Seen Any Good Films Lately?

[time 8,596]

On 09/05/2024 at 00:27, time said:

I've just watched this on Apple TV. I agree with both/all points made above. It was one of those films you (I) watch and think "how didn't so-and-so win an Oscar for this?". In this case, the so-and-so in question was Lily Gladstone. I'm now going to have to watch Poor Things to see Emma Stone's winning performance (though the synopsis of that film doesn't exactly appeal to me). It's on Disney+ so maybe tomorrow!

Well, having said Poor Things didn't appeal to me, based on it's IMDb synopsis, I have now watched and thought it was great; Emma Stone's performance definitely deserves an Oscar - I'm not saying, necessarily, it was a better performance than Lily Gladstone's in KotFM, but a different type of role that was always going to attract attention (and divide opinion). 

[Toast 16,132]

I've just seen again one of my favourite films on BBC4 - quite by chance, channel surfing after Inside No 9 finished.  I mentioned the film not so long ago in a conversation about Jeanne Moreau.

 

A Foreign Field is about a group of people visiting Normandy on the 50th anniversary of D Day.  It is a character-driven comedy and very funny, but also very moving.  It was first shown on BBC in the 1990s.  I've never seen it since. 

 

Stellar cast including Alec Guinness, Leo McKern, Lauren Bacall, Jeanne Moreau.  Do try and catch it on iplayer if you can, it's only on for a month.  It's mostly hilarious but Alec Guinness's character will break your heart. You will probably guess the ending as I did first time round, but it still had me in tears again.  In a good way - it's not depressing.

A really lovely film that's rarely shown. 

 

IMDB https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106948/?ref_=tt_urv

[Commtech Sio Bibble 2,028]

Just watched Titanic for the first time, given the legacy that film has built up over the past 25 years I was expecting to be disappointed, but considering the range of emotions I felt throughout I can't say I was, I was glued to the screen from minute one. 

[Toast 16,132]

Another recommendation from BBC iPlayer, for those who can get it.

Cold Comfort Farm

 

This is a lighthearted comic film, based on the 1930s novel by Stella Gibbons which was a parody of the breathless rural romance novels of the day. 

Flora Poste, a young woman left homeless after the deaths of her parents, goes to stay with her relatives the Starkadder family at the grim Cold Comfort Farm in darkest Sussex.  She sets about transforming the lives of the inhabitants and the fortunes of the farm.   A feelgood film that's not to be taken too seriously. 

Stellar cast includes Ian McKellen, Eileen Atkins, Rufus Sewell, Freddie Jones, Stephen Fry, Kate Beckinsale as Flora and Joanna Lumley as Flora's bra-collecting best friend.

 

1 hour ago, Commtech Sio Bibble said:

Just watched Titanic for the first time, given the legacy that film has built up over the past 25 years I was expecting to be disappointed, but considering the range of emotions I felt throughout I can't say I was, I was glued to the screen from minute one.

 

My problem with Titanic was that the real stories were better than the fictional one invented for the film.  The effects were excellent, but I'd still far rather watch A Night To Remember.

[RoverAndOut 4,746]

On 09/04/2024 at 20:16, justonecornetto said:

I run a Film Group for my local U3A but I daren't show any Lynch films as they would all think it's too weird, well maybe apart from The Elephant Man or The Straight Story.

 

On 09/04/2024 at 20:35, RoverAndOut said:

Is Mulholland Drive weird? Never seen it but heard good things and the premise seems suitable for an entry-level Lynch offering. Not sure I've seen anything by him, but know his reputation.

 

On 09/04/2024 at 21:05, justonecornetto said:

MD is his best film which I've seen several times but it is confusing more than weird on first viewing however you begin to get more of a feel for what Lynch is conveying on second or third watch.

The Elephant Man and The Straight Story are great films by Lynch and are more mainstream compared to his usual surreal stuff like Eraserhead, Lost Highway, Fire Walk With Me and Inland Empire.He also did the original version of Dune which he didn't like as he was't given final cut and it's generally panned but I quite like it.

 

EDIT forgot about Blue Velvet which I would recommend as the entry level Lynch film

 

On 11/04/2024 at 02:32, Toast said:

You could also start with Wild At Heart which is a fairly straightforward tale.  Expect violence, lots of sex, and weird characters.  It doesn't take itself too seriously.

 

On 22/04/2024 at 21:20, Toast said:

Let us know how you get on, but probably best to take this to the films thread.

 

As requested, posting this in the film thread. So...today I watched Mulholland Drive for the first time, my first David Lynch offering. It was on Film4 a while ago and I recorded it to watch as and when, which turned out to be today. I *think* I enjoyed it..? Very confusing and mysterious and I like my mysteries to have at least some semblance of an ending and explanation but, equally, I like the open-ended nature of it, and suspect I'll need to watch it again at some point to try and figure it out some more.

 

The rest in the spoilers, just in case.

 

Spoiler

So...there's lot of talk of it being a dream? And I can sort of understand that. But, having just watched it, and before doing a bit of reading up on theories, I could sort of fit a loosely linear narrative to it, albeit in a different order to that portrayed and with several issues that don't fit. Roughly, I had the director bit at the start, the ending in the middle and the main storyline at the end. So the director is being menaced, finds out his wife is cheating, ends up caving in to the mobsters, hires Camilla Rhoades. Camilla is in a relationship with Diane, this breaks down as she gets close to the director. He's going to get remarried to her which leads Diane, in a rage, to order a hit on Camilla. which is where the film starts, the joyriders cause that plan to go awry, Camilla gets amnesia, ends up meeting Betty, and so happens the rest of the film (where we encounter Diane's decomposing body having committed suicide due to her guilt over ordering Camilla's hit). This is why "Rita" (Camilla) has such a visceral reaction to seeing Diane's dead body, as her dead lover.

 

BUT: it doesn't explain why Camilla's disappearance isn't bigger news - she's a famous actress isn't she? It doesn't explain why the Camilla Rhoades the director casts (at the same time he sees Betty) is a different woman to "Rita". It doesn't explain why the police investigating the crash (I assume?) are trying to contact Diane (the neighbour tells her). It doesn't explain what happens to Betty or Rita at the end. There's the weird man behind the diner. There's the bungling hit man. On one level it was nonsense, on another it was full of symbolism and meaning. The truth is probably somewhere in between. And he's a bit slow and lingering, but I know that's his style. Overall, I did enjoy it, and I would watch it again, if only to try and elicit more understanding of it now I'm familiar with the basic plot, but yes, a lot to unpack.

 

[En Passant 3,741]

15 minutes ago, RoverAndOut said:

 Mulholland Drive

 

Yawn.

 

The Elephant Man was good but, entirely unsurprisingly, depressing.

Eraserhead absolutely crushed me with sympathy for the chld/creature. I'd find that a hard if worthy watch if I saw it again.

 

I've seen some but not all of his other work and I appreciate the effort to be different beyond words, there's not nearly enough of that, but sadly in his case its mostly all a bit too surreal for my taste.

Still isn't the U3A ethos at least to some degree about showing that older generations can still pick up new things and aren't all 'you can't teach an old dog new tricks'? If so, give it a shot - it may not my thing but could well be others.

 

 

[justonecornetto 949]

27 minutes ago, En Passant said:

 

Yawn.

 

The Elephant Man was good but, entirely unsurprisingly, depressing.

Eraserhead absolutely crushed me with sympathy for the chld/creature. I'd find that a hard if worthy watch if I saw it again.

 

I've seen some but not all of his other work and I appreciate the effort to be different beyond words, there's not nearly enough of that, but sadly in his case its mostly all a bit too surreal for my taste.

Still isn't the U3A ethos at least to some degree about showing that older generations can still pick up new things and aren't all 'you can't teach an old dog new tricks'? If so, give it a shot - it may not my thing but could well be others.

 

 

I've been working out my monthly films to show to my U3A group which starts up again for the new season next month. Still don't feel comfortable showing a Lynch film (I have all his films in my DVD collection) but I do try and pick out an occasional foreign film from the French or German New Wave or the Italian Neorealism period to expand their knowledge of more arty films. I have The 400 Blows, Stroszek and Rome, Open City in mind and will show at least one, maybe two of these.

[Toast 16,132]

2 hours ago, En Passant said:

Eraserhead absolutely crushed me with sympathy for the chld/creature. I'd find that a hard if worthy watch if I saw it again.

 

I'm still trying to muster the courage to watch that.

[En Passant 3,741]

2 minutes ago, Toast said:

 

I'm still trying to muster the courage to watch that.

 

I think it's worth it, it's different for a start. Depending on your empathy levels or ability to say 'it's just a film' you probably need to find a mustered day for sure. I'd sooner watch it again to see what I missed than put myself through Mulholland Drive again.

[Ulitzer95 12,585]

I went to the cinema earlier to watch Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Just thought you should all know.

[MortalCaso 1,624]

2 minutes ago, Ulitzer95 said:

I went to the cinema earlier to watch Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Just thought you should all know.

Worthy sequel?

[Ulitzer95 12,585]

25 minutes ago, MortalCaso said:

Worthy sequel?

Yes. I had my reservations but it gets a thumbs up from me.

You never know what you're going to get with Tim Burton. There's "good weird", then there's "only makes sense in the acid-induced dreams of Tim Burton weird". Stayed pretty loyal to the franchise whilst coming up with an existing new storyline (in fact, it was more like 3 storylines in one as it focuses on the 3 generations of women).

Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara and Michael Keaton all great in their respective roles considering they hadn't played them in 36 years(!) More than can be said of the Star Wars sequel trilogy (fat Mark Hamill, dusty Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher deciding to not even do her British accent anymore for Leia).

Ofc some of the original cast are dead (Robert Goulet, Sylvia Sidney and Glenn Shadix), though it would've been hard to put them into this new storyline anyway. Correct call from Burton in leaving Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis out – would've been a huge distraction and I never thought their characters were strong in the first place. Jeffrey Jones obviously didn't return after being convicted of child molestation. So they killed his character off right at the start (gets eaten by a shark) and he appears in the afterlife scenes as a headless torso that just murmurs lol

[Toast 16,132]

On 19/08/2024 at 20:49, Toast said:

On 19/08/2024 at 18:46, En Passant said:

Eraserhead absolutely crushed me with sympathy for the child/creature. I'd find that a hard if worthy watch if I saw it again.

 

I'm still trying to muster the courage to watch that.

 

I watched it last night.  Not what you'd call a feelgood family film, is it?  Some of it was pretty icky and I was afraid it might give me bad dreams but it didn't , not so far anyway.

I won't watch it again, but I'm glad I've seen it.

[En Passant 3,741]

12 hours ago, Toast said:

Not what you'd call a feelgood family film, is it?

 

No, not one for the kids and the popcorn really.

 

12 hours ago, Toast said:

I won't watch it again, but I'm glad I've seen it.

 

Exactly how I feel about it and with something like 30 years distance that hasn't changed.

[prussianblue 1,027]

Watched The Long, Hot Summer, starring Paul Newman and Deathlist perennial Joanne Woodward. Never seen her in anything before. Good cast, but basically a knock-off of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, dodgy Southern accents and all.

[time 8,596]

Treated myself to a trip to the cinema to see The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie as it was showing a one-off screening as a tribute to Dame Maggie. I can't remember the last time I saw it (on TV) but it was so long ago I'd forgotten various bits of it, but overall, as good as I remember it.

 

I do think its a pity Pamela Franklin never had a more substantial career following this film.

[prussianblue 1,027]

10 minutes ago, time said:

Treated myself to a trip to the cinema to see The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie as it was showing a one-off screening as a tribute to Dame Maggie. I can't remember the last time I saw it (on TV) but it was so long ago I'd forgotten various bits of it, but overall, as good as I remember it.

 

I do think its a pity Pamela Franklin never had a more substantial career following this film.

 

Great performances, and if you're familiar with Edinburgh, fun location spotting.

[time 8,596]

1 minute ago, prussianblue said:

 

Great performances, and if you're familiar with Edinburgh, fun location spotting.

I recognised the castle...