Films you've seen recently and would unreservedly recommend:

[slim jenkins]

I watched Army of Shadows directed by Melville a couple of days back which is about resistance fighters in France during WW2 - it's really very tense and should definitely appeal to anyone who likes his other films. Hard to say what it is about Melville that means his gangster films are superior gangster films and his war films are superior war films but there's definitely something that makes them seem more cerebral without sacrificing feeling.

I'm currently watching 'Un Flic' but have mixed feelings about Melville. It's hard to detach yourself from the reputation some directors have and view their work objectively. I'm just not sure that he's the 'genius' he's reckoned to be, although 'Le Doulos' is very good, as is 'Le Samouri' - but Belmondo and Delon are so watchable that they seem to add weight to a film simply by their presence. 'Un Flic' has a fantastically atmospheric opening bank robbery (mostly due to the exterior setting), but I wouldn't say the rest of it is the work of a 'master' from what I've seen so far. Haven't seen 'Army Of Shadows'.

Just watched 'Hiroshima Mon Amour' - what a strange film. Again, it's reputation is hard to shake off but it has undoubted passages of brilliance...mixed with what I found to be overly pretentious dialogue in many places.

 

[IdleRich]

I'd like to see Un Flic. There is that ridiculous bank robbery scene in La Cercle Rouge which is a kind of homage to the one in Rififi. I wouldn't say that he's a very top level director but he is always good.
The only Resnais film I've seen is Last Year At Marienbad which I loved but I've got a feeling that that's more down to Robbe-Grillet's screen-play than the director. I re-watched La Belle Captive at the weekend and I liked it just as much as the first time. I really really want to see his other films but I just can't get my hands on them. I bought a dodgy boot of Trans-Europe Express but it's got no subtitles. I wonder if I can persuade a French speaking friend to sit with me and simultaneously translate....

 

[slim jenkins]

Heh-heh...good idea? Would get annoying after a while, though. I'd probably rate 'Rififi' above the Melvilles that I've seen. 'Le Samouri' is supremely stylish and Delon iconic in that role...but for plot, depth, structure...very weak in parts. Not seen 'La Belle Captive' but you've got me interested. I tried 'Last Year'..er...last year, but couldn't get into it.

 

[baboon2004]

Just watched 'Hiroshima Mon Amour' - what a strange film. Again, it's reputation is hard to shake off but it has undoubted passages of brilliance...mixed with what I found to be overly pretentious dialogue in many places.

I didn't find it as pretentious as many films I've watched, but i could have been wowed by the general atmosphere. Well overdue to be watched again.

"Your name is Nevers..."

 

[slim jenkins]

Yes, your name is Nevers...you were never in Hiroshima...and so on...mmm...poetry or...? I shall watch it again soon anyway. No doubt more interesting than 99% of cinema...more visually creative...and visionary.

 

[crackerjack]

Il Divo - best new film I've seen in ages.

And if anyone has any thoughts on why it closes with Da da Da, I'd love to hear them.

 

[Guilhèm de Peitieus]

Tyson: The Movie

 

[Agent]

The Shadow, starring Alec Baldwin. Classic!

 

[craner]

Going to deviate from the thread title slightly, because I can't completely recommend these films, nevertheless:

Quantom of Solace

I don't "do" Bond, the character or mythology or films, I find them shit and stupid and offensive generally (this coming from a hardcore gialli fan!) but this film I enjoyed, as a non-Bond film.

Because I had no idea WHAT was going on. I couldn't even find a plot to not understand. At no point did it make sense. Bolivia figured somehow, and pipelines, and some weird Polanski-esque villian, and 007 was getting out of control for some reason...but, um??

The action sequences were amazing though...they were abstract. Never seen anything like it. I mean, they were too fast and angular and spliced and skewed for the normal human eye to follow. I had no idea WHAT was happening, and I liked it. It was as if the director and cinematographer had imbimbed too much Futurism and Cubism...it was avant garde and sexy, and ultra-kinetic nonsense. I was drunk, of course, and the effect was...stirring.

Transformers the Movie.

Was ok. "One shall stand, one shall fall." No, it was shit, if you were raised, like me, on the Uk transformers comics written by Simon Furman and illustrated by a fleet of amazing bastards like Geoff Senior, only to have your mind blown by the carnage of the original Transformers movie, followed by Furman's Uk imagining (time machines, space rifts, the demented Galvatron, etc.). Then, you're like, watching the 07 movie with a hole in your heart. I got it for my kid brother for his 13th birthday, and watched it with him, and said, "Max, I think you have to see this."

 

[fokse vektaire xeven]

I don't "do" Bond, the character or mythology or films,

that's because you're a puny little cretin with no concept of the meaning of personal fantasy.

Fleming is twenty times the writer & man you could ever hope to be.

I find them shit and stupid and offensive generally (this coming from a hardcore gialli fan!) but this film I enjoyed, as a non-Bond film.

being a gialli fan has absolutely no relevance here at all. the fact you choose to cite such an irrelevancy speaks volumes. it does not give you "counter cultural" critical credibility.

you have no substanstive knowledge of genre film. at a big stretch, you are a beginner.

where were you in the tape trading days?

try thinking a little about the guff you're typing. do us all a fucking favour before you go off at the trousers.

now drop and give me twenty.

 

[fokse vektaire xeven]

and you can't even spell quantum. weren't you hoping to be an English teacher?

 

[craner]

Yikes.

 

[scottdisco]

Il Divo - best new film I've seen in ages.

And if anyone has any thoughts on why it closes with Da da Da, I'd love to hear them.

saw it yday: really liked it.

and, yes, Da da Da, loved it


some good tunes overall in the film, really

 

[droid]

Whilst I'm quite shocked by Fokses vicious attack on Craner, I have to add that I hated Quantum of Solace for all the same reasons Oliver liked it.

Nonetheless:

if you were raised, like me, on the Uk transformers comics written by Simon Furman and illustrated by a fleet of amazing bastards like Geoff Senior

This deserves a hearty round of applause for the mention of Geoff Senior, and, in further homage to Oliver I shall add: I met him once at a comics signing and he seemed like a very nice chap...

 

[droid]

Also - recent viewing:

Hunger - astounding.
The story of Anvil - entertaining and brimming with pathos.
The Baader Meinhof Complex - Finally saw this and found it to be a fairly accurate portrayal (from what I know of the history).
let the Right one in - Brilliant. Reminded me a bit of 'martin' for obvious reasons.
Suspiria 25th edition - special edition documentary which offers some good insights and will make you want to see one of the best horror films ever made yet again...

 

[scottdisco]

Also - recent viewing:

Hunger - astounding.
The story of Anvil - entertaining and brimming with pathos.
The Baader Meinhof Complex - Finally saw this and found it to be a fairly accurate portrayal (from what I know of the history).
let the Right one in - Brilliant. Reminded me a bit of 'martin' for obvious reasons.
Suspiria 25th edition - special edition documentary which offers some good insights and will make you want to see one of the best horror films ever made yet again...

i really want to see all these.

i saw the trailer for let the right one in at Il Divo yday, good stuff

 

[IdleRich]

"let the Right one in - Brilliant. Reminded me a bit of 'martin' for obvious reasons."

I watched this the other day and really liked it. Martin is perhaps the more interesting of the two in the way that it preserves the ambiguity as to whether or not he really is a vampire right up to the end. Let The Right One In has loads of good ideas in it though and I love the way it looks - like all recent Scandinavian films it has those weird washed out colours that really create an otherworldly atmosphere.

 

[scottdisco]

actually to re-up me and Crackerjack on the music in Il Divo, i thought there was very effective usage of Faure's Pavane, and have just made a related Xzibit point elsewhere ('Paparazzi' uses it)

 

[crackerjack]

actually to re-up me and Crackerjack on the music in Il Divo, i thought there was very effective usage of Faure's Pavane, and have just made a related Xzibit point elsewhere ('Paparazzi' uses it)

Damn, I was wondering why it was familiar - kept trying to place which ad it was in.

Yeah, that was beautifully done, made me want to own it, not usually the case with classical music.

 

[STN]

I've read Kinski's biography and it's like sitting in the pub with a loudmouth, though his affair with a nun who likes to weigh his balls does make me laugh every time I think about it.