the 2009 Christmas Carol with Jim Carrey

the LLLighthouse is by the same guy who did the VVVVitch. I'll sssskip it.

Anyone sssseen Cold Skin?

I haven't seen The Witch (not doing the double V-thing, it was only a stylistic choice in the promotional posters and apart from imdb no site refers to it that way) so I can't speak for either its merits or against its shortcomings, but I'd say you're missing out on something. Even if, let's say you don't like the plot progression or the type of narrative, the cinematography and the sound design alone are well worth a watch. And Dafoe's acting is absolutely superb and delightful in its twisted ghastliness. And Pattinson is a great foil for him.

i appreciated the witch better on rewatch, and knowing what it had meant to recreate

i did have a problem with my teevee depicting the darkness in hd, maybe it required HDR, maybe it was something else, i had at time problems seeing what was on the screen. purposeful obscurity or technical limitation, some day i might know

great atmospherics, although the plot is not really a plot, which can be bothersome. but once you understand the nature of the source material you can say “ah!” and readjust your expectations

maybe it should help to say, without real spoilers: it’s not meant to be a tight modern narrative, rather it gathers materials from old-timey horror folktales of the early new england colony, and stitches them together.

from that perspective, it was very good, but my initial reaction was disappointment. then it “grew on me,” as they say.

Maybe I'll get around to watching it somewhere online. If the atmosphere is even a smidgeon as dense and well-crafted as in The Lighthouse, I'm all in. That alone of course does not a great viewing experience make, but it goes a long way. The Lighthouse isn't really a plot-driven movie either, it's really more of a character study and a depiction of creeping derangement. I appreciated that a lot.

oh, this will echo with that then. check it out.

ps here it was in netflix some months ago

muerte de un ciclista [“death of a cyclist”] (juan antonio bardem, 1955)



yes, the director is javier’s uncle:



(this is javier bardem)

but the important part is that el tío josé antonio made a great little social realist movie that managed to squeeze past the censors during franco’s dictatorship.




simple but great story, beautifully shot and well edited with limited means. won the critics prize at cannes. a classic really.



another of almodóvar’s favorite spanish movies, and with good reason

the story though...

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.


Much like The Last Jedi, I enjoyed it. People are way too pissy about these things.

We’ll watch that Xmas day, tradition for the Ilds. I know I’ll be bored shitless, but will enjoy the popcorn, anyways


Bardem movie sounds great, I’ll look for it. We have a decent library locally if it’s not on NFLX.

Edit: it IS!

Watched the best Christmas movie ever last night, plus another pretty good one.

/s? or furreal? :D

ps best xmas movie ever is bad santa unrated

wait, no, criterion put on a “blue xmas” program i should post you titles. rn busy tho. but i prommix

The former is, honestly, the best.

It's a strongly accurate adaptation of a classic story; it features the Muppets in roles that genuinely suit them (Kermit the Frog as Bob Cratchit); Michael Caine absolutely nails it as Scrooge; the songs in it rule; it's just so great.

oh! the dickens!

well...

bad santa unrated cut ftw :D

Muppet Christmas Carol, very much is my #1 "A Christmas Carol" adaptation, and a very strong contender for my #1 Christmas movie overall.

Ha! The Muppet Christmas Carol was a staple on German and Austrian tv back in the 90s. It was probably my first exposure to the master of exposition, Sir Michael Caine. It's possible they still air it as extensively, but neither am I watching tv these days, nor do I want to surround myself with much holidays-y stuff. But fond mem'ries. The Muppets were the shit when I was a kiddo.

criterion curated a little playlist for the season:

https://www.criterionchannel.com/blue-christmas

fanny & alexander, fuck yeah

also i really did enjoy that arnaud desplechin movie—although i remember little of the plot, the characters interacting with each other (big french family) were great.

rohmer = great
black narcissus = great

Dutch children movie starring Carice van Houten, of Game Of Thrones fame. I have a general dislike of Dutch adult movies, but we do make very cool children movies. This is one of the better ones. The story is based on a book by Annie MG Schmidt, who's like the Roald Dahl of the lowlands.

If you like movies with cats but were disappointed with the Cats that's now in the cinemas, give this a try ;)

Muppet Christmas Carol is great fun.

Very depressing and surreal. Reminded me a bit of Barton Fink in some ways. Joycean In it’s story-telling. Didn’t love it but glad I finally watched it.