What have you watched recently? 3D!

Sad Professor · 01-07-2023 6:11pm

I would describe Children of Men as dystopian, which I think is kinda the same thing as pre-apocalyptic as it imagines a world or society in decline, no? But I suppose it could seen as post-apocalyptic too as it's implied the rest of the world has turned to chaos, though that can be an aspect of the dystopian genre too.

It's a very good film, brilliantly directed, but I always thought it ended too soon, as if it had no proper third act. The mystical and metaphoric treatment of the "Human Project" seemed like a literary device that didn't quite work cinematically and should have been fleshed out more.

pixelburp · 02-07-2023 8:20am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120792409#Comment_120792409

Ah it's very much a fuzzy definition but I've been thinking of "pre apocalyptic" as in if the story kept going for another half hour, we'd see society properly collapse. Or that feel that the zombies were just somewhere off screen, lol. And that one take riot in Children of Men felt like the thin end of the wedge, where Britain's facade of civility was finally about to drop, the apocalypse that point where it's all done and dusted.

Re the ending, it was a little unsatisfying - especially after that spectacular and haunting one take riot; absolutely visceral action grinding to a halt because of a baby's cry. But equally, it was one of those endings totally open to interpretation for the respective viewer? The Human Project either being some grand, scientific institute trying to save the world - or just the last few decent people hiding on an island, understanding broad society was fúcked, but wanted the pregnant girl to have a chance at life. Something "the UK" couldn't give her. But then it equally could have been Cuarón going fúck it.

pixelburp · 03-07-2023 1:35pm

Throne of Blood (1957)

A pretty transparent lift of Shakespeare's Macbeth into feudal Japan, wholesale translating plot points and even small incidental details into this world of samurai and codified honour (such as horses suddenly acting manically, foretelling doom) - with the notable exception of the finale, which was interesting.

I'm not sure how the spoiler statute of limitations applies to a 400+ year-old play, one whose entire thrust boiled down to how Regicide Doesn't Pay: but Washizu-Macbeth's death at the hands of his own men, turned into a pin-cushion as dozens of arrows found their target, made for a more thematically appropriate ending than the Surprise C-Section revelation of the original play. It came across more poetic: that having embraced power through such dishonour as to off his own master, Washizu ultimately suffered the same fate. What goes around etc. And having been relatively bloodless until that act, Kurosawa content to withhold violence from his audience, the finale hit doubly hard for its sudden escalation; going double knowing that Toshiro Mifune was genuinely assaulted by a barrage of real arrows, fired by practised bowmen. I suspect the terror on Mifune's face was not a performance.

Beyond the narrative structure & similarities to the "original" text this really was a beautiful, fog smothered picture. Even without the occasional ghastly spirit to haunt Washizu, from the get-go there was an unshakable & palpable sense of doom and calamity seeded throughout. The aptly named Spider's Web Forest only enhanced this sense everyone here was already trapped in a nightmare, an almost intangible landscape or limbo; the war itself always somewhere off in the distance. Toshiro Mifune really dominated the screen with a performance both magnetic and increasingly manic as his wits left him, goaded by a subtler variant of Lady Macbeth - less prone to grandiose speeches of infanticide for one. Mifune just brooded his way through the film, always expressive, almost theatrical in places - but kept it all immediate and never over-cranked.

Something actual adaptations of Shakespeare don't always successfully avoid - ham often being on the menu when it comes to Hollywood stars' ... "interpretations" of characters.

Tony EH · 03-07-2023 2:50pm

Never saw that and I've seen most of Kurosawa's films from 'Rashomon' onwards. But I have to admit, I'm not a big fan. Cinematic heresy, I know. But I find his movies to be drawn out affairs and just not that engaging. Also. coupled with the, shall we say, over sold acting I can get downright irritated at times by them. 'Seven Samurai' being the perfect example. A simple story dragged out to an unnecessarily interminable length to the point where I was just bored the both times I sat down to it.

'Seven Samurai' is often touted as the "greatest samurai movie of all time", but I'd actually give 'Yojimbo' the nod over the previous film every day of the week. And I'd reckon that 'Ran' is possibly his greatest effort over all.

It's ironic, too, that one of Kurosawa's biggest influences was John Ford. Another director who's movies have often left me cold and wondering if I'd seen the same film as everyone else did.

Now both directors are acclaimed for obvious reasons that I don't need to go into here and their impact on cinema shouldn't be understated. But as story tellers, I'd much rather go elsewhere to be honest.

pixelburp · 03-07-2023 3:05pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120799683#Comment_120799683

There were some scenes in Throne of Blood that were drawn out, there's no denying it; one particular moment where NotBeth and NotBanquo were lost in some fog kinda went on a wee bit long; it was a bit drawn out in terms of events happening, but then I did kinda like how it just added to the mood of the whole thing. Most outdoors scenes were totally shrouded in fog (which apparently was a happy coincidence of the location, and wasn't intentional), so it worked on balance for me.

As to the acting: that's kinda been something I noticed with all movies older than a certain point - regardless of country. I keep having to adjust my expectations in terms of how actors performed back then - because certainly you could argue older cinema had a tendency towards theatricality far in excess to what you'll get these days (or at least, post the "method" acting era). And from the few Kurosawa films I've seen now, it appears Japanese film was much more inclined towards Big Performances than their contemporaries in America (but not immune either; Night of the Hunter came only 2 years prior to Throne of Blood, and arguably swung way wilder with its performances).

Tony EH · 03-07-2023 4:16pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120799778#Comment_120799778

For sure, one needs to adjust one's expectations with regards to acting when they look at a movie from any era before the 70's. But I'm not saying that these movies should have naturalistic acting in the style we've become accustomed to. I wouldn't expect that at all. But certainly in Kurosawa's films there is a tendency to go a bit too "Kabuki" here and there.

Mifune is a good example of over doing it in the 'Seven Samurai', although many people consider him to be the "best" Samurai in the movie. He's certainly the most memorable, I'll give him that. But not for reasons that I enjoy. 'Rashomon', too, has instances of truly cringe worthy displays.

As for 'Night of the Hunter', I have always considered that film to be trash, despite the high regard that it's held in and I have never understood why Laughton's film is celebrated in the manner that it is. Ming you, it was roundly savaged by critics and audiences at the time. There are moments in it that are good and Mitchum's performance is sporadically entertaining. But over all, it's a dreadful film. That speech by Lilian Gish at the end is god awful, even for the time. Definitely a film I'd like to see remade at some point, because the basic story would make for a good film.

These are definitely "artistic" choices laid down by the directors in question. But there are examples of much better acting from films of the same period that make me shy away from the "that's the way it was done in those days" kind of excuse that's often trotted out in defence.

flasher0030 · 03-07-2023 4:54pm

Bumblebee (Transformers)

Have only watched the first one of the Transformers movies and now this one. Not much too it It's cute though. A lot of the film is focused on the relationship between the transformer and the young girl. Bit of action for the last half hour or so. Bit it's passable. 7/10

Shimmer Lake

Low budget mystery/thriller. Bit like Memento, but not as complicated. I recommend if you like mystery type movies that get you thinking a bit. 8/10

We're the Millers

Comely with Jennifer Anniston. Bit of fun. Light hearted movie. 6/10

Decuc500 · 03-07-2023 5:31pm

Shoplifters

I’m a big fan of Hirokazu Kore-eda but had somehow missed his Palme D’Or winning film.

It’s about a family living in squalor (in a wonderfully designed little hovel of a house) who steal to make a living. They find a little girl who is being mistreated and ignored by her mother and take her in to live with them, teaching her how to shoplift. It soon becomes apparent that this family of shoplifters and scammers are hiding some nasty secrets.

The first half of the film is excellent. Typical heartwarming Kore-eda stuff. (Is there anybody as good at directing children as Kore-eda?).

But as secrets are gradually revealed the film takes a dark turn and we see the lengths these people would go to to make a (dishonest) living. I felt the bittersweet ending was a little rushed. It was a sad ending that deflated me a bit. I would imagine that the makers of The Quiet Girl were watching.

Overall though, another emotionally involving film from a brilliant Japanese filmmaker.

monkeyactive · 03-07-2023 7:30pm

Return to Seoul

Brave artsy Drama exploring an adopted French woman of Korean descents return to Korea to meet her biological parents.

Nice exploring of French Korean culture clash.

A character study kind of movie.

8.5/10

pixelburp · 05-07-2023 3:33pm

Alien 3 (1992)

Watched the Assembly Cut: an alternative, longer version supposedly more adherent to David Fincher's original vision. Someone here mentioned it a while back and realised I had never taken it in.

Leaving aside what changed for a second, what most certainly hadn't been altered was the overall tone and pulse of this thing. Wow: what an oppressively bleak film it remained; one where a palpable sense of hopelessness had corroded the very bones of the landscape, human structures and the prisoners within it all. This was a mainstream Hollywood blockbuster riddled with entropy - no wonder the original executive, critical & cultural reaction to this was outright rejection. The prior two films were scarcely sunshine and fun but both had much more conventional narrative structures. Ones of professionals dealing with a horrific, insidious crisis they underestimated, with the (arguably superior?) sequel a sometimes boisterous war movie full of great lines and memorable set pieces - even as the horror of the xenomorph kept asserting itself. Yet there was always hope and comfort a few good people would endure.

So along came Alien 3, a film that reached towards its audiences' enkindled sense of hope and snuffed it out with grim efficiency; where its cast couldn't have been more hopeless and powerless in the face of danger - yet also fundamentally detestable. It was one thing to immediately curry ill favour by killing off the three survivors who weren't named Ripley from the prior film - but to replace them with an interchangeable group of prisoners, every one of them a rapist, murderer or some other combination of depravity? Yikes; that sure was a choice. This had the smell like a moment of "wouldn't it be cool if..." from the Writer's Room, without them ever considering if it was a good idea to upend a core tenet of screenwriting. The production of this became something of a legend, chaotic to a degree it nearly made David Fincher abandon his career; so given the apparently constant rewrites that happened I'm amazed nobody ever thought, "hey, maybe not all of these guys need to have been monsters?"

That said, this is one area where the Assembly Cut added improvement: because of the many additions it brought, adding more context and characterisation to the prisoners helped flesh out the story; nothing that revealed hidden depths of empathy - or even remorse for their actions, honestly - but texture and a little humanity, enough as could be expected from their rotten foundation as a camaraderie of condemned men. On the other hand the fact every one of them lolloped around in identical sets of rags, their heads uniformly shaved, was a truly terrible idea. Visually striking for sure but one dirty, bald face with bad teeth looked a lot like the next set. It compared poorly with Aliens where a similar potential problem - interchangeable soldiers in this case - was fixed with decoration and personal flourishes to their uniforms (not to mention, ya know... actual/, separate personalities to win the audience over & make them care).

However, that's to skirt around the meat of this film. Fatalistic as it was, it will forever remain the final chapter - or should have been, if one ignores what came afterwards - of Ellen Ripley's story. A desperately sad last battle for a character who was constantly beset on all sides by monsters within and outside her own species. But it was an ending that thematically made a lot of depressing sense. The "Happy Ending" isn't necessarily inferior by default, as it can be satisfying to watch characters claw & struggle through adversity, then rewarded with peace & happiness at the end of things. But when Bishop promised a "normal life" to Ripley as she doubled-up in pain, standing over the precipice of a raging furnace, it seemed like a hollow promise long rendered impossible. All she had was one specific personal act of defiance left ... in fact, it was arguably the one change in the Assembly Cut perhaps inferior to the theatrical version? Cheesy as it was, the reshoot with the chest-burster erupting as Ripley fell into the lava, her hands around its throat, underpinned that constant defiance. That her literal last moment was an ostensible triumph over Weyland-Yutani - and the alien that followed her like an albatross all those years.

I remain openly curious what Fede Álvarez comes up with his in-production film - not to mention being especially intrigued with Noah Hawley's gestating TV series on FX - but if we are to have more stories in this universe, I think the needs of Corporate Driven IP Management have to take a backseat in favour of something less ... obvious and safe. This is not a safe universe, the adaptations should follow suit. Or at least, the output should be less indulgent towards the audience. Those first 3 Alien movies all brought something completely different to the table, without upending it either; all of it adult, compelling and - at the end - tragic.

steve_r · 06-07-2023 5:50pm

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)

This popped up for me on Mubi, from the director John Cassavetes.

It's a 70's crime film about a nightclub owner who gets caught up in, you guessed it, the killing of a Chinese bookie. There's an introduction to the character (Cosmo), and then an intense sequence for the killing itself, and the fallout and consequence for Cosmo.

I enjoyed the first two acts and was engaged by the story. However the third act takes a strange turn, and a film that was previously quite linear and plot-driven becomes something else. This film had been edited down from a much longer running time, and perhaps with the longer runtime that ending would have made more sense and resonated with me, but unfortunately, I feel it let down the film.

I understand that the film is considered a cult classic, so perhaps I am missing something when it comes to the ending, but honestly, on a standalone viewing, it didn't work for me.

monkeyactive · 07-07-2023 4:39pm

A good person

A drama with Florence Pugh and Morgan Freeman.

From Director of Garden State.

Didn't like this at all. The acting is really hammy, real mawkish sentimentality. Couldn't take it seriously after watching something so well nuanced and as subtle as return to Seoul.

monkeyactive · 07-07-2023 4:47pm

Yes , I could never understand the hate Alien 3 got , but you've explained probably why. I really dug it myself. There is a Facebook group of Alien 3 appreciations, bit of a laugh.

Remember reading about a crazy idea fincher had of the planet being a giant library managed by monks who climb platforms to get at books but was shelved for the prison planet instead.

The Alien universe movies have been such a disappointment since Alien 3 , its a wide open canvas yet no one has not made something unawful since.

steve_r · 08-07-2023 9:54am

The Velvet Underground (2021)

A Todd Haynes documentary on one of the most interesting and influential bands of all time. Very interesting to see the conversation about their influences from the likes of John Cage, Allen Ginsberg etc and how they built that into the music.

steve_r · 08-07-2023 10:02am

Bicycle Thieves (1948)

I'd seen this film on many lists of one of the greats of all time so I was compelled to check it out. The basic story is very simple, a man (Ricci) goes searching for his stolen bike, along with his son, through the streets of Rome. The underlying theme is the impact of poverty on people, and what it leads people to do. The ending has really stuck with me, and I can appreciate what has preserved the legacy of this film.

pixelburp · 08-07-2023 7:19pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120819206#Comment_120819206

It's a deeply flawed film, but it's one with a lot of value and an undeserved reputation - yet with almost zero rewatchability; it was just so unrelentingly grim. If David Fincher ever decided to come back to it, a true Director's Cut could have fascinating potential.

buried · 08-07-2023 8:41pm

Pusher Trilogy Marathon

Pusher (1996) 9/10

Pusher II [With Blood On My Hands] (2004) 10/10

Pusher III [I'm The Angel Of Death] (2005) 9/10

Nicolas Winding Refn's 3 individual, indigenous masterpieces concerning the desperate drug swindling criminal underworld based in the city of Copenhagen. There is no point individually reviewing each piece of work because the whole trilogy is brilliantly intertwined, and deserves to be seen one after the other in order to gain the total full traction of what was created here.

Definitely some of the greatest work that was done in the last 30 years concerning the whole crime genre. Especially the first film. You can literally see the influences this work had on the likes of mainstream US works such as 'The Wire' et al. The grim criminal world is not glorified here whatsoever. The whole set up here in each individual work is a total brutal dog eat dog narrative, that showcases the criminal world at its most realistic - nobody wins and the only people that do, have the cop on to finally realize the total $hithouse they are in and decide to escape it.

Pusher II is probably one of my favourite films of all time, but hard to say why on here unless you've seen the first film. It's just brilliant. Mads Mikkelsen plays the lead character, plays it brilliantly, and I mean brilliantly. Sad to see him where he is today after you watch him in this. He deserved 3 oscars for his performance in this.

If you haven't seen these works, I'd recommend doing so immediately, especially if you are a fan of crime/gangster films in general. Just absolute genius stuff, realistic, harrowing, sickening and also hilarious in parts, but you end up paying for the laughs in the end, just like every character in these things does.

Electric Nitwit · 08-07-2023 10:05pm

Only a short film, but seeing the pressers for Oppenheimer finally reminded me to watch All Of This Unreal Time. Just under half an hour of Cillian Murphy walking through the night monologuing a script by Max Porter (Grief Is The Thing With The Feathers)

It's quiet and restrained, but still quite visceral in places. It's shot beautifully and the soundtrack is perfectly low key for it. I'm not entirely sure I "got" it all, but the flow of the speech is enchanting. And I could watch Cillian Murphy read the phone book

Well worth a watch, it's on Vimeo (and castable if you download the app)

https://vimeo.com/592798309

El Gato De Negocios · 10-07-2023 10:32pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120823408#Comment_120823408

Haven't seen these in years but I bought the dvd set of it back in the day. Umbrella (Australian label) announced less than a week ago that they are releasing a proper blu ray boxset of all three and it was an instant preorder for me, effin brilliant movies and part 2 was my favourite too. Link to the new release below.

https://shop.umbrellaent.com.au/collections/coming-soon/products/pusher-trilogy-collectors-1996-2004-2005

Fysh · 13-07-2023 5:03pm

For no particular reason I had a hankering to rewatch Four Lions, for the first time in ages. I can happily report that it is just as bitingly funny yet pointed as it was at the time, woth some absolutely cracking lines along the way - "They seek him here, they seek him there, but he's not there, he's blowing up your slag sister" and "As I understand it, the right man was shot but the wrong man exploded" being two highlights.

It's strange to think we're in an era where that kind of satire is harder to make because it's too hard to make the exaggeration obviously distinct from some RL figures o_O

steve_r · 15-07-2023 1:01pm

Little Children (2006)

After watching Tar, this one was on my list as a Todd Field film I was keen to watch. It mainly follows the story of Sarah (Kate Winslet) and Brad (Patrick Wilson), who are in separate unhappy marriages in Suburbia, and meet by bringing their kids to the playground. The neighbourhood is also dealing with the return from prison of a sex offender Ronnie (Jackie Earle Haley) and the fear and upset this is causing parents.

Whilst Winslet is excellent (as always), the challenge the film has is that an affair in suburbia isn't exactly a novel idea. We don't spend a lot of time with the respective spouses so there's no real opportunity for us to connect with them or sympathise with them. This has the impact of making them into 2 dimensional characters and lessens the impact of the affair.

Jackie Earle Haley is excellent as the sex offender role and deservingly got an Oscar nod for his performance. Noah Emmerich has a smaller role which I would have loved to have seen a lot of.

I can't help feeling disappointed by this - the potential was there to make a great film but it didn't quite land in the same way that Tar did for me.

monkeyactive · 15-07-2023 9:06pm

Gattaca

Revisited after seeing as a youngster.

I like the core message and I liked it when I first saw it too.

The minimalist style in set and costume actually works for what is a low budget sci - fi.

It hits some nice emotional tones.

It does achieve what I sense it tried to achieve but I don't feel its a "great " film , one that wont get lost in time.

Good though ,

Fysh · 16-07-2023 12:06am

Over the last week and a bit, I've been watching a few of the Nightmare on Elm Street sequels. Aside from the first one which I've seen multiple times and will happily rewatch, I don't remember much of the sequels aside from a couple of specific sequences.

Freddy's Revenge

This is a really odd choice for a sequel - no notable continuity from the previous film or returning cast aside from Englund, but also for about 2/3 of the film it leans a lot more into being a character study of the protagonist. Then, at the start of the third act, it remembers it's supposed to be a slasher so there is a fun but extremely tonally jarring killing spree and a final sequence that is so poorly connected to the straightforward context of the first film that you'd be forgiven for thinking a chatbot wrote it.

I suspect that this could be turned into a legitimatley-pretty-good sequel by a talented fan-editor.

Dream Warriors

Heather Langenkamp returns, but more importantly Kinkaid appears. Kinkaid is clearly the MVP of this film, and the staff at the hospital continue the series theme of medical professionals being absolute bellends towards the young people in their care. Overall this was a legitimately good sequel, feeling like a well-conceived progression from the first film and with some inventive sequences and good performances. It does, however, also introduce the utterly unnecesary and also just plain stupid plot detail around Krueger's conception and birth. Honestly, those scenes should just be excised from the film.

Wes Craven's New Nightmare

The first two acts are a legitimately good meta-horror film with a clever script and a cute conceit (not to mention once again indulging the series fondness for having medical professionals be absolute cockwombles to the protagonists once things start to Go Badly). The redesign of Krueger is good, and helps sell the idea of him as grimmer and more menacing after the frankly-still-disconcerting notion of a slasher horror villain becoming popular with a younger audience. However, the third act goes a bit strange - the score is like something out of a mid-90s action film, and then when you get to the climactic scene Freddy is mostly being terrifying but for some reason then we get that weird Tongue Bit which felt like something out of The Mask.

Overall, though, I'm pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable these were. I think I'll be leaving it a while before going near Dream Child, Dream Master or Freddy's Dead (if I even bother - I'm well aware those films are all cases of diminishing returns...).

JP Liz V1 · 16-07-2023 12:54am

Seriously Red written and starring Krew Boylan, as Red a Dolly Parton impersonator, Australian comedy in the style of Muriel’s Wedding with Rose Byrne and Bobby Cannavale also starring in supporting roles, funny with a likeable lead

Brief_Lives · 16-07-2023 12:46pm

I just rewatched Blade and Blade 2.

2 excellent movies. Still hold up after all this time.

(no, i will not be watching the 3rd)

monkeyactive · 16-07-2023 5:40pm

Rye Lane

BFI Artsy Off the wall Rom com set in London.

Visually vibrant

Nathan Barlyesque.

I enjoyed it even though rom coms are not usually my thing.

silverharp · 16-07-2023 7:14pm

There will Be Blood (2007) starring Daniel Day Lewis. Strange film , it started out well, then kinda dragged.

pixelburp · 19-07-2023 3:01pm

Take Shelter (2011)

The subject of mental illness deployed, not as exploitation for some lurid melodrama, but as a catalyst for an achingly sad story of the panic and disorientation that erupted as one's sense of self slipped away - while those closest were torn by confusion and powerlessness. A quiet and unfussy film, one with a naturalistic palette only broken by dream sequences rendered like moments of abstract reality - in some cases deploying tricks of the horror genre to accentuate the disorientation of Michael Shannon's lead character. All of which contributed to a sense of keeping the drama in check: muted but not deadened so the characters could shine through and not get flooded by over-cranked compositions, or bombastic musical interjections. The script itself never indulged excessive narrative torture of its cast for the sake of some contrived tension. Roger Ebert once commented that cinema was a machine for generating empathy, and you can sort of see that thinking within a story like this; it asked sympathy of us, not shock or repulsion.

Not sure I read the ending the same as how others have, from what I'm reading of the thing; but that's another matter.

steve_r · 23-07-2023 9:39am

Dr Strangelove - 1964

While listening to some podcasts on Oppenheimer, this film came up as the title character is inspired by one of Oppenheimer's colleagues (not the man himself).

For a film that is nearly 60 years old, it still feels sharp and fresh. Peter Sellars plays three characters and shows great range while doing so, and the supporting cast is excellent - George C. Scott as Gen. 'Buck' Turgidson is outrageous and steals a lot of scenes, as does Slim Pickens playing Major Kong. Sterling Hayden as General Jack D. Ripper is also excellent. The film has some iconic lines - 'You can't fight here, this is the war room' as well as some iconic imagery but the whole thing is filled with brilliant character moments.

steve_r · 23-07-2023 9:46am

The Deepest Breath - 2023

This is a new A24 Documentary on Netflix, directed by Laura McGann, about the topic of free divers who are looking to break world records. This is an extremely dangerous activity and the documentary is unflinching in showing us the physical impact of this, with many of the divers losing consciousness and needing lifesaving assistance. This story focuses on two individuals in particular and tells their story.

I thought this was an excellent, if difficult watch. I struggled on a moral level with the concept of free diving itself, as an outsider it seems incredibly difficult and a serious endangerment to life. The divers themselves acknowledge this, and the stakes of the activity are clearly life and death.

What have you watched recently? 3D!

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