The Official Movie Thread

[Oblivious Maximus]

Nicolas Winding Refn launches new streaming platform byNWR.com

The selection promises to be impeccable if he's able to get all of it streaming.

Was somewhat surprised to see Lucio Fulci and Jean Rollin written about by the failing New York Times, Jean Rollin and Lucio Fulci: Maestros of Horror

I figure its been long enough since I've spammed the thread with my shit so here my expanded thoughts on two films that I've brought up some time back in this thread by the great Swedish actress turned director/troublemaker Mai Zetterling, Night Games (1966) and Doctor Glas (1968). Given all the whinging these days about there being a lack of female talent behind the camera, it strikes me as odd that Zetterling seems to be regulated to the footnotes, especially considering how infamous Night Games was upon its release. Not everyone can say their movie scandalized Shirley Temple (a somewhat cruel irony given that she was Zetterling's childhood idol!) and had the Venice Film Festival premiere of their film closed to the public by the police. Even Bergman, who was the first to see the film in his home theater, was taken aback and wrote Zetterling a letter expressing his concern over her treatment of the films young lead! Get on it Criterion.

 

[arg]

Blade runner was pretty looking but eh
Hero always poker face
Villain not villainous enough
Story not engaging enough
Twist not twisty enough
Violence not violent enough
Sex not sexy enough

Dialogue too speechy/monologuey/long pause/wait my turn to talk. I prefer fast back and forth/interrupting/shouting/stuttering etc

 

[CiG]

I used to really love this movie growing up, but after some years I watched it again and the preachiness and confused logic of the writing really bothered me.

The black cop for example was a massively missed opportunity, instead of explaining why the black cop was so hostile to young black males (perhaps his father was killed by "gangbangers" when he was a kid or some other humanizing explanation) the writer decided to turn him into a traitorous black/boogeyman strawman.

Watching the depiction of the black cop is almost like seeing how the KKK would depict all black men. It was just awful.

Then you have all the buck-passing messages which completely negate the overall theme of taking responsibility for your own actions, ending community violence and opposing gang life.

For example, when Furious talks about how "they" put gun stores and liquor stores on every corner in the black community so the black people will kill each other. Who is "they"? Those establishments aren't owned by the government, Reagan didn't put them there and the most blatant buck-passing message is that Furious equates gang violence which almost always involves illegally owned firearms with the gun stores.

In fact, when a burglar attempts to rob Furious and Tre's home, he pulls out his revolver from a shoebox under the bed and shoots at the burglar leaving two giant holes in his front door.
That must be the one and only legally owned firearm in the whole film because the police do not confiscate the pistol. You see the same pistol later.

So the gun stores the film attempts to demonize are the one thing in the whole film which is attached to the message of black people in the black community defending themselves against the criminal element.

This is a film I grew up watching and none of this ever came across until now and as a result, I've lost some love for it. The writing is just so contradictory and confused.

 

[RadicalThrasher]

Latest trash movie haul

976-Evil
Kill and Kill Again
Demon Wind

 

[arg]

Requiem for a Dream. fucking Aronofsky and his extreme closeups and whack sound effects and manic cinematography. fucking brilliant

 

[CiG]

 

[Oblivious Maximus]

Sad news in the Italian film world with the passing of genre specialist Umberto Lenzi. He'll probably be forever infamous for films like Cannibal Ferox and Nightmare City but was a far more diverse director than his detractors would ever give him credit for, making horror films, giallo, western, action/adventure, crime and so on and so forth. RIP to a master.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

Two of my all time favs, Glenfiddich 15 + this masterpiece...

 

[Einherjar86]

Saw Blade Runner 2049 this afternoon. Definitely not disappointed.

I did have a few issues with the handling of certain narrative elements, but overall atmospheric aesthetic... fucking amazing. I hesitate to say I enjoyed it more than the original, but I may have enjoyed it more (visually speaking, at least) than the original. Kind of a post-noir feel, if such a thing exists. Or maybe just noir infused with Villeneuve's cold hard sheen, as opposed to the smoky graininess of the original. The scenery of this film is still smoggy, but there's a sleek modernism to the set design. I loved it.

Also, Ryan Gosling is a good fucking actor.

 

[CiG]

Apparently he acted most or all of his scenes blind.

 

[Einherjar86]

What do you mean? Do you mean literally blind? And if so, are you talking about Jared Leto's character?

 

[CiG]

Sorry I meant Jared Leto.

 

[no country for old wainds]

jared leto is the fucking worst. the blind thing doesn't surprise me 'cause he's a caricature of a method actor, he's like a low rent christian bale.

i don't think gosling has much range but he's good in movies like this and DRIVE where he mostly just has to be stoic and understated.

 

[CiG]

I realised yesterday that I haven't seen a single Gosling film.

I do like Leto in Requiem for a Dream though.

 

[arg]

Both gosling and leto were boring as fuck for the most part in BR 2049

 

[no country for old wainds]

you haven't seen DRIVE? get on it yo, i would've thought it'd be up your street. it's a very '80s action/thriller.

that's the only one i'd really recommend though. aside from BR anyway

 

[CiG]

you haven't seen DRIVE? get on it yo, i would've thought it'd be up your street. it's a very '80s action/thriller.

Okay man will do. I think I've been aggressively recommended that film a few times by my buddy actually.

I've heard good things about La La Land and The Nice Guys trailer appeals to my taste in modern comedy but I've just not risked the price of the DVDs yet. Most of his stuff seems quite new and so it's all still basically full price.

The Slaughter Rule, The Believer and The United States of Leland are all films I've had written down to find for awhile, they all look really interesting and have all been talked up by people I know. Have you seen any of them?

He also directed that Lost River film which looks interesting I guess.

 

[CiG]

 

[no country for old wainds]

Okay man will do. I think I've been aggressively recommended that film a few times by my buddy actually.

I've heard good things about La La Land and The Nice Guys trailer appeals to my taste in modern comedy but I've just not risked the price of the DVDs yet. Most of his stuff seems quite new and so it's all still basically full price.

The Slaughter Rule, The Believer and The United States of Leland are all films I've had written down to find for awhile, they all look really interesting and have all been talked up by people I know. Have you seen any of them?

He also directed that Lost River film which looks interesting I guess.

i don't really like LA LA LAND but yeah THE NICE GUYS is alright if you're into that kind of sleazy sun-baked LA comic noir thing. it's the KISS KISS BANG BANG guy if you've seen that. i think those movies are kinda tryhard sometimes but they have their moments, i laughed plenty. i infinitely prefer INHERENT VICE for that kinda thing though.

haven't seen any of those actually, or LOST RIVER.

 

[CiG]

i don't really like LA LA LAND

You either love or hate a musical so the fact that you're more in the middle, dispassionate range towards it instantly makes me want to avoid it.

but yeah THE NICE GUYS is alright if you're into that kind of sleazy sun-baked LA comic noir thing. it's the KISS KISS BANG BANG guy if you've seen that.

I haven't actually seen that but I know the director is doing the next Predator film, which I don't know whether to laugh or cry about.

i think those movies are kinda tryhard sometimes but they have their moments, i laughed plenty. i infinitely prefer INHERENT VICE for that kinda thing though.

Yeah I agree, I don't put much import into them, I mostly enjoy them for moments when I want to switch off and laugh at low-rent dumb shit. I'm a huge Superbad/Pineapple Express fan.

I need to see Inherent Vice.