Films Recently Watched

finally watched "The Whale".  sheesh. masterpiece. easy to see why brendan fraiser won an oscar. didn't realize it was based on a play.

excellent script, direction, score, cast. i didn't realize that was Hong Chau for a while. she's so good in everything i've seen her in. a favorite. all around great performances. 

bad lieutenant 1992 - harvey keitel gives it his all he dosent give a fuck its extremely compelling and pisses over the ridiculous (but still fun ) nicolas cage bullshit. this movie would never get made in a million years now and all the better for it it is too . in my view something of a minor masterpiece

performance 1970 - James fox plays a slightly unconvincing but still strangely disturbing cockney london kray  type gangster. He ends up going on the run and ends up in a weird hippie commune house with mick jagger and 2 european ladies. Mick and the birds "poison" him with magic mushrooms and then he and mick swap personalities in a quasi homoerotic fashion. or at least this is what i got out of it ? anyways  needless to say i thought it was great and  love the weird editing and sound design and stuff too

desperately seeking susan  1985 - pretty lightweight but still enjoyable enough mid 80s madonna vehicle. Madonna has a coat with the illuminati pyramid all seeing eye on it. get into the groove plays. Madonna and rosanna arquette hang around 80s new york and it looks like a lot of fun. theres something to do with magic that i cant quite remember.  anyways i wasnt paying much attention but i still quite enjoyed it

Furiosa is good but would've been great if it was trimmed a bunch, many arcs to the story each with its own crazy action sequence.

Was good enough to make me re watch fury road (still awesome) and road warrior (hasn't aged well).

I wish for yet another one bringing Mel back playing old max, tastefully ofc.

  On 6/14/2024 at 1:06 AM, GORDO said:

Furiosa is good but would've been great if it was trimmed a bunch, many arcs to the story each with its own crazy action sequence.

Was good enough to make me re watch fury road (still awesome) and road warrior (hasn't aged well).

I wish for yet another one bringing Mel back playing old max, tastefully ofc.

furiosa looks like popcorn movie.. almost went to see it a week ago but didn't. maybe i'l break and see it in the theater. i do like popcorn. 

seeing mel gibson as old max would be well weird for lot's of reasons.. one being he's lowkey blacklisted isn't he? i mean.. he's made his way into a couple things but seeing him come forward in some blockbuster movie would be a gamble w/the state of things. 

The Grey - A film that's been floating around on my radar for years. I wasn't expecting much as reviews are a bit low, however this film was fucking good. Closer inspection of reviews after watching it paints a clearer picture. People who give it a 2/10 because they are amateur naturalists and can't differentiate between fiction and non-fiction and start crying because wolves don't act like that. A bit like in Jaws smashing a big boat into pieces. It's a fucking film dimwit. Anyone else who's seen this film and isn't a wolf expert or an online survival expert rates the film as 7 to 9 out of 10. And so they should. It's not just a survival film against a pack of wolves, there's a lot of profound messages in it. And the ending is really good, especially where the lone survivor (Liam Neeson) ends up . A generous 8/10 from me.

Civil War - I loved this one, maybe the best Hollywood film I’ve seen in 2024, which has been paltry so far due to the strikes last year. The movie was taut, the visual FX were on point, it was harrowing and disturbing for an American audience, and pretty much everyone nailed their part. The music kept you off guard, and the disturbing scenes of waging war on your neighbors were both timely and universal. The assault on D.C. was also impressive.

Lost in Translation becomes more poignant as the viewer ages. a special movie.

  On 6/14/2024 at 6:32 AM, YEK said:

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havent seen this since i was a kid but i remember the ending really dragged

  On 6/16/2024 at 8:07 PM, exitonly said:

havent seen this since i was a kid but i remember the ending really dragged

It was one of my favourites growing up. You should re-watch it, it’s still enjoyable

I saw the tv glow

I had been let to believe this was a horror movie. What a load of fucking trash that was. 
 

0/10

Coming to Criterion 

Love Lies Bleeding man that is some fucked up shit, amazing film, lesbian Thelma & Louise on steroids, definitely won't be everyone's cup of tea but if you like a fucked up film check that out and be sure to watch until the gruesome end, that is top notch fucked up shit, they still had to do the American film stereotype of characters having too nice a house, that's just the norm so I can see past that glaring fuck up, what is it with american films and supposedly normal people having huge gleaming houses and big huge vehicles, wheres the films about people renting in a dirty little expensive flat and driving a shitty little car or having to take the bus

his motorbike, her island by nobuhiko obayashi (1986) :

first appearance from riki takeuchi, with his lip-rolling in its infancy, as early twenties biker rebel who meets a woman who might be more attracted to his ride than his ride. kiwako harada is surprisingly free and easy with nudity for brief segments, which feels odd in a light film aimed at teenage audiences.

slowly unfolding like a prolonged ad for kawasaki, it's romantic and youthful, naive. however, takeuchi's story switches from b+w for dreams and colour for reality. as it concludes, two endings and a puzzle to consider. which is the real one?

  On 6/16/2024 at 3:00 AM, Rubin Farr said:

Civil War - I loved this one, maybe the best Hollywood film I’ve seen in 2024, which has been paltry so far due to the strikes last year. The movie was taut, the visual FX were on point, it was harrowing and disturbing for an American audience, and pretty much everyone nailed their part. The music kept you off guard, and the disturbing scenes of waging war on your neighbors were both timely and universal. The assault on D.C. was also impressive.

Yeah I loved it too, also the sound mix on the theater was next level. Much of the criticism of it seems centered on it not explaining how it all started or painting 'sides' of the conflict, or equating them to {current_year} political polarization. I think it's good presicely because of this allowing it to focus on its own 'message' and also its good to take a break from that noise.

Christmas? 

Furiosa. Decent, could've been cut tighter and shorter.

This is a photograph I took today outside an enchanting theatre called Cinema Municipal in Saint Jean Cap Ferrat which is located on a bay surrounded by boats. Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend screening having been advised no subtitles would be provided.

  On 6/25/2024 at 3:43 AM, Rubin Farr said:

Christmas? 

 

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I keep seeing ads for this, wtf

  On 6/29/2024 at 1:17 AM, Schlitze said:

This is a photograph I took today outside an enchanting theatre called Cinema Municipal in Saint Jean Cap Ferrat which is located on a bay surrounded by boats. Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend screening having been advised no subtitles would be provided.

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Every single bit of this post is sexxxay af

C+ everyone but Dan Aykroyd phoned it in, most of the actors were obviously doing other projects while shooting this, lots of continuity errors.

Also watched Godzilla Minus One. Thought it was excellent.

And Hearts Of Darkness: A Film Makers Apocalypse. Doco on Coppola making Apocalypse Now! Seen it before years ago (AN! my favourite film of all time) and thought it was better this time round. No one makes films like that anymore. So maybe since the last time I watched it I was more appreciative of the process. Coppolas wife has a fantastic voice perfectly suited for narration. 

Finally on streaming & digital, doing a rewatch with the nephew.  

https://www.cracked.com/article_42747_paramount-finally-put-kids-in-the-hall-brain-candy-on-streaming.html

Chinatown - Nothing beats Roger Rabbit.

red peony gambler / the valiant red peony / habitant bakuto by kosaku yamashita (1968)

having known about this series for twenty years or more, and sensing it was a highly-regarded oversight in films needing a release in the west, i'd long been looking forwards to this. surprised to see it finally appear, we get the first three, of which i've watched the first.

seeking revenge for her father's death, carrying a clue and wandering the country to ask favours of other clans, although we've a female lead there's a focus on her beauty and a romantic undertone (with takakura ken), breezy youthful style, but unfortunate naive direction and acting that doesn't make it as substantial or nuanced as similar series - it's certainly not got the mileage of zatoichi, or the boldness of 'female convict scorpion' and so many others that have beaten it to the market here.

junko fuji is a beauty, but the contorted face acting she resorts to makes her look poor, and a band of yakuza underlings are as amateurish as i can remember seeing. it's all very low brow, disposable stuff, shot and produced quite solidly, but very frequently misjudged and disappointing. i hope the other two in this set from eureka are better, get the tone right, as it will otherwise become an exercise in wondering how it gained a reputation as interesting when i know there's been so much more that's out there that doesn't carry the same burden.