Last (x) movies you saw (II)

I really enjoyed "The Vast of Night." Refreshingly simple and sometimes ingenious, it plays like a great Ray Bradbury story or, more high concept, like a student film prequel to "Close Encounters." And it's got a tracking shot for the ages.

OK, just looked it up and sure, there was some cheating with the tracking shot, but I loved all the rest of the long, mostly still, mostly unbroken shots in the movie. I've seen some criticism that the movie itself is too slow, but it totally held my teen's attention, which is saying something!

Looking forward to new Hong Sang-Soo and Abel Ferrara movies out this week in "virtual cinemas."

I saw Yourself and Yours tonight, which was my first exposure to Sang-Soo. Remarkably clever and muted piece of work; I might need to rewatch it to get some of the greater nuances. Worth the time for sure.

Terminator Dark Fate - not good folks not good

*Son of Paleface (1952, Tashlin) 9/10
The Eyes of Orson Welles (2018, Cousins) 6/10
As Long as You’ve Got Your Health (1966, Etaix) 7/10
Death in the Garden (1956, Bunuel) 6/10
The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender (1997, Rappaport) 5/10
Six of a Kind (1934, McCarey) 7/10
River of Grass (1994, Reichardt) 7/10
The Canterbury Tales (1972, Pasolini) 6/10
The Decameron (1971, Pasolini) 7/10
The Italian Job (1969, Collinson) 6/10
The Forest for the Trees (2003, Ade) 7/10

not sure about its greatness, but I felt a lot of empathy for the main character in Maren Ade's The Forest for the Trees and thought the story was surprising. It was memorable and is one of my favorite first films

River of Grass was also an amazing first film and Kelly Reichardt has become one of my favorite directors

Agreed on Reichardt in general and River of Grass in particular. I need to see First Cow, tho Morbs panned it here.

At Almodovar's suggestion from his Sight and Sound COVID lockdown diary, I gave Howard Hawks' Monkey Business a shot and found it dead-on funny and impossibly problematic. Beyond the overt sexism and the immensely dated jokes, there's no way this is ever going to get a full critical reassessment with Cary Grant playing a fifth of the movie in redface. That said, the dialogue is crisp, the direction is expert and the cast is dynamite. Ginger Rogers is charming and endlessly fun, Charles Coburn is at his monocled best, Marilyn is at her it-girl apex and Cary Grant (redface aside) is an energetic live wire. There's a blu-ray out!

River of Grass bears zero resemblance to any of KR's other films, is the thing.

Son of Paleface doesn't bother me with all its Native gags cuz UH IT'S FROM 1952. It's also significantly funnier than, say, Blazing Saddles, though they certainly share some DNA.

not too similar too but wouldn't say it bears zero resemblance

don't remember that many final scenes, but the final scene of The Forest for the Trees really got to me

a thing can be from 1952 and still be offensive! Monkey Business is from 1952 and is offensive!

Coincidentally, I finally watched "Wendy and Lucy," which is so deceptively simple and heartbreaking, thanks largely to Michelle Williams (and lost dog sentiment), but also Reichardt, who does so much with so little. Though I can suppose see someone saying she does so little with so little, too.

Watched "Cast Away" as a family tonight. Kind of remarkable it's only 2 hours 15 minutes. I feel if it was released today it'd have at least 30 minutes extra minutes in there, given it covers 4 years on a deserted island. Anyway, Hanks is good in it, but those bookends remain if not problematic than certainly pretty boring ways to frame the movie.

lol i remember loving the bulk of castaway watching it in theaters and then being utterly furious that they didn't just end the damn thing when he loses wilson. i should prob rewatch some day.

does Monkey Business need a critical reevaluation? it's a great concept stretched thin, not enough good jokes, not enough MM. (but of course Ginger & Cary are great)
the 15 minutes where Cary Grant is playing cowboys and Indians with some kids is not what's keeping it from being looked over again.

it ain't helping. I'd argue it's a pretty great showcase for all involved that has not aged particularly well but likely deserves more revival love than it gets.

It would definitely still hit better in a virally-exposed non-distanced audience than at home on youtube.

Just saw a lovely documentary called "Hear and Now" about a pair of 65-year old deaf-from-birth grandparents (with hearing children, one the filmmaker) who decide to get cochlear implants together. At the very least it offers a fascinating glimpse into their life story, but I guess the meat of the movie is how they react (as individuals and as a couple) to getting the implants. What (if anything) changes between them, what (if anything) changes in their life, the difference between hearing and communication, that sort of thing. Quietly profound about what we take for granted in life, what is or is not important, and how we are able (or unable) as humans to change and adapt to challenging situations.

be offended all the time by a culture that's dead and gone

that kinda bores my socks off

Yeah, we absolutely solved racism long ago, a--

Axing of Little Britain, Chris Lilley shows from streaming services prompts outrage

This was hilarious, award-winning comedy up until (checks notes) yesterday, when it suddenly became slightly racist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL8R8k7q4_Q

okay, this 2011 song about an Aboriginal child being run over by a truck, performed by a middle-aged white Australian man in blackface, playing an African-American rapper attempting to sing for pathos, was also briefly racist when the writer/actor re-promoted it in connection to an Aboriginal child being murdered in WA by being run over by a truck, but that was July 2017. A very different time.

also for the record
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MQEjg7N4y8
George Winslow and Cary are both great in this scene but it couldn't be much more racist

westerns were big in the '50s; kiddies played along

it could be a lot more racist

It likely WAS a lot more racist.

directors cut

Le Jeu (Cavayé, 2018) 5/10
Knives Out (Johnson, 2019) 7/10
White Material (Denis, 2009) 7/10
The Highwaymen (Hancock, 2019) 1/10
Matilda (DeVito, 1996) 5/10
Let The Sunshine In (Denis, 2017) 7/10
Le Passé (Farhadi, 2013) 9/10
Le Havre (Kaurismaki, 2011) 8/10
35 Rhums (Denis, 2008) 9/10
Clouds of Sils Maria (Assayas, 2014) 9/10

not been watching a _lot_ of film over the past week but it's mostly been high quality.

Great:
8:46 – Dave Chapelle (2020, Netflix)
Monkey Business (1952, Hawks)

Consistently Pretty Good to Very Very Good:
You Don’t Nomi (2020, McHale)
Yourself and Yours (Hong Sang-Soo, 2020)
Giant God Warrior Appears in Tokyo (Higuchi / Ghibi, 2012)
80 Blocks from Tiffany’s (1979, Weis)

No:
Miwa: Looking for Black Lizard (2010)
Days of the Bagnold Summer (2020)

New Stuff on Deck:

The Personal History of David Copperfield
For They Know Not What They Do
Hill of Freedom
Air Conditioner
Hammer
The Quarry
Graves Without a Name
Dreamland
Shirley
The Vast of Night
Da 5 Bloods
The Cow and I (1959)

random garbage i've sat through in the past few months

Dear Zachary 5/10
Good Time 8/10
Uncut Gems 8/10
Midsommar 6/10
Jane Eyre (Fukunaga, 2011) 4/10
DisneyNature Elephant 5/10
The Servant (1963) 6/10
Escape Room (the 2017 one) 2/10
Deadpool 2 5/10
Colossus: The Forbin Project 6/10 -- I dig early depictions of computers in movies, when Hollywood thought they could get away with anything.
Shrek 2 2/10
Avengers Endgame 3/10 -- I am sick of superhero movies and this is the type of "all plot details, no themes" children's movie that I especially hate (see also transformers)

Da 5 Bloods - 4/5. Delroy Lindo is astounding in this.
Pasolini (2014) 3.5/5
* Hard Boiled (1992) 4/5
Golden Eighties (1986) 3.5/5
American Boy: a Profile of Steven Prince (1978) 3/5
* Johnny Guitar (1954) 4.5/5
Drive a Crooked Road (1954) 3.5/5
* The Last Waltz (1978) 3.5/5
Chisholm '72: Unbought and Unbossed (2004) 3/5
War and Peace (1966) 4.5/5
Yes, Madam (1985) 3/5
* Commando (1985) 4/5
The Last Dance (2020) 4/5

delroy lindo is hella underrated, glad this looks to be his victory lap.

movie is good, Spike builds several large showboats for Lindo to parade on across the 2hrs 35

that Last Dance is not a film, but since it's about basketball I just watched the last 2 minutes.

Wait until Last Dance: The Return about his stint with the Wizards.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Saw the doc "American Factory," it's pretty good.

I thought that was an interesting topic but that the film-making was just ordinary

I agree, or at least, it seemed kind of generically slick. But I thought it did a great job getting different POVs, and getting good interviews with interesting people.

generically slick

lol, true to the exec producers

glad I saw it

but it feels like so many documentaries have the same earnest uninspired film-making style

Hale County This Morning This Evening, Cameraperson, No Home Movie, In Jackson Heights, The Act of Killing, I Am Not Your Negro, This Is Not a Film were all great I thought

hadn't noticed that some of my favorite recent documentaries have a theme of negation

Throne of Blood (Kurosawa, 1961)
Water Lilies (Sciamma, 2007)
Antigone (Straub/Huillet, 1992)
Hoop Dreams (James, 1994)
Tomboy (Sciamma, 2011)
Love (Noe, 2015)
Full Mantis (Meginsky, Young, 2018)
Our Daily Bread (Kaul, 1970)
The Stranger (Ray, 1991)

We saw "Miss Juneteenth" as a family. It was pretty good! Slow moving in the best way, simple story but good acting (especially Nicole Beharie), and well shot.

Throne of blood is maybe a top ten all time for me

That movie is so good. Best Shakespeare adaptation?

It's one of the very best. I think the only other good one I've seen is King Lear (Peter Brook)

Oh, and Ran, of course.

Arabian Nights (Pasolini, 1974)
Beauty and the Beast (Cocteau, 1946)
A Kiss Before Dying (Oswald, 1956)
American Gigolo (Schrader, 1980)
It Chapter 2 (Muschietti, 2019)
Animal Crackers (Heerman, 1930)
The Underworld Story (Enfield, 1950)
Cléo from 5 to 7 (Varda, 1962)
Farewell, My Lovely (Richards, 1975)
The Hitch-Hiker (Lupino, 1953)