Films you've seen lately

[jayne lee wilson]

Watching Boyhood at last a few days ago, all I could think was - OK, what am I missing here? American slices of marital life, ultra-realist, 12 years in the etc., Ethan Hawke brilliant, great child leads, Ellar Coltrane very engaging as a teenager, good, fine..... but I found it tedious enough at first to have to watch it in two sessions...

Did all that praise-in-the-highest overwhelm my expectations? Yes it's a very good (or at least very patient...) bit of film-making, but I can't get why some see it as so special...

I'm not a parent of course (never will be...). Is that what makes the difference..?

***

But then I found Grand Budapest Hotel brilliantly entertaining (well, as a one-off) and almost supernaturally well-made, BUT... it's still essentially Arthouse Kitsch, isn't it? Or at least, you could cite it as an exemplification of the Racinian principle of creating a work of art out of nothing.
When we got to the Monastery scene, I felt a thrillingly heretical "is there much more of this?", coming on...

Oh, and I found Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox unwatchable, so.... yeah.


Under The Skin also taxed my patience, but I'll need another post for that one, and it's Bolton V Liverpool soon...

[clive heath]

Somewhat bemused to find that Emma Jones (Sam in Birdman ) was Skeeter in "The Help" that was our previous film outing. Didn't recognise her at all. Discovered this looking up the drummer in "Birdman" who appears on screen a couple of times and who turns out to be Antonio Sanchez, sometimes of the Pat Metheny group.

However, all is not quite what it seemed:

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2014/11/birdman-score-antonio-sanchez

[Belgrove]

Thanks for that interesting link clive. I've saw Birdman again, just to try and spot the joins. It's shot into my list of all time favourite films, a dazzling piece of cinema.

Inherent Vice is pretty off the wall too. A noir'ish thriller(?) based on the Pynchon novel set in the early 70's featuring Nazi bikers, drug crazed dentists, a whorehouse called Chick Planet, and the Golden Fang crime syndicate, all seen through the addled brain of a dope-head private detective. I couldn't follow the plot (but neither could I follow The Maltese Falcon or Farewell My Lovely - surely it's the mood that is the point of these films), and lots of people left before the end. But just go with the flow and it's huge fun spotting the references to other films in the genre. Joaquin Phoenix as the seedy detective is a delight as is Katherine Waterston as the obligatory femme fatale.

[johncorrigan]

I'm no expert, but having seen the rather excellent 'Selma' this evening it's beyond me why David Oyelowo didn't get at least a nomination in the round of cinema awards - great performance. Maybe because he's British as is Tom Wilkinson (LBJ)and Tim Roth (a kinda scary George Wallace, and what else would you want) and Carmen Ejogo who played Coretta King. Stirring film - very moving and most interesting. Apparently they couldn't use King's actual speeches because Spielberg has them on licence for some possible upcoming biopic, but I thought they made up some very credible ones.

[Flosshilde]

I wonder who'll give the first review here of 50 tints of off-white?

[teamsaint]

I wonder who'll give the first review here of 50 tints of off-white?

you'd have to be a Sado masochist to pay to watch that ..... er...apparently.....

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I can't afford to go to see it.

I'm strapped for cash.

[edashtav]

I can't afford to go to see it.

I'm strapped for cash.

That'll help your bottom line!

[johncorrigan]

Today, I'm off to B&Q to see 50 sheds of grey!

[charles t]

'Whiplash' - Brainchild of 30-year old 'failed' drummer- 5 Academy Award Norminations

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-ca-damien-chazelle-20150215-story.html#page=1

[Nick Armstrong]

After a magnificent Chinese New Year dim sum lunch feast today with old local friends (the family is half-Chinese), off to the cinema with dad and 5 year old son to see...

...

Shaun the Sheep - The Movie!

Fantastic film! I chuckled all the way through. In fact it was noticeable that in the cinema, all the adults were chuckling or laughing out loud throughout, whereas the (many) children sat more or less quiet, absorbed (and sometimes slightly scared or saddened) by the story...

It's a pretty fine trick, to keep everyone from 5 to ... well, in theory, 105... absorbed and happy!

And what, after all, could have been more appropriate than this film, given that it is, of course, the Chinese

YEAR OF THE SHEEP!!

[Tevot]

Ah ... but is it the year of the sheep or year of the goat !?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/chinese-new-year-is-it-the-year-of-the-ram-sheep-or-goat-10055872.html

Thanks for the heads up re the Shaun the Sheep Movie. This, plus Paddington, I will have to track down !!

Best Wishes,

Tevot

[Nick Armstrong]

Ah ... but is it the year of the sheep or year of the goat !?

Google went with sheep!



(and yes, we saw Paddington at Christmas - also v good!)

[Belgrove]

Thomas Vinterberg's new film of Far From the Madding Crowd is out in May, but there is a chance to see John Schlesinger version of 1967 which has been rereleased in a new print, showing off the beautiful saturated colour photography of bucolic Wessex which looks wonderful on a big screen. The casting is perfect, with Terrance Stamp, Peter Finch and Alan Bates as the so very different suitors of the radiant, adorable and totally gorgeous Julie Christie. The screenplay by Frederick Raphael is pretty good, playing the romanticism and melodrama without a hint of irony and letting images tell the story without speech when needs be. Decent score too by Richard Rodney Bennett. Go ahead and luxuriate in each of its leisurely 170 minutes, they don't make films like this anymore!

[vinteuil]

Far From the Madding Crowd ... John Schlesinger version of 1967 which has been rereleased in a new print, showing off the beautiful saturated colour photography of bucolic Wessex which looks wonderful on a big screen.

... thanks for this. I remember the filming of this - I was miffed that I missed out on a chance to be an extra : the market scene outside the Bear Inn in Devizes was being filmed when I was a schoolboy there, and some of my friends got a look in...