Film Discussion / Now Watching

[holy ghost]

Filmage: great doc despite the presence of some really annoying “in every documentary” players. Better than I expected. Descendents have some occasionally cringe ass lyrics but they also fuckin’ rip hard. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would.

They Live: classic fun, five stars

Stranger Things S04: very fun. I enjoyed it.

[zzz]

I love The Swimmer and recommend it to any/everyone. It does seem to make a stronger impression if you go in without knowing anything.

Quadrophenia—it’s good, skipped around. They could have done more with Ray Winstone’s character. Same year as Scum, I think?

Need to finish Arrebato, Emperor’s Naked Army Marches on… all great stuff, struggling to find the time to sit and give full attention to anything, though.

[SS1535]

Recent:
-Suspiria (the original)
-Taxi Driver

[BrachliegenTapes]

Some recent favourites from May / June:

Annette, 2021
The Housemaid, 1960
Showgirls, 1995
The Miracle Worker, 1962
Vortex, 2021
River Yar, 1972
Phantasm, 1979
The Blood on Satan's Claw, 1971
Psychomania, 1973
Ivan's Childhood, 1962
Pickpocket, 1959

[housepig]

Phantasm, 1979
The Blood on Satan's Claw, 1971
Psychomania, 1973

Nice to see these three getting some love.

[Scream & Writhe]

Some recent favourites from May / June:

Showgirls, 1995

I also watched this in May. Love that whole run of Verhoeven.

May highlights:

Starship Troopers (1997)
Almost Human (1974)
Without Apparent Motive (1971)
Flic Story (1975)
The Sleeping Car Murder (1965)
The Upper Hand (1966)
The Automobile (1971)
Soldiers in Hiding (1984)
Tracks (1976)
The Last Detail (1973)
The Key (1983)
Strip-Tease (1963)
King of New York (1990)
Winter's Child (1989)
There Will Be Blood (2007)
Devo Live 1980 (2005)
Showgirls (1995)
Irreversible (2002)
Dual (2022)
The Mattei Affair (1972)

[BrachliegenTapes]

Phantasm, 1979
The Blood on Satan's Claw, 1971
Psychomania, 1973

Nice to see these three getting some love.

All rewatches but each still hit hard on repeated viewing. I'd forgotten how utterly batshit and unhomely Phantasm is...

[BrachliegenTapes]

Some recent favourites from May / June:

Showgirls, 1995

I also watched this in May. Love that whole run of Verhoeven.

May highlights:

Starship Troopers (1997)
Almost Human (1974)
Without Apparent Motive (1971)
Flic Story (1975)
The Sleeping Car Murder (1965)
The Upper Hand (1966)
The Automobile (1971)
Soldiers in Hiding (1984)
Tracks (1976)
The Last Detail (1973)
The Key (1983)
Strip-Tease (1963)
King of New York (1990)
Winter's Child (1989)
There Will Be Blood (2007)
Devo Live 1980 (2005)
Showgirls (1995)
Irreversible (2002)
Dual (2022)
The Mattei Affair (1972)

King of New York highly underrated imho, great film. That and Ms. 45 probably my favourites from Abel Ferrara.

[yullowteef]

I've enjoyed the Ferrera I've seen so far except for King of New York. Overacted to hell and it failed to draw me in emotionally like his other films have. Really dug his feature from a couple years ago called Siberia with Willem Dafoe in the lead once again.

Some recent highlights:

Duvidha (Kaul, 1973)
Granted I've only seen two films by Mani Kaul now (the other being One Day Before the Rainy Season) but I'm a big fan of what he does. If you're interested in abstract Indian arthouse, this is a great place to start. Truly beautiful.

Putney Swope (Downey, 1969)
This was a rewatch. It didn't click with me upon first viewing, but I kept thinking about it months after seeing it, so I knew there was something there. Now can comfortably say this ended up being one of my favourite absurdist comedies. Bizarrely funny. I could watch Anthony Fargas rant for hours.

Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick, 1999)
If you haven't seen it, you should. Might be my preferred Kubrick film if I was only picking one, though on a different day, I'd pick Full Metal Jacket.

[Scream & Writhe]

I've enjoyed the Ferrera I've seen so far except for King of New York. Overacted to hell and it failed to draw me in emotionally like his other films have.

I didn't like it the first time I saw it, but now I love it. It's fucking dark.

Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick, 1999)
If you haven't seen it, you should. Might be my preferred Kubrick film if I was only picking one, though on a different day, I'd pick Full Metal Jacket.

EWS is my favourite Kubrick next to Barry Lyndon.

June highlights:

Crimes of the Future (2022)
The Reflecting Skin (1990)
The War of the Worlds: Next Century (1981)
Stalingrad (1993)
Many Wars Ago (1970)
Successive Slidings of Pleasure (1974)
Trans-Europ-Express (1966)
Le Deuxième Souffle (1966)
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne (1981)
Face to Face (1967)
Grand Slam (1967)
Memories Within Miss Aggie (1974)
Crash (1996)
The Hit (1984)
My Name Is Nobody (1973)

[SS1535]

-2001: A Space Odyssey
-Some Like it Hot
-Amen.

[feedbacker]

Showgirls is great. Thoroughly enjoyable film. For those who liked it, Benedetta is the latest Verhoeven film and I highly recommend it. It's a sort of testament by the director, saluting several other films of his, Showgirls being the most quoted one. Feauturing a gorgeous, provocative Virginie Efira.

[holy ghost]

Lost City - Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum in a very fun romantic comedy. I enjoyed it.

Fast 9 - the stupidest yet best one yet. The first 6 we’re all kinds of shit but 7-9 have been moderately enjoyable brain mushing fun.

Stranger Things 4 finishing the last couple episodes. Very good.

[BrachliegenTapes]

Showgirls is great. Thoroughly enjoyable film. For those who liked it, Benedetta is the latest Verhoeven film and I highly recommend it. It's a sort of testament by the director, saluting several other films of his, Showgirls being the most quoted one. Feauturing a gorgeous, provocative Virginie Efira.

Really enjoyed Benedetta a lot! Silly and sacrilegious, shades of Ken Russell's The Devils.

Went to a marathon cinema screening of Satantango yesterday. Still not entirely sure how I feel about it, but can't stop thinking about how haunting sound design was... the bells in particular.

[Trash Stratum]

Watched Amateur by Hal Hartley last night. The only Hartley film I knew was "The Unbelievable Truth", which I saw prior to this one. The deadpan dialogues here are great, story has the right amount of suspense and it doesn't linger on the unknown to make it bloom - the tragic last chapters of this movie are delievered with such honesty that I know this one will stray with me for a while. Isabelle Huppert, as always, is a monster of an actor: so believable, so human, a gorgeous presence. She plays the most wild, crazy original parts - and she displays badass outfits on this one. Great movie about love, sex (Huppert plays the part of a former nun, a self described - virgin - nymphomaniac), identity loss and the will to become a better person, to accept past, dreadful mistakes as part of human nature.

It's been so long since I've watched that, and I need to again. At least it's easier now that it's just been released on blu-ray.

I can very highly recommend Hartley's Henry Fool which touches on themes close to many of us here: art, influence, collaboration, transgression, and, of course, contemporary poetry. It's one of my favorite movies, period.

[housepig]

Watched "Z" by Costa-Gavras a few nights ago. Had heard of it for years but had never seen it. Excellent blend of political assassination, state repression and police procedural. Soundtrack is excellent as well.

[Scream & Writhe]

Watched "Z" by Costa-Gavras a few nights ago. Had heard of it for years but had never seen it. Excellent blend of political assassination, state repression and police procedural. Soundtrack is excellent as well.

Z is great. Costa-Gavras did several truly great films in that era. Following Z was The Confession (1970) and State of Siege (1972), all three starring Yves Montand. State of Siege is probably my favourite of the lot but they're all heavy. Shock Troops (Un homme de trop), from 1967 is also worth checking out.

[Atrophist]

Showgirls is great. Thoroughly enjoyable film. For those who liked it, Benedetta is the latest Verhoeven film and I highly recommend it. It's a sort of testament by the director, saluting several other films of his, Showgirls being the most quoted one. Feauturing a gorgeous, provocative Virginie Efira.

Anyone who wants to see something truly trashy, desperate and ill-advised, should check out Showgirls 2, written, directed, produced, starring in, you get the picture, by the actress who played one of the supporting characters in the original.

Showgirls 3 also, apparently exists in some shape or from. For those who cannot get enough of this … eh, franchise.

I’ll probably check out Benedetta at some point. I’ve only avoided it till now because this whole lesbian nuns thing seems like a seriously low-hanging fruit to me. But of course not having seen it, I’m not the one to say anything.

[moozz]

lesbian nuns

SOLD!

[33033]

Just got the Criterion Channel as a gift for my wife's birthday and watched Smooth Talk. Wow what an uncomfortable film. Amazingly directed.

High brow cinematic types: give me some recommendations! I'm usually used to schlocky b-movie horror over the past while and maybe need a palate cleanser!

[housepig]

Just got the Criterion Channel as a gift for my wife's birthday and watched Smooth Talk. Wow what an uncomfortable film. Amazingly directed.

High brow cinematic types: give me some recommendations! I'm usually used to schlocky b-movie horror over the past while and maybe need a palate cleanser!

I'd recommend checking out movies by Carol Reed (The Third Man, The Man Between, Odd Man Out), Henri-Georges Clouzot (Diabolique, Wages Of Fear, Le Corbeau, La Assasin Habite au 21) and Akira Kurosawa (Seven Samurai, Hidden Fortress, Yojimbo, Sanjuro, Dersu Uzala, Rashomon.... )

Some things come and go on Criterion (like any streaming service) but if there are still films from the Japanese Noir collection, they're solid - Cruel Gun Story, A Colt Is My Passport, etc.

Those should keep you busy for a couple of days!

[Scream & Writhe]

I'd recommend checking out movies by Carol Reed (The Third Man, The Man Between, Odd Man Out), Henri-Georges Clouzot (Diabolique, Wages Of Fear, Le Corbeau, La Assasin Habite au 21)
Those should keep you busy for a couple of days!

The Third Man is screening here on 35mm soon and I'm definitely trying to make that.

Clouzot: Wages of Fear is undoubtedly a classic but I actually didn't love it for some reason. Le Corbeau is excellent and I still need to see Diabolique.

[housepig]

The Third Man is screening here on 35mm soon and I'm definitely trying to make that.

Clouzot: Wages of Fear is undoubtedly a classic but I actually didn't love it for some reason. Le Corbeau is excellent and I still need to see Diabolique.

I missed a Reed series (including "Third Man") at my local cinema back in February and kicked myself for it later, but caught a chunk of their Clouzot series a month or so later. I will say I liked Friedkin's "Sorcerer" more than "Wages", and also if you've never seen "Diabolique" you really should - I somehow had never seen it until earlier this spring, and it's great.

[SS1535]

Watched "Z" by Costa-Gavras a few nights ago. Had heard of it for years but had never seen it. Excellent blend of political assassination, state repression and police procedural. Soundtrack is excellent as well.

I have this rented from my local library right now. I need to watch it sooner now...

[SS1535]

Today's viewing: Yukio Mishima's Patriotism