Cinéma vérité - and all other types

[Starwars]

I watched the Apostle. Promising horror movie but it turned out to be really, really... boring. Ended up just losing interest. Not something that happens to me often with horror flicks. If they're bad they're usually... really bad. This one was just dull and boring.

 

Also watched the Cabin in the Woods the other day. Pretty cool. Not the greatest but it was definitely amusing.

[Orogun01]

I watched the Apostle. Promising horror movie but it turned out to be really, really... boring. Ended up just losing interest. Not something that happens to me often with horror flicks. If they're bad they're usually... really bad. This one was just dull and boring.

 

Also watched the Cabin in the Woods the other day. Pretty cool. Not the greatest but it was definitely amusing.

****, I was excited for that one. Sorry to hear that its bad.

[injurai]

[Gfted1]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95nj_7Q9AYc

[Raithe]

I hadn't realised this was being done. I'm now going to have to track down and watch it.

 

https://youtu.be/o7KRdBDl5is

[SonicMage117]

I'm pretty excited for Aquaman, was alaways a fan of Amber Heard but even more than that, we finally get Black Manta.

 

Escape Room seems interesting enough.

[ShadySands]

Boba Fett movie that I don't think was ever officially announced has been cancelled.

[Bartimaeus]

Perfect Blue (1997). Wow! I was a bit...traumatized by this one (especially as I knew absolutely nothing about it going in), but it was great. An incredible dark synth soundtrack, too. The less you know about this going in, probably the weirder and better it will be.

 

Psycho (1960). Very good. Still holds up great for even a first-time viewer who only vaguely knew it was something to do with a mother-gone-wrong. The last five minutes should probably be chopped off, because we're not in the 60s anymore and people can probably get the general gist of mental illness and don't need it explained to them like they're complete morons, but it's a product of the time and forgivable.

 

The Wind Rises (2013). It was decent. The first half was stronger than the second, I think. Not one of my favorite Ghiblis, though...but I expected that from the outset, and it neither particularly overperformed or underperformed from there.

 

Blazing Saddles (1974). I wanted to watch something with Gene Wilder in it, and looking through his movies, I was kind of surprised to see that...uh, he wasn't actually in a whole lot that's considered to be particularly good? Is his career that of one where he had individual good performances but was in mostly mediocre stuff as a whole? Whatever, it was fine. A lot of people seem to say that "'they' couldn't get away with making this today" about this one, and I see why, but I'm not sure that I agree. You'd always have dummies who immediately react to racist language being used simply for the fact that it's being used rather than looking at why it's being used and judging from there, of course, but you can safely ignore those dummies.

[ShadySands]

I really need to watch Blazing Saddles again. It used to be one of my favorites

 

When I first read Perfect Blue I thought you were talking about the Paul Walker and Jessica Alba film Into the Blue. Your review of the movie made me scratch my head for a second until my brain returned

[injurai]

I literally just watched Perfect Blue for the first time two nights ago. It was indeed great, but I was very uncomfortable for a lot of it. I have to say I really enjoyed where the film ended up. The soundtrack was especially up my ally, late 90's dark synth with some occasional breakbeats is my weakness. I also knew nothing going in, and agree the less you know the better.

I haven't quite gathered my thoughts on what ultimately was so compelling about this film, because it wasn't just the great construction. The plot itself was very strong and the doubts I had over the director's intent where challenged just when I thought the film was indulging in the wrong things. It was almost cathartically-paced which is odd given how non-cathartic the subject matter is. It was a deconstruction of a rare experienced identity, but given a compelling plot around it that wasn't just a tool for the deconstruction. I guess part of it was how buried the deconstruction was. It was shown not told, and it was a feint within a feint. It's certainly a film that I feel would be hard to recommend to others on fear it would be misunderstood. Sort of like Oldboy.

 

 
Last night I watched The Night Of The Hunter (1955). I had heard it was a pretty ground breaking and ahead of its time film on some cinematography channel looking at lesser known films. I'm sure film buffs are more familiar but I can't remember ever hearing about it myself. Likewise I knew nothing going in, I'd recommend doing the same. I will say it has one of the most sublime scenes that I've ever seen in film, but so much of it so striking I'm sure something else will jump out at different viewers. I can't recommend this film enough, and I think you'd enjoy it Bart.
 
Blazing Saddles I've seen twice in the last two years. The first time I loved it, the second time I wasn't as much of a fan. I think it's an incredible landmark film, ahead of it's time socially, but is held back by how it's not really tough enough on the people it's clearly portraying on the bad guys. I know part of the humor is in the nasty racists basically getting a light pass, but it's more just how comfortably the n-word is used that I don't think could be done in a modern movie that was attempting to do the same deconstruction of racism. I agree Bart, it's not just the words appearance, but there is something I think that is a bit off in the usage. The movie's primary comedy is in a backwards society at the edge of progress and industrial revolution, but really doesn't drive this perspective to it's ultimate conclusion. It doesn't drive home any deeper message so it can feel a bit exploitative of liberal comedy without really committing. You might think I'm asking for the film to be more on-the-nose, but It's already such an on-the-nose sort of film it's just weird from a modern perspective seeing go so all out, but then get distracted. I think the cop-out end really distracts, between the awful towns people being saved, breaking the fourth wall, and how most progressive jokes were treated as throwaway gags. Gene Wilder intentionally took a back seat during production to setup jokes for Cleavon Little which was great, and made for the best moments.
 
The Wind Rises is probably my favorite Ghibli film and I've been awaiting for you to get around to it. I personally think it's his magnum opus, though I've only seen it once so maybe I should re-watch it. Certainly animation wise it's the studios most mature, but beyond that I loved the blend of human complexities that really tied together many different parts of a persons lives, as well as the interaction of different people during different parts of their lives. Plus it's historical grounding and the sort of redemption of an individual against a complicit involvement in something awful is all very striking and powerful to me.

Edited November 2, 2018 by injurai

[Bartimaeus]

Ha! What a coincidence on Perfect Blue. Yeah, I just listened to the soundtrack by itself right before posting that, and it's actually what made me want to log in and post about the recent movies I'd seen, and boy, I love it.

 

 

A couple of tracks in particular, like Nightmare, made me super anxious while listening to them in isolation, and that's great. But I don't think I could possibly recommend the movie to anybody for exactly the reason you said: depending on who's seeing it, you recommending it could be interpreted in wildly different ways. There were a lot of times in the movie that I felt absolutely gross, like I shouldn't be watching this (and indeed, I literally covered my eyes and looked away a number of times)...but I think that's what you're *supposed* to feel, which is why it works. Someone you recommend this to without any context - and you don't want to give any context for fear of spoiling the movie, of course - could super easily misunderstand exactly what you enjoyed about it, and think you're a complete sleazeball as a result. Yeah, the feint-within-a-feint stuff really got me - right as I thought the movie's plot was winding down and becoming cohesive, it would throw another curveball. Thanks for the recommendation on Night of the Hunter - never heard of it, will watch it without knowing anything about it.

 

 

Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder were definitely the big parts of what made Blazing Saddles work, and without their individual performances, I don't think I would've care for this movie at all. In regards to use of...provocative language like the N word, I was a little confused at times. Having the old grandma reply to a perfectly magnanimous morning greeting with an "UP YOURS, N****R" is rather hilarious in how shocking it is, and I think I understood its use in doing so to draw a sort of character arc for the town as a whole over the course of the movie, but there were other times where I was less as sure such language was being used effectively (e.g. the ending with the play director). I still tended to give it the benefit of the doubt, especially after learning Mel Brooks seems to be a person generally sensitive to such issues and knew that, tastefully speaking, there's a line to toe in what you can - or rather should - get away with, and you can sometimes accidentally step over it without really even thinking about it. So overall, it wasn't exactly my cup of tea, but I thought it was fine, and Gene Wilder and Cleavon Little were great.

 

I kind of knew The Wind Rises was going to be a difficult one for me for a number of reasons going into it (mainly relating to the subject matter, setting, and protagonist type). On top of that (and perhaps at least a little informed by it as well), I found that the movie ultimately just didn't end up coming together by the end of it (for example, I was really, really having trouble with the love story going on, and the way it suddenly...terminated itself was bizarre and just drove home the feeling of "this isn't working" for me), so I left a little bit dissatisfied. Perhaps I'll enjoy it more upon a re-view, though, like Only Yesterday (which I found to be way better after a re-view and one of my favorites...funny how that can happen sometimes).

 

@ShadySands: lol. I'm sure it's basically the same!

Edited November 2, 2018 by Bartimaeus

[Raithe]

And apparently... The Hitmans Bodyguard 2.. Or as they are apparently calling it, The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard is going into motion. And yes, they have got Samuel L Jackson, Ryan Reynolds, and Salma Hayek back together for it.

[Gfted1]

Fyi, Blazing Saddles is currently on Netflix. Its one of my all time favorites.

[algroth]

I thought Perfect Blue was pretty decent, but I also feel like it played really heavily into the well-worn tropes and cliches of its particular subgenre and, well, surreal cinema at large. I felt that it was enjoyable enough but the way the film tried to blur the divisions between reality and performance by abstracting time and place or correlating scenes and dialogues throygh montages, the use of dissonant soundscapes, repetition and so on was all pretty 101 for this sort of film, it's basically the kind of thing filmmakers like Lynch, Aronofsky and Argento have built careers on, and the first two at least have done in more intriguing fashion. I can also recommend The Red Shoes as a high landmark of the genre. Also with regards to Satoshi Kon's work I always feel like he was at his best when the style he employed here wasn't ysed for the sake of an oneiric effect, but for a more Malickan impressionist one as with Millennium Actress which to me is his finest film. Granted, it's been a long while since I last saw it so my opinion could be pretty different nowadays, kind of going by memory on my impressions above.

 

And speaking of impressionist cinema, this to me is The Wind Rises to a tee. Much like Satoshi Kon's transition from Perfect Blue to Millennium Actress I feel this is the film where Miyazaki's more freeform experimentations with visuals and narrative from his past three films found a perfect match with the themes of his latest, which seems to be a reflection on the ephemeral nature of life as seen through dreams initially but also experiences, memory and ultimately even one's legacy. When there was all the talk about this being Miyazaki's last film, it kind of held a firmer ground than either Princess Mononoke or Spirited Away as the film did seem to almost be commenting on an artist's oeuvre and be remarking on the artist's journey and so on - that final dream sequence could very well have had Miyazaki himself as a protagonist instead. I feel the approach to the romance is odd but strangely fitting to this narrative too: it comes about almost feverishly and dissipates much like a fleeting thing. Ultimately even the dream depicts the woman at the height of her loveliness opposite to how we'd last been seeing her, she's an idealized version and even memory seems to distort or erase the signs of the experiences they lived together. I think it's really wonderful myself, I found it very moving.

Edited November 3, 2018 by algroth

[Bartimaeus]

It probably helps that I don't think I've watched any other films of its particular subgenre, and indeed had no idea what genre it would be falling into or what it would even be about going into it. Thanks for the recommendation on Millennium Actress and The Red Shoes.

[injurai]

Algroth, your capturing of The Wind Rises is melting my heart, I don't think I could have ever said it so well. Speaking of Aronofsky, he has actually cited Perfect Blue as an influence.

[algroth]

I think Aronofsky's wanted to adapt Perfect Blue to live action for a while too, and owns the rights to it but never quite managed to lift the project off the ground. Black Swan was sort of his take on the film, if I recall how he referred it as correctly. Anyhow... I realize that I might have come across a bit sniffy about my remarks on Perfect Blue, what with my remarks on the genre tropes and so on - but I do think it's a fine film. With regards to the subgenre I refer to, I can't say the exact name for it but there's a long tradition of melodramas/psychological dramas that deal with performers and artists finding the fictional work they're creating seeping into reality and blurring the lines with fiction and sanity and so on. Usually I've found that when it comes to blurring the lines between reality and fiction in this subgenre there's often certain techniques that are used the likes of unifying two distinctly separate times or spaces through classic raccord elements or an apparent continuity in dialogue, the presence of elements in an allegedly 'real' scene that break a fourth wall and lend it a 'staged' perception or likewise the omission of context to evidence a particular 'fictional' scene is actually so, characters embodying dual personalities that interchange between their fictional role and 'real' selves and so on, an approach to focalization that seems to start off fairly detatched to that of the protagonist but grows increasingly or intermittently fixed on the first-person perspective from their eyes, etc. I think I'm being disingenuous in recommending The Red Shoes in comparison to Perfect Blue because I reckon viewing any film in comparison to another probably detracts from the experience overall and because I reckon that The Red Shoes does play as more of a melodrama with these surreal/psychological flairs moreso than a full psychological/surreal film exploiting all the previous point to their utmost the way something like Perfect Blue, or Inland Empire or Suspiria for example, do; but that said, it's the earliest example I can think of off the top of my head of this sort of narrative and there's moments throughout that are very prescient about how future films would tackle these kinds of storylines, and no doubt served as influence at least for, if not Perfect Blue, then at the very least the films that would inspire it in turn. And also won't spoil which but there's a sequence in the film which in my opinion is arguably the finest sequence ever committed to film - you'll know the one when you see it I think, Bart. Would love to hear your thoughts on it when you check it out! Millennium Actress too.

Edited November 3, 2018 by algroth

[Keyrock]

A third Bad Boys movie has been confirmed. Tentatively scheduled for 2020. **** just got real.

Edited November 4, 2018 by Keyrock

[Bartimaeus]

The Great Dictator (1940). Some of the skits, particularly the ones with Hynkel, went on for just a bit too long. Still, it was a solid watch, and was glad to have done so given its history. The ending speech was powerful, especially given when this movie was made (shortly before the start of World War II proper). Shout out to one of my new favorite YouTubers Lindsay Ellis for sort of suggesting both this and Blazing Saddles.

 

 

Eraserhead (1977). There was neat stuff in it, but it was really more experimental art film than movie. I watched both this and The Great Dictator with somebody else - this was their choice, TGD was mine...and we both liked TGD a bit more. Guess we're not film aficionados, .

 

Millennium Actress (2001). Unusual film. Wasn't sure what to make of it at times. Ending was laughably bad (like, I literally laughed out loud a couple of times), but I guess it's a movie that's more about the journey than the destination...heh, get it? I did what the movie did...oh, well, nevermind. I still liked it overall, but the rapid swings back and forth between comedy and severity made for a very strange tone, and at times, I felt it could've been paced a little better (there was one point where it seemed like the movie was possibly about to end, but then I checked and there was like 25 minutes left). Feels like a movie that wasn't as effective as it ideally could've been, sort of like The Wind Rises for me, actually... I really liked the soundtrack, though.

Edited November 4, 2018 by Bartimaeus

[Lexx]

I just watched Mandy and it was awesome. Starts rather slow, but the colors and everything is just perfect. Best Nic Cage movie in years.

[algroth]

A third Bad Boys movie has been confirmed. Tentatively scheduled for 2020. **** just got real.

 

Speaking of which, Patrick H. Willems released this vid the other day which is pretty damn good:

 

 

 

Shout out to one of my new favorite YouTubers Lindsay Ellis for sort of suggesting both this and Blazing Saddles.

 

She's been doing some great work, I agree!

 

 

Eraserhead (1977). There was neat stuff in it, but it was really more experimental art film than movie. I watched both this and The Great Dictator with somebody else - this was their choice, TGD was mine...and we both liked TGD a bit more. Guess we're not film aficionados, .

 

Millennium Actress (2001). Unusual film. Wasn't sure what to make of it at times. Ending was laughably bad (like, I literally laughed out loud a couple of times), but I guess it's a movie that's more about the journey than the destination...heh, get it? I did what the movie did...oh, well, nevermind. I still liked it overall, but the rapid swings back and forth between comedy and severity made for a very strange tone, and at times, I felt it could've been paced a little better (there was one point where it seemed like the movie was possibly about to end, but then I checked and there was like 25 minutes left). Feels like a movie that wasn't as effective as it ideally could've been, sort of like The Wind Rises for me, actually... I really liked the soundtrack, though.

 

An experimental art film is not a movie? I love Eraserhead but it's definitely one of Lynch's more hard-going films, along the likes of Inland Empire or Fire Walk With Me. Regarding Millennium Actress I felt back when I watched it that it had the best ending of any of Kon's films... Though for me Kon's films always had trouble with their endings (Tokyo Godfathers and Paprika were especially bad in this front). I can't off the top of my head recall much comedy in it, which maybe means I should have another look at it. Still, I enjoyed the way it told the protagonist's story through the different fictions she as an actress took part in and through them reflected on the changes to the Japanese film industry through a period I'm particularly into. I found it very creative and moving.

[injurai]

Yeah, Lindsay Ellis is great. I need a new video from her.

[bugarup]

Oi, guys, discussing Satoshi Kon and no mention of Paprika and Paranoia Agent? Those were my most Philip K. D†ck (ahahaha, censorship!!!)  experiences outside of, well, the writer himself.

Edited November 5, 2018 by bugarup

[Bartimaeus]

An experimental art film is not a movie? I love Eraserhead but it's definitely one of Lynch's more hard-going films, along the likes of Inland Empire or Fire Walk With Me. Regarding Millennium Actress I felt back when I watched it that it had the best ending of any of Kon's films... Though for me Kon's films always had trouble with their endings (Tokyo Godfathers and Paprika were especially bad in this front). I can't off the top of my head recall much comedy in it, which maybe means I should have another look at it. Still, I enjoyed the way it told the protagonist's story through the different fictions she as an actress took part in and through them reflected on the changes to the Japanese film industry through a period I'm particularly into. I found it very creative and moving.

I mean...I guess it's possible it wasn't supposed to be funny. But between the constant random sarcastic comments made by the camera man and Genya ridiculously and comedically inserting himself into the films, it seemed like it was supposed to be. Well, I was laughing a lot, anyways, . As for the ending...having her die in such a predictable and silly movie-like manner was just bad, and then to end the movie on THAT line? I guess it was supposed to be a big epiphany or whatever, but talk about undercutting the rest of the movie - between that and her saying earlier in the film that she only acted so that she could have the freedom to continue her search felt like her basically admitting that her entire life was a joke. Talk about depressing dying words...really did not sit well with me. But again, journey vs. destination, and the journey was fine (though it was fitting that the destination of a movie about a woman's life sucked...just like the ultimate destination of all our lives, eh?). As for Paprika...didn't realize it was the same director, and it's probably a good thing I didn't, since I found it to be...not very good at all.

Edited November 5, 2018 by Bartimaeus

[Volourn]

Mom & Dad. Dissapointing. I expected a lot more fun.  Cage espciially was  awful in it. The premise is good. The way they did it was TERRIBLE.   The young actors were really the only decent part of it.