What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[accies1874]

I'll put my thoughts about this in spoiler tags
Spoiler

I went to see it again and I think that some of the episodes are fantasies.
After Gary gets jealous seeing Alana with Lance the next time we see them it's at the teenage business fair (WTF) and Alana is acting very out character flirting with Gary. Gary then gets arrested for murder for all of 20 minutes and one of the cops says 'Enjoy Attica' which an LA cop wouldn't say but a dumbass like Gary might imagine due to Attica being in the news.
Then after Alana gets jealous at the water bed party she goes home and lies in bed then we hear Sean Penn talking for a few seconds before a Kubrick Shining/Eyes Wide Shut fade into the audition scene. Nothing in the audition or the restaurant makes any sense and with Alana being compared to Grace Kelly by two different people it's obviously her fantasy. The maitre d' knowing that Gary and Alana are on bad terms also makes no sense (would Gary even know?).
The Jon Peters and Joel Wachs episodes aren't quite as clear cut but it seems like whenever there is running the film becomes less realistic.

 

It's definitely not to be taken literally a lot (all?) of the time which is a really clever way to frame its themes.

Doing a stealth unreliable narrator film in a linear narrative that spends plenty of time with another character is just great.

It'd be interesting to see if people's ages reflect what they get out of it. I'm almost the same age as Alana and totally felt those dissatisfied mid-20s vibes (funnily enough, my reaction Licorice Pizza was similar to my reaction to Gregory's Girl) but someone younger could take it from Gary's POV of embracing youthful arrogance before he turns into Alana. If you're older then maybe you see it more as representing the volatility of adulthood.

"It's all a fantasy" would be an even more depressing take but one that would still make complete sense.

f**k, I'll need to see it again soon.

[Detournement]

31 minutes ago, accies1874 said:

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It's definitely not to be taken literally a lot (all?) of the time which is a really clever way to frame its themes.

Doing a stealth unreliable narrator film in a linear narrative that spends plenty of time with another character is just great.

It'd be interesting to see if people's ages reflect what they get out of it. I'm almost the same age as Alana and totally felt those dissatisfied mid-20s vibes (funnily enough, my reaction Licorice Pizza was similar to my reaction to Gregory's Girl) but someone younger could take it from Gary's POV of embracing youthful arrogance before he turns into Alana. If you're older then maybe you see it more as representing the volatility of adulthood.

"It's all a fantasy" would be an even more depressing take but one that would still make complete sense.

f**k, I'll need to see it again soon.
 

 

Spoiler

With Alana her immaturity is obviously linked to precarious jobs and presumably not being able to afford her own car or apartment. In that regard the movie is more about the 2020s than the 70s. The oil crisis stuff is obviously also a comment on the climate crisis and the Wachs political campaign video seems inspired by Bernie Sanders Vs the Democratic Party a couple of years back. 

I don't think Gary will turn into Alana as from the very beginning there is emphasis on him having wealth/capital compared to her working for a wage. The hysterical reaction to the film from younger viewers has been quite fitting since it's largely about young people who aren't mature enough to understand their circumstances. I think PTA has deliberately provoked that.

I don't think the full thing is fantasy but at various points the fantasies of Gary or Alana take over the narrative and we get their daydream version of what actually happens.

 

 

[accies1874]

24. Amulet (2022) - Cinema

I knew sweet FA about this going in and have no idea how it ended up on my list but it's really, really great.

It's a constant subversion of subversions that seemed to have a load of thematic red herrings - that it might still actually be about - before finally clicking in my head right at the end. So much of the film was fucking with my head trying to keep up and it almost lost me a few occasions as I felt it might be overstaying its welcome, but doing that several times actually added to the experience.

They knew exactly what to show and what not to show and that resulted in a clever subversion of how you connect to film characters. It's definitely been done before but I haven't seen it done to tell a story like this.

The horror was great too. Atmospheric, tense, uneasy, confusing and some excellent and minging imagery to boot.

It won't be for everyone as there are slow moments, can feel a bit scattergun with seemingly redundant scenes and even laughable at times (one in particular could've been executed better), but it was all worth it for me and its mystique kept me engaged.

[BFTD]

Moonraper - Hollywood actor Ben Affleck has to fight off numerous allegations from sex workers and

Moonraker (DVD) - an American space shuttle is hijacked during transfer to Britain, and Bond peels himself away from the usual array of trollops to find out just what the Dickens is going on.

I remember this used to regularly top Worst Bond Film lists when I was wee, but while it's well and truly down the slippery slope of self-parody, it's actually quite amusing. Jaws makes a reappearance, with Bond by this point quite clearly enjoying being tossed about by the big man (why else would he keep hitting him?), and it's actually a bit of a shame that this is Richard Kiel's last appearance. The film also plays as startlingly prescient, considering the recent activities of billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, who'd clearly love to pull off something similar to the chief villain Drax.

Yeah, it was OK. Glad to have watched it again.

[buchan30]

Moonraper - Hollywood actor Ben Affleck has to fight off numerous allegations from sex workers and
Moonraker (DVD) - an American space shuttle is hijacked during transfer to Britain, and Bond peels himself away from the usual array of trollops to find out just what the Dickens is going on.

With reviews like this, it is a tragedy that you were overlooked for the film review gig and they opted for Barry Norman instead.

[BFTD]

27 minutes ago, buchan30 said:

With reviews like this, it is a tragedy that you were overlooked for the film review gig and they opted for Barry Norman instead.

 

Think I've mentioned this before, but I went through a teenage phase of collecting old movie guide tomes from charity shops (Halliwell's Film Guide, that kind of thing) because I've always been this cool. I found one by some guy I'd never heard of, which started with a foreword where he stated that no good films had been made since 1954 (or some year around then), and he wasn't kidding - everything after then was reviewed in the lazy, dismissive, cack-handed way that I specialise in. ET was a pathetic mess by a hack director, Carpenter's The Thing was a bunch of boring men sitting around waiting for a good film to happen, Star Wars was a laser light show for cretins, etc.

Really, really wish I still had that book. What a miserable auld crackpot.

[Thorongil]

Captain Marvel. 

Been rewatching the Infinity Saga with my son. Have thoroughly enjoyed it. And then there is Captain Marvel. The actors are perfectly good but it is an unbelievably bland and boring film. A real struggle to get through. The only absolute turkey of the franchise IMO. 

[Detournement]

Monica Vitti is dead. 

Her early 60s run of films with Antonioni is up there with the best ever work by an actor. 

 

[Loki]

I watched Groundhog Day. I forgot how good Bill Murray is in it. Listening to Sonny and Cher and having to meet Ned Ryerson everyday would drive me insane. A very good film, and quite possibly Egon Spengler's best work as a director. 8/10.

[BFTD]

I watched Groundhog Day. I forgot how good Bill Murray is in it. Listening to Sonny and Cher and having to meet Ned Ryerson everyday would drive me insane. A very good film, and quite possibly Egon Spengler's best work as a director. 8/10.

[Fullerene]

On 01/02/2022 at 18:33, BFTD said:

Think I've mentioned this before, but I went through a teenage phase of collecting old movie guide tomes from charity shops (Halliwell's Film Guide, that kind of thing) because I've always been this cool.

Really, really wish I still had that book. What a miserable auld crackpot.

Looks like you can buy an old copy on eBay.

[BFTD]

Just now, Fullerene said:

Looks like you can buy an old copy on eBay.

No, not Halliwell's Film Guide itself - I was just using that as an example for the youngsters, as I'd guess those guides have gone the way of the dodo since the advent of the internet. Because, err, obviously they'd know who Leslie Halliwell was...I thought that one through well  

No idea who the guide was by - this was about thirty years ago - but I remember it covered films up to 1982, and they were all shit as they weren't made under the glorious studio system. Oh, I remember he hated location filming too - everything was better on sets. Some guy.

[Mark Connolly]

Great work @Loki

[accies1874]

25. Memoria (2022) - Cinema

Very strange. The most boringest movie of all time. Some really powerful moments and an amazingly simple use of sound but it needs another go before I can even begin to understand it. Tilda Swinton is amazing in everything, isn't she?

[Detournement]

f**k yeah.

Edited February 4, 2022 by Detournement

[Detournement]

On 03/02/2022 at 08:24, accies1874 said:

Tilda Swinton is amazing in everything, isn't she?

I saw the trailer for the The Souvenir part 2 which she is in and it seems like she is amazing at playing a smug, upper class cow in it. 

It's as if the trailer was specifically designed to piss me off. That HSBC w****r Richard Ayoade in particular makes my blood boil. 

Edited February 4, 2022 by Detournement

[Arch Stanton]

Heat (1995)

Yeah it's long but it's so well directed and acted that it flies in.

The long awaited on screen meeting of De Niro and Pacino is worth the wait and I didn't even mind too much that Moby covered a Joy Division song.

De Niro's stilts house is the same used by Titus Welliver in Bosch.

[Arch Stanton]

On 03/02/2022 at 08:24, accies1874 said:

Tilda Swinton is amazing in everything, isn't she?

She is.

We Need to Talk About Kevin is genuinely disturbing.

[Detournement]

7 minutes ago, Arch Stanton said:

Heat (1995)

Yeah it's long but it's so well directed and acted that it flies in.

The long awaited on screen meeting of De Niro and Pacino is worth the wait and I didn't even mind too much that Moby covered a Joy Division song.

De Niro's stilts house is the same used by Titus Welliver in Bosch.

The moral of Heat is you should always get revenge on the Waingros of your life no matter what the consequences are. 

The worst Heat take is when people as say that Macaulay and Vincent are similar guys but one is a cop and one is a robber. I've seen that a lot and I wonder if I'm watching the same film.

There is a sequel/prequel book coming out. Hopefully it will be good. 

Edited February 4, 2022 by Detournement

[Arch Stanton]

9 minutes ago, Detournement said:

The moral of Heat is you should always get revenge on the Waingros of your life no matter what the consequences are. 

The worst Heat take is when people as say that Macaulay and Vincent are similar guys but one is a cop and one is a robber. I've seen that a lot and I wonder if I'm watching the same film.

There is a sequel/prequel book coming out. Hopefully it will be good. 

Theres a film from the 70s called Straight Time where Dustin Hoffman, a repeat offender, has the chance to drive off into the sunset with his GF yet goes out of his way to kill the guy who fucked up the robbery.

The robbery takes place in a jewellery store where all the glass cabinets are smashed with hammers, sound familiar? It's a pretty influential movie.

I'd like to see LA Takedown one day just for comparison to Heat.