Films you've seen lately

[Richard Tarleton]

We have Netflix courtesy of our daughter who loaded her password onto our TV. Last time she was here she pointed us to a new Coen Brothers film The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Episodic, eccentric and very enjoyable. I don't watch Netflix that often (partly because I forget we have it). Definitely worth watching is the award-winning Roma.

I gave this the thumbs-up back in November. Lots of good stuff to be had on Netflix - I mentioned a couple of others recently. Roma coming up shortly here!

[LMcD]

Just started a Netflix free month, mainly to watch, "the Big Lebowski"; typical sharp, amusing dialogue from the Coen Brothers, and great performances from Goodman and Bridges. Surprisingly stunning visuals: strange dream sequences when the baddies feed our hero drugs or knock him on the head, superb bowling sequences, and great shots of the California coast. Good (pop) background music. Overall, not very deep, but very amusing and entertaining.

Any other recommendations for Netflix films?

Just about any other Coen Brothers films that you haven't seen if they're on Netflix!

[Richard Tarleton]

Any other recommendations for Netflix films?

We recently watched these two - films on Netflix rather than Netflix films (I think).....it's also where we watched In Bruges, by the director of Three Billboards and starring Brendan Gleeson who also crops up in Buster Scruggs......

[Mal]

Just watched this years BAFTA winner, "Roma", on Netflix, and it's a magical film. Every scene is a work of art, and you just don't know what's going to happen next. From each scene of everyday life something extraordinary, and extremely moving, happens. I'd be surprised if it didn't win the Oscar. Alfonso Cuarón’s tribute to his childhood nanny is a triumph, one of the best films I've ever seen. The critics are raving about it on Rotten Tomatoes, Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian gave it a very rare 5/5:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/nov/29/roma-review-alfonso-cuaron

I wondered how Netflix managed to get hold of such a gem, Bradshaw points out that they funded it! The only downside is that cinema showings are very limited, and it may not be released over the awards season.

I thought Three Billboards was excellent, my favourite "free ticket" watch of last year; I'll be watching Buster Scruggs. Unfortunately, "In Bruges" seems to be no longer available. Thanks for the tips.

[vinteuil]

Just watched this years BAFTA winner, "Roma", On Netflix, and it's a magical film. Every scene is a work of art, and you just don't know what's going to happen next. From each scene of everyday life something extraordinary, and extremely moving, happens. I'd be surprised if it didn't win the Oscar. Alfonso Cuarón’s tribute to his childhood nanny is a triumph, one of the best films I've ever seen. The critics are raving about it ...

.

Kevin Maher was less impressed : "Roma, however, is not a best director film, by any means. The movies that are directed the best are the ones where the hand of the director is assured enough, and confident enough, to guide and shape the film without having to simultaneously slap the audience in the face (think Spielberg’s Jaws, Scorsese’s Goodfellas or Campion’s The Piano). Roma, which is shot in black and white, in long, long takes and episodic vignettes, doesn’t just slap you in the face, it also hits you over the head with a mallet. This is a film that says, in practically every frame, “Look at me! I am being directed!” And awards voters love that. They’re busy people. It saves them time... "


.

[Mal]

The movies that are directed the best are the ones where the hand of the director is assured enough, and confident enough, to guide and shape the film without having to simultaneously slap the audience in the face... "

I didn't feel slapped in the face at all. OK some scenes might seem a bit too pat, too directed for some, for instance, Fermín, of all people, appearing with a revolver in in the store causing Cleo's water to break. But this for me is forgivable, it's a nod to magic realism, without tedious fantastic things happening, just slightly unbelievable coincidences happening, and too many extreme events happening. And the acting is so good, and the scenes so beautiful, he can be forgiven this bending of realism, I feel.

But well done in finding an unconvinced critic! Even the edgy Anthony Lane is entranced:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/12/17/alfonso-cuaron-bears-witness-to-peril-with-roma

[LMcD]

Just watched this years BAFTA winner, "Roma", on Netflix, and it's a magical film. Every scene is a work of art, and you just don't know what's going to happen next. From each scene of everyday life something extraordinary, and extremely moving, happens. I'd be surprised if it didn't win the Oscar. Alfonso Cuarón’s tribute to his childhood nanny is a triumph, one of the best films I've ever seen. The critics are raving about it on Rotten Tomatoes, Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian gave it a very rare 5/5:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/nov/29/roma-review-alfonso-cuaron

I wondered how Netflix managed to get hold of such a gem, Bradshaw points out that they funded it! The only downside is that cinema showings are very limited, and it may not be released over the awards season.

I thought Three Billboards was excellent, my favourite "free ticket" watch of last year; I'll be watching Buster Scruggs. Unfortunately, "In Bruges" seems to be no longer available. Thanks for the tips.

A couple of people have uploaded 'In Bruges' onto You Tube. It's also available to rent for £3.49 on Amazon Prime.

[Mal]

A couple of people have uploaded 'In Bruges' onto You Tube. It's also available to rent for £3.49 on Amazon Prime.

I'm seeing it offered for rent at £2.49 on Amazon Prime and Google Play. Are they using differential pricing? I'm already feeling guilty about not paying for the two excellent films I've seen on Netflix for free without "going pirate". I'll probably stick with Netflix for at least a couple of months, and throw some money their way; they seem to have a surprising number of good films, compared to my last visit a few years ago. So 'In Bruges' will have to wait... maybe it'll come back to Netflix... do they take a film off for a period and then stick it back on again? The overview is still appearing, just no way to play it that I can see.

[Richard Tarleton]

Netflix - see Television thread.....

[LMcD]

I'm seeing it offered for rent at £2.49 on Amazon Prime and Google Play. Are they using differential pricing? I'm already feeling guilty about not paying for the two excellent films I've seen on Netflix for free without "going pirate". I'll probably stick with Netflix for at least a couple of months, and throw some money their way; they seem to have a surprising number of good films, compared to my last visit a few years ago. So 'In Bruges' will have to wait... maybe it'll come back to Netflix... do they take a film off for a period and then stick it back on again? The overview is still appearing, just no way to play it that I can see.

£2.49 for SD, £3.49 for HD. You have click on 'other buying options' for the SD rental price.

[Dave2002]

Vice - a very interesting and provocative film. Don’t know how much of it is true - probably most of it, and there are some really nice filmic tricks. I won’t spoil things by mentioning them further.

[Belgrove]

If Beale Street Could Talk is based on James Baldwin's book about young love and folly entwined with institutional racism and a miscarriage of justice in 1970's New York. It has all the dreaded inevitability of Greek tragedy, and yet finishes on a hopeful, if not entirely optimistic note. It is a ravishingly beautiful film, directed by Barry Jenkins (why no award nominations?), who coaxes performances of mutual tenderness from his two leads KiKi Lane and Stephen James. He often shoots the actors looking full on to the camera, so they are looking into your eyes - you become beloved, it's a stunning technique but it takes actors of great skill to pull it off. You really end up rooting for this couple. The filming of their first night together is beguiling and gorgeous. But all the performances are up to matching the ambition of the film. It has a sophisticated sound design too, with ambient sounds blended with music, both scored and from record players and juke-boxes in the scenes. The colour palette too makes this a beautiful work of art. A perfect film to see on Valentine's Day.

[Richard Tarleton]

I didn't feel slapped in the face at all. OK some scenes might seem a bit too pat, too directed for some, for instance, Fermín, of all people, appearing with a revolver in in the store causing Cleo's water to break. But this for me is forgivable, it's a nod to magic realism, without tedious fantastic things happening, just slightly unbelievable coincidences happening, and too many extreme events happening. And the acting is so good, and the scenes so beautiful, he can be forgiven this bending of realism, I feel.

But well done in finding an unconvinced critic! Even the edgy Anthony Lane is entranced:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2...eril-with-roma

I'm afraid I'm with Kevin Maher - in Anthony Lane's expression I was not seduced by the film. I've learnt more about it since from reading or listening to the reviews - Lane's and Mark Kermode's in particular - but I did not find what Lane describes in the text, in the actual film. For example - minor detail - I missed that Cleo was from Oaxaca - yes, I heard Mother say they'd travel, and might go to Oaxaca next time, but why she suggested this passed me by. The long static takes - I'm afraid I was (we were), frankly, bored. (Mark Kermode explains that they were not static, but floating and at one point revolving through 360') but this was wasted on me.) I did not know, or had forgotten, about the Corpus Christi massacre. I kept wishing someone would take that poor dog for a walk instead of leaving it to go stir crazy in the yard, crapping all over the place for the poor maids to clear up (yes I know, probably a cultural thing here, I spent time in western Mexico on an Earthwatch project in 2001, by coincidence in the last year of my OU diploma course, and we shared the village house where we lived with an Alsatian, similarly cooped up, whose sole ambition in life was to break out, which we were under strict instructions not to let it do). Mark Kermode's review fascinating and enlightening, but bringing (as he says) a professional film critic's eye to it. I reckoned I was simply not film-literate enough to appreciate it. A film for the critics.

I did enjoy listening to the spoken Spanish, Mexican Spanish being one of the easiest manifestations of Spanish to understand.

[Mal]

I'm in no way a film critic, I don't watch more films than the average viewer, so I'm a counter-example to your idea that Roma is just "a film for the critics". Maybe one needs to be in the right mood, I was looking for a relaxing few hours with some nice shots of Mexico, and certainly got that (along with much else...)

Cuarón’s blockbuster "Gravity" is also on Netflix, and I greatly enjoyed that as well - it was certainly more of a roller coaster ride. It also has some great static shots - wonderful scenes in near orbit - but these only lasted seconds before the next action sequence.

[pastoralguy]

The updated 'Dad's Army' movie. I got this in a charity shop in North Berwick for 33.3p yesterday. Frankly, it's not great, imho. One keeps hearing the lines spoken by the inimitable original cast in one's minds eye. The cast try hard but only Catharine Zeta-Jones really makes much of an impression as an added on character. (And, sexist as this may sound, she's starting to show her age!)

The 'plot' is as thin as one might expect with the reveals being signposted at an early stage. Ok, a nice homage but who it's aimed at is a mystery.