Films you've seen recently and would unreservedly recommend:

[IdleRich]

"his affair with a nun who likes to weigh his balls"

Does he say why she liked to do that?

 

[craner]

Kinski's biography is phenomenal.

On the subject, I love this Jack Lemmon anecdote:

Jack Lemmon told me that he was in line at Ace Hardware in Beverly Hills, and the sales clerk kept looking past him. "I may not be the biggest star in the world" he said, "but, jeez, usually when I stand in line, the clerk will notice me. I turned around, and there was Klaus Kinski with an ax."

 

[IdleRich]

Ha ha.

"Does he say why she liked to do that?"

Actually, now I come to think of it, maybe it was to check if he was cheating, or at least committing the sin of Onan.

 

[craner]

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...

It's all about Time Wars, though I notice that the best art from that apocalyptic story was done by Dan Reed.

 

[sufi]

afghan star?

http://www.afghanstardocumentary.com/

sounds great - like reality slumdog
anyone seen it??

i havent but would like to unreservedly recommend on the basis that my old mate made it

 

[crackerjack]

Billion Dollar Brain

Thought this was bobbins last time i saw it, but watched again and now think it's the best of the Harry Palmer movies, largely cos Ken Russell's direction and some of the performances (Ed Begley as a headbanger Christian proto-neocon (preocon?)) are so ove the top that it all unfolds like a weird dream. (There's at least one scene that could make it into the psychedelic movies thread).

Fab ending too, with the madman's plan to start an anti-communist uprising in Latvia foiled by one missile detonating the ice.

And the enduring bromance between Palmer and KGB's Col Block is rather touching, even if he should've given him a ride in his chopper at the end.

 

[IdleRich]

I watched The Third Part of The Night the other day, Zulawski's first full length film I think and a goodie. Basically it's about the Nazi occupation of Poland and our hero's role in the resistance but it's got Zulawski's trademark insanity and intensity (and flying camera) all over it. The protagonist sees his wife and child killed and joins the resistance but in escaping from some soldiers inadvertently causes the capture of a similarly dressed man. He takes up with the innocent man's wife who is the spitting image of his own dead wife and, tormented by guilt, tries to persuade the resistance to help him save the unfortunate victim. But the main image that sticks with you throughout the film is the way that the main character and his resistance buddies manage to raise money and gain the most advantageous papers which are necessary to avoid random arrest. They make their living assisting in medical experiments allowing lice (which harbour the typhoid vaccine) to feed on their bodies and the most desperate take the next step and feed infected lice which seems to have a peculiar effect on their psyche. Seems obvious that you could just as easily have substituted communists for nazis and kept the structure of the film the same but soviet censors don't seem to have clocked on to this and it actually won awards instead of being banned.
The film is completely nuts of course but slightly more restrained than Zulawski's other stuff and in some ways more affecting for this reason (or possibly because it's more personal - based on his father's experience and writings). It's also got an absolutely killer soundtrack of grinding psych guitars and weird groaning noises. Sounds like Morricone at his most inspired and evil.

 

[baboon2004]

Let The Right One In - disappointing, given the brilliant title (actually, the best scene in the film adhered very closely to the implications of the title).

So, on a positive note, The Hunger's really quite good, isn't it?

 

[IdleRich]

"Let The Right One In - disappointing, given the brilliant title (actually, the best scene in the film adhered very closely to the implications of the title)."

Why disappointing? What's the best scene, when she starts bleeding?

 

[luka]

haha craners got a pervert stalker, fantastic news!

 

[craner]

You what?

 

[scottdisco]

he means the Arab Nazi you ticked off with your superior literary abilities.

 

[luka]

arab nazi bust holes in your versache

 

[slim jenkins]

Bresson's 'Pickpocket'. Martin Lasalle is so watchable. Not sure about the 'superman' Nietzchian (?) sub-text. It's similar to Hitchcock's 'Rope' in this sense. But whilst it never really explores the idea of being beyond good and evil the deadpan delivery of minimal dialogue and Bresson's direction make it weirdly compelling.

 

[crackerjack]

Bresson's 'Pickpocket'. Martin Lasalle is so watchable. Not sure about the 'superman' Nietzchian (?) sub-text. It's similar to Hitchcock's 'Rope' in this sense. But whilst it never really explores the idea of being beyond good and evil the deadpan delivery of minimal dialogue and Bresson's direction make it weirdly compelling.

Talking of Rope, saw Compulsion a few days ago. 1959 film loosely based on the same events, it's quite good until the final reel, which is just Orson Welles as their defence lawyer delivering a very boring and unconvincing anti-capital punishment speech.

The explicitly Neitzchian superman guff, and the way their 'superior intellects' and 'brilliant minds' are set against their social ineptitude is really well done.

 

[UFO over easy]

saw a film called Primer yesterday, absolutely baffling but really good. about time travel, was written by an engineer.

just looked it up and saw it was made on a budget of $7,000, amazing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primer_(film)

 

[BareBones]

primer is SO GOOD!! totally messed with my head for weeks afterwards, couldn't stop thinking about it. There's a diagram of all the various timelines somewhere on the net which makes it a bit more lucid, lemme try and find it.

edit:
ah that was easy - http://www.freeweb.hu/neuwanstein/primer_timeline.html

 

[nochexxx]

sleepaway camp 1

whilst watching i honestly thought this horror film wasn't going to get any better, but then it ended with one of the sickest scenes of all time. if you do decide to watch this then AVOID spoilers at all cost.

 

[baboon2004]

sleepaway camp 1

whilst watching i honestly thought this horror film wasn't going to get any better, but then it ended with one of the sickest scenes of all time. if you do decide to watch this then AVOID spoilers at all cost.

YEEEESSSSS!!!!!

Utter genius. My favourite bit (no spoiler) is where some guy goes "He's the 45th kid to get killed this week. Do you think we should call the police?", or something to that hilarious effect.

 

[IdleRich]

"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."

Turns out one of my friends had the book and I read it at the weekend. It is indeed like being shouted at by a maniac but it's mercifully short and doesn't outstay its welcome. It was actually a doctor not a nun who liked to weigh his balls (so that she could be sure that there would be a large amount of spunk when he came obviously) but I appreciate that that is not the most important part of the story.