Films you've seen recently and would unreservedly recommend:

[tox]

That's going a bit far. Not a patch on Dead Man's Shoes, granted, and possibly the subject of too much hype, but still money well spent I thought.

Agree about Red Road though.

Red Road was wicked. There's a fair bit about it on the forum already which you could prob find through a search...

I quite "enjoyed" This is England. There seems to be a fair bit of discourse around Skinhead culture at the moment, which is interesting to me as a kid of the '90s. I've kinda taken it for granted that Skins were associated with the NF etc, but it seems more and more that Skinhead was the late 70s/80s equivalent of today's Hoodie, ie. misunderstood. From that perspective This is England was quite an insight for me. As is often the case, perhaps for people with more knowledge of the time and culture it fell short...

 

[DigitalDjigit]

as an aside, why is film so rubbish at constantly inventing new genre-names compared to music?

Because for any succesful sound in music you will have twenty immitators within a month. In film you will probably get about three in a the span of a couple years. Also, films are necessarily broader (being a couple hours long) so not as easy to group by similarity.

 

[run_time]

Days of Glory/Indigenes and Battle of Algiers

I saw Days of Glory recently and it presented a valuable look at some of the people (in this case the North Africans fighting for the French) who got unfairly treated during the course of WWII. The Battle of Algiers made an interesting follow on given that it deals again with the relationship with the French and the North Africans and is one piece of classic cinema (is over 40 years old now) that definitely stands the test of time imho

 

[craner]

Bruno Mattei, r.i.p

 

[Guybrush]

Hey, whatever happened to this thread! As one of my summer projects has been trying to shape up my film karma by way of watching a film a day, I guess this is as good a time as any to kick things off again. Some of the classics that I have had the displeasure to sit through leave me cold (recent offenders: Pink Flamingos, Contempt and I Am Curious [Yellow]), but then you hit pay dirt with gems like ...

God’s Angry Man (Werner Herzog, 1980)

... which is interesting on so many levels. It’s a period piece, an interesting on-the-spot account of how the underbelly of American local TV might have looked like nearly 30 years ago, but it’s also a portrait of a brilliant, crackbrained, man who comes off as equal doses repulsive and endearing. The music is very touching, too, and this comes from a writer — monsieur moi! — who normally has a rather strained relationship with gospel.

 

[barry_abs]

What did you all make of Casino Royale?

i watched it, almost out of duty to all that had recommended it.. held no expectations of having a great time, but i did!

 

[Noah Baby Food]

Tenement by Roberta Findlay:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090145/

Nasty 80s exploitation by the woman who directed the notorious Snuff (and shitloads of pron). Like a cross between Class Of 1984 (also superb) and The Hills Have Eyes. Proper old-skool rap theme song by Kool Krew, and wild jazz-rock for incidental music.

The Barbarians by Ruggero Deodato:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092615/

Without a doubt, one of the most enjoyable films I've ever seen. Laughed all the way through it. Much lighter in tone than the director's best known work, Cannibal Holocaust, or his hard-boiled 1970s polizei thrillers. Cheap and ridiculous knock-off of Conan et al, starring two identical twin bodybuilder brothers, some sassy broads and some cool monsters. And Michael Berryman.

 

[barry_abs]

The Barbarians by Ruggero Deodato:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092615/

Without a doubt, one of the most enjoyable films I've ever seen. Laughed all the way through it. Much lighter in tone than the director's best known work, Cannibal Holocaust, or his hard-boiled 1970s polizei thrillers. Cheap and ridiculous knock-off of Conan et al, starring two identical twin bodybuilder brothers, some sassy broads and some cool monsters. And Michael Berryman.

that sounds rad! wait till you see Sweet Movie - that's fuckin hilarious in parts too.. particularly liked the playful pissing scenes!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072235/

 

[tox]

The Simpsons Movie, best blockbuster flick I've seen so far this summer.

Ghibli's Tales from Earthsea was pretty crap, bar the lovely background artwork, with a terrible translation and dub. To be honest I doubt the translation was the only problem with the storyline, as it seemed very confused and ill-conceived.

 

[D84]

Inland Empire is every bit as good as people say it is.

 

[IdleRich]

Watched Django and Rififi at the weekend. Two films I guess you've all seen but I enjoyed them both all the same, especially Django. Just in case anyone doesn't know it's the iconic cowboy one where the cool bloke with the black hat drags a coffin behind him everywhere. Loads of cowboy cliches done really well and some brilliant scenes but also has a more grimey look and feel than most other westerns thanks to the knackered old set being half buried in mud, really makes you experience the dirt.
Rififi is a (the?) classic heist movie with an incredibly long and tense robbery scene played out in real time and silence as the gangsters drill their way in to the bank. The film is maybe a bit long and shares with Django a dubious attitude regarding violence towards women but well worth seeing anyway.

 

[sufi]

I saw Days of Glory recently and it presented a valuable look at some of the people (in this case the North Africans fighting for the French) who got unfairly treated during the course of WWII. The Battle of Algiers made an interesting follow on given that it deals again with the relationship with the French and the North Africans and is one piece of classic cinema (is over 40 years old now) that definitely stands the test of time imho

saw battle of algiers recently having wanted to for ages, fully lived up to expectations - who directed days of glory then?

recommendation:

yacoubian building - blockbuster starring 2 big stars adel imam & noor sharif, also fulfilled expectations from the novel, mingling soap operettas of lowlife cairo

 

[Electric Angel]

INLAND EMPIRE by David Lynch, it's not my favourite of his works but it's very much in the vain of my favourite movie, Mulholland Drive and is still very enjoyable.

 

[Andy]

Snow cake

Quite a startling performance from Sigourney Weaver as the autistic mother of a young girl who picks up troubled Alan Rickman in a roadside diner. Decidedly unmawkish, it has a proper "oh FUCK" moment that I've not had from a film in a long time.

 

[IdleRich]

I watched a couple of bits of classic British horror last week. Firstly 10 Rillington Place with Richard Attenborough as an incredibly creepy serial killer and John Hurt as the naive fall guy. This is based on a true story and really is pretty nasty in a low key, grimey kind of way - it gets that feeling of low-grade evil across extremely well. One of those films that makes you want to have a bath afterwards.


Also Twisted Nerve with a young Haley Mills, again very creepy as this weird guy becomes infatuated with her and insinuates his way in to her family by pretending to be simple to the extent that he behaves like a child. Presumably Tarantino is a fan of this film (as well as Andy Votel) because he nicked the music for Kill Bill.


Anyway, that's well worth seeing as well. Comes with a weird disclaimer at the start about how "mongolism" doesn't really make you violent.
I also watched Millers Crossing which is a complex plotted gangster film with loads of scheming and double-crossing, all a bit too neat for me though. Same with Saw which I watched yesterday, good start for building tension but they sacrifice that by giving so much back story and too much silliness.

 

[crackerjack]

I watched a couple of bits of classic British horror last week. Firstly 10 Rillington Place with Richard Attenborough as an incredibly creepy serial killer and John Hurt as the naive fall guy. This is based on a true story and really is pretty nasty in a low key, grimey kind of way - it gets that feeling of low-grade evil across extremely well. One of those films that makes you want to have a bath afterwards.

Hard to credit for those of us who grew up with Lord Attenborough of Gandhi, but he's incredibly good at playing creepy villains. Saw Brighton Rock for the first time in ages recently and he is brilliant as Pinky.

Broke my Almodovar cherry last night with Volver and loved it. God knows how it took so long, but now I want more. What should I watch next?

 

[adruu]

Documentary : Cocaine Cowboys (about Drug Dealer Life in 80's South Florida)

10 Minutes Later : The Wim Wenders and Spike Lee shorts are amazing. Everything else, including the Jarmusch and Kaurisimaki ones are lacklustre.

I've watched a lot of underwhelming stuff in the past few months : The follow up to Dogville, Running with Scissors, Girl from Saturday, Valley Girl(80s), Blind Date(80s), Quick Change(80s).

 

[IdleRich]

"Hard to credit for those of us who grew up with Lord Attenborough of Gandhi, but he's incredibly good at playing creepy villains. Saw Brighton Rock for the first time in ages recently and he is brilliant as Pinky."

What do you reckon to the ending of that? Is it a cop-out compared to the book? I think so although someone I know argued quite convincingly otherwise.

"Broke my Almodovar cherry last night with Volver and loved it. God knows how it took so long, but now I want more. What should I watch next?"

I dunno, all of them, I can't think of any director who is so consistently entertaining as Almodovar. Even his rubbish films are great. In fact, the one I liked the least was probably Volver so if your taste is similar to mine you have a lot of treats in store. If you like seriousish stuff go for All About My Mother, if you like pure idiocy and comedy rape scenes go for Kika.

 

[crackerjack]

What do you reckon to the ending of that? Is it a cop-out compared to the book? I think so although someone I know argued quite convincingly otherwise.

You're gonna have to refresh my memory on that. Brighton Rock was the first book I ever read through to the end in English Lit class and that was more than a while ago.

If you like seriousish stuff go for All About My Mother, if you like pure idiocy and comedy rape scenes go for Kika.

Kika it is then.

 

[IdleRich]

"You're gonna have to refresh my memory on that. Brighton Rock was the first book I ever read through to the end in English Lit class and that was more than a while ago."

Well, if I remember correctly, in both the film and the book he makes a record for his wife before he dies. Safe in the knowledge that she has nothing to play the record on he tells the truth about how he never really loved her and married her to prevent her giving evidence against him. In the book when he dies she remembers the record and sets off to play it, presumably discovering the terrible truth. In the film however she plays it but it jumps and sticks on the bit when he says "you want me to say I love you" and keeps saying "I love you" leaving her happy.