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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Movie thread
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Tukai
Shipmate
# 12960
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Pine Marten:
quote:
Originally posted by Sparrow:
Has anyone seen Paddington 2 yet? I'm longing to see it.
Yes - it's lovely, very funny, and Hugh Grant is wonderful. Go and see it ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
Paddington 2 opened in Australia this week - prime cinema season, since cinemas are air-conditioned and it's b--- hot outside. I saw it with 2 grandchildren and we all enjoyed it. It includes some laugh out loud slapstick, but is never too childish. At least as good as #1. HUgh Grant hams it beautifully, but my favourite [minor] character was the literary rubbish collector.
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A government that panders to the worst instincts of its people degrades the whole country for years to come.
Posts: 594 | From: Oz | Registered: Sep 2007
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
Best In Show.
Mockumentary from the year 2000, by Christopher Guest, who also did This Is Spinal Tap(which I've never seen), and featuring some of the actors who were involved with that.
I gather this got really good reviews, though for the most part, I found the targets of the satire to be pretty low-hanging fruit, even by the standards of 17 years ago. Preening dog show participants, avaracious yuppies, foppish gay couples etc. The kind of stuff that probably last seemed cutting-edge circa 1986 or so. Then again, the average age of the participants was probably about 55.
Fred Willard as the clueless sportscaster covering the dog-show was probably the funniest part. There are a few other well-put together jokes and tropes, but the whole thing never really comes together. (Again, I'm apparently a minority on this.)
[ 25. December 2017, 22:30: Message edited by: Stetson ]
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
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RuthW
liberal "peace first" hankie squeezer
# 13
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Posted
I have a friend whose mother is a big muckety-muck in the American dog show circuit -- he says "Best in Show" is pretty much a documentary. And I'm 55, dangit! ![[Paranoid]](graemlins/paranoid.gif)
I saw "Ladybird" last week, and absolutely loved it. It's a coming of age film about a girl's senior year of high school as she's trying to navigate the ending of girlhood and the beginning of adulthood -- trying to figure out what makes someone a real friend, what she wants in a boyfriend, and how to deal with her mother, with whom she has a conflict-heavy though loving relationship. The performances are amazing, especially Laurie Metcalf's as the mother.
Posts: 24453 | From: La La Land | Registered: Apr 2001
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
quote:
And I'm 55, dangit! [Paranoid]
No offense intended, as I am six years away from 55(and apparently being old enough to move into my mother's seniors residence).
I can acknowledge that Best In Show might be particualrly appreciated by people in the culture it spoofs. Sorta like how everything I've heard about Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You sounds like just shopworn gags about Catholicism, but my devout, convent-educated mother thought it was was fairly true to life.
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I have the power...Lucifer is lord!
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
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Twilight
Puddleglum's sister
# 2832
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Stetson:
Best In Show.
Fred Willard as the clueless sportscaster covering the dog-show was probably the funniest part.
When the movie first came out, Joe Garagiola had been the clueless color commentator along side the expert at the Westminster Dog Show for several years. Willard's parody of him was so spot on I laughed till I cried. I don't think it's a coincidence that Joe never did another show.
Posts: 6817 | Registered: May 2002
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Twilight:
quote:
Originally posted by Stetson:
Best In Show.
Fred Willard as the clueless sportscaster covering the dog-show was probably the funniest part.
When the movie first came out, Joe Garagiola had been the clueless color commentator along side the expert at the Westminster Dog Show for several years. Willard's parody of him was so spot on I laughed till I cried. I don't think it's a coincidence that Joe never did another show.
Thank you, I did not know that. Does put the joke in some context.
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
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Robert Armin
All licens'd fool
# 182
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Posted
Tonight I finally watched I Robot and was very disappointed. Asimov's stories were clever because they obeyed the Three Laws of Robotics. This quoted them - and ignored them.
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Keeping fit was an obsession with Fr Moity .... He did chin ups in the vestry, calisthenics in the pulpit, and had developed a series of Tai-Chi exercises to correspond with ritual movements of the Mass. The Antipope Robert Rankin
Posts: 8927 | From: In the pack | Registered: May 2001
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Gill H
Shipmate
# 68
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Posted
I find the 'Best In Show' type films clever rather than laugh-out-loud funny. I am just about old enough (and, thanks to a Joan Baez-loving teacher, enough of a folkie) to get most of the jokes in 'A Mighty Wind', which I find funnier.
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*sigh* We can’t all be Alan Cresswell.
- Lyda Rose
Posts: 9313 | From: London | Registered: May 2001
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rolyn
Shipmate
# 16840
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
Christopher Nolan stripped most of the carnage of the real Dunkirk in order to tell stories. The result is a war film for a broader audience.
Like most films of this nature, don't look to it as an history, but history adjacent.
A major negative for me was the score. Whilst Hans Zimmer didn't drive the viewers into shrieking madness as he did in Intersteller, the Sheppard tone is overused. Though this might be under Nolan's direction.
Just watched it on DVD, (in 2 sittings).
Agree on the 'history adjacent' factor. I guess it was deliberate and not accidental to use a modern train carriage interior, modern frigates plus clean looking small boats.
Such films are not made to satisfy history buffs, they aim to connect pivotal historical events with a modern audience.
I'm sure many viewers, like myself, braced themselves for the oft used blood/guts reality shock yet came to realise this isn’t an imperative when conveying the emotion of such an event.
And yes the music, while haunting, was a little over-egged.
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Change is the only certainty of existence
Posts: 3206 | From: U.K. | Registered: Dec 2011
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RuthW
liberal "peace first" hankie squeezer
# 13
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Stetson:
quote:
And I'm 55, dangit! [Paranoid]
No offense intended, as I am six years away from 55(and apparently being old enough to move into my mother's seniors residence).
No offense taken! Just feeling a bit old. And
Today I saw "Call Me by Your Name" -- one of the most exquisite and moving films I've seen in a long time.
Posts: 24453 | From: La La Land | Registered: Apr 2001
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Gill H
Shipmate
# 68
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Posted
Agree about the music in Dunkirk. However, I felt that it was deliberately being used almost as a character in the film. Every time Mark Rylance's little boat appeared, we would get a change of chord and I'd think "Oooh! That's pinched from 'Nimrod'!" And sure enough, at the right time, they used Nimrod in all its heart-swelling glory.
There was so little dialogue that I assumed the prominence of the music was a deliberate choice.
I found the telling of the story in different timeframes a little confusing until I realised what was happening (the initial captions hadn't made it clear for me).
However, my dad absolutely loved the whole thing. He's 85 and hasn't been to the cinema in years, so I had taken him as a treat. We'd managed to sort out a hearing aid loop but it didn't seem to work - but fortunately it wasn't really needed!
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*sigh* We can’t all be Alan Cresswell.
- Lyda Rose
Posts: 9313 | From: London | Registered: May 2001
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rolyn
Shipmate
# 16840
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Gill H:
Agree about the music in Dunkirk. However, I felt that it was deliberately being used almost as a character in the film. Every time Mark Rylance's little boat appeared, we would get a change of chord and I'd think "Oooh! That's pinched from 'Nimrod'!" And sure enough, at the right time, they used Nimrod in all its heart-swelling glory.
There was so little dialogue that I assumed the prominence of the music was a deliberate choice.
Good point. The use of the music could well have been more subtle than I first realised. Might also have been the reason I was a touch watery-eyed throughout much of it ![[Hot and Hormonal]](icon_redface.gif)
With former war movies/action films the music is used in a completely different way, normally for dramatic effect.
The whole production was an ambitious and intriguing experiment, one which I look forward to re-viewing in the future. The split time thing passed me by too so will take more care in looking out for that.
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Change is the only certainty of existence
Posts: 3206 | From: U.K. | Registered: Dec 2011
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Laurelin
Shipmate
# 17211
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by leo:
Call me by your Name - beautiful scenary but self-indulgent - and they cut the ending of the book.
I've not read the book (although I intend to) but that ending was cinematic perfection. ![[Cool]](cool.gif)
Call Me By Your Name is the best film I've seen all year. Make that one of the best films I've ever seen, period.
quote:
Originally posted by RuthW:
Today I saw "Call Me by Your Name" -- one of the most exquisite and moving films I've seen in a long time.
Word. I ADORE this film. Gorgeous, timeless, deeply moving love story. It's still selling out in London. I've seen it quite a few times now and there are often people sobbing quietly during the closing credits.
Give young Timothée Chalamet all the Oscars NOW. Armie Hammer was also superb.
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"I fear that to me Siamese cats belong to the fauna of Mordor." J.R.R. Tolkien
Posts: 545 | From: The Shire | Registered: Jul 2012
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
Julie And Julia.
Another film that simultaneously narrates two technically unconnected stories, neither of which is really strong enough to stand on its own, seemingly in the hope that the juxtposition will produce some sort of redemptive synergy.
Though this time around, it kind of works, even though neither the story of Julia Child writing her cookbook in Paris, nor a Millennial blogger cooking her way through the same tome, has much stand-alone appeal for this particular viewer. As someone who first came to the internet around the same time that the blogger's story is set, that story appealed to my sense of recent-events nostalgia(which for some reason, can often be the most powerful kind). And the stuff about cookery in 1950s Paris was made slightly more endurable by references(however fleeting) to the cultural and political tensions surrounding Julia and her husband.
SPOILER
I also appreciated that the script didn't try to sugar-coat some of the rougher aspects of the story, eg. that the elderly Julia Child took a decidedly negative view of the blog. This actually makes the blogger's continued admiration for Child all the more noteworthy.
I believe this was the last film of Nora Ephron, a director I quite like.
[ 08. January 2018, 14:20: Message edited by: Stetson ]
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
The movie was also one of the earliest examples of a blog making the leap to the big screen. As I recall she was posting it on Slate.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
The movie was also one of the earliest examples of a blog making the leap to the big screen. As I recall she was posting it on Slate.
Salon, actually. But yeah, along with The Social Network(which is set in a slightly later time period), it's a film that nicely captures the whole feel of that era and milieu.
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I have the power...Lucifer is lord!
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
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Gill H
Shipmate
# 68
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Posted
I remember watching that film on TV one evening, and Hugal being inspired to rush into the kitchen straight afterwards and create something amazing. The power of suggestion!
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*sigh* We can’t all be Alan Cresswell.
- Lyda Rose
Posts: 9313 | From: London | Registered: May 2001
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Tukai
Shipmate
# 12960
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Posted
Height of summer here, so air-conditioned cinema very popular. So far, we've seen "All the money in the World" and "Just to be sure".
The first is about JP Getty, at the time the richest and most miserly man in the world, who refuses to pay any ransom when his grandson is kidnapped in Italy (in the 1970s). Worth seeing.
The second is a French rom-com (of sorts) about a middle-aged man whose DNA test (for medical reasons) tells him that the man he thinks of as his father is not his biological father. Through a series of chances, he then falls in love with a lady who turns out to be the daughter of the old man who the tests suggest is in fact this biological father. Again, worth seeing, so long as you don't mind subtitles (which I don't).
(Spoiler:
the old man turns out to be good company but not the biological father either, which leaves the romance open to blossom , though after the film ends.)
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A government that panders to the worst instincts of its people degrades the whole country for years to come.
Posts: 594 | From: Oz | Registered: Sep 2007
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
Tukai:
How much screen time does Christopher Plummer have? I've been wondering how impressive a feat it really was that he was able to prep for the role and memorize all his lines on short notice. (Not that it isn't at least to some degree impressive even if it's a short stint on the screen).
As for myself, the other night I watched Mysterious Skin, and I'm thinking I might be a little late to the party on this one, since it came out well over a decade ago, and I gather made a big impression, but I don't think I'd ever heard of it before last week.
Yeah, it was pretty good, very atmospheric, though at times that seemed like it might have been covering for a somewhat cobbled-together plotline(which is basically fine with me). The film was released in 2004, but the themes(sexual abuse, repressed memory, UFO abductions, all established within the first ten minutes or so) were so quintessentially 80s/90s, and the period detail(again 80s/90s) so sharp, I was wondering if it was meant as pastiche.
Hope it's not too much of a spoiler to observe that the revelation at the end wasn't exactly a shocker, and could probably be guessed by anyone familair with the archetypcal plotline. But that's only a mild disappointment, if that.
Also, very nice to look at, which makes an enjoyably unsettling contrast with the dark and often disturbing material.
[ 15. January 2018, 15:12: Message edited by: Stetson ]
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
Christopher Plummer is on screen for nearly 20 minutes.
There is already talk of him being nominated for an Oscar for his performance and critics are universally in awe of his portrayel of J.Paul Getty, especially those few who are old enough to remember the person.
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by leo:
Brilliant film - though the book is better.
Are you referring to Mysterious Skin? If so, I did get the impression that some of the motifs from the book were truncated for the movie, giving it a bit of a disjointed feel.
SPOILERS
Especially the UFO stuff. It's evident that the kid is using UFOs as a screen-memory for having been raped, but it's not quite clear how that's happening. For example, it seems that he and his family DID see a UFO in their backyward, but(unless I missed something), that sighting is never explained away.
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I have the power...Lucifer is lord!
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by leo:
The UFOs are from he author's real life and the book spells this out better.
Most interesting is the non-judgmentalism shows towards the abuser.
SPOILERS
You mean the coach? The film(don't know about the book) seemed to be trying to be avoid the usual Hollywood melodrama approach to pedophilia, but I did think we were meant to understand that his actions inflicted serious harm upon the two boys.
And I noticed that the music changed to somewhat more sinister tones when the interactions with the coach progressed from playing to abuse.
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I have the power...Lucifer is lord!
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
Saw "The Post" today. Worth seeing. And a nice little trip to the 70s.
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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")
Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001
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Trudy Scrumptious
BBE Shieldmaiden
# 5647
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Golden Key:
Saw "The Post" today. Worth seeing. And a nice little trip to the 70s.
Yes, I loved The Post. Also great nostalgia trip for anyone who grew up around printshops and newspapers, as I did. The scenes of them setting type alone were worth the price of admission, although of course the story and acting were great as well.
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Books and things.
I lied. There are no things. Just books.
Posts: 7428 | From: Closer to Paris than I am to Vancouver | Registered: Mar 2004
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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
Yes. Going in, I had forgotten they would've used hand-set type. That was fun--as were the rotary phones! I sometimes miss that rhythmic way of dialing, and finding just the right time to let go of one number, and go on to the next.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Trudy, you might like Terry Pratchett's novel "The Truth", about the first newspaper in Ankh-Morpork. Has much of the nitty-gritty of putting out a paper.
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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")
Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
Two film reviews that I feel mildly embarrassed about posting to follow the last one.
Jumanji:Welcome to the Jungle and Justice League
Mild spoilers for the perspicacious.
Annoying how this software eliminates returns, isn't it?
Necessitating these irrelevant lines of text.
As annoying for me as it is for you.
Trust me.
Anyway, Jumanji is a fun film. Not a great one, barely even good in some ways, but very fun. Which is all it pretends to be. An adventure film based on video games. It does poke fun at them, but not so much from an insiders POV that an outsider cannot enjoy. The action is fun and purposefully OTT. The plot is very predictable and nearly every scene is telegraphed. But, come on, that is what it is supposed to be. Is it a worthy sequel to the original? No, but please, Robin Williams, so it never could have been. It goes in a different direction. My one complaint is that some of the actors went too far into parody in attempting to portray teens. Too far over the top.
Was this film worth an attempt at a review? No.
Is it worth watching? Yes. Just do not expect too much.
Now Justice League. I wanted to love the film. No, not just because of Gal Godot ![[Razz]](tongue.gif) . I actually like Affleck's Batman and the teasers of Momoa's Aquaman, Miller's Flash and Fisher's Cyborg. And there lay my biggest disappointment with this film. The actors were fine, Miller was adorable, and they felt as if they were walking on from completed origins. The writing, on the other hand, did not. It is difficult to convey a fully-fledged person and their conflicts without writing vignettes at least, but it can be done. Just not by anyone DC hires.
The exception is Affleck's Batman. He truly does carry is backstory through the film and Affleck is well suited to this role. I say this as someone who is not his biggest fan.
Worth watching, yes. And on a big screen, just not for full price.
Caveat: I expected little going in, so wasn't disappointed when that is what I received.
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
It drives me mad because the writing is =easy= to fix=. You can do that with Word. No actors necessary! How can they go to shooting without a solid script? It's madness.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Oscar the Grouch
Adopted Cascadian
# 1916
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Jane R:
I have seen Paddington 2 and it is very nearly as good as the first film, something which you can't say of many sequels.
Paddington 2 has finally reached North America.
Wonderful film which is even better than P1. Hugh Grant should get an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor (something Phoenix Buchanan would never get!). A genuine "feel good" movie. What is probably most impressive is that the writers and Ben Whishaw have managed to do an amazing job in portraying Paddington perfectly. He is just as he appears in the books.
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Faradiu, dundeibáwa weyu lárigi weyu
Posts: 3871 | From: Gamma Quadrant, just to the left of Galifrey | Registered: Dec 2001
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
Weekend roundup:
Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland.
I had put off watching this for a while, because I am NOT a Burton fan(except for a couple of his more realistic films). And this was even worse than I had anticipated. I get the impression that someone at Disney wanted to do a pseudo-feminist, sword-and-sorcerized version of Wizard Of Oz, but couldn't get the rights.
Flags Of Our Fathers
Clint Eastwood's somewhat iconoclastic take on the famous flag-raising photo from World War II. Geenrally(if slightly stereotypically) reverential in its treatment of common soldiers, quite cyncial in its view of the the politicization and commercialization of patritoic imagery, as well as of heroism itself. Recommended, if only for its interesting history on the creation of that photograph.
[ 21. January 2018, 13:58: Message edited by: Stetson ]
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
Downsizing.
The premise is is pretty much a gimmick(ie. a guy gets shrunk down in size as a socially-conscious lifestyle choice), and doesn't even really do much with the gimmick. Once the main character gets shrunk and moves into an eco-friendly community for "little people", it becomes basically a story about a guy living in an affluent, eco-friendly gated community, with the possibilities emerging from his new physical state going largely unexploited.
I'd guess that the reason for that is, the writers soon realized that shrinking a guy to the size of a matchbox is useful mostly for advancing slapstick scenarios, but they had more high-minded aspirations than that, so more-or-less abandoned direct engagement with the original premise.
Definitely the weakest effort I've seen so far from Alexander Payne, who should probably stick to realistic comedies from now on.
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
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Ian Climacus
Liturgical Slattern
# 944
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Posted
Just back from seeing "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri".
As a fan of Frances McDormand she did not disappoint: she was amazing. I also loved "In Bruges" so having Martin McDonagh as the director made me want to see it.
Flawed and damaged characters; over the top at times; dark, black humour: the film had it all and more for me. An interesting array of characters, pain and suffering interspersed with joy, great filming and locations -- I really enjoyed it.
Posts: 7800 | From: On the border | Registered: Jul 2001
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leo
Shipmate
# 1458
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ian Climacus:
Just back from seeing "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri".
As a fan of Frances McDormand she did not disappoint: she was amazing. I also loved "In Bruges" so having Martin McDonagh as the director made me want to see it.
Flawed and damaged characters; over the top at times; dark, black humour: the film had it all and more for me. An interesting array of characters, pain and suffering interspersed with joy, great filming and locations -- I really enjoyed it.
I saw that earlier this week.
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My Jewish-positive lectionary blog is at http://recognisingjewishrootsinthelectionary.wordpress.com/
My reviews at http://layreadersbookreviews.wordpress.com
Posts: 23198 | From: Bristol | Registered: Oct 2001
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Gill H
Shipmate
# 68
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Posted
Just back from Coco. Utterly beautiful, heartwrenching (thanks Pixar, you moved me to tears again) and fun film.
I think we were the only ones in the theatre who knew who Frida Kahlo was though!
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*sigh* We can’t all be Alan Cresswell.
- Lyda Rose
Posts: 9313 | From: London | Registered: May 2001
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Ian Climacus
Liturgical Slattern
# 944
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Posted
A hot day, so I stayed indoors watching one of several movies I bought with a gift card.
1972's "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" (Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie) was on a list of must-see films I came across and it is very much worth seeing. It concerns 6 well-off friends whose dinner plans are continually interrupted by increasingly bizarre events.
I didn't find the characters likeable, perhaps the point! as they seemed entitled and happy to look down on others, but the story was engaging, the script tight, the scenes well done and the ending suitably mysterious. Enjoyed it.
Posts: 7800 | From: On the border | Registered: Jul 2001
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
Just back from The Post, which is certainly timely and has a nice nod to All the president's men in it.
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Enoch
Shipmate
# 14322
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Posted
Have any Shipmates been to Darkest Hour?
I probably won't go to see it. He had his faults but for all that, Churchill was a great man. We owe a big debt to him. But patriotism, 'our finest hour', 'fighting them on the beaches' etc has become such a poisonous brew at the moment that I don't think I can face it.
Has anyone seen it? Are my fears irrational, or are they justified.
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Brexit wrexit - Sir Graham Watson
Posts: 7610 | From: Bristol UK(was European Green Capital 2015, now Ljubljana) | Registered: Nov 2008
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
Climacus wrote:
quote:
I didn't find the characters likeable, perhaps the point!
Yes, in Bunuel, people above a certain income level are usually shown in a less than complimentary light.
SPOILER
"If Mao said that, he didn't understand Freud at all."
SPOILER
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
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Ian Climacus
Liturgical Slattern
# 944
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Stetson:
Yes, in Bunuel, people above a certain income level are usually shown in a less than complimentary light.
Ah, thanks. They were rather unlikeable.
Will need to find more by Bunuel.
Posts: 7800 | From: On the border | Registered: Jul 2001
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
quote:
Will need to find more by Bunuel.
You can probably find his early films with Dali on YouTube, L'age D'or and Un Chien Andalou(they're more Daliesque than Bunuel's later stuff).
I'm guessing you could find Simon Of The Desert as well, which if I recall correctly is a satrical metaphor for religion. It's only 45 minutes long, and has a pretty funny denoument.
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
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Pine Marten
Shipmate
# 11068
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Posted
Ooh no - that horrible eyeball scene gave me nightmares for years when I saw it when I was a child.... ![[Ultra confused]](graemlins/confused2.gif) ![[Eek!]](eek.gif) ![[Waterworks]](graemlins/bawling.gif)
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Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead. - Oscar Wilde
Posts: 1731 | From: Isle of Albion | Registered: Feb 2006
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Pine Marten:
Ooh no - that horrible eyeball scene gave me nightmares for years when I saw it when I was a child....
Interesting. I had already heard about that scene before I watched the film(as an adult), so I wasn't shocked or even really disturbed.
The baby-carriage scene from Battleship Potemkin, on the other hand, did give me the creeps, when I woke up early one morning and turned on the TV to see it playing(odd that I happened to turn it on right at that scene).
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
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Nicolemr
Shipmate
# 28
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Posted
I just showed for a group of library patrons a rather slight little animated movie called Tock Dog. It was decidedly so-so, though it had a few cute moments. It's about a Tibetan mastiff who wants to be a rock star.
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On pilgrimage in the endless realms of Cyberia, currently traveling by ship. Now with live journal!
Posts: 11803 | From: New York City "The City Carries On" | Registered: May 2001
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Pangolin Guerre
Shipmate
# 18686
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Posted
I saw Darkest Hour, and wasn't mad keen on it. It was a visually dark film, rather overdoing the "atmosphere" in the way it was shot., and rather oppressive for it. The House of Commons looks like it was shot during a blackout. Oldman does a decent impersonation of Churchill, but didn't give me much of a glimpse into Churchill's psychology. As well, the tube scene was an unnecessary fictional distraction. A bit too much of "a little touch of Harry in the night." B-.
Call Me By Your Name was just beautiful. Oddly (or perhaps not, given my age) I most closely identified with the father. Hard-won but elegantly worn wisdom in that man. Little happens by way of event, but it builds so gracefully toward its last 15 minutes. Does mother know? I want to know, does she know about what? Father? Son? (And, in my experience, mothers always know, even if they refuse to recognise that they know - but that's for another thread.)
Lady Bird. What? A mother-daughter film in which the two women are not entirely likeable, no leavening quirkiness - in fact, down right frustrating sometimes. How the Hell did that get made? No car chase? No redeeming boyfriend? Just trudging on through life. Unusual emotional honesty for an American film, at least one getting this kind of distribution. I have to see it again. I think that I'll like it even more.
[ 01. February 2018, 00:22: Message edited by: Pangolin Guerre ]
Posts: 758 | From: 30 arpents de neige | Registered: Nov 2016
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
quote:
It was a visually dark film, rather overdoing the "atmosphere" in the way it was shot., and rather oppressive for it. The House of Commons looks like it was shot during a blackout.
I hate that in films. It's usually used to inject artificial gravitas into the storyline("Ooh, dim lighting, must be something important going on"), and you get confused as to whether it's intentional, or if there's something wrong with the physical condiction of the film or the device you're watching it on.
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I have the power...Lucifer is lord!
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
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Gracious rebel
Rainbow warrior
# 3523
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Posted
Not exactly a movie, but a TV series I have just watched on DVD. It was shown last year on BBC 'Broken' starring Sean Bean as a Catholic priest in a gritty Northern setting.
Not an easy watch. There were days when I couldn't face watching another episode as I knew it would sting too much.
Realistic, messy, we see the priest, ministering to parishioners who find themselves in all sorts of tragic situations, while fighting his own demons. Absolutely amazing. As a portrayal of what it truly means (and costs) to try to offer genuine Christlike pastoral care in the real world, I don't think it has been bettered.
How did I manage to miss this when it was on TV last year? Anybody else seen it? What do the Catholics here think?
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Fancy a break beside the sea in Suffolk? Visit my website
Posts: 4413 | From: Suffolk UK | Registered: Nov 2002
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
We went to see The Shape of Watger yesterday. Highly recommended -- I think that science fiction films have finally moved beyond action-adventure or horror to art.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
If you can find The Insult playing anywhere near you, drop everything and go and watch it, and remember you saw it here first when it wins an Oscar for best foreign-language film.
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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