Return Of The Film Corner Thread

[JSngry]

Flawed, but fascinating, at least as much the latter than the former.

[kinuta]

The Wife - Björn Runge (2017)

Glenn Close is very good.

[kinuta]

Bohemian Rhapsody - Bryan Singer (2018)

Rami Malek is good as Freddie Mercury.

The band do a very credible job of imitating Queen.

The final concert is note perfect.

And maybe that's the film's biggest flaw, it's imitation.

Didn't really work for me as a film, it seemed all over the place.

Walk The Line is still king of the musicbios imho.

[medjuck]

Maybe because I wasn't that familiar with Queen or maybe because the LA Times was so incredulous that it won the Golden Globes, I really liked Bohemian Rhapsody.  But I think  "Ray" is even better than "Walk the Line", maybe because I like the music even better. 

[kinuta]

33 minutes ago, medjuck said:

Maybe because I wasn't that familiar with Queen or maybe because the LA Times was so incredulous that it won the Golden Globes, I really liked Bohemian Rhapsody.  But I think  "Ray" is even better than "Walk the Line", maybe because I like the music even better. 

I do agree about the music, I'd listen to Ray anytime rather than Johnny Cash.

What makes Walk The Line my pic is the acting and the fact that Phoenix & Witherspoon actually did the vocals, and did them very well imo.

 

[kinuta]

Widows - Steve McQueen (2018)

 

Really enjoyed it.

[HutchFan]

Last night:

2001: A Space Odyssey - Kubrick (1968)

First time that I'd ever seen this film in a theater, which is crucial for the full effect. It leaves a much, MUCH longer-lasting impression when seen on the big screen.

 

[kinuta]

If Beale Street Could Talk - Barry Jenkins (2018)

Beautiful, haunting and crushingly sad.

I saw 2001 in Cinerama the first week of it's initial release, in London.

The effect is indeed long lasting.

 

 

[jlhoots]

Stan & Ollie

[JSngry]

18 minutes ago, jlhoots said:

Stan & Ollie

How emo does that one get?

[jlhoots]

55 minutes ago, JSngry said:

How emo does that one get?

It was much better than I expected it would be. "Young" people might not get it.

[medjuck]

I really liked it.  It's probably sacrilegious to say this but I thought the Laurel and Hardy bits done by the two stars were  as funny as the originals.  Also I thought the relationships of the couples and  between the two couples  were lovely. 

[ejp626]

Finally managed to see Roma, and in the theatre (70mm print no less).  Perhaps I'm wrong, but I thought I saw a few flashes of Tati here and there, particularly in the way the sound functioned and then the way that Cleo and her boss end up photobombing some wedding shots, which then turns into a dance.

[sgcim]

Just saw a great, hilarious, crazy Japanese film, "Survive Style Five+" (2004). Nothing as profound as Sono (my fave Japanese director), but just unbelievable visual imagination, and wild sense of humor. The director and writer never made another feature, and went back into advertising, so you're not gonna find it in the Criterion Collection.

Definitely up to Miike's "Happiness of the Kakuturi's", but no singing. 

 

[medjuck]

1 hour ago, ejp626 said:

Finally managed to see Roma, and in the theatre (70mm print no less).  Perhaps I'm wrong, but I thought I saw a few flashes of Tati here and there, particularly in the way the sound functioned and then the way that Cleo and her boss end up photobombing some wedding shots, which then turns into a dance.

Good point.  He uses few close-ups rather like Tati. 

[kinuta]

Can You Ever Forgive Me ? - Marielle Heller (2018)

Smart and enjoyable. Recommended.

[medjuck]

I agree.

[jlhoots]

3 hours ago, medjuck said:

I agree.

Me too!

[JSngry]

The biggest single serving of out of nowhere WTF?????-ness I've been served in quite a while. The clash between "totally inappropriate today" PC issues at damn near ever turn and "torn from today's headlines" subject matter is just too fucking weird.

[Brad]

Relative to the Green Book comments, here are a couple of articles well worth reading:

The Green Book's Black History

Why Do the Oscars Keep Falling for Racial Reconciliation Fantasies?

The last article by Wesley Morris is particularly good and posits movies like Green Book and Driving Ms. Daisy against movies like Do the Right Thing. 

[JSngry]

4 minutes ago, Brad said:

Relative to the Green Book comments, here are a couple of articles well worth reading:

Why Do the Oscars Keep Falling for Racial Reconciliation Fantasies?

I can address that last one in a few words: The business of American entertainment culture has always been about making white Americans feel that they are ultimately going to be safe. Not convinced that it's a conspiracy, but am pretty sure that it's a collective consciousness at work. Conservatives push fear, liberals push reconciliation, but implicit in both approaches is that it's our world in which to decide how it's going to go. The safety of ownership.

If you want to build that out to matters like who's in the "Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame" and who's not, feel free. Soft Machine (for example) will never in there becuase what do they do to make White Americans feel safe about Black People?

This should be common knowledge by now, but the fact that it keeps being news is simply proof that the system is working as planned.

[Brad]

Can't disagree at all. 

[kinuta]

Beautiful Boy - Felix van Groeningen  (2018)

 

On the one hand an unflinching look at the ravages of methamphetamine addiction, on the other an utterly depressing two hours I wouldn't want to repeat, ever. 

[duaneiac]

An anthology film based on tales from the EC Comics.  I had seen a version of the first segment here (a Christmas tale starring Joan Collins in which she is terrorized in her home by an escaped mental patient dressed as Santa Claus -- or should that be "Father Christmas"? -- but she cannot call the police because she has just killed her wealthy elderly husband and has not had a chance to dispose of the body) on the old TFTC TV series and I think the TV version was better done.  I suppose some of the stories might seem a bit slow moving by today's standards, but the final tale, about the residents of a home for the blind finally having their revenge against the heartless supervisor in charge, although a bit slow, was really good and had an especially chilling conclusion.  Freddie Francis should be paid more respect as a director.  He often comes up with intriguing shots and shots well designed to bring out the blend of humor and horror that this genre thrived on.

Meh.  Maybe it was better when seen in Hypno Vista.  Great villainous overacting by Michael Gough.

 

[JSngry]

 

The moral of the story - don't knock wealthy industrialists, because when your kid sister gets trapped in an abandoned mineshaft, it is the industrialist himself who will provide the bulldozers and labor and doctors to get her out, as well as to fly his private cargo plane to take her to the hospital and save her life.