Cinema, 2017--where's the sound and vision?

Sherron and I drove in to Saskatoon on a very cold day in order to meet family, have dinner and attend Jeff Nichols' latest film "Loving".

I consider Nichols' one of the few contemporary American directors worth watching and with "Loving", he's hitting on all cylinders.

My fellow Snobs have heard me rail against biopics, which I usually relegate with rom-coms and comic book movies, at the bottom of the pile.

But "Loving" is so restrained and intelligent it goes against type, Nichols refusing to infuse his drama with ridiculous incident and overwrought sentiment.

"Loving" is getting hyped as Oscar season approaches and this is one film that is worth the buzz.

Do NOT miss it.

...and here's my review:

https://cinemaarete.wordpress.com/2017/01/03/loving-now-playing-at-the-roxy-thea...

I can handle a nicely done biopic, what I can't handle is when radio reviewers call them 'bi-OPICS' when I am convinced they should be called 'BIO-pics'.

I haven't heard of 'Loving'. My next film will hopefully be 'Paterson'.

We watched Francois Truffaut's first film, "The 400 Blows" tonight.

Excellent, semi-autobiographical depiction of juvenile delinquency and rebellion.

The soundtrack was a little...odd, but the movie impresses, especially the performances of the (mainly) youthful cast.

Speaking of BIO-pics. I happened to catch the film made about Chinese ballet dancer, Li Cunxin, who defected to the Houston Ballet in (IIRC) the early 80s when here on a cultural exchange. Not a great movie, but an emotional journey that the viewer gets to share. The pain of separation, longing for homeland and family set against the disciplinary demands on a principal dancer and physical beauty of a star's performance.

Decided to buy his memoir as a result. Both book and film are titled Mao's Last Dancer.

I'll be continuing with my Moving pictures posts on my blog, although I'll restart the numbering for 2017. Still a couple left for 2016, however:

#67: Dry Summer (good), XL (good), Onibaba (good), Goodbye South Goodbye (good), Trances (very good), Touki Bouki (good) - https://iansales.com/2016/12/30/moving-pictures-67/

#68: 2046 (good), 400 Days (meh), The Death of Mr Lazarescu (very good), Rogue One (okay, kinda fun), The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (daft, but kinda fun), Bad Day at Black Rock (good) - https://iansales.com/2017/01/02/moving-pictures-68/

Watched "Hugo", Martin Scorsese's adaptation of the popular kids' book THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET.

An astonishingly mediocre film; if Scorsese's name hadn't been on the credits, I would never have attributed it to him.

A cast that includes Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Ray Winstone, Richard Griffiths...a waste of everyone's talents.

Gord sent me this cool link to a site that shows how great stunts were accomplished during silent film days without the benefit of green screen and CGI:

http://imgur.com/a/wUAcl

>7 CliffBurns: Cliff, I know it's "chacun a son gout" and all that, but in what ways did 'Hugo' not work for you? I ask because although I have my criticisms of the film, they tend to be based on issues of detail that wouldn't impact on most people, or Sasha Baron Cohen's performance (not that it was over the top, because that's how he plays most of his characters, but because of a particular British tv comedy actor he seemed to be channeling). Otherwise, it ticked most of my boxes and I'd like to know why it didn't tick yours.

First of all, the ridiculous cast (including Cohen and Griffith), parts that could have been played by non-entities and it wouldn't have been such a distraction. Ray Winstone shows up for one scene--channeling Oliver Reed as Bill Sykes from "Oliver!"--and is never seen again.

The fact that it was a Scorsese film and yet there were no indications of an auteur handling the direction--it could have been helmed by anyone.

The script taking second place to visuals (yet again).

The storyline, which was so predictable and formulaic---I hadn't read the book or seen the movie previously and I kept calling out plot developments to Sherron before they happened...and was invariably right.

Sherron was right: it would have been interesting to see how another, more imaginative director would've handled the project, someone like Jean-Pierre Jeunet or Terry Gilliam. Now THAT would've been a film worth watching.

Fair enough.

And I agree with you on the directors who would really have stamped their mark on the subject. I suspect Scorsese got carried away with the technicalities and plumped for world-building instead of making a film.

Scorsese is a genuine student of film, a walking encyclopedia of cinema, and I think the historical aspects of the book, the George Melies connection, made an impact.

But I still think he was the wrong director for the project.

I know Cliff didn't care for it, but finally saw Mad Max: Fury Road and was impressed with the visuals. Atmosphere and level of imagination is consistent or maybe even exceeds the original 80s movies. A rare case of almost constant action that still has some brains in it.

The last of my 2016 Moving picture posts. I'll be restarting the numbering for 2017, although I hope I won't be watching quite as many films this year:

#69 Last Tango in Paris (meh), Flowers of Shanghai (very good), The Past (okay), Meshes of the Afternoon (very good), Good Men Good Women (very good), Ride Lonesome (okay)- https://iansales.com/2017/01/09/moving-pictures-69/

And here's a breakdown of all my film-watching during 2016: https://iansales.com/2017/01/07/2016-in-watching/

#13--how many times have you said about a film "great visuals, but..."

Which was the whole problem with "Fury Road"--stunts, car chases, but no character development, threadbare script, and "Max" gets lost in the crush of incident, flying cars and silliness.

I didn't believe in the world "Fury Road" was portraying, not for a moment; however, I did in the 1982 version of "The Road Warrior" which is still, by far, Millar's best movie.

"Fury Road" was a reboot, nothing more. Let's see if we can start another franchise, print some money.

As you said, not for me.

I felt the same way about Fury Road. One big special effect after another, no characters. Could not understand the raves.

Watched "Slow West", a reasonably good western starring Michael Fassbender.

Better than most horse operas but marred by a ridiculous, tacked on narration, a la "Blade Runner".

Love to lay my hands on this brand new re-issue of "The Cat People":

http://www.popmatters.com/review/cat-people-jacques-tourneur-criterion-collectio...

I'm a Val Lewton fan.

>18 CliffBurns:, I remember seeing that on the old Canadian show "Magic Shadows" hosted by Elwy Yost. Actually, it was more probably on "Saturday Night at the Movies".

Wow, that was awhile back. My dream is to host an old time horror/SF movie night. I'd have a blast.

Give it the "Mystery Science Theater" treatment.

"The Wrecking Crew" tonight, a documentary about the great musicians who provided the background beat to some of the greatest songs of the 60s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX5BCgmr7tg

Excellent movie, watch it in a double bill with "Twenty Feet From Stardom".

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/20_feet_from_stardom

Watched "Richard Pryor: Live in Concert" from 1979, catching up on stuff my parents wouldn't let me see back in the day. Classic of stand-up comedy.

Pryor and Bill Hicks are the best comic minds ever. That is one GREAT night of comedy. "Live at the Sunset Strip" a few years later is pretty good too but that '79 concert is Rich at his best.

British documentary film-maker Adam Curtis, profiled in the NEW YORK TIMES:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/10/30/magazine/adam-curtis-documentaries...

Coming out this spring, the new Ben Wheatley film, "Free Fire":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDD3I0uOlqY

Moonlight and Manchester By The Sea I consider to be masterpieces. Written and directed by literary minded individuals with actors that portray the inner workings of fractured people.

Kenneth Lonergan's Margaret is also worth a look.

My first moving pictures post of 2017:

#1: Meret John Doe (typical Capra, okay), Master of Venus (okay), At Land (good), Sawdust and Tinsel (good), Salò or the 120 Days of Sodom (good, but very hard to watch), The Banishment (good, but not as good as Zvyagintsev's other films) - https://iansales.com/2017/01/16/moving-pictures-2017-1/

"Reservoir Dogs" revisited:

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20170117-why-reservoir-dogs-is-really-an-anti-v...

Andrzej Wajda's 1959 film "Ashes & Diamonds" last night.

Political upheaval and assassinations in post-World War II Poland, as Communists and the Old Guard fight for control of the country after the Germans surrender.

Francis Ford Coppola's favourite movie and there was a lot to like but it seemed overlong, losing steam in the second half, and there was a rather unbelievable romantic subplot...

Three stars out of five.

Another moving pictures post on my blog. I don't seem to have slowed down with these as much as I'd hoped...

#2: Kino-Eye (good), Women in Love (good), The Ghost and Mrs Muir (okay), An Enemy of the People (good), Une femme est une femme (okay), Behemoth (excellent) - https://iansales.com/2017/01/21/moving-pictures-2017-2/

Watched my SAG screener of La La Land. Shallow, superficial, Hollywood-self-congratulatory and cute as hell. Probably going to clean up at the Oscars.

>30 iansales: 'Women in Love' was partly filmed in my home town of Belper in Derbyshire, and a number of my school friends appeared as extras.

(And of course, the main character's name, Gerald Crich, references a nearby place-name.)

So soon? The best films of the 21st century, thus far:

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160819-the-21st-centurys-100-greatest-films

>33 CliffBurns: Interesting. I would have put Mulholland Drive as one of the worst films of all time.

Yeah, there are some strange choices--I didn't like "Mulholland Drive" either but "Eraserhead", Christ, that's just plain genius...

"They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" tonight. A decent movie, overlong and overly dramatic at times but strong performances from Jane Fonda, Susannah York and Gig Young.

Saw it first about 38-40 years ago.

I'm getting old...

>35 CliffBurns: I had a friend who babbled on about Eraserhead years ago to me for most of the day, probably because I was the only one who would listen to him.

That was when the flick first came out and it was only around for a short time as I remember it. When I finally saw it years later it was quite startling as he advertised!

I loved Mullholland, but didn't know anyone else did as I saw it on tape or DVD. Lynch does sexy, sultry women and lingerie so well.

Normally I'm strongly in favour of lingerie in movies--but "Mulholland Drive" was just so unlikeable and annoying, I found it hard to endure. I really should give it another chance, haven't seen it for ages and I've always had a sneaking admiration for Lynch.

Last night we watched "Hell or High Water", a film by David McKenzie. Crime and consequences in west Texas; Jeff Bridges is smashing, as always, but Chris Pine and Ben Foster are equally good. A well-acted movie with some nice shots, but the story had an awfully familiar feel to it and the frequent musical interludes (soundtrack by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis) were intrusive.

Sherron and I didn't think it was an Oscar-caliber film, certainly nowhere near as good as Jeff Nichols' "Loving".

"20 Feet From Stardom" tonight.

Not quite as good as "The Wrecking Crew" (Sherron disagrees), but an engrossing look at the world of professional backup singers.

Great soundtrack too.

Godard's "Breathless" last night.

Watched it for the second time, the Criterion edition, no less, and STILL can't figure out why some folks consider it (or any Godard film) "essential cinema".

>38 CliffBurns: One thing I really liked about Hell or High Water was that it had a single story line, and proceeded in a very literary way—it felt to me like reading a good short story with no pyrotechnics. Also liked the acting on all sides.

>40 CliffBurns: But Belmondo was so fucking cool!

Yeah, definitely. Unfortunately his co-star, Jean Seberg, while lovely, had the screen presence of a mannequin.

Very sad ending to her life:

http://www.waxpoetics.com/blog/features/articles/insidious-tale-actress-jean-seb...

>40 CliffBurns: Yeah, I agree about Breathless, but some of Godard's other stuff is really interesting. I find him a bit hit and miss, but the ones that have impressed me so far are Two or Three Things I Know About Her, Détective, Le mépris and Weekend.

Which reminds me... Time for the next installments of my Moving pictures posts:

#3: X-Men: Apocalypse (shit), Unknown Pleasures (good), The Epic of Everest (very good), Redes (good), The Garden of Words (good), Eye in the Sky (okay) - https://iansales.com/2017/01/26/moving-pictures-2017-3/

#4: Embrace of the Serpent (excellent), Don't Torture a Duckling (meh), Monique (meh), Two Days, One Night (good), Deliverance (okay), Knight of Cups (awful) - https://iansales.com/2017/01/27/moving-pictures-2017-4/

>45 iansales:, I've long felt obliged to see the movie Deliverance sometime, never get around to it. You make me (happily) believe I don't need to.

>46 Cecrow: One for Ray completists, I suspect. It's a made-for-TV movie, and it's a more of a comedy than a drama.

>47 iansales: I only remember the dueling banjos and the squeal like a pig scene.

I think you're talking about two different "Deliverance" films.

The 1973 John Boorman movie, shot in the American south, is excellent, must-see cinema.

Doesn't sound like the other "Deliverance" has nearly as much to offer.

A question that can be easily answered by actually clicking on the link...

Two movies recently, Jean-Pierre Melville's "Un Flic" and Lindsay Anderson's "O Lucky Man".

The former is a rather tepid caper film, badly edited and the love triangle at the heart of the movie is a dud; of the latter, I'll admit to being a huge Malcolm McDowell fan, but Alan Price's songs keep popping up, an ironic commentary on the film that is completely unnecessary and absolutely irritating.

Can't say I can recommend either film...

Here's a lovely Slovenian short, featuring stop motion animation. Based on a Gorky short story, it also accurately portrays the horrors of a writing block (right, Ian?):

https://vimeo.com/63804657

Another film post from me:

#5: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (very good), Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (okay), The Naked Spur (okay), The Home and the World (good), Memories of Underdevelopment (very good), Dreams (okay) - https://iansales.com/2017/02/03/moving-pictures-2017-5/

I saw Fifty Shades of grey the movie with a free DVD rental.

My thoughts were the same as every other male who sat through the entire movie: "Why am I watching this when free porn is 2 clicks away? ". I admit the movie had a plot but I was not caught up in it. I don't read romance novels either but former girlfriends found those much more interesting than myself and it is a huge market.

Two classic examples of Polish cinema:

"The Saragossa Manuscript" and "Sanitarium Under the Hourglass", both directed by Wojciech Has.

Magnificent. Great films, both of which left me mesmerized.

Highly recommended.

>55 CliffBurns: Have seen The Saragossa Manuscript and thought it great, I recently bought some box sets of Polish films which includes both.

That is some great cinema. I'd like to explore more Polish films down the road...

Last night, we watched "Elena", a 2012 Russian film directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev (the genius behind "Leviathan").

"Elena" is very straightforward, unadorned, with utterly believable performances. Some folks might find it lacking in incident, but I thought it believable and compelling.

>58 CliffBurns: I've seen Zvyagintsev's Leviathan, The Return and The Banishment, but not Elena. The best so far has been, I thought, The Return.

Haven't seen "The Return" but I'd put anything by this director under the category of "essential viewing".

The Banishment was a bit contrived, to be honest. It looked gorgeous, but the story never really convinced. Still worth seeing, though.

Another Russian film worth seeing is The Island (AKA Ostrov) by Pavel Lungin.

I thought I would mention Four Seasons in Havana, a Netflix series of four parts, modeled after Cuban author Leonardo Padura Fuentes four noir novels set in Cuba. I avoided watching the series for a good while, thinking that it was shot in Miami with a sensationalist script, but was surprised it was shot in Cuba! Here in the USA that is unusual. I feel as if I am getting some real peeks into Cuban life albeit a couple of decades ago.

I have not read the novels but the character development is great and convincing. At the imdb site linked above a negative note is given by a reviewer as the female roles are most all subservient. Off the top of my head I would think Cuba is not so gender biased but the story line is very well developed and cinematography great with a lot of aerial shots of Havana.

Worth a look if that setting is completely new to you as to me - not sure where Netflix streams this outside USA.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_Padura_Fuentes

::warning!:: I was going to post a pic of the show but my computer was hijacked for a sec by a Spanish website - so be careful.

More films...

#6: Baaz (not bad), Marketa Lazarová (excellent), Pickpocket (not bad), Jajua (good), Fedora (meh), Midnight Special (okay) - https://iansales.com/2017/02/08/moving-pictures-2017-6/

"Marketa Lazarova"--one of the all-time greats.

Garden of Words a non-violent anime feature, about 45 mins long, about a young student affair with an older woman. Very atmospheric. Not well resolved in my opinion, but visually it is a gorgeous thing. Drawings are excellent. A pleasure to watch.

watched 2 excellent films this week:

"About Elly" by the Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi:

when asked why his marriage ended a character responds...

" A bitter ending is better than endless bitterness"

and

"Applause" with the Danish actress Paprika Steen. While acting on stage in Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe, a well known actress faces her own alcoholism and child custody battle with her ex husband. Written and directed by Martin Pieter Zandvliet

>63 iansales: >64 CliffBurns: Did a search for Marketa Lazarová and was impressed. Looks like it could have inspired Game of Thrones. Will definitely check it out some day.

#67 Watch it back to back with "Valley of the Bees" or "Hard to be a God".

There's a triple bill you won't forget.

>65 mejix: I really liked Garden of Words, and plan to watch more by Makoto Shinkai.

>66 berthirsch: I still think About Elyl is the best film Farhadi is made. I found The Past disappointing.

>67 DugsBooks: Unlikely. I think GoT's only inspiration was the War of the Roses. I can't really see George RR Martin watching old Czech films for inspiration for a fantasy series...

>69 iansales:
I came across the Garden of Words in the video below. It's a silly video but some recommendations look great and a few of these are on youtube. (You can start at 1:40)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFLE1RJQ2do&index=12&list=LLyfbGz64OQ6U9...

Watched "Muscle Shoals", a documentary about a recording studio that helped create the southern rock sound (among other things).

Wonderful, just wonderful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNGtfpim0OM

An offbeat western from 1970, "There Was a Crooked Man".

Kirk Douglas is a rogue, Henry Fonda an uptight, moralistic territorial prison warden. Great supporting cast, including Burgess Meredith, John Randolph and Hume Cronyn. A bit odd and not an entirely likeable film but not without interest.

Another Moving pictures post...

#7 - Fitzcarraldo (excellent), Platform (quite good), Pat and Mike (meh), A Ship Bound for India (okay), The Name of a River (very good), Kahaani (good) - https://iansales.com/2017/02/14/moving-pictures-7-3/

>72 CliffBurns:, and now Kirk Douglas is 100 years old. Wow.

>71 CliffBurns: "Muscle Shoals" is on my Netflix watch list, I remember their hey days around the same time as the Allman Brothers {liked the band a lot} were upcoming as I remember it.

::edit in:: just read this in wiki:

Duane Allman, later of the Allman Brothers Band, once pitched a tent and camped out in the parking lot of FAME Studios in an effort to be near the recording sessions occurring there. He soon befriended Rick Hall and Wilson Pickett, who was recording there. While on lunch break, Allman taught Pickett "Hey Jude"; their version of the song was eventually recorded in 1968, with Allman playing lead guitar. On hearing the session, people at Atlantic began asking who had played the guitar solos, and Hall responded with a hand-written note that read "some hippie cat who's been living in our parking lot." Shortly afterward, Allman was offered a recording contract; auditions for the Allman Brothers Band were later held at FAME Studios. Allman loved the area, and frequently returned to the Shoals for session work throughout his life.

You'll love "Muscle Shoals". The movie centers around Rick Hall and he is a fascinating character, his life filled with tragedy and triumph.

I also have the "Big Star" documentary on order from my library:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFAGUbJPXOI

"Life Itself", a documentary on film critic Roger Ebert.

Doesn't pull any punches and shows that ol' Rog could be a real SOB, especially before he found true love.

Moving and at times hard to watch, Ebert's physical struggles are unflinchingly depicted.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time- This is an adolescent romance involving time travel. Very entertaining, well crafted, and, unexpectedly, smart. Easily one of the all-time best movies involving time travel. 10/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=198ejsZWsXc

Wolf Children-A family raising two wolf children. A very tender movie with an original way to explore, in particular, motherhood. Somewhat predictable ending but a very moving way to get there. 9/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns8PWyfEz60

>77 CliffBurns:, loved the behind-the-scenes bits with Ebert and Siskel sniping at each other. Definitely felt real, showing Ebert's multiple sides.

But the perfect timing of things like the making of this documentary, or that big bio about Steve Jobs, coinciding with their death: you could view them as savvy directors/authors realizing the clock was running to capture this amazing story, or else it's hard to shake the ghoulish, cynical casting of it as "we could turn a good buck if we're lucky and he dies just as we wrap."

I just watched "Loving" last Sunday. I liked it, I thought it was a lot less melodramatic than is usual with such bio-pics and the acting was really subtle and understated. An important story for students of American history.

Yes, I thought "Loving" was unfairly over-looked during award season--it's amazing to me that the male co-lead is actually an Australian.

Very under-stated, realistic movie. Definitely one of the best of the year.

Really? That actor was Australian? He was really good. I loved how taciturn he was.

...but you could see the way his mind worked through his eyes. The actor, Joel Edgerton, was remarkable at conveying so much of the inner torment and thought processes of a man who spoke rarely, reluctantly, and his co-star, Ruth Negga, was equally adept at transmitting her emotions without seeming overwrought. Two admirable, under-stated performances.

Tip o' the hat tonight to a strange, little indie film called "Moonwalkers".

Ron Perlman is a burned out CIA agent dispatched to hire Stanley Kubrick to shoot a fake moon landing, in case the real thing is a dud. Due to mistaken identity, much hilarity ensues.

Perlman is excellent, but it's Rupert Grint and Robert Sheehan who really steal the show as a couple of hapless losers.

Definitely worth a look.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRoMpeUGZ9I

>84 CliffBurns: I think Moonwalkers is a French film, rather than an indie one.

Currently working my way through BOND films, on VCR. All of them from Connery to Brosnan. Not going too modern with it, as, it's VCR :)
I got the lot for $3 (NZ) at the op shop (=second hand store), a bargain and a half!

VCR? I'm surprised the tape hasn't rotted away :-)

>84 CliffBurns:, story distantly reminds me of "Capricorn One"

>86 LovingLit: I rather lost faith with the Bond franchise when Roger Moore took the role. I really didn't identify him with Bond and I found his style too over-the-top compared with Connery and even Lazenby. (I belong to the school of thought that has 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' as possibly the best Bond ever. The photography is stunning, the theme music relentlessly memorable, and even the best one-liners were apparently Lazenby ad-libs. And Satchmo sings 'We have all the time in the world'. What's not to like?) (Apparently, Lazenby had an idiot for an agent who thought up the 'George won't do the next one' thing as either a publicity stunt or an attempt to leverage his client, and it backfired. After all, in those days, no-one really knew how to reboot a franchise - I think this was the first time it had been tried.)

My dislike of Moore in the role meant that I got away from the Bond films, when I ought to have given Dalton and Brosnan a look-in; after all, I did go to school with Timothy Dalton. I've come back to it with Craig, who I feel is excellent, and I'm trying to backfill the Dalton & Brosnan films.

I can't categorize and rank Bond films together under each actor, I found hit/miss in all their cases (really liked Thunderball, Live and Let Die, Casino Royale). I don't care for Brosnan's movies, but it's more to do with the over-the-top theatrics than the actor. So glad it was dialled back with Craig's first outing.

#85--I've read couple of sources, included the making of "featurette", which described the film as independently made:

http://deadline.com/2015/03/moonwalkers-action-comedy-lands-at-alchemy-sxsw-1201...

"Moonwalkers" received only tepid reviews and I think it's better than what critics thought (these are the same reviewers who refer to the latest comic book abomination as "the must see film of the summer!"):

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/mar/15/moonwalkers-first-look-review-kubri...

http://www.indiewire.com/2016/01/review-moonwalkers-starring-ron-perlman-rupert-...

>91 CliffBurns: Wikipedia says it's French - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonwalkers_(film)

Well, given the self-centredness of the Hollywood industry, France = "independent"...

...or it's a French independent film...

The thing about movies dubbed in Spanish is that they don't aim for a generic Spanish but use very regional accents. A couple of nights ago the Wolf Children family sounded like they were from Mexico City. Last night the Sword of the Stranger had 17th century samurai that clearly were from Madrid. ("After this fight let's go for some tapas!")

>87 iansales: A job lot from a second and shop- I don't think they have been watched many times, if at all. Must have been bought all at once, a Time Life series or something, and then forgotten about. Maybe the owners died....who knows?

>89 RobertDay: oh yes. He is completely ridiculous as Bond. That is why I find the films funny.

I had never seen a current Bond film until one of the Craig ones (about 3 years ago). I only went to see that one as I had some free time and really wanted to see a (any) film. So to me, they are all interesting curiosities. And the older ones are so dated with the way women are portrayed- soo helpless and pathetic!

I am hoping to watch them all (from Brosnan back) on VCR and then Ill watch the newer ones on BluRay, as a film-fanatic friend has them all on that format.

More movies...

#8 - Advise & Consent (okay), Cobra Verde (good), The Goddess (okay), The Seventh Victim (meh), Jordskott (good), and Strawberry and Chocolate (good) - https://iansales.com/2017/02/17/moving-pictures-2017-8/

Watched "Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me", the documentary of the greatest band never to make it of all time.

Interesting but not as powerful or engrossing as other music-related docs I've seen lately ("Muscle Shoals", "The Wrecking Crew").

And it didn't fill me with a desire to run out and buy the three Big Star albums, though the fault may lie with my admittedly odd and obscure musical taste...

More films...

#9 Enthusiasm: Symphony of the Donbass (good), Lisbon Story (good), Chungking Express (okay), Late Spring (good), Robin Hood (Disney, meh), Crime and Punishment (good) - https://iansales.com/2017/02/23/moving-pictures-2017-9/

#10 Burden of Dreams (making of Fitzacarraldo doc, good), Signale - Ein WeltraumAbenteuer (bad), Nebo Zovyot (good), The Brood (bad), Petition: the Court of Complainants (excellent), Ek Din Achanak (good) - https://iansales.com/2017/02/24/moving-pictures-2017-10/

Drat! I remained up late last night to watch the entire Academy Awards, turned it off in a light degree of disgust when white-man-saves-jazz "La La Land" purportedly won best picture on the heels of a entire night of Trump-trashing. I missed the twist ending when two minutes later they announced the mistake, that actually "Moonlight" was the winner for Best Picture.

>100 Cecrow: that is so weird, how did they manage to do that? Glad Moonlight won, but the mistake seems to have gotten more attention than the actual results.

Another batch of movies:

#11 - Nemuritorii (okay), She's Gotta Have It (quite good), Reason, Debate and a Story (very good), Broadcast News (meh), The Asthenic Syndrome (not sure what to make of it), I Am Cuba (very good) - https://iansales.com/2017/02/27/moving-pictures-2017-11/

A recent western, "The Homesman", based on a novel by Glendon Swarthout and directed by Tommy Lee Jones.

Not terrible but choppy, the problem mainly with the script, the motivations and character of the two central players.

Solid supporting cast.

Moving pictures #12...

Beijing Bicycle (good), Gods of Egypt (fucking dreadful), Pharaoh (quite good), Francofonia (brilliant), Elena (very good), Aktorzy prowincjonalni (good) - https://iansales.com/2017/03/02/moving-pictures-2017-12/

Tonight "Ali: Fear Eats the Soul", a 1974 film about inter-racial romance set in Munich, directed by R.W. Fassbinder.

Admirable in many ways and, like many films I love these days, under-stated and unsentimental.

A quiet gem.

>105 CliffBurns: That film is based on Sirk's All That Heaven Allows, my favourite film.

I saw "Kedi" this weekend. It's a documentary about the street cats of Istanbul. Very lovely cinematography and a weird Philip-Glass-like soundtrack with Turkish music interspersed. Highly enjoyable and recommended.
Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKq7UqplcL8

Ah, yes, I know all about those cats. Sherron and I had a wonderful encounter with some stray dogs early one morning in Istanbul--they literally escorted us to the Hippodrome, which I had been unable to locate until then.

A weird, wonderful, almost spectral moment...

>108 CliffBurns: I am jealous. It seems like a wonderful and amazing city. I hope I visit sometime.

Post Erdogan.

And, hopefully, that won't be too long...

Watched the SF/time travel film "Looper" last night.

Hey, Sherron's away, it's "guy flick" time.

"Looper" was pretty good, although Bruce Willis' casting was pointless (anyone could've played the part).

Written and directed by Rian Johnson, who also brought us "Brick".

Didn't like Looper at all. Both Primer and Predestination were, I thought, much better.

Looks like Terrence Malick has released yet another mediocre film:

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20170317-does-terrence-malicks-take-on-hipster-...

His "Knight of Cups" movie really was appalling...

Finally saw "Arrival" tonight, much-touted science fiction film.

A good effort but not a mind-blower. I'd put it on the same level as "Interstellar": some cool concepts but I didn't get that "sensawunda" that I do from "2001" (even after 20+ viewings).

Amy Adams is wonderful, as always, but the movie doesn't SOAR into really speculative realms, it remains decidedly earthbound and not as ambitious as it could have been. And, like most Denis Villeneuve films, it left me emotionally flat. Competently made, meticulously presented but not an intimate or intensely personal viewing experience.

Still want to see both Arrival and Interstellar. I have only seen 2001 twice, but once ( and the first time) was on the huge screen. It was an experience, I can tell ya!

Ben Wheatley, my favourite film maker:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/mar/23/director-ben-wheatley-cruelty-feels...

Another batch of film posts...

#13 Heart of Glass (good), My Brilliant Career (meh), Astronaut: The Last Push (bad), The Far Pavilions (okay), Vagabond (good), Camouflage (good) - https://iansales.com/2017/03/04/moving-pictures-2017-13/

#14 California Dreamin' (good), Aloys (very good), Jump (okay), Three Songs for Lenin (good), Yi Yi (good), Blackboards (good) https://iansales.com/2017/03/09/moving-pictures-2017-14/

#15 The World (excellent), Constant Factor (good), Little Red Flowers (okay), Promised Land (good), Taurus (good), Éloge d'amour (okay) - https://iansales.com/2017/03/24/moving-pictures-2017-15/

Finally saw "Hidden Figures", well done. I was scoffing at scenes clearly redressed to cater to modern audiences (there is no WAY her outburst about the bathroom really happened or could have played out like that), but such changes are necessary for the story to have the impact intended when transferred to the screen in 2016. What the audience then feels is made equivalent to what people at the time must have felt about however it actually went down.

>114 CliffBurns: You nailed the review IMOHO

>114 CliffBurns: Not completely in agreement there, Cliff. I watched 'Arrival' over the weekend and then spent almost 48 hours thinking about, researching, and speculating on the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis (which I know is not a hypothesis and isn't anything Sapir and Whorf ever worked on together).

I have a whole pile of questions on it which could constitute a whole new area of study for years to come. Does Sapir-Whorf apply to music? Dance? Mathematics? Does it act as an indicator for political viewpoint and voting intentions? How far can it apply to mere vocabulary (in the form of cant, slang, patois or jargon)? Can these things influence mindset or are they merely indicators of a particular kind of group identity? Where does group identity (and presumably group-think) end and a cultural mindset influenced by language begin?

And that's before you even get into the arguments about Sapir-Whorf itself...

I eagerly await your TED Talk, Robert. Sounds like brainy stuff...

Keep an eye out for "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri". The trailer is a doozie, no holds barred:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jit3YhGx5pU

>122 CliffBurns: McDonagh! Fucking brilliant.

http://valerianmovie.com/

Worth a look, make sure to see the trailer - in stereo high res screen if possible. Warning! eye candy as they say.

I love the Valerian and Laureline bandes dessinées but that film doesn't feel like it's captured them properly - it all looks a bit generic 21st century space opera.

And, some more movie posts...

#16: Rosetta (goodish), Mississippi Mermaid (good), The Hourglass Sanatorium (good), Killer of Sheep (very good), To Kill This Love (okay) East Palace West Palace (goodish) - https://iansales.com/2017/03/27/moving-pictures-2017-16/

#17: Antareen (good), Shanghai Dreams (very good), The Seventh Veil (meh), Rancho Notorious (meh), Paper Airplanes (okay), The President (very good) - https://iansales.com/2017/03/29/moving-pictures-2017-17/

Drove in to Saskatoon to see "Kedi", the documentary on the cats of Istanbul Anna alluded to awhile back.

What a sweet little gem of a movie. And seeing Istanbul again brought a lump to our throats. It really was the high point of our European trip last year. A magnificent, terrifying spectacle of a city.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgYAuo9UYoE

Just posted my review of "Kedi":

https://cinemaarete.wordpress.com/2017/04/01/kedi-turkey-2016

Lovely review of a lovely little film!

Thanks...next they should do a doc on the DOGS of Istanbul...

Finally got around to watching Quentin Tarantino's "Inglorious Basterds".

Tarantino fell off my radar after the "Kill Bill" movies--none of his recent stuff has appealed to me. "Hateful 8" was dreadful and "Inglorious Basterds" isn't much better. The scenes are overlong and lack dramatic punch, the script is tuneless, Pitt's accent is godawful. Like "The Hateful 8", a narrator pops up briefly at one point AND THEN COMPLETELY DISAPPEARS. And how about that soundtrack: David Bowie's theme from "Cat People" employed for absolutely no purpose during a World War II-era film.

There are far better film makers out there--time for ol' Quentin to find another line of work.

>130 CliffBurns:, Pitt's notorious for poor accents. I still love the movie "Snatch" for what it did with him.

Time for the latest Moving pictures post...

#18: The Last Man on the Moon (very good), The Man in the Sky (meh), Uniform (good), Lenny (okay), Marriage Italian Style (okay), The Class (good) - https://iansales.com/2017/04/03/moving-pictures-2017-18/

"Revenge of the Pink Panther" last night--for the first time in a couple decades.

It didn't date well.

Racist, replete with interminable, unfunny scenes, Peter Sellers appearing bored by the whole thing. At least there was Dyan Cannon to look at.

The only Pink Panther movie I still enjoy is "A Shot in the Dark".

To me, the classic is still 1975's "Return of the Pink Panther":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaHG1x2Bg84

Last night, while Sherron dozed, I watched Laurence Olivier's 1944 version of "Henry V".

I am a HUGE fan of the 1989 Branagh adaptation so I was curious what I would think of this one.

It took me awhile, but I enjoyed the feel of the original Globe and then when the action switches to France, the film really takes off and Olivier's performance becomes more nuanced, his expressions communicating almost as much as Shakespeare's dialogue.

I still have to go with the Branagh production--the cast was so amazing, especially Derek Jacobi as Chorus, Robert Stephens, Ian Holm, Paul Scofield...

>136 CliffBurns: I really like that version. I love how London looks like a model town in the opening credits.

I stumble upon this thread thanks to the latest post bumping the topic up for me, and I see that I last mentioned Interstellar....and it is 846 pm, and I recall that the film is on television this weekend, and when I check I see that it has just started one minute ago. Roll opening credits! I get to see it after all :)

>137 iansales: That's because it was. 1944 FX, remember?

>139 RobertDay:. Very funny. No, it's deliberately done. Like tilt-shift photography.

It would have been cool when they were panning on the model town and crept up on the Globe if they had done a "Citizen Kane" trick-dissolve inside the theatre, similar to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47l_q4YjSc4

Watched "Red Army", a documentary on the great Soviet hockey machine of the 1970s.

Excellent, gripping viewing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdFHKXXPLhg

Like the title says, "Ten Mind-Blowing Documentaries":

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/9xIbhy/:1acm89Jbj:KBtatqWE/livelearnevolve.com/10-...

My nineteenth movie blog post, and it's only the middle of April...

#19: Death Walks on High Heels (pretty good giallo), Between Your Legs (good Spanish erotic thriller), Early Summer (a candidate for my favourite Ozu), Independence Day: Regurgence (shit), Knights of the Black Cross (epic Polish meidaeval drama, good), Eisenstein in Guanajuato (Greenaway, like a lot more than expected) - https://iansales.com/2017/04/10/moving-pictures-2017-19/

Watched Ben Wheatley's "High Rise" again.

I called it the "Best Film of 2016" and seeing it for the second time last night only confirmed that opinion.

Greatness.

Canadian films on our 150th birthday:

http://watch.cbc.ca/150th-national-canadian-film-day/all/02a5b4ed-eaf6-4797-8701...

Watched Werner Herzog's documentary on the internet, "Lo & Behold".

As usual, he finds funny, eccentric talking heads and asks them questions that perplex and amuse them.

Well worth viewing.

Two more cinema blog posts:

#20: Pauline at the Beach (good Rohmer), Veer Zaara (good Bollywood), The Night of the Shooting Stars (okay Italian WWI drama), Hélas pour moi
(good Godard meta-cinema), Walkover (good Polish drama), Morgan (okay sf) - https://iansales.com/2017/04/21/moving-pictures-2017-20/

#21: Dances with Wolves (better than expected), Ivan's Childhood (Tarkovsky's debut, good), The Milk of Sorrow (very good Peruvian film), Innocent Sorcerors (okay Polish Nouvelle Vague by Wajda), Day for Night (very good Truffaut), Suzho River (very good Chinese drama) - https://iansales.com/2017/04/25/moving-pictures-21-3/

Films to watch for in May:

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20170427-ten-films-to-watch-in-may

More films seen:

#22:The Sword in the Stone (okay Disney), Medinusa (very good Peruvian film), Samaritan Girl (good Korean film), Wendy and Lucy (meh US indie film), Austeria (good Polish historical drama), Night Train (okay Polish Hitchcockian thriller) - https://iansales.com/2017/04/30/moving-pictures-22-3/

Creepy little Danish film last night, "When Animals Dream".

A family of shapeshifters try to survive in a remote seaside community.

Compared to "Let the Right One In" and definitely worth seeking out...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNkvHAE7d5A

An article on French thriller director Jean-Pierre Melville:

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/05/01/jean-pierre-melvilles-cinema-of-res...

"Army of Shadows" is an incredibly good film.

"The Neon Demon" tonight--weird Nicolas Winding Refn film. If you know the director's oeuvre, you know to expect something far out and "Neon Demon" definitely delivers on that front.

Sick, fascinating, wayyyy over the top.

Not for delicate tastes...

Sherron and I watched "Merchants of Doubt", a documentary about the assholes who hire themselves out as global warming skeptics, shills for big tobacco/chemical/pharma.

These men (they're almost always men) are morally reprehensible and this film made me madder than any movie I've watched in awhile. I really HATED those fuckers for what they represented: human greed at its worst.

>154 CliffBurns: I think I helped fund that film to get made. Forget the name of the nonprofit but at some point I sent a donation about that.

I just killed more time than I should have, perusing this Wikipedia list of the worst films ever made. Some of the reviews quoted are wonderfully written.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_considered_the_worst

Henri-Georges Clouzot's "Le Corbeau".

A poison pen writer is bringing unease and anger to a French village. Everyone is a suspect, the stakes building with each new communication from "the Raven".

Clouzot is a better, more suspenseful director than Hitchcock and, unlike Hitchcock, his characters and plots make sense and wouldn't be out of place in the real world.

Tonight, Henri-Georges Clouzot's "La Verite" (The Truth).

Boring, contrived courtroom drama enlivened by occasional glimpses of Brigitte Bardot's breasts and derrière.

Disappointing film by a master of cinema.

More movies:

#23: Peter Pan (Disney, didn't like), Springtime in a Small Town (recent remake of a 1940s Chinese classic I like a great deal, remake a bit meh), David Holzman's Diary (okay), It's All About Love (lookd great but fails really badly), En Desenlace (over-talky Spanish Dogme thriller), The Big Parade (silent classic in which US wins WWI) - https://iansales.com/2017/05/04/moving-pictures-2017-23/

My first childs first movie was a collection of short animated internationally sourced films, yet now I find myself having seen 5 films this year at the cinema, 3 of them crappy kids ones. Kids releases all seem to be all style (lightening fast shots) and no substance.

I need some good family movie recommendations, what is good for an 8 year old and a 41 year old?

My kids loved the animated movies of Miyazaki...other favourites, "The Iron Giant", "Toy Story (of course), Daniel Greaves "Flat World"...

>160 LovingLit: I would agree with Cliff. Miyazaki's Spirited Away, Kiki's Delivery Service, Howl's Moving Castle and, my personal favorite, My Neighbor Totoro are a delight for kids and adults. I would also add two Jacques Tati movies: Mr. Hulot's Holiday and Mon Oncle, even though they are French the dialogue is minimal. And, of course, The Princess Bride, is a must.

Two I've seen recently:

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWnTeKEsDlU

Wolf Children
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mzn3PVawFZ4

>161 CliffBurns:, yes yes yes to "The Iron Giant". Some of the Miyazaki I thought would be creepy for my kids but they were very engaged by it, I guess for it's being so different from the norm.

>160 LovingLit:, I was very impressed with "Moana", a study in political correctness though it is. And I didn't find "LEGO Batman" nearly so awful to sit through as I'd feared, it was pretty zany.

I don't recommend Finding Dory, that awful Smurfs movie, or the Secret Life of Pets which was just obnoxious.

Not surprisingly, the new "Alien" film sucks:

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20170505-film-review-is-alien-covenant-as-good-...

I thought "Prometheus" was one of the worst major movies of the past decade. Ridley Scott is a very mediocre director.

Tonight we watched "45 Years", starring two fine actors, Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay. Written and directed by Andrew Haigh.

Shadows of the past threaten to ruin a couple's 45th anniversary.

Subtle and under-stated, the two leads performing admirably.

A movie for and by adults.

What a refreshing notion...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg5cpiX18TA

"All About Eve", an alleged classic, starring Betty Davis and Anne Baxter.

Really contrived, stagy, characters speaking in ridiculous monologues...unbelievable, like a soap opera with a better than average cast.

I believe this movie beat "Sunset Boulevard" for best picture. A travesty.

Comprehensive article on the making of Tarkovsky's "Stalker":

https://cinephiliabeyond.org/unique-perspective-making-stalker-testimony-mechani...

(Another gem from Gord)

Tonight, watched mediocre thriller titled "Broken Horses".

Not much to recommend it.

To the Forest of Firefly Lights by Takahiro Omori. Should've been a great movie but alas it was a wasted opportunity.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2061702/

Tonight I watched a supernatural thriller, "Blackwood".

Mildly entertaining, but not earth-shattering.

Watched The Grand Budapest Hotel which was entertaining. I know Wes Anderson based the movie on a couple of novels by Stefan Zweig who I have not read. Reading the plots of the Zweig novels they struck me as much more depressing than the film. What does anyone think of Zweig? Does the film echo his novels?

I've wondered the same thing. I've started reading The Collected Stories of Stefan Zweig. So far I've gotten through one about a Jewish community running from a pogrom and another about a despairing woman ruminating about a failed relationship. I'm beginning to understand why he committed suicide. I'm going to persist for a while, but if he doesn't lighten up I'm going to move on.

Much of the additional material I've seen on 'Grand Budapest Hotel' (which pressed all my buttons, especially as I've been to many of the locations used in filming) specifically referenced Zweig's Beware of Pity, which I have on the TBR pile but also (like justifiedsinner) have not yet started. The packaging for that book suggests it is lighter in tone, but we shall have to see.

Zweig was a depressive, no question, and that informs his work. That said, he can be a very wry and funny writer.

And highly literate. His dark places are authentically depicted, brilliantly described.

Tonight, our movie of choice was Yorgos Lanthimos' "Dogtooth".

Bi-zarre. Weird and funny and creepy.

Well worth your time.

>176 CliffBurns: A weird fanciful movie that you believe could never happen - until you start reading the newspapers.

"Dogtooth" reminded me of a J.G. Ballard story--have you read his novella RUNNING WILD, about a gated, wealthy community and the growing madness of the people within?

That rare thing a season of decent films on TV has given us all of the Tarkovsky films here in the UK. Last night I saw 'Solaris' for the first time and the images linger particularly those of the Russian landscapes and the merging of these with the Brueghal paintings on the wall of the space station's library- quite mesmerising. It seemed a film one must give oneself up to rather than to over-think. Having said that it was full of ideas about humanity and our place in the Universe. Tarkovsky has been criticised for over long sequences but I loved them even when puzzled as in the long car drive through tunnels and out into a modern city. We do not know when this is supposed to be happening and that seems quite appropriate.

Falling behind again... Two more movie posts:

#24: The Case of Hana and Alice (excellent anime film), The Harder They Come (good reggae classic), Boccaccio '70 (so-so Italian anthology film), The Girl on the Train (tedious over-hyped thriller), Illumination (odd Polish drama), The Rainbow (charmless TV adaptation of Lawrence) - https://iansales.com/2017/05/08/moving-pictures-2017-24/

#25: The Last Day of Summer (enigmatic but dull Polish drama), Cosmos (Żuławski's last film, enuff said), The Lady Assassin (surprisingly good Vietnamese historical actioner), Track 29 (Roeg channels Lynch and Russell, not good), Deepwater Horizon (competent disaster film), Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie (batshit insane anime movie, not sure what think of it) - https://iansales.com/2017/05/12/moving-pictures-2017-25/

>180 iansales: {name dropping!} I saw "The Harder They Come" in a guys {funny smelling and smoke filled} basement on a tape before video tape players were easily available and before reggae had hit mainstream USA. Many years later I actually met Jimmy Cliff at his concert in my home town when some roadies dragged me from across the street where I was listening for free and told me to guard the back stage door {while peering inside}. He only gave a short greeting while walking by but was a friendly & energetic guy.

>181 DugsBooks: good story :-)

Watched Night on the Galactic Railroad an adaptation of a work by the poet Kenji Miyazawa. It is kind of an odd and intriguing movie, very atmospheric. Not quite successful but there are some really really good moments that are very evocative and suggest that the story was comes from a true poet.

Tonight, we watched "Tim's Vermeer", a documentary about a man who became obsessed with recreating Vermeer's photorealistic paintings (hundreds of years before photography existed).

Interesting, but overlong. Could have been dealt with in a 50-minute "Discovery Channel" episode.

I forgot to mention a Netflix movie I saw several months ago, White Girl. It is a gritty flick filmed in Brooklyn New York about a young girl, new to college & the city, whose also new dealer/boyfriend gets busted for drugs she is playing with. Somewhat of a tragedy she tries to break him out of the typical prison sentence he expects to get. It wasn't until a couple of days later that I finally got that "white girl" is also another character in the movie - cocaine. Worth a watch if you have the time to kill.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4129870/

Sherron's away so I watched a really creeeeepy German film, "Goodnight Mommy". A flick she'd NEVER watch if she were here.

At a remote location, a woman with a bandaged face tends to twin boys who grow increasingly convinced she is not their mother. No hilarity ensues.

Recommended but definitely a film that will work on your nerves. The ending wasn't really a surprise (to me) but deftly handled.

"Passengers" tonight, mediocre science fiction but at least a monster didn't show up.

Tens of millions spent on a trivial, forgettable flick.

Yawn.

Next...

>187 CliffBurns:, I'm sure the folks who made it are having the same "tens of millions" thought, given how it performed. They wouldn't be batting an eye if it had panned out for them, of course (e.g. that miserable Transformers series, etc.) All relative, and nothing to do with actual quality.

"Approaching the Unknown"--near future SF about the first manned mission to Mars.

Mark Strong is a likable, talented actor but the film starts to drag about a half hour in. A well-intentioned movie, but overly earnest and lacking dramatic tension. And I really detest voiceover narration.

>164 Cecrow: Finding Dory, that awful Smurfs movie, or the Secret Life of Pets which was just obnoxious.
My thought exactly, these three I am loathe to admit to having seen. Finding Nemo was pretty good, and the first Lego movie at least had a clever anti-consumerism and anti-authoritarian message.

Thanks others for the recommendations, I read my eldest The Iron Giant, so should see the DVD and compare! (The Princess Bride is a good rollicking ride, thanks for the reminder.)

Documentary on the fascinating painter Lucian Freud. Could've been condensed but very interesting nevertheless. Specially the early years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA6yGLydWtc

Martin Scorsese stands up for cinema:

http://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/film-making-martin-scorsese

Neill Blomkanp ("District 9") has a Vancouver-based animation studio. Here's something they've been working on:

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/shorts/inside-neill-blomkamps-first-experimental-oats...

Watched Ridley Scott's "The Martian" tonight.

Well-made, like a Swiss watch, and just as engineered and predictable.

>194 CliffBurns: In contrast, I've just started watching the National Geographic drama-doc series 'Mars' on DVD. Up to episode 2 so far. The series is split into a stream set in 2033, showing the first Mars expedition, interspersed with a stream from 2016 showing the current state of research into the technologies that will be required for a Mars mission. Andy Weir turns up in some of the 2016 segments as a talking head 'expert'. Unlike 'The Martian', there are no guarantees of character survival, and it looks almost as good as Scott's film on a smaller budget. Big-name Big Science Guys are promised for later episodes, such as Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

I'm nutty about space flight and as a kid dreamed of being the first human on Mars.

I'll definitely see if I can get my eyes on that series. Thanks, Robert.

Brilliant international cinema tonight, Jia Zhangke's "A Touch of Sin".

Violent, vividly stylish, smart film.

Highly recommended.

>197 CliffBurns: I'm a big fan of Jia's films. Also worth trying are Zhao Liang, Lou Ye, Wang Xiaoshuai. Diao Yinan, and from Taiwan, Hou Hsiao-Hsien.

I saw, The Eagle Huntress, on DVD and liked the peek into a very foreign culture provided by the documentary. A 13 year old girl takes on a traditionaly male occupation in Mongolia. Not that riveting but interesting.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3882074/

>199 DugsBooks:, that's on Netflix now, I have it on my list to watch.

>200 Cecrow: a lot of controversy on how much of a "documentary" it is on the net. A few scenes seemed a bit staged to me but I give it a pass, one thing that is not staged is how remote these people are. The director refutes all the allegations if you want to search around. I am guessing animal loving kids would like this a lot & maybe find it engrossing.

Watched a Norwegian film, "The Wave".

A tsunami caused by a massive rock slide engulfs a town. One man races to save his family and--

Not a bad film but sporting the usual smarmy, sentimental ending.

Blah.

Have you seen "The Impossible" (2012) about the Indonesian tsunami, and can you draw comparison?

Have yet to see "The Impossible" but it sounds like it's one I'd like.

Hopefully, it's more courageous than "The Wave".

"The Adjustment Bureau", yet another adaptation of a Philip K. Dick story.

Not as terrible as some, though Matt Damon gives his usual banal, one-dimensional performance.

Always a pleasure to see Terence Stamp onscreen--he and Ian McShane are two of my favorite perpetual villains.

Tonight, a modest, indie sci fi/thriller called "The Pod".

A few good jolts but the acting and script needed work. Pretty amateurish.

Saw Valerian over the weekend, cute pg-13 sf flick with a good storyline. Would like to hear the reaction of folks familiar with the comics.

Hope to blog more extensively in the sf section when my desktop computer is working better.

Tried to watch a time travel thriller "Synchronicity" tonight but it was so badly scripted and annoying, we gave up.

Switched to "Shadows of Liberty', a 2012 documentary about how the news services in America have become mouthpieces of corporate America.

De-pressing...

Watched "Satiesfictions", a short film about the life and work of composer Eric Satie.

Fascinating man. Brilliant. Innovative. Weird, weird guy.

"Green Room" tonight--violent genre film, directed by Jeremy Saulnier.

Grim but stylish, with a satisfying finale.

Recommended (for those with strong stomachs).

And make sure you see Saulnier's previous effort, "Blue Ruin", it's terrific.

Ida Lupino, neglected director:

http://torontoist.com/2017/08/let-see-smile-ida-lupinos-outrage-horrors-rape-cul...

I just saw a really interesting documentary about Gertrude Bell.

Letters from Baghdad
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/letters_from_baghdad/

Although I have lived in the Middle East, I am afraid I didn't have a lot of historical knowledge about Iraq/Mesopotamia and so I learned a lot. Also, she was a really fascinating person. Highly recommended. Not overly dramatized but I found it very effective with original footage, actors in period outfits reciting letters/diaries/etc from her and her friends and acquaintances, and lots of photos that were actually taken by her.

Another guy flick last night (my wife is away), I chose an Australian post-apocalyptic movie. "The Rover".

Guy Pearce is fine but Robert Pattinson's character sounds like he's from Appalachia, not really sure what his accent is supposed to represent.

But a good movie, uncompromising and believable.

Recommended.

"Django Unchained" last night, the best of a recent batch of bad/mediocre Tarantino films.

Good performances, especially by Jamie Foxx--an homage to spaghetti westerns, not too much realism or authenticity present.

And violent as hell.

>214 CliffBurns: what do you think of "four rooms" ? My son was telling me about it as a possible "Tarantino movie you might like". (I usually absolutely hate Tarantino.)

Haven't seen that one--lost interest in Tarantino when he concocted the "Kill Bill" movies. Nothing he's done in the past decade (or more) matches the power and originality of "Reservoir Dogs" and "Pulp Fiction".

>216 CliffBurns: My husband had me watch the Kill Bill movies, I just did not get the appeal. I think if you have no nostalgia about old kung fu movies, they lack appeal. Nostalgia about stuff is just not a big thing with me. Movies should contain more than emotional appeals to people's youth. They should have plot, characters, interesting settings, interesting cinematography.... something.

Drone technology is getting more and more amazing. My oldest son sent me this snippet of footage he found:

https://vimeo.com/218839072

A comedy about the events surrounding the death of Stalin and the intrigues that followed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukJ5dMYx2no

Tonight I watched "Disorder", a French thriller about an ex-soldier with PTSD who is hired to protect a family.

Not a shoot 'em up, more thoughtful and measured.

Recommended.

I will check it out. I just finished the French film Elle. Very good but definitely not a Hollywood take on things.

Watched Hitchcock's "Psycho" again, for the first time in over 20 years.

"Psycho" and "The Birds" are my favorite Hitchcock films. I'm not a fan, I find his movies contrived and unbelievable, but the two films I mentioned are a cut above average (for him).

"Psycho" was quite racy for its time and my DVD came with an "R" rating. Strange, for a film shot in 1960...

Every tine I watch Psycho, I marvel at the impact the plot twist must've had to audiences seeing it for the first time. And I always recollect that Bernard Herrman had to persuade Hitchcock to have music over the shower scene.

>223 RobertDay: .....and the strident music "over the shower scene" is iconic unto itself & still used in parody and other portrayals without needing a reference!

"Deadpool" tonight--trying to be an anti-superhero movie but despite the one-liners, there are still too many extended fight scenes and an ending telegraphed from last Tuesday.

Amusing, not much more.

Saw the movie Lion,true story about a kid lost in India at age 5 and adopted by parents in Australia. He finds his biological mom 25 years later using google earth.

Good flick, tugs at the heartstrings. The book might be even better, A Long Way Home .

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3741834/

Edited broken link

Bergman: best ever?

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20170728-the-greatest-film-maker-who-ever-lived

Classic cinema tonight, Greta Garbo in "Ninotchka".

Lots of fun, good script, co-written by Billy Wilder.

Watched "The Gangster Squad" tonight.

Terrible, terrible movie. A mashup of "The Untouchables" and "L.A. Confidential"--dreadful and derivative.

Avoid! Avoid!

Czech "New Wave" tonight: Milos Forman's "The Fireman's Ball".

Funny, but not as engaging and weird as other 1960s Czech films.

Saw "Blade Runner 2049" tonight, on the big screen.

Overlong and meandering, convoluted and occasionally quite dull. Too many references to the original, cacophonous soundtrack, emotionally empty.

Two and a half stars out of five.

That's disappointing. I was looking forward to it.

>232 varielle:, I haven't seen eye-to-eye on Cliff with everything and, noting critics at large are 90% positive, I still am. ;)

MOST people don't have my taste in films.

Always better to experience something yourself...

I believe that people who have seen a lot more movies are likely to find new movies more derivative. Sort of like how I often feel about modern novels I read - I usually like them, I appreciate the writing being descriptive or creative or whatever - but the plots and characters usually feel like I've read something like it before just because of the sheer volume of stuff I have read in a lifetime. I have not seen nearly as many films so I am less apt to recognize a "trope" in film and more apt to think of the film as "good" in the sense of being "innovative" or "not derivative".

I saw it Sunday. It wasn't bad, but since the first was spectacular, I think anything would have been a let down. They obviously spent a lot of money on it. Even though the first was an action film there was more acting involved. The overlong fight scenes in this one didn't further the plot. They could have lopped 45 minutes off of it and it wouldn't have hurt a thing. I felt there were quite a few plot holes that didn't make any sense. I did love the digitally generated girlfriend.

>235 anna_in_pdx: What anna said! ;-)

>231 CliffBurns: Given I thought Arrival wasn't very good, I'm not expecting much of Blade Runner 2049. I'll wait until I can rent it.

Incidentally, not at all impressed by Alien:Covenant: https://iansales.com/2017/10/11/moving-pictures-2017-54/

Ozu and the latest "Alien" flick.

You have weird tastes, Sales...

>238 iansales: I liked Prometheus but thought it could have been better. The introduction of the “engineers” was great and I looked forward to more development of their culture in Covenant, but as you say that doesn’t happen.

I really think the writers/producers were so disgusted with the huge (and largely unwarranted) carping reaction to Prometheus that they said, watch this, we are just going to throw together the finale & cash in.

If you watched the very end of the movie it did tie into the scene/setting for the original Alien. The jerk android David set up the settlers.

>240 DugsBooks: But did it? David is effectively immortal but there's no sign of him in Alien. And the creashed Engineer ship in Alien is on a different world to the one in Alien: Covenant.

International cinema:

"Happiness: (1934) Soviet era film by Alexander Medvedkin. A comedy, Communist style, and quite engaging.
"Lemon Vodka" (2003) Film set in Armenia, poor villagers doing whatever they can to survive. Lovely movie.

Science fiction great Jack Womack tweeted this about the new "Blade Runner' movie (and I concur):

"Having now seen it again, I should say Blade Runner is to BR2049 as Chinatown is to Two Jakes."

I'm coming to the conclusion that "Blade Runner 2049" is a Marmite film - you either love it or hate it. I'm reminded of an old fanzine cartoon: in the first frame, there's a queue outside a cinema that's showing a science fiction film and everyone in the queue has a glum face except for two science fiction fans. In the second frame, everyone coming out of the cinema has smiling faces and they're animatedly discussing it with their friends, except for the two fans who are crestfallen.

Personally, I thought that on the whole it was excellent (especially in comparison to the rest of the Hollywood fare that the cinema was going to be offering up over the next few months).

My bladder forgot it was 2 hours 48 minutes long.

Link to my review here: http://deepwatersreading.wordpress.com/2017/10/20/blade-runner-2049-directed-by-...

Next film I'm looking forward to seeing is the remake of 'Murder on the Orient Express', partly because I had some input to it as a technical advisor on European railways. How much that gets reflected in the credits remains to be seen.

>244 RobertDay:, hey, that's exciting. Hopefully you rate a note in that.

Watched another Denis Villeneuve film tonight, "Enemy".

A doppelgänger story, which always attracts me, but the film (like all of Villeneuve's I've seen to date) is superficially interesting but doesn't bear closer scrutiny. The soundtrack/incidental music was over-dramatic and annoying and the whole film left me with a strong sense of "And...so?"

Only 90 minutes in length but it seemed much longer.

Punched in "The Corporation" tonight, a 2+ hour documentary about, you got it, corporations. Their rise and rise and, well, continuing rise.

Depressing, but informative--hopelessness with a human face.

Available on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHrhqtY2khc

>247 CliffBurns: My son had to watch that for college. He told me all about it - it sounds like it is a really disturbing movie.

In the past 150 years, corporations have gone from the status of marginal enterprises to dictating and controlling economic and political policies.

"Meteoric" doesn't even begin to describe that kind of power curve...

Last night it was "Warning Shadows", a 1923 silent movie. As advertised, the shadows were amazing, the lighting effects impressive.

The movie itself was quite dull and slow-moving but a worthwhile viewing experience.

>247 CliffBurns: I saw this on the big screen at a festival, and came out quite depressed.

On the small screen, on Halloween as it happens, we watched Ed Wood, and then felt compelled to get out Glen or Glenda (which was hilarious in its "atomic age" educational tone) and Plan 9 from Outer Space. Both bizarre and interesting for that alone.

Ben Wheatley's "Kill List" last night--I've seen it before but it's been awhile.

A crime movie with supernatural elements--"In Bruges" meets "Wicker Man".

Off-beat, impressive, gripping.

Not to be missed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqkqF--v1tg

Saw the latest version of Murder on the Orient Express. It was quite the ensemble! Johnny Depp, Judi Dench, Willem DeFoe, Kenneth Branagh (who directed), Daisy Ridley, Michelle Pfeiffer(!) and a few others I may have missed. The cinematography was quite amazing - you can tell they invested a lot of time in each shot. There was...something...about the plot or the writing which kept it out of "one of the best of the year," however. I can't think of anything specific, but at times the dialogue was a little overwrought. But still a nice way to spend a few hours.

Last night, "The Incredible Shrinking Man".

At least the fifth time I've seen it and it still dates well for a 1957 flick.

A very under-rated little film.

>254 CliffBurns: I remember watching that on TV as a 8-9 year old and feeling stressed over the predicament of the protagonist.

Between 9-14 are the PERFECT years to see that film for the first time.

It still impresses...

I thought "Les Blues", on Netflix, was just going to be a documentary on the French soccer team but it turned out to be a little gem about racial tensions in the country as expressed in their national team. Fascinating.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGSwhmxpqOc

"The Hands of Orlac" last night.

Implausible and rather silly German expressionist film, though I did find Conrad Veidt's face mesmerizing throughout.

Allow me to praise to the stars the last Ken Loach film, "I, Daniel Blake".

The movie concerns ordinary people caught up within the nightmarish, dehumanizing machinery of the British social assistance system.

Wondrous, a moving film that creates enormous emotion without saccharine music or clumsy manipulation.

This movie won the big prize at the Cannes Film Festival but, due to its subject matter, earned very little attention from distributors in North America.

A shame, it's a magnificent film.

Highest recommendation.

It did surprisingly well here in the UK Cliff; given that successive governments over here have been (and continue) to practise harsh welfare policies in part because of public support for them I had expected this film to die the death.
Loach's films are not widely distributed, being largely limited to the Art House circuit so to see it turn up at my local multiplex was a welcome surprise.
I echo your comments. The characters in this film are real, not token representatives of the 'poor' and it blazes with anger at the inequality in British society.

Glad to hear it did better on your side of the pond.

EVERYONE should see this film.

This April and the Extraordinary World on Netflix was a nice surprise. It's an alternative world were Napoleon 3rd did not fight Prussia so there are Napoleons until the 20th century. Someone has been kidnapping scientists and there electricity has not been invented, it's all steam. I wish they had spent more time describing that world. Still, I thought it was entertaining.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7JRMJ_BFrc

Watched "Alien: Covenant" tonight.

Boring, uninvolving, cold-blooded, unpleasant.

Describes a lot of Ridley Scott films, doesn't it?

>263 CliffBurns: I was not impressed: https://iansales.com/2017/10/11/moving-pictures-2017-54/

>263 CliffBurns: Waiting until it gets down to £3 on DVD in supermarkets.

Sadly, that seems to be the fate of many films irrespective of whatever merits they may have.

"Trespass Against Us" tonight, a movie about the uneasy relationships within a family of thieves.

Brendan Gleeson is first-rate, as usual, and Michael Fassbender is pretty good too but I found the movie itself only mediocre.

With such on-screen talent, it should have been much, much better.

Classic war film tonight, William Wellman's "Battleground".

Believable, well-executed, worthy of seeking out.

While Sherron is out at a Christmas party, "The Lure", a Polish musical about (I kid you not) predatory mermaids who become a popular girl pop band.

Weird, spooky, unique.

Look it up.

"It Comes At Night" last night.

Indie horror film, set in a post-apocalyptic world, some kind of virus ravaging humankind. A family lives in a remote house in the woods, wary of strangers, heavily armed.

Then, one day...

Ah, no spoilers.

Cool, little film, perhaps not as much pay-off as there could have been but miles beyond its big budget cousins.

Recommended.

"A Special Day" (1977), with the timeless pairing of Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni.

A lonely, over-worked mother of six encounters the man across the courtyard of her building and spends most of the day with him...but initial appearances are deceiving.

Sweet, but not saccharine.

Loren is particularly good.

"Cirkus Columbia", a Bosnian film set on the cusp of the Yugoslav war. Factions taking sides, arming themselves, everyone preparing for the bloodbath to come.

Well-acted, convincing. The film-makers effectively create the atmosphere of a society tearing itself apart.

Recommended.

The Boy and the Beast by Mamoru Hosuda. If Wolf Children was about motherhood, this one was about fatherhood. Very likeable characters and for about 3/4 of the time a brilliant movie. The plot is not well resolved though. The last quarter felt added on from a different movie.

Yojimbo by Kurosawa. Unnecessarily convoluted plot. Many situations are just not credible. Mastery in the craft though.

Last movie of the year was also one of the worst--Walter Hill's "Streets of Fire" (1984).

Dated, annoying badly acted, terrible soundtrack music.

Bad from first frame to last.

Amazingly enough, some people think the film has merit. They're wrong:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jan/12/streets-of-fire-philip-french-class...

Japanese Film Week continues at the Mejix household.

Ikiru by Kurosawa. A kind of Death of Ivan Illych, about a public servant that discovers that he has only few month to live. I found the first half well crafted but heavy handed and kind of condescending. The second half is a mess. It does include one very beautiful song "Life is Brief" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umLtGRl_WE4

Throne of Blood also by Kurosawa. An adaptation of Macbeth in feudal Japan. The complete opposite of Ikiru. Lean and efficient. Everything feels inevitable. Powerful story and powerful, evocative imagery.