Last Watched

[pabs]

Thanks, R. I love witty, excoriating reviews, even when they're dissing a film I liked. Although I didn't think Ad Astra amounted to very much, I do disagree with this critic's deeming that the film's scientific illogicalities were its main weakness: I didn't notice any, coz I'm not a space-tech/science-nerd. The absolutely worst thing about that review was that the critic felt the film's one redeeming factor was Pitt's performance, which moved him at one point. I happened to think Pitt's performance was, as per usual, completely boring and unaffecting, and the worst thing about the whole film. I was blissfully unaware of all the film's scientific blunders while watching, but that man simply cannot act. Now that they've been pointed out to me, some of the techno blunders are indeed quite silly, some insanely so ( e.g., having a radio-tower, needing to travel to the dark side of the moon, baboons in space, etc, etc... ), but none of them mattered to me at the time, as the story unfolded. But I did love that review, so a huge thanks.

[nrh]

I often like pitt but he is a very studied actor and gray is a very studied director, whose work is often depending on a live wire performer like phoenix (or even slightly awkward, human actors like wahlberg or hunnam) to puncture his tendency towards being a little academic. pitt is very good in the movie as it goes but the effect is at first suffocating then merely dull (and, when shedding a single tear at the end, somewhat laughable).

also - he surfing through the ring of the planet scene at the end, was gray knowingly referencing the end of dark star or a nice accident?

[Roscoe]

I've avoided Pitt since BENJAMIN BUTTON -- I just can't stand the sight of him any more. He's among the worst actors out there, one slight step above Keanu. He's got exactly two performances, the Column A performance where he's all sad and quiet and pensive (as in the unspeakable BUTTON) and the Column B performance where he gets all actor-y in a vain attempt to display a versatility he doesn't have (as in his unwatchable floundering in TWELVE MONKEYS and BASTERDS).

Saw THE SHINING last night, Fathom Events screening of the new restoration with Big Screen and Great Sound. Still works for me, after all these years. And they finally made the tennis ball yellow again...

[Joks Trois]

Hellboy (2019): one of the worst new films I've seen in a while. It's such a misfire that it's actually increasing my appeeciation for Marvel's assembly line blandness. 3 or 3.5/10.

[Joks Trois]

Thanks, R. I love witty, excoriating reviews, even when they're dissing a film I liked. Although I didn't think Ad Astra amounted to very much, I do disagree with this critic's deeming that the film's scientific illogicalities were its main weakness: I didn't notice any, coz I'm not a space-tech/science-nerd./

Reviews of that nature can be dismissed offhand. Almost always the sign of a complete dullard who doesn't understand cinema.

Realism should not be a priority in film making or criticism. In some contexts it can be a plus (or a minus), but that's it. I'm really against the idea that it should be the focus.

[nrh]

juan moreira, leonardo favio

much prefer this one to the other favio i've seen, nazareno cruz, which i think puts me in a minority here. but this is a beautiful, fatalistic gaucho epic, not so much a poor kid gets radicalized as a poor kid gets radicalized and is used by the dominant political factions until he is discarded.

but more than anything i think it's a lovely film, just in the way one shot merges into another one, at times favio's shot transitions (especially when they're signaled by jm stabbing someone!) near ruiz level cubism.



deux remi, deux, pierre leon

leon i think working through his sometimes esoteric ideas about acting and form in a fairly perfect play on the double. not as perfect as his idiot but in some ways more fun, there are comic physical bits that actually remind me of the dance stuff from moguillansky's castro, it's simply great to watch every time cervo as nice remi turns on a right angle.

also a sneakily good film on workplace culture...

[...]

Picked up a 20 film dvd pack of John Wayne movies for a buck and have been watching the '35 ones for the poll, well, sorta as I don't expect any of them would make the list, just that having the poll is a good excuse to watch 'em. They aren't really very good exactly, but they are kinda interesting. Wayne made 8 movies in '35 and his character is named John in all of 'em. (His characters are also often Johns in '34 and '36, but not always.) The movies I've seen all seem to be set in a somewhat ambiguous time frame, some not really saying, but others with the occasional car involved, so the overall feel is they are more first decade of the 20th century than old west movies. Almost contemporary, but with enough excuse to keep the horses and gun play. It's those two elements that really make me wonder about the fanbase for these films, such as it was, since the horse chases and gunplay are so routine and repetitive that its just the "thrill" of seeing someone ride a horse fast or fire a gun, mostly without hitting much, that gave them their appeal. It's obviously an excuse for being "genre" but genre without reward save for the love of westerns as a concept mostly. They're odd little movies with some strong formulaic elements, but with enough variation to keep my attention in trying to figure 'em out as objects.

Speaking of objects, I also watched Avengers: Endgame which is itself one really interesting object for all the different ways one might be able to assess it as a thing both in culmination and reinitiation of some larger product/process of works, and of course just as a movie in the same fashion. Too many different strands to really bother even mentioning here as it obviously isn't much of a SCFZ movie, but if you set aside "enjoyment" or whatever, it has a lot to offer as a cultural object worth some study.

[Joks Trois]

^^As a creative/aesthetic object, I'm sure it's as worthless as almost every other Marvel film. i.e sitcom writing, poor mise-en-scene etc. As a cultural object it might be worth analysing, but who has the time? The energy is better off being expended elsewhere unless you are making a living from it.

[mae west]

Speaking of objects, I also watched Avengers: Endgame which is itself one really interesting object for all the different ways one might be able to assess it as a thing both in culmination and reinitiation of some larger product/process of works, and of course just as a movie in the same fashion. Too many different strands to really bother even mentioning here as it obviously isn't much of a SCFZ movie, but if you set aside "enjoyment" or whatever, it has a lot to offer as a cultural object worth some study.

Totally agree. A fascinating film, tbh! A friend of mine got me to watch all the Marvel's with him, I was reluctant at first but got won over in short order. For someone who is interested in studying cinema's relationship with American empire (see also, John Wayne westerns) and just generally interested in what becomes super popular and what it says, Avengers: Endgame and Marvel more generally are exemplary objects of study.

I'm unusual in this, of course - most cinephiles go to the movies primarily for art or at least entertainment, not primarily for cultural objects to interpret ideologically (its own form of intellectual stimulation), and I can certainly only recommend Marvel movies to that 'interpret ideologically' variety of film fan, unless you're a superhero genre fan.

[sally]

desert nights - william nigh (1929)

nom nom nom nom



in the storm - vatroslav mimica (1952)

delicious tortured melodrama, i lapped it up

[Lencho of the Apes]

The poor octopus, though.

[rischka]

they'll have him for lunch

[mae west]

That John Gilbert screen grab has moved Desert Nights to the top of my queue !

[sally]

That John Gilbert screen grab has moved Desert Nights to the top of my queue !

it's not the greatest silent film, and i don't think gilbert's heart is in it.

luckily it's not his heart i'm there for

[liquidnature]

Three Daring Daughters (1948, Fred M. Wilcox)

lb review: Wilcox's first non-Lassie feature is a charming little oddity that won me over despite its smaller budget and sentimentality. Most unique for its floral Technicolor palette of greens, reds, yellows, and browns encased within the lavish set and costume design, its direct dealings with divorce, and the classical and modern musical numbers serving mainly as vehicles for José Iturbi's piano playing and Jane Powell's soaring vocals - all of which work in harmony to pull you in a little closer than its other elements, such as the plot or script, would otherwise be capable. Well worth the watch on a whimsical kind of day.

Spoiler!

those colors
might find it worth the watch: Evelyn, greg, anyone else who likes these simple musical romances

[mae west]

Thanks liquidnature - I'd never heard of this one; it looks very pretty and very much my thing, I'll watch this for sure!

[...]

Now what makes you think I'd be interested in such a movie? Heh. I'm just that predictable I guess. I actually get the feeling I might have seen it before, so now I'm gonna have to watch it to see if that's the case. It might not be given that musicals with daughters trying to win over musicians to help with some problem or another were a thing, so I could be confusing it with some other movie.

[wba]

that Mimica and the Wilcox look wonderful!
I wonder why I haven't watched any Mimica yet... those last two screenshots look like totally my thing.

[Roscoe]

THE TIGER OF ESCHNAPUR and THE INDIAN TOMB - 4/10 each.

Fritz Lang's 1959 pair of would-be rip-roaring tales of intrigue and romance and they just lie there onscreen. Pretty location cinematography, and some sumptuous costumes and pretty locations. Debra Paget's snake dance is kind of remarkable, largely because she's wearing as little as I think any Hollywood actress was allowed to wear, those little costume elements must have been glued on. The filmmaking is downright Eastwoodian in its refusal to rise above the pedestrian.

Based apparently upon a script he and his then-wife Thea von Harbou worked out for Joe May in 1919, the film is screaming out for good old Rudolf Klein-Rogge and Brigitte Helm in the leads, to say nothing of the pure mad delirious energy of the best of Lang. Alas.

[liquidnature]

Now what makes you think I'd be interested in such a movie? Heh. I'm just that predictable I guess.

Heh, I guess it just seems like you've seen a lot from this era and of this ilk, and are relatively forgiving, much like I, of things like smaller budgets or lackluster scripts in lieu of other rewarding elements. Maybe that's just a guess. It was intended as a compliment.

[...]

Yeah, I do probably have more of a fascination with the lighter works from earlier eras of films than I do for the crime dramas and other tough guy stuff, not that I don't watch those too, it's just if all things are equal and I have a choice between a light musical comedy and, say, a gangster film from the same year I'll take the musical first pretty much every time. If nothing else, I figure they are likely to have had less written about them, which means there's more to learn, among other reasons I won't go into at the moment.

[Lencho of the Apes]

what makes you think I'd be interested

I thought it was the "Lassie" connection. Go figure.

[mae west]

That John Gilbert screen grab has moved Desert Nights to the top of my queue !

it's not the greatest silent film, and i don't think gilbert's heart is in it.

luckily it's not his heart i'm there for

Thank you for the recommendation — just watched it, and I loved it (on its own modest terms). A most satisfying Gilbert thirst watch (appropriately, Thirst was even the alternate title, apparently!)

[...]

Well, sure, that too. Who doesn't love Lassie?

[sally]

That John Gilbert screen grab has moved Desert Nights to the top of my queue !

it's not the greatest silent film, and i don't think gilbert's heart is in it.

luckily it's not his heart i'm there for

Thank you for the recommendation — just watched it, and I loved it (on its own modest terms). A most satisfying Gilbert thirst watch (appropriately, Thirst was even the alternate title, apparently!)

watching gilbert get tied up & sweaty is certainly a lot more fun than his early role of sleazy rapist in should a woman tell? i took way too many screenshots

[sally]

argh, loved wellman's you never know women!!! - the shots, the moving camera, clive brook being clive brook, the suspiciously cinematic hero magician!!!

[Roscoe]

HOUSEKEEPING, Forsyth's quiet little masterwork with the sublime Christine Lahti, in a slightly darkened print at the Museum of the Moving Image with Forsyth and Lahti in attendance, and yeah, it still works.

[arkheia]

Caught a screening of Monos (2019) today but felt somewhat ambivalent about it. Conceived with an attuned sense of the scale for the mountainous and jungle landscapes, Landes works various ideas in tandem with the sensorial visual palette - blindfolded football games, night vision goggles, and POV close-ups of the jungle environment. The tactile proximity of the camera to the natural elements of the wilderness grounds the mythical proportions of the story involving child soldiers who are ordered to hold a doctor prisoner. The unit’s isolation from the greater conflict around them denies any context or backdrop for the political struggle, instead allowing the film to focus on the interpersonal social dynamics of the military unit. As the characters move from the Chingaza páramo into the jungle, influence from works such as Aguirre and Lord of the Flies become acknowledged in various nods while the plot becomes funneled into a more streamlined survival chase that's effectively executed but limited in realizing all which is set up in the opening sections.

[pabs]

.

[eleanor]

The Mothman Prophecies (2002, dir. Mark Pellington)
Was surprised by how much I enjoyed this. Cryptozoology is a passive interest of mine so hearing this be cited as one of the best films to explore the subject piqued my interest. Our very own Lencho has a great review of it on LB: https://letterboxd.com/lencho_o_t_apes/ ... rophecies/