Don’t wanna spoil but it should have ended with a cut to black with the two running through the street. Leave it up to the imagination. So many running scenes already, would have worked.

Japanese accent thing was pointless and weird and cringey. Dude was just performing for these kids. Then they doubled down on it. Weird.

Mayoral race stuff seemed strangely tacked on.

I liked it though. Bradley Cooper’s scenes were excellent. More of that, less campaign stuff left unresolved, I think. Alana Haim was great. I enjoyed it.

oh right there may be spoilers

**LICORICE PIZZA SPOILERS**

so yeah there was a lot of running which was a bit corny hahaha but i can't even remember the last shot. cut to black is for french endings though lol.

the cringe was supposed to be ultracringe which... it's the 70s and they had to deal with the asshole. (eta and apparently based on a real dude from that era). on the racial front there's also the whole jewish thing with the girl and the agent etc. again, the 70s.

i saw the mayoral thing as central to her attempt to, you know, "grow up," only to find out how much adults suck. also there is a bit of a free enterprise vs government going on thematically, which i enjoyed somewhat, but everyone injects their own interpretations and mine provided a symmetry of sorts inside my head. more broadly, there is a lot of rules and rulebreaking, and the people making the rules (cops, politicians, elders, producers, authoritarian parents, deranged customers) are the ones who suck in this story. im not saying it's "right" but it's how the story operates (e.g. i kept expecting the helper kids to die horrifically smashed inside the truck, but the laws of physics didn't apply to them).

ah the unresolved bit... yeah i saw it coming from 5 miles ahead, but sometimes the audience needs their hand held. nevertheless i think the exposition fits a rollicking rambling movie of this style which is not about things implied or french endings. it's *all* said, longwindedly and hilariously and cringeworthily and so on. like several of its characters (and yes fucking bradley cooper hahahahah) this movie in itself is a bit of a motormouth lol. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOb4QNHW_Ss

lol i wanna watch it all over again and laugh.

Fair, fair. And yeah I remember the Jewish nose stuff. Ugh.
Good film though, don’t get me wrong. I really enjoyed it, but it stopped short of being GREAT for me.

Re: the campaign, I was more talking about the aide character who, it seemed, Alana had a connection with, and just as the film is setting that up is says NOPE, OTHER STUFF! And I guess I would have rather had more Bradley Cooper being a psychopath

***MORE SPOILERS***

oh yeah the aide was more of the same for me, i mean... he had to have been in on the secret, no? same hypocrisy. also... do i misremember, or was the whole municipal environment the motivation for the kid finding out about the pinball laws? i remember bits of the scene, but i can't place it in context from memory.

anyway, yeah, i had a ton of fun watching, but it was no la dolce vita for sure, lol.

Ok yeah, the campaign was how Gary found out about the pinball machine thing, so it does serve the plot.

Also Paul Thomas Anderson fucking LOVES L.A. My god. Arguably more than Scorsese loves New York. All the scenes of LA are always so lovingly and painstakingly crafted in his movies. It’s really something.

April Fool's Day from 1986

Saw King Richard. It was fine. Good even. Not sure Smith deserved the best actor Oscar for it, but he’s been nominated many times and lost, so this is what eventually happens.

Watched Rudy for the first time (I think). Good stuff. I get it.

Re-watched Drive. Only the second time I’ve seen it, almost 10 years after the first. I’ve rewatched scenes here and there, but this was the first full rewatch. Still a fucking incredible movie as far as I’m concerned. It really chews away on noir and pulp tropes, more so than I remember, but it also blows those tropes to hell and, y’know, proverbially smashes their brains in with a hammer.
Still surprisingly, almost overwhelmingly, sweet all in all.

I watched two movies on Netflix that have a lot in common. Both are based on very intriguing true events that happened during WWII (or very shortly before actually in case of the first ), and both are (co)written by the lead actor. But unfortunately both weren't very good in telling the story.


1.








It's (co)written by and stars stand-up comedian Eddie Izzard, she grew up in the area, but only heard of it at a later stage in her life. Shortly before WWII started there was a school in England for German girls including the daughters of high-ranked SS militaries.
She does a pretty good job in playing the teacher, and Judi Dench is always a pleasure, but all-in-all it's just lacking.





2.








This movie is also based on true events that happened during WWII and is even more intriguing. During the war female spies were sent from the UK to France to support or set up the resistance over there and for communicating between the two countries. This movie tells the story about two of them. One of them was American, and was handicapped (she has a wooden leg). The other one had an Indian father and an American mother. She was born in Moscow and raised in London and Paris. Story wise it should be a full suspense edge of your seat war movie, but unfortunately it is shot like one of those cheapo British crime series, even though it's an American movie. It is actually written (and researched) entirely by Sarah Megan Thomas who plays the handicapped spy.

Even though it's not a top class movie, I would still recommend it if you're interested in knowing more about WWII . It's a chapter I never knew about. It doesn't have a happy ending though....

I watched this movie called Adrift with one of the gals from Big Little Lies.
It was supposed to have a big twist but the twist spoiled itself early on, so there’s all this dramatic build up to the twist when it’s revealed near the end of the movie and I was like, “Uhhhh, of fucking course that’s what’s happening, you kinda explained it to us through exposition, nobody is going to be surprised.”

Anyway, not great but fine. Based on a story about a sailor/boat gal who was … adrift and stuff.

recently:



blue velvet is a regular rewatch for me. not maniacally, but every few years or so. and each time it feels new. it's just so fucking good. and criterion has some deleted scenes & alternate takes etc now: https://www.criterionchannel.com/blu...lvet-revisited ... i haven't seen those yet! so that will be next.

also saw GET THRASHED! THE STORY OF THRASH METAL



the highest of technical standards were not utilized in this production, but it features original footage and interviews, and it was entertaining and very watchable in spite of some obstacles. i started for curiosity's sake and just kept going. great fun, and often funny too.
https://getthrashed.com/

Watched about 45 minutes of The French Dispatch and fuck it is so goddamn fey and artsy and mind-numbingly cloying. Could not finish it.

what a shame.

of course... but didn't you find a heavy amount of self-parody in it also? i'm asking cuz... for me that's actually the absurd and goofy point of all the extreme fey artsiness: a good laugh. if it were a straight-up serious movie it would be unfuckingwatchable, yeah.

Wes Anderson movies more and more remind me of the whimsical musings of a super rich, spoiled white boy who does not understand what actual life is like.

yes, he probably is all of those things (he certainly is some of them), but i forgive him his personal shortcomings because he lets me watch him play with his toys for a couple of hours for the price of admission.

e.g. that horny hilarious prison tale in the french dispatch is certainly no papillon. but if i had to watch papillon on repeat when i'm feeling down, i would probably blow my brains out.

fuck, while on the subject of prisons... watching salò as a study of fascism (and modernity and consumerism) by someone who *really* understood what actual life is like was definitely worth the effort, but it was the hardest "movie" i've seen, and it took me several sittings + recovery sessions to get through all of it, until i finally saw the light of it, so to speak. i could not stomach it all in a single viewing. it was difficult work.

so yeah... sometimes a whimsical boy and his toys is the right pharmaceutical for the moment. it might not cure anything, but it offers temporary relief. other times yeah it can be downright annoying.

--

eta: a good review of salò here: https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2013/...days-of-sodom/

eta, 2: more on pasolini and his death: https://youtu.be/5mwKpi2psS4

French Dispatch was one of his worst. I love the guy but he’s taken “my little confection” filmmaking and turned it into something that feels like an highly detailed wedding cake and doesn’t feel like a human experience at all.

Hoping for better in the future, but …

One of my favorites of all time. A movie I can’t help but laugh at because of the overtly black-comic moments throughout.

Did I ever tell you about the time I showed it to a girl I was dating, sure she’d find plenty of camp humor in its campy-humory moments like I did? Well she did not and I’m pretty sure she thought I was a psychopath but such is life.

Wife and I finally saw The Joker. That movie was sad as fuck. I guess it needed to be really.

Wes Anderson movies are overtly self conscious, like the most pretentiousness of what French cinema has to offer/shit out. I did enjoy Life Aquatic back in the day but that's down to wor' Bill Murray more than anything.

Speaking of French cinema I watched Gasper Noe's film Climax which strangely feels the need to proclaim in bold text at the start of the movie 'French film and proud'. This wouldn't be so bad however if every idea in the movie wasn't ripped from an American film released a few years prior called #Horror. The thing is, #Horror is utterly panned by so called critics and horror fans yet Noe's Climax is regarded as different quintessential bold cinema. Furthermore, #Horror is left out of the list of movies shown at the start of Climax of which it claims to be influenced by, classics like Suspiria and Possession which to it's credit bravely lists as influence. However, It's not seen as cool or French to list a more recent, universally panned movie that you've directly stole ideas from.

Climax itself is decent once you get past the many 10 minute (TEN FUCKING MINUTES) choreographed dance routines and the acid trip starts. And yet it's still gobbling the pretentious voyeurism throughout, as only those frog munchers know how. Xenophobia aside I'm starting to realise that to call a film French-like is the most detailed insult one could give.

For Taxi Driver plagiarism it's not too shabby.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eXoLJEjK2c

hahahahaha

i wrote this some pages back while chatting with antagon about french dispatch:


and yeah, what i like about these discussions is finding out how everyone sees things, because everyone sees differently. and the differences are the interesting part.

anyway, 2 things:


for me his worst ones are isle of dogs (i didn't finish it after having defended his style, lmao. i just lost interest) and the darjeeling limited, which i finished but did nothing for me. wasn't in the mood for either i guess. big yawns.

anyway found this new yorker review that addresses the very points you and rob make about french dispatch, like aesthetic distancing from reality, and excessive elaboration, etc. makes me want to rewatch it now.

and also i'll add... isn't distancing from reality what makes the aesthetic experience desirable? otherwise it's all cannibal holocaust in live 3d.

anyway check this if interested: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/th...ewheeling-film

the guy ends with this:


i just thought he makes a good point about the "heroism of beauty" which, maybe this movie isn't beautiful for all, but ok. i'll get the streaming service this summer and revisit.

@diesel:

i haven't seen much of gaspar noé but while climax might be french he's argentinian (double hate for the hand of god? lmao). anyway i saw "love" by him and i can't remember a ton now. i remember i finished it... there was fucking and... sorry, drawing a blank, lol. very annoying characters, i think i recall now? i think voyeurism is his style without much more because all i vaguely recall is busy images. thanks for the warning.

Darjeeling was OK, but still left me feeling like I am watching rich white people's problems.

I can understand Isle of Dogs but for me Darjeeling Limited is one of his best, alongside Tenenbaums, Rushmore and Bottle Rocket.
Darjeeling is definitely a “confection,” but it’s also absolutely stuffed with real, human, emotional moments from the get-go (first scene after the short-film-style intro sequence, at least).
Darjeeling, like Tenenbaums, brings to mind JD Salinger and his fascination with the family dynamics of privileged over-achievers in existential crisis. You have several moments that really pull on the heartstrings and make you root for the characters. It’s detached but it still has that relatable punch of the real. Kind of the perfect balance in my opinion.



Perfectly fair, but in my opinion, with Dispatch (and to some extent Grand Budapest Hotel, though that was a better film), Anderson has ramped this aesthetic up to the detriment of the core of the films. He’s continued to layer his creations with diorama atop diorama of these exquisite little facsimiles of reality. And sure, it’s a legitimate and not intrinsically negative stylistic decision, but it’s made his films increasingly less and less emotionally rewarding for me over time.

(I realize Darjeeling is super diorama-y at times, but still, it feels like an aesthetically enhanced vision of reality and real people; not a cardboard cutout doing its best impression thereof.)

I third the Isle of Dogs trashing. 'Twas disappointing after the Fantastic Mr. Fox being...at the least watchable.


Argentina and France, well there's two nations you wouldn't miss if Putin decides to push the button.

Apparently the Noe films Irreversible and Touching the Void are meant to be ultra disturbing, so naturally I'll be checking those out :D Will no doubt be reporting back here with more unfounded xenophobic hate.

oh no lol. i would miss them...



oh wait, this is the movie thread!

https://imgur.com/FgiwTRT (nsfw for the office-bound)

judging by that gesture it would appear that she rejects your premise hahaha

btw, for a good french horror, watch "eyes without a face". classic, and much ripped off.

the wages of fear... not horror but nerve wracking. oh! rififi?! crime, and so good...,

it's true that in recent times they've been more miss than hit. but anything with monica bellucci in it is watchable hahaha.

oh, since you like watching people suffer, michael haneke is german but he' got some french productions...

for argentinian movies, try "wild tales" or "nine queens".

Underrated horror movie Session 9.

Argentina no good, I've thrown my heart in with Chile - for a variety of reasons.

Last night I watched a film set in 2000s Toronto, about the adventures of a young music fan struggling with relationships, culminating in an epic concert/fight scene involving their crush. Turns out Turning Red is the same movie as Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, although it's better.
(they're not actually the same, I just thought it was funny to say that)

I remember that being quite good, yeah

in what way do you mean? cinema? or fútbol? or boric? but who what?

is it a riddle? is it just a guessing game? is it a taunt? is it nuclear war?

i'll roll the dice: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5639354/?ref_=ttls_li_tt

do i win?

you can't play chile though. they're out.

===

anyway i tried watching the neon demon last night and it's super glossy like drive, maybe more, but holy fuck it got creepy i thouht i'd get nightmares



it's with catherine the great what's her name. i might attempt the rest some morning when i can dispel the horror before sleep. that is if i can stomach the stuff. also keanu... wtf man...

Refn loves making “I don’t know if I can finish this” movies, with Drive being the one exception

That does look like an interesting movie, even if one that I'd find tough to watch - the title's not far off what is is though, just from a different angle. ;)

Back to being relevant to the thread, I borrowed the documentary Sonic Outlaws from the uni library last week and watched it on Tuesday. Very interesting and surreal style of editing, raised a few good points about the nature of media in the 'modern' era of the 1990s. Enjoyed the U2 slander a lot :D

i liked valhalla rising. im curious about bronson. but rape, or whatever the fuck is going on, is stomach-churning. pass... for now anyway.

ok i throw the towel lol. no idea why chile.

eta: wait...

=

anyway today i watched

gimme shelter



great maysles brothers movie, historic even, but a huge fucking downer by the end.

& then

jazz on a summer's day



the cure to all that & more

(but don't find out what performances were not filmed. it will spoil your fun. o well, fuck, taste from the tree of knowledge: https://artsfuse.org/209283/film-rev...ntrarian-view/ yeah, visually, it's a big whitebread commercial, and the content left out some of the best stuff, but still, after watching the moronic mess at altamont, it's like taking a shower and brushing your teeth.)

Bronson isn’t about rape. It’s about the man purported to have been the most violent inmate in the UK. Dude would scrap with anyone and anything and the only thing for it was solitary confinement, where he does … uhhh … arts and crafts.

There’s certainly a lot of naked dude energy in the film but I don’t believe there’s any rape. There’s a lot of fisticuffs and hilarity and madness, though. It gets a bit oppressively abstract at times but I think you’re safe.

Granted I saw it once 10 years ago, but I too have a really hard time with rape on screen. I fucking cannot stand it. Rape and animal mutilation will prevent me from watching a movie, straight up.

oh i meant the screams next door in neon demon... fuuuck, that's where i stopped, don't wanna know what's coming afterwards in it. but yeah, i'd like to see bronson eventually--thanks!

Good ole Hellraiser

Seen Wild Tales, 'twas areet. The best Argy film is Terrified.

I'm familiar with Haneke and it's telling you mention him because his name popped into my head during Climax. I guess it's the similar way he treats drama to the French in general; important plot points are shown to be no more significant than any other part of their movies and are quickly ushered along. It's as if they are too cool to mull over potential melodramatic aspects of the plot. The perfect comparison would be to imagine a scale with slop like Eastenders at one extreme being overblown cringe melodrama and at the polar opposite you have French cinema, too cool and unwilling to show any melodrama whatsoever, and like any extreme they are both awful but for different reasons. Having said that, I did like Hanekes' Funny Games fourth wall breaking fuck you to prevalent cliche film making. Also Benny's video get's props for the mindfuck of literally desensitising the viewer to animal slaughter in turn putting one in the same mindset as the lead which in summary is the ultimate fourth wall hack Gus Van Sant has wet dreams about.

I'm familiar with Billy Idol, cheers.

Watched an Oscar winning Chilean movie called A fantastic Woman which basically felt like a dated trans rights virtue signal.

And Kurosawa's Before We Vanish. Tremendous existential Kiyoshi as always.

Love you too homie.

Got to see some of the most terrible movies my eyes came across:
Over-sexed Rugsuckers from Mars
Birdemic



Last good ones I saw (in a month of Cech movies in a festival)

Ostre sledované vlaky (no idea what's it been called in English-spoken cpuntries)


And Bertrand Mandico's Wild Boys



On the big screen, looking forward to watching Audition in a few days

What?

Santa with Muscles. It wasn't an instant "i'll never watch this again".

Man takes movie statment as personal attack, like a fucking idiot. Meh

Watching The town that dreaded sundown. Unfortunately dated, but the influence on Texas Chainsaw massacre and Halloween is paramount and exists at least for posterity, but fuck me am I bored.