Movie Recommendations

Of course. Who else can point you in the right direction?

That Komma In movie I still have to see in full.

Meanwhile, saw Trouble Every Day (Claire Denis, France, 2001). I would have strongly recommended it (nice sense of alienation, etc.) -- until the movie ends, and you're none the wiser.

Look, I indeed don't like the kind of Hollywood fare that thinks you're so dumb that everything needs to be explained to you -- then again I'm not so dumb that I need to be left hanging with nothing explained to me.

It is otherwise a good movie though, until indeed it left me unsatisfied at the end. I hear people left it in protest at its Cannes screening -- maybe I'm a little hardened with the genre, but anyway this seems like BS to me. If you're squeamish about sex and violence & the combination of the two, maybe dont see it, but in fact that's not what it's about. Nor would you ever get off on what's happening there.

It kind of reminded me of Antonia Bird's Ravenous -- but looking it up, I find not even the actors or nothing have anything to do with it. I find btw Bird wasn't the original director of that movie, she was called in later as a replacement.

Then Bound sprung to mind -- I love that movie, though on one level it could be said to be just an exploitation of male lesbian fantasies. It certainly homes in on classic exploitation genres. On the other hand, I think it really works (and my, are those girls and their relationship hot!) And they're quite realistic about it. (I read now they had a well-known dyke author and activist to guide them along with their sex scenes.)

... Well, I thought I might have a witty closing remark here, but seem to have lost it.

(Similarly btw, I would have sworn I knew these women starring in Trouble Every Day by heart. Except looking up their film history, there doesn't look to be anything to confirm that. Hmm....)

THE HUNTER with Willem Dafoe. An unusual, quiet, & suspenseful film shot in Tasmania, Australia about a field scientist who is hired by a corporation to find the last remaining Tasmanian Tiger for research. Stunning and surrealistic location. Very well executed.

Finally, I got to see The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. At first, I thought, 'oh no, what a slap-dash start to this film with little development, but, as soon as our gang arrived in Rajasthan, things settled into a very charming story with real pathos. As famous as the English are for their seeming, chin-up coolness, they certainly know how to get it across on the screen. I felt my eyes well-up more than once, but then again, I'm not English. Fine performances from some of the UK's top talents. The only thing lacking for me was the filth and smells of the streets.

I watched "Up The Junction" (made in 1968) as recommended by Klompen. It is a really good vintage British social comedy. Many thanks for the recommendation, Klompen!

In a similar style, I saw "Georgy Girl" (1966), starring Lynn Redgrave, Alan Bates, James Mason and Charlotte Rampling. Wonderful.

The Darjeeling Limited was on TV here last night -- and I once again managed to miss it. So still have nothing to say about it. Reading some reviews again on the occasion, it struck me once again how criticizers including on this site may have missed that apparently there's nothing much meant to be literal about it.

Two movies that might pull me back to the cinema are (drumroll... No, sorry, there's nothing very artsy or intellectual about it) Ridley Scott's Prometheus. I need to figure out still if it's shown in 2D at all, 3D would be a new experience to me that I wouldn't mind to see what it's all about, but it would potentially cause my girl an epileptic attack or at least a general headache, either way neither of us are so big on whatever cineplexes this stuff is usually shown at.

Scott's of course is the end result of his long-awaited prequel to Alien, but finally and notably after the commercial success but otherwise disaster of Alien[s?] vs. Predator and its follow-ups, he and compadre Cameron decided the prehistory had been thoroughly spoiled for them. (One does kind of wonder how O'Bannon the original writer would have stooped as low as to lend himself to that spin-off franchise, although I do seem to recall he was disgruntled with how he got handled over some of the later Alien franchise.) Instead, it is set roughly earlier in the same universe, but otherwise distinct. Please keep any discussions of it so as to avoid any spoilers.

Scott's Alien and, later, Blade Runner were, of course, like, kapow, man, to me and many an SF and/or movie fan of roughly my age (I was decidedly a young kid at the time btw and probably barred from even entering the cinema for it, I only got to see it in full screen many years later. I do remember just looking at the cinema posters for it reinforced this feeling that, Woohoo, there must be really something and something spooky to this movie! I guess an older brother coming home and relating how there was nothing as scary further served to enforce the myth. Mind you, it was exceptional for its time, and of course commonly recognized to have been so), and then many another weirdo of quite dissimilar traits. If it makes you feel any better, I and like many others have been equally and duly disappointed with no few (if certainly not all) of his later productions.

Then of course Peter Jackson's The Hobbit (parts 1 & 2) will be coming out somewhere this winter, one presumes at least the first duly in time for Christmas. Yes, yes, as a long-time and childhood fan of the books, I am of course a sucker for the movies. And bloody well done, too, may I add. (I just got to see the trailer for The Hobbit, pt. #the first bit.) Then of course with Jackson if you haven't yet, you should check out his early low-budget horror flics, absolute highpoints in the genre. There's a funny and in fact absolutely endearing documentary on how those were made, too.

I saw the latest DeNiro movie called 'Being Flynn'. IMDB had a 6.5 star rating and I was a bit dubious about seeing it but I couldn't resist DeNiro and the rest of the cast.I thought it was going to be a comedy. Little did I suspect it turning out to be an emotional powerhouse that had me fighting the tears back. DeNiro is pure genius and Paul Dano is a special screen presence with a lot of vulnerability. Throw in Julianne Moore, Lily Taylor, Wes Studi, and a bunch of N.Y. character actors and this movie shapes up into one of the surprise movies of the year for me.

It took me almost 2 months to get this film. Thanks for the recommendation. A sweet movie. How I love them.

I saw The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and other than the fact the movie was filmed in India, I was disappointed. The use of humour may be used to cover up true emotions surrounding aging, but I found it to be neither witty nor amusing - although to be fair the others in the theatre were laughing throughout. There were moments of true cleverness that I found made me think "were there two writers"? I also felt that if they had concentrated on less storylines, then the remaining ones could have been developed more. I did like how Tom Wilkinson's story was treated but could they not have spent more time on it? The relationship between the Ainslies should have been explored more. There were some good storylines and great actors that I felt were squandered. I went in not expecting much and still left disappointed with the plot and dialog. On the other hand, I often watch movies in languages that I don't understand only to see India, and in that respect I give the film top marks. I did leave wanting to return to India. I did read a review that criticized how the film make India look drab instead of bright and colourful, but I found it presented India in a very realistic way that made me nostalgic. Perhaps Octopussy has seen its day in all the tourist rooftop cafes in Udaipur.

I remember seeing the trailer for Being Flynn and wondering if it would be worth seeing. I shall try to seek it out. I do like Paul Dano Someone recommended the book that is based to me, and is a memoir not fiction.

Rome, Open City-dir. Roberto Rosselini, 1945. Co-written by Federico Fellini. Grand Prix de Cannes. Oscar nominated. Made in the streets of Roma without the aid of a studio, the first of the Neo-realist films that changed cinema in Europe. A great film about the Italian resistance during the Nazi occupation.

I saw "Tyrannosaur" (2011) starring Peter Mullan. Violent, disturbing, thought-provoking. Recommended.

I tried watching this one but just couldn't get through it. Nothing wrong with the film or the acting. Just didn't like the story, or maybe the way it was told. I find this kind of film too locked into its regional expression(somewhere in the northern U.K., I guess) and for those not from this part of the world, it is a bit hard to understand how lives wind up so distorted and angry. A lot of ugly things in this film.

It is set in Ireland, Scando.

Then I really am lost. Is this what it is like there?

Lately saw (without knowing about the saga) "28 weeks later". Well... it is really not my kind of film but I was shaken to the bone cause I read it as a metaphor for now days' uncertainty about the most basic things: shelter, sense of a State protecting us and even family as referential point and support. In that sense, the demential horror and violence of the movie works perfectly. I liked the rhythm, Robert Carlyle (actually the reason for which I saw the movie), the way in which images from different sources are used and the -almost- flawless screenwriting.