier Western or not?
Have always wondered if it was just a 50s film about a fort & Indians replayed in the modern day with gang members played as the faceless horde that would have been Indians in the original?

'05 now recasts gang as bad cops if that ain't too much of a spoiler.

it's a loose remake of Rio Bravo

Taken 2 (who cares who directed this, 2012) - I can't imagine Liam Neeson beating up anybody. Neither was his sense of direction in anyway convincing, just a way to cut down the hunt for bad Turks and the runnng time so maybe not so bad.

The trick with the shoelace and map was neat, but then you think this was some MacGyver that some idiot thought fit to bring back.

Spartacus (Kubrick, 1960) - From Stanley's best period. Love the lack of action, choosing to focus instead on comradeship and love. Lots of great scenes illustrating this, doesn't flag.

Old Boy (pretty unpleasant)
Kes (fantastic)
Contraband (so bad lol)
Lolita (good..but still processing)

Spartacus still not fully "Kubrick's" movie, it chased him outta H'wood.

Glen and Randa (1971, Jim McBride) 4/5
Moonrise Kingdom (2012, Wes Anderson) 4/5
Family Name (1997, Macky Alston) 4/5
Henry Fool (1997, Hal Hartley) 4/5
Red Rock West (1993, John Dahl) 3/5
Queen Margot (1994, Patrice Chéreau) 4/5
Magic Mike (2012, Steven Soderbergh) 3/5
Radio Unnameable (2012, Paul Lovelace and Jessica Wolfson) 3/5
Francine (2012, Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky) 2/5
Seven (1995, David Fincher) 4/5

I had been half considering going to see Taken 2 cos of the cheap tickets to the luxury screen deal over the weekend. I then looked it up on Rottentomatoes and their totting up lead to 19% on the critics front. Seemed to have better responses from audiences though.

Not sure whether it is at all worth seeing from what you say. Shopuld I go with the critics assessment?

Did hear that they'd reversed the story from the original where he a well trained ex-Intelligence guy is ruthlessly going after his daughter who's being sold into white slavery. Which warranted a 15 certificate or wahtever the 2nd highest is these days . & instead they had him being taken and her coming after him following his instructions for which the certificate is now 12A.
Just rewatched the first one a couple of days back too, which might have led me to bothering to go to the cinema but what I'm hearing/reading makes that sound far less enthusiastic.

love henry fool

the master <-dope
the expatriate <-boilerplate
cosmopolis <-a huge disappointing turd

Was told the first Taken was 18 and had some of the violence cut to make it 12A.

Not my kind of thing really (was er, taken to see this), and don't care for Rottentomatoes so you know...sorry for not beng helpful here.

Spartacus still not fully "Kubrick's" movie

Ah ok, surprising since a lot of the narrative was that Kubrick was such a control freak and did actually exercise a lot of it (despite studios paying for his fkn vision). Maybe that's why Spartacus was good!

He was called in when Anthony Mann was fired after a couple weeks. He definitely made some of it his own, likely including some rewriting, but then there's, u know, the slaves playing with a goat.

hate spartacus

I think of Spartacus as being half Kubrick, half Nick Dennis.

Henry Fool rox

Killing Them Softly.
Mainly cos it was in the luxury cinema, same deal as last week with Anna Karenina.
Guess it's more low key than you might expect from a film with its subject matter. Does have some pretty heavy violence though and drug taking.
Think its by the same guy who did The Assassination of Jesse James....
and I think Brad Pitt is as good in it. No Nick Cave though.
I was wondering earlier if it was worth going to see a film with Pitt in it. Maybe its this permanent cold making me forgetful but he was enjoyable again. He can be very good, as he seemed to be in this.

It has Obama election speeches running through it as some form of theme, might be offputting to some.
Also has both James Gandolfini and Ray Liotta playing people falling from earlier peaks.

I'd recommend it, hope others do too.

Oh jeez I want to see Killing Them Softly, it looks really good. Based on a George V Higgins novel which I haven't read but I love friends of eddie coyle. love Andrew Dominik - he also did Chopper

the trailer looked great

The Death Of Mr Lazarescu (Cristi Puiu, 2005) - marketing this as a "black comedy" was a bit wide of the mark, it's quite a way closer to tragedy. What happened to the new wave of Romanian directors anyway? This and a couple of other films did ok then nothing else ever seems to have got international distribution.

Come And See (Elem Klimov, 1985) - ulp. War sure is hell, eh?

The Consequences Of Love (Paolo Sorrentino, 2004) - started out well as a study of isolation and loneliness, but came undone with implausible plotting. Also, I'm aware that attractive actresses sell films, but too often (like here) it comes across as middle-aged wish fulfillment when they fall for old baldy creeps.

It's Such a Beautiful Day by Don Herzfeldt is kinda wow

killing them softly looks so dope, the assassination of jesse james is great, chopper too

yeah dominik has a good track record

also BEN MENDELSOHN is in this, who I have been in love with since high school

why has this movie been out forever in other countries and not USA, that shits so backward

sorry guys, it's terrible

I DON'T BELIEVE YOU

i do want to hear some other opinions cos it's been pretty well reviewed but i thought it was a mess. I haven't seen his last one but i did enjoy Chopper (although i give Eric Bana the lion's share of the credit)

what didn't you like about it?

well it starts off pretty low-key and Eddie Coyle-ish and i was digging it but then it's just scene after scene of rambling dialogue(i know that's Higgins' thing but these really go on) interspersed with super stylised sequences soundtracked by anachronistic pop songs in a sub-Tarantino style. The political "subtext" is laughable (there's a tv or radio with Obama/Bush speechifying in the background of every practically every scene) and the whole thing just felt like a giant waste of time, especially with a cast that talented. I guess Brad Pitt is ok but he's just coasting in this thing. A lot of people are going to love it. I can tell.

Dr. Strangelove (this was brilliant and hilarious and peter sellers is god)
The Searchers
Elephant

A View to a Kill (Glen, 1985) D
Malcolm X (Lee, 1992) B
The Innkeepers (West, 2011) B+
Apocalypse Now (Coppola, 1979) A
Sunrise (Murnau, 1927) A-
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (Daldry, 2011) F
Perfect Sense (Mackenzie, 2011) A
Shallow Grave (Boyle, 1994) B-
The Awful Truth (McCarey, 1937) B

On the Road (Walter Salles, 2012) - It's a good job it's long as it took me a while to warm to it, but I liked it quite a bit in the end. It's a bit too straightforward a telling, but it is a really good looking movie with a good looking cast. Needed more of Viggo Mortensen's Burroughs character, though. 4/5

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2012) - Loved the nightime photography of the Turkish countryside. This is very much a sleepless at 3am movie. Funny, too, but overlong. 4/5

Roadgames (Richard Franklin, 1981) - "Rear Window in a truck". Good, laidback Hitchcock/Duel homage. 3/5

Not Quite Hollywood (Mark Hartley, 2008) - This is what prompted me to rent Roadgames. Entertaining doc on Australian maverick filmmaking ('Ozploitation')in the 1970s and '80s. Full of wild anecdotes and crazy clips. 4/5

A Serious Man (Coens, 2009) - Occasionally brilliant comedic farce, but so cruel and sour, and peopled only by grotesques. 3/5

Quatermass and the Pit (Roy ward Baker, 1967) - A good London movie. Slow-burning, but creepy as hell, with an amazing electronic score. 4/5

Friday the 13th (Sean S. Cunningham, 1980) - Now plays more like a limp parody of a slasher film, but still goofy fun and some good kills. In a way it's an inversion of Psycho - it turns out the mother is the killer, who is murdering on behalf of her dead son. 3/5

V/H/S (various, 2012) - Found footage horror anthology of unoriginal stories filled with hateful characters. The Ti West segment is perhaps the best, it's also the most subtle and least 'horrific'. Just a short with a nice sense of dread, with a twist ending. otherwise the relentless misogyny is depressing. 1/5

platform (jia zhangke). a bunch of traveling chinese artists experience the transition to capitalism during the 1980s in a rural outpost. I think there were like two close-ups in the whole thing which made it confusing and really exasperating. it was excessively elliptic and the movie felt like nine hours long. there's a nice scene when they get stuck somewhere, a song starts and the train comes ... I liked that, the little political bits as well.

la voie lactée (luis buñuel). now this is how you make a film! a summary of catholic heresies through the ages with exquisite transitions in time / space, hilarious as well, 90 minutes packed with so much great stuff. it makes JZ's aesthetic vision of history pathetically weak in comparison. there is a good carlos fuentes article about it on the criterion website.

la voie lactée = Possibly my fave Buñuel -or at least the one I can watch and rewatch with equal pleasure. Though I think 13 years of Catholic schooling helped in catching many of the lol's Don Luis planted thruout like little landmines.

oh, same here. I erased most of that stuff from memory and it was v strange to see that on screen, it def added to the fun.

platform (jia zhangke). a bunch of traveling chinese artists experience the transition to capitalism during the 1980s in a rural outpost. I think there were like two close-ups in the whole thing which made it confusing and really exasperating. it was excessively elliptic and the movie felt like nine hours long. there's a nice scene when they get stuck somewhere, a song starts and the train comes ... I liked that, the little political bits as well.

i recorded some of the flute music from this film onto a tape through my stereo, & still play it sometimes. really beautiful. this is a long-feeling film, it does a lot though. like you feel it more than you go with it, somehow.

haven't seen platform (yet) but i absolutely loved jia's still life, which wasn't confusing in the slightest, or even very elliptical. in her interview w/ the wire last month laurie spiegel uses the phrase (borrowed from rhys chatham) "slow change" music - well, jia def makes slow change cinema, where v closely observed slow changes in landscape, expression, gesture can become highly meaningful, even startling.

The Man Who Left his Will on Film (Oshima, 1970) - as usual for this period it seems to draw on an absurdist theatrical concept; energetic and yet ends up feeling like a meditation on a friend's suicide; nostalgic already (the flaws and inadequacies and naivety there for all to see) for the time when film and an acitvist politics went hand in hand...

Je, tu, il, elle (Akerman, 1974) - mid-way piece between stuff like Hotel Monteray (all the time spent in a room and learning to move and not move the camera) and Jeanne Dielman, where you have the concept aligned to more meat to the plot/or what Akerman is looking to project for the world to see.

Looper - saw in teh cinema, really enjoyed it, and was totally untroubled by paradoxical complaints.

Judge Dredd - another cinema trip, again thoroughly enjoyed it; could do without 3D but that's always the case.

Back to the Future - watched most of this after realising it was on tele the other weekend (after seeing Looper); still awesome. Best time travel film ever?

Cabin in the Woods - last week's Lovefilm DVD; had an inkling regarding what it was going to do, but was pretty much blind going in as to how it would do it. laughed (in a good way) more than I jumped. Whedon and Abrams are merging into one entity in my mind.