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Just saw Death wish, probably Bruce Willis best work since Looper.

A throwback to 90s action.
 
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In the Heat of the Night almost feels like an early Exploitation Film with Poitier & especially Steiger.
I refused to watch it because i feared that it aged as badly as Guess who's coming to Dinner?, but i catched it n tv one day and it's a great Film.Poitier just has some great lines throughout the Film.

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Between the two, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner holds up MUCH better. In the Heat of the Night is painfully dated.

I'm currently watching the whole Friday the 13th Series.

Never liked that series. Michael and Freddy >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Jason.

This sentence just reads like a clever rouse to make me admit that I haven't seen it (at least completely):oops:

Hence why I was gunning so hard for it in the SMC.

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Given the film's subject matter, it must be said: Never having seen Angel Heart is cinematic sin. Fuck the SMC, just watch that on your own time. You won't regret it. It has the reputation of a cult film but the quality of a masterwork. Rourke and De Niro kill it from start to finish and the atmosphere is so thick that even David Lynch would have a tough time cutting it.

N-e-e-d... t-o... w-a-t-c-h... The Getaway... now...

I wasn't doing it intentionally but I managed to find two awesome movies that have slipped past your movie radar. The Getaway is another one of those movies that seems like more of a hidden gem than a true classic, but I honestly think it's right up there with Straw Dogs as Sam Peckinpah's best work (and thematically it's a perfect companion piece with the masculinity stuff and the marriage dynamics). The relationship between Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw is brilliantly conceived (screenplay by Walter Hill BTW just in case McQueen starring and Peckinpah directing wasn't cool enough), directed, and performed, and that's not even talking about the bad ass heists and shootouts and the scene stealing Al Lettieri as one of the scummiest villains you've ever seen.

I'm fairly confident that you'll like Angel Heart because, well, it's fucking amazing, but I'm 100% certain that you'll be an instant fan of The Getaway.

Doubt it will beat the slapping scene in Heat though.

Oh, it does. That gif just has one of the slaps. I said "slap whooping" because that's what that scene is. McQueen slaps the shit out of her. And it's such a perfect Peckinpah scene because the brutality is double-edged inasmuch as his anger is directed at himself, as he put her in the position to do what it is that he considers slap-worthy, yet he's taking out his anger on her...and taking out his anger on her despite knowing that he's really mad at himself just makes him madder. It's that beautiful brutality that only Peckinpah can pull off, though it must be said that Ali MacGraw helps a lot as she does a fantastic job as that character.

Yeah the discussions about racism just feels so toothless in that movie when watched today.

Et tu, europe?

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It's still good for it's "Spencer Tracy is dying" stick though. Those where some sad faces.

Literally on his deathbed, working three-hour days and then having to lie down and sleep off the strain, the man still acted circles around everybody. Beastly genius.

Just saw Death wish, probably Bruce Willis best work since Looper.

A throwback to 90s action.

Really? It was that good? To be honest, after that Kevin Bacon abomination Death Sentence, not even Bruce Willis starring can alleviate my skepticism of contemporary Death Wish-type movies, let alone a direct remake of a Bronson classic.
 
Between the two, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner holds up MUCH better. In the Heat of the Night is painfully dated.

Et tu, europe?

Well... let's say it like this... when it comes to the film "holding-up", Dinner seems more prescient due to that being a situation that is more likely for modern people to find themselves in. Or at least I hope that's a more likely situation compared to the one in Heat of the Night.

With my comment about Dinner feeling "toothless", I'm more refeering to the Dustin Poitier character seeming so perfect. He's literally an idealized man -- this super-promising young attorney who is loving, intelligent and cultured. Like some sort of Obama on steriods.

Poitier being so perfect just takes the "omph" out of the situation, makes it feel toothless. The racial commentary is mitigated due to him being such an idealized, flawless match.


I'm fairly confident that you'll like Angel Heart because, well, it's fucking amazing, but I'm 100% certain that you'll be an instant fan of The Getaway.

I've been planning on doing a two-punch McQueen combination with Getaway and Sand Pebbles. Guess I'll add Angel Heart and make it a trio.

See, I've known about these films reputation for a great time now. I'm just really skitzo when it comes to my compulsion of actually watching movies. :oops:

Walter Hill BTW
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With my comment about Dinner feeling "toothless", I'm more refeering to the Dustin Poitier character seeming so perfect. He's literally an idealized man -- this super-promising young attorney who is loving, intelligent and cultured. Like some sort of Obama on steriods.

Poitier being so perfect just takes the "omph" out of the situation, makes it feel toothless. The racial commentary is mitigated due to him being such an idealized, flawless match.

Hmm. I've never run across this complaint with that film before. Personally, I think it works as well as it does precisely because he's such a great "candidate," so to speak, to the point where it's obvious that the only possible reason parents could object to their daughter bringing someone like him home is because he's black. Poitier makes everything so stark; there's nowhere to hide with him, nothing else to pretend to object to while at the same time pretending to ignore his race.

I've been planning on doing a two-punch McQueen combination with Getaway and Sand Pebbles.

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That's one hell of an awesome two-punch combination. The Sand Pebbles is a film I'd describe as beautifully tragic. McQueen not only gives his career best performance, he turns in what I consider to be one of the very best performances ever given by anyone. His character has such a sad fucking life story, yet he has so much heart and he's so sympathetic that it makes all the shit he has to go through hit that much harder. And his relationship with Mako is the high point of a generally high pointed film.

Guess I'll add Angel Heart and make it a trio.

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I'll be very interested to hear your thoughts on all three once you get around to them.
 
Just watched Avengers: Infinity War. Cool movie, I score it an 8/10. Certainly better than Age of Ultron. I was quite sad when
Loki died, right at the start

RIP Loki, he was a fun character
 
and wait... where was Antman? He fought in Civil War...
 
Just saw Death wish, probably Bruce Willis best work since Looper.

A throwback to 90s action.

I was surprised by the shitty reception. I thought it was pretty awesome. Very true to the spirit of the original while also using the modern-day setting in an interesting way.

Willis and D’Onofrio were both very good.

Eli Roth’s least Eli Rothish movie as well.
 
Just watched Avengers: Infinity War. Cool movie, I score it an 8/10. Certainly better than Age of Ultron. I was quite sad when
Loki died, right at the start

RIP Loki, he was a fun character

It was really an ideal way to start it. Ragnarok ended with humor and optimism but that post credit scene...

So the movie starts with that bleak distresss signal, we see all the slaughtered Asgardians while the ebony maw with his innocuous voice talks to them as though they are still living. Creepy shit. We see Loki surrounded by the Black Order and it’s obvious shit is about to go down. Then Thanos gives that brief speech about losing and absolutely manhandles Thor- lifting him up like he weighs nothing and then threatening to kill him if Loki doesn’t give over the Tesseract. Just an awesome sequence. Immediately established the stakes of the movie. Loki was an awesome character but it was a memorable way to go out. I thought it was meaningful that you see the pain on his face as he watches Thor getting tormented and then his last ditch effort to take out Thanos.

Overall an epic blockbuster movie. Best Avengers film. Best MCU film in my opinion. And one of the more awesome theater going experiences I’ve had in recent years.
 
and wait... where was Antman? He fought in Civil War...

He also, much like Clint, Wanda and Falcon- got arrested in Civil War and was in that heavy duty floating prison. Cap busts everyone out at the end of that film and while Sam joined back up with him (as did Wanda and Black Widow who helped Cap at the end of the day in Civil War) it is noted that Ant Man and Hawkeye turned themselves in and cut a deal- house arrest rather than hard time because they wanted to be with their children. I’m thinking, presumably, each of their families will be victims of Thanos’ actions and that’s why they are back in action in the next one.
 
I've been on an 80s sci fi/horror kick these last few days. Just watched Dreamscape for the first time - really enjoyed it! Some concepts similar to Inception, although not nearly as in depth.

I'd appreciate it if someone could recommend some lesser known sci fi/horror classics from the 80s. Keep in mind if it's really popular/well known I've probably seen it.
 
I was surprised by the shitty reception. I thought it was pretty awesome. Very true to the spirit of the original while also using the modern-day setting in an interesting way.

Willis and D’Onofrio were both very good.

Eli Roth’s least Eli Rothish movie as well.

I wish D’Onofrio had the lead instead of Willis, who sleepwalks through it, draining what little tension the film has.
 
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Earlier this evening went to see Zama by Lucrecia Martel, which is the first of her films I have seen.

Really weird, but really good. It's based on a book from 1956, set in the late 17th century. The film concerns Diego de Zama, a magistrate of the Spanish Empire and his attempts to get relocated from his remote colonial outpost. And....that's more or less it. Partially joking, because of course there are various sub-plots linked to this - including romantic/sexual failures, attempted intrigues, malaria, bastard children, bandits, novel-writing on the Kings time and more! - but Zama's desire to escape is the driving force of the film. Essentially it's an existential drama, with Zama feeling utterly alone and alienated, not to mention hopelessly bored. He has an inflated sense of importance due to his role as a magistrate, but is also completely petrified of ridicule and people talking behind his back (heightened by the fact that he is a creole, not a native European). Really good performance from the guy who plays him.

The film is naturally very scathing of European colonialism as well, partially through the slaves and abused natives we see at throughout (often deliberately in the background, but very present), but this is also conveyed subtly through the general ridiculousness of the colonial administration; the whole thing seems absurd. People wearing powdered wigs and dressing - when they can be bothered to keep up appearances - in European clothing (tattered corsets, jackets and all) despite the extreme heat, letters to the king that take at least two to be considered but which can't be sent more than once a year and so on. Ultimately, there isn't a whole lot to do at this outpost.

The reviews I skimmed before watching mentioned Kafka and Beckett, and those are definitely reasonably accurate comparisons. The whole thing feels like some kind of existential nightmare from the perspective of Zama, something which heightened by the ludicrous bureaucracy of the administration which prevents him from ever actually leaving. That's one thing it does really well; the film has a very slow, lethargic pace (though it does quicken at the end with things I won't spoil) that gives you a real sense of the oppressive heat that the characters are experiencing. Zama experiences several hallucinations throughout the film (linked to fever), but it's never made explicit what is really there, or not. Which only adds to the surreal feeling of the film. But all in all, a quality film....though not for everyone.
 
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AMERICAN HUSTLE was terrific. Funniest, and best, DOR movie by far. I came away thinking it was Bale and Adams' best performances. The movie just flew by. The only issue I had was jlaw, and the cleaning scene was so bad it made me lower how I felt about the entire thing.


Solo was ok. Terrible cinematography, and an annoying ass droid, but it's solid for the most part. Alden was really good. The hate for him was completely unwarranted
 
Thoroughly enjoyed Small Town Crime

8/10

Slow burning and fun
 
I watched Sleuth.I usually tune out of these twist-on-twist-on-twist Films after a while, but Sleuth was great throughout featuring some great banter between Olivier and Michael Caine.Oliver is especially fun to watch with his arrogant, british upper class demeanor.
 
Dared to go back and give Peter Greenaways The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover a watch for the first time in about 20 years. Actually more graphic than I remember(maybe I saw the the shorter cut?) and definitely not to be watched on a full stomach(with sex, death, rotting food, cannibalism and Gabon's general lewdness above all) but ultimate I'd say very effective. The whole thing does almost feel like a very elaborate stage production mostly taking place on one large set that's incredibly elaborately designed/lit although dispite Jean Paul Gaultier doing the costumes it doesn't descend into 5th element style haute parody.

Gabon's thief certainly follows those stage lines as well played wall to wall as one of the most unpleasant characters I'v ever seen, think a nouvelle riche Don Logan with a few more manners and pretensions of high society. The visuals and that performance in itself would IMHO be enough reason to watch as a dark comedy although I think what saves it from being just artful commentary on excess is Mirren's performance going in exactly the opposite direction as his wife, a lot more personal and does make for very effective tension and tragedy.

I spose Jeunet films like Delicatessen are the obvious comparison although in terms of tone I think WIld at Heart era Lynch is probably closer or perhaps Lanthimos recent work? Killing of a Scared Deer does scare the same blackness of world view and arguably we've returned to a situation where materialism is under the spotline again.
 
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I kind of got a kick out of The Hitman’s Bodyguard. Funny little buddycop variation.
 
I haven't been watching any movies lately, but I'm thinking of going on another movie binge soon. And that's due to my finally having watched a new movie last night, and it happened to be one near the top of my to-see list: Molly's Game.

So did anyone actually see Molly's Game?

I did man. Didn't dig. I think even you'd be disappointed. Bit of a mess, really.

I wouldn't use the word disappointed to describe my reaction to it, but that's only because my expectations weren't crazy high. I expected it to be really good, as everything from Sorkin is, but I wasn't expecting Steve Jobs. In the end, I didn't love it, but I did like it a lot.

For me, my biggest problem was that, for as often as Sorkin has written flawed lead characters (Zuckerberg in The Social Network, Will McAvoy in The Newsroom, and Steve Jobs at the top of the list), this was the first time that I didn't actually respect or identify with the lead character and find dignity, intelligence, and courage in their troubled nature. Molly dealt with her tough break poorly, made years worth of idiotic decisions, put herself in terrible situations, and then propped herself up with the most offensive definition of success I've ever heard uttered. So, morally speaking, this was the first time I wasn't right there with Sorkin and his lead.

That distance was increased even more by Sorkin's perversion of The Crucible as the means by which to achieve Molly's "salvation." Not only did DDL do that "because it's my name" so well that watching anyone else even try to do it instantly becomes sad and pathetic, there is more honor and dignity in John Proctor's impassioned speech about his name than you could measure whereas there's only a fraction in Molly's version and a fraction that's so small that it's actually difficult to measure.

I also wasn't crazy about the structure. I don't know if this is getting at what you thought made the film a mess, Ricky, but I didn't like the voice-over from who knows when telling a flashback that has its own flashbacks. I think Sorkin "overwrote" the script a little. I actually think that it would've been better if she would've truly been in it with Idris Elba and it was the two of them working together and she was telling the voice-over to him as they were working out their defense.

Now, if those are the cons, then the pros are obviously the performances. I think that Jessica Chastain is hot (I have eyes after all) but I've never thought of her as an especially talented actress. This was easily her best performance, though, and she definitely deserved accolades and acclaim. Idris Elba has been able to count me as a fan ever since I watched Luther and realized that he's the black British version of Christopher Meloni's SVU character Elliot Stabler and he was great here. But I think it was Kevin Costner who stole the show.

I don't know about you, Ricky, but I can always "feel" when actors are "Sorkin specialists." It's like when a Samuel L. Jackson or a Michael Madsen shows up in Tarantino land. They just belong there. Bradley Whitford belongs in Sorkin land, Jeff Daniels belongs in Sorkin land, and, as it turns out, Costner belongs there with them. Chastain and Elba did great work, but Costner lives there and I was pleasantly surprised by the fantastic performance he turned in.

So yeah, not Sorkin's best by any means, but a solid film and an above-average directorial debut for sure.
 
Dared to go back and give Peter Greenaways The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover a watch for the first time in about 20 years. Actually more graphic than I remember(maybe I saw the the shorter cut?) and definitely not to be watched on a full stomach(with sex, death, rotting food, cannibalism and Gabon's general lewdness above all) but ultimate I'd say very effective. The whole thing does almost feel like a very elaborate stage production mostly taking place on one large set that's incredibly elaborately designed/lit although dispite Jean Paul Gaultier doing the costumes it doesn't descend into 5th element style haute parody.

Gabon's thief certainly follows those stage lines as well played wall to wall as one of the most unpleasant characters I'v ever seen, think a nouvelle riche Don Logan with a few more manners and pretensions of high society. The visuals and that performance in itself would IMHO be enough reason to watch as a dark comedy although I think what saves it from being just artful commentary on excess is Mirren's performance going in exactly the opposite direction as his wife, a lot more personal and does make for very effective tension and tragedy.

I spose Jeunet films like Delicatessen are the obvious comparison although in terms of tone I think WIld at Heart era Lynch is probably closer or perhaps Lanthimos recent work? Killing of a Scared Deer does scare the same blackness of world view and arguably we've returned to a situation where materialism is under the spotline again.
Top 10 movie for me. If 20 years ago you watched a rented VHS it was probably the cut version, which is 29 minutes shorter. Not sure I know of another film that needed so much cut just to get a R rating.

Did you notice that the costumes changed colour along with the rooms? For example Mirren's dress was red in the dining room, but white in the bathroom.

After I first saw it and read it referred to as a dark comedy I was dumbstruck, because as much as I loved it I didn't remember any part being funny. Watching it again I saw the humor, primarily in Gabon's interactions with the Cook. Gabon's thief is certainly one of the most despicable characters I've seen on screen. Mirren's performance is heartbreaking.

Some people think it's a harsh critique of Thatcherism specifically. Cook = Civil servants, dutiful citizens. Thief = Thatcher's arrogance and support of the greedy. Wife = Britannia. Lover = Ineffectual opposition by leftists and intellectuals. Make of that what you will lul

As far as comparisons I can only ever think of other Greenaway films, although this one is more visceral than his usual fare. Have you seen his other films? I'm actually tempted to call him my favorite living director, even above Scorsese.

Oh and on a slightly related note, when we were talking about prudishness in modern American cinema I meant to recommend a documentary about the MPAA called This Film is Not yet Rated. It goes heavily into the "sex is bad, violence is ok" attitude you were speaking about.
 
Top 10 movie for me. If 20 years ago you watched a rented VHS it was probably the cut version, which is 29 minutes shorter. Not sure I know of another film that needed so much cut just to get a R rating.

Did you notice that the costumes changed colour along with the rooms? For example Mirren's dress was red in the dining room, but white in the bathroom.

After I first saw it and read it referred to as a dark comedy I was dumbstruck, because as much as I loved it I didn't remember any part being funny. Watching it again I saw the humor, primarily in Gabon's interactions with the Cook. Gabon's thief is certainly one of the most despicable characters I've seen on screen. Mirren's performance is heartbreaking.

Some people think it's a harsh critique of Thatcherism specifically. Cook = Civil servants, dutiful citizens. Thief = Thatcher's arrogance and support of the greedy. Wife = Britannia. Lover = Ineffectual opposition by leftists and intellectuals. Make of that what you will lul

As far as comparisons I can only ever think of other Greenaway films, although this one is more visceral than his usual fare. Have you seen his other films? I'm actually tempted to call him my favorite living director, even above Scorsese.

Oh and on a slightly related note, when we were talking about prudishness in modern American cinema I meant to recommend a documentary about the MPAA called This Film is Not yet Rated. It goes heavily into the "sex is bad, violence is ok" attitude you were speaking about.

I do remember finding it amusing back in the 90's as well although I found the same for a lot of Kurbick like Clockwork Orange and Full Metal Jacket as well so perhaps an acquired taste. You could say though its a kind of cinema that's clearly been on the rise over the last decade, stuff like Killing of a Scared Deer that's leaving you unsure whether to laugh or cry.

Politically as well you could argue its a film that's once again of its time with the breakdown of the neoliberial status quo post 2008, this kind of harsh takedown of materialism wasn't so popular in the 90's and early 00's.

I suspect I probably have seen other Greenaway at some point half awake on channel 4 late night way back in the day but I would probably need to see them again to remember, any recommendations?. I have to admit on one level he seems to represent a kind of art I'm not normally drawn to, lurid avant guarde harshness but the visuals, the comedy and especially Mirren's performance made this a lot more palatable to me with the latter giving it heart.

The colours are definitely used very effectively, blues making the street outside feel cold, the greens in the kitchen often sickly, the reds in the dinning room brash and lustful and the whites in the toilets more calming. In terms of politics...

You mention that Mirren's dress as the Wife is constantly changing colour which perhaps it ment to signify evolution of the character? doesn't the Cook change outfits as well? those two characters advance from being abused by Gabon's thief(who also doesn't change look much) to open revenge against him, the Lover on the other hand is I think notable for not changing look or indeed character and we see ultimately his besting the thief verbally and morally counts for nothing as he's brutally murdered. Perhaps a call to more aggressive politics as a way to combat right wing excess rather than the middle classes sticking with the status quo with some added intellectual liberalism, again arguably very relevant to the world today.

Honestly my feelings are that sex onscreen ratings wise should be less about what you show and more how its shown. This film I can see more of a justification for an 18 both due to the violence that's mixed it and the brutality of whats shown, something like Blue is the Warmest Colour for me though should not be over a 15/R, just consensual sex without violence/abuse.
 
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