Films you've seen lately

[johncorrigan]

I suppose I am going to have to see that sooner or later. My OH is a big fan of Wes Anderson but I find his films twee and all that self-satisfied symmetry really annoying. Dune also, although a shared love of the work of David Lynch is one of the things that brought us together, SO WHAT if his Dune movie isn't a faithful adaptation of the novel - the novel is not so great that it needs to be treated with such respect any more than Stephen King's The Shining was - so I don't have particularly high hopes for it. And as for Hans Zimmer, don't get me started.

I think it's time for my sedative now, good night everyone

I know what you mean, Richard. I read a criticism of Anderson's films as being formulaic, so I suppose you have to enjoy the formula; or perhaps it's enough to see one of his films and that's fine. Personally I like the formula. I find Anderson's style really enjoyable, but I have always liked comic books and his films feel like a wander through a comic book, Hergé for instance in this film - and there were plenty nods to Jacques Tati for me in 'French Dispatch', no bad thing in my book. But I can understand why they might annoy the hell out of some people when style is put in place of substance. I thought this film was really funny - I laughed a lot at the visual gags throughout and I also enjoyed the performances.

Re 'Dune', I have never read the book - I saw the Lynch version when it came out and recall seeing it in the days when I went to late night cinema, usually the worse (or better) for wear. I thought it was fine - I thought part one of this present incarnation was great, but if you don't like Zimmer might be better you give it a bodyswerve.

[Bryn]

I know what you mean, Richard. I read a criticism of Anderson's films as being formulaic, so I suppose you have to enjoy the formula; or perhaps it's enough to see one of his films and that's fine. Personally I like the formula. I find Anderson's style really enjoyable, but I have always liked comic books and his films feel like a wander through a comic book, Hergé for instance in this film - and there were plenty nods to Jacques Tati for me in 'French Dispatch', no bad thing in my book. But I can understand why they might annoy the hell out of some people when style is put in place of substance. I thought this film was really funny - I laughed a lot at the visual gags throughout and I also enjoyed the performances.

Re 'Dune', I have never read the book - I saw the Lynch version when it came out and recall seeing it in the days when I went to late night cinema, usually the worse (or better) for wear. I thought it was fine - I thought part one of this present incarnation was great, but if you don't like Zimmer might be better you give it a bodyswerve.

Further, re Dune, what of:

[jayne lee wilson]

...don't miss this one either..... very moving, mostly first-person (auto)biog....remarkable footage across several decades.....

https://www.oliversacksdoc.com/

[RichardB]

Further, re Dune, what of:

Started well, went downhill - unlike the Lynch film it covered not just the original book but (I think) two of its sequels as well. I remember it looked as if the budget was gradually draining away during the series so that by the end it looked more like a daytime soap than a cosmic epic. (YMMV)

[LHC]

Started well, went downhill - unlike the Lynch film it covered not just the original book but (I think) two of its sequels as well. I remember it looked as if the budget was gradually draining away during the series so that by the end it looked more like a daytime soap than a cosmic epic. (YMMV)

As I recall, it was a worthy attempt to adapt the novels, and it benefits from the additional time and space provided by a tv series, as it didn’t have to condense the storyline in the same way that Lynch had to in his Dune. But it also suffered from a limited budget, ropey special effects, and some terrible performances in key parts.

It was probably a bit before it’s time, but it showed that a serial adaptation of fantasy/sci fi novels could work. If it was made now with the sort of budgets available to HBO, Netflix and Amazon, I imagine it would be much better.

[RichardB]

Back to films...

Last Night in Soho - could have been good, especially (for me) the soundtrack of 60s pop music (Cilla Black, Petula Clark et al) I remember from my childhood, and the recreation of 60s London that was close enough to my arrival there in 1977 to activate similar neurons, and the presence of some serious acting talent, but the script was really not good.

The Velvet Underground (close on the heels of another excellent pop music related documentary, The Sparks Brothers) - highly recommended to anyone who has even a passing interest in those people and their music and their relationship to art and culture in New York City; shot in an entirely appropriate way with much use of scrathcy visuals and split screens; reliant more than anything on what I assume is specially recorded interview footage with John Cale, but then for me he was always the most interesting one anyway, and not just because we were born a few miles from one another. Last night we watched only the first hour, which didn't even get as far as introducing Nico and the first album, but the attention to detail is impressive. Cale talks about his composition lessons with Humphrey Searle at the Guildhall (and how Searle "understood Cage"), his pilgrimage to work with La Monte Young in NYC (and La Monte himself plus Marian Zazeela pop up for a few seconds, in addition to appearing on archive footage) and contact with Cornelius Cardew and others. I found it very heartening that none of this was skated over in the interest of concentrating on the S&D&R&R aspect which of course is also always there. Maureen Tucker turns up also, looking about 200 years old, but then she had become a Tea Party Republican which can't have done her any good.

[jayne lee wilson]

I have the Velvets on my watchlist - but have you seen the Oliver Sacks autobiog yet? Truly wonderful and very moving....Sacks is a natural on camera & to camera....

[johncorrigan]

The Velvet Underground (close on the heels of another excellent pop music related documentary, The Sparks Brothers) - highly recommended to anyone who has even a passing interest in those people and their music and their relationship to art and culture in New York City; shot in an entirely appropriate way with much use of scrathcy visuals and split screens; reliant more than anything on what I assume is specially recorded interview footage with John Cale, but then for me he was always the most interesting one anyway, and not just because we were born a few miles from one another. Last night we watched only the first hour, which didn't even get as far as introducing Nico and the first album, but the attention to detail is impressive. Cale talks about his composition lessons with Humphrey Searle at the Guildhall (and how Searle "understood Cage"), his pilgrimage to work with La Monte Young in NYC (and La Monte himself plus Marian Zazeela pop up for a few seconds, in addition to appearing on archive footage) and contact with Cornelius Cardew and others. I found it very heartening that none of this was skated over in the interest of concentrating on the S&D&R&R aspect which of course is also always there. Maureen Tucker turns up also, looking about 200 years old, but then she had become a Tea Party Republican which can't have done her any good.

I commented on 'The Velvet Underground' a while back, but not as effectively as you did, Richard - thought it was a great bit of film making.

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?7170-Films-you-ve-seen-lately&p=863389#post863389

Just finished watching the Beatles 'Get Back' over three nights - as someone who would consider himself a fan of the band, I found it a riveting watch - Jackson and his team did a great job with the hours of footage they had. The Beatles really were an amazing band. Like the wonderful 'Summer of Soul' earlier in the year, 'Get Back' is 'not all about the music', but there is a section in Part 2 where they put the song 'Get Back' together which I found utterly fascinating. Loved it...Mrs C did too.

[Joseph K]

Just finished watching the Beatles 'Get Back' over three nights - as someone who would consider himself a fan of the band, I found it a riveting watch - Jackson and his team did a great job with the hours of footage they had. The Beatles really were an amazing band. Like the wonderful 'Summer of Soul' earlier in the year, 'Get Back' is 'not all about the music', but there is a section in Part 2 where they put the song 'Get Back' together which I found utterly fascinating. Loved it...Mrs C did too.

That's good to know. Hopefully it will be released on DVD in the not too distant future.

[johncorrigan]

That's good to know. Hopefully it will be released on DVD in the not too distant future.

Agreed, Joseph. My pal gave me a link to his Disney account. The dynamics of the group really come to the fore during the film - they came to the realisation, I think, that they have ideas and questions but only the group has the answers. The final section on the roof, which I had never seen in its entirety, is a joy to watch. By the end they are all buzzing from the experience of playing together again. Hope you get to see it sometime soon.

[jayne lee wilson]

Not sure about The Beatles film; I'm sure its great, but if you grew up in Liverpool from age 4 to 14.......its always hard to get back to the music now....
It was everywhere, so for some of us it became drained of emotional impact by the 70s.....I recall seeing them play Hey Jude on the David Frost Show, with a great gang of technicians and audience crowding round the piano raucously singing the chorus...

Even at Primary School it soon became cool to say "I prefer the Stones anyway...."
At least it made a change from the Liverpool-Everton rivalries...

Incidentally, if you have the interest, do seek out "Kenny" (2017) - the remarkable biog of Kenny Dalglish. Covers everything and pulls no tragic punches, a remarkable film. There's a scene where he drives to high ground overlooking Hillsborough, which he says he still cannot revisit. He stands there, contemplating things you just don't get over....but he still comes to every game.

No-one else seen the Oliver Sacks one yet? Extraordinary....

[kernelbogey]

I haven't seen the Beatles film.... but the raw excitement of hearing She Loves You for the first few weeks will never leave me.

[Belgrove]

The new version of West Side Story is a magnificent piece of cinema. It’s difficult to believe that this is the first time Stephen Spielberg has ventured into the musical genre, for he makes that most artificial form visceral and exciting, but also, somehow, natural. Elements of Jerome Robbins’ original choreography are retained, but reimagined and reconfigured to flow seamlessly with the movement of the actors and camera - the fights are dangerous and bloody. The singing by the two principals, Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler is silky, and they make an attractive couple. Ariana DeBose as Anita is superb in both singing and dancing. Mike Faist as Riff is a volatile, ratty, feral leader of the Jets, and David Alvarez’s Bernardo is a tough boxer and leader of the Sharks - both of these are dangerous (and superb dancers). Rita Moreno plays the widow of Doc, owner of the drug store who gives Tony a job after his release from jail for assault. Tony Kushner’s screenplay gives background to all the characters, so we become invested in their intertwined fates, it’s altogether tougher than the original film. There is some rejigging of the numbers - Cool is given to Tony in an attempt to stop Riff taking a gun to the rumble, and it is a stunningly staged sequence that also serves to advance the drama. Less successful is Moreno singing Somewhere; when sung by Maria and Tony before their only night together, this number breaks the heart. America erupts onto the streets of the Upper West Side (being demolished to make way for the Lincoln Centre and gentrified apartments) and is a riot of movement and colour. The whole film looks sensational, Janusz Kaminski’s photography has beautiful compositions and eye popping colours - the shimmering lights around Tony’s reflection at the end of Something’s Coming forms an exquisite image, and the gorgeous wash of stained glass light during One Hand, One Heart gives a visual benediction to Maria and Tony’s union, it is so beautiful. But in the end, it’s Bernstein’s fabulous score and Sondheim’s sublime lyrics that carry and deliver the emotional punch. Gustavo Dudamel conducts the NY Philharmonic, which by turns is explosive and meltingly tender. One hopes that Stephen Sondheim got to see it, for it is a wonderful cinematic achievement.

[Bryn]

Looks encouraging. I will probably wait for the inevitable Blu-ray release, though. I associate the big reflective screen with migraines.

[Serial_Apologist]

Just now I've re-watched Margarethe von Trotta's 1985 drama biography on Rosa Luxemburg, having obtained the DVD a year ago. This was to have been Fassbinder's final film, and it ended up in von Trotta's hands after her recommendation - rather against her will and certainly expectations, as Margarethe reveals in the interview included on the disc. Finding a suitable actor for the role also had its problems as the one chosen to portray Rosa, Barbara Sukowa, also admitted. Both women, I think, made the best of rendering the character in basing the personality on letters as much as on Rosa's theoretical writings. Rosa comes across as motivated by a powerful emotional drive channelled through faith in the guise of theory, the same positive fatalism one sees in people who believe in winning over by exhortation - one that is not investigated in a story concerned above all with personal heroism against all odds, shattering in the banality of its stark dénouement and history's continuing unfolding. So now it's back once more to the books!