Last (x) movies you saw

hausu
cabin in the woods
little shop of horrors
the host
carrie

wow, what a five-play

how is Hausu?

amazing

habemus papam

michel piccoli is so good in this movie.

...

spoilers:

what do you think of the ending? I'm not familiar with the director and from all the gentle comedy I was almost sure he would accept. it was so poignant and powerful it stopped my heart for a sec, for a man in his position to realize that he would not be able to really change anything at all in that ultra corrupt institution and act accordingly .. I mean, that honesty, such a hero!

forks, my bf is showing me horror movies i haven't seen, as i never watch them

how are you enjoying them in general? that's a great batch that you've watched so far!

your boy has good taste

Habemus Papam is indeed quite superb. Anything including slow mo dolly shots of cardinals playing volleyball is a winner in my book. The only scene that slighty disapointed me was the theater scene, it is moving and beautiful but the editing seemed a little off at times, as if they couldn't use 2-3 shots and the rythm felt weird. If heard all types of comments for the endings: some friends said it was depressing, other said it was relieving, other (like you and I) thought the courage was glorious, I've even heard 'funny' and 'cop out'.

carrie was amazing, so much more than a genre film — gotta see more depalma
cabin in the woods is genre-y but smarter than most, also v funny. i tend to like whedon in general even if his fanboys are annoying.
hausu blew my mind. i was in love within the first 5 minutes
little shop was hilarious
was not expecting to like the host at all but was supremely entertained. also found it oddly touching?

Tetsuo: The Iron Man (Shinya Tsukamoto, 1989) 3/5
Testsuo: Body Hammer (Shinya Tsukamoto, 1993) 1.5/5

Killer Joe (Friedkin, 2012) - All over the place, sexist, but occasionally trashy fun, most of which comes from watching McConaughey prowl. 3/5

Side by Side (Christopher Kenneally, 2012) - Documentary on the rise of digital filmmaking, with directors either in support (Soderbergh, Cameron, etc), or against (Nolan). The debate is rather one sided, but it's more about charting the development, and continuing evolution of digital cameras, film editing and the technical nuts and bolts side of movie making. 3/5

The Amazing Spider-Man (Marc Webb, 2012) - They've improved the cast, the costume and the swinging through the city stuff, but it's more ponderous and drearily over-serious than ever. 2/5

To Catch a Thief (Hitchcock, 1955) - Not exactly the most suspenseful of Hitchcock's thrillers, but it's breezy fun watching Grant top up his already deep tan and gad about the French Riviera with a stunning Grace Kelly. 3.5/5

Flight of the Navigator (Randal Kleiser, 1986) - Sensitive boy meets friendly alien, has adventures and learns about personal growth. An ET knock-off that's almost as good as ET itself. Except I much preferred Joey Cramer's warm performance in this to Henry Thomas in ET. 4/5

Woody Allen: a Documentary (Robert B. Weide, 2011) - Best Woody one-liner, on the Soon-Yi media storm: "It took the edge off my natural blandness". 3/5

Urgh! A Music War (1981) - Great snapshot of the post-punk scenes in the UK and US. Loads of great performances from a taut XTC, a wild Cramps, and the otherworldly Klaus Nomi, amongst others. Most memorable, though, must be Gary Numan singing "Down in the Park" as he wheels awkwardly about a dry-ice shrouded stage in a ridiculous 'futuristic' motorised chair, like a depressed Davros. 4/5

I Knew it Was You (Richard Shepard, 2009) - short but sweet examination of the impeccable, yet largely unsung, career of John Cazele. 3.5/5

gotta see more depalma

Understatement of all time.

i knew you'd say something :D

I'll say something else: I envy your boyfriend right now, introducing you to all sorts of horror classics.

I can't wait to introduce my best friend gay couple to Dressed to Kill in the next few weeks.

c0rey, Femme Fatale, and you're good

little shop was hilarious

the b&w Corman one is OK too

rebecca- marvellous
annie hall- i must re-evaluate my stance on allen, this is obviously terrific
looper- ticked the boxes i needed ticked, tyvm

On youtube:

Pretty Dyana (Boris Mitic, 2003) - Bunch of gypsies from Belgrade re-use old Dyana Citroens to collect recyclable junk around town, reflect on Tito and the Balkan conflict, all to a s/track that includes Husker Du (Diane) and Michael Jackson (Lady Diana) (or "one of us").

Culloden (Peter Watkins, 1964) - Brutal masterpiece: tight script and THAT voice. The year of (Brit)pop and Peter Watkins!!

Finally Got the News (Stewart Bird, Rene Lichtman and Peter Gessner, 1970) - more details http://icarusfilms.com/new2003/fin.html"">here. Great to watch back-to-back w/Watkins. The agitators maybe miles apart in experience and background but no one talks like this anymore in documentaries.

Also caught 30 mins (the full film is not on youtube) of Perfumed Nightmare (Kidlat Tahimik, 1977) - this is a low budget "third world cinema" masterwork. But I wouldn't box it like that, not agree w/Rosenbaum's write-up as something wild, untutored, imagnative and yet really DIY (i.e. creaky home movie you can't stay with). Kind of along the lines of Ajantrik (Ghatak, 1958) and Touki Bouki (Mambety, 1973) in its use of music as a halfway between sensory experience and comedy device. The main protagonist (plyed by Kidlat) has a love of 1st world tech (interested in rocket science) (as the main figure in Ajantrik is into his car and thinks of it as blood-and-flesh) with a desire to get away from the backwardness and yet a scepticism/rudeness toward it to. Unfortunately, that's all I have, for the moment.

Torrent: Bonus for Irene (Helke Sander, 1971). Sander is a bit of a forgotten figure, but along w/the likes of Akerman she developed a language to talk at feminism to moviegoers. The All-Round Reduced Personality is probably her best (not that I've seen it all but it'll be hard to beat, should be shown more alongside Jeanne Dielman), but this is a good short-film of a single mother who is, again, another agitator against the (usually male) oppressor who starts saying NO and demands.

Cinema:

5 Broken Cameras (Emad Burnat, Guy Davidi, 2011) - as frightening a piece of being in the middle of it as The Battle for Chile but at one point it distances itself away from (in his own eyes) opportunistic Palestinian politicians. The footage is incredible and totally worth your time, but the wider situation appears to be a non-discussion starter.

Perfumed Nightmare is playing at Anthology Film Archives in NYC this weekend, along with other Kidlat Tahimik movies.

gonna go see dinotasia tonight. pray for me

Wake In Fright (relentless)
The Wrong Man ( starts off great then putters out. Fonda terrific as always. That guy could really carry a film)
Autoluminescent ( Rowland S. Howard docu )

ooh I'm going to watch Wake In Fright this weekend, v excited

Hope you're not an animal lover, Veg Girl (overlong kanga hunt scene)

nope DEATH TO ROOS

lol

(sorry)

haha! I had to look away personally. Good film! Enjoy!

Fallen Angel (Otto Preminger, 1945) - utter cretin Dana Andrews drifts into town and noir-y stuff ensues. Seemed like a run of the mill noir lacking a really fatal femme fatale, but I found some online review that saw all sorts of semi-mystical meanings to it, so maybe it's just me. (3/5)

Theorem aka Teorema (Pier Paulo Pasolini, 1968) - maybe Pasolini's best imo. Terence Stamp's character is really a blank slate (I'd remembered him having more personality from a previous viewing), but I guess that's the idea. I wonder what kind of films Pasolini would have been making by the 1980s if he hadn't died? (5/5)

Elena (Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2011) - subtly disquieting. The same attention to character detail as someone like Haneke, but less use of shock tactics which makes it all the more disturbing. (4/5)

When A Woman Ascends The Stairs (Mikio Naruse, 1960) - almost perfect story about a bar hostess in Tokyo. Japanese films beat British films hands down in the stiff upper lip stakes. (5/5)

Men Behind The Sun (Mou Tun-fei, 1988) - well at least I've seen it now. (2/5? difficult to say...)

Perfumed Nightmare is playing at Anthology Film Archives in NYC this weekend, along with other Kidlat Tahimik movies.

― MrDasher, Friday, 26 October 2012 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Am no new yorker :-(

Also saw about 2/3rds of Tiny Furniture and its genuinely funny. Read a lot of the talk over here and hope the attention she has been getting makes her do even better things.

Awesome viewing Matt: love Teorema (what is the best Pasolini is a hard qn: I like him as a reader of a text whether its by De Sade or Chaucer). Think he would've struggled in the 80s bcz his politics struggled but we can only guess.

Can't wait to see the Naruse someday: Yearning is utterly beautiful.

Elena looks good too.

xyzzzzz, see "the tree-lined street of morning" (or however it's translated) by naruse if you can

28 weeks later, well part of it.
wasn't overly impressed.but I did miss some of it. Which might indicate how captivating I found it since I was merely on th eother side of the room doing other stuff.

Are they going to do a 28 months later about further population depletion?
Think something I missed further explained something I'm just guessing at as regards further plot development.

Thanks clouds -- I'll try and source that recommendation.

dinotasia was SO BAD

gonna see a preview of wreck it ralph on sunday and ashik kerib on monday - http://www.ifccenter.com/films/ashik-kerib/

I saw Wake in Fright this weekend. That kangaroo hunt was pretty tough for me to watch. :(

I didn't get a chance to watch it yet, dammit. I WILL NOT BE SWAYED

notorious- it was shit half an hour in so off it went
tideland- yet we lasted through this, somehow

i'll have better days

Magnolia (great. loved the way the tension built up for the first 2/3s.)
Citizen Kane (2nd time ive seen it. first on a big screen. awes)
2046 (alright)
A Man Escaped (first thoughts were that it was a bit too pristine/staged, but now I like it the more I think about it.)
Skyfall (fun)

Magnolia

Funny that, I just watched his next one Punch-Drunk Love last night. Very satisfying it was too. What do people think of his new one The Master?

watched about 2/3s of Kim yesterday. Lovely stories of the Raj featuring that famous fascist Errol Flynn & a Tibetan master that looked like he came from Medieval England.

THought I recognised the Kim actor, just found out it was Dean Stockwell.
& isn't 1950 pretty late for Flynn? Well apart from him going on making films until he died 9 years later.

THought it would be much earlier but I guess the public school tie & stiff upper lip continued for at least another 20 years. But the Raj had fallen 3 years earlier so wonder if this was supposed to be some kind of reassurance?

watched 'turn me on, dammit!' - is v good, should be mandatory viewing 4 all teens

watched the scorsese 'cape fear' hadnt seen it since i was a kid - surprisingly classic, 4/5

darraghmac: you'd better be talking about the Notorious B.I.G. biopic.

watched the scorsese 'cape fear' hadnt seen it since i was a kid - surprisingly classic, 4/5

― johnny crunch, Wednesday, October 31, 2012 12:09 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Is de Niro based on Henry Rollins do you think? Always made that connection on seeing the tattoos

watched silver city. cuz i'm a sayles stan but i never got around to it for some reason. i liked whatshisname. uhhhh lemme look...danny houston! i enjoyed watching him. he should do a t.v. show about a private eye. would watch. remake the rockford files.

yeah danny huston is almost always watchable, even in bad movies

(son of the great john huston & uncle of harrow from boardwalk empire)

Le Trou (Becker, 1960) - a perfectly paced film.
The Woman in the Rumour (Mizoguchi, 1954)
The Intouchables (Nakache, Toledano, 2011) - at least it doesn't laugh at disability, both the leads are watchable and so on...I saw it for a sub-plot of a man attaining culture, which allows him to get through a job interview later...now that was all highly amusing.

your movie lists should come with a monocle and a top hat. they're so fancy. some day i will watch fancy movies again. need to start smoking pot again first.

thoughts on the mizoguchi, xyz? i haven't seen that one yet.

Well Scott you'd need some stiff to get you through Rendez Vous d'Anna (Chantal Akerman, 1978) - Jeanne Dielman is almost impossible to follow-up; the film itself = (Jacques Rivette + Hollis Frampton)/Emmanuelle. And its ok, in the end.

Poto and Cabengo (Jean-Pierre Gorin, 1979) - great doc, incredibly sad. All sorts of bits resonate. The child's seeming refusal to sing the anthem toward the end...

clouds - refrained from commenting because I wanted to see more of his works set in modern day Japan and get to a more overarching view. Really good though, complicates his relationship wrt Geisha, he shows that sympathetic side and yet manages to display disgust for the society that allows it 9so I wouldn't agree there is too much sympathy as ws argued in the Japanese film thread, but I'm still thinking it through). v good on how families stifle their children, that mix of suffocation coupled w/caring, all dramatized in the form of a love triangle.

A few more I want to see, but w/Crucified Lovers it has a strong chance of making it to a top three (shd I be foolish to try and make such a ranking).