What was the last film you watched?

[Willie Oleson]

REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT (1962)



I'm not in the habit of watching stories with a sports theme but there was something about the title that intrigued me.

A serious physical problem, the result of many years in the boxing ring, forces Lewis "Mountain" Rivera (Anthony Quinn) to look for a different profession.
But shady circumstances he's not aware of could probably decide for him what's going to happen next.
There's a little bit of "Frankenstein" or "The Beauty And The Beast" in it, and it also features a female gangster honcho à la Irma Bunt.

It's an exquisite little drama with great performances, and I think fans of sixties cinema would want to see this.

 

[Willie Oleson]

INFINITY POOL (2023)



One of the characters explains why the Li Tolqans (an island in...Eastern Europe? South-Asia?) are the only ones being successful at cloning humans.
"Because they've got more poetry".
I thought that was an interesting thing to say but unfortunately it highlights precisely what is missing in this film.
Because instead of poetry it comes across as a greatest hits of indie cinema: the cloning itself that reminds me of John Frankenheimer's SECONDS, the frenzy and incomprehensible style of Ben Wheatley's HIGH-RISE (which is why, until the end credits rolled, I thought I had been watching Tom Hiddleston instead of Alexander Skarsgård), the obligatory porno-horror fever dream that usually only works as a juxtaposition in a more "conventional" narrative - and last but not least, the wonderful Mia Goth.

It's possible that none of actions happened for real but if it's important enough to show it then surely it's important enough not to dismiss it?
Simply put, if it happens on screen then it happens for real.
Maybe it's all a metaphor for Skarsgard's character James Foster, the unsuccessful author-at-the-mercy-of-his-father-in-law-publisher but I suspect that would be giving this film too much credit.
I don't care how likeable or unlikeable the characters are as long as it offers something impactful.

I think it also fails as a social commentary on rich tourists behaving immorally - and hasn't the theme of "rich people are bad" become terribly cliché at this point? - because the story takes place in an immoral and lawless country.
The police (!) can sentence them to death penalty for, well, just about anything, and without that particular trade-off this story couldn't even exist.
Perhaps the film would have been better from the Li Tolgans' point of view.

Mia Goth cannot be unentertaining even if she tried so at least she provided some of the humour that was lacking in most parts of the film.
I also liked the character who organized all kinds of entertainment for the guests of the resort.

The few interesting moments didn't stop me from feeling underwhelmed.
IN FABRIC (2018) is even more way-out than INFINITY, but it's the film's rhythm (or, indeed, poetry) that makes it so satisfyingly digestible.

 

[Biggie]

Rise Of The Footsoldier Marbella. (Pt 4).

Our man Pat has an epiphany, to get his nightspot jumping he'd get himself over to Marbella and secure a job lot of ecstasy and punt the lot. Our man ropes in his best pal to help by delivering the money, so the two clowns go to Marbella via the knocking shops of Amsterdam, get turned over by a crack fiend hippy that runs of with the pill money. So guns, violence and robbery was their way forward.

These 3 clowns did very little to enhance the image of their industry, but made excellent subject matter for these movies.

The star of the show... the rock star hippy.

 

[Toni]

Breakfast at Tiffany's. I simply love Holly Golightly's style! Super chic. The story feels modern with a strong independant survivor woman and a male prostitute. But I don't imagine anyone today would have white actor with yellow face make-up, small eyes, false teeth etc playing a Japanese man today. And having the character being a clumsy and angry antagonist too.

It was not just a "white actor". It was Mickey Rooney, who had been in more shameful roles before, and he was outrageously fun too. George Peppard was not a gigolo in real life but played one here, didn´t he? It´s called "acting".

 

[Emelee]

It was not just a "white actor". It was Mickey Rooney, who had been in more shameful roles before, and he was outrageously fun too. George Peppard was not a gigolo in real life but played one here, didn´t he? It´s called "acting".

It's not about the acting. It's about producers refusing to cast more Asians, Africans or other ethnical actors except caucasians. Painting a white actor yellow is as bad as painting a white actor black. Then do a silly caricature of the stereotype to add on the insult.

I'm not raging against it like many people are, but I don't like it. I know how annoyed I get when a Swedish production cast an actor who speaks another dialect to play a character from northern Sweden, and said actor tries to speak a northern accent but end up overexaggerating on purpose to make the character sound like a village idiot. Completely off-putting.

 

[ginnyfan]

Tár (2022)​

It's wonderful when your great expectations are totally fulfilled by the movie and that's the case with this one. This is how you deal with the current themes of wokeness, cancel culture, social media etc. Is there anyone out there, better than Cate Blanchett? She is the actress of this generation, always brilliant and always choosing the right role. To say she was robbed of an Oscar is and understatement. The whole movie was robbed, by the worst, most overhyped movie ever (Everything,everywhere whatever....).

Do yourself a favor and watch this masterpiece.

 

[Seaviewer]

I know how annoyed I get when a Swedish production cast an actor who speaks another dialect to play a character from northern Sweden, and said actor tries to speak a northern accent but end up overexaggerating on purpose to make the character sound like a village idiot. Completely off-putting.

Foreign actors attempting an Australian accent . . . ugh!

 

[Toni]

Last night I watched this... (and I liked it!):

"Straight-Jacket"
​

For the first time I watched the whole thing and I (kinda) liked it. Not as bad as public opinion on Earth (and other galaxies) seem to think, the score, the supporting cast (mainly Diane Baker) and Joannie´s performance are decent enough. Joannie manages to put herself over the garbage that is the script (why to lie...?) and makes the character worth of pity and understandable. She promoted her Coke company here as you can see above...

 

[Willie Oleson]

THE QUICK AND THE DEAD (1995)



Previously recommended by other tellytalkers, and I'm going to agree with them - it's a marvel.
The tone of this quirky-gothic Western is somewhat ambivalent but I think it takes itself serious enough to capture the heightened drama of the western genre.
It takes a lot of restraint to create a good mix of homage and caricature, and I think the 1990s has proved itself as a great decade for renaissance cinema.

There are no surprises in TQATD but that's not what the Western genre is about.
Gene Hackman is great as the gleeful villain and Leonardo DiCaprio - looking criminally adorable - shows a lot of confidence.
It looks like a lot of thought went into the cinematography, and the result is very pleasant. It's almost like the Western's answer to Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow.

 

[Willie Oleson]

MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (1978)



Triumph? Courage? To me it looks like the story of an incredibly stupid person with a "pretty serial killer" face.
The political troubles of that time that played a big part in his disproportionately heavy sentence is only touched upon, therefore I'm not sure what they were trying to convey from a dramatic point of view. And that final scene wasn't as satisfying as I remembered it.

With the focus on life in a foreign prison, and stripped of his precious constitutional rights, it is possible that this film was meant to be dark and depressing but I found it very enjoyable, mostly because of the fearless performances and the many colourful characters.


Even though I think it was made with great artistic values, they didn't exactly shy away from some comical stereotyping, and I'm not saying that with a 21st century sensibility.

And then I also wonder, was MIDNIGHT EXPRESS the inspiration for Nick Toscanni's revenge story because Denver-Carrington's international errand boy Matthew "Tex" Blaisdel failed to save Nick's brother?

 

[Seaviewer]

Vamps (2012)
Described as comedy horror but it turned out to be a little different than I expected. Sweet, part female buddy movie, part romcom, with supernatural overtones. There's some parodying going on of the Dracula legend, but not enough to get in the way. And as a bonus, Richard Lewis, who I liked in the TV series Anything But Love - older here but with his endearing mannerisms intact.

 

[Willie Oleson]

THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1970)



How much you're going to like this Sherlock version depends on how much you expect from the film's title.
The "private life" - which suggests something scandalous and juicy - only features in the first act. After that it becomes the mystery one would expect from a Sherlock Holmes story.
Personally I'm glad that's the way it played out because I'm not sure if it would be interesting to watch 2 hours of Sherlock doing drugs and being suggestive about his suppressed homosexuality. I can get that in any other film.
Not that the theme is abandoned altogether after that first part, it just doesn't seem very relevant anymore.

The odd slapstick moment notwithstanding I think it always stays on the right side of comedy, and most of it is in the snappy and (what appears to me) very British dialogue.
It's not a CASINO ROYALE kind of parody (thank goodness).
The way the plot thickens and thickens and thickens almost made me wonder if Sherlock could solve the mystery before the film ended, but perhaps that's how it happens in all Sherlock stories.
It's a bit frustrating but in a very entertaining way.

I thoroughly enjoyed Robert Stephens and Colin Blakely as the Holmes/Watson duo, and the sets and locations make it look pleasantly old-fashioned.

 

[Willie Oleson]

THE WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953)



Oh bah, what a stinker.
Overall, the visual special effects are fine and the sound effects maybe even better - but still not nearly as good as the 1939 tornado in THE WIZARD OF OZ.
The flashy green colours can carry only so much of the film, but the real problem is that TWOTW is completely and utterly devoid of drama and suspense.

Regardless of what would crash into planet earth, the American army would be all over it from the very beginning. In this story they had to be informed.
Even after some of the Californian citizens - and complete towns elsewhere in the world (so there was communication after all) - have been vaporized by the aggressive Martians, the strongest emotion we get is curiosity.
It's only at the end of the film, when half of planet earth has gone up in smoke, that people start to panic and run for the hills.

The acting is very wooden, but "non-existent" would be a closer approximation to what is - well, isn't - going on in TWOTW.
They all look very bored, sometimes a little amused and every now and then we get an hysterical scream from Sylvia van Buren played by Ann Robinson.
She provides the coffee and doughnuts, you know, being a woman and all that.

Are these characters in the movie or watching the movie? It's hard to tell.
It seems that the expert in this story, played by Gene Barry, has read the novel since he knows all the ins and outs of Martian technology. It isn't even questioned if they are indeed Martians or not.

Now I understand that Sci-Fi B-movies from the 1950s are an easy target for the ridicule, but TWOTW actually is genuinely ambitious in some parts, but it's those parts that are unintentionally hilarious.


Besides, the idea that films of that era (not to mention the ones that preceded it) are all excusably bad simply isn't true, and as I said before the technical Sci-Fi effects are (for the most part) watchable enough. Although the use of real war footage is lazy and in poor taste imo.

This film needs to removed from the US National Film Registry a.s.a.p. It's rubbish.

 

[Willie Oleson]

ROBIN AND MARIAN (1976)

​

Even though I don't consider myself a Robin Hood aficionado, I have probably seen more versions than I can remember.
This one from 1976 is sort of a sequel (perhaps with a whiff of fanfic) that mostly deals with the relationship between the titular characters against the backdrop of a story that is similar to the original one. Or at least the one we know from mainstream cinema.
Richard the Lionheart, King John and the Sheriff of Nottingham are all present and doing the things they are known for.
Sir Guy of Gisborne is now Sir Ranulf, played by Kenneth "Man At The Top" Haigh.

But there are some noteable differences. They are older, obviously, but it turns out that King Richard really wasn't such an awesome ruler. In fact he was a brutal conqueror - although I'm not sure if there's ever been an un-brutal conqueror - and when Robin describes those events from a partaker's point of view it almost sounds disproportionately gruesome for a romantic story like this.
Richard Harris makes the most of his short appearance.
Marian, now living as a nun, also reveals some shocking information from her past.

Then there's the always very watchable Robert Shaw as the famous antagonist Sheriff of Nottingham, albeit a more relaxed version thereof.
With a little bit of imagination I could picture him as a closeted admirer of his lifelong nemesis.
Speaking of which, Robin and Marian are not just a sweet old couple, and their story is definitely not devoid of sensuality.
The main characters being 40-going-50 (and this was long before "50 is the new 30") have aged beautifully and Sean Connery looks much better than his tired "Las Vegas" version of James Bond in DIAMONDS.
Apart from showing lots of leg, the eagled-eyed viewer can even spot his bare bum. It's not relevant to the scene, it's just one of those things that often happened in 1970s cinema.

The film has attention for detail and I think it looks gorgeous. Not as glamorously technicolor as the Errol Flynn classic, but more European, robust and sweaty.
There's some humour in it too but not so much that it becomes a full-on romcom. I think it mostly serves to make the characters, and especially this flawed version of Robin Hood, more likeable.
The man versus woman subject which gets most of those humorous parts is also the main dramatic narrative, culminating in a tragic but also very beautiful climax.

I suspect that the relatively low IMDB score of 6.5 is the result of viewers who had expected to watch a standard good vs. evil epic.
I think ROBIN AND MARIAN is a very entertaining romance, perfectly balanced and mature without being pretentious. A gritty ROMAN HOLIDAY for the 1970s.

 

[Angela Channing]

Tár (2022)​

It's wonderful when your great expectations are totally fulfilled by the movie and that's the case with this one. This is how you deal with the current themes of wokeness, cancel culture, social media etc. Is there anyone out there, better than Cate Blanchett? She is the actress of this generation, always brilliant and always choosing the right role. To say she was robbed of an Oscar is and understatement. The whole movie was robbed, by the worst, most overhyped movie ever (Everything,everywhere whatever....).

Do yourself a favor and watch this masterpiece.

Completely agree. Cate Blanchett's performance in this film is one of the best I have seen this millennium., if not ever. It is astonishing. She's also in every single scene in this film. I had to watch this film twice within a few weeks of each other so I could fully appreciate how good she was in it.

 

[Angela Channing]

It's not about the acting. It's about producers refusing to cast more Asians, Africans or other ethnical actors except caucasians. Painting a white actor yellow is as bad as painting a white actor black. Then do a silly caricature of the stereotype to add on the insult.

I'm not raging against it like many people are, but I don't like it. I know how annoyed I get when a Swedish production cast an actor who speaks another dialect to play a character from northern Sweden, and said actor tries to speak a northern accent but end up overexaggerating on purpose to make the character sound like a village idiot. Completely off-putting.

Completely agree. Can you imagine the outrage if Sidney Poitier put on white make up to play a caricature of a white man in a film, especially if he used every negative stereotype of white people that he could think of?

 

[Emelee]

Completely agree. Can you imagine the outrage if Sidney Poitier put on white make up to play a caricature of a white man in a film, especially if he used every negative stereotype of white people that he could think of?

Not so sure if I'd be very offended by that. Afterall, whities have a higher status in the world, still. Kicking upwards doesn't feel as bad as kicking downwards.

 

[Angela Channing]

Not so sure if I'd be very offended by that. Afterall, whities have a higher status in the world, still. Kicking upwards doesn't feel as bad as kicking downwards.

I recall the furore when black actor Hallie Bailey was cast as Ariel in the live action version of The Little Mermaid as fans of the cartoon version thought she should be played by a white actor even though both films were set in the Caribbean region. She didn't wear "whiteface" but some people were genuinely angry.

 

[Willie Oleson]

A PLACE IN THE SUN (1951)



A story that has some interesting angles to explore but unfortunately they decided to do a fairly standard and sanitized melodrama that plods to its inevitable end.

I think the biggest problem is the weak depiction of the character played by Montgomery Clift, despite the actor's efforts to breathe some life into his role.
On the one hand I get the impression that George Eastman is ambitious in pursuing his Place In The American Sun, but on the other hand he's not trying too hard to get away from his uncle's factory's assembly line.
The story does nothing with his proposal to increase or streamline the assembly process and there's barely any interaction with his snooty cousin Earl.

Naturally it doesn't take much to be impressed by Liz Taylor as glamorous socialite Angela Vickers, but most of the enthusiasm in that "one of the greatest love stories in the history of American cinema" comes from Angela, not George.
I could imagine that a girl like Angela would use him as plaything for the season, amused by his "blue and dramatic" antics. But then they declared their profound love for each other and the viewer just has to go along with it.

The story also falls short in expressing George's darker side when his pregnant former girlfriend from the factory (Shelley Winters) gives a speech about "let's settle for nothing and be happily miserable for the rest of our insignificant little lives".
I mean, who wouldn't want to kill her right there and then? And then he also doesn't do that.
As the proverbial millstone around his neck who was fighting a losing battle it would be much more interesting if she had commited suicide - and there actually was something in Shelley Winters' voice that suggested that her speech about eternal misery was meant to provoke him.

No efforts are made to cover up the incident - witnesses all over the place - and a rushed courtroom trial leads to the expected outcome.
There's very little judgment coming from the Eastmans and the Vickers and the beautiful PEYTON PLACE has taught us that the drama is not in the crime itself but in the perception and judgment thereof.
Not even an "I told you so!" from cousin Earl or George's bitch aunt Sable Louise Eastman.
This lukewarm last act undermines the irony of "guilty by desire", a theme discussed by George and his mother who is totally irrelevant to the story.

All things considered, I think this story would have been more effective if it had been told from Angela Vickers' point of view.
The film is OK for a Sunday afternoon if you're feeling a bit undecided, or something to play in the background. But one of the great classics? Definitely not.

 

[Willie Oleson]

PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE (2002)



This is, essentially, a romcom, but the "rom" and the "com" get a very unique and unpredictable make-over in this film by P. T. Anderson.
I've always kinda liked Adam Sandler and he doesn't have to make a lot of effort to make me laugh.
I don't think he's very different in this film but it's the filmmaker's view of it that makes it so wonderfully strange, like a bizarrely edited film with the wrong score in the wrong scenes.
I like all the humorous stuff but it almost never makes me laugh. Oddly enough, that is the strength of the film, not its shortcoming.
Speaking of short, I was surprised to see that it ended so soon. An additional 30 or 40 minutes would have been very welcome.