ysbreker

Movie/TV recommendations

Recommended Posts

Just a heads up for UK Thumbs (and the VPN-savvy amongst us) - BBC iPlayer is streaming last year's acclaimed documentary OJ: Made in America free, for the next 30 days or so. It's the whole eight hours, split into three parts. 

 

I've only watched the first hour, but so far it looks to be an incredible piece of work.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Grand Hotel is an amazing movie, the kind of movie with a big cast and many intersecting storylines that Robert Altman would make famous, except in 1932. Definitely one of the movies that inspired Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel, except it's a drama and not a screwball comedy. Much darker and complicated than you'd think from such a lavish production, and the way all the storylines intersect is really impressive. If you are the kind of person who can watch Hollywood movies from the 30's, this is one you definitely need to see.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 2/22/2017 at 9:16 AM, marginalgloss said:

Just a heads up for UK Thumbs (and the VPN-savvy amongst us) - BBC iPlayer is streaming last year's acclaimed documentary OJ: Made in America free, for the next 30 days or so. It's the whole eight hours, split into three parts. 

 

I've only watched the first hour, but so far it looks to be an incredible piece of work.

 

The fictional series is also on the Netflix in Ireland and I am guessing the UK

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 23/2/2017 at 9:18 PM, Patrick R said:

Grand Hotel is an amazing movie, ... If you are the kind of person who can watch Hollywood movies from the 30's, this is one you definitely need to see.

Since I can, added it to my watchlist. Actually I've been watching quite a few movies from the 30s to the 60s lately. During the last couple of weeks I've focused on working through unseen movies on the Sight & Sound Critics Poll list. I have only a few films from the top 100 left (Shoah and Satantango are still there unfortunately) and most I've seen lately were from the mentioned decades, from Hollywood, France and Italy. I've watched Some Like it Hot, Touch of Evil, Pierrot le fou, Pickpocket, The Leopard, Children of Paradise, The Wild Bunch, Grand Illusion, Imitation of Life, A Matter of Life and Death, The Earrings of Madame de .... All of them excellent movies, but definitely more from the back end of the Top 100. I think I would only compare The Leopard and Imitation of Life to the very best, maybe The Earrings... as well. Since I'm also seeing modern movies at the same time, I'm now realizing how hard it is to actually rate all movies on the same scale. Like, I just noticed I wanted to give Pickpocket 3 and a half stars, since I liked it less than the ones I gave 4 stars to, but then again I had just given that many to the comparatively simple new Spanish movie La reconquista. If I change either, that may cause further discrepancies in comparative ratings... bah... but for some reason I like creating some kind of personal ranking of all movies I've seen even if it's not very precise.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Years and years ago we did a movie club here where The Earrings of Madame De came by. Very romantic. And a fun club that was, though I believe we only ever got to 4 or 5 films before it sizzled out. Still, it was the reason I got to see Kanal, and holy shit that was good.

 

I remember there was a Fast & Furious discussion here a while back, that seemed to praise the series. And years back I recall having a Good Time in the cinema with Fast Five. So it was disappointing when I saw Furious 7 (or whatever it's called) yesterday on Netflix and it was the most boring thing in existence. It begins with thirty minutes of depressed characters slowly looking at each other and brooding on things that happened earlier (of which I as a relative newcomer know nothing), then there were some fun but long action scenes (notably jumping with an expensive car through three buildings), and a loooong finale. There was nothing to it. Ironically, only the very ending managed to suddenly have enormous weight and substance, but a cast member literally had to die to get there. And it was a heartfelt moment, to be sure. The rest was such a drag, though.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
24 minutes ago, Roderick said:

I remember there was a Fast & Furious discussion here a while back, that seemed to praise the series. And years back I recall having a Good Time in the cinema with Fast Five. So it was disappointing when I saw Furious 7 (or whatever it's called) yesterday on Netflix and it was the most boring thing in existence. It begins with thirty minutes of depressed characters slowly looking at each other and brooding on things that happened earlier (of which I as a relative newcomer know nothing), then there were some fun but long action scenes (notably jumping with an expensive car through three buildings), and a loooong finale. There was nothing to it. Ironically, only the very ending managed to suddenly have enormous weight and substance, but a cast member literally had to die to get there. And it was a heartfelt moment, to be sure. The rest was such a drag, though.

 

I watched all the movies for the first time some time ago and wrote my thoughts here (can't find it anymore). For me, Fast Five is the pinnacle of the series, and the following two movies take a steep dive towards the pit of cynicism and other action movie conventions I detest (needlessly sadistic baddies, unnecessary cheap deaths, etc.) I don't even know if I want to watch the upcoming film.

 

Edit: Oh.. it was split into its own thread.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
14 hours ago, Roderick said:

Years and years ago we did a movie club here where The Earrings of Madame De came by. Very romantic. And a fun club that was, though I believe we only ever got to 4 or 5 films before it sizzled out.

Oh man, was it really years and years ago?  It doesn't seem like it was that long ago, but now I'm scared to check.  I never actually posted in the thread, I don't think, but I did read the posts in it. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Okay, it probably was 2,5 years ago. That maybe doesn't warrant a 'years and years' construction, though technically not false.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
38 minutes ago, Roderick said:

Okay, it probably was 2,5 years ago. That maybe doesn't warrant a 'years and years' construction, though technically not false.

 

I say it has to be at least 4 years for that construction to be technically accurate...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hey hey hey, there's a thread for that. This thread is for talking about the scene in The Trial of Billy Jack where Billy Jack slaps Jesus in a dream sequence for no reason.

 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Been in a bit of a funk with films lately. I watched a lot last year more than ever but now I'm finding it hard to watch them. I'm listless. Got the film malaise, what's the cure?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Babe: Pig in the City. 

 

I finished watching this with the class today and it's a treasure. It's the best kids movie I've seen. Really magical and inventive. The dialogue is incredibly rich in places. Just fantastic. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
12 hours ago, Woodfella said:

Been in a bit of a funk with films lately. I watched a lot last year more than ever but now I'm finding it hard to watch them. I'm listless. Got the film malaise, what's the cure?

 

Clip Party. This guy named Chris E (who I only know of because he's friends with film critic Mike D'Angelo) does this for his birthday every year. All his cinephile friends come and submit the best (or weirdest) movie clips they can find that are 3 minutes or less, which are edited together and watched at his party. Then at the end they vote and give awards for best clip, funniest clip, WTF clip, etc. Starting at a certain year he started posting the clips to Vimeo, and they're a ton of fun to watch. Wide variety, all genres, eras, styles. It's like a grand curated buffet of cinema.

 

I was such a big fan that I started to do the same thing for my birthday, which lead my friend Jim to start doing the same thing for his birthday. We post our clip parties here. Maybe start with a lightning round, in which the clips have to be less than a minute.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I want to recommend the 2005 (drama, mystery, thriller [source: IMDB]) french film Caché by Michael Haneke. If you don't know it the basic plot is a family starts getting video tapes showing their front door sent to them. With the tapes are child drawings of a person bleeding from the mouth. As they get sent more tapes the tension gets higher and paranoia sets in.

 

It's one of those films you've probably seen on some "must see" movie lists, if you are the type of person who likes looking at those.

 

Also it's on of those films that keeps growing on me. I liked it as I was watching it but afterwards the themes of the film has stuck in my head and I haven't been able to shake it yet. It's not a feel good film but I think it's an interesting, topical and necessary (maybe I don't know) film and I really can't recommend it highly enough.

 

This might also bring me to go though Haneke's other stuff and see what else he has done.

 

PS: It stars Juliette Binoche maybe that will win you over =)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
12 hours ago, simonster said:

PS: It stars Juliette Binoche maybe that will win you over =)

 

Caché has been on my watchlist for a while but this has just made it jump nearer the top.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I just saw it last week or so! Liked it. Now I'm on a John Cassavetes streak, and then only two or three movies to go from 2012 Sigth & Sound Director's Poll (one is Shoah, though).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Haneke is unbelievably good, but a lot of his most acclaimed stuff is really really rough to watch. His whole thing is deal is to make movies that don't celebrate violence, so he keeps it raw.

 

When I saw Cache in the theater like 30% of the older crowd fled during the big moment.

 

Time of the Wolf and Piano Teacher are great films that are hard to recommend for a casual watch. Wolf made me feel real bad.

 

 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Just watched the new Dave Chapelle special and, man is it rough.

 

It starts off well and then struggles entirely.

 

There is a 13-15 minute bit where he fumbles transgender rights and he keeps hinting at his own ignorance and toying with it before just making transgender people the punchline. He then, almost, ends it  on a rape joke that could have been really interesting and ended up just feeling like a Cosby apology. His anecdotes on meeting OJ Simpson were good as it gives an insight into the shifting sands of fame and infamy.

 

I truly cannot recommend it to anyone.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now