Filmstruck / Criterion Channel

Cocktail is not a good movie but it is a fun time capsule.

Yeah I'm going to be watching it more as a historical anthropology exercise.

This was the period when young me confused Bryan Brown and Michael Caine.

Bryan Brown's FX, now that's a great movie. Or at least I remember it as one when I was in middle school and really wanted to do special effects and horror movie makeup.

I’ve tried Showgirls twice, never managed to get through it.

guess I finally have to watch heavens gate

blair witch project got a razzie????

the razzies are dumb, kinda wish this was just a "so bad it's good" or "underrated at the time" category rather than being tied to the razzies

I managed to block that Blair Witch was in the mix for the '99 Razzies. Nominated for worst picture (lost to Wild Wild West) but, gallingly, Heather Donohue "won" worst actress.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_Golden_Raspberry_Awards

Razzies are also incredibly sexist

And lazy and reactionary ... they're all the bad things

John Mellencamp recorded a Buddy Holly cover I really liked for Cocktail - I don't think I've really seen the movie though, maybe just a chunk of it many years ago when it was screening on local TV over a weekend.

Ishtar is really uneven but what's best about it - mercilessly satirizing U.S. policy in the Middle East - is really great. I want to say the intentionally horrible musical numbers are done too well because it was really hard to sit through that climactic show.

Cocktail I only know from Walmart DVD bargain bins. They loved minor movies with big stars. The Seventh Sign with Demi Moore was another common one.

Lol

Arrebato (1979) is leaving today. The opening logos are worth a look....

April 2024 additions: https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/8418-the-criterion-channel-s-april-2024-lineup

Co-sign on The Swimmer, see it if you haven’t before it leaves at the end of the month. Very thought provoking.

I was also really moved by Testament, a nuclear war film that starts like a Hallmark Channel movie, but gets deeper and darker as it progresses.

Jean Eustache?

That will make for an interesting streaming challenge

After Hours, which I watched last night, is better than I remembered but not much better.

Really? I remember liking it when it came out but maybe you had to be there

I love After Hours, but it's a love that began as an adolescent so ...

Highly recommend Mambar Pierette.

After Hours gets better the more you watch it.

I felt like it accuratedly captured something of the vibe of the time- the sights, the sounds, the smells, if you will. Plus a lot of it very funny-funny and menacing and scary at the same time! Just like life itself!

I only know that era of SoHo from articles, photos, firsthand accounts, and songs, and YES, it captures a mood -- the lighting reminds me of period Alan Rudolph.

idk the movie's amiable. I appreciate how Scorsese didn't dehumanize the leather guys -- they kiss onscreen! -- and a couple of the performers make their mark (John Heard is as real as he always is; Linda Fiorentino too), while others (Teri Garr) do unfunny variants on previous performances. Dunne's slow burn is better paced than I remember. But this is the point at which Rosanna Arquette started to annoy me as an actress; like in Desperately Seeking Susan she's tentative, unfocused, a drip. And the setup for the coincidences didn't have much payoff.

I guess NYC was a different animal in that era, but it's hard to watch After Hours today and wonder why he didn't just hoof it from Soho to Midtown.

Fair enough. Always felt her best performance was early on, in Baby, It’s You, but I haven’t seen The Executioner’s Song, which is course even earlier.

xp obv.

Which feature doesn’t seem to be working correctly in latest Zing Touch.

Had to leave thread and come back

Hey, just noticed two Bonello films are available. I really liked the one I've seen and KJB told me that new one was his favorite of last year.

https://www.criterionchannel.com/videos/criterion24-7

Their new thing, a 24/7 stream. Seems to be taken mostly from the core of the core of the permanent collection. I've seen bits of Daisies, Black Narcissus, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (on now), Seven Samurai in the last 2 days. But also Cane Toads: An Unnatural History.

May 2024 additions: https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/8444-the-criterion-channel-s-may-2024-lineup

Madame Sousatzka ! I haven't seen it since the Poppy Bush era.