Return Of The Film Corner Thread

[kinuta]

Two pretty useless films

A Bigger Splash - Luca Guadagnino (2015)

I Am Love was excellent, this was almost unwatchable.

Demolition - Jean-Marc Vallée (2015)

Man loses wife in car crash, proceeds to demolish stuff with a sledgehammer.

Meh, who cares.

[duaneiac]

A good movie with an awful title.  The story is rather tired and underdeveloped and the movie succeeds to the extent it does solely because of the charm of the 2 lead actors.  If you are a fan of either Jack Lemmon or Judy Holliday, this film is worth checking out.  After 8 years of marriage, their characters -- he a high profile New York lawyer and she the head writer for a TV soap opera -- decide they are no longer compatible and get a divorce.  They then have the comedic experiences of getting back into the single life.  It's a 1954 film with 1954 values, so you already can guess how the whole story will end, but the two stars are a delight to watch in every scene.

[jlhoots]

4 hours ago, kinuta said:

Two pretty useless films

A Bigger Splash - Luca Guadagnino (2015)

I Am Love was excellent, this was almost unwatchable.

Demolition - Jean-Marc Vallée (2015)

Man loses wife in car crash, proceeds to demolish stuff with a sledgehammer.

Meh, who cares.

I liked A Bigger Splash.

[kinuta]

Fingersmith - Aisling Walsh (2005)

[Dave Garrett]

On 6/24/2016 at 5:54 PM, duaneiac said:

A good movie with an awful title.  The story is rather tired and underdeveloped and the movie succeeds to the extent it does solely because of the charm of the 2 lead actors.  If you are a fan of either Jack Lemmon or Judy Holliday, this film is worth checking out.  After 8 years of marriage, their characters -- he a high profile New York lawyer and she the head writer for a TV soap opera -- decide they are no longer compatible and get a divorce.  They then have the comedic experiences of getting back into the single life.  It's a 1954 film with 1954 values, so you already can guess how the whole story will end, but the two stars are a delight to watch in every scene.

That lobby card makes it look like Lemmon and Holliday are in the midst of the gastrointestinal activity that the title sounds like. And Kim Novak's the only one of them that has the couth to be appalled. 

[Shawn]

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979, Robert Wise)  

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982, Nicholas Meyer) 

[kinuta]

I Saw The Light - Marc Abraham (2015)

Tom Hiddleston - good.

Elizabeth Olsen - average.

Interpretation of Hank William's wonderful music - quite good.

Everything else - crap.

Dull lifeless direction with all the zip and pop of a glass of flat beer.

Boring, plodding narrative.

Can't hold a candle to Coalminer's Daughter.

 

 

[mjzee]

We just saw The Man Who Knew Infinity.  Excellent movie, highly recommended.  Somehow they took a story about mathematicians and created a compelling, watchable movie that doesn't insult the viewer's intelligence.  Great acting in all roles, but especially (for me) Jeremy Irons.  The movie touches on themes that should be compelling to jazz fans: the ineffable nature of genius, spirituality vs. rationality.  Very well done.

[jlhoots]

Fireworks Wednesday

[kinuta]

Contact - Robert Zemeckis  (1997)

[GA Russell]

In January I watched Gojira and its commentary.  Last night and tonight I have watched the Raymond Burr Godzilla and its commentary.

Burr was in that American version much more than I had expected.  And it seemed to me that editor Terry Morse gave the pretty girl a lot of face time, not deleting any of her shots!

[BillF]

Familiar Hollywood theme of a rookie cop in a corrupt police force, but given a distinctive, sometimes humorous, treatment in this Argentinian movie.

[BillF]

Weepy Spanish melodrama à la Douglas Sirk. Good performance from Cruz.

[duaneiac]

A 1971 film which deals with the then already existent feeling of a society under surveillance.  Sean Connery plays an ex-con safe-cracker who plots a heist of some ritzy New York apartment building.  An interesting film with an interesting narrative approach handled well by director Sidney Lumet.  There is one hilarious-in-retrospect scene set in the offices of the IRS agents who are secretly taping the activities of a Mob figure who Connery's character goes to for financial assistance.  On the wall of the IRS office is the portrait of the then president Richard Nixon, who would soon have his own problems with audio tapes.  The supporting cast included every one from Margaret Hamilton to Garrett Morris and even the very young Christopher Walken (seen above).

[BillF]

10 hours ago, duaneiac said:

A 1971 film which deals with the then already existent feeling of a society under surveillance.  Sean Connery plays an ex-con safe-cracker who plots a heist of some ritzy New York apartment building.  An interesting film with an interesting narrative approach handled well by director Sidney Lumet.  There is one hilarious-in-retrospect scene set in the offices of the IRS agents who are secretly taping the activities of a Mob figure who Connery's character goes to for financial assistance.  On the wall of the IRS office is the portrait of the then president Richard Nixon, who would soon have his own problems with audio tapes.  The supporting cast included every one from Margaret Hamilton to Garrett Morris and even the very young Christopher Walken (seen above).

Yes, an interesting one.

[Jazzmoose]

A gangster movie from the viewpoint of the police.  Good WB stuff, although I don't get casting Joan Blondell as Lee Morgan...

 

Edited July 1, 2016 by Jazzmoose
double post

[Jazzmoose]

More WB stuff.  This one is just okay; I'm sure it would have been an enjoyable diversion prior to television, but nothing particularly great.  The best thing about this early look at the paparazzi was seeing an extremely young Ralph Bellamy.

[jlhoots]

The Fits

[paul secor]

Director Abbas Kiarostami has passed away: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/05/movies/abbas-kiarostami-iranian-filmmaker-dies.html

I've only seen the two films he made outside Iran, Certified Copy and Like Someone in Love. I'm glad I saw both, even if they weren't exactly my taste.

[BillF]

2 hours ago, paul secor said:

Director Abbas Kiarostami has passed away: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/05/movies/abbas-kiarostami-iranian-filmmaker-dies.html

I've only seen the two films he made outside Iran, Certified Copy and Like Someone in Love. I'm glad I saw both, even if they weren't exactly my taste.

I've seen a few, but my favourite is the generally accepted classic:

[kinuta]

Victoria - Sebastian Schipper (2015)

All done in one single take, no digital fixes.

Spanish girl falls in with a motley crew and gets sucked into more than she bargained for.

Half an hour too long, the first hour was slow.

Had problems with the girl's total lack of street smarts .

Liked the Berlin street locations and once the thing kicked into first gear it was quite gripping.

Unfortunately I didn't think the narrative matched the obvious technical virtuosity.

 

[BillF]

A fair summary of Victoria.

[jlhoots]

Our Kind Of Traitor

[kinuta]

The Debt - John Madden (2010)

 

Rewatch. The 1960's part was stronger than the bookended start and end sequences, mainly because the younger actors outshone the older veterans.

Jessica Chastain steals the show.

A mistake to use two sets of actors for the younger and older versions of the protagonists. The central parts were gripping and well done. The older Helen Mirren as action woman assassin dubious, despite her acting skills. Fair companion piece to Munich.

[kinuta]

Miles Ahead - Don Cheadle (2015)

Patchy, fragmented attempt at telling a part of the story.

Davis shown as a dislikable, gun toting cokehead.

Good performance by Don Cheadle, can't say the same about his directorial choices.

 Worth watching but left me unengaged and indifferent.

 

 

Edited July 8, 2016 by kinuta