The 'Recently Watched Films' Thread

[Benny Profane]

That is certainly a great reason to criticize Herzog (who is quite an odd duck, it seems, from everything I have read or seen about him) and his team. But the movie itself is quite an achievement. To be completely honest, though, I think Aguirre is a better movie and, indeed, I would probably include it on a list of my ten all-time favorites. Klaus Kinski was a crazy man in real life and Herzog picking him for that role was nothing less than inspired!

My two favorite Herzog are Heart of Glass and Even Dwarfs Started Small.
I think Aguirre is a very good film, but the post-production is bad (there are quite errors of lip-sync and mixed sound).
Did you notice those errors?

 

[Leseratte]

My two favorite Herzog are Heart of Glass and Even Dwarf Started Small.
I think Aguirre is a very good film, but the post-production is bad (there are quite errors of lip-sync and mixed sound).
Did you notice those errors?

Benny, these days my memory is so bad that I don't know whether I have seen Aguirre and the two other movies you mentioned.

 

[tiganeasca]

Benny, these days my memory is so bad that I don't know whether I have seen Aguirre and the two other movies you mentioned.

Welcome to the club! The good news is that our memories also allow us to forget some things worth forgetting. (Besides, I have long believed in the refrigerator theory of memory: your memory only has so much room. If you want to remember something new, you need to take something else out to make room!)

 

[Leseratte]

Welcome to the club! The good news is that our memories also allow us to forget some things worth forgetting. (Besides, I have long believed in the refrigerator theory of memory: your memory only has so much room. If you want to remember something new, you need to take something else out to make room!)

Yes, some occasional cleaning and updating like PC memory would be wonderful, with one choosing carefully what to erase and what not!

 

[Benny Profane]

Yesterday, when I saw this video bellow, I l was fell in love with these scenes.
How beautiful is Marie-France Presier! She is gorgeous!!!
And Trintignant was always hammy! LOL!

In my mind, this film, Trans-Europ-Express, was about love and passion between an innocent girl and a drug dealer. But I commited a silly mistake.
This film is very disgusting and, moreover, is about a film-within-the-film.
Taboo themes, inclusive for 60's, such as BDSM, prostitution, drug dealling among others are explored with some mastery by Alain Robbe-Grillet.

 

[Ben Jackson]

This year, after watching close to 80 movies, here are my favourite movies:

?? Winter Light
This movie, from one of my favourite directors Ingmar Bergman, is about a pastor facing existential crisis, his religion and question of silence of God. The visual effect of the movie is one of the highlights of this movie, the cold earth symbolizing the existential dilemma of the pastor.

??????? Bridge of River Kwai
This Oscar Best Picture winning movie centers on tensions as prisoners of war try to construct a bridge linking Bangkok and Raregoon.

?? Gentleman's Agreement
A journalist pretending to be Jewish to get first hand experience to write an article on anti-semitism.

??????? Lawrence of Arabia
Another masterpiece, Peter O'Toole starred as TE Lawrence, a soldier fighting in the Arabia region during World War I. It looks at emotional struggle with violence and divided allegiance with Britain and now found communion with Arabic desert tribes.

?? From Here to Eternity
Tribulations of American soldiers stationed in Hawaii few months before the attack on Pearl Habor. Top notch performances from Burt Lancastee, Montgomery Cliff, Sinatra, Deborah Kerr and beautiful Donna Reed.
?? Oppenhemier
A superb biographical movie about Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist behind the formation of atomic bomb and his downfall. Superb directing and acting especially combining the black and white and colored sections.

?? Breath of Life
The best Nigerian movie in my opinion this year, the movie questions the meaning of life, silence of God and if life's predetermined.
?? Killer of the Flower Moon
Simply put, one of Di Caprio's greatest roles.
?? Tin Drum
German movie won the best foreign movie Oscar in 1979. Successful adaptation to the monumental novel.
?? All Quiet on the Western Front
Movie looks at the absurdity of war during World War l.

Merry christmas and happy new year.

 

[The Common Reader]

This.

 

[Ben Jackson]

For movie enthusiasts, here's an information.

The nomination for 96th Academy Awards was announced yesterday with some of our favourite movies getting noms.

Oppenheimer, the atomic biopic, leads the way with 13 nominations (Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor and Actress and other categories), followed by the fantasy Poor Things with 11 and Killer of the Flower Moon with 10. There were also nominations for Barbie (8), Maestro, Anatomy of a Fall, Past Lives, The Holdovers, American Fiction (based on Percival Everett's novel Erasure) and Zone of Interest as well. For Best International Picture, movies like Society (Spain), Zone of Interest and Il Capitano were nominated.

I think the Best Picture line-up's one of the best in years (maybe since 2018), the only issue I have this year's Di Caprio not nominated for Best Actor. As for the Best Picture category, I haven't watched the short lists completely (except for Oppenheimer, Holders, Maestro, Flower Moon), so I can't really say. But so far, it seems Oppenheimer will dominate the Oscars.

 

[Verkhovensky]

But so far, it seems Oppenheimer will dominate the Oscars.

I boldly predict record 12 wins. Not that I think that movie is that exceptional, but it seems that people absolutely love it. And unlike most of the times when the film has many nominations, all 13 are in different categories, so all can theoretically win. So I predict all but Blunt.

 

[Leseratte]

This year, after watching close to 80 movies, here are my favourite movies:

?? Winter Light
This movie, from one of my favourite directors Ingmar Bergman, is about a pastor facing existential crisis, his religion and question of silence of God. The visual effect of the movie is one of the highlights of this movie, the cold earth symbolizing the existential dilemma of the pastor.

??????? Bridge of River Kwai
This Oscar Best Picture winning movie centers on tensions as prisoners of war try to construct a bridge linking Bangkok and Raregoon.

?? Gentleman's Agreement
A journalist pretending to be Jewish to get first hand experience to write an article on anti-semitism.

??????? Lawrence of Arabia
Another masterpiece, Peter O'Toole starred as TE Lawrence, a soldier fighting in the Arabia region during World War I. It looks at emotional struggle with violence and divided allegiance with Britain and now found communion with Arabic desert tribes.

?? From Here to Eternity
Tribulations of American soldiers stationed in Hawaii few months before the attack on Pearl Habor. Top notch performances from Burt Lancastee, Montgomery Cliff, Sinatra, Deborah Kerr and beautiful Donna Reed.
?? Oppenhemier
A superb biographical movie about Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist behind the formation of atomic bomb and his downfall. Superb directing and acting especially combining the black and white and colored sections.

?? Breath of Life
The best Nigerian movie in my opinion this year, the movie questions the meaning of life, silence of God and if life's predetermined.
?? Killer of the Flower Moon
Simply put, one of Di Caprio's greatest roles.
?? Tin Drum
German movie won the best foreign movie Oscar in 1979. Successful adaptation to the monumental novel.
?? All Quiet on the Western Front
Movie looks at the absurdity of war during World War l.

Merry christmas and happy new year.

Bridge of River Kwai is my favorite war film, but it is the first time I see someone else, and one of a very young generation mention it!

Maybe the most impressive scene:

 

[Liam]

?? A Haunting in Venice (2023), 4

I must say that I really liked it (and I adore anything Agatha Christie!!), but in the end, when they're all leaving the palazzo, minus the dead of course, all I kept thinking was, "They forgot the parrot!!!" ?

 

[Liam]

^Decided to reread the novel the above-mentioned movie is based on and, FUN FACT, there is a character in the book named JUDITH BUTLER!!! ?

 

[Liam]

?? Eileen (2023), 2.5

Anne Hathaway's talent is wasted on this movie. I haven't read the original book so I can't speak to its quality, but it doesn't translate well to the screen.

The film fails even as a character study (which is what I thought it was going to be). The "shocking" conclusion feels slightly amateurish and rushed. Abysmal writing.

The three women at the center, however, all shine: Eileen, Rebecca and the nameless, hapless mother known only as Mrs. Polk. The film would have been much better if it spent more time focusing on their individual characters, but oh well.

Recommended just for Anne Hathaway's seductive performance. She never disappoints,

 

[Liam]

?? All of Us Strangers (2023), 5

A great and very tender film. The acting is of the highest quality, and the premise is intriguing: a lonely gay man approaching 50 is terrified of making a connection until one night he is approached by his younger neighbor.

Simultaneously, he begins visiting the home of his childhood where his parents (who have been dead for 30 years) still live and look exactly like they did the day they died.

A film about loneliness, alienation, the power of memory, and the hold that our past exerts and will always exert over us.

I also found out that the film is based on a Japanese novel Summer of the Strange People by Taichi Yamada (1934-2023).

It has been previously translated into English as Strangers, and has recently been republished (as a tie-in with the film) as All of Us Strangers.

 

[The Common Reader]

?? All of Us Strangers (2023), 5

A great and very tender film. The acting is of the highest quality, and the premise is intriguing: a lonely gay man approaching 50 is terrified of making a connection until one night he is approached by his younger neighbor.

Simultaneously, he begins visiting the home of his childhood where his parents (who have been dead for 30 years) still live and look exactly like they did the day they died.

A film about loneliness, alienation, the power of memory, and the hold that our past exerts and will always exert over us.

I also found out that the film is based on a Japanese novel Summer of the Strange People by Taichi Yamada (1934-2023).

It has been previously translated into English as Strangers, and has recently been republished (as a tie-in with the film) as All of Us Strangers.

This is exactly right, and with just the right amount of detail. (Thank you for avoiding spoilers.) Here is the trailer:

 

[tiganeasca]

?? All of Us Strangers (2023), 5

...where his parents (who have been dead for 30 years) still live and look exactly like they did the day they died.

Okay, I'm confused. His parents have been dead for 30 years. But they "still live" there? Am I not understanding something fundamental here?

 

[Liam]

It's not realism. His parents are dead. He is writing about them (a movie script) in the present and returns, in his mind, to the fateful Christmas Day when they both died in a car crash. You can say that he returns to their old house in his mind, that his interactions with his parents are all happening in his imagination, or you can say that they really DO happen in reality, in the style of magical realism. It reminded me of the Thai film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives in that regard: that the dead are not dead at all and can somehow cohabit with the living.

 

[Liam]

?? She Came to Me (2023), 5

Probably not for everyone, and it has a couple of loose threads at the end, but I loved it! A feel-good comedy with BRAINS, the writing is fresh, the acting is superb, and the funny moments are anything but cliche--they are actually funny! Some nice opera bits here and there (main character is a composer), but this movie is ultimately about human connections and the need to pursue our hearts' desire. Definitely a recommend!

 

[Liam]

Only halfway through Fellow Travelers but I can already tell this show will be a perfect 5 for me.

I'm a bit puzzled why everyone is fixated on the toe-sucking scene; this series is so graphic in exposing so many aspects of human evil (mainly political), shouldn't that shock people a bit more? ? But oh no, Jonathan Bailey sucked on Matt Bomer's toes!!! Let's write an editorial,

 

[dc007777]

Only halfway through Fellow Travelers but I can already tell this show will be a perfect 5 for me.

I'm a bit puzzled why everyone is fixated on the toe-sucking scene; this series is so graphic in exposing so many aspects of human evil (mainly political), shouldn't that shock people a bit more? ? But oh no, Jonathan Bailey sucked on Matt Bomer's toes!!! Let's write an editorial,

It's a great show. I'm not surprised by the foot coverage lol. Leave it to America to take probably the most vanilla and common fetish and pearl clutch.