The Burnt Orange Heresy.
Excellent film about the world of art, fraud and reputation.
Good performances from the main four and glamorously elegant settings .
I saw Another Round (in June) which might explain the Danish defeat in the football on 7 July
Saw Marvel's Black Widow, after a year of delay and anticipation.
Aspects of it were very good, like how it's virtually a Bond movie (I felt it used its "exotic" locations more usefully than the other Marvel films, especially Budapest) IF James Bond had a sidekick spitting out sarcastic wisecracks and almost breaking the fourth wall in taking the mickey out of the lead character and even the movie universe they are in.
It's surprisingly funny. A lot of the above is down to Florence Pugh.
HOWEVER, it is quite disjointed and leaves you feeling that some of the characterisations are a bit empty and rushed, maybe because they didn't want a 2.5 hour film. Plot elements and character actions/decisions, and consequences, feel pretty inconsistent. And Ray Winstone seems to have entered the unofficial competition for "most terrible Russian accent on film".
6.5/10 for the film.
10/10 for Florence Pugh.
First Cow is worth a watch, an alt western if you will
Two 1950s classics, my first viewing of both.
On the Waterfront (Elia Kazan, 1954). Almost lived up to expectations, quite excellent (especially Rod Steiger in "the" scene). Thought the soft sappy ending didn't quite fit, and Eva Marie Saint seemed miscast (at the age of 30, but weirdly looking about 36, playing a character who was meant to be about 20)
A Place in the Sun (George Stevens, 1951). Maybe best remembered as Elizabeth Taylor's first real serious grown-up role (and she is effective) this film has perhaps a misleading title as at least I always thought it sounded like it was going to be some sort of sappy soap-opera type melodrama. Well, it is is soapy and melodramatic but it is far from sappy (the fact that it is based on a novel called An American Tragedy, is a clue). It is surprisingly bleak and a little bold in the way it makes its nominal protagonist, who we are steered to LIKE in the first half, into a thoroughly nasty piece of work. It's always interesting to watch Montgomery Clift but it is fair to say that Shelley Winters steals this film, she is superb.
Can't seem to get hold of it on any of my networks. Am partway through Meek's Cutoff but it's very slow.
Just finished The Skin of the Wolf, a Spanish film which features a rough mountain man and his attempts to introduce a woman into his lifestyle. Very bleak but also surprisingly beautiful, given the content. An absolute minimum of dialogue.
Clift's bit of sparring with John Ireland in Red River has always been the highpoint of the film for me.
Quite partial to bleak! First Cow is on mubi at the moment, dont known if there's any deals about..
Speaking of bleak, re-watched Gomorrah over the weekend!
Do you mean the series with Ciro and Gennaro?
There's a one off spin off, "L'Immortale" ? Quite good.
I've seen On the Waterfront twice (once at film school in early 70s, next about a decade ago at local Ritz cinema). I'd be interested to know what 'score' you'd give it. I'd rate it at at least 9.
The 2008 movie, the series being a spin off..
I bought the movie and watched it some years ago. I ranked it alongside "A Prophet" and " La Haine".
The series is definitely worth a watch, though.
My week's viewing has consisted of Paddington 2 and True Grit (2010).
The latter was a re-viewing having seen it on release and I have to say I enjoyed it even more. That dialogue should be clunky to deliver but they all manage it. It doesn't actually matter that you only get one word in three from Jeff Bridges.
The former I hadn't seen before but did love the first one. The sequel isn't quite up to the same standard but it is close enough. Visually stunning and satisfyingly quirky.
Off on holiday now but set the box to record a few things. I used to be really into cinema and I've been trying to get back into watching films even if it needs to be at home.
True Grit 2 is much closer to Charles Portis's original novel.
It also has that haunting refrain which develops into Iris Dement singing "Leaning" at the end. She's nearly as good as Mitchum.
I thought you hated the idea of “marks out of ten”. Part of the reason I’ve pulled away from doing them. I only ever do/did them for films I saw on at a cinema, with a few exceptions. You won’t get a number from me for On the Waterfront
Sorry, Blue, I was a bit of a bum to have asked that ... when I could have had class ...
10/10 for that
> Hmmm.
> So how would you define "L'Immortale"?
What's that "Hmmm" all about? Looks a bit passive-aggressive,
I haven't seen anything related to Gomorrah but L'Immortale appears to be a single 2 hour story (based on a quick look at imdb), so it's a film presumably, unless you saw it chopped into episodes. A spin-off is still a film.
> It also has that haunting refrain which develops into Iris Dement singing "Leaning" at the end.
I knew I recognised the voice and meant to Google it so thanks for that.
Hmmm is me demurring. Is that an example of passive aggressive? If so, please interpret it as the mildest possible form.
L'Immortale is an extremely odd example. Though free standing and viewable as a single film, it is actually both prequel and sequel to series 3 of the TV series.
So in order to keep up fully with events in the TV show you would also need to watch the film. I think. Though I watched s4 before the film and didn't feel like I'd missed anything ( except Ciro)
> Hmmm is me demurring. Is that an example of passive aggressive? If so, please interpret it as the mildest possible form.
I think that despite your best intentions, the action of typing it out is always seen (in general "netiquette" terms, not just by me being all oversensitive) as some sort of put-down of the thing being replied to. It is a shorthand for chin-stroking and raising an eyebrow in that "you're in the wrong, mate" sort of way.
I understand. Like typing out "yeah".
It was definitely intended as a "not sure about that" rather than "you're in the wrong".
I guess I’ve had it aimed at me in the pejorative manner quite a lot. Can’t imagine why 😃
She also sang the theme music for one of the series of "The Leftovers" . The song was "Let The Mystery Be", fairly appropriate for the subject. I really wish more people had watched it.( I know, I know, it wasn't a film......)
Deerskin (Le Daim). Quentin Dupieux's film which, whilst basically a grounded black comedy, kind of defies genre. Certainly "black comedy" is itself misleading because despite some quick laughs, it's just bleak. In a wonderful way.
I don't want to say too much about the plot, just know that it's a very low key / minimalist (and short!) story about a man's obsession with his expensive new suede jacket.
Weirdly, although it is nothing like either film in terms of scope or story, it felt like it had a lot of the tone of Lanthimos' The Lobster and even maybe a bit of Force Majeure. Also maybe a feel of Laurent Cantet's 2001 "L'Emploi du Temps" (aka Time Out).
So if you like any or all of those, then Deerskin is for you. It does require a fair amount of suspension of disbelief at times, so be pre-warned.
Deerskin seems quite hard to get hold of: it involves subscribing to Amazon then sub-subscribing to HBO ( I think)
Just watched Saint Maud. It is simply stunning. Glad we aren't doing scores or I might be tempted to give it the top mark.
> Deerskin seems quite hard to get hold of: it involves subscribing to Amazon then sub-subscribing to HBO ( I think)
For me "getting hold of" Deerskin "involved" going to the cinema. I know that's not an easy option for everyone. Lucky old me.
> Just watched Saint Maud. It is simply stunning. Glad we aren't doing scores or I might be tempted to give it the top mark.
OK
just 9.5 because when God spoke he sounded a bit Welsh......
Been fretting about that score.
Down to 9 because the only film I've seen worth a 10 is The English Patient and Saint Maud is not in that class .
Difficult to know what to compare it to: some parts of it remind me of Andrea Arnold while others are pure David Lynch.
Also watched Jungleland which was an OK road movie.