Last Movie You Watched

[Ken B]

Dunkirk, which I think a masterpiece, is a filmed Iliad. Nolan's script is spare and wonderfully constructed. It has I think two climaxes. The first is one word, and the last Churchill's speech. The daftest criticism I saw was that the speech was not given by an actor playing Churchill. Not only would that violate the unity of the construction, and detract from the Iliad like focus on the close, it would miss the connection of those two climaxes.

[James]

Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film
2006 ‧ Slasher/Horror ‧ 1h 28m

The film is a historical and critical look at slasher films, which includes dozens of clips, beginning with Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Prom Night. The films' directors, writers, producers, and special effects creators comment on the films' making and success. During the Ronald Reagan years, the films get gorier, budgets get smaller, and their appeal diminishes. Then, A Nightmare on Elm Street revives the genre. Jumping to the late 1990s, when Scream brings humor and TV stars into the mix. Although some criticize the genre as misogynistic, most of the talking heads celebrate the films: as long as there are teenagers, there will be slasher films.

[asin]B000LE1E8C[/asin]


Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle
2013 - Arts, Sociopolitical Documentary - 3h

The first documentary to examine the dawn of the comic book genre and its powerful legacy, as well as the evolution of the characters who leapt from the pages over the last 75 years and their ongoing worldwide cultural impact.

[asin]B00EE8AIV0[/asin]

[Karl Henning]

Yesterday, Escape From New York with the commentary by Jn Carpenter & Kurt Russell.  Okay, not the World's Greatest Commentary;  call it, reasonably fun.

[aligreto]

Zero Dark Thirty....

[SimonNZ]

Yesterday, Escape From New York with the commentary by Jn Carpenter & Kurt Russell.  Okay, not the World's Greatest Commentary;  call it, reasonably fun.

That was one of the earliest commentaries from the days of laserdiscs, which is how I first head it. That set the template for the jokey/slightly tipsy self-mocking commentary, just as Michael Jeck's for Seven Samurai set the template for the more scholarly critical analysis.

[Karl Henning]

That was one of the earliest commentaries from the days of laserdiscs, which is how I first head it. That set the template for the jokey/slightly tipsy self-mocking commentary, just as Michael Jeck's for Seven Samurai set the template for the more scholarly critical analysis.

Check.

Friends don't let friends do commentaries tipsy  0:)

[aligreto]

Mercury Rising....





Enjoyable thriller.

[SonicMan46]

Well, last few days, I've been watching my Jurassic Park films - one a night and 4 in all - these are all entertaining - my favorites are probably the first one of the Trilogy and Jurassic World (Opie's daughter is a joy to watch!) - Dave

 

[Cato]

Not quite sure where to put this: a review of Porky Pig cartoons from the 1930's!

Salient excerpts:

...And for the Warner Bros. cartoon studio, it all started with a pig.

Those groundbreaking results—the Looney Tunes starring Porky Pig, produced between 1935 and 1943—have just been released as "Porky Pig 101," a five-DVD package from the Warner Archive Collection featuring 101 black-and-white one-reelers (as well as three bonus films and numerous commentary tracks). It is the last significant group of Warners cartoons never to have been comprehensively released before on home video....

... these rarely shown one-reelers signify a major shift in the history of animation, film and the larger culture. They also show how three of the greatest directors in the history of comedy—Tex Avery, Frank Tashlin and Bob Clampett —all jump started their careers with Porky Pig.

The cartoons are also a time capsule of the late Depression and early wartime years, with the period's vintage songs, references to cultural figures from radio, the movies and even politics—and also, alas, long-outdated racial attitudes.

There were essentially two modes of expression in the Hollywood studio cartoon: the Disney style and that of Warner Bros.... the Warners style, which is often conflated with that of Avery, its most innovative director, came to mean uproarious, fast-paced and often transgressively violent humor in which characters frequently violate the fourth wall and confront you with their artificiality...

...By 1938-39, (Robert) Clampett had become the dominant directorial influence in Porky's career. On his watch, Porky became considerably cuter, thanks equally to Mel Blanc, who now provided the pig's voice and made the stutter more adorable than grotesque. Clampett's characters are like cuddly, bouncy balloons being manipulated by a maniacal genius. Such surrealist epics as "Porky in Wackyland" and "The Daffy Doc" revel in absurdity in a unique form of Looney Tune-ist Dada. In "Naughty Neighbors" and "Wise Quacks," Clampett seems determined to contrast exaggerated cuteness with even more extreme violence, as if throwing a hand grenade in the middle of a Disney Silly Symphony....

See:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/it-started-with-a-pig-1505247702

[Karl Henning]

"Porky in Wackyland" is marvelous.

[André]

Dheepan, by Jacques Audiard (2015). Palme d'or in Cannes, 2015.

At once luminous and somber, fraught with life's hopes and miseries.

[listener]

a pair of Shaw Brothers HK
SINFUL CONFESSION 1974  Li Han-hsing dir.  with Michael Hui in four rôles
... like a HK Benny Hill 90 minute film.     Regional humour does not travel well.  Lots of bare female flesh
LIFE GAMBLE  1978 Chang Cheh dir. with Alexander Fu Shu Sheng, Kuo Chue and Lo Meng
one of the better martial arts films, lots of bare-chested males.

[Ken B]

Rewatched two Ophuls docs

The Sorrow and the Pity

Hotel Terminus

[TheGSMoeller]

The soundtrack alone is worth buying  Beautiful film

Yann Tiersen is an immense talent.

[Mister Sharpe]

Erroll Garner - insufficiently appreciated these days - is given his due in this documentary, well worth seeing.  The title derives from a response he gave to a question about his inability to read music.

[asin]B00AZ43C5Q[/asin]

[aligreto]

Jean-Pierre Jeunet - Amélie


The soundtrack alone is worth buying  Beautiful film

One of my favourite films 

[aligreto]

Erroll Garner - insufficiently appreciated these days - is given his due in this documentary, well worth seeing.  The title derives from a response he gave to a question about his inability to read music.

[asin]B00AZ43C5Q[/asin]

I love that title 

[George]

Erroll Garner - insufficiently appreciated these days - is given his due in this documentary, well worth seeing.  The title derives from a response he gave to a question about his inability to read music.

[asin]B00AZ43C5Q[/asin]

Just saw this and enjoyed it. Thanks for the recommendation!

[aligreto]

Lions for Lambs....





A hard hitting political thriller.

[Todd]

mother!  Darren Aronofsky has essentially put a nightmare on screen.  The basic plot involves an age mismatched couple, played by Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem, living in a dream home under reconstruction being visited by pesky house guests, and then it spins out of control from there.  Aronofsky outdoes himself in the extreme and outrageous images he puts on screen, and there are all manner of other subjects involved - religious themes, environmental themes, the cult of celebrity, the maltreatment of women, the potentially damaging power of blind love (eg, giving someone your heart, sorta like in the poster image) - almost always in an over the top way.  This has been referred to as a sort of horror film, but I didn't really see it as that.  People wanting a standard narrative type film really ought not to see this.  It makes The Fountain appear linear and simple.  (Which, after several viewings, it sort of is.)  A few devices are used repeatedly.  First, Aronofsky relies extensively on close-ups - extreme close-ups.  Lawrence's face, especially, dominates the screen, and it changes from scene to scene, sometimes lovely and innocent, sometimes subtly distorted and disoriented.  I'd love to know how much CGI was actually used for subtle effects.  (Too, some early shots of Lawrence in sheer clothing objectify her body in a devotional way; they sure seem like the work of a middle age dude enamored of his much younger main squeeze, like both Javier Bardem's character and the director himself in real life.)  Second, and most refreshing, there's basically no soundtrack.  The film relies on dialogue, silence, and Foley effects throughout.  This is definitely not for everyone.  It is not the worst film of the year or century, as The Observer reviewer claims, and I doubt it will be the best, and it's not Aronofsky's best work.  It ain't your typical film, that's for sure.