Tommy is shit. Fact.

I recently saw Isle of Dogs in theaters

I'm really not big on Wes Anderson. I've always admired his use of the camera, the immaculate compositions, use of color, etc. But most of his previous films left me cold. I find a lot of the main characters unlikable, and they've all failed to resonate with me on an emotional level. I also find his penchant for dry humor more obnoxious than amusing...

Getting that out of the way, I consider his last 3 films (Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and now Isle of Dogs) to be his finest work so far. Maybe it's just me, but he seems to be showing a little more restraint with the "trademarks" that I've grown accustomed to seeing in his films. I also think Isle of Dogs gives Grand Budapest a run for its money from a visual standpoint, but I still prefer the latter.

Phantom Thread is by far and away the best recent film I've seen though... Everyone here needs to watch it ASAP

i like wes anderson’s nostalgia-ridden fantasies for overgrown children. they’re great in their own way. they’re never going to be “important” movies due to their subject, but they have great great style. you can tell every toy he played with when he was 7, and what tv/movies he liked. but anyway, have not seen his latest yet.

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last night rewatched this after many many years


NUOVO CINEMA PARADISO (1988)

or i guess it was shortened to CINEMA PARADISO for our continent.

i liked this tearjerker even more on rewatch than when i first saw it... in the late 90s? can’t remember. it’s gotten funnier over the years though. i laughed a ton this time.

or maybe i’ve been so deprived by all the low rent garbage on netflix/amazon that this struck me as greater than i remembered it, maybe by comparison. either way, highly enjoyable..

i really need to get me that criterion stream thing *soon*. been starved for good “films” lately while having trash movie indigestion.

Perhaps you'll find filmstruck's particular brand of trash more palatable




;)

There's a lot of good stuff on there, including:

Taipei Story
Nobuhiko Obayashi: House, Emotion (short film)
F for Fake & Chimes at Midnight (Orson Welles)
Syndromes and a Century
Floating Weeds
Carnival of Souls
El Sur
Mario Bava: Black Sunday, A Bay of Blood
The Color of Pomegranates
Fox and His Friends (or any Fassbinder)
The Lure
The Archers: A Matter of Life and Death, I Know Where I'm Going!, Black Narcissus
Vera Chytilova: Daisies, Fruit of Paradise
Teorema
Gertrud

Also plenty of Antonioni, Mike Leigh, Wong Kar Wai, Fellini, Bergman, Kieslowski, Tati, Bunuel, Godard, Seijun Suzuki, Ozu, Oshima... I have way too many on my watchlist

One of the best things about the site is that it includes a lot of the supplements from the discs , including commentary

haaa haaa haaaaa i love multiple maniacs

and yes to all that— just reading the titles makes me shudder with relief

I watched Heathers for the first time. Having now seen it I can see the influence that movie had on other 90's high school movies such as Jawbreaker and Mean Girls.

That list looks ridiculously good.

So just rewatched ...



Citizen Kane

It's hard to say anything about a film like this. Like Hamlet or the Mona Lisa, its greatness is almost taken for granted now, but I still find new things every time I watch it. Greatest film ever made? Who knows, but a masterpiece is a masterpiece.

Jawbreaker big time.

Mean Girls was like 2004 but still.

Still never seen Citizen Kane

Mmmmmmm I need to get my subscription back. Is Tarkovsky’s Mirror still on there?

the only thing that bugs me a little is that not everything is there at once

they “refresh the library” instead! which sorta beats the purpose, but okay, it’s not la grande bouffe

https://www.filmstruck.com/us/coming-soon

I’ve been waiting to watch a good transfer of Pasolini’s Gospel According to Matthew. Way on the top of my must-see films. Looks like I’m gonna go ahead and get a subscription. Hope this means criterion will put out some more Pasolini.

Also I see a lot of John Ford. Sold.


For the short time I had it it seemed there was a huge bulk that was always on there. Stuff like Seventh Seal ya know “art house” greatest hits. The refresh never seemed that drastic and they do advertise it when things will be taken off.

All the talk of FilmStruck I forgot to even stick to the thread:

Last films:

Phantom Thread: I couldn’t click with this until I started comparing it in my head to something like Rebecca or Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily. A very well made “gothic” romance. Really enjoyed it. Greenwood’s best score and it’s always a treat to see what character Day Lewis is going to conjure up.

Last Jedi: I’m always going to watch Star Wars because I never want to forget what it feels like to be a kid. That said WAY better than Force Awakens. It’s probably been talked to death already but this one has restored my faith in the franchise. Not by much but just enough to make me happy.

Interesting. I wanted to see this last month at the cinema but missed it. I'll have to wait till it's on DVD now, but as a big PTA and DDL fan it's my most anticipated film so far this year.

yeah that’s why i said “bugs me a little”. there’s more than anyone can watch at any time. so it’s only a little. ha!

i walked out of pasolini’s gospel when i was in college. it reminded me of good friday back in the old country where all they had on tv was religious shit, no commercials. superfucking boring. having said that— i might have been stoned and did not wait too long. wasted opportunity or dodged bullet? hmmmm....

but yeah it’s not only criterion—it’s also tcm. no other service can beat this right now.

The Gospel is my favourite Pasolini film (and I'm a Pasolini nut). I've no religious baggage though so could just watch it for what it is. Incredible film.

An aside, Savage Clone's argument that the board's largely abandoned interesting discussions about interesting music is true, but for some reason those arguments seem to have largely migrated to discussions about interesting films.

it’s a great movie regardless, but when you compare it to movies of that era you realize how much modern cinema owes to it. you could read all about it on the internets, but i’d say just watch it first with an open mind and read afterwards. then watch it again ha ha ha.

Absolutely. The thing that strikes me time and again is how fast it is, not just compared with films from that time but even our own. It's relentless in a way that directors like Michael Bay are supposed to be relentless but end up as merely empty exercises in bombastic confusion.

Happy Valley --docu on Penn State during the Sandusky trial. Pretty well done.

Yup.

Speaking of Orson Welles, the upcoming release of his unfinished film, "The Other Side of the Wind" is one of my most anticipated releases of 2018. There's no official release date as far as I'm aware, but it's expected to become available on Netflix in a couple of months.

The way he went from directing one of the most highly revered films of all time at the age of 25 to being ostracized by the studio system later in his life has always fascinated me...

"Our songs will all be silenced, but what of it? Go on singing"

Lady From Shanghai is my favorite

Speaking of Orson Welles and unfinished projects, here's Alejandro Jodorowsky talking about the casting for DUNE, taken from "The Spiritual Journey of Alejandro Jodorowsky:

"For the role of the baron Harkonnen, a vulgar, cruel giant, I thought of Orson Welles. I knew he was in France but that he had become embittered at the lack of producers interested in his own work, and it was said that he wanted nothing more to do with film. Where could I find him? No one seemed to know. I had heard that the master had a passion for gourmet food and drink. I got an assistant to telephone all the best restaurants in Paris and find out if Orson Welles was a customer.

After countless calls, a small restaurant, Chez le Loup, told us that he came there once a week, though not on any specific day. I decided to dine there every night beginning on Monday. It was a discreetly elegant place with a fine menu and a superb wine selection. The owner himself took orders. Almost all the walls were decorated with Renoir reproductions. The one exception was a wall with a window. In front of it there was a broken chair. When I asked the owner about it, he said: 'We are very proud of that piece of litter. One evening, Orson Welles sat in that chair and he ate so much that it broke'

I returned every night. Finally, on Friday, the great man arrived, wrapped in an enormous black cape. I watched him with the same fascination as a child at the zoo. His appetite and his thirst were stupendous. I saw him devour nine different dishes and drink six bottles of wine. For dessert, I sent him a bottle of cognac that the owner had assured me was his favorite brand. When it came, he looked around and amiably invited me to his table.

For a half hour, I listened to his monologue before daring to speak of the role. No sooner did I bring up the subject than he answered: 'Acting doesn't interest me. I detest contemporary cinema. It's not an art; it's a nauseating industry, a vast mirage born of prostitution.' My disappointment was immense, and I swallowed with difficulty. How could I inspire enthusiasm in him so that he would agree to work with me?

I was tense and seemingly at a total loss for words when suddenly I heard myself say: 'Mr. Welles, during the entire month that the filming of your role will require, I promise you to hire the head cook of this very restaurant. Every evening, he will prepare all the dishes you desire accompanied by any wines and liquors that please you.'

With a big smile, he agreed to sign the contract."


Quite a missed opportunity.

Haha, the more you hear about Jodorowsky's Dune the more it sounds like the greatest film never made. Besides Welles, it was also meant to star Salvador Dali with the whole film designed by H.R Giger. Probably best it wasn't ever made so we can go on fantasising about what might've been.

12 Strong

__________________
Shawn Yadav
Showbox Mobdro Tutuapp

Re: Gospel/Pasolini - The fact that he Vatican claims that the director behind Salo made the greatest depiction of Jesus Christ’s life always blow my mind. Most films that depict religious stories are melodramatic and way over the top. I can’t wait to see how Pasolini’s very strange ‘realism’ handles this story. I love Pasolini. To me he is in his own league, it is very hard to compare him to anybody. His films taunt me in a certain way.

Re: Citizen Kane- It’s essential. Nothing to add and don’t want to gush about it to anyone who hasn’t seen it. I piss off a lot of ‘film buffs’ when I tell them I like How Green Was My Valley better (HGWMV won best picture in 1941 instead of Kane, which people are apparently still pissy about?).

I want to say more but don’t want to ruin anything. When you see it let me know what you think!

I am so hype for NINJA BATMAN gonna watch that bic this weekend

i haven’t yet...

i just finished building my hurried FILMSTRUCK watchlist and... i’m about to vomit with delight haa haaa haaaa

well not really vomit but you know how when you vomit you don’t want to but you’re overpowered by something else you can’t control?

kinda like that. im going nuts with the queue. don’t know where to begin. gave the thing to my wife and said “punch whichever one you want”

here we go...

ho
lee
fuck
the gates of paradise have opened

Flesh Gordon.


Good ole 70s X-rated satire.

I’m happy for you! Can’t wait to hear about the journey

I can't browse the UK version of Filmstruck without joining but looking at what's on the US site it does look like heaven.

There will always be films we prefer over films we can still recognise as 'greater'. I can accept a films greatness even if I don't particularly like it but no one will ever stop me preferring The Omen over The Exorcist.

so the whole thing started on a light note

first thing was this thing i had never even heard of, A LITTLE ROMANCE (1979) feturing a superyoung diane lane , a kid who would later quit movies and become a dentist, laurence olivier doing a french accent, sally kellerman, . etc. about two thirteen year olds who go bananas for each other in paris (rich/poor american/french etc).

it’s fun and funny and, you know, nice, and it’s no critical masterpiece so dont know how it ended up on criterion (or is it filmstruck, hard to understand this app), but it’s a pleasant happy way to spend a spring afternoon with the lady. a bit like cinema paradiso last weekend, it’s a kind of movie lover’s movie (a lot of the plot and imagery revolves about movies here too, but here more limited).

i’m thinking due to timing + subject it might have been an inspiration for people like wes anderson or linklater. it’s definitely there.

later finally managed to see the marx brothers’ A NIGHT AT THE OPERA, which was completely ridiculous— and great. what is it about brothers that generates this particular sense of humor? it’s always brothers—these guys, or the stooges, or the zuckers, etc.

meanwhile been getting an eyeful of the curated lists and menus and more and don’t even know where to begin. wanted to find butch cassidy and the sundance kid and couldn’t find it there. or the sting (cuz they were important to that french thing). so it doesn’t have *everything* obviously but it has so much i don’t even know where to begin. guess it doesn’t matter ha ha ha ha.

Antarctica, A Year on Ice. Really a nice docu. Not a really full examination of life there, but really nice photography. Lots of very effective time lapse.

Followed up Flesh Gordon with Private School


https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086143/

Last night I watched Cosmos by Andrzej Zulawski. I quite enjoyed it. Seemed to be quite influenced by Bunel, reminded me a lot of The Exterminating Angel.

ha ha ha exterminating angel is hilarious

i’ll look for that one you said

—-

just finished watching jane campion’s HOLY SMOKE


aka kate winslet vs. harvey keitel

besides the obvious glory of kate winslet’s breasts (useless to pretend otherwise, and the movie is self-aware in this respect), i really liked it on account of 2... no, 3 more things:

1) it was a really original screenplay, without going into any kind of experimental or “theory” shit. just the kind of story you rarely or never see on... netflix online (ha ha ha).

2) great performances by the two main characters

3) the setting and the australian cast, hilarious/looks awesome

ok.

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have to say i had not seen a jane campion movie since... eh... since the piano came out! which was great. but then lost track. and this service has a bunch of them now.

You had me at "Kate Winslet"

Cheerleader Camp