Recently Watched Films

[Noj]

Religulous - I thought this was funny and I agree with Maher across the board.

This film was ruined for me by the preachy monologue at the end, which basically looked like the end of an episode of Jerry Springer. As if the material hadn't already spoken for itsself, and the audience was too stupid to understand what they had just been watching for the last 90 minutes. Maybe it's an American thing

Hey now! Keep those punches above the belt. It's more a Bill Maher thing than anything else.

[grisha]

larry jordan - sophie's place

[leroysghost]

Charles Vidor - Gilda (1946)

not really the film noir that it gets labeled as, instead it's one of those "sadistic romance with nazi smokescreen" flicks a la Casablanca and Notorious, except in this one the melodrama is much more blatant and there is a happy ending.

great one liners, great songs, and buckets full of homo-eroticism

[jon abbey]

Win Wenders-Tokyo-Ga (1985)

A for the idea, C- for the execution. Wenders seems to be under the impression that Ozu's Tokyo has entirely disappeared, but his quest is very superficial. all of Japan wasn't like the world Ozu portrays, he focused on one very specific kind of people/family. it's nice that he did some interviews with prominent Ozu collaborators, and he's obviously incredibly respectful towards Ozu's work, but his take on then "modern-day" Tokyo/Japan is really cliched and superficial.

[fearandpanic]

Across 110th Street (1972)

[Dohol]

Win Wenders-Tokyo-Ga (1985)

A for the idea, C- for the execution. Wenders seems to be under the impression that Ozu's Tokyo has entirely disappeared, but his quest is very superficial. all of Japan wasn't like the world Ozu portrays, he focused on one very specific kind of people/family. it's nice that he did some interviews with prominent Ozu collaborators, and he's obviously incredibly respectful towards Ozu's work, but his take on then "modern-day" Tokyo/Japan is really cliched and superficial.

Agreed.

[jon abbey]

Across 110th Street (1972)

just trying to score...

[Jesse]

I was stoked when I got a copy of Tokyo-Ga, very disappointed after viewing.

I HEART Yaphet Kotto (especially in the overlooked, over-the-top Paul Schrader film, Blue Collar-the crew is Kotto, Pryor & Keitel).

[leroysghost]

Tokyo-Ga, another example of semi-embarrassing criterion bonus material

Edit, sort of related:

i just saw Sans Soleil again, love that movie

how does the rest of Marker's work stand up against La Jetée & Sans Soleil?

[mudd]

haven't seen any of them myself, but : http://ihatemusic.noquam.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2859

m

[Gaendaal]

Mesrine: L'instinct de mort/Killer Instinct and Mesrine: L'ennemi public No. 1/Public Enemy No. 1 (2008, Dir. Jean-François Richet)



I managed to catch a special double-bill of these films last night, Public Enemy No. 1 isn't officialy out in the UK until later this month, and really enjoyed them.

Based on Mesrine's own prison memoirs it's obvious that the story is biased in his favour, but it's great to watch a nicely paced story told well. Vincent Cassell is simply amazing in the title role, too.

[fearandpanic]

Bamako (2006)

A powerful indictment of the World Bank, the IMF, and the devastation of Africa that results from pursuing internationally coordinated neoliberalism and neocolonialism. It's staged in documentary style as a trial in a courtyard, in which representatives of Mali (including a griot who sings a lament felt but not understood by the Francophone court) and of Africa in general deliver their testimonies, which run throughout the film. Families and workers continue their everyday lives around it, sometimes listening in or participating, sometimes growing tired of it and being more concerned with their personal affairs, with ways of distracting themselves from the tedium of permanent unemployment, or with their work dyeing textiles, which provides the film both with radiant colours and a with symbol for Mali's ability to provide for itself, separate from Western "charity." Directed by Abderrahmane Sissako.

[grisha]

Anvil! The Story of Anvil

great. comes highly recommended.

[Salty Swift]

Anvil! The Story of Anvil

great. comes highly recommended.

Homeboys!! I literally grew up with these guys and their music...
Thanks for the reminder Grisha!
Is this on DVD yet? It's been getting a lot of positive press since its release.
I'm glad their music is back in the spotlight....

[p.t]

UZUMAKI!

[Dan Warburton]

Alfred Hitchcock, Notorious, 1946

Saw this on TCM in a Holiday Inn in Albuquerque NM on Sunday night. Nice!

[leroysghost]

Robert Wise - Born to Kill (1947)

Trevor and Tierney, all scowls and eyebrows, go a fair deal over the top in places, but if anything that just makes the proceedings more enjoyable (plus they both play murderous psychopaths, so it never really goes too far out of character).

nice supporting cast as well, Elisha Cook Jr., Esther Howard, and especially Walter Slezak are all great here.

[Dan Warburton]

Steven Spielberg, Duel, 1971

Gets better and better each time. Really beautifully paced thriller, alternating "fast" and "slow" movements to perfection - the opening chase, the scene in the diner (great use of voice over interior monologue), the school bus (comedy? those leering kids remind me of Peckinpah - child as father to the man, cruel little fuckers), the great escape, the snooze by the train tracks complete with false alarm wake up call, the final climb and showdown - gradual transition from banal soap opera (though the radio snippets at the beginning about the man having a hard time considering himself as "head of the family" are significant) to Hitchcockian thriller par excellence (complete with Bernard Herrmann soundalike Psycho string slashes). Great stuff.

[Dohol]

Steven Spielberg, Duel, 1971

Gets better and better each time. Really beautifully paced thriller, alternating "fast" and "slow" movements to perfection - the opening chase, the scene in the diner (great use of voice over interior monologue), the school bus (comedy? those leering kids remind me of Peckinpah - child as father to the man, cruel little fuckers), the great escape, the snooze by the train tracks complete with false alarm wake up call, the final climb and showdown - gradual transition from banal soap opera (though the radio snippets at the beginning about the man having a hard time considering himself as "head of the family" are significant) to Hitchcockian thriller par excellence (complete with Bernard Herrmann soundalike Psycho string slashes). Great stuff.

I love Duel.

But I've only seen the US television version ( it's original version ) so I've never seen the schoolbus/traintrack scenes...

I remember seeing it for the first time in 1971 ( it's premier ) and thinking "this movie is BAAAAD..." It definitely raised my hopes for the future of television..( hopes dashed I'm afraid )

Props to Richard Matheson for the screenplay..

[walto]

Richard Matheson is indeed a hot shit.