What was the last film you watched? part 4

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jef costello

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Nov 25 2017 09:04

I was getting tired of the old thread never going to the right page, so here's a new one.

Wind River: a pretty good film which touches on the conditions Native Americans live in and the big problems they face. The problem is the main characters are both white outsiders, Jeremey Renner is the tracker/hunter they call in whenever something needs doing, and so it does give us a bit of a white saviour narrative. So with the local sheriff they investigate the death, not quite a murder, of a young woman and it turns out this is part of a pattern...
Worth a watch, but I think Frozen River was better. Also most of the people mumble, it isn't always easy to hear what they say.

Detroit : it wasn't a bad film but I didn't enjoy it. The parts where the characters are held prisoner by the cops are tense and painful, but the intro to the film gives us a fairly standard police narrative, so although the violence and torture is still shocking you still get the impression that they brought it on themselves.

wojtek

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Dec 5 2017 01:10

Almost Holy
https://youtu.be/t-uBjW9hhxc

Taxi Tehran
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b073bp67

The Villainess
https://youtu.be/-xm2CcFlJtw
https://youtu.be/Ts3JbwFl0HQ

Chemsex
https://www.theguardian.com/film/video/2015/dec/04/chemsex-video-review

petey

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Joined: 13-10-05

Dec 5 2017 14:21

ministry of fear
https://www.criterion.com/films/28065-ministry-of-fear
pretty good entry in a genre i like. there are absurd elements which make it more interesting than it would otherwise be, and it was interesting to me to see a scene in the tubes on account of an air raid.

Khawaga

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Joined: 7-08-06

Dec 5 2017 17:25

John Wick 2. Not as good as the first one, but I nevertheless thoroughly enjoyed it. The John Wick movies are to the early 21st century what the Die Hard movies was to the 90s. Great action films.

A Dark Song. Horror movie in which the entire story is about two people casting a spell/doing a ritual. Never seen a horror movie like that ever. Quite original and enjoyable. A bit low budget, but that didn't get in the way of the story telling. Both creepy and contemplative.

cactus9

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Joined: 9-12-14

Dec 17 2017 14:56

The Handmaiden. It's ok.

cactus9

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Jan 6 2018 19:46

Dispossession - the Great Social Housing Swindle. Well made documentary about social housing and in particular the current "regeneration" of many estates. Very interesting, simultaneously depressing and hopeful. Hopeful because it clearly sets out the problems, depressing because it's just so wrong.

jef costello

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Joined: 9-02-06

Jan 6 2018 21:47

Band Aid - I thought this was going to be fun, a couple form a band so instead of arguing all the time they can sing their disagreements. The songs aren't quite as clear as they should be and the story does take a bit of a dark turn. On the whole it isn't bad but isn't as light-hearted as I expected. If you like Adam Pally from Happy Endings or Zoe lister-jones from life in pieces hen you'll probably like it.

Khawaga

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Jan 26 2018 14:51

Godzilla Monster Planet (anime). Really really good.

jef costello

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Feb 2 2018 22:52

Beatriz at dinner - not very exciting. We are supposed to see Beatriz as challening these rich shitheads but as she is sponging off them with reiki it is hard to see her as the proltetarian the film tries to set her as. The film succesfully hows that while you may get paid nfor massages and given hugs you aren't actually a friend.It completely fails to explore whether Beateiz's "love" for the family is anything other than financial necessity. This is not anti-trump satire, it is a few mild moments of discomfort with no resilution.

#10

cactus9

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Feb 18 2018 20:26

Hunt for the Wilderpeople, really enjoyed it. Had an actress in out of Eagle vs Shark too, another great film. 5*.

#11

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Feb 18 2018 22:33

The Room - I am speechless. But I have a twisted thought that it was simply a genius subversion. The more people you watch it with, the better:)
Disaster Artist - I would say that it was a rather useless movie.

Bushwick - I liked the idea and the effort the filmmakers put into it.
Good Times - Rather unconventional, but in a good way. liked the acting a lot.
Gerald's Game - I read the book, so I was sceptical but it was done very well. I liked the ending in the book a little bit more, though.
Jigsaw - Waste of time.
Better Watch Out - Good acting.
The Distinguished Citizen - Simply excellent!
Justice League - Bad.

Sense8 (season 2) - I don't know the intentions of Wachowski, but to me, this was totally for the activists. In a good way. It is not class-oriented, rather lib-dem, but I think it is not so hard to ignore this and really enjoy the series. To me this is the best political-fiction TV series ever made. Hard to imagine what could top this in the future.

#12

zugzwang

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Feb 19 2018 02:03

Menace II Society. Bit violent, not really for the faint of heart.

#13

cactus9

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Feb 21 2018 21:38

I, Tonya, loved it.
The Shape of Water, it was ok.

#14

zugzwang

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Feb 23 2018 01:02

I wanted to improve my german and saw a ton of german-language movies a while back. Found some nice movies in the process (although nothing recent), if you don't mind subtitles. The Edukators - has some anticapitalist themes; the characters go around vandalizing rich people's homes. Lola rennt - supposed to be a philosophical movie, pretty interesting and has a nice soundtrack. Das Experiment - plot's a bit twisted; there's an english verison but the german seems better. Victoria - done in english and german and filmed in one take, good movie. Goodbye Lenin.

#15

Sike

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Feb 22 2018 08:16

zugzwang wrote:

The Edukators - has some anticapitalist themes; the characters go around vandalizing rich people's homes. Lola rennt - supposed to be a philosophical movie, pretty interesting and has a nice soundtrack.

I saw both of these with English subtitles not long after they came out and thought that they were both good movies.

#16

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Feb 22 2018 09:27

The Death of Stalin - great comedy movie!

#17

zugzwang

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Feb 23 2018 00:46

Sike wrote:

zugzwang wrote:

The Edukators - has some anticapitalist themes; the characters go around vandalizing rich people's homes. Lola rennt - supposed to be a philosophical movie, pretty interesting and has a nice soundtrack.

I saw both of these with English subtitles not long after they came out and thought that they were both good movies.

Yeah I enjoyed those. (And I think it helps with learning a language to immerse yourself in the movies, music and so on, from there.) I'm always more impressed with foreign films than american ones. I guess the cultural and language differences enhance them in a way. Don't know how well I'd receive them if I lived there though. I thought some of Haneke's stuff was good too, Cache and Amour, but those are in french I think.

(Surprised there's two reviews of Edukators on libcom. http://libcom.org/news/article.php/edukators-anarchist-film-review-23122... http://libcom.org/library/edukators-dir-hans-weingartner-germany-2005-fi.... It would be neat to have a regular film review/recommendation section on here. I guess these movie threads are kind of like that.)

#18

cactus9

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Feb 23 2018 22:39

zugzwang wrote:

I wanted to improve my german and saw a ton of german-language movies a while back. Found some nice movies in the process (although nothing recent), if you don't mind subtitles. The Edukators - has some anticapitalist themes; the characters go around vandalizing rich people's homes. Lola rennt - supposed to be a philosophical movie, pretty interesting and has a nice soundtrack. Das Experiment - plot's a bit twisted; there's an english verison but the german seems better. Victoria - done in english and german and filmed in one take, good movie. Goodbye Lenin.

I recommend The Lives of Others and Barbara, if you haven't already seen them. I have a mild obsession with Communist East Germany.

#19

cactus9

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Feb 23 2018 22:40

Lady Bird - destined to be a massive classic I think. Beautifully done.

#20

zugzwang

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Feb 24 2018 16:56

cactus9 wrote:

I recommend The Lives of Others and Barbara, if you haven't already seen them. I have a mild obsession with Communist East Germany.

Heard of the first one but never got around to seeing it. Its cover art kind of reminds me of that movie One Hour Photo, which was okay if I recall correctly. Just reading its imdb they sound similar too, being about protagonists who become absorbed in other people's lives.

#21

Spikymike

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Feb 25 2018 12:48

Previously this Sally Potter comedy film;
https://www.timeout.com/london/film/the-party-2017 and last this Yorkshire farm set drama
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/feb/25/dark-river-review-ruth-wils...
both recommended.

#22

jef costello

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Joined: 9-02-06

Feb 25 2018 15:15

What happened to Monday. I don't think that the 7 characters were really developed and it was a bit silly having Noomi Rapace talking to herself most of the time. The idea was good but maybe they needed more time than a film allowed. bit too much time on fight scenes that didn't always work, they quite often managed to be very violent but without giving you a real sense of actual fighting. And it did seem like they wanted you to see the female character/s getting hit a lot. I wouldn't recommend someone not to see it, but I think it was more of a wasted opportunity.

Killing Gunther - thought it would be shit in a fun way, but it was just shit. They didn't quite get the fun sense of this kind of film or have any push towards gravity. Watch something like The One with Jet Li or Smokin' Aces instead.

#23

Auld-bod

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Oct 7 2018 18:29

Never mind.

#24

Sike

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Joined: 25-10-15

Feb 27 2018 06:16

zugzwang wrote:

I'm always more impressed with foreign films than american ones. I guess the cultural and language differences enhance them in a way.

Yeah, I also tend to be more often impressed with foreign films than american films. I think the cultural and language differences may be a significant part of it but I also find that foreign films are more often more daring and seem more willing to enter into social terrain that US films are more generally unwilling to explore.

#25

Serge Forward

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Feb 27 2018 11:04

MT wrote:

The Death of Stalin - great comedy movie!

I'd agree it contained some great comedy, but did anyone else feel unease watching a film for laughs about such horrific events?

#26

Cooked

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Feb 27 2018 13:49

Serge Forward wrote:

MT wrote:

The Death of Stalin - great comedy movie!

I'd agree it contained some great comedy, but did anyone else feel unease watching a film for laughs about such horrific events?

Yep. Presumably its the point of the film somehow but that doesn't help. The particular type of comedy and the famous American actors made it worse than it it had been done by the people affected more directly.

#27

Serge Forward

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Feb 27 2018 14:06

My ex-wife, whose dad was in Buchenwald and grandfather died at Sobibor told me she was going to watch it and asked me if it was any good. I told her she probably wouldn't like it, in spite of its comedic value. She decided to give it a miss.

#28

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Feb 28 2018 21:24

I think that the film was not only a good comedy but had educating effect. The absurdity of it all makes people check the facts about the era. Not many films bring such outcome. So I think the authors did a good job although not in a direct way directly (hard to say if it was intentional or accidental).

#29

zugzwang

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Mar 6 2018 21:40

Sike wrote:

... I also find that foreign films are more often more daring and seem more willing to enter into social terrain that US films are more generally unwilling to explore.

I don't watch enough movies to know, but I guess it's different with lower-budget films, with indie filmmakers etc. I just meant for me wathching a foreign film with subtitles, some of the cultural stuff may go over my head, references and so on, and I might be more impressed with it than I should be.

Death of Stalin was okay. I don't think the actors/actresses were Russian though... It all felt a bit too Englishy in humor and everything. (Seems like some characters were doing an English-Russian accent thing, while everyone else spoke perfect English. Bit weird.) I guess the filmmakers weren't going for authenticity in that regard, among others. I still liked the cast -- not a movie buff, but it's not often I see mostly older cast members with leading roles, somewhat refreshing. Didn't realize until I looked it up that Palin was in it.

#30

R Totale

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Mar 6 2018 23:12

Has anyone actually seen Black Panther?And what did you think if so? I tend to watch about 1 film every two years, so haven't seen Death of Stalin, but have read a really negative review that quite made me want to see it.

#31

Sike

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Mar 7 2018 09:51

R Totale wrote:

Has anyone actually seen Black Panther?And what did you think if so?

Much like yourself I rarely go to the theater to see any movies and haven't seen Black Panther so I really can't tell you my opinion of it but I did come across several reviews by the leftish reviewers that are seriously critical of it.

Some Scathing Critiques of Marvel Studio’s ‘Black Panther’