Films you've seen recently and would unreservedly recommend:

[nochexxx]

Watched Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia last night. It's a great film, no doubt, but on some viewings it seems to be lacking something. The attempted rape scene is bizarre and not too far from the one in Straw Dogs.

Warren Oates' finest performance, by far.

that rape scene is a real divider, i actually thought it was expertly handled.
rather amusingly, Oates was tripping on mushrooms during the graveyard bit of the film.

Quite a claim. And one that's totally wrong - this is the tip of the Warren Oates iceberg.

seconded.

incidentally, i don't know if anyone on this board can help,, but i really want to watch this film featuring Oates called The White Dawn. it appears to be pretty rare, and supposedly one of Oates's finest films.

 

[IdleRich]

Wow, never heard of that, one to track down for definite.

 

[bandshell]

Does he have a best performance, in your opinion?

 

[nochexxx]

Wow, never heard of that, one to track down for definite.

damn, i was hoping you'd have it.

 

[IdleRich]

"damn, i was hoping you'd have it."

Sorry. I'll get Matt on the case.

"Does he have a best performance, in your opinion?"

Er, I dunno, Two Lane Blacktop maybe?
Sorry, my previous statement was a bit aggressive, I was drunk last night/this morning.

 

[4linehaiku]

I could get it if you want, is an .avi ok?

 

[IdleRich]

Valhalla Rising - not sure I can unreservedly recommend it 'cause it will polarise opinion. The two people I watched it with hated it and in fact one just got bored and walked off. It's best imgined as the result of some twisted coupling of Conan The Barbarian and Agierre Wrath of God but with insane, Scottish vikings. I was expecting an almost bog-standard viking epic but it's much more broodingly slow and downright weird than that - although admittedly it's punctuated by savage moments of extreme violence. The film is almost perverse in that the early action scenes prepare you for more of the same that never really arrives despite the doom-laden music and sinister scenery constantly suggesting that something is about to happen.
The plot concerns a terrifying mute, one-eyed man monster (played by the bad guy froim Casino Royale) who is imprisoned and kept as an invincible fighting machine by some chieftain who wins money betting on him. He escapes (disembowelling his captors on the way) before falling in with some Christians who plan to take back Jerusalem - although there are only about twenty of them. They get in a boat and get a bit lost and end up in America where they are slowly picked off by Ind.. sorry Native Americans while ranting dementedly about building a new Jerusalem there - much like Kinski in Aguirre. There are also some bizarre hallucinatory scenes where, as far as I can tell, one of the Christian viking chaps forces another one face down into the mud and starts bumming him. All this is punctuated by weird flash forwards and red saturated screens and bizarrely meaningless/significant utterings from virtually everyone. It could be a slow, boring, pretentious mess and in a way it is but it has some kind of haunting quality to it that sticks with you.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0862467/usercomments

 

[sufi]

Herzog binge

http://wernerherzogfilms.blogspot.com/
http://documentary-reality.blogspot.com/search/label/Werner Herzog

I found these: http://www.divshare.com/download/13203089-f18
No idea if they're better than the ones you had, but it's only 35kb so worth a go I'd think.
In general opensubtitles.org is a pretty good resource (though I didn't actually get that one above from there).

nice one, i'll check them out, ta 4L!

 

[paolo]

Watched Mirror last night, my first Tarkovsky film. Interesting stuff even though I didn't really understand what the hell was going on. If that makes me a bit of a dumbass then so be it

 

[bandshell]

I was looking for something to watch last night and ended up watching The Spiral Staircase on BBC2. I'm so glad I did. What a film! The atmosphere is incredible, use of lighting etc is spot on. Gonna buy it on DVD as soon as I can.

 

[BSquires]

Valhalla Rising - It could be a slow, boring, pretentious mess and in a way it is but it has some kind of haunting quality to it that sticks with you.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0862467/usercomments

I loved it - but it is not for everyone!

 

[mistersloane]

I loved it - but it is not for everyone!

I don't think I'd watch it again, but after finishing it I was like 'Well, I didn't think they made them like that anymore'.
Made me feel quite gooey inside that films that relentlessly bleak and kinda boring can be made and become relatively mainstream.

 

[michael]

Watched Mirror last night, my first Tarkovsky film. Interesting stuff even though I didn't really understand what the hell was going on. If that makes me a bit of a dumbass then so be it

You're certainly among dumbasses. As I'm sure people said upthread or elsewhere, it's one of his most impenetrable films. Who knows what's going on through most of it?

 

[IdleRich]

"I don't think I'd watch it again, but after finishing it I was like 'Well, I didn't think they made them like that anymore'.
Made me feel quite gooey inside that films that relentlessly bleak and kinda boring can be made and become relatively mainstream."

Agreed, although I think that part of the reason it just about entered the mainstream was the promotional material representing it as Gladiator Goes Viking or something like that.

 

[mistersloane]

Agreed, although I think that part of the reason it just about entered the mainstream was the promotional material representing it as Gladiator Goes Viking or something like that.

It was wonderfully mis-sold, wasn't it? Totally had me fooled.

 

[IdleRich]

"It was wonderfully mis-sold, wasn't it? Totally had me fooled."

Yeah, and, strangest of all, my friend who really likes action films loved it so much that he bought me a copy so I was totally expecting a blood and sword fest.

 

[Bangpuss]

Tell No One

Tell No One (French title Ne le dis a personne) by Guillaume Canet.

Amazing, touching performance from Francois Cuzet, really clever plot, with social and personal issues seen through a lens with an eye for urban beauty and emotion.

The best modern French film I've seen since, ooh, Girl on the Bridge or Piano Teacher.

 

[empty mirror]

^ i liked that very much, too.

i finally got around to Don't Look Now
very good and somehow familiar
chock full of dopplegangerism
and spirals
vertigo inducing, weird, atmospheric and creepy

 

[bandshell]

Cape Fear (1962). Robert Mitchum. Wow. One of the most menacing performances I've ever seen. I'm yet to see the remake.

 

[slim jenkins]

Remake's not bad but typically OTT as I recall. I much prefer the original. Which I can say about most things. Except Mark Stewart's 'Jerusalem', which I prefer to the original.