/film/ - FILM

>El Espiritu de la Colmena

Ana is cute as fuck, very nice film, but it can easily bore you if you're not into that kind of thing.

Also

>From Russia With Love

I honestly didn't like it

There's way too much "let's be retards so Bond gets a chance to do something"

Also some parts are "to be expected", i can't remember the word, you know, when you know exactly what's going to happen

I don't care how much hate i might get but i like more Daniel Craig's Bond rather than Connery's

Boro in the Box (2011) - An imaginative short telling the story of Walerian Borowczyk's life covered by a wooden box. How could anyone pass up on something like that?

I finally came across John Carpenter's The Thing. What a remarkable film. Both cinematography and pacing were surprisingly great for a horror-themed movie. Excellent work all over in the set and the design of the creatures. I wish the script had gone a little further, but it's definitively a masterpiece in its own terms.

A fun wartime musical comedy about the life of entertainer George S. Cohan, featuring Jimmy Cagney's somewhat stilted dancing and speak-singing. I've never seen more flag-waving in two hours – this sort of headfirst nationalistic frenzy is viewed more cautiously nowadays.

My one complaint is how the screenplay ignores interesting conflicts in favor of biographical mythmaking. I would have liked to see more about the fact that Cohan was a stage performer opposed to entertainment unions, and he was a patriotic composer opposed to Franklin Roosevelt. While these points may have undercut the carefree mood (and propaganda value) of the production, the story would have carried more weight.

Seemed out of focus at times but all in all it was pretty good.

>Pic related

Heavy feels m8

>>4199

Also just watched Fargo and i'll have to agree with this guy, i liked it but at the same time i didn't see anything incredible in it, I liked The Big Lebowski way more.

>>4587

Now i'm curious, I did notice for example the expression Brody had made little sense without explanation, other than his character always shitting his pants, i guess i would have made sense in another cut, also Clooney just there at the end and Travolta just there at the start, seemed out of place.

Second half was pretty much the proto-Amelie, even down to the green filter

The Tenant is a really uneven movie: there's parts in it that are really fucking stupid and easily justify its extremely negative original reception, and others that hint at why people think much more highly of it nowadays. I'm not sure if it can even be called an objectively good or bad film, but at the very least it kept my interest the entire way through and definitely wasn't a waste of time.

One of the rare cases I've seen of expository dialogue actually helping to the movie, and not working against it. The compositions of every frame were marvellous.

>>4616

dat geometry

i've had all 3 parts of the human condition on my hard drive for years now, still haven't got to watching them, but i feel the time will soon come

Loved the cinematography, the soundtrack, and the simple story with little dialogue. Best movie I've seen to date from the time period.

Vertigo, 1958.

Really great movie. I'm still digesting it, but isn't the plot kind of loose for a Hitchcock movie? It's really convoluted, and full of giveaways. From what I've seen of his oeuvre, he has a taste for really tight, even minimalistic plots. Could someone expand on this?

>>4636

I need to watch it again start to finish, but I kind of see where you're coming from. I notice the writer also worked on Alfred Hitchcock Presents. In some ways Vertigo resembles those paranormal TV shows where each episode centered around a bizarre concept.

Considering his other works, I'd say The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) has a bloated script. I don't know if it's convoluted as much as it includes needless detours. Hitchcock's 1934 version with Peter Lorre is 45 minutes shorter.

Tanczacy jastrzab AKA Dancing Hawk (1977) – overlooked but worth finding! I'm a big fan of Zbigniew Rybczynski who did the cinematography. He transforms the basic story of a man's life into a barrage of experimentation.

Here are two short bits for a taste…

I like it although the kid's voice is annoying.

I recently watched fear and loathing in last Vegas and it was a fun film.so I was interested in seeing more by terry Gilliam. The movie is good but not that good.

My dad and my brother hated it.

Was pretty weird. It's obviously competently written and shot, the actors are great and all. But at the same time it was a purely disgusting experience, two grown-up people trying to hurt each other for two hours.

I Really liked it, Even though the plot is pretty simple, the characthers are nice, saint maria is qt as fuck and slutty maria is hot as fuck, i was really impressed by the visuals they were able to achieve at that time, but i don't think that means much considering it's my firt full lenght silent film.

SUch a shame how much of the film was lost and censored.

It was k

>Platoon

Pretty good stuff, i didn't think Charlie Sheen could do more than dick jokes, but i was wrong, also that nigga that looks like Snoop Dogg.

>Zoolander

Had its moments, it was k, the 2000's reference was cringy for me

>Das Boot

It has to be one of my favourites movies of all time, great stuff I'm really into anti-war war films

>>4736

Seems like this is turning into my blog, i'd would be nice to have more posters.

Watched the apu trilogy in theaters for the first time on Saturday.

Truly on of the greatest film experiences of my life. I really don't have anything to say that hasn't been articulated better elsewhere.

If you have the opportunity to see these films in theaters do it.

>Apocalypse Now

I don't know what to say, it's just great stuff, a classic.

>My Reincarnation

It was interesting, some stuff is cringe worthy, but it was ok.

>The Act of Killing

That was so bizarre, not the doc itself but the situation depicted in it, i was expecting something more "gruesome", i wasn't expecting the guys to feel somewhat bad about it, some of them, some were even kinda likeable, well perhaps that's the issue, In any case is a must watch.

>The Bridge Over the River Kwai

It was k

>The Nightmare Before Christmas

Great stuff, too short and it has some plot holes, but who cares, the style and animation is superb.

>Princess Mononoke

Top tier Waifu, i love her, it really makes me sad that she's not real and that i'll never meet a woman with such passion, great movie, one of my all time favourites.

I finally got around to seeing this. S'okay.

A Mexican film called The Castle of Purity is a better version of the same situation. With Dogtooth I wasn't sure what to make of some of the strange behavior. But I guess I liked the attempt at something different.

I see this director made The Lobster which was just at Cannes.

>Possession

Good movie that showed how relationships and breakup works that uses a bit of horror element as a metaphor for certain thing in the film.

And overall a good film that kept me thinking even after it was done.

And had me searching for more info even after it was done.

>Deadlock

A spaghetti western set in modern time with a Good, The Bad, and The Ugly feel where the setting of the film adds to the desolation of the setting, and close up and sweating. and other camera techniques make it a fun film to watch.

Also the Can soundtrack really makes the film.

The long takes in Possession are great. The camera moves around a lot but manages to capture all the necessary action.

I think they used long takes to save time (and thus money) when shooting the film. But they planned the moves out beforehand, and it works brilliantly as part of the frantic visual style.

Dour existential angst that sucked the energy out of me.

Structured like a short story or a play, but it seemed much longer than 80 minutes.

I wonder if this topic of religious doubt hasn't aged out of relevance with the decline in church attendance? If you don't like church don't go. Why endlessly brood about it or put on a façade…

But everyone else seems to like it, so it's probably just one of those classics where I'm at odds with the consensus.

Characters were fucking amazing. I think the director intentionally had a character cut Penny Lane off every time she started saying 'If this/that happened in the real world… '

Not that great. In classic Hollywood fashion, where there was subtlety, now everything is spelled out bluntly. Skims too much over the better scenes of the book to include some additional stuff, there was honestly no need to waste an hour to get to where the book begins. Also the way they've turned the internal monologues of MC into something he actually speaks leaves a lot to be desired, it's especially grating in the scene with the dying Englishman - he's supposed to be hiding and yet here he is, running his mouth and giving away his position.

>>4819

Loved The Bridge On The River Kwai, even though it was too soft with the depiction of POWs' struggle.

Is this the oh-so-great masterpiece of contemporary cinema?

What a load of pretentious self-important fluff, failed at connecting the creation theme with the coming-of-age story despite those fucking voiceovers, and the characters were developed in such a flat way, it has been compared to Tarkovsky and Kubrick and it singlehandedly manages to mix the worst about those two directors, together with a fetish for Godardian jumpcuts and hand-held cameras that ended up being annoying.

Just watched F for Fake.

In brief, this was extremely enjoyable. I like the way it both presents and "discusses" it's topic, and I found the stories contained within, like the story of de Hory, rather engaging. And while I know nothing about editing, I must say what I felt like the film had a "flow" that at least for the most part was particularly good.

I feel like watching it again in the not too distant future.

I dunno, I'm not good at expressing myself about these sort of things.

I watched fargo

and overall pretty good movie

with the noticeable use of yeah being used a lot.

it was a pretty chill film to watched

but mostly watched it to watch Kumiko and that was also fun to watch but a bit slow spaced and somewhat depressing once you realize what happens in the film.

Ganja & Hess (1973) is a good pick if you're looking for something unique and unusual.

I think it was intended to be a low budget blaxploitation horror but the director added a lot of experimental and allegorical elements. On balance he was successful in creating a memorable film. I liked it more than Sweetback.

I see Spike Lee used kickstarter to remake this.

I cried like a bitch

So degenerate, i loved it.

Columbia is hot as fuck

Closer To God

It was ok. It's a movie about human cloning. I enjoyed the storytelling of human struggle on the topic. It was also well shot I thought.

this was a very nice film directed by Jacques Tourneur, you may know his work through the great noir film Out of the Past

this poster is hilariously misleading, the character pictured with the guns takes them out once then puts them down and starts preaching. not like a regular western at all, it has a lot to do with faith and compassion. very well shot imo and nice production design. the child actors do just fine too, recommend this to anyone looking for a nice film with that 40-50s hollywood feel

>>4934

I watched that one for the first time recently and I was really disappointed, honestly. not nearly ridiculous as I expected from its reputation and overall I was pretty bored through most of it. it doesn't even have that degenerate appeal for me, it's like degeneracy for public consumption. I dunno

word up to the guy who recommended The Atrocity Exhibition in another thread. very fascinating film

This was mostly a period romance, which was fine but it's not Juraj Herz's most dynamic work.

However the last 15-20 minutes provided a welcome and unexpected dose of derangement.

The Ghost Cat of Otama Pond

The name seems silly but for some reason there are many Japanese ghost stories involving cats (Kuroneko, Hausu…). I've noticed a bunch of other films with "Ghost Cat" right in the title.

This one squeezes the most from limited production resources. The sets are tiny and the action sequences are sloppy, but the film holds your interest with vivid imagery and creepy music.

It's also bloodier than anything I've seen from 1960, putting it nearly a decade ahead of Hollywood and even a few years ahead of the Europeans for depicting graphic violence.

ドグラ・マグラ or Dogra Magra by Toshio Matsumoto

an examination of insanity through pure insanity. very interesting, don't even know how I obtained this movie, I found it on my external HD. fitting. I don't have much to say, but if you're into crazy shit check this out

I'm a fan of pretty much all of Alexander Payne's movies (I haven't seen About Schmidt) and so I definitely wanted to see this, his first feature.

At first it had some of the signs of a flawed "first movie" that you see with a lot of great directors, but it really picked up the slack after a while. It's an audacious and intense introduction for Payne to make as a filmmaker. There are some truly hilarious moments and a couple of really moving moments, too, especially at the end.

Laura Dern is a wonderful actress. Ruth isn't a very good or likable person, but Dern plays her with confidence, lots of humor and outrageousness, and but more importantly, sadness. She does a perfect job bringing a really flawed protagonist to life and making her sympathetic. The movie would have been pretty underwhelming without her, I think. She gives the film its rewatch value.

8/10. Payne at his near-best.

Romance for Bugle (1967) d. Otakar Vávra

I was drawn to the unassuming spirit in this one. It's a bucolic bittersweet romance with similarities to Capricious Summer. The story (adapted from poetry by the author) is simple but effective.

While searching for pictures I saw photos from stage performances. So the film must have enduring popularity with Czechs.

My one complaint is the custom subtitles were HOH for some reason.

Watched Pale Flower today.

This film is absolutely brimming with style (more so than nearly any other crime film I've ever seen) while still managing to what seems to me paint such a natural picture of a misanthropic yakuza member, his new love interest, and their place in a post war Japan in moral decline.

sorry for the watermark on the screenshots.

>>2701

I just saw this and wasn't thrilled with it. The ride was exciting and full of promise at first, but it soon became a tiring endurance test. I appreciate the effort but I think the film misses the mark.

It's a confounding experience. I picked up on a couple themes but the ideas seemed to be explored in a non-committal manner.

The most satisfying explanations for me come from directors, so here's the best information I've found about Malle's motivations behind Black Moon.

http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/180498|0/Black-Moon.html

Tokyo Story

I really liked it, it got me in the feelerino, at first it was jarring with the actors facing the camera as many times as they did but by the end it felt natural, but why did he shoot the film like that? Was Ozu trying to meddle with the fourth wall or something?

There were a couple things i noticed but i think i ended up missing the big picture, I'll need to watch it again.

I took a chance and came up empty. The poster makes it look saucy. It's not. Orson Welles is entertaining (as always) but the bulk of this movie is a snooze. It took forever to get going; then it refused to end.

The sound recording was so bad I have to comment on that too – coats rustling, paper crinkling, rooms echoing, and stairs creaking to drown out the dialogue.

I've never seen a Michael Winner movie before. He improved later?

Two on a Guillotine (1965)

Not as much horror as you'd hope. Half of this movie is a big scary house. But the other half is a lukewarm love story between a too-chipper Dean Jones and the type of weak female character that people like to complain about now.

Caesar Romero is very entertaining in a brief role and there's a fantastic musical cameo by The Condors.

A Foreign Affair (1948) - A Billy Wilder comedy set in post-war Berlin.

An American congressional delegation flies into town to check the progress of the military rebuilding German society. It's not wall-to-wall laughs, but I enjoyed it more than The Lost Weekend and Witness for the Prosecution.

I don't know what to make of Marlene Dietrich. She a bit masculine to play sexy females, especially when sporting 1940's shoulder pads. I guess the WWII shift in gender roles is reflected in the era's fashions and actresses. That pendulum swung back hard in the 1950's.

How do I find old David Letterman episodes? Letterman chuckled about the odd plot of The Match King during his interview with Alec Baldwin in 2011. The clip was removed from Youtube.

The film is pretty obscure (only a TV rip) but I got a kick out of it. Warren William shows why he's the precode king with a fiendishly magnetic portrayal of a scheming industrialist. Can't wait to see more from him.

I just want to remember what else Dave said about it…

High and Low by Kurosawa. It was good fun, but I was put off by the change of pace in the movie after the ransom is paid to the kidnapper at the mid way point. It had really good focus on an interesting character who had to pick between his moral integrity and his financial success. After he pays the boys ransom, the film drops focus on him in favor of fun but dull police officers who with relative ease solve the case.

Regardless it was still enjoyable, and the ending monologue redeemed it for me

H-8… (1958) was mentioned here a while ago. Reviewers call it one of the great Croatian films and they're probably on to something.

The story (based on an actual event) is introduced by a true crime voiceover and expressive noirish camerawork. We become familiar with a group of well-sculpted characters through intermingling story lines….as they hurtle toward impending tragedy. It's an effective story construct that's been used in many disaster movies, but this is one of the earliest and most poignant examples of it.

Too long dor its own good, in 68 it must have been incredible to see the special effects and i understand why the scenes with heavy special effects are so long, but now it's not very interesting so those same scenes feel boring and unnecesary.

Otherthan that i really like it.

>>5443

Continuing my circuit through Kurosawa's body of work, I checked out Rashomon. The film making seemed so ahead of its time,all the panning through the forest and the lighting were brilliant. I wasn't as satisfied with the story as much as I though I would though. I felt like there needed to be another witness or more character development for the murder victim. And why was Tajomaru and Takehiro so eager to confess crimes that one of them couldn't have committed. Also the medium felt awkward, I could have bought it if her voice wasn't replaced by Masako's.

Still an ace movie

just watched Zabriskie Point. god damn was that some nice photography

It isn't his best work but its world was unnerving and the ending was emotional enough to get something out of me which 99.9% of mainstream flicks fail to do nowadays.

Nothing to write home about but worth a watch.

I just watched Bab el hadid AKA Cairo Station (1958).

The film takes place in a train station and moves briskly for all of its 77 minutes. The story starts off innocently enough, but soon things become complicated. Stylistically I'd put it somewhere between neorealism and Hitchcock. The degree of sensuality and blood might even surpass what Hollywood allowed in 1958, which surprised me for a film made in Egypt.

Very good all around. I recommend it with no misgivings.

this is one of the worst movies i have ever seen, no shit. i am seriously in awe of how bad this was, i don't think there was a single person involved in this movie who actually cared about it. that is the best way i can describe it

Thought it was very good and definitely one of my favorites of 09. On looking at Blomkamp's personal history and sets of subject matter, I expected some left-wing garbage about muh diversity and open borders. But the moral ambiguity surprised me. Sure, the humans were thoroughly sadistic, but the prawn were practically inviting it with their savagery. Most of the characters follow some logical path that gives them the role and attitudes they ultimately end up with.

For that reason, it was easy enough to set political interpretations aside and look at the film more broadly as on the subjects of identity and association–in which regard I felt it shined. Killer fucking camera work and some damn fine action scenes don't hurt neither.

>>5504

Saw Seven Samurai next, the opening was average, but it worked its way to brilliance, you can see this films influence in a lot of stuff

I watched this recently and enjoyed it but can't see how it's a masterpiece.

Cinematically it seemed just above average for the most part. Hardly as well shot as something like Viridiana. The audio seemed shit even for it's time and there was one scene early on where you could clearly see a mic sticking out from under the table. There are also a few autistic gripes about the editing i have that I won't get into.

The concept and its execution is great. To simply have a group of upper class unable to leave a room, having their delusions of sophistication broken and their vanity flourish. I can only interpret it as symbolic of their group mentality fear of the other.

>>5312

Nice recommendation. I liked this a lot. It adds to my theory that the best 1960s New Waves were in Japan and Czechoslovakia. Now I've got to watch Shinoda's Double Suicide. And Oshima's.

Here are those cool flower cards they used: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanafuda

Another interesting tidbit is that the author of the source novel later became a nationalistic Japanese politician: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shintaro_Ishihara

The most american film i've ever seen.

Pretty good stuff.

Kafr kasem (1974)

Syrian docudrama from a Lebanese director about a 1956 massacre in a Palestinian village by Israeli border guards. Only 11 votes on imdb makes it the most obscure thing I've seen in a while.

I don't watch many films about this enduring political conflict, so I found it interesting to see how Palestinians viewed themselves and their situation soon after Israel became a nation. A lot of tension arose from Egypt's takeover of the Sinai Canal, both with Arab nationalists who saw a victory and the Israeli military who planned swift action.

Although Israeli soldiers are portrayed as the one-dimensional heartless Nazis of the story, you still scratch your head wondering what the hell was going on with them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kafr_Qasim_massacre

Maybe I'm a bit of a faggot but this film elicits feelings of sadness and anger in me every time, mainly on the part of Mr Harvey. I guess it's because I kind of recognise that I've had similar impulses and fantasies to do horrible things in the past, and this film just serves to remind me what sort of damage it would cause to people just to satisfy my own selfish desires. I guess it makes me hate myself for ever having had such thoughts.

Saw this yesterday. It was okay. I liked the oppressing feel it gave but it didn't excel in it as much as I would want to. Performances were on point, some scenes were intense and fuck no don't do that ear thing, but as with Enemy and even Prisoners, it lacked a certain something I can't tell.

65/100

Going through the old Animerama trilogy and saw Cleopatra earlier tonight. It was alright, had some interesting undertones and a couple nice gags, but its visual style, character development, experimental sequences, and overall scope came across as dull in comparison to A Thousand and One Nights. I would only recommend it if you want to go through the Animerama trilogy or make a point of watching obscure animated films to impress people, otherwise just go with the other film if you feel like watching an epic psychedelic comedy.

Belladonna of Sadness has art deco, french peasants, watercolor illustrations, creatively animated demon rape, and jazzrock. It's exactly what it sounds like and you ought to be grateful that it exists in the first place.

>>5764

It's on the watchlist.

Was rather bored for the first third, after that it picks up, enjoyable, gave me some feels.

It was alright.

Pretty bizarre, pretty good, hilarious at times, deep at others.

Also, Sara's tits

Here's a good companion film to Concerning Violence. I watched it for the purported imperial racism, which didn't amount to much. The horrific aspect is actually an unflinching depiction of animals and humans being slaughtered. I would still recommend it. It's the best Mondo movie I've seen.

What are some other worthwhile documentaries/films on colonialism?

The Steamroller and the Violin

If Andrei Tarkovsky's student films are this good, I can't wait to start watching his full-length films.

>>5916

i don't remember but here's the file i have. change the extension back to .srt

Finally remembered >>5764 's suggestion and watched The Sensualist. The plot is simple: an older man reminisces about his sex life while helping a bumbling younger friend get laid with a courtesan, so it's mostly something you'd watch if you're interested in seeing what's essentially animated ukiyo-e.

If I made some APNGs to give you an idea of how the film looks in motion, should I post them in here or the anime film thread?

Speaking of films doing everything differently, I've just seen “The Mother and the Whore”.

First horror for me this month. Starts as a standard giallo with models/fashion like Bava's earlier Sei donne per l'assassino. Things get interesting after a spooky twist, though...

I love the vibrant colour and hard lighting in films made around 1970. A few years later the style was a grainy, washed-out "realistic" look.

>>5975

Horror #2: Les lèvres rouges which has a completely different English title Daughters of Darkness. "Red Lips" fits better.

The dodgy script is redeemed by Delphine Seyrig's magnetic personality and fabulous gowns. She was probably slumming it though.

If you watch this avoid the IFPD rip. It looks like an oil painting...

Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

I enjoy most well-known 1920s horrors but very few well-known 1930s horrors. Silent horror just seems more frightening. Or maybe the US censors sanitized horror too much.

Unlike most sequels, this one is better than its predecessor (which I hardly remember). But it was still average until the grand finale. I wasn't completely sure what to make of all the Catholic imagery in the middle of the film. First it was a plot point... then it was everywhere.

Phantasm

I think the quality of acting can make or break a low budget horror movie. Phantasm works well in that regard. The actors sell it convincingly.

There was 3 hour cut with more plot details -- does anyone know what was removed?

Are there new horror movies that have this kind of independent spirit? Most look like torture porn so I don't bother.

La punition (1973)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069135/

The poster art is unique so I gave this a whirl. It's one of the "pretty girl sex slave" movies which came into vogue in the early 70s, similar in some ways to Story of O. A French prostitute is confined to a large empty hotel room to be "punished" after offending a client. I thought this was a little sadistic and exploitative, but it turns out to be based on an autobiographical novel by "Xavière".

The film opens strong with a couple inventive, colourful scenes. The story is told by jumping in and out of flashback and topped off with a nice bit of misdirection. The set design would probably look great with a decent restoration (this is only available in VHS quality).

On the negative side, things can be a little dull. It's possible the score is too gloomy for the heavy subject matter.

A Boy Named Charlie Brown (12/1969)

I was nervous about the new Peanuts movie from Blue Sky and Fox coming out this weekend, having seen about 15 years of the creations of Dr. Seuss and Jay Ward FUBAR, but I'm more inclined to give it a shot after seeing this one. The author of the comics, Charles Schulz, wrote all the films and specials with the same cherubic goofball innocence as the comics, with animation always done by a production unit led by UPA alumnus Bill Melendez, who capitalizes on a slightly higher budget with some stylized use of the camera to complement Schulz's writing. A Boy Named Charlie Brown also features some nice songs and a leisurely jazz score by Vince Guaraldi, and a cast of characters voiced by real youngsters, as in the TV specials.

If you somehow can't get ahold of the comics and want to see what the fuss is about with the great American comic of the 20th century, I'd recommend it.

Finally, a well-made movie about genocide that isn't nagging us to remember muh 6 gorillion. The Killing Fields does well at portraying Pol Pot's rise to power from a street level perspective, Mike Oldfield's knack for distractingly good soundtracks, and horribly misusing John Lennon's "Imagine" in ways the production team never intended.

In the meantime, Mamoru Oshii reminds his audience that birds are very important in political intrigue plots for reasons you will never fully understand.

The Goat Horn is apparently one of the finest film offerings from Bulgaria. The title refers to a tool of death that doubles as a recurring symbol within the film's examination of gender - an examination occurring before that topic was so clumsily politicized.

I'm attracted to these sorts of films set in rural Europe because of the raw simplicity of the characters' behavior and of life in general. When survival is harder, everything becomes a little more honest.

Bottom line: Well-constructed story, compelling performances, a world cinema gem. Put this on your watchlist.

>>6206

teaser clip

This was the first movie I've watched and thought "wow, that was pretentious as fuck". Alonso obviously tried to channel Tarkovsky but failed hard, producing nothing but 2 hours of watching dull landscapes. I did like two scenes where Mortensen was allowed to show some emotion, but that's it.

This one really surprised me and could have really been great with a more ambitious editing. It has one of the most original aesthetics I've seen of a film released in the past 5 years, teetering on the precipice absurdity and authenticity with it's boisterously told narrative if a trannies revenge on Christmas eve and it's iphone cinematography of Los Angeles subculture and life.

Hearing there would be a new Bond movie i relived some of the old films and while i was also digging Hong Kong i decided to check 2 movies in preparation for the new film:

1/2

國產凌 凌漆 Gwok Chaan Ling Ling Chat aka From Beijing with Love, directed by the good ol' Stephen Chow (Kung Fu Hustle, Shaolin Soccer) and Lik-Chi Lee

- A light-hearted comedy that uses untranslatable double-entedre, slapstick humour and the Chow trademark random moments to move its paper-thin plot, which comes decent enough and even goes to ruthless points that move its rating to M17, which the director uses to slip some naughty jokes too.

It takes a lot of shots at the Bond movies, the title and the Living Daylights parody poster would give that away in a second, but it does while also being respectful, with the loaned characters and icons being translated to the mainland and HK China, with Jaws being a modified fishermen, the gadgets being all skillfully hidden behind everyday objects but serve like other everyday objects (Get Smart jokes i believe), and even the main character who uses a pirated Bond anthology (with photo copied art book included) as his unreachable standard, even going as closely to seek a poor choice of tie, this making Bond a far away legend or just famous media, closing any intention of "replacing" these said images.

The intro gives a proper action segment famous in the 90's HK, giving a much needed and intended contrast to the Get Smart buffonery that will come into place, while also acting like real spies without forgetting it's a parody all along, giving a 2-edged meaning of the Woo-esque bullet rain, which makes it look like it's at home

The technical aspects are OK, i've seen far better from both directors, especially in God of Cookery and Kung Fu Hustle, but it doesn't fall into cheap C-tier chinese knock-off, it has its decent cinematography and framework, the music takes pieces from a lot of past Bond themes but still make it somewhat original and refreshing, if clown-like for the sake of the context.

Overall a very pleasant view if you are a Bond fan, especially for historical reasons because it shows a girl eerily similar to Elektra (5 years prior) and accentuates the joke that was that Die Another Day amateur fan-movie because a key role here was played by the North Korean General i believe (starting his 007 fame with a parody, like Madonna with Austin Powers), or if you like HK stuff or even Chow stuff, this already shows his trademark style.

2/2

SPECTRE, directed by Sam Mendes

- This is AAA big budget compared to the previous example mainly because it is, the biggest spy spoof since Goldmember and it shows in its vast research on the subject and sets, but this is a different kind of parody as it uses satire and obscure inside jokes, much in the like of Robocop and the perceived future of american media or Airplane with the use of stone-faced serious actors to deliver inane dialog.

The hilarity starts from the very intro, with a gigantic Day of the Dead public party with hundreds of Baron Samedi costumes instead of the traditional Parka or Huesuda attire/makeup, the dirty little inside joke with the Bond-esque main character using laser sights (which is also a joke itself as he is completely miscasted to resemble 007's old ongoing nemesis, Red Grant and his "sons", and Bond claims laser is for "new cats" in a book time ago)

It continues with the apparent spoof of A-Ha's theme for The Living Daylights, but more affeminated and with sudden tone changes, this fills a glass i will talk later on

Our hairless white-head hero (an old joke too) mumbles his name as "Bend, Jaymes Bend", a very suspicious shot at double O, and goes to report to his nervous superior Uhm (M), MuhniePennay (Moneypenny) and Coo (Q), this degrading the small chuckle grin one could develop already 20 minutes into the movie, it also takes lowkicks at Coo being a joker (which itself is a joke at the no nonsense laboral nature Q has when being serious about Bond's cars)

Places also get no mercy here, with the Living Daylights' Tangier couple-escape-gone-sour get a shot here, along with the famous train rides with Jaws & Red Grant, the cozy alpine clinic from OHMSS, Bond's apartment, Bond's sidekick apparence (hilarious skin color changes, terrific age changes) and even an unashamed M16's dilapidated HQ having a cameo, this also goes with the henchman not-Sandor, a mexican Oddjob and a Bond's wife look-alike (with the ending being a parody too), plus a Bellucci cameo as a joke on Olga's infamous fame and role in another spoof made time ago, the stuff even gets into the mysterious and cringeworthy internet inside jokes with Bend being repeatedly called a cuck/cuckold and a Bert/Arthur parody scene, all involving the tech-savvy main villain

Not trying to spoil things but this movie has a shot, reference or joke towards the Bond franchise or its spillovers (MGS video game series, or the unrelated Usual Suspects' famous dialogue) in almost every scene, it rarely stops and can get you a crack when you dont suspect, it goes into every detail to spoof the 00 agent even to the cinematography aspect making it look like Bourne antics or Nolan's Batman movies with the long shots, inhuman superhero set pieces and low-bumper camera, which Nolan himself said where over-exagerated Bond exploits and the 007 series should not go in that route, absolutely hilarious if you are a tough fan, but it also comes as being unashamedly disrespectful to the franchise, unlike Austin Powers or Chow's Beijing, this constant hitting and doing straight-forward references fills a unsettling glass that at some point spills and everything becomes tiring much like Operation Kid Brother (which even includes previous Bond actors), especially with the reveal of the main villain, and very especially taking into account this was a british production. At least Johnny English used the argument it was a spoof at Atkinson's experience and work in the non-official Never Say Never Again, not at Bond himself.

A dangerous must-see for a fan that wants to test his knowledge in the series and have fun at the same time with the hidden gems all around the place along with the obvious balls-to-the-wall jokes.

While the 2 movies go on their way to make fun of their target one does so far more tastefully than the other even if it comes at the cost of too innocuous or friendly, but respectful at the source material, which is sometimes forgotten in the realm of pioneers and trendsetters in cinema

The wait has been long, last Bond movie was in 1999, so here's hoping this next film will break the thrist for more super agent exploits!

>>6264

Saw it on TV a while ago, it was bad and distasteful (literal Connery brother being the MC, Largo, Russian girl, M and Moneypenny being here ALMOST reprising their roles, straight in our face references STOP READING FLEMING'S NOVELS, DOCTOR) but i feel it doesn't deserve the heat it gets, it was hilariously bad no doubt, but at many times it tried to do its own thing, casting something away from 007, unlike that Spectre movie which i can also seriously compare to Meet the Spartans, trying to do something original but falling into cheap spoof jokes time and time again for 90+ minutes, it's like watching a bird nest fall from a very tall tree, you get shocked, then cringe and move in your sit in horror then you will eventually laugh and finally just stare at it like one does after ordering a large order of food and realizing you didnt like it since the first bite

No kidding, 2 and half hours of cringe & laughs

A little off-topic, so here's some letters of a film i watched a week ago but i still "feel" it, something that honestly only happens with good movies (or trainwrecks):

Ogro, released in 1979 by Gillo Pontecorvo (Battle of Algiers, Queimada, Kapo)

- A dramatization of the kidnapping and assassination attempt at Carrero Blanco, Franco's successor in late 60's/early 70's Spain, by Basque separatists aka ETA

A classic example on how the official poster spoils the whole thing if you dont know anything about the background (poster not pictured), this movie retakes the previous well-known docudrama style from Battle of Algiers (but with official actors, which makes it somewhat less real due to their more pronounced line delivery), the director gives a simple but interesting look at the lives and procedures of several ETA members in Madrid. The movie drags a little, it shuffles between present time (1978 in this case) and the past events, someone without patience will surely quit after 30 minutes if not for the intro segment in present time that actually sparks interest, it makes you wonder what really happened, and when it dries off there's another scene that refuels the spark (if you actually reach to care about the characters), it's all a slow build-up for the ending sequence (IMHO)

The acting is good enough, even when the movie promotes the excellent Gian Maria Volonte as the main man or Saverio Marconi as support, the actual MC is Eusebio Poncela as one of his cold but rebellious henchman. I think nobody does a bad job here, and even if that happened it would be easily confused with fear and nervousness, something natural with their roles in context. Unintentional humour at times if one has a sick sense of it (or if you are a football fan), it gives a good contrast for the expected and somewhat cliched but still poignant ending and its very well-known future context

The technical aspects are OK, good cinematography, tasteful frames from time to time and good audio (tough gunshots, realistic urban atmosphere, Ennio Morricone soundtrack)

An enjoyable look, a must-see for those fans of docudramas or slow, natural situations that don't reach on the mundane, also a prime example on how confusing vital things, in this case PE4 with TNT, can lead to highly amusing results

No offense intended at all to any Spaniard fellas around here but it's funny how this movie, surely the best i've seen from Spain, comes from Basque investors, characters and a full Italian production team. And even so the well-made Spanish edit gets some content chopped

Someday i will look into Spain's cinema to wipe a little that poor fame they have because this movie shows talent in the actor's sector

I haven't seen OK Connery but I need to give that a shot. It looks like it could be a hard one to finish though...

My favorite Bond ripoff is Deadlier Than the Male. Maybe it's the best one? It has the perfect tone for a silly spy story IMO. I tried the sequel Some Girls Do which pales in comparison. It's disappointingly uninspired and not even widescreen.

>>6270

>It looks like it could be a hard one to finish though...

You are in for a ride, it needs extra motivation, if you are a MST3K fan then there's a version in it if you want company

Best i've seen is a flip between the silly Goldmember or the serious In the Interest of the Nation (a mainstream adaptation of a Hamilton book, which is heavily inspired/ripped from Bond books)

Any Austin Powers is more memorable thou, and the rip-offs aren't that good because James Bond actually isn't THAT good either, they are very charming but almost all of them are flawed at some point, if you watch them more than a couple of times you will realize most of them could have been way better if taken seriously and not rushed

It's also funny how if you skip/ignore some movies there's a very consistent timeline with many layers, my guess is that it was accidental but the result is good enough even with all the creative media problems (Blofeld), like an improvisational paint fest/epilepsy attack can lead to good results

>>6276

> You are in for a ride, it needs extra motivation, if you are a MST3K fan then there's a version in it if you want company

Ha ha, I might try that. Cheap Italian movies from 1967 can be pretty fun, and I especially enjoy early Morricone. It has to be one of the lowest-rated movies that he scored though.

Yeah Bond movies aren't consistently great and I haven't even seen very many of them. They can be formulaic to the point of self-parody. The 60s spy genre is basically adolescent male fantasy fulfillment. But that's not so bad and I'd watch more given time — the (original) French "0SS 117" series for example.

I felt like watching something other than 70s/80s chinese cartoons and remembered >>2648 recommending The Gospel According to St. Matthew, to whom I now owe my undying gratitude.

Because I'm awful at writing reviews or anything in general, have a webm of >>6193 instead.

Diamonds of the night - This one grew on me the more i thought about it afterwards, and i would like to rewatch it sometime. It used an effective stream-of-consciousness editing which blends memories of the past with visions of the future ....and it's not always clear which is which. I also liked the visceral handheld tracking shots through the forest. Cinematographer was Jaroslav Kucera who shot Daises among other things.

>>6300

>just garbage, Besson's films deserve no praise

Very controversial opinion that i fully share, i can see some talent behind the film but for one Leon is always sold as a hitman movie with something extra. But it ends up being just a drama about the "interesting" relation of an old man and a girl (interesting in the Hollywood sense, with its implied morbid and romantic buttsex links) with a "tragic" yet "feel-good" ending, and it just turns out the old man was a hitman by mere coincidence (and not a very good one)

It's very overrated in that sense (hitman genre) and also falls flat in the action and morbid relation departments

Who knows why it got so much praise, and why nobody in the damn building heard Oldman's screams and a dude inside the vents, still not really a bad film like his newer stuff

Nikita is a little better but falls short due to a lot of decisions and scene/idea focus that aren't supposed to be the focus

5th Element had a lot of moments but it always felt like a silly journey with underused (Oldman) and overworked (Leopard Dress Tucker, Willis) actors, and a Bladerunner universe blantant rip-off

That's Luc Besson's works for me, lots of potential that don't deliver and then take another road one really doesn't expect nor want

And talking about french hitman movies, saw Le Deuxième Souffle (Second Breath) by Jean-Pierre Melville

In line with Le Cercle Rouge, this one is about the post-prison exploits and coincidential moments of a criminal who just went out from prison. They share many aspects, but this one focuses a little more on the relation between the ex-con and his old partner in crime and supposedly in love who is now a night club and racket owner plus his old friends (without overblowing it like Besson), this instead of the focus on procedures and planning talk Cercle Rouge had

It's one of the lesser-known titles from Melville but i found it to be one of his best, IMO better executed than Army of Shadows (who both share lead actors and locations), it doesn't have the slow tension or cold atmosphere of it but repays with interesting set pieces and dialogue dynamics, and it doesn't hide cool images from time to time

>>6322

> It's one of the lesser-known titles from Melville but i found it to be one of his best

Agreed. In fact I like it more than Le cercle rouge which seemed a bit average by comparison. It must be one of the first heist movies to feature dual / dueling police and criminal protagonists. Michael Mann lifted that idea in Heat of course.

Has anyone seen the remake? I kind of wanted to watch the remake of Bob le flambeur with Nick Nolte too. I don't think that either of those are especially great.

Funeral Parade of Roses. Pretty good.

>>6328

i could have sworn criterion released it by now

but no, it's not even on bluray except in Japan!

http://www.kingrecords.co.jp/cs/g/gKIXF-197/

you'll probably have to download it to see it

I have never seen a movie start out so promising and then shit itself that hard until now.

>>6323

>Michael Mann lifted that idea in Heat of course

And funny thing is, Heat is the remake of of one of his lesser known low-budget TV movies L.A. Takedown

That's why i rarely skip TV movies from well-known directors when making lists, there's some who have big potential or quirky something-something if one can ignore the lack of funds or talent in some parts (if there's is)

Haven't seen the remake of Deuxieme but i heard bad rap in terms of looking fakey and trying too hard, or at least that's what the TV guide said. Also Eric Cantona as an actor

Nick Nolte has a strange thing going on, a good bunch of his films are regarded as trash but have a cult following or so to say, like Mulholland Falls, it even landed the director the 007 job (which was a disaster). Kinda like Nicholas Cage but less overblown and from what i have seen not about his acting either, so i wouldn't be surprised one of those niche films was Bob the Gambler (or Good Thief)

>>6329

>What would you say is Pasolini's best work?

Well i'm kinda ashamed to say i haven't seen all Paso's work other than the obligatory Salo viewing, Accatone and Arabian Nights. From those 3 i will say the one i liked the most was Accatone, but i heard around here Vangelo Secondo San Matteo (Gospel of Matthew) and Cantebury Tales are his peaks. Cantebury is seen as a Caligula-esque film, it has its chops but people see it for the skin

But the guy is one of those who had respectable prizes in most of his films, my bet is that you would most probably find his job interesting if not good

About Grey Garden i'm kinda ignorant on that

Pretty damn epic, the last battle was a bit of a letdown, also i think a prologue of sorts showing the actions Hidetori took against Sue and Kaede's families would have been nice.

One of my all time favourites

If there's supposed to be an underlying message to El Topo as a whole, I'll freely admit that I didn't pick up on it but still enjoyed the film and its dream logic. Maybe I'll rewatch it someday when I'm less of a plebian and understand it a bit better, in the meantime I'm just grateful to have seen it at all.

As for Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, it was essentially just a more traditional Mamoru Oshii movie with too many philosophy quotes that just happened to share some characters with the original movie. It's not a bad film by any means, it's just that the director has made much better films in the past and I'm surprised that this competed for the Palme d'Or at all.

There's not much of a point in saying anything about Vertigo at all, since so much has already been said on the film and there's no reason for me to write an entire essay praising it when I can barely manage two or three sentence posts on what movies I've watched.

Fuck, I really need to learn how to write properly or else there's not much of a point in participating in these threads.

>>6387

Yeah plenty of film theory comes off as overwrought mental masturbation so the critic can justify their own existence.