What was the last film you watched?

[Seaviewer]

Rocketman (2019)
Elton John biopic. This is an unusual film - befitting, I suppose, the persona of its subject. It moves from fairly standard dramatic exposition to Hollywood style musical sequences and Ken Russell style surrealism without taking a breath. Some bits work better than others, but it ends up being a rather emotional ride for all that.

 

[Rove]

Just brilliant.​

 

[Biggie]

Star Wars Rogue One.

In a galaxy in some corner of the universe, a plucky band of space dwelling being's and that find common ground in thwarting their shared foe.

Thankfully the Force is on their side and ensured that the engineer tasked with building the Death Star under duress never had his work peer reviewed by his malevolent overseers. Get over that hurdle and the pretty lady, handsome rebel alliance soldier, blind ninja and pessimistic robot finding a win over Darth et al, all rather enjoyable.

Frankly Rogue One is just a fun movie with humor, action, and sci-fi gold.

The star of the show... the blind ninja wrecking up Storm Troopers with nowt but The Force and his cane.

 

[Willie Oleson]

FALL (2022)



Talk about taking Covid-rules to the extreme (or had the pandemic already ended in 2022?)
"Fear reaches new heights" only applies to the viewer, not the fearless characters who willingly ignore all the bad signs and take a huge risk in what seems a rather unprofessional climbing activity, not to mention the stunts they perform in order to get more likes for their youtube video. It simply defies all common sense and that's why FALL looks like nothing more than a theme park attraction made into a film.
It sure does the trick in the first part (going up) and I wouldn't have the courage to watch it in 3-D, but once things go wrong and the film becomes a survival story it loses a lot of that effect. I guess because the characters take the fear away from me.
Oddly enough this proves that the film works best in its most stupid moments (and wasn't there any risk of severe sunburn?)

The many warnings are almost comical: "no trespassing - danger of DEATH!", the vultures (admittedly, very well used throughout the film), the rattling construction and the cliché close-ups of screws unscrewing à la Final Destination.
There is an attempt to inject some logic into the story and it certainly helps that the characters are likeable enough, and perhaps it all connects with the suicide attempt in the first part of the film.
There is a surprise twist that wasn't a surprise anymore because I had already seen it on youtube, but it still looked creepy and dramatic enough.
The ending was too abrupt for my taste and I would have liked to see how she got rescued. By helicopter?

I have no idea how the film was made but I'm pretty sure it wasn't filmed "on location", as it were. It must have been a lot work to edit the actors into the special effects, or vice versa.
I'm not sure how to rate a film like this. For the most part it's nothing but unadulterated stupid fun, and I just happened to be in the mood for it.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

FALL (2022)

I'd forgotten about this one. Ome watched it last year, and we spoke a little about it then (and I drew a similar theme park conclusion just from the trailer).

One of the hardest films I've watched in a long time. I wasn't that interested in doing it, but as the story moved on, I found my toes curling and my anxiety levels reaching new highs.

Going off this, it looks like the cinematic equivalent of adrenaline-rush fairground rides designed to give you motion sickness and heart palpitations (and I've never been able to do those either).

I bet it's really fun to watch if you're into it, but I got dizzy and had to look away during an aerial sequence in one of the newer Spider-Man films, so I'm not sure how I'd be with an hour and a half of it. I never used to be bothered by heights and probably could have watched this without a flicker fifteen years ago. Age seems to have levelled things out though, and now I can understand what acrophobia is all about.

The poster and that tagline do look very retro. Kind of like an updated version of a Seventies disaster film.

This is still an "I'd love to watch it but fear it would give me nausea" film.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Ome watched it last year, and we spoke a little about it then

Yes, I remember that now *flashbacks in sepia*

This is still an "I'd love to watch it but fear it would give me nausea" film.

Somehow I thought you had already watched it.
I had sweaty palms, like I said mostly during the first part, and it must have been quite an experience in the cinema even in 2-D.
It's doable if you watch it on a standard screen but then again I have no idea how big your screen is. Just make sure to keep enough distance.
Just checked the running time on IMDB - 107 minutes?? That's not at all what it felt like.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Yes, I remember that now *flashbacks in sepia*

Somehow I thought you had already watched it.

I had to think twice about it. And even now I'm doubting myself again. It wouldn't be the first time I forgot an entire film.

It's doable if you watch it on a standard screen but then again I have no idea how big your screen is.

Well, it's big enough. But then again it's fairly standard by the standards of some "take up the entire wall" TVs I see in people's homes when I walk round at dusk. Not that I make a habit of eyeing up other people's televisions but when something is huge and moving it kind of catches the eye.

Just make sure to keep enough distance

Those sound like wise words. Perhaps I will watch it for real one of these days.

Just checked the running time on IMDB - 107 minutes?? That's not at all what it felt like.

Was that in a good way? As in... it felt shorter than it actually was?

 

[Willie Oleson]

But then again it's fairly standard by the standards of some "take up the entire wall" TVs I see in people's homes when I walk round at dusk

I don't understand the reason for those mega TVs. It only means that you need to increase the space between screen and sofa, and as a result the screen becomes "smaller" again. And with every detail enlarged to the max I assume it only works for super-ultra HDK screenings. That's not going to work for my Falcon Crest and Paper Dolls DVDs.

Was that in a good way?

Definitely in a good way.

 

[Willie Oleson]

THE COOK, THE THIEF, HIS WIFE & HER LOVER (1989)



An excess in food, vulgarity and sensuality presented in various breathtaking sets, and it's precisely the combinations of havoc & ceremony and glamour & kink that I love in Ken Russell's films.
Michael Gambon is wonderfully entertaining as the opinionated villain and Helen Mirren plays it fearless like she always does. Several characters get shoved around or worse and there were many moments that made me laugh out loud.
This is the third Peter Greenaway film I've seen and I also love The Baby Of Mâcon that tackles the theme of cult and religion in mind-bogglingly gorgeous sets and mixes film, play and quasi-reality in a most bizarre way.
I thought The Draughtsman's Contract was so-so but maybe I'll rewatch it sometime, and I don't know much about the other films so that could be hit or miss.

 

[Willie Oleson]

POSSESSION (1981)



Now this is what I call a fun Christmas movie for the whole family.

Filmed in 1980 by Andrzej Zulawski, two years after David Cronenberg's "dievorce" film The Brood, and starring a European cast, Possession takes on-screen extremity to the next level. And then some.
Not the story or imagery, the horror doesn't look disproportionately gruesome, it's what they made these actors do that makes this film unique.
I wouldn't even call it acting, or over-acting or great acting, it needs a verb that hasn't been invented yet, and apparently this was not without consequences for the two leads (Heinz Bennent is terrific as the lover who gets involved).

It doesn't show how the characters were before the story begins, it starts with a breakup seemingly caused by the wife's internal crisis. Perhaps it represents a moment in real-time - the historical significance of place and time, and the director's troubled state of mind courtesy of his own divorce - and what came before simply isn't relevant.
Sam Neill plays the husband who happens to be a spy (foreshadowing Reilly ?) but that job also ends at the very beginning, leaving the next mission for his surrogate.
That last part returns in the final act although I have no idea how to connect it.

If David Lynch and David Cronenberg and Lars von Trier and Gaspar Noé all fathered the same baby, it would be Possession. It's the end of everything!

Spanish import DVD without subtitles and sometimes I struggled with the non-native English dialogue, but I'm so glad I've finally watched it.

 

[Richard Channing]

POSSESSION (1981)

View attachment 55038

Now this is what I call a fun Christmas movie for the whole family.

Filmed in 1980 by Andrzej Zulawski, two years after David Cronenberg's "dievorce" film The Brood, and starring a European cast, Possession takes on-screen extremity to the next level. And then some.
Not the story or imagery, the horror doesn't look disproportionately gruesome, it's what they made these actors do that makes this film unique.
I wouldn't even call it acting, or over-acting or great acting, it needs a verb that hasn't been invented yet, and apparently this was not without consequences for the two leads (Heinz Bennent is terrific as the lover who gets involved).

It doesn't show how the characters were before the story begins, it starts with a breakup seemingly caused by the wife's internal crisis. Perhaps it represents a moment in real-time - the historical significance of place and time, and the director's troubled state of mind courtesy of his own divorce - and what came before simply isn't relevant.
Sam Neill plays the husband who happens to be a spy (foreshadowing Reilly ?) but that job also ends at the very beginning, leaving the next mission for his surrogate.
That last part returns in the final act although I have no idea how to connect it.

If David Lynch and David Cronenberg and Lars von Trier and Gaspar Noé all fathered the same baby, it would be Possession. It's the end of everything!

Spanish import DVD without subtitles and sometimes I struggled with the non-native English dialogue, but I'm so glad I've finally watched it.

That subway scene! Nobody could accuse Isabelle Adjani of not fully commiting to the role. She's mesmerising.

 

[Willie Oleson]

What is it about these crazy Isabelles? Adjani, Huppert and Rossellini - who'd win the battle?

 

[Toni]

What is it about these crazy Isabelles? Adjani, Huppert and Rossellini - who'd win the battle?

Poor Isabella R. is not a crazy Isabelle, not even an Isabelle. Besides she has the Goddess DNA of her mum Ingrid in her veins...

 

[Willie Oleson]

Poor Isabella R. is not a crazy Isabelle

JULIE & JULIA (2009)



Dammit, I should have done this as a foodie double feature with the Peter Greenaway film.
Julie & Julia played brilliantly by Amy Adams and Meryl Streep is a very wholesome and charming film but I was a little bit disappointed to find out it was based on real people.
It doesn't make the film less entertaining, it's just that it looks (well, looked) like great fiction. It's sort of like discovering that a great song is a coverversion.
Maybe I should also watch Peter Strickland's Flux Gourmet , I'm sure that'll be 100% fictional.

 

[Toni]

 

[Monzo]

JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG (1961)

The screenplay is impeccable and they get the very best out of the international cast. It does get a bit shouty here and there but the case kinda justifies it.
It took me a few minutes to understand the difference between the real English/American language and the spoken English language that actually represents German language (albeit with a strong European accent).
Of course, if they had included the ongoing translations for accuracy then the film would be twice as long, and it's interesting to see how they play different languages.
The German housekeeping couple are fantastic, they sort of embody the whole tragedy without saying anything about it and even avoid talking about it.
A very impressive film that doesn't look dated at all.

I'm currently reading Maximilian Schell's autobiography "I fly over dark valleys (Ich fliege über dunkle Täler)" and of course "Judgment at Nuremberg" is mentioned as well as some anecdotes with his co-stars, but what I found most interesting about Schell's memories of this movie was his enthusiasm for the actor Norbert Schiller, who played a waiter who only had a few sentences to say, including the word " Schwalbenwinkel (Swallow's corner)", which Spencer Tracy found very amusing. Anyway, from the few sentences Norbert Schiller said, for which he was not even credited, Maximilian Schell realized that he must be a good actor and learned that the Jewish Norbert Schiller was a respected theater actor and director before fleeing to the USA. In the US he only had small roles, but Maximilian Schell cast him in three films that he directed. Despite photos of Norbert Schiller, I don't remember him as waiter in "Judgment at Nuremberg", but maybe people who have seen the film recently still can.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Tonight was a child actors double feature.

PAPER MOON (1973)

You know what that is, scruples?

No, I don't know what that is. But if you've got them I sure bet they belong to somebody else.

Tatum is the youngest of the child actors, and the reason it's been sitting in my watch list is because I feared it would be awkwardly saccharine.
Thankfully it isn't and the tone of the film is light-hearted and funny but also consistent it what it tries to achieve, with just enough bitterness around the edges.
The supporting cast in mostly small roles has helped making this a vibrant and lovely film.


BUGSY MALONE (1976)



I had seen this before but that was 40 years ago so I don't think it counts as a rewatch. The film doesn't need much description, just kids (ranging between 12 and 16 years old) mimicking adults in classic gangster tropes, and how could it not look fabulous. But someone had to come up with the idea first, and that was Alan Parker.
All the songs are fantastic but unfortunately not sung by the cast.
My favourite character is Dandy Dan played by Martin Lev, he looks convincingly nasty. Blousy Brown is supposed to be a "good girl" but she gave me Neely O'Hara vibes. And it's probably not relevant to this film but I think Jodie Foster should have played the lead role in a Barbara Stanwyck biopic.
The DVD picture is windowboxed (four black borders) and that always makes a bit challenging to find the perfect distance between eyes and screen.

 

[Crimson]

FIVE EASY PIECES (1970)

I found it it to be an unremarkable film except for the famed diner scene, which made me clench my jaw. This scene is often viewed as a rebellion against the rigidity of the Establishment, when it's really just a male Karen giving some poor waitress a hard time for doing her job. I think this movie may be the Villain Origin Story of why Boomers were so insufferable to people working customer service.

 

[Willie Oleson]

FIVE EASY PIECES (1970)

I've seen it described as "Jack Nicholson performing surprisingly good and Karen Black performing surprisingly bad" - and I kinda agree with that.

QUIZ SHOW (1994)



It's about an American TV scandal I had never heard of before, and I'm afraid it's the kind of scandal that hasn't aged very well from a 2024 point of view (and I'm not sure it looked more impactful thirty years ago).
The main problem is, it just isn't "sexy" enough. This isn't O.J. or Zodiac or any of the other bloody events that keep lingering on.
As for the loss of American innocence, the people who can relate to those innocent times are probably already dead.
Nevertheless, the actors have been given some character drama to sink their teeth into and that's the only thing that creates a sense of conflict in this story.
In short, Quiz Show offers nothing more than an elegant and well-made "TV movie" that says more about the innocence of the pre-internet and pre-MeToo era.
On a sidenote, I sensed a little bit of bromance between Charles Van Doren and Dick Goodwin but unfortunately there's no payoff.

 

[Willie Oleson]

THE KILLING KIND (1973)


My favourite film discovered in the "grande dame guignol" thread, and I also think this is Curtis Harrington's most sophisticated work.

It is exploitative as most horror films are but we're given enough to chew on. There are some interesting ambiguities: the troublesome situation between mother and son creates a chicken and egg narrative (didn't mean to make it sound so literal) and this time I noticed something different about the rape scene.
Was he punished because he did it or because he couldn't perform?
Visually, it's a fabulous piece of melancholy-horror that worked so naturally in the 1960s and 1970s. Lots of sunshine coming through doors and windows that gives the scenes something ethereal.
It's also interesting that the theme of (sexual) repression spills over into other characters. In essence, it's PSYCHO if Norman's mother had actually been alive, except that there are more things going on that are not literally explained.
The ending was just as strong as I remembered and Ann Sothern is simply delightlful in the role of Thelma.
Ruth Roman gets top billing even if it's only a small supporting role, but her smoky voice is worth every second of it.

Her place is fabulous/horrific potpourri of fur, cristal, French antique and late 60s modern, and this made me think of one of the reasons why these films look so much better than modern films: the interiors.
Just look at any random film from the last 25 years and chances are that the characters live in very dull places (or sets). Yes I understand that people want to live in a more pratical space but it doesn't look very interesting on screen.

It's been a few years since I've watched it on youtube and I've wanted to see it again in better picture quality. I bought the first DVD I could find but that turned out to be exactly the same crap, probably the source for the upload.
Then I found out that Vinegar Syndrome, one of the distribution companies that specializes in restored versions of obscure/independent cult films, had released a bluray of The Killing Kind including a DVD disc.
It's still not perfect of course, but I think it's the best version we'll ever get.

Compare:
taken from youtube, previously posted in the grande dame guignol thread

hence why I had to use the exact same image from the DVD


The sound is perfect, and the first time I hadn't even noticed the beautiful theme by Andrew Belling (I'd post it here but youtube doesn't have it).