The Official Movie Thread

[Oblivious Maximus]

Lisztomania (Ken Russell, 1975) - Shrieking fucking madness from start to finish with no breathing room. "The film that out-Tommy's Tommy!" wasn't just a catchy tagline to put on the poster. By far Russell's most mental composer biopic and for that matter the most loony musical biopic in the whole of cinema. Roger Daltrey is Liszt, Wager is a Nazi vampire later resurrected as a giant zombie Hitler who takes to the streets with a electric guitar machine gun, Ringo Starr is a cowboy boot wearing pope and Rick Wakeman is a half-metal Frankenstein's monster-esque Thor brought to life by Wager to ensure the creation of the master race. Toss in a little voodoo and enough phallic imagery to give Freud a heart attack and the results are a masterpiece of frivolity.

All the Colors of the Dark (Sergio Martino, 1972) - Martino's early 70's hot streak was so strong its often difficult deciding which film of his from this period is the best but this one wouldn't be a bad choice. Its incorporation of black magick certainty makes it the most unique amongst his string of giallo's as he really didn't delve into the esoteric as much as some of his contemporaries like Fulci or Argento and the way the occult is used in the story and how it ends up relating to Edwige Fenech's backstory makes it all the more interesting. The black mass scenes are some of the best ever filmed and odd pancake make-up that some of the participants are sporting really should have came across as corny, but Martino's direction and the incredible score make it unsettling and more than a bit surreal. The amazing Fenech proves she's far more than just eye candy with her finest performance in a fairly demanding role. Essential Italian horror.

Bad Habits (John Leslie, 1993) - Outstanding neo-noirish psych porno from the legendary performer turned director. Leslie was one of the most interesting directors working in the adult medium around this time with a handful of unique titles before going the way of gonzo video quickies in the mid 90's (gotta eat somehow I suppose). This is by far one of the strongest with a well-written and involving storyline, the kind of which wouldn't feel out of place in one of those innumerable direct to video/late night cable erotic thrillers except the sex is hardcore, and well acted by its top shelf cast. It has to be the best work Deidre Holland ever did and Randy Spears shines bright as well. Super stylish too with Leslie managing to sidestep all the shortcomings of shooting on video. Fun fact, Leslie actually took home both the AVN awards on the same night for best feature director in the video and film categories, the former for this one and the later for the even more ambitious and bizarre Dog Walker (1994).

 

[arg]

I feel like I saw someone mention it here but can't find it now. Train to Busan is fucking fantastic. Music is great, zombies are some of the most threatening since 28 days... and they throw so much sadness at you I personally wasn't prepared for it in a zombie movie. Threatening to give you that Night of the Living Dead ending also had me nearly yelling at my tv.

yep loved it and cried like a little bitch


the american remake is gonna be so shit. like train to detroit or some shit with the main roles being a white prick who later becomes a lefty sjw like ein/floyd/mort, a black, a transgender, a pregnant illegal and a muslim refugee versus the bigoted trump supporter zombies and an evil trump-like villain i bet

 

[rms]

Watched arrival on the plane last night and was very impressed with the 'process' but so let down with the execution of the hook and time travel/philosophy. I imagine this is the main problem with the film for most? Went all Interstellar on us

 

[Oblivious Maximus]

the american remake is gonna be so shit. like train to detroit or some shit with the main roles being a white prick who later becomes a lefty sjw like ein/floyd/mort, a black, a transgender, a pregnant illegal and a muslim refugee versus the bigoted trump supporter zombies and an evil trump-like villain i bet

Never change.

Schramm (Jörg Buttgereit, 1993) - The 4th and to date last feature from the master German provocateur which was made as a reaction against all the serial killer films from around the same time that, in his words were more about chain smoking detectives than the actual serial killer. Subtitled "Into the Mind of a Serial Killer", the film does just that, presenting an unflinching glimpse into the psyche of a killer moments before his own death. The memories of the "Lipstick Killer" as he's dubbed in the film are fractured as is the film with it never being certain what is past, present or possibly even future and save for the moments where the fantasy element is obvious, reality and hallucination are often at odds with each other. Buttgereit's grungy, 16mm underground aesthetic is in full force and the film contains some of Buttgereit's most wince-inducing moments yet ironically it might test the patience of those expecting a full-on gorefest due to its focus on psychology but rest assured its still plenty lethal in parts. Its an oddly depressing film too. While the main character is hardly made out to by sympathetic, the way his world is presented is emotive in that there's a profound sense of emptiness that does start to wear pretty heavily despite the film running a brisk 65 minutes.

The Bilingual Lover (Vicente Aranda, 1993) - Bilingual batshittery. A strange, strange film, yet other one that at multiple times throughout its duration the question of just who in the hell was this made for arises. This is a good thing of course as its usually signs of something wholly original which is exactly what this film is. There's also the fact that the films title comes from a major plot point which probably makes zero sense to anyone unfamiliar with the linguistics of the region of Spain the film was shot in. The material would be prime for a psychological horror film, a tale of l'amour fou where a man essentially willingly goes insane, adopting the persona of an alter-ego to pursue his ex-wife, however the film is actually a comedy of sorts, albeit with a bizarre sense of humor bound to bewilder most which is what ended up happening as few seemed to catch is drift when it was first released. There's also allusions to Phantom of the Opera, The Invisible Man, amazing lines of dialogue like "I bet your cunt juices make holes in the mattress" and a hilarious sex scene where the participants and the bed become airborne, after which leading lady Ornella Muti, who has a shoe fetish and likes to hang shoes on the end of hard cocks, begs her co-star Imanol Arias to piss inside her. Unlike anything else really.

Mulholland Drive was recently resorted in 4K. The new scan premiers in the UK next month and home video releases will follow in May.



There's also a Lynch retrospective at the IFC Center in NYC that goes until the 6th of next month.

Thought this was a pretty neat read, David Lynch Revisited: Why We Need His Genius Now More Than Ever — Critics Debate

 

[no country for old wainds]

i was reading ebert's 'takedown' of blue velvet the other day. reminded me why i never gave much of a shit about ebert.

 

[Oblivious Maximus]

His arguments against the film are just as bullshit as they were when he first wrote them. He was always inconsonant about what he was outraged over anyways...

 

[Einherjar86]

Watched arrival on the plane last night and was very impressed with the 'process' but so let down with the execution of the hook and time travel/philosophy. I imagine this is the main problem with the film for most? Went all Interstellar on us

Well, the movie is based on a short story from the '90s. So, Interstellar actually went all Arrival on us (or, more accurately, it went all "Story of Your Life" on us).

I like the time travel aspect; but then, of course, you probably already expected that.

 

[rms]

If you liked the time travel what failed in the film for you? I remember you saying it was just OK or good.

Wasn't Interstellar influenced by the early 20th century poem recited by Caine?!

i was reading ebert's 'takedown' of blue velvet the other day. reminded me why i never gave much of a shit about ebert.

It just seemed like he missed the point and happens to all of us, probably more when you have to watch a shit load of films and write about it. I used to enjoy the TV show he had with his partner on Saturday mornings though

 

[Einherjar86]

If you liked the time travel what failed in the film for you? I remember you saying it was just OK or good.

Wasn't Interstellar influenced by the early 20th century poem recited by Caine?!

I loved Arrival, you must be thinking of someone else.

Caine's character recites Dylan Thomas's "Do not go gentle into that good night." The film wasn't based on that poem in any narrative sense, although it may have shared certain thematic elements (probably little else beyond the notion of surviving--"rage, rage against the dying of the light"). That's very different from a film being adapted from an earlier narrative.

 

[rms]

eh, have to read up on the philosophy of time travel again I guess.

but I was comparing it more to Interstellar since all narratives are whack except those that are embodied with love

 

[Einherjar86]

I see. How so exactly? I mean, I see how love factors into Interstellar, and that was its weakest point for me (I have other issues with Interstellar, but they have to do more with the ideology of its form, which is one of salvation; but that said, it's still a good movie).

While two of the characters in Arrival do fall in love, I don't see how love is the reason for the narrative discontinuity. (Spoilers, I guess...) Language is, in fact, what introduces the a-temporal element, not love.

 

[rms]

love factors into Interstellar? haha the film argues that love is as strong as (or more, idk) gravity universally.

Arrival could have gone into many ways, literally just being about the philosophical differences between seeing, understanding and interpreting something from a non human world. That's pretty fascinating as it is. Even though the heptapod is weird, it's still way more anthropomorphic than anything we'd likely see (not knocking the film on this).

Instead,

Spoiler

we get a film where their language somehow shows the future to those who understand it and the only way that it's important is that it barely highlights the peculiar yet possibly interesting decision of Amy Adams' character to have a child even though that child will die via some terrible disease.

It'd be better served as two separate films, not necessarily in the same 'movie universe.' Could probably do a third film on the language and the aftermath of mainstreaming it

 

[Einherjar86]

love factors into Interstellar? haha the film argues that love is as strong as (or more, idk) gravity universally.

Right, that's what I mean. I just tend not to use emphatic language. Basically, Interstellar figures love as a physical force within the universe, a la gravity (or thermodynamics, entropy, etc.).

Arrival could have gone into many ways, literally just being about the philosophical differences between seeing, understanding and interpreting something from a non human world. That's pretty fascinating as it is. Even though the heptapod is weird, it's still way more anthropomorphic than anything we'd likely see (not knocking the film on this).

Instead,

Spoiler

we get a film where their language somehow shows the future to those who understand it and the only way that it's important is that it barely highlights the peculiar yet possibly interesting decision of Amy Adams' character to have a child even though that child will die via some terrible disease.

It'd be better served as two separate films, not necessarily in the same 'movie universe.' Could probably do a third film on the language and the aftermath of mainstreaming it

Well, I'm not sure how much of what I'm about to say is really spoiling anything, but I'm going to hide it anyway:

Spoiler

The film's interest in time and language is largely theoretical. Heptapod language doesn't allow someone to "see" the future, per se; it's a method of communication that does not conform to linear time, unlike human language which is largely temporal, as writers like Paul De Man and Jacques Derrida have argued. So learning heptapod language doesn't allow someone to see the future, which would imply a linear foundation of time that human beings could control; instead, it untethers human beings from their temporal existence, so they experience time in a way that is no longer linear--in effect, we could say they no longer experience time at all.

I feel like the main character's decision to have a family despite knowing the future wasn't a choice so much as it was what had virtually already happened. It wasn't her choice to have a family, because that would imply futurity. She simply did what she, in effect, had already done. This is the weird mindfuck of the movie, in that it really challenges the assumptions we make about human intentionality, choice, and free will. To experience time in a nonlinear way could mean that you cannot choose your future, since there isn't any future to speak of.

 

[rms]

I just tend not to use emphatic language.

I guess, but it's not emphatic to say Interstellar is about love, it's the central theme of the film

gonna try quotes and spoiler into one, should be interesting

Spoiler

it's a method of communication that does not conform to linear time

this is my problem with the film or my understanding of what it means to be 'free' (not experience) of time. Amy Adams' character clearly showcases time as 'destiny' or 'pre-determined.' Time is relative, no? So how one be 'free' (not experience) of time if you, and you being Amy Adams, respond to events in that way? It's clearly a sequential order if not strictly linear. And what is sequential instead of linear would be enough of a question to justify a film, imo

I feel like the main character's decision to have a family despite knowing the future wasn't a choice so much as it was what had virtually already happened.

totally agree. just don't get how she is becoming 'free' of time. she is just 'cheating' at knowing her fate

 

[Einherjar86]

Those are good points, and I'm not going to bother hiding this, since it's too vague to be a spoiler.

What you're commenting on is the constitutively linear quality of narrative. That is, we tell stories linearly--beginning, middle, end. Obviously there are films that play with this, Memento being a standout; but even that movie is bound to the conventions of linearity, it's just reversing them (more or less).

As human beings, we perceive our existences narratively. There's no way not to narrativize our lives (unless we introduce extreme cases). Arrival engages this point while at the same time constructing a premise in which our conventions of narrative no longer make logical sense.

 

[rms]

Arrival engages this point while at the same time constructing a premise in which our conventions of narrative no longer make logical sense.

looking back, to me it's just that she has 'for certain but instant but specific' deja vu's

What you're commenting on is the constitutively linear quality of narrative. That is, we tell stories linearly--beginning, middle, end.

even removing the film aspect, her life is in the present but has outside influence

Arrival engages this point while at the same time constructing a premise in which our conventions of narrative no longer make logical sense.

i think it totally does have logical sense, it's just you have to make a leap to believe in their logic. the way you describe the language in the film is not demonstrated, imo


late edit;

for instance, I don't see much difference between Amy Adams in Arrival and Christoper Walken in Cronenberg's The Dead Zone

 

[arg]

Interstellar was fucking cool and mind-blowing

So was that matt damon on Mars movie

Arrival was fucking boring. Aliens show up and decide to write symbols in the air with us rufkm? Shove a tentacle in her ass you pussy

Looking forward to Life with jake gylenhall

 

[no country for old wainds]

i never fail to be impressed by your nuanced perspective.

 

[Einherjar86]

Arg wouldn't know good science fiction if it burst out of his fucking chest.

EDIT:

looking back, to me it's just that she has 'for certain but instant but specific' deja vu's

I don't know if I agree, as I don't follow "for certain but instant but specific."

She's experiencing deja vu as she's learning the language, yes--but by the end I think it's safe to say that her entire world-experience has become interpenetrated by what we would once have called deja vu.

In other words, by the end of the film there's no longer any difference between deja vu and the present. Although this doesn't make sense either, since by the end of the film it makes no sense to even talk about the beginning of the film!

even removing the film aspect, her life is in the present but has outside influence

But now the present is everything--the past and the future. These categories no longer make sense.

i think it totally does have logical sense, it's just you have to make a leap to believe in their logic. the way you describe the language in the film is not demonstrated, imo

Not to put too fine a point on it, but it doesn't make logical sense if you try and maintain the conventions of realist narrative--which imply the categories of past, present, and future. Once she learns the heptapod language, she can't differentiate between these categories anymore. They don't hold sway.

They still appear to hold sway, within the presentation of the film, though, because films (as with novels) are bound formally to a temporal experience. This doesn't have to do with how a director chooses to portray a film, but with the material limitations of the medium. You can't see all scenes of a film at once, or absorb them all at the same time.

One reason why I didn't care as much for Interstellar is that it didn't bother to wade in the complexities of narrative paradox. Arrival, even if it can't realize these paradoxes on screen, at least pushes its audience to ask the questions.

 

[CiG]

Arg wouldn't know good science fiction if it burst out of his fucking chest.

Savage.