Films

For the Star Wars fans out there, I am not one of you, but the new one is IMO definitely better than the last 5

 

@Wonko I think I found the supernatural detective movie I mentioned above. Seems I was only off by a decade , and it was a 1991 film starring Fred Ward and David Warner called "Cast a Deadly Spell." I'm not sure how I saw it, since it was on HBO and I've never had HBO.

It's set in an alternate 1948 Los Angeles where "everybody uses magic" except for contrarian private detective H. Phillip Lovecraft (Ward). I've only re-watched the first few minutes, but it seems to be a mash-up of Lovecraftian horror and the film "Chinatown." It does seem to be playing it somewhat tongue in cheek.

It's not on home media, but the full film can be seen on youtube here. It also seems like it can be purchased (perhaps in better resolution) from You Tube Movies for $2.99 here.

 

@Forbin - found it, I don't remember that particular one so will take a look

 

One of my favourites of the past is Memento with Guy Pearce playing a man without a short term memory (anybody? ).
I recognised the "making notes as a substitute of the memory"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209144/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Here's the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vS0E9bBSL0

 

I literally couldnt wait for my kids to grow up so they could watch this film - its is brilliant, even on the third viewing.

 

Two of my all-time favorites: Blow-up and The Conversation. I also liked Memento.

 

I think my favorite film is Powell and Pressburger's "A Matter of Life and Death" (1946).

I first saw it on a B&W TV when I was very young. I think it was the first depiction of an "afterlife" that I had ever seen. It made a big impression on me as a child. As an adult, I find it stunningly well made, as well as being one of the most romantic movies I know of.

It's shot in glorious Technicolor, with B&W scenes depicting the "afterlife."

The video below does a remarkably good job of creating a "trailer" for the film using the song "Angels" by Robbie Williams as a soundtrack. [It's the sum total of my familiarity with Robbie Williams' work.]

I imagine the film is much better known in the UK, but in the US you pretty much have to be a cinephile to be familiar with it. There is a chance that it may come out on BluRay soon, as a restored 4K version has recently played in the UK and is supposed to come to some US theaters this year.

[WARNING: This video contains a LOT of quickly changing images.]

[ADDITIONAL WARNING: This video pretty much gives the whole plot away.]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTRyawBIF5k

 

Yes, I especially had trouble accepting Dane DeHaan as a rambunctious male lead filled with joie de vie. DeHaan was remarkable in "Chronicle" (2012), as the disturbed lead in what may have been the best "superhero" movie ever. Trying to turn DeHaan (younger than he looks at age 31) into a happy-go-lucky, 1960's, sci-fi, adventurer, romantic lead did not seem like a good idea. Kind of like this.

 

I recommend the movie Hidden Figures. This was one of the rare movies that my husband and I saw in the theater (it happens maybe once per year) and for me it was worth it.

 

9/11/01

(to distinguish it from 9/11/73 in Chile. Sorry but it annoys me)

 

"The Lookout" (2007) with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Jeff Daniels is a great little movie that probably didn't get as much attention as it deserved.

Gordon-Levitt plays a young man whose life is shifted onto another path after a sudden event that leaves him with a limiting neurological condition (which may make it an easy film to relate to).

The lead character's memory and IQ seem badly affected, and his personality has transformed from that of an arrogant high school hockey star into that of a highly-introverted and reclusive young man who can barely look after himself. As a result, he doesn't recognize that some of his former schoolmates mean to exploit him in a criminal plan.

It turns into a very effective "caper" movie that is much more than that.


[I was going to put up the trailer, but I feel like it probably gives away too much.]

 

If you want to avoid a film, like the plague, then "Avengers - Endgame" might be the one for you.

I loved its predecessor, "Thor - Ragnarok" - hilarious, best Marvel film ever, but this, next film in the timeline, is just terrible.

Highlights - the hulk is a nerd, with, for some unknown reason, a south african accent and glasses, but still big and green. Thor no longer has a hammer, he has an axe, and a beer gut.

The 'bad guy' gets killed in minutes, having settled down to a peaceful life, minding his own business, the Avengers find and murder him, for no obvious reason other than petty vengeance, so he removed half the population of the universe from existence in the last film, hardly a crime, literally, and that was months ago. Way to bare a grudge guys lol.

The rest of the film is downhill from there.

Although, it is improved, very briefly, by a time travelling baby in a spacesuit this golden opportunity is wasted due to not doing it to a good soundtrack.

 

Shazam is not at all bad.

A 'superhero' movie.

Sort of a cross between Big and Zoom, with a wizard and a few comedy demons thrown in to help give it some 'plot'.

It is a kids film but aren't all 'superhero' movies?

 

When I heard that last Saturday was the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, I decided to re-watch "The Lives of Others." I'd seen it in a theater when it came to the US in 2007.

It's a really exceptional cold war "thriller" with great work by everyone involved. My only disappointment was that lead performer Ulrich Mühe wasn't nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. Sadly, he passed away only a few months after the film won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2007.

I put the word "thriller" in quotes above because that's more of a mechanism by which the film delivers a memorable "character study."

This trailer is unusual in that it contains no dialogue, but it does have English titles. The lack of dialog in the trailer may have been designed to conceal that fact that the film is in German. So far as I know, there is no version dubbed in English. It is subtitled, however.

Anyway, a great film with a great ending.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FppW5ml4vdw

 

@Forbin "The Lives of Others" is a beautiful film. Love it. It's a classic.

My favorite old film is "One flew over the cuckoo's nest".

I'm also a huge fan of Kubrick, I love all his films. He is amazing.

My other favorite director is N. Bilge Ceylan. All his films are great, though I highly recommend "Three Monkeys".

I want to include so many films here but my mind goes blank in situations like this. I don't even remember this thread existed.

 

Late to the party, but @erin, I love the works of N. Bilge Ceylan. +

I have 5 free downloads a month from my public library and I watched (for the first time) Billy Liar.
Whoa, excellent.

New Year's Eve tonight, I'm watching Lavender Hill Gang.

I'll (thank you, @Forbin) see if I can find A Matter of Life and Death.

 

The bar is not set that high

 

I recently saw "1917" and thought it was very, very impressive and certainly worthy of winning the Academy Award for Best Picture. Since the only other nominee I've seen to date is "Once Upon A Time in Hollywood," I can't honestly declare that "1917" is the best picture among the nine nominees, but I'd rank it above "Once Upon A Time..." which was itself very, very good (although it helps to be somewhat familiar with Southern California history, circa 1969).

"1917" is filmed to look like one continuous shot, but the camera movement is uncannily smooth most of the time. Still, the more or less incessant movement and changes of perspective and scenery might be disorienting for those with spatial/balance problems. I could see how it might have been a problem for me back when my balance problems were pretty severe.

 

Watched Sami Blood last night (via a US public library Hoopla app).
Fascinating.
Don't have the Swedish title of it but maybe @Caesar has seen it and could comment on
the extreme prejudice against the Sami in Scandinavia, Russian.