Last (x) movies you saw (II)

The Girl from Chicago does have sound, of a sort.

Spider-Man No Way Home
caught a decent transfer which now has decent sound. But is still a camera so there area couple of times where you get a pretty high detail shadow across the image. Or is that silhouette which is even more trippy than the film might be in itself. & there's some pretty cool psychedelic touches again . Do love the end credits graphics too.
Anyway quite enjoyed this. Assume there will be more. interesting to see the previous couple of actors who played him appear as hims

THis ended with a trailer for the next Dr Strange which looks like it could be good. Looking forward to seeing taht in May. Torrent sites have things claiming to be it but I assume it is way too early to get a decent version yet.

plax pls give your capsule of VOTRA

Marty Delbert Mann 1955
LOvely little film with a lot of detail centred on the potential romance between a mid 30s (tho9ugh I think age was differently valorised then) butcher and a chemistry teacher he meets at a dancehall. She is supposed to be too plain to be of interest to most men which I'm not sure I would agree with. But it is a hingepoint here as is his lack of physical attraction. She is betsy blair one time Mrs gene Kelly and somebody I'd question the idea of plain for and it is something that does crop up elsewhere , she is in the Spanish Film Calla Mayor and i think that also has that as a hingepoint. He is Ernest Borgnine.
Anyway great film which I've had trying to download for months and finally came through a week or so ago . I did like the details being included, like the way that people talked and stuff. Or what was talked about.

Kongi's Harvest Ossie Davis 1970
American character actor directs Nigerian playwright in a film of his play. I think this was one of a very few films he directed. THough just found out those include Cotton Comes TO harlem and i guess 7 isn't that low,
I heard about this from a book i read last year i think Africa Popular Theatre and i don't think the author liked it much. But I think it is about ok. Could hear a voice in the writing that reminded me of the other play by Wole Soyinke that I've worked on.
I quite enjoyed it anyway.
THis was another thing I had set up to download months ago that only landed recently.

Marty is on Tubi, at least in Canada. It's worth checking Tubi if you watch movies on a computer and you use an ad-blocker.

i recommended it on the hoops board but the (now Oscar Nominated) short "Queen of Basketball" is a very good watch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPFkcoTfr7g

Mothers Cry (Henley, 1930)
*Tide of Empire (Dwan, 1929)
Girl o' My Dreams (R. McCarey, 1934)
The Mystery Train (Whitman, 1931)
The Lady Lies (Henley, 1929)
The Unknown Singer (Tourjansky, 1931)
When the Cat's Away (Ireland, 1920)
Cinderella Cinders (Ireland, 1920)

The Keep (1983) 3/5
Yum, Yum, Yum! A Taste of Creole and Cajun Cooking (1990) 4/5
* Fallen Angels (1995; original cut) 4.5/5
Aspen (1991) 4/5
Kimi (2022) 3/5
Faya Dayi (2020) 3/5
Right Now, Wrong Then (2015) 3.5/5
Johnny Corncob (1973) 3/5
A Woman is a Woman (1961) 3/5

And the run that will ensure letterboxd shows Jeff Tremaine as one of my most-watched directors of 2022:
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (2013) 3.5/5
* Jackass Forever (2022) 3.5/5
* Jackass 3D (2010) 3.5/5
* Jackass Number Two (2006) 4/5
* Jackass: The Movie (2002) 3.5/5

The Lincoln Cycle (Eps. 5-7, 10) (Stahl & Chapin, 1917)
*Ten Nights in a Barroom (Calnek, 1926)
Night Beat (Seitz, 1931)
Going Straight (Franklin & Franklin, 1916)
Playthings of Desire (Melford, 1933)
A Private Scandal (Hutchison, 1931)
Call it Murder (Erskine, 1934)

february

*The House on Telegraph Hill (Wise, 1951) 8/10
The Earth Dies Screaming (1964) 3/10
The Unsinkable Schecky Moskowitz aka Going Overboard (1989) 1/10
Dollman (1991) 4/10 german subtitle: der space cop
The Dead Don't Die (Jarmusch, 2019) 5/10
Onward (Pixar, 2020) 6/10 bizarrely complicated premise
Escape Room: Twonament of Champions (Sony, 2021) theatrical cut 4/10, extended cut 5/10
The Map of Tiny Perfect Things (2021) 6/10 indie af
Drive My Car (Hamaguchi, 2021) 7/10
Belfast (Branagh, 2021) 2/10
West Side Story (Spielberg, 2021) 6/10 great camera work; why tho
Nightmare Alley (del Toro, 2021) 6/10

Copshop: a police station siege movie directed by Joe Carnahan, starring Frank Grillo and Gerard Butler, but the real star is Valerie Young, who should become a major star based on this. It's dumb, but smarter and funnier than it needed to be. Between this and Boss Level, Carnahan's on a streak.

― but also fuck you (unperson), Saturday, December 25, 2021 3:30 AM (two months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Definitely agree with this -- and Alexis Young is that standout actor (Valerie Young is the character). She's fantastic. And the whole movie really has its tone down between character and colorful acting. Toby Huss is wild as well.

Whoops, that's Alexis Louder. One day we'll laugh at getting her name wrong when she's become the next Bruce Willis.

Meanwhile, in contrast to Copshop, couldn't stand Nobody.

Spider-Man: No Way Home (Watts 2021)
*The Long Goodbye (Altman 1973)
Nightmare Alley (Goulding 1947)
Bath House (von Bahr 2014)
Something to Remember (von Bahr 2019)
Sprout Wings and Fly (Blank 1983)
*Eno (Sinniger 1973)
My Life as a Dog (Hallström 1985)
The Tragedy of Macbeth (Coen 2021)
The Lost Daughter (Gyllenhaal 2021)
Passing (Hall 2021)
Urgh! A Music War (Burbidge 1982)
Rio Bravo (Hawks 1959)
*L'avventura (Antonioni 1960)
Riders of Justice (Jensen 2020)
The Asphalt Jungle (Huston 1950)
Writton on the Wind (Sirk 1956)
Spencer (Larraín 2021)
The Upsetter: The Life and Music of Lee Scratch Perry (Higbee, Lough, 2008)
Bergman Island (Hansen-Løve 2021)
The French Dispatch (Anderson 2021)
Murders in the Zoo (Sutherland 1933)
La Ricotta (Pasolini 1962)
Jazz on a Summer's Day (Stern, Avakian, 1959)

Big Town (Hoerl, 1932)
Ladies' Man (Mendes, 1931)
The Virtuous Sin (Cukor & Gasnier, 1930)
Trapped (Mitchell, 1931)
Ten Nights in a Barroom (O'Connor, 1931)
The Notorious Lady (Baggot, 1927)
Spider-Man: No Way Home (Watts, 2021)
No Lady (Lane, 1931)

Who's Afraid? (1927)
An Unseen Enemy (Griffith, 1912)
The Joke's On You (Ceder, 1925)
This Day and Age (DeMille, 1933)
Before Morning (Hoerl, 1933)
A Bedtime Story (Taurog, 1933)
Dune (Villeneuve, 2021)

The Batman (2022) 3/5. I liked the car chase. Should have let Colin Ferrell have his cigar.
Center Stage (1991) 4.5/5
* The Master (2012) 4.5/5
On the Beach at Night Alone (2017) 4/5
West Side Story (2021) 4/5
The Gospel According to Matthew (1964) 4.5/5
5 Fingers (1952) 4/5

I'm No Angel was a delight. Cary Grant's role consists of forgetting not to let his smile compete with the brilliantine in his hair, but I love the reaction shots in which he breaks character to admire Mae West's chutzpah.

Center Stage is a must-see for Maggie Cheung fans. A biopic that takes an unconventional and increasingly poignant approach as we worry about the future preservation of all kinds of Hong Kong films.

I thought every last frame, every shot, every camera move, every costume, choreographed dance, every edit of "West Side Story" was downright perfect, Spielberg at his most virtuoso, packed with visual allusions to everything from "Black Narcissus" to (possibly) "Nights of Cabiria." A film lover's film made by a film lover at his most film-loving. And yet, maybe because I have no real affinity for the story or the first movie, my ultimate takeaway was kind of ... eh. Can't quite put my finger on why.

Similarly head scratcher for me, I really liked and appreciated "King Richard" and in particular Will Smith in what is in essence a pretty boilerplate Oscar bait movie that (imo) against all odds rises above the constraints and cliches imposed by such status. The kids they got to play Venus and Serena look pretty uncanny at times.

Most of Mad Max II though I missed teh start and Max was already inside the compound so not sure quite how far into the film it was. Still got to see a few pretty good vehicle bits. ITV4 or something so they seemed to pick the peaks to insert ad breaks into.
BUt can see why i loved this film so much in my late teens. JUst not sure how much i can sympathise with Max if played by Mel Gibson. Need to have some sympathy doncha, I did read recently that Tom Hardy wasn't the most ideal cast memeber on the Fury Road filming. Was continually late etc.

Oh well, do love me some Road Warrior. Not sure what one would group with that film sci fi or not. Adventures of young pigs or something

Josh In Chicago otm re: the excellent filmmaking in West Side Story. I loved it. I think it's one of Spielberg's best in a very long time.

Watched the Divine documentary I Am Divine last night and laughed my ass off. The dude really was an incredible performer, and while John Waters and he were a perfect team and neither of them would have made it as far as they did without the other, Divine did a lot of great work without Waters. (I had no idea about his stage career in SF and NYC, for example, and the footage from the plays and musicals he did was great.) Also, I wish people would stop obsessing over Pink Flamingos when Female Trouble is so much funnier and more insane, and a much better showcase for Divine's talent and persona.

*Raise the Rent (Newmeyer, 1920)
*She Loved Him Plenty (Del Ruth & Jones, 1918)
*The Speedy Marriage (Ludwig, 1925)
Earth (Dovzhenko, 1930)
What Price Glory (Ford, 1952)
Quality Street (Franklin, 1927)
The Moth (Newmeyer, 1934)
The Outfit (Moore, 2022)

Joyless Street (Pabst, 1925)
The Terror of the Batignolles (Clouzot, 1931)
Dragnet Night (Gallone, 1931)
Poppin' the Cork (White, 1933)
Secrets of Chinatown (Newmeyer, 1934)
The Love of Jeanne Ney (Pabst, 1927)
Grief Street (Thorpe, 1931)
The Batman (Reeves, 2022)

Don't Look Up.
Finally got to see this. Had run out of hard drive space a couple of months back so not had the chance til now.
Quite dark really.
Had some really funny bits.
Wonder if it will hold up for years or even just become more topical.
Anyway enjoyed it.
It has a post credits scene if you haven’t caught that.
Also liked the philosophical idea hinted at if you say something called a specific unknown term will perform a task. It is probably what the previously unknown thing will be known as thenceforth. Innit

Watched Deep Water last night. A decent semi-mystery set in a world of rich people who just wanna act like middle-class suburbanites. Based on a Patricia Highsmith novel, apparently. Ben Affleck is surprisingly good in it. Ana De Armas is just OK.

Watched Red Rocket tonight. Very funny portrait of a guy who's a complete amoral, soulless piece of shit, and yet still fun enough that you want to spend two hours watching him try to seduce a 17-year-old into working as a porn performer, with him as her "manager."

Deep Water is worth watching just because it looks fantastic, btw. Adrian Lyne still knows how to make a movie look good, no matter how bad the script might be (and again, the script is pretty good here). Lots of it looks like a perfume commercial, but the lighting both indoors and outdoors is phenomenal. DP is Eigil Bryld, who also shot In Bruges and a bunch of other things.

March:

Strongroom (1962) 7/10
Long Weekend (1978) 6/10
Beyond Terror (1980) 7/10
the Killing of Sister George (1968) 9/10
Culloden (1964) 8/10
Double Team (1997) 6/10
Femme Fatale (2002) 7/10
Emperor of The North (1973) 7/10
The Batman (2022) 7/10
Simon of the Desert (1965) 8/10
Husbands (1970) 8/10
F for Fake (1973) 8/10
Knight of Cups (2015) 7/10
Pornostar (1998) 8/10
*The Punisher (1989) 7/10
Comrades: Almost a Love Story (1996) 6/10
Beyond The Infinite Two Minutes (2020) 8/10
Zero for Conduct (1933) 7/10
Turning Red (2022) 6/10
*Inherent Vice (2014) 9/10

Deep Water (2022) 4/10 - laughably bad

March:

And Soon the Darkness (Fuest, 1970) 7/10 BLU-RAY
Vortex (Noe, 2021) 8/10 GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL
Father Dear Father (Stewart, 1973) 4/10 DVD
A Propos de Nice (Vigo, 1930) 8/10 DVD
Taris (Vigo, 1931) 9/10 DVD
The Mad Doctor of Market Street (Lewis, 1942) 5/10 BLU-RAY
The Batman (Reeves, 2022) 6.10 CINEWORLD
Infinite Football (Porumboiu, 2018) 7/10 BLU-RAY
Natural Born Killers (Stone, 1994) 4/10 DVD
The Black Cat (Rogell, 1941) 5/10 BLU-RAY
Tower of London (Lee, 1939) 7/10 BLU-RAY
The Strange Case of Doctor Rx (Nigh, 1942) 4/10 BLU-RAY
The Phantom of the Opera (Lubin, 1943) 5/10 DVD
The Worst Person in the World (Trier, 2021) 7/10 CINEWORLD
The Mummy's Curse (Goodwins, 1944) 5/10 DVD

The Reckoning (Fraser, 1932)
Shock (Pomeroy, 1934)
The Black Hand Gang (Banks, 1930)
Kentucky Pride (Ford, 1925)
Men Without Women (Ford, 1930)
Little Man, What Now? (Borzage, 1934)

march

King Richard (2021) 5/10
CODA (2021) 5/10
Don't Look Up (2021) 4/10
Licorice Pizza (2021) 9/10
*The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened? (2015) 5/10 i needed some more jon peters
Truck Turner (1974) 7/10
Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (1988) 6/10
Arcade (Pyun, 1993) 5/10
Prisoners (Villaneuve, 2013) 9/10
Snowpiercer (Bong, 2013) 8/10
The Card Counter (Schrader, 2021) 7/10
Turning Red (2022) 8/10

I agree that Elvira is superior to the awards-season glurge of CODA and KR.

Arcade (Pyun, 1993) 5/10

:)

Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) 4/5
Human Lanterns (1982) 2.5/5. I can see why people enjoy this horror-tinged wuxia, and there are some good fights, but the villain was too much of an annoying goofball.
Terror in a Texas Town (1958) 3.5/5. Probably still the only western where a Swede uses a harpoon as a weapon.
Beat Girl (1960) 3/5
* Miami Vice (2006) 4/5
India Song (1975) 4/5
* Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007) 4/5

Definitely got Pee-wee's Big Adventure vibes from the Elvira movie -- both stars were in The Groundlings together. My favorite joke in Elvira is how she takes off her costume after her show and comes out wearing the exact same outfit.

Arcade has great early CG cheese a la The Langoliers.

I Hate Women (Scotto, 1934)
Riot Squad (Webb, 1933)
Skyway (Collins, 1933)
Rebellious Daughters (Yarbrough, 1932)
Fraulein Else (Czinner, 1929)
An Inn in Tokyo (Ozu, 1935)
Memoria (Weerasethakul, 2021)

Cleaner (Renny Harlin, 2007) stars Samuel L. Jackson as an ex-cop turned crime scene cleaner, Ed Harris as his former partner who was in on some shady shit with him years earlier, Eva Mendes as the Woman of Mystery, and Luis Guzman as the cop you're supposed to think is corrupt. It's a small-scale urban noir set in Trenton, NJ that does what it's supposed to do. The twist is just surprising enough to be worth waiting for, and it's all over in only 90 minutes. Robert Forster's in it, too; he only has one scene, but watching him play off Jackson again is fun.

Wojnarowicz (7.0)
Erin Brockovich (6.5)
Succession (S1 – 6.0)
The Worst Person in the World (7.5)
Succession (S2 – 7.0)
To Sir with Love (9.0)
Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy (7.0)
Succession (S3 – 7.0)
The Morning Show (S1 – 6.0)
The Crossing Guard (6.0)
Mindhunter (S1/2 – 8.5)
The Morning Show (S2 – 5.0)

*Easy Rider (1969) 9/10
Nightmare Alley (2021) 6/10
The Souvenir Part II (2021) 6/10
Macario (1960) 7/10
*Manhunter (1986) 7/10
Lingui, The Sacred Bonds (2021) 6/10
Lets Be Cops (2014) 5/10
Medium Cool (1969) 8/10
Antonio Das Mortes (1969) 8/10
Entranced Earth (1967) 5/10
Ambulance (2022) 8/10
L'atalante (1934) 7/10

Short films

Still Life (2022) 9/10 https://vimeo.com/692505134
The Dangerous Type (2022) 4/10

*Married to Order (Chase, 1920)
Hubby's Quiet Little Game (Lord, 1926)
Le Metro (Franju & Langlois, 1934)
A Parisian Romance (Franklin, 1932)
Air Eagles (Whitman, 1931)
The Italian Straw Hat (Clair, 1928)
Long Pants (Capra, 1927)
The Wandering Jew (Elvey, 1933)

The Power of the Dog (Campion 2021) 3.5/5
Upgrade (Whannell 2018) 3/5
Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus (Douglas 2003) 3.5/5
Lady Bird (Gerwig 2017) 4/5
Double Indemnity (Wilder 1944) 5/5
The Silence of the Lambs (Demme 1991) 5/5
Dog Day Afternoon (Lumet 1975) 5/5
Censor (Bailey-Bond 2021) 2.5/5
The Souvenir (Hogg 2019) 4.5/5

The Batman Matt Reeves 2022
I assume this is the start of a series. Nice take on the old franchise. A bit long though, & i think I did doze off for a few minutes.
But overall does seem like a good way to go except I'd try to make the next one shorter.
Assume this was current day attempting to look dark and noirish or Gothic or something.
Nice and dark anyway, like yeah kinda dark in a like dark way like.
some back stories i wasn't aware of , has the Wayne/Arkham family link been canon before? & is the Riddler Bruce's bastard brother?
Also god, thought Colin Farrell had bulked out for Northwater and he's even more so here. How much of that is makeup?

I really enjoyed tge “Dark Detective” aspect of this new Batman but still really miss some of the goofiness that went out the window when Nolan took over. A blend of Burton’s cartoonishness with the grit and grime would be wonderful. Loved Farrell’s ‘80s DeNiro-wannabe Penguin. Rest of the cast very good. The emotional connection between Serkis and Pattinson didn’t register for me at all. Zoe Kravitz can rob me blind.

just seen who Zoe Kravitz's parents are and gosh doesn't time fly.

Hal Roach Presents Harry Langdon (1929)
Counsel on De Fence (Ripley, 1934)
The Gang Buster (Sutherland, 1931)
The Northman (Eggers, 2022)
The Roadhouse Murder (Ruben, 1932)
The Chaser (Langdon, 1928)

april. didn't watch much.

Magnificent Obsession (Sirk, 1954) 7/10
The Dirt Bike Kid (1985) 5/10 E.T. with a magic motorcycle
The Exorcist III (Blatty, 1990) 6/10
Big Fan (Robert D. Siegel, 2009) 6/10
The French Dispatch (Anderson, 2021) 7/10
The Northman (Eggers, 2022) 8/10

Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (2021) 4.5/5. Don't recall the last time I saw a triptych film like this that actually felt like it had the craft and power of observance of a short story collection. Ever?
Double Team (1997) - 3.5/5
The Northman (2022) 3.5/5
The Executioner (1963) 4.5/5. Great idea for a black comedy from Franco's Spain: guy who ends up responsible for executions does everything he can to get out of doing them.
Memoria (2021) 4.5/5. Needs to be seen in a theater, at home, on a laptop, smart fridge, wherever they'll let you see it.
El Planeta (2021) 2/5. Good example of it being a bad sign when someone with performance art and video installations on their resume decides it's time to start making feature films.
Daughters of Darkness (1971) 2/5. Boring.

Possession (Zulawski, 1981): the new 4k restoration is out on a region free Australian Blu-Ray, so I bought one on eBay. It looks fantastic, and of course it's completely fucking bonkers and one of the most emotionally raw movies I've ever seen. Adjani is incredible, but so is Sam Neill - he looks like a drowned corpse.