Last Movie You Watched

[Drasko]

R.I.P. Isuzu Yamada


also watched over last week or so: Sleeping Beauty 2/5, Room in Rome 3/5, Carnage 3.5/5, The American 4/5.

[Cato]

...(Boorman) treads much the same perilous tightrope of pretension of his earlier Zardoz, and is just as fascinating...

...Trying to... fashion his sequel as a pure spiritual journey, Boorman fails because of a persistent thematic confusion...

...Burton reeks (!) more of melodramatic than spiritual concern...

...(Boorman & Fraker) combine to produce a genuinely visionary quality...

Not unlike Ken Russell, the efforts of Boorman can be an acquired taste, but as they say, even his failures can be interesting!  To be sure, there is at times a fascinatingly hallucinatory aspect to the movie.

Richard Burton's alcoholism was so deep by the 1970's that - during his sober moments - he once admitted that he could not recall ever acting in certain movies.  This might have been one of them, and may account for his melodramatics, although the script does not give him much to work with.  American actor Richard Basehart once commented that in one sense "Shakespeare is easy because the lines are there!"

Linda Blair of course went on to make some of the worst best movies of the late 70's and 80's: perhaps paying off her drug dealers had something to do with it.  Rock bottom might have been a comedy called Night Patrol     or a bouncing-cleavage     vigilante epic       called Savage Streets.

[George]

The best TV show you've never seen. It's like an independent film, only it's a sitcom.

[Ataraxia]

Watched THE FIGHTER last night and enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

Also watched "Bad Eggs" from season two of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  They don't make 'em like that anymore.

[George]

Watched THE FIGHTER last night and enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

That movie was wicked good! Yah, fuckin' wicked good! 

I grew up in New England and thought they captured it perfectly in that film. It was a bit scary, actually.

[Sergeant Rock]

I'm halfway through True Blood fourth season. It's become crowded in Bon Temps. Too crowded for a fifty minute episode. An independent plot for each of a now staggering number of supernatural creatures inhabiting this small town: vampires (of course), fairies (and fairy godmothers  ), shape shifters, werewolves, werepanthers, ghosts, witches, magicians, creepy babies. Then they have to fit in the separate plots of some of the human characters. I preferred the previous seasons that concentrated on Sooki and her relationships.




Sarge

[Ataraxia]

I'm halfway through True Blood fourth season. It's become crowded in Bon Temps. Too crowded for a fifty minute episode. An independent plot for each of a now staggering number of supernatural creatures inhabiting this small town: vampires (of course), fairies (and fairy godmothers  ), shape shifters, werewolves, werepanthers, ghosts, witches, magicians, creepy babies. Then they have to fit in the separate plots of some of the human characters. I preferred the previous seasons that concentrated on Sooki and her relationships.

The wife and I watch that one. She has read the books as well.

[Zizekian]

I just watched The Artist and loved it! Great performances all around (even the dog!).

[Karl Henning]

Revisited Monty Python and the Holy Grail last night. What an eccentric performance.

[Corey]

Also watched "Bad Eggs" from season two of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  They don't make 'em like that anymore.

I'm going through Buffy for the first time now. I'm about midway into Season Three. Great show!

[snyprrr]

Not unlike Ken Russell, the efforts of Boorman can be an acquired taste, but as they say, even his failures can be interesting!  To be sure, there is at times a fascinatingly hallucinatory aspect to the movie.

Richard Burton's alcoholism was so deep by the 1970's that - during his sober moments - he once admitted that he could not recall ever acting in certain movies.  This might have been one of them, and may account for his melodramatics, although the script does not give him much to work with.  American actor Richard Basehart once commented that in one sense "Shakespeare is easy because the lines are there!"

Linda Blair of course went on to make some of the worst best movies of the late 70's and 80's: perhaps paying off her drug dealers had something to do with it.  Rock bottom might have been a comedy called Night Patrol     or a bouncing-cleavage     vigilante epic       called Savage Streets.

Burton's cheeks are BROWN in the movie!! yuk! Just LOOK at those pores oozing booze!

Frankly, I'm off to find Blair's breasts!


Ah, I need some more EPIC FAIL,... Gates of Heaven?


My favorite girl is Cheryl 'Rainbeaux' Smith, star of Lemora. I've made a shrine out of one site...

[Ataraxia]

I'm going through Buffy for the first time now. I'm about midway into Season Three. Great show!

[George]

I'm going through Buffy for the first time now. I'm about midway into Season Three. Great show!

How many boxes of kleenex have you gone though?

[Corey]

How many boxes of kleenex have you gone though?

I don't cry that easily!

(I assume that's what you er, meant)

[George]

I don't cry that easily!

(I assume that's what you er, meant)

No, I meant something else. But figured I was safe to say it, as it would likely be interpreted as you did. 

[eyeresist]

Over the weekend I watched a lot of anime, and this:

[asin]B000B83846[/asin]KISS OF DEATH (1947)

This was the second film that led to my fascination with film noir (the first was Fallen Angel, which I have never seen since). Apart from pacing being a bit slow, it stands up very well. It tells the story of a criminal who turns informer after being let down by his comrades, who come gunning after him and his family. There's not a lot of action, but a constant heavy feeling of threat. The title bears no apparent relation to the story, unless we want to apply the Biblical parallel to the climactic scene, in which case the hero is actually Judas!
This was Richard Widmark's spectacular debut, of course, as the giggling psychopath Tommy Udo. Victor Mature delivers a strong performance too. Other roles are solid.
Visually, this is classic high quality noir (without the cliched Venetian blind shadows). In parallel with Italian verisissimo, there was a realist stream of film noir that filmed "real" stories on real locations. Here, the seedy NY locations give a unique feel for the period. A lot of the sound is recorded live too, so you can hear the resonance of the rooms. There's not a lot of music, but what there is (by the unfortunately-named David Buttolph) is very good.
My only real quibble with the film is that characters take bullets with little apparent consequence (though there's very little shooting in the film).

The DVD (not the one pictured above) looked quite good despite being film -> NTSC -> PAL. There were no extras.

[Corey]

[TheGSMoeller]

Such a haunting film, reminds me I need too watch it again soon. Have you seen other Tsai Ming-liang films, Corey?

[Corey]

Such a haunting film, reminds me I need too watch it again soon. Have you seen other Tsai Ming-liang films, Corey?

I love The River and Rebels of the Neon God.

[Ataraxia]

THE ORPHANAGE is a most excellent ghost story.