Author Topic: Respond to the last movie you watched  (Read 684794 times)

pixote

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #380 on: January 31, 2017, 09:47:03 PM »
NOW, you're curious about Blue Ruin? What's held you back? Just not enough time or did you read a bad review from someone you trust?

It actually just never made it onto my radar, I think partly due to a weird association with the films Blue Car and Blue Valentine, both of which I also skipped.

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goodguy

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #381 on: February 01, 2017, 04:33:52 PM »
Cosmos (2015)
The final film by Andrzej Zulawski, a filmmaker I initially despised, but have been coming around on. This is one of his less accessible efforts, meaning not only does it have the enigmatic and often impenetrable dialogue, it doesn't have nearly enough of the sensationalist excess that helped make him famous. If you can wipe away the thick outer layer, there's a playful puzzle underneath, with numerous visual symbols and meta conversations to open a large and lengthy Spoiler discussion thread. It's just that I found the outer layer discouraging, which I attribute to still being someone who tolerates the director at best. If you're a fan of Zulawski, I'd think of this as similar to Inland Empire in David Lynch's career.

Removing the outer layer of a Zulawski film to get to its inner meaning is a bit like Witold, the protagonist, looking at stains on a ceiling. He sees a tiny detail, an arrow or maybe a rake (another piece of the puzzle), but remains oblivious to the giant vulva it resembles.

The core of Zulawski's filmmaking is his ability to transform emotions and thoughts into kinetic energy, into these spiraling, frenetic, nervous, ecstatic performances. And make no mistake, as chaotic as they may seem, they are carefully controlled. If you'd ever seen footage of Zulawski directing someone, you would dismiss the notion of acting class exercises as in your Diabel review.

In Cosmos, Zulawski operates in a different register than in most of his earlier films, more farcical with bouts of pure slapstick. This might be due to his source material, a supposedly (i.e. I haven't read it) absurdist novel by Witold Gombrowicz. I honestly thought this would go over a bit better with you, as it seems overall tamer than the other films you've seen so far. Alas, we like what we like. If you're looking for Zulawski at his most calm, La fidélité is the answer. Although I'm sure there will be other roadblocks in that one.

PS: I'm offline most of the week, but wanted to quickly get in some thoughts on Zulawski at least. I'll get back on Kosmos later.

PPS: L'attesa will be easier viewing, I think. Plus the director, Piero Messina, was an assistant to Paolo Sorrentino, whom you like, I believe.

StarCarly

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #382 on: February 01, 2017, 07:02:45 PM »
The Fits (2016)

I don't know much, but I know I didn't get this. I'm also pretty sure I didn't enjoy it. A slow movie with a short running time reminds me of that old joke wonderfully paraphrased by Woody Allen  "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." "Yeah, I know; and such small portions."


C
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Films Watched in 2017

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Bondo

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #383 on: February 01, 2017, 09:44:45 PM »
Yeah, it's one that passed right by me.

1SO

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #384 on: February 02, 2017, 12:31:49 AM »
I have 79 actor lists bookmarked on Letterboxd where Mrs. 1SO and I are planning to watch their entire filmographies. From Alan Ladd to William Powell. From the 16 features of Margaret Sullavan to as many of the 150 with Anthony Quinn I choose to watch. The one closest to completion is Fred Astaire with 34/36. (Holdouts are 1976's The Amazing Dobermans and 1977's The Purple Taxi.)

After Astaire comes...
Barbara Stanwyck 72/84 (85.7%)
James Cagney 57/65  (87.7%)
James Stewart 67/79 (84.8%)

This week I watched one featuring each of them. 3 titles from deep down in the deck.

Come Fill the Cup (1951)
* * * - Good
Cagney plays an alcoholic newspaperman who hits bottom. I was not looking forward to Cagney as a drunk, he too theatrical to play the serious side of such a disease. Luckily, the first act is about his personal rehabilitation through the help of another former alcoholic (James Gleason, in one of his best roles). Their scenes are direct and ring true, choosing honesty over melodrama. The real story involves Cagney being pressured by his boss (Raymond Massey) to detox his son (Gig Young, who was nominated for this performance, and rightly so.) I love seeing a film from the 50s that gets so much right about alcoholism, and Cagney is great playing a guy taking it one day at a time. The story with the son involves some noir elements including a gangster and some shady newspaper tactics, but that was the spoonful of sugar that helped this medicine go down. I'm marking this as a Discovery. Really curious to re-watch The Lost Weekend now.

I was so excited to find Come Fill the Cup, I pushed my luck with Cagney and followed it with Shake Hands with the Devil (1959). In this, Cagney plays an IRA terrorist in the 1920s. He's miscast but the only charismatic person in the film. Everyone else is authentic, but frightfully uninteresting.
* *


Navy Blue and Gold (1937)
* * * - Okay
Stewart's film is a sports drama set in Annapolis Naval Academy, also starring Robert Young. Even though this is early work, Stewart's persona is in full display. Sweet, serious, boyishly handsome, and in one scene as angry as I've seen him get in the Anthony Mann westerns. The film is standard, right down to the big football game finale, but this is a case where Stewart being one of and/or the greatest actors of all time makes a film like this into something worth watching.


The Gay Sisters (1942)
* *
Stanwyck plays the oldest of three sisters caught in a legal battle over their father's estate that's taken most of their lives. (The explanation of why this has gone on for so long is one of the best scenes.) The motivations of everyone fighting for the same piece of pie is interesting, but the dramatics have no life when they're played out. A rare case where I enjoyed the film more when the actors were talking instead of showing.

DarkeningHumour

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #385 on: February 02, 2017, 02:50:46 AM »
I have The Purple Taxi at home. Looking forward to your review.
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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #386 on: February 02, 2017, 08:24:21 AM »
The Fits (2016)

I don't know much, but I know I didn't get this. I'm also pretty sure I didn't enjoy it. A slow movie with a short running time reminds me of that old joke wonderfully paraphrased by Woody Allen  "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." "Yeah, I know; and such small portions."


C
Yeah, it's one that passed right by me.

It certainly didn't entrance me as much as it has others. But I also didn't hate it. It had an atmosphere that was interesting at least.
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Totoro

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #387 on: February 02, 2017, 05:11:36 PM »
THE FITS is a fantastic college thesis short film turned into a feature. It's an oddity to me. I'm pretty sure it actually celebrates gender conformity?

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #388 on: February 02, 2017, 05:22:41 PM »
Yeah, that's not my reading at all. I'm gonna write a proper review this weekend because I feel like everybody's missing something that I loved and I want to help people see it, if I've got those powers.
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philip918

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #389 on: February 02, 2017, 07:17:40 PM »
Yeah, that's not my reading at all. I'm gonna write a proper review this weekend because I feel like everybody's missing something that I loved and I want to help people see it, if I've got those powers.

Yeah, strange seeing a long string of such lukewarm reviews. One of my favorites of the year.