Return Of The Film Corner Thread

[duaneiac]

I liked The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and I loved The Young Girls of Rochefort, so I figured I would give this Jacques Demy film a try, despite the unpromising title.  I would say this movie is the cinematic equivalent of the Hindenburg, but hey, at least the Hindenburg got off the ground, a feat which this dud never accomplishes.  Another fine example of people with proven talent coming together to produce a film of absolutely no merit whatsoever.  Avoid at all costs!

[kinuta]

Joy - David O. Russell (2015)

[BillF]

Seen as part of a Spanish and Latin American film festival.

[kinuta]

Personal Shopper - Olivier Assayas (2016)

Ghostly, enigmatic, hard to pin down slippery eel of a film with a distinct Mulholland Drive vibe in places.

I liked it and KS was very good

[BillF]

7 hours ago, kinuta said:

Personal Shopper - Olivier Assayas (2016)

Ghostly, enigmatic, hard to pin down slippery eel of a film with a distinct Mulholland Drive vibe in places.

I liked it and KS was very good

I like your write-up, Kinuta. 

[jlhoots]

I liked Personal Shopper too.

[kinuta]

The Age Of Shadows - Kim Jee Woon (2016)

1920's Korea and the resistance struggle against the brutal Japanese occupation.

Gripping, well made with some brilliant set piece action sequences.

Add this to the ever lengthening list of great films coming out of South Korea.

It fascinates me that such a tiny country, smaller than Kentucky, can turn out so many rich, provocative and original films.

Even just recently I've been very impressed by The Handmaiden, The Wailing, Train To Busan and now this one.

[kinuta]

The Clouds Of Sils Maria - Olivier Assayas (2014)

[duaneiac]

A film I'd never seen until last night.  i purposely avoided it because I have an aversion to Capra-corn, but also -- a movie whose dramatic high point is a filibuster???  Talk about edge-of-your-seat thrills!  Granted, there are some fine performances here, most notably by the two stars.  Jimmy Stewart is about the only actor who could have made this movie palatable.  But Claude Rains?  He starts out okay, but by the last third of the film his accent shifts and one can't help but wonder why a member of the House of Lords is speaking in the US Senate.

The story is kind of dark, dwelling as it does in political corruption and early "fake news".  But scenes of the young boys who are coming to the defense of Mr. Smith being slugged around by the bad guys and even a car full of youngsters being forced off the road into a (offscreen) fiery death -- that's pretty grim stuff for a feel good comedy.  Whether or not Mr. Smith deserved to be expelled from the Senate on the trumped up charges, clearly he would have deserved to be expelled because he went on a rampage around DC punching out members of the press.  Granted, today such a senator would be a hero to half of the US depending on who was throwing & receiving the punches.

Give me Preston Sturges any day.  At least he knew how to make good use of William Demarest, unlike Mr. Capra who merely gives the actor a couple of lines here.

[BillF]

10 hours ago, kinuta said:

The Clouds Of Sils Maria - Olivier Assayas (2014)

Now, that's one I like!

[kinuta]

Under The Shadow - Babak Anvari (2016)

 

Thought it was even better on 2nd viewing.

[duaneiac]

Very good performances by both stars.  Charlotte Rampling, in particular, is very good at expressing emotion through the things not said.

[BillF]

Rampling must be in. Just seen her in this. Very good:

[Dmitry]

On 4/15/2017 at 5:25 PM, kinuta said:

Add this to the ever lengthening list of great films coming out of South Korea.

 

Yep. Korean porn is on its own level.

[Dan Gould]

1 hour ago, Dmitry said:

Yep. Korean porn is on its own level.

Well that will make a man click on a thread he rarely reads.

What, praytell, puts Korean porn on its own level? Do they up the ante from Japanese porn and pixelate the entire screen?

[Dmitry]

2 hours ago, Dan Gould said:

Well that will make a man click on a thread he rarely reads.

What, praytell, puts Korean porn on its own level? Do they up the ante from Japanese porn and pixelate the entire screen?

This is what Korean porn looks like.

 

Edited April 19, 2017 by Dmitry

[Dan Gould]

Hey she's kinda hot. Got a name?

[Dmitry]

1 hour ago, Dan Gould said:

Hey she's kinda hot. Got a name?

Me Love You Longtime

 

Edited April 19, 2017 by Dmitry

[kinuta]

Wadjda - Haifaa al-Mansour (2012)

Edited April 20, 2017 by kinuta

[paul secor]

Woody Allen: Irrational Man

Bad casting, inane plot, and I had to listen to Ramsey Lewis' grind it out phony blues playing for the first time in 50 years.

[duaneiac]

Based on a Cornell Woolrich novel (I Married A Dead Man, published under his William Irish pen name) this is actually a pretty good movie.  With a little bigger budget, a more imaginative director and a less wooden leading man, this likely would have been a classic.  As it is, Barbara Stanwyck has to do all the heavy dramatic lifting and she does so with aplomb.  Her Helen Fergsuon character is 8 months pregnant and has been coldly dumped by her baby daddy who gives her a train ticket out of town.  On the train, she meets a young couple who are also expecting their first child and are traveling so she can meet her husband's family for the first time.  Wouldn't you know it, there is a train wreck, that young couple is killed, but she is mistaken for that young woman and is welcomed into the home of his family and a life of luxury she has never known.  Can she carry off this masquerade?  It's worth watching to find out.

[BillF]

16 hours ago, BillF said:

Rampling must be in. Just seen her in this. Very good:

I forget to say there was a scene in Foyles Jazz Café. The world of the elderly protagonist! 

[BillF]

A classic! 

[jlhoots]

The Lost City Of Z

[kinuta]

Get Out - Jordan Peele (2017)

Amusing and scary at the same time. I liked it.