Oooooh that new Dreamworks movie (Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken) looks right up my alley. I adore plots centered around characters trying to fit in and then finding themselves later on and, as a resident Splatoon nut, I do love me some sea creatures so I'll definitely be trying to watch this when it comes out!
....is what I would say if it wasn't for the fact that it comes out the exact same day as Ghost Trick.
ouch XD
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@jump
Only one of these films has Rutger Hauer in it. Hmm? Hmm!!
You mentioned recently the Godfather being on All4, so have just watched 1 & 2 for the first time since I was a teenager. God they are good. They are certainly not teen films either, my appreciation of them has gone up immeasurably. Pacino is just great, it's almost as if he's playing 2-3 characters as Michael develops and changes over time - really well done. But Brando is incredible - all the cliches that come from his performance are there, but he brings such a depth and nuance to the role that it's just a joy to watch. DeNiro in the second one is good, if only due to him not being himself, and mainly speaking Sicilian and Italian.
Speaking of Pacino being good - it's such a far cry from his recent roles. When he does shout, it's because it's called for. Also, this is what happens to your face when you drink and smoke for your entire life
@Rambler It's one of those films you say to someone it's "good" but then have to clarify to them to say "it is very, very GOOD" because well it is good.
Yeah there's a few of those revered movies you see as a kid like Taxi Driver, Goodfellas and The Godfather which you like but when you grow up they hit you in a completely different way. It's less look at how cool and intense this is to now they are bloody psychos yet as they are so masterfully made you relate to them as people to forgot their naughty shenanigans. I reckon The Joker will be another one in a few years when it switches from incel empowerment to he's nutter why did I ever like him.
Pacino is so good going from the nice kid in the family to ruthless mob boss and the steps inbetween, there's a very underrated scene when he's the casino hotel towards the end where he has a clam hate throughout the entire conversation to the guy for his treatment of his brother. Jebus his recent work is bad though I think the most recent things I saw him in was House Of Gucci and Hunters which is either him not trying or cringe.
Brando is so bloody good, I love how cunning and romantic Vito is but it's his acting which is so commanding even with the mumbled talking that even scenes he is not in are still command by him. It's shocking to think Marlon didn't want to do the film and the studio didn't want him for the part.
There's hundreds of things to like about these films but for me I just love how well pieced together the first two are with everything else a cherry on top so if you put yourself in the character roles you'd have to agree with their actions and causes, if I was Michael I'd probably do the same thing.
Being ill at the weekend sucks but Iāve burned through more movies!
Clerks 3, I dunno thereās something off with this film. At first I thought it was they are all too old to be in rubbish jobs talking about Star Wars still but it feels more amateurish than the first one and desperately relies on shouting out references, cameos and meta (which is getting so boring in general with everyone doing those now) however the conclusion is very well done. Maybe Kevin Smith is working through something (like how Chasing Amy was working through his relationship insecurities, Dogma about his Christian upbringing etc) but didnāt find what he wanted to say whilst making it? Itās a shame as I liked the first Clerks and LOVED the second one.
The Whistleblower, depressing true story about how UN peacekeepers were sex trafficking. Rachel Weisz does a good job keeping the movie ticking over but I found the big conclusion funny since it is lets give evidence to the BBC to get the truth out, oh how the times have changed! Itās always interesting after seeing a movie based on a true story to find out what actually happened and in this case the UN were like āmehā about the whole thing and a lot of people involved had diplomatic immunity so nothing was done, fudging maddening!
Censor, British arty horror about someone whoās job is doing movie rating classifications during the height of the 80s video nasty era and then stuff happens... What works really, really works but itās definitely not for everyone as itās a mood piece rather than a story/series of moments with somethings like the degradation of rubbish VHS tapes is in turn the degradation of logic and mental state would be missed for people who like more spoon fed blockbusters. It looks rather lovely throughout and in so many different ways too.
The Good Nurse, true story about a serial killer in a hospital which is quietly impressive in the way it blends human emotion and police procedural with the odd hints of horror. Post dive into the real events and the movie downplayed how many people were killed and the gaps used so they werenāt stopped as well as (tangent) why America still hasnāt got an universal healthcare system they could regulate and pour money into the same way they do for the army to become a major job employer. Also (another tangent) why are Jessica Chastainās most recognised and award winny movies crass ones like The Help, Tammy Faye and Zero Dark Thirty? Mollys Game, Take Shelter and Miss Sloane are a lot less iffy.
127 Hours, no idea why I havenāt seen this already as it had alot of buzz and Danny Boy Boyle is a director I normally look forward to seeing. Itās a lot more than just THAT SCENE and with all the talk about vomiting and fainting in the cinema I found it oversold as it wasnāt as bad as other things Iāve seen although the sharp chord sounds when he was hitting his nerves was nasty. The soundtrack slaps, heās always been a director with good music picks but this is so varied and naturalistic that it really strengthens the film rather just a good playlist with the Sigur Ros bit in particular being amazing. However the movies claims itās 127 hours yet itās not even 2 hours so I give it 0/10!
Her Smell, powerhouse actor/Scientologist Elizabeth Moss in a film about being in a crazy rock n roll band sounds like something right up my alley and rightfully so as I bloody loved it. Moss runs with this insane character with her energy leading the film and juggles making you disgusted by her and understanding the broken person she is when trying to exorcise herself, the cinematography has a wonderful dirty vibe, the supporting cast are functionally good even Amber Heard and Cara Delevingne who I normally canāt stand, it is also cleverly structured so itās only a few scenes in real time (think the Steve Jobs movie) which is really effective. I do have an issue with the gig scenes as they feel off, lots of tight shots of a crowd of a dozen rather than the full venue but they arenāt often and no movie ever gets the feel of gigs right.
@JadeKitsune You're about to send the thread into a rage by mentioning Turning Red. For as much as people like imaginative films about space wizards, talking kitties and half spider/half men heroes there's a few people who can't imagine a film about a girl being good.
After assassinating the son of a powerful US oil tycoon, the world's best hitman (the titular Golgo 13) finds himself in the crosshairs of the CIA, FBI, & Pentagon.
Narratively it plays things entirely straight, without even the slightest quip to lighten the mood. The action is instead broken up by frequently occurring sex scenes (of which at least one is an on screen rape, so be aware of that). It manages to stay interesting throughout though, as he still chooses to take on other jobs while being tailed, and there are one or two interesting twists & developments.
Animation is a bit of a mixed bag. It generally looks good (and there are a few standout shots, like a psychedelic shot where his speeding car is reflecting the neon lit environment), though it also looks rough in spots, and there's this hilariously bad looking shot where these ancient CG helicopters are after him (there is absolutely no effort to blend it into the art direction, in fact they probably didn't even have the tech to try & do that). At first I thought a character was looking at a computer screen "battle plan" or something (the helicopters were first shown flying through an equally CG cityscape), until I realized it was all supposed to be "real life" (I assume it was a big deal at time of release though, as the Japanese theatrical trailer included in the Blu-Ray put a lot of emphasis on the handful of CG elements, calling it the first "computer anime"). Back to the good though, it absolutely nails the vileness of it's villains (especially an assassin called snake who'll make your skin crawl), and is a bloodthirsty 80's anime film in the best way.
Kunoichi Lady Ninja (Blu-Ray)
Evil feudal lord sends his evil magical henchmen to kill a bunch of nuns, the survivors are actually a bunch of ninja, and with the help of historical samurai Jyubei Yagyu they seek out their revenge. In all honesty I found it hard to follow (and hard to care about following) the more specific narrative threads though.
Very much a low budget b-movie through and through, with laughibly bad special effects & cheesy costuming, and while this isn't inherently a bad thing (sprinkler system blood sprays being a good time & who wouldn't love the "Nipple Shockwave", an actual attack), here things often times seem very hard to follow. This isn't at all helped by the fact that while it's billed as being presented in 1080p, it seems like they tried to directly upscale it from a freakin' VHS and it often just doesn't look good on a large modern HD TV (I normally wouldn't blame the movie itself for resolution woes, but there is a note at the start of the film, as well as on the back of the box, that says "due to limitations of the original source this is the best upscale available", which I assume means it was filmed on tape originally and thus can't be any better than this, making it an inherent part of watching it).
Robot Carnival (4K UHD Blu-Ray)
Anthology film of robotic themed animations.
Like any anthology project there are one or two weak link segments (I'd say "Deprive" fits that bill here), but even those I'd say are still enjoyable. Otherwise it's absolutely fantastic, with vibes that range from fun & wonderous ("Star Light Angel", "the Mechanized Culture of the Meiji Era: Western Invasion") to the artful & deep ("the Cloud" & "Presence", the latter of which is absolutely stunning in terms of animation quality which is high praise indeed given the high bar the whole project in general achieves).
Really something you have to see for yourself.
Zeiram (Blu-Ray)
After watching the anime and then hearing that this live action adaptation centers around two electricians from real world Tokyo who go into a "virtual world where they meet Iria fighting Zeiram" I was convinced it was going to suck (like the world of the anime only exists as a video game or some such nonsense).
However the setup actually makes a lot more sense in practice. The world(s) of the anime is real, it's just that the "humans" from the anime (like Iria) aren't actually from Earth, and are in fact aliens themselves. With reports that Zeiram is headed to Earth, Iria arrives in advance and sets up a trap (a pocket dimension containing an exact copy of the area of Tokyo it's going to land in, sans populace, that way she can battle it uninhibited). Of course, her abandoned warehouse hideout is using up more electricity than it normally would thanks to all her high tech gizmos, and in checking out the discrepancy, the two electricians (Kamiya & Teppei?) accidentally follow her into the pocket dimension battle zone.
The movie itself is very fun too. There are a handful of wonky special effects, but by and large Zeiram itself is a wonder of practical effects making, believably recreating many of it's anime abilities (such as the creepy snake like tiny face that extends from the top of it's head), and exhibiting a number of effective transformations that'll completely gross you out. All in all it's a great sci-fi themed horror flick as our protagonists struggle to survive against a nearly indestructible monster.
Earth Girls Are Easy (Blu-Ray)
I see Jim Carrey & Jeff Goldblum (+ Damon Wayans) starring in an alien comedy I've never heard of before, so I decided to give it a chance. The general premise is that the trio of horny aliens crash lands in recently heartbroken Valerie's (Geena Davis) pool while watching her sunbathe from space, and she tries to teach them about life on Earth (and love, once Goldblum's character gets a hot human makeover) while they wait to repair their ship.
It perhaps spends a bit too much time at the start setting up that Valerie's doctor fiance is a bit of a horse's rear, but the entire segment detailing the trio's crash landing & exploring Valerie's home learning the basics of life on Earth is absolutely hilarious (also the wet bikini top she's wearing the entire time that clearly doesn't cover anything is a plus). Once they take on their more human appearances and it becomes a quirky romcom between Davis & Goldblum it doesn't hit those highs again, but it has it's moments.
Also a musical in spots. These segments can be fun, but aren't always relevant to the core plot (like the random song about how great it is to be a blonde, when they go to the beach).
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I've been finding the war between The Rock and Warner Bros funny so I gave Black Adam a watch, it's very meh.
Whatās really annoying about it is it feels like they wanted to make a different film about a history of oppression, slavery and wanting retribution but getting lost in a rage (which sounds interesting) however it was not allowed as itās a kids movie so it was put on the back burner in favour of a thrust of you can't be a hero and kill people which seems silly since they all kill people anyway. Batman shoots people with guns despite in concept he hates guns due to taking away his family, Green Arrow on the CW teen show is a serial killer with his own to kill list, Venom eats people plus Captain America, Iron Man, Superman etc doing all of this killing malarkey too.
The Justice Society was a massive waste since they main purpose is try to kill Black Adam before he kills as killing is wrong only to then tell him maybe itās okay to kill at the end. They are a bigger property than Shazamās bad guy even if heās played by The Rock.
I think ranking things is a bit teenage boy, but it's nice to have a little reminder of his output.
He definitely has a set of "lesser" films against a series of utterly astonishing, visceral, attacks on complacency and society.
Benny's Video was the first one I saw of his, and while it does have its longueurs, it's genuinely unsettling and graphic. Plus it introduces the devil in acting form, Arno Frisch, who seems to have disappeared.
The Piano Teacher came out at the time of all those French sex and violence fun times, so much so it induced laughter at the screening I went to, with all its self mutilation, violence and male toxicity. The source novel - Die Klavierspielerin - is even more extreme and graphic. Would be interesting to see a film version of Jelinek's Lust.
The top half of the list are all superb (as is Code Unknown), and even 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance is a very good watch.
It's a pity that his last film - Happy End - felt a bit rote to me, but it's still great watch, just not as compelling as his others.
He's had both Juliette Binoche and Isabelle Huppert in his films, and is possibly the only director with Naked City on a soundtrack.
@Rambler I misread that and thought Michael Haneke had died then but on the plus side I'm relieved to find out he's alive still instead!
I dunno, I kinda like lists as a way to kick start conversation and debates. It's better when it's a top ten (or whatever) but not ranked so it shows quality without making them compete.
I'm gonna say Amore is my favourite from the bunch but I'm a poser and have seen less than half of them. I saw it last month as part of a double bill on Valentine's Day with Gone Girl, if those two movies don't put someone in the mood for loving I don't know what will!
@jump
Good point about it initiating debate, although, I agree, an unranked "best of" would be better. I just find the idea of something being cardinally "better" than something else reduces any debate to shallow shouting.
I've seen them all, and own most (not Amour and Happy End) - except the US remake which is superfluous.
Amour is a tremendous film, but it is upsetting in a way his other films aren't - it's not a clinical exercise in attacking the audience or a critique of the emptiness or passivity of the middle class.
I would go with suggesting The White Ribbon or Hidden as a good starting point for his stuff for someone as they are thematically similar and are not visceral. Although there is that scene in Hidden which makes the audience scream - I enjoyed that immensely the second time I saw it at the cinema
[This is a fancy way of saying that I think these two are probably his best films!]
Funny Games is such a blast though! An other half said they learned some German from that film - please make it stop; I've no idea; not the child - as those phrases are repeated over and over.
Fun things: most of his main male characters are called Georg/Georges and his female main characters Ann/Anne. The plot of Amour is told as an anecdote by a character in Happy End
@Rambler I've seen Amore, Hidden, Funny Games and The Piano Teacher. I remember watching The Piano Teacher thinking it was a different film so I was expecting someone to be a Nazi in it, I think I had blended in my head The Reader, The Pianist and The Piano Teacher to make something else.
The White Ribbon has been on my to watch list for awhile so this may kick me into actually watching it.
I have had a similar experience of learning to speak different languages through the power of film and tv. Despite myself being a mix of different nationalities and have several family members fluent in various languages I'm terrible at picking up the lingo apart from Klingon through watching too much Star Trek which is a sad statement of being more interest in made up silliness than actual culture outside in the real world.
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