What movie did you watch last night? (8 Viewers)

[hermie]

Hable con Ella

As part of the Almodovar retrospective in the IFI. Great movie.

 

[therealjohnny]

I finally got to watch Fire Walk with Me last Night

Everyone I know who is a David Lynch fan told me how good it was but I didn't like it at all. I found it annoying and tedious and I wish I hadn't watched it

 

[hermie]

I finally got to watch Fire Walk with Me last Night

Everyone I know who is a David Lynch fan told me how good it was but I didn't like it at all. I found it annoying and tedious and I wish I hadn't watched it

It destroys Donna's character

 

[therealjohnny]

It does. I thought the whole thing was pointless. It's taken the sheen off Twin peaks for me and it was already a bit tarnished by the time I got to the end of season 2.


So disappointing

 

[hermie]

It's gas that so many people on here champion it as it's not all that well-loved. At least it wasn't until Mark Kermode started calling it his favourite Lynch movie a few years ago. I think it's flawed but not bad.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

I like it because I watched it before I ever saw the show and I found it fucked up and scary. In fact it may have been the first Lynch film I ever saw.

 

[therealjohnny]

It's gas that so many people on here champion it as it's not all that well-loved. At least it wasn't until Mark Kermode started calling it his favourite Lynch movie a few years ago. I think it's flawed but not bad.

I thought it was boring . And that's something I wasn't expecting. I was really looking forward to it too

Scenes like the nightclub and the black lodge just went on and on

I can safely say I'll never watch it again, which is rare for me

 

[washingcattle]

The Ipcress File

As if you needed to know it, Michael Caine is a damn fine actor. You get the feeling watching Caines performance in The Ipcress File that he has an awful lot in common with his character. A working class lad among a lot of upper crust types. On screen of course it's spies with ridiculous accents but I'd imagine that as a young actor from the east end of London he probably found himself in plenty of situations which must have informed his performance here. Caine is obviously the best thing about the film but that's saying a lot because there is a lot to enjoy here. A twisting mysterious plot, some nice directorial flourishes and a strong script which manages to allow the actors to flesh out what could be one dimensional roles by having the space to talk about button mushrooms and classical music. My lady wasn't too inamoured with the inherant misogyny but to be fair it was the 60s and James Bond had already lowered the bar considerably for everyone. It's like watching a western from the 40s and pointing out constantly that they're heroically slaughtering the unarmed indiginous population. Yes, yes they are that's what they did in films back then and unfortunately it's probably more horrifically accurate than the watered down version of the west that gets pumped out by p.c thugs today. The Ipcress File probably hasn't aged quite as well as Bond has but a gritty and more intelligent Rolling Stones to Bonds Beatles. Worth a look.


Che

A four hour biopic about the guy off the T shirt you say ? Well then I didn't think a T shirt model could have lead a particularly interesting life. What's that Liberator of Cuba, Revolutionary, Freedom Fighter, Diarist, Author and a Doctor to boot eh ? Well then. Took a lot to get your face on a T Shirt back then didn't it ? Che is 4 and a half hours long and devided into two seperate movies. Does it need to be 4 and a half hours long and devided into two parts. Well maybe not but because Stephen Soderberg is in charge here it's actually 2 entirely different films and it does actually work to some extent. Part one is rather conviluted and Soderbergs style of telling several parts of a story at the same time can be slightly jarring. In one part of the film Che is addressing the UN in New York and living the high life as a celebrity while making light of the assassination attempts going on around him and at the same time avoiding questions about his and Castros regime and the accusations that they are now purging their political opponents and generally espousing his ideals as elequently as you'd expect a man of his remarakable intelligence to. Now, that alone could be the basis of an entire 2 hour movie. But that would be the type of movie that George Clooney would make so - No, Soderberg has to simultaneously tell us how exactly he got there and as so at the same time as this we get a detailed account of the revolt lead by Guevera and Castro in 1961. Most of this section of the film involves Che played rather perfectly by Benicio Del Torro suffering asthma attacks and training troops while imposing his ideals upon them like a sort of benevolent socialist colonel Kurtz. There's a lot going on and ultimately when the bullets start flying and the film like the revolution itself starts to pick up pace it is very engaging. Unfortunately the last thing you want during a scene of prolonged battle at close quarters are cuts to New York parties where our hero is heroicaly refusing to eat the decadent western our d'eurves and that happens quite a bit. It kind of knocks the tension to one side a wee bit and doesn't seem totally nescisary. In Che part 2 Che is leading a doomed guerilla struggle in Bolivia and this film is simply 2 hours and 15 minutes of men starving to death in the jungle trying desperately to fight against an ever increasing USA sponsered army. The only constant between the two films is Che and Del Torros excellent portrayal of him. Che part 2 is arguably the better of the two films. The bleached colour pallette and deliberately slow pace creates an atmosphere of forboding and anxiety as the film moves towards the inevetable demise of a man who is consistently portrayed as intelligent, sophisticated, charismatic, dedicate, determined and above all decent. Both films are flawed and it's quite an undertaking to watch them back to back but this is what Soderberg does best. His best films feel like experiments and this certainly feels like a completely different type of biopic 2 distinctively diverse depictions of one subject one a classic portrait the other something more oblique It doesn't totally succeed but it is a lot more interesting because of Siderbergs bravery and Del Torros incredible performance. Worth a look.





Gainsbourgh

If Soderberg is brave in his attempt to make something new out of the biopic then it has to be said that Joann Sfars must have balls of steel. Not content with making a film about the charismatic french singer and general lunatic he also invents a Philadelphia Here I Come style imaginary friend / torturer who shows up as a grotesque caricature and represents Gainsbourgs Ambition and selfish side which seems to represent or evolve from his relationship with judaeism. Yes it's a bonkers device to employ but Sfar uses it just sparingly enough to make it work. Unfortunately unike Che this is only 2 hours long and considering the life that Gainsbourg lead it's just not enough. His childhood during the Nazis occupation of Paris alone could make an entire film, his rise to prominance in the music scene could be a film, his relationship with Bridget Bardo could be a film, the release of the song Je T'Aime and it's effect on the conservative society at the time could be a film his testy relationship, criticism and antagonism of with French nationalists could be a film, his later years and increasingly erratic behaviour could be a film. This is a rare occasion in which a film should have been longer. Much much longer there's enough here to make a mini series. The result is far too condensed and as a result the film never really manages to get under it's subjects skin. Entire marriages seem to just disappear of screen and the film moves from period to period without ever giving segeuing naturally or giving any context regarding the wider culture in France. What isn't here is nearly enough to sink the film but what is here is more than enough for me to recommend it. It's sharp, entertaining, funny and extremely cool. A French cool. Eric Elmonsino is excellent as Gainsbourgh charasmatic charming and at the same time conflicted he's esilly the best thing here. Everyone else should be posted in the Horn Thread immeadiatley and it is a very impressive visually delightful pleasant lively nippy film. Slightly rushed but worth a look

 

[washingcattle]

Killer Joe

It's rare I get to re-watch films but in the case of happening across a decent stream of William Friedkens sleazefest I made an exception. There really aren't any other adjectives to describe this. It's just sleazy. It's grubby. It's dirty. It's a filthy little film. I loved it. Set in a part of Texas where seemingly everyone is a morally bankrupt cretin. There's ill deeds afoot as a broke family tries to stay afloat by engaging in some murder for insurance money. Of course it's not that simple and in walks Killer Joe played here in the most repelant way possible by Matthew "Oh Hai Grrrrl" McConaughey.Early on it's obvious that barring Thomas Haden Church as a slow witted mechanic and McConaughey as Joe, none of the major players here have genuine Texas accents and as a result their mangling of the Texas drawl some of the characters, particularly Emile Hersch as the films main protagonist seem a little more slow witted than they probably should and Hirches performance early on is that of a man who is trying his best to speak in a foreign tongue. But stick with it he improves. Without giving away any of the plot which takes many many turns for the seedier before eventually McConaughey leaves a bad taste in your mouth in every way possible. This is gloriously squalid film making with McConaughey giving a performance so joyfully slimy that it's impossible take your eyes of it. It's like watching a spider kill and eat another spider. Disgusting but enthralling. Highly recomended if you like filth. I love filth

The Cabin In The Woods

I heard this film was bonkers. It is.... well kind of. It's plot is silly as all hell and it has some decent moments of humour but critics everywhere have raved about this and ...meh...I just don't see it. It's clever, it keeps things moving but everything at the movies core is a cliche, and like it or not even if you are exploiting that cliche it's still a cliche and as such it's still annoying. I don't particularly want to get into the plot because that is the films ace in the hole, but suffice to say that it's utterly ridiculous. The film does some interesting things before it goes completely over the top and delivers some top notch silliness. This is a big ballsy B movie with an A movie budget. It's silly and it's got some good things going. Unfortunately the film makers aren't as clever as they think they are and so you still end up with some stereotypical college students getting chased by special effects for most of the films running time. It's okay and if you're looking for fast food style idiocy film making you could do worse. Not as good as the Crank movies for that but still a higher standard of stupid. If only they'd bothered to put as much effort into the dialogue, the jokes and charachters as they put into the mecahnics of the plot this could have been a classic. Occasionally sloppy, sometimes irritationg but over all worth it if you like stupidity, so it's like a kebab on your walk home.

 

[pete]

you still end up with some stereotypical college students

wasn't that the point?

 

[washingcattle]

wasn't that the point?

Spoiler

Well yeah, but that's my point. It's a case of look how clever we are we made a situation where the central characters are stock cliches because that's the gag. Which would be a great gag if they hadn't written all the stock cliche characters as absolute stock cliche characters. If I take an ironic shit on your carpet it's still a shit on your carpet it doesn't make it any less annoying. So they have the jock, the stoner, the slut, the nice guy and the virgin and the plot mechanics say they're being drugged to exentuate those charicteristics, and that's fine but not one of them is either intersting, engaging or entertaining, the two lads in the control room were but they're not the ones in any peril. so what you end up with is guys going "look how clever we are! other people step in dog shit accidentally, but we did it on purpose" you've still got dog shit on your shoe now.

 

[therealjohnny]

The Ipcress File is one of my favourite movies. It made my go and buy a fancy cafetiere

 

[ann post]

watching priceless. i dont know whats going on, but audrey tatoou is in it.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

watching priceless. i dont know whats going on, but audrey tatoou is in it.

thanks for this. perked me up no end this morning.

 

[Anthony]

Watched The American on the telebox last night. In Bruge was better. Though The American was better for boobs.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

Watched The American on the telebox last night. In Bruge was better. Though The American was better for boobs.

i thought The American was rather boring. Lots of nice boobs, yes, but too much "acting" from Mr. Clooney. Too many pained facial expressions and grimaces to suggest he is a DEEP AND TROUBLED SOUL.

 

[Anthony]

Yea totally boring and by about half way through you knew exactly how it was going to pan out.

 

[Unicron]

i thought The American was rather boring. Lots of nice boobs, yes, but too much "acting" from Mr. Clooney. Too many pained facial expressions and grimaces to suggest he is a DEEP AND TROUBLED SOUL.

The american might have boobs but In Bruges has this woman just standing around clothed which is enough for me

 

[Jerry Twig]

This is one of the best threads on Thumped. If ever I watch a flick I just come here and have a scout through. I know people are on the money.
Likes all round

 

[David Kronenbourg]

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. I was spurred on to watch this again after some posts about it a few days ago. I still think it's great. Devastating stuff, particularly Sheryl Lee's performance. I found it truly heartbreaking. I also quite liked the One Eyed Jack's scene. Quintessential Lynch. Great music, strobing lights and dark eroticism which is genuinely sexy and not cheesy like most erotic fare. When placed alongside the likes of Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive and Eraserhead of course this is going to look below par but I think it's a really good movie.