Last (x) movies you saw (II)

THE BETA TEST, the latest Jim Cummings thing. For whatever my opinion's worth it's better than The (overrated) Wolf Of Snow Hollow, prolly not as great as Thunder Road, but I'm just baffled at the lack of discourse surrounding it, I thought everyone was into this boy currently

He is an amazing physical actor like in the physicality of how he delivers dialogue, but I have no idea how you could put him in anyone else's films

The Royal Family of Broadway (Cukor & Gardner, 1930)
Money Means Nothing (Cabanne, 1934)
Notorious But Nice (Thorpe, 1933)
Toot Sweet! (Goulding, 1929)
Behind the Front (Sutherland, 1926)
Crimes of the Future (Cronenberg, 2022)
Downton Abbey: A New Era (Curtis, 2022)
The Monolith Monsters (Sherwood, 1957)
Midnight Faces (Cohen, 1926)

I used to say that I had never seen Ed Harris give a bad performance, but last night I watched The Firm. Gene Hackman's streak of great performances remains unbroken, though; he's brilliant in it, his initial bravado masking crippling self-loathing. And as always he's an absolute master at letting a pause linger just a second or two too long, making it really awkward (and somewhat frightening) for the other person in the scene.

Disco Dancer (1982) 4/5. The second-highest grossing film in the history of the Soviet Union.
Fire Music: A History of the Free Jazz Revolution (2020) 3/5
'Round Midnight (1986) 4/5
Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator (1967) 3/5
Karen Dalton: In My Own Time (2020) - 3.5/5
* The American Friend (1977) 4/5
From Here to Eternity (1953) 4/5

From Here to Eternity on TCM now.

How did you see Fire Music? I missed it when it played a couple of times last year, have been looking out for it since.

It's on Criterion Channel now.

Great--I have that! (And remember to check in once every three months...)

Dynamite Dan (Mitchell, 1924)
Quick (Siodmak, 1932)
Viktor und Viktoria (Schünzel, 1933)
Hot in Day, Cold at Night (Park Song-yeol, 2021)
Genius Against Violence (Frenkel, 1916)
Frankenstein 1970 (Koch, 1958)
Introduction (Hong Sang-soo, 2021)
In Front of Your Face (Hong Sang-soo, 2021)

A Blonde's Revenge (Cline & Lord, 1926)
*The Balloonatic (Keaton & Kline, 1923)
Dude Ranch (Tuttle, 1931)
The Acid Test (Scotto, 1932)
Divorce Sweets (1933)
Uptown New York (Schertzinger, 1932)
Nell Gwyn (Wilcox, 1926)
The Last Performance (Fejos, 1929)
Man and Dog (Constantinescu, 2022)
Forbidden Planet (Wilcox, 1956)
Otto the Barbarian (Ghițescu, 2020)
Miracle (Apetri, 2021)

Ozark (S4-B – 6.0)
Hello, Bookstore (6.5)
Like a Rolling Stone: The Life & Times of Ben Fong-Torres (6.0)
Atlanta (S3 – 7.0)
Better Call Saul (S6-A – 7.0)
Fire Music (6.5)
Mad Men (S1-S7 – 10.0)
Men (6.0)
Crimes of the Future (5.5)
The Capote Tapes (7.0)

A good quality Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness turned up yesterday so got to watch that.
Quite great really. Nice and trippy visuals. Wanda chewing the scenery.
Is the Multiverse going to get any further exploration in other Marvel stuff or is it just this and Spiderman.
I did have a problem with it seeming that I had to keep turning subtitles on and off. Must be other options than all on so English gets them or all off so nothing does when there are a few languages spoken. Like film actually starts in Spanish.

I enjoyed it anyway.

Loved the new Dr. Strange. Top 10 MCU for me... if I even have 10.

Really felt like reading an overstuffed 3 part Marvel mini series from back in the '80s: convoluted plotlines, wild guest stars, fun dialogue and even better visuals.

plus Sam Raimi.

Limelight (Chaplin) 6/10
*Cellular (the snakes on a plane guy) 9/10
The Times of Harvey Milk (Rob Epstein) 8/10
Top Gun Maverick (Joseph Kosinski) 8/10
The Weekend Murders (1970) 6/10
Original Cast Album: Company (Pennebaker) 7/10 sondheim commentary track recommended
A Chorus Line (Attenborough) 7/10

also some tv
Outer Range S1 around 7/10
Moon Knight 5/10

A Chorus Line (Attenborough) 7/10

I also re-watched this one on Criterion recently and, despite the original book's handy utility as one of the great slasher-not-slasher movies, the Fame-ization of A Chorus Line will never sit right with me.

the snakes on a plane guy

the Fast Five guy and the Bone guy!

regarding ACL, I am unfamiliar with the stage musical which probably helped my opinion of the film.

While it streams on Criterion, is there any reason why A Chorus Line would be worth a watch for someone who isn't immediately moved by the promise of "Michael Douglas in a Broadway musical adaptation from the director of Gandhi?"

THE BETA TEST, the latest Jim Cummings thing.

"I am INWINCIBLE!" And something about the password being a chair. You sit on but you can't take it with you. It doesn't make sense. It sounds as if it should be rude but isn't.

I was surprised to find out he ended up directing a big chunk of Bohemian Rhapsody. That's a big step up from Edd the Duck. "Mr Flibble's very cross". You know, I remember deliberately not watching *Ghostwatch* because I didn't realise it was a drama. I thought it was going to be an actual live broadcast about ghosts with Craig McLachlan. It just didn't appeal to me at all. And so I missed the chance to see Russell Harty possessed by a demon. I still kick myself for that.

xp my answer's no

Phil Tippett's Mad God, an absolute marvel

M Butterfly (Cronenberg, 1993) 8/10
Through A Glass Darkly (Bergman, 1963) 8/10
What Am I Doing This?: A Film About Touring (Fundingsland, 2021) 6/10
Autumn Sonata (Bergman, 1978) 10/10
Hour Of The Wolf (Bergman, 1968) 8/10
*Shock Corridor (Fuller, 1963) 8/10
Winter Light (Bergman, 1963) 7/10
Pleasure (Thyberg, 2021) 6/10
Dashcam (Savage, 2021) 8/10
Murder Death Koreatown (anonymous, 2020) 6/10

xpost Looking forward to watching this but feel I need to be ... ready.

I'm tempted to go see it again tonight while it's still on the big screen.

There's a sequence close to the beginning which feels like a living Bosch painting. Just a huge amount of creativity.

Spring 2022...

Ascension (Jessica Kingdon, 2021)
Belfast (Kenneth Branagh, 2021)
Native Son (Pierre Chenal, 1951)
Central Park (Frederick Wiseman, 1989)
On the Bridge (Frank Perry, 1992)
The Straight Story (David Lynch, 1999)
Mahalia Jackson: The Power and the Glory (Jeff Scheftel, 1997)
Missile (Frederick Wiseman, 1988)
Imitation of Life (Douglas Sirk, 1959)
Red Rocket (Sean Baker, 2021)
Sisters with Transistors (Lisa Rovner, 2020)
Marutai no onna (Jûzô Itami, 1997)
Rome, Open City (Roberto Rossellini, 1945)
Look Away (Sophie Cunningham, 2021)
The Funeral (Jûzô Itami, 1984)
The Last Picture Show (Peter Bogdanovich, 1971)
The Pelican Brief (Alan J. Pakula, 1993)
National Gallery (Frederick Wiseman, 2014)
Rubber Band Pistol (Jûzô Itami, 1962)
In Dog Years (Sophy Romvari, 2019)
Minamata (Andrew Levitas, 2020)
Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)
Shane (George Stevens, 1953)
Great Communist Bank Robbery (Alexandru Solomon, 2004)
It Came From Aquarius Records (Kenneth Thomas, 2022)
For Madmen Only: The Stories of Del Close (Heather Ross, 2020)
*The Limey (Steven Soderbergh, 1999)
Nashville (Robert Altman, 1975)
Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon (Yukio Noda, 1977)
Nimic (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2019)
Extraterrestrial (Nacho Vigalondo, 2011)
Wild Gunman (Craig Baldwin, 1978)
Navalny (Daniel Roher, 2022)

Possibly apocryphal story, but supposedly the copy of On The Bridge was digitized directly from Lindsay Anderson's own VHS tape. Caught up on a couple of films I really should have seen but never got around to. Ascension prob my fave of all of these.

doh! "*" on The Straight Story of course.

The Three From the Filling Station (Thiele, 1930)
*Hotel Anchovy (Christie, 1934)
The Black Abbot (Cooper, 1934)
The Pearl (d'Ursel, 1929)
There Goes the Bride (de Courville, 1932)
Public Stenographer (Callins, 1934)
Lonesome (Fejos, 1928)
Green Eyes (Thorpe, 1934)

Crimes of The Future (Cronenberg, 2022) 8/10
The Sadness (Jabbaz, 2021) 6/10
Hana-Bi (Kitano, 1997) 6/10
*The Harder They Come (Henzell, 1972) 7/10
The Image Book (Godard, 2018) 5/10
Men (Garland, 2022) 4/10

Red Ensign (Powell, 1934)
Friday the Thirteenth (Saville, 1933)
Lightnin' (Ford, 1925)
Everything All at Once (Daniels, 2022)
Attack of the Puppet People (Gordon, 1958)
Lumiere d'Ete (Gremillion, 1943)

Viewing way down in 2022.

The Batman (Reeves 2022)
Drive My Car (Hamaguchi 2021)
Please Hold (Davila 2021)
Suicide Squad (Gunn 2021)
Million Dollar Legs (Cline 1932)
The Cocoanuts (Florey, Santley 1929)
Extreme Private Eros: Love Song 1974 (Hara 1974)
*Miller's Crossing (Coen 1990)
Black Belt Jones (Clouse 1974)
The Rise & Fall of the Clash (Garcia 2012)
Memoria (Weerasethakul 2021)
The Northman (Eggers 2022)
Motian in Motion (Kelly 2020)
Ladies' Man (Mendes 1931)
Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Raimi 2022)
Fire Music (Surgal 2021)
What is man and what is guitar? (Burnett 2021)
Chan Is Missing (Wang 1982)
Good Luck To You, Leo Grande (Hyde 2022)
Possessor (B. Cronenberg 2020)
The Hole (Tsai 1998)
Foreign Intrigue (Reynolds 1956)

*Penda's Fen (Clarke, 1974) 10/10
Mr Klein (Losey, 1976) 8/10
I Love You, Daddy (CK, 2017) 4/10
*Repo Man (Cox, 1984) 8/10
Elvis (Luhrmann, 2021) 7/10
La Notte (Antonioni, 1961) 7/10
The Passion of Anna (Bergman, 1969) 9/10

Party Husband (Badger, 1931)
Breaking Even (Scotto, 1932)
Two A.M. (Cozine, 1931)
Via Express (Bretherton, 1931)
Torchy's Loud Spooker (Burr, 1933)
Techno-crazy (Lamont, 1933)
*The Deadly Mantis (Juran, 1957)
*Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Mamoulian, 1931)

Re-watched Sexy Beast last night for the first time in 20 years. (It's streaming on Hulu.) Haaaaated it back then — just found Kingsley's character, whom everyone's supposed to be terrified of, annoying, like a dog who wouldn't stop barking. Didn't love it now but was fascinated by all the layers of sexual anxiety and trauma and guilt and revulsion that I hadn't paid attention to back then. The male characters are all basically boiling cauldrons of (at least)half-queer self-loathing, except for the protagonist, and his unflappable heterosexuality seems to drive the others berserk.

I saw Penda's Fen for the first time last year. Quite something, despite the BBC budget.

I didn't know who Jonathan Glazer was when he made Sexy Beast and I hardly remember it, but in retrospect after Birth and Under the Skin I'm interested in watching it again

A Chinese Ghost Story (1987) 4/5
* Depeche Mode: 101 (1989) 4.5/5
The Worst Person in the World (2021) 4/5
Beyond The Visible - Hilma af Klint (2019) 3/5
Libeled Lady (1936) 3.5/5
The Shout (1978) 3.5/5
Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe (2022) 3/5
The Bridges of Madison County (1995) 4/5
* Goodfellas (1990) 5/5
A Cry in the Dark (1988) 3/5

Also, a short:
Thing from the Factory Behind the Field (2002) 2.5/5

Watched a bit of "The Fugitive" last night. Was that movie one of if not the first example of big-budget IP mining translating to both box office success and Oscar prestige? "Based on the bestseller" movies aside?

Night Birds (Eichberg, 1930)
Hold 'Em Yale (Griffith, 1928)
Lightning Bill (Adamson, 1934)
Hell-Fire Austin (Sheldon, 1932)
Prize Puppies (Goulding, 1930)
Oh Darling! (Roberts, 1930)
The Cigarette Girl of Mosselprom (Zhelyabuzhsky, 1934)
Thor: Love and Thunder (Waititi, 2022)
Curse of the Swamp Creature (Buchanan, 1968)
Mrs Harris Goes to Paris (Fabian, 2022)

Don't Give Up (Watson, 1930)
The House Where I Was Born (Watson, 1934)
Soft Pedal (Grey, 1926)
*Matrimony's Speed Limit (Guy Blache, 1913)
The Campus Vamp (Edwards, 1928)
Britannia of Billingsgate (Hill, 1933)
Manhattan Madness (Dwan, 1916)
Wild and Woolly (Emerson, 1917)
Both Sides of the Blade (Denis, 2022)
*The Student of Prague (Rye, 1913)

*Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid (Peckinpah, 1973) 8/10
A Tale of Two Sisters (Kim Jee-woon, 2003) 5/10
Watership Down (Rosen, 1978) 8/10
Mountains May Depart (Zhangke, 2015) 6/10
The Many Saints of Newark (Taylor, 2021) 5/10
Modern Romance (Brooks, 1981) 8/10
Fanny and Alexander (Bergman, 1982) 8/10

Completely on a tangent, there's a new film out called The Emigrants, based on a book by a chap called Vilhelm Moberg. It seems to have been shot a while back and held back for release post-COVID. The film is about a bunch of people from Sweden who moved to the United States in the 1800s. However the book was filmed before, in the early 1970s, with Max Von Sydow and Liv Ullmann, whose name is two-two, like accommodate and millennium, but unlike Philippines which is one-two. And there was a sequel, The New Land.

Are they any good? The first film looks uncannily as if it was a 2010s indie film project shot on expired 35mm film stock:
https://www.blu-ray.com/The-Emigrants/317961/#Screenshots

One the one hand they get good reviews but on the other hand I have to admit I haven't heard of either of them, and yet they look wonderful and were nominated for awards etc.

Viz:
https://seeingthingssecondhand.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/screenshot-1318.png
https://images.static-bluray.com/reviews/13169_5_large.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EV5rfdnXYAI0Qyk?format=jpg&name=large
https://images.static-bluray.com/reviews/13169_14_large.jpg

the new land is exceptional, i rewatched it recently

Thor, Love & Thunder
finally got to see this. It was a cam but a pretty good one. Thought it might even not be until I saw somebody's head a couple fo minutes in.
Then at the end you see fully in focus backs blocking the credits.
Sound was good for the most part but it did get Spanish subtitles for some of the books and things.
Anyway thought it was fun and should have copped on who teh director was before the end credits. Don't think I read much about it before seeing it.
Funny subtheme about jealousy between warhammers etc since Mjolnir got broken up in an earlier film and was a relic in this until Jane Foster turned up and reunited it which I assume is already known by most. Other subtheme is what she does after that. Not sure what access is to or from Valhalla , has been a very long time since I read the comic
Did thoroughly enjoy it so hope there's more.

Passing Rebecca Hall 2021
Beautiful film about race at the time of teh Harlem Renaissance. Very atmospheric, nice b+w cinematography and some very good acting.
Took me a moment to realise i was watching Tess Thompson again in a very different role to last night. She seems pretty versatile on the strength of this
Think I had the file for this for a while before watching it. Think I may have the book somewhere too. So think I may need to read it too.
I was wondering to what extent Thompson would be passing in the light of this, but she looks like she might be seen to be Spanish or something from seeing her in a colour film. Not sure if that would work at the time it is set. But the film is beautiful.
Ruth Negga is pretty good too

I just watched Don't Let the Riverbeast Get You! starring Matt Farley of A message to the Spotify musician The Passionate & Objective Jokerfan (aka Matt Farley) fame. It's deranged in a pretty delightful way, I might be a convert to his movie universe.