Last (x) movies you saw

(xpost) Appreciate that, CJV, but just as I expected, no, you don't. I went downstairs and dug it up. From "The Mummy, The Wolf Man, and The American Nightmare," published--typed up, on a typewriter--January 31, 1984:

"Defining normality in The Mummy--Wood stressing that 'normality' is a non-evaluative substitute for 'dominant ideology'--is less ambiguous: the heterosexual couple, Helen and Frank, and the patriarchal father/son unit, Dr. Joseph and Frank. (Helen, being the focus of the struggle between monster and normality...)"

Cue Woody Allen saying "The key word here seems to be 'normality'"--wish I could say someone confiscated the typewriter and set fire to it at that point, but it goes on. Like a lot of people, I'm sure, it took me at least five years after graduation to unlearn such inanity.

Well, thanks for the excerpt. Now you may burn the scroll : )

holy motors is no clearer on a second viewing but it's equally enjoyable

In The Mood For Love (Wong Kar Wai, 2000) 5/5 perfect
Les Miserables (Hooper, 2012) 2.5/5
The Death of Mr Lazarescu (Puiu, 2005) 4/5 a rip roaring laugh out loud comedy! ok uh maybe not. this was brilliant. i love this poster

http://static.cinemagia.ro/img/db/movie/01/12/73/moartea-domnului-lazarescu-756295l.jpg

Moonrise Kingdom (Anderson, 2012) 4/5

Gangster Squad comic-book escapism with added violence.
& Josh Brolin looking like a young Nick Nolte, who was himself in the film though he's spread rather latitudinally so might no longer be immediately recognisable.

Quite enjoyed it though I missed th ebegining and then spent ages trying to work out when it was set. i remembered thinking i'd read that it was '49 which would make sense of the heroes being ex-army, now cops.

the cowboy guy looks like Bowie playing Tesla, was it the liquid metal Terminator actor? Knew I'd seen him somewhere.

Artists under the Big Top: Perplexed (Alexander Kluge, 1968) has such a textual density that would shame most films today, if they tried: its plot of a woman trying to set-up her own circus comes packed with quotes from Philosophy (I mean I don't know but the aphorisms I would guess come from those texts) (in rapid succession at times) and its montage starts off laying archive footage of Adolf with a foreign language (not German I don't think) version of Yesterday on the soundtrack (really I want to nerdshly compile every work that cites the Beatles from the 60s just to check on the observation they are almost always great as long as they made in the 60s, then almost total shit if made afterwards). The circus is constructed more as a happening-like event (it never becomes reality that is displayed on film, needless to say) and becomes a nightmare to even get off the ground, so the whole question of making that kind of art -- in the gap between the populist and the avant-garde -- in a capitalist society is meant to be interrogated (why not just televise it? As one of her collaborator-friend-theorist puts it), however I often had no handle on it. Ages I've worked this hard on watching a film and if it came out on the cinema today I would probably watch it again. Great, I think. Also er, perplexing.

2 or 3 Things I know About Her (Godard, 1967) - so like the Kluge it uses a skeleton of plot to go off on tangents (hey that's what the back of the DVD is telling me), chief difference is G trusts the image, or should I say its more comfortable with the ambiguities it provokes kinda deal. Perplexed has a central female protagonist too (seems like that might be true for a few of his films) but he has her reading naked in the bathtub, something G would not do.

Son nom de Venise dans Calcutta désert (Duras, 1977) - thinking she must be the most ignored of French auteurs. Really like her ultraminimalist films (the two I've seen anyway). This is like a remake of India Song, but no characters appearing on the screen (just voices talking) (well until about 10 mins from the end two people appear and do nothing, this would be a spoiler if anyone cared) and Duras pointing her camera around what seems like an abandoned mansion close to the sea.

The tale is one of unfulfilled desire in a former French colony/Ambassadors and their wives complaining about life and the other, and such like. The VHS rip was so bad I couldn't get into it but hopefully this will get a restoration job, there are awesome shots of light in empty rooms.

Films watched in December 2012:

Life of Pi (Lee, 2012) - 3/5
The Girl (Julian Jarrold, 2012) - 2/5
The Birds (Hitchcock, 1963) - 3.5/5
Notorious (Hitchcock, 1946) - 4/5
Searching For Sugar Man (Malik Bendjelloul, 2012) - 3/5
Turn Me On, Dammit! (Jannicke Systad Jacobsen, 2011) - 3.5/5
Berberian Sound Studio (Peter Strickland, 2012) - 4/5
Judge Dredd (Danny Cannon, 1995) - 1.5/5
Oslo, August 31st (Joachim Trier, 2012) - 4/5
Ghostbusters (Ivan Reitman, 1984) - 4/5

Films watched in 2013, so far:

Empire of the Sun (Spielberg, 1987) - 4/5
The Blood Beast Terror (Vernon Sewell, 1969) - 1/5
Anna Kerenina (Joe Wright, 2012) - 3/5
Forbidden Games (René Clément, 1952) - 4/5
Seven Psychopaths (Martin McDonagh, 2012) - 2.5/5
The Scapegoat (Robert Hamer, 1959) - 3/5
Force 10 From Navarone (Guy Hamilton, 1978) - 3/5

Notorious (Hitchcock, 1946) - 4/5

Watched this on TCM yesterday afternoon, so good. Was a little (actually a lot) surprised at the understated ending -- I was expecting, maybe not a shootout or anything, but a slightly more physical confrontation.

'13, so far. I can't explain my sudden desire to re-watch a few awful movies (and one surprisingly good one, considering the director) from my childhood beyond perhaps my catching Back To The Future on TV on New Years Day put me in a weirdly nostalgic mood that took a good week or so to shake.

Farewell My Concubine (Kaige, 1993) B-
Paris is Burning (Livingston, 1990)
To Kill a Mockingbird (Mulligan, 1962) A-
Parenthood (Howard, 1989) B+
The Toy (Donner, 1982) F
Good Morning, Vietnam (Levinson, 1987) D
Django Unchained (Tarantino, 2012) A-
Haywire (Soderbergh, 2012) C
Back To The Future 2 (Zemeckis, 1989) C+
Back To The Future (Zemeckis, 1985) A+

DavidM far too harsh on THE BLOOD BEAST TERROR, the scariest movie ever made

Explain yourself, DavidM!

Jiro Dreams of Sushi 6/10
Cosmopolis 7/10
Cheyenne Autumn (1964, Ford) 7/10
The Sessions 5/10
Tabu 6/10
I Wish 6/10
Norwegian Wood 5/10
Ryan's Daughter (1970, Lean) 6/10
Lord Jim (1965, Richard Brooks) 5/10
Playtime (1967, Tati) 10/10

The Producers (2005) 3.5/5
First half was great but it drags on a bit.

Inbetweeners 3/5

Moonrise Kingdom 3.5/5

Actually, on reflection - Inbetweeners is a 2.5/5 at best

THE BLOOD BEAST TERROR, the scariest movie ever made

Which was scariest, the school fancy dress moth costume, or Roy Hudd grinning and gurning and rolling his eyes as the comedy morgue attendant? Poor Peter Cushing, he called The Blood Beast Terror the worst film he ever made. Which is probably saying something.

Morbs was the Sessions as awful as the trailer makes it look?

Morbs what rating out of 10 is your threshold for "I would rather have not spent the time watching this movie", roughly?

The New World (Malick, 2005) 3.5/5 Colin Farrell, The Wrath of God
The Night of the Hunter (Laughton. 1955) 4/5 some spectacular, off-kilter photography. a delight!
Barry Lyndon (Kubrick, 1975) 4/5

http://birthstorymovie.com/home/
this was A+
really awe inspiring birth sequences, hit home pretty heavy how brainwashed i am that birth is this terrifying all-powerful horrible thing and whattayaknow maybe not

silby: 5 or under makes sense, i guess?

VG: I dunno, I didn't see the trailer. It's a disability soap w/ good acting.

Cousin Angelica (Carlos Saura, 1974) - this one is a corker, in which a man goes back to visit his grown up cousin and revives his memories of the Spanish civil war From the the wiki it had a horrendous reception in Spain. The importance of suppression in today's Spain is an issue right now!

I would also say that Proust's concept of memory (cited in the film, very obvious though) is really well dramatised, in the way the main protagonist is placed in a pressure cooker of the past and present.

The General (Keaton, 1926) - just come back from a screening w/live piano. As a 'fan' of free non-idiomatic improvisation this was a hoot as the pianist weaved his remembered licks for different types of gag (falling over to bangs, etc.)

Rain in July (Marlen Khutsiyev, 1966) - Russian new wave, just not that good. Marlen must've been obsessed with Antonionni, shed load of tracking shots, odd framings, show of architecture and the main female protagonist was made to look a bit like Vitti. Meanders about not knowing quite how political or designer blank it should be.

Wonderful, Wonderful times (Novotny, 1982) - its an Austrian made for TV movie adaptation of Jelinek's novel of the same name about a group of youths carrying on w/Clockwork Orange like behaviour in late 50s Vienna. There is a TERRIFIC scene where the girl crashes this rock n'roll night and starts playing Bach. That aside (and an appearane by Jelinek herself as a teacher) its not all that. Could be the made for TV feel, or the book wasn't all that.

Watched "Stalker" tonight. Wow. I think.

Speaking of Antonionni and Vitti (xpost), thought I'd see "Red Desert" tomorrow night.

Saw it on TV once and didn't do much for me, switched off halfway. v pretty and great looking as always though.

I've been off the art house-wagon for too long. Need to whip myself back in shape. Might as well watch it, as I've been having the blu ray laying around for close to a year. And you know, Monica Vitti and all.

I can go w/that line of reasoning myself..

I finally started A Prophet last night - didn't plan out my viewing well enough to fit in the whole movie before I had to go to bed but omg so good. 2nd half tonight.

Stalker is so fucking good

I absolutely loved cosmopolis, although the final section with paul giamatti bored me to death (no fault from any of the actors) everything before was incredible: the dialogs, interiors, characters, cgi. someone mentioned the samantha morton chapter and I totally agree! it was like 2008-2012 in a couple of minutes. best and most frightening part is I don't know whether I side with the mob or the 'villains'. spoiler: the passage from pollock to rothko was v cool.

holy motors a couple of days ago: ok that was perfect.

i enjoyed both of those

Life of Pi (4/5) : gorgeous effects work. Lovely film.
Jacques Rivette doc by Claire Denis : (5/5) I love JR and watching his face as he listens and looks around is, somehow, great cinema in itself. One
of the best docs about a filmmaker, IMHO.

(Posting from and iPad is frustrating)

is that doc available other than torrents or r2? p sure id be into it

I downloaded it off YT a year ago. Think it may still be up. It's called "The Night Watchman".

The Sweatbox (2002, Styler) An incomplete look at the troubled production of The Emperor's New Groove. Directed by Sting's wife and featuring lots of Sting (who thankfully got cut out of the Disney film).
Lockout (2012, Mather & St. Leger)
Commando (1985, M.L. Lester)
High Anxiety (1977, Brooks)
Star Trek: Generations (1994, Carson) Saw most of it previously in bits and pieces on TV. Data's emotion chip subplot is actually connected to the main plot (weakly, in that getting everything you want can out to be a mixed blessing) but the whole idea of the Nexus is still stupid. I'd rank this as the second worst ST film, worst being Nemesis.
Dracula (1931, Browning) rewatch
Drácula (1931, Melford)
Nosferatu (1922, Murnau) rewatch

a zed and two noughts (greenaway, 1986)
weekend (godard, 1967)
two or three things i know about her (godard, 1967)
the virgin spring (bergman, 1960)
the vanishing (sluizer, 1988)

Happy People, the new Herzog (sorta, it's mostly his voiceover and input on other people's work; less a film he did than grizzly man really) is good but not great, kinda minor. Grim and beautiful though. The lives of Russian trappers living in the most remote hearts of Siberia. Engaging. Light on wow.
Kinda interesting that one of A Tarkovsky's relatives is one of the trappers. Wonder if that's how the filmmakers connected?

clouds is such a cool guy, need ur hand held for weekend.

The General (Keaton, 1926) 4/5
Sherlock Jr. (Keaton, 1924) 5/5
Beau Travail (Denis, 1998) 1.5/5
Zero Dark Thirty (Bigelow, 2012) 3.5/5
Breathless (Godard, 1960) 4/5

Amour
Forty Shades of Blue
Keep The Lights On
The Gospel According to St Matthew

Life Of Pi (Lee, 2012) 4/5
Contact (Clarke, 1984) 4/5
Christine (Clarke, 1986) 4/5 (rewatch)
Django Unchained (Tarantino, 2012) 4/5

howdya like the Sachs movies, alfred?

KTLO more than Forty Shades of Blue. The latter doesn't survive the casting of the Russian woman and doesn't know what to do with Rip Torn's character and performance; tonally it's off.

I thought she was great! in Last Resort too.

I remember spending the entirety of Forty Shades of Blue thinking "ok, I SHOULD like this..."

Liked Married Life pretty well, though, and wanna see his latest.

Rip Torn as a country songwriter-producer -- how can the results be so uninvolving?

Thieves Like Us (3.5/5): If someone else gave it 5/5, I wouldn't argue. It's basically a perfect film--certainly less scattershot than The Long Goodbye or California Split. Which is also its limitation; it just didn't engage me the way those two films do. (I think this was my third viewing, separated by many years.) Great performances all around, sad ending.

California Split (4.5/5): The buddy-buddy knowingness crosses the line a couple of times into Husbands territory (for me, not a good thing), Ann Prentiss and Gwen Welles are cartoonish (Welles is affecting anyway), and even though the Bert Remsen scene still makes me laugh, I realize it's also dated and probably deeply offensive. But I continue to love all the rest. One example of a kind of perfection found here and nowhere else that I can think of: Gould and Segal's back-and-forth on the Lakers-Suns game.

Women in Revolt (1971, Morrissey) 6/10
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978, Schepisi) 8/10
Sleepless Night (2011, Jardin) 7/10
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942, Welles, RKO hacks) 9/10
Hors Satan (2011, Dumont) 3/10
Something Wild (1961, Garfein) 7/10
The Face Behind the Mask (1941, Florey) 6/10
Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948, Ophuls) 10/10
Haywire (2011, Soderbergh) 7/10
The Cool World (1963, Clarke) 9/10
Sweet Love, Bitter (1967, Danska) 6/10
The Day He Arrives (2011, Hong) 6/10
The Living Koheiji (1982, Nakagawa) 7/10
The Arabian Nights (1974, Pasolini) 7/10
Wreck-It-Ralph 6/10
The Queen of Versailles 5/10

The Kid with a Bike (2011) 4/5
Miami Connection (1987) 2/5
Lincoln (2012) 3.5/5
A Man Vanishes (1967) 3/5
Footnote (2011) 4/5
Gueule d'amour (1937) 3.5/5
Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932) 3.5/5
Black Girl (1966) 3/5
The Blade (1995; 2nd viewing) 4.5/5
The X From Outer Space (1967) 1/5

Black Girl is a masterpiece of Sembene's

I watched Punchline last night and realized once again that I am likely the only person on earth who likes Punchline.