Films you've seen recently and would unreservedly recommend:

IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
"I watched Wall E last night and it rocked unbelievably. Massively recommended. The robot character is so appealing - they manage to get this real loneliness and emotional dislocation into him. Especially the first 20 minutes when he's all on his own pottering about. The second half of the film is more standard pixar, some class gags though."
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That's just the kind of fascist propaganda I've grown accustomed to from you GFC

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/01/right-wing-hates-wall-e/
 
S

soundslike1981

Well-known member
Gabba Flamenco Crossover said:
I watched Wall E last night and it rocked unbelievably. Massively recommended. The robot character is so appealing - they manage to get this real loneliness and emotional dislocation into him. Especially the first 20 minutes when he's all on his own pottering about. The second half of the film is more standard pixar, some class gags though.

wall-e.jpg


And then after that we watched THX1138, which I saw once ages ago but good to see it again. Love the way it's druggy as fuck, real acid paranoia film. Lots of it is just audio montages of meaningless technobabble. Ace.
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So odd--I tried (in vain) to get my ladyfriend to watch 'THX 1138' immediately after we saw 'Wall-E,' too. Didn't really have a particular connection in mind, other than the general dystopian/utopian elements, and the high-calibre sound design.

Disney, Pixar, I don't care--'Wall-E' was great, and the first half really was the closest we'll ever see to a new Chaplin film right down to the 'City Lights'-esque maudlin sweetness, so I was smitten.
 
W

wonk_vitesse

radio eros
Come and See

Having been waiting for this Russian war film to be screened in London but in the end found it on DVD. It's big cinema so was a shame to watch on the small screen but it's a real tour de force. The subject matter is pretty harrowing but the use of steady cam and sound is extraordinary, you really feel your there in the Belarus forest fleeing the Germans.

Come & See (1985)
 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
I watched the stop-motion animated short The Mascot yesterday (it came attached to a semi-silent film called Vampyr which was also good) and it was incredible. The animation, by Wladyslaw Starewicz seemed to be miles ahead of anything equivalent I've seen (although admittedly I haven't seen many other puppetry things). Although this was made in about 1930, as far as I can tell it far surpasses the work of Svankmajer in terms of the intricacy of the motion - the expressions that are given to a toy dog are incredible - and also in terms of the atmosphere and excitement that result.
The story concerns a toy dog that comes to life while his young owner is dreaming about being refused an orange by her penurious mother - he sets out on a quest to get an orange and finds himself first in the street dodging cars and people and then in a bizarre urban underworld where a character who appears to be the devil is surrounded by dancing scarecrows, skeletal flying fish from out of the bins and all kinds of grotesques. It's playful and disturbing and just fucking brilliant.
Presumably it influenced Tim Burton, Toy Story and a million other animated films but I had never heard of it before yesterday.
Some stuf about Starewicz here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wladyslaw_Starewicz

I like this bit "...Of these, The Beautiful Leukanida, a fairy tale for beetles, earned international acclaim (one British reviewer was tricked into thinking the stars were live trained insects)".
 
C

crackerjack

Well-known member
wonk_vitesse said:
Having been waiting for this Russian war film to be screened in London but in the end found it on DVD. It's big cinema so was a shame to watch on the small screen but it's a real tour de force. The subject matter is pretty harrowing but the use of steady cam and sound is extraordinary, you really feel your there in the Belarus forest fleeing the Germans.

Come & See (1985)
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Saw this on DVD a few years ago and it's absoultely immense. The barn scene is the most chilling thing I've ever watched and the way the kid's face seems to age decades in the space of a few days is just ridiculously powerful.
 
B

BSquires

Well-known member
crackerjack said:
Saw this on DVD a few years ago and it's absoultely immense. The barn scene is the most chilling thing I've ever watched and the way the kid's face seems to age decades in the space of a few days is just ridiculously powerful.
Come & See (1985)
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Great film. On a similarly bleak Russian WWII theme I'd recommend this:

http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0075404/

Soon to be released by Criterion as well:

http://www.criterion.com/asp/boxed_set.asp?id=2001100

It isn't as graphic but it is still pretty grim...
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
I saw Spirited Away last night. God, how lovely is this film? Absolutely enchanting fantasy about a young girl who gets sucked in to this bizarre world of gods, spirits and strange creatures, with shades of Alice In Wonderland and The Labyrinth and an almost Roald Dahl-esque eye for the grotesque and humorous. Beautifully animated, too, and dark and weird enough to avoid coming across as saccharine. Fantastic stuff, in both senses.
 
vimothy

vimothy

yurp
I dunno, I can't enjoy stuff like that. Watching Spirited Away felt not unlike watching someone else playing Final Fantasy.
 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
"Anyone got a spare soul they can lend Vimothy?"
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That's what capitalism does to you I guess.
Actually, if I can say so without sitting on the fence too much, I'm actually sympathetic to both viewpoints on that film. It's got something - much more than many animé films which can often drive me mad - but there are moments when it the drawing style and the constant gasps of wonderment begin to grate.
 
P

Pestario

tell your friends
I first watched Spirited Away during a massive comedown after bender of a weekend. The movie didn't go well with my brain chemistry at the time and I resented the movie because of it. I watched it again over a year later with fresh eyes/seratonin and enjoyed it but Studio Ghibli's other films capture the magic in more subtle and enchanting ways. I recommend Porco Rosso, Castle in the Sky or My Neighbour Totoro.
 
vimothy

vimothy

yurp
Gahh, Spirited Away = an extended RPG with better graphics. You want a plot and character development? Have some talking wolves and a bag of magick beans instead.
 
M

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
Rome, Open City and Germany, Year Zero by Rossellini. Can't get hold of Paisa at the mmoment but will see that as well, both ROC and GYZ are just totally brilliant.
 
R

ripley

Well-known member
wonk_vitesse said:
Having been waiting for this Russian war film to be screened in London but in the end found it on DVD. It's big cinema so was a shame to watch on the small screen but it's a real tour de force. The subject matter is pretty harrowing but the use of steady cam and sound is extraordinary, you really feel your there in the Belarus forest fleeing the Germans.

Come & See (1985)
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Oh my god my mom and I went to see that when it came out in the US, I think. I was only 13 or 14

it fucking destroyed me.

I'm sure she had no idea how rough it was going to be, but somehow we couldn't leave, it was so intense.
 
fokse vektaire xeven

fokse vektaire xeven

Arab Nazi
Mickey One (Arthur Penn, 1965)

Jazzy, expressionistic experimental quasi-noir starring Warren Beatty as a paranoiac comic who may or may not owe a faustian debt to shadowy mafiosi. Unfolds with dreamy, oppressive illogic, recalling latterday Lynch as much as Boorman's narrative sleight of hand in Point Blank. Genuine cult status, one of the major US films of its period

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059447/
 
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