Films you've seen lately

[Belgrove]

As john recommends (and a lovely reminiscence), September 5 is a tense watch, almost played out in real time of the hostage crisis at the 1972 Olympics. It ends where Spielberg’s Munich commences, but that then goes in a very different direction. The integration of real footage into the narrative is skilfully done. The sheer effort of making a programme back then is vividly conveyed. The size of the cameras, the spools of magnetic tape loaded into bulky machines, making captions from type. And having only one member on the production team who could speak German!

[Ian Thumwood]

As john recommends (and a lovely reminiscence), September 5 is a tense watch, almost played out in real time of the hostage crisis at the 1972 Olympics. It ends where Spielberg’s Munich commences, but that then goes in a very different direction. The integration of real footage into the narrative is skilfully done. The sheer effort of making a programme back then is vividly conveyed. The size of the cameras, the spools of magnetic tape loaded into bulky machines, making captions from type. And having only one member on the production team who could speak German!

We go to the cinema at least once a month and the selection for the next week offers both the September 5 film and Captain America. I hate superhero films but the trailer does provoke a reaction insofar that the return of Trump is something we all fear . We have no need for American superheros and I think the the nationalism will grate in uk.

I would have similar reservations about he 5th September film. Speilberg's film was really exciting but I don't think would be made in 2025. Sympathies have changed and I wonder what the audience response will be to the new film given the general support for Palestine and it's people as a whole in the UK . I would be intrigued if the dreadful events in Palestine would render the new film out of it's time ?

[Ian Thumwood]

I listened to my wife and went to see Captain America. Absolute twaddle not helped by the fact that the villain is half man / half broccoli. Best avoided.

Should have gone to watch Bridget Jones instead.....at least there might be a chance to see Renee Zelwigger' s apple catching knickers again.

[Serial_Apologist]

I listened to my wife and went to see Captain America. Absolute twaddle not helped by the fact that the villain is half man / half broccoli. Best avoided.

Should have gone to watch Bridget Jones instead.....at least there might be a chance to see Renee Zelwigger' s apple catching knickers again.

Being vegetarian, I would only eat the half of the villain consisting of the broccoli.

[Ian Thumwood]

Difficult to take the Marvel films seriously but with Trump as president, the film had a nasty aftertaste.

[Nick Armstrong]

Good central performances; looked very good in places; the soundtrack was good. But, as you say Belgrove, there were ridiculous holes in the narrative, things that didn't make sense; and as for the scenes at the end, before the epilogue - that was just nonsensical. As were some other parts in the film - why did she start talking again?

Saw both Conclave and Brutalist this week (in the comfort of a living room thanks to a well-connected French family member). Both enjoyed, the former gorgeously watchable, surprisingly thriller-y but with a slightly naff ending…

As for the latter, I agree with JC above - the time sped by but in the second part some very bizarre narrative/editing choices, gaps, disappearances… In fact we rewatched from the Carrara trip to just before the acceleration to 1980, to check we hadn’t collectively nodded off and missed what happened to…. [no spoilers]. But no, just unexplained narrative holes.

Still a memorable film, but…

[Ian Thumwood]

The Conclave ' surprised me as being based on a Robert Harris thriller. His books have a reputation for endings which peter out. Only read 'Oblivion ' which fascinated me and would make a terrific film. I get the impression he is a bit uneven.

[pastoralguy]

We saw ‘Conclave’ on Friday nite and very much enjoyed it despite me almost falling asleep at the beginning! Not boredom but a heavy birthday dinner, alcohol and a very warm cinema! I met a friend today who kindly gave me the dvd so I can catch up on the bits where I closed my eyes!

[vinteuil]

I strongly recommend Vermiglio - if you can catch it: it's had a rather limited distribution. It's set in the Trentino mountains in 1944. A Sicilian deserter from the army is sheltered by a peasant family in a remote village. He and a local girl fall in love and marry. The characters and dynamics in both families are acutely observed, and dramatic plot twists bring out deep-seated cultural and social issues. The director Maura Delpero brings a feminist perspective to the story, the local culture and the era. (I'm going to see it for the second time tonight.)

... many thanks for this - we were able to see it at our local fleapit today.

Beautiful, really quite special : we loved it




.

[kernelbogey]

... many thanks for this - we were able to see it at our local fleapit today.

Beautiful, really quite special : we loved it




.

Thanks: Sadly, for various reasons, I missed my second viewing, so look forward to coming across it again.

[Forget It (U2079353)]

I strongly recommend Vermiglio - if you can catch it: it's had a rather limited distribution. It's set in the Trentino mountains in 1944. A Sicilian deserter from the army is sheltered by a peasant family in a remote village. He and a local girl fall in love and marry. The characters and dynamics in both families are acutely observed, and dramatic plot twists bring out deep-seated cultural and social issues. The director Maura Delpero brings a feminist perspective to the story, the local culture and the era. (I'm going to see it for the second time tonight.)

Sound a quite like La ragazza di Bube starring the young Claudia Cardinale and plenty of neorealismo.

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_ragazza_di_Bube_(film)

that I recently saw on the RAI.

[richardfinegold]

We watched the winner of The Academy Awards short documentary, The First Girl in The Orchestra, about the retirement of a female double bass player that has served in the NY Phil singer appointment by Bernstein in the sixties.

[Serial_Apologist]

Surely symptomatic of the degraded view of the public's taste in films has been reached in awarding top Oscar to a film whose subject is the relationship between a Russian oligarch and an American sex worker?

[smittims]

Certainly that is not a film I would want to see. But many cinema fans, I gather, are less interested in the subject of a film than in its attributes, particular actors,particular types of situation, and so on. I hear a number of feninists, for instance, find this film interesting.

[LHC]

Surely symptomatic of the degraded view of the public's taste in films has been reached in awarding top Oscar to a film whose subject is the relationship between a Russian oligarch and an American sex worker?

Your synopsis makes it sound like an updated version of La Traviata, which met with similar disdain when it was first produced in London:

"An exhibition of harlotry upon the public stage. It is the poetry of the brothel … All the interest is concentrated upon the death-struggles of this wretched girl. It is for her that pity is asked, and it is to her that pity is given. Now, we say that, morally speaking, this is most hideous and abominable.” The Times and Illustrated London News, 1856

I haven't seen it yet, but Anora also won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, was named as the 2nd best film of 2024 by Sight and Sound and as one of the top 10 films of the year by the American Film Institute, which suggests the Oscar isn't entirely undeserved.

I'm also not sure that the award or the film's subject matter are symptomatic of any recent degradation in public taste. Midnight Cowboy was concerned with Manhattan 'lowlife' including a male sex worker and won the best picture Oscar in 1969. 1990's Pretty Woman was also about a sex worker, this time in LA. It didn't win the best picture Oscar, but Julia Roberts did win best actress, and the film was incredibly popular, ranking as the fifth-highest-grossing film of all time when it was released.