Films you've seen recently and would unreservedly recommend:

[IdleRich]

"before i forget thanks to the person who recommended sergio corbuchi's 'the great silence'. awesome film and very nice to see kinski in a spag western."

Yeah, that's good, I watched another decent western yesterday called Keoma. It's the same kind of thing as "Silence" with a similarly bleak end (though not as bleak) although it is a bit stranger. It's somewhere between Django Kill and Silence I'd say (and it stars the orignial Django, Franco Nero, as Keoma). The shootout scene at the end where there are no sounds from the protagonists or their guns which are muted in favour of increasingly agonised screams of a woman in labour (she dies) is quite poweful.
The music is a bit marmite I'd say (I think that the male voice which joins in later in the film is actualy Nero).


Some info and reviews and stuff here

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074740/

 

[craner]

Franco broke his hand punching a horse in Keoma which is why he's all bandaged up in Hitch-hike, which is the film he went onto next.

 

[IdleRich]

Excellent bit of trivia.
What did you think to the music in Keoma?

 

[josef k.]

""before i forget thanks to the person who recommended sergio corbuchi's 'the great silence'. awesome film and very nice to see kinski in a spag western.""

Kinski is also a random goon in "For a Few Dollars More"

 

[crackerjack]

the wire is pretty fucking hammy and its about time more people pointed this out.

Coming from someone who claims to think The Shield is better, this is quite some upside down inside out world you're liviing in.

 

[craner]

What did you think to the music in Keoma?

Ugh. Horrible. I don't like the film all that much, I must say.

 

[craner]

Great Silence, by contrast, is untouchable. Gratifyingly, more and more people know this.

 

[IdleRich]

"Ugh. Horrible."

That seems to be the consensus of opinion. I thought it had a certain rudimentary charm and, much as I love Morricone and his ilk, I thought it made a nice change.

"I don't like the film all that much, I must say."

It started slowly but I liked the way that the number of weird touches slowly grew as the film went on. For some reason, one review I saw said that it was a remake of The Seventh Seal which is surely complete bollocks.

 

[nochexxx]

the music in 'the great silence' was tremendous. my kingdom for a copy on vinyl, i'm guessing this is near impossible to find?

 

[craner]

It's impossible to find on CD, nevermind vinyl. But, yes, a stunning soundtrack.

 

[craner]

That seems to be the consensus of opinion. I thought it had a certain rudimentary charm and, much as I love Morricone and his ilk, I thought it made a nice change.

The soundtrack to Sergio Martino's Man Called Blade is a bit like a parody of Keoma. It's ugly, very silly, quite funny really.

 

[nochexxx]

babylon


La constellation Jodorowsky

nuff said.

 

[mistersloane]

The new Star Trek film is really, really good, and I don't care. I'm not a Trekkie neither.
They do this weird acting and lighting technique where the characters start out not looking like the original cast, but by the end they are almost replicas, almost as if the concept of the film and its execution marry each other. It's really quite a strange thing, I've not seen it - or experienced it - before.

The sound design is a dream come true too. No-one is more surprised than myself that I'm writing this.

 

[Mr. Tea]

The guy who plays Kirk seems to think he's in an anime film - judging from the poster, at least:

 

[nochexxx]

not sure if this is a film i'd unreservedly recommend but

'the last house on dead end street'

is certainly worth seeing.

a low budget horror film, which tackles the dark subject matter of snuff movie making. it becomes apparent whilst i watched the film that all the actors are appropriately morose due to either being wasted or coming down off drugs.

i googled the film afterwards and came across this quote from wikipedia!

"watkins has said he was high on amphetamines while making the film. he also said only about $800 was spent making the film, while the remaining $3,000 budgeted was used to buy drugs "

 

[crackerjack]

Forgetting Sarah Marshall - best by far of the Apatow school I've seen.

Russell Brand as self-centred rock star is actually very good, in a watch-me-play-myself kinda way.

 

[wonk_vitesse]

Synecdoche, New York

Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman as Auteur) A brave and troubling film which surely shouldn't be missed this year.

 

[baboon2004]

Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman as Auteur) A brave and troubling film which surely shouldn't be missed this year.

Yes, indeed. Sort of. Well, if you've seen his other films, you could afford to miss it. Very funny for an hour or so, then lapses. Inconsequential, ultimately.

And can Philip Seymour Hoffman please try and play another role besides the one he's been playing since Happiness?!?

 

[tox]

Yes, indeed. Sort of. Well, if you've seen his other films, you could afford to miss it. Very funny for an hour or so, then lapses. Inconsequential, ultimately.

And can Philip Seymour Hoffman please try and play another role besides the one he's been playing since Happiness?!?

Disagree. There are clearly some themes that run through his movies, but that doesn't make Synecdoche any less worthy of a watch. I'd certainly pity someone missing out on it on that basis that they've seen Human Nature! I actually thought the film did a good job of describing a particular strain of navel-gazing ennui which appears easily caught these days.

Been a busy week of film watching for me. Saw Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room in "preparation" for a Financial Law exam. A very informative documentary and enlightening with regard to attitudes contributing to the current financial crisis. Having studied some of the law behind this stuff it doesn't seem that we've made that much progress in corporate governance or enforcement even post Sarbanes-Oxley.

The new Star Trek film is really, really good, and I don't care. I'm not a Trekkie neither.

Can't say I particularly enjoyed Star Trek. I have next to no knowledge of the franchise, having only seen Insurrection. There was plenty of action but the story was not only thin but ridiculous at some points. Something particularly important for me in Sci-Fi/Fantasy is some form of consistency to make the world believable, and this had none of it. Felt like it was about 3 hours long as well. ZZzzzz.

 

[nochexxx]

i watched walkabout, great film!

i must bow down to mr roeg, his direction seems so unique to me, each shot has his personality stamped all over. it feels like you’ve swapped eyes with his for a few hours.

whilst watching the film i fell a sleep and dreamt i was deep in the australian outback observing a four legged beast, whose head was that of donald sutherland. i’ve obviously tied the two roeg films i’ve recently seen together, possibly because of baboon2004's mention of a double billing.