Films you've seen lately

[vinteuil]

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... I don't like violence in films (or indeed anywhere else!) - but I felt the 'violence' here was of a cartoon Tom & Jerry / Itchy & Scratchy kind, which one knew was not in any sense 'real'. Going to this movie, which we knew in some way wd be 'about' the Manson/Sharon Tate killings, I had feared the worst, but was relieved to find how deftly he circumvented the real horror.

And it is such a gorgeously 'filmic' film...



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[Stanfordian]

.

... I don't like violence in films (or indeed anywhere else!) - but I felt the 'violence' here was of a cartoon Tom & Jerry / Itchy & Scratchy kind, which one knew was not in any sense 'real'. Going to this movie, which we knew in some way wd be 'about' the Manson/Sharon Tate killings, I had feared the worst, but was relieved to find how deftly he circumvented the real horror.

And it is such a gorgeously 'filmic' film...



.

Burning someone alive with a flame thrower seemed pretty violent to me!

[vinteuil]

Burning someone alive with a flame thrower seemed pretty violent to me!

... but we had seen this use of the flame-thrower earlier in the hammy get-the-Nazis 'film within the film' where it was clearly an over-the-top spectacle, not to be taken seriously - and so when it happens 'for real' you do not take it seriously either. As I say - Tom & Jerry : we don't really worry when a ten-ton weight lands on Tom, do we?

.,

[gurnemanz]

Saw "Seahorse" in Bath Little Theatre the other day. Subtiltled "The Dad who gave birth". Sensitively done and very touching. Bit of a plug - our daughter edited it. On BBC2 tomorrow.

[richardfinegold]

... but we had seen this use of the flame-thrower earlier in the hammy get-the-Nazis 'film within the film' where it was clearly an over-the-top spectacle, not to be taken seriously - and so when it happens 'for real' you do not take it seriously either. As I say - Tom & Jerry : we don't really worry when a ten-ton weight lands on Tom, do we?

.,

Ever see Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers?

[Nick Armstrong]

How did we manage without Talking Pictures TV ?

Recents

The Fallen Idol (Ralph Richardson,music by Alwyn).

Watched this today and found it an exceptional film, with a great cast, notably the wonderful Michèle Morgan as well as Richardson and a group of well-knowns of the day (e.g. Jack Hawkins) plus a striking actor I’d never heard of, Denis O’Dea, who is powerfully disquieting at a key moment in the film. The little boy who is a centrepoint of the film carries the load of his rôle convincingly, while being somewhat annoying but meant to be I think, especially near the end.

He’s crucial to the thing that struck me most, the way adult ambiguities, dishonesties and secrets impinge on innocence, director Carol Reed injecting some almost shocking ‘adult’ moments into the ‘innocence’ of late-40s film-making, such as the way Dora Bryan’s arrested prostitute attempts to comfort the boy at the police station, or a fleeting and odd incident involving the boy outside the Gents at London Zoo...

Add to that the Alwyn score, some considerable tension, and some powerful cinematography (e.g. the sequence when the boy runs away, barefoot in pyjamas, through the night in rainy central London) and it amounts to a very powerful and memorable piece of work. I’d never heard of the film before, I suspect it’s generally little-known?

[Edgy 2]

I might have posted this one before,another William Alwyn themed cracker which I watched again today.

The Long Memory (John Mills,John McCallum,Elizabeth Sellars et al)

[Constantbee]

I might have posted this one before,another William Alwyn themed cracker which I watched again today.

Another neglected British composer. Looking forward to catching up on 'Miss Julie' this afternoon.

[Constantbee]

The Kings Choice Norway/Ireland 2016 BBC4

A return to Scandi night on BBC4 again yesterday, then.

Eminently watchable biographical war drama about the German invasion of Norway, centred on the evacuation of the Norwegian parliament and royal family from Oslo in April 1940. On screen titles obligingly provide the historical background. Memorable visuals include the sinking of the Blücher, an Admiral Hipper class heavy cruiser, at the Battle of Droback Sound. The wreck is now a designated war memorial btw. Soundtrack by Johan Söderqvist. Apart from that, plenty of classy Norwegian knitwear and muscly classic cars that start first time in sub-zero temperatures

[johncorrigan]

Really enjoyed 'The Family Way' on Talking Pictures last night, with John Mills and Hayley Mills and Hywell Bennett among others - some mighty great performances and very funny with it. And to top it off great footage of Bolton in the mid 60s. Great stuff, I thought.

[Rjw]

Just watched The Lady Vanishes on the BBC i player, it seems to be on every year. My second favourtie Hitchcock film.

[Belgrove]

The London Film Festival closed with Martin Scorsese revisiting the world of organised crime in The Irishman. Less bravura than Goodfella's or Casino, it's a slow burn exploration of the influence of organised crime on the unions and politics via the career of hitman Frank Sheeran, played with cool understatement by Robert De Niro. It has a complex narrative that spools backwards and forwards in time as the wheelchair bound Frank relates his tale in an old folks home. Despite the method of telling, the film deftly pieces together an interlocking mosaic of events ranging from the local grocery store to geo-politics, and conflicted relationships that are variously respected or betrayed. It is riveting. The only false note is Al Pacino playing the union boss Jimmy Hoffa, who goes over the top, parodying John Sessions parodying Pacino, it's fun nevertheless. The best performance is by Joe Pesci playing Russell Bufalino, a mob boss operating out of a haberdashery (sic). Not from the gallery of gun toting psychopaths we have seen him portray before, but a quietly spoken, walnut faced bespectacled sage. It's up there with Brando's Don Corleone as a portrait of one wielding power with gentle persuasion, a pause or a glance. It's also a film about ageing, remorse, loss, guilt and the possibility of redemption, all very Catholic as Scorsese has explored before. The glamour of being a mobster as seen in his earlier films is entirely absent here, living on the wrong side of the law is a corroding care. It occurred that when reading a Graham Greene novel without the slightest effort, one was reading great literature. Scorsese has become the cinematic equivalent of this, verbal, sonic and visual technique being put to the service of exploring complex ideas wrapped in a compelling narrative. It will have a limited cinema release before showing on Netflix in November.

[johncorrigan]

Just watched The Lady Vanishes on the BBC i player, it seems to be on every year. My second favourtie Hitchcock film.

Which is your favourite, Rjw? Hard to beat his '39 Steps' for me, I have to say...Mrs C would probably plump for 'Rear Window'.

[MrGongGong]

This is rather good IMV

http://www.theghostofpiramida.com

[Rjw]

Which is your favourite, Rjw? Hard to beat his '39 Steps' for me, I have to say...Mrs C would probably plump for 'Rear Window'.

You're right it's the 39 Steps.

Madelaine Carroll on the bed listening to Hannay's life story, acting of the highest quality, IMHO¡