Last Movie Watched.... The Xenforo Edition

I almost exclusively watch foreign language films (that sounds pretentious, though I don't mean for it to be.) I'm not terribly interested in most contemporary American mainstream movies or even for much of American indie cinema. Outside of the Criterion Collection, it's difficult to find a steady stream of quality, older movies from other countries (at least that I've found.) I love a lot of the older stuff, but I've found a lot of worthwhile movies being made elsewhere that were made in the last 10 years. Of course, very few people seem to have seen most of the movies I post, so sometimes I don't even bother posting them.

 

If you figure no one has seen them or might have heard of them, that should be a very good reason to post them! Some of us (including yours truly) sometimes use this thread to choose which flicks to watch or just discover some titles we might have otherwise missed.

 

After typing that up, I realized that IS all the more reason to post them. I guess my statement kind of stemmed from the (apparently) false assumption that "nobody's seen them/they never get discussed = nobody cares."

I was pleasantly surprised a while back when a discussion about the Greek film "Dogtooth" ("Kynodontas") popped up so I suppose I should be more studious in posting what I watch.

 

Your mom likes weird Eastern European movies?

 

Louise Bourgoin is very attractive and it was sort of weird to realize this was her first film role. She commands the screen in a way that suggests far more experience with the medium. I should have mentioned in my little write-up that all three of the leads were very well cast.

 

Finally got around to seeing The Innkeepers. I have to say that I thought it was filmed pretty well and it didn't rely on cheap scares (ala Paranormal Activity) to fill minutes. Not the most scary thing I have seen, but it was good enough to make me want to recommend it. One of the few films of this sort where I have actually cared about the characters, and that's a credit to director Ti West.

 

I recently watched this as well. I liked the use of the soundtrack for most of the real scares. Having said that, like the first 45 minutes felt more like a slow-moving light comedy than a horror movie.

 

She probably will enjoy a decent bit of what I watch then. I show non-English language films at my place twice a month for a group of about 10 people since no venue where I live regularly shows foreign film. There's a ton of indie cinema, but rarely any of it is from the non-English speaking world. One of my friends dubbed it "crying and subtitles night" since the endings are seldom Hollywoodishly happy.

 

I actually went back over all the movies I reviewed, and it breaks down to almost exactly 1/4th in the last decade, 1/4th 10 years old, 1/4th 20 years old, and 1/4th over 30 years old. And if I didn't do the Van Dammethon, it would skew much more towards the "over 30". So obviously quality old films are being reviewed in this forum.

Unless you don't think 80's ninja and blaxploitation are quality movie genres.

 

The Avengers.

Had low expectations.....but thought it was great. Just full on action. Maybe it's not very deep story wise, but hey, we know about the main characters from the previous movies. It has some cool one on one fights, and funny banter....and it's just good fun action. The Hulk is awesome.

 

The Warriors


Never gets old

 

So if you like foreign off beat movies then move over. The majority of our (My wife and I) netflix pics are just that.
Last nights fare was "Ocean Heaven"


A man, a caretaker, maintainence guy, at an aquarium has spent the last 21 years, after his wife's death, looking after his autistic son. Then he get's the news that he's going to die and soon. So sets about trying to teach the young man how to cope with life without him.
Well done movie without being a maudlin tear jerker. Good acting from the young man and the father, Jet Li. A big change from his gangster, kung fu movies.

 

I just got back from seeing it - my single favorite part was the Harry Dean Stanton cameo. Had me laughing out loud.

 

I would be interested in some recommendations. It may take me some time to get to them, but I would.

 

You know, that sounds like a lot of fun. I tried to think if something like that would work for us but we're pretty isolated where we are.

Netflix has quite a few foreign movies for others who have expressed interest. I'll try and remember a couple of our favs.

We've seen quite a few that have been remade by hollywood, some have been treated well and some have been dumbed down, apparently because we wouldn't understand the subtleties without subtitles.
Then some have just been make unrecognizable. In a lot of cases they've been made better, smoother cinemaphotography wise. the actors and actress's (Ooops! old gender english!) are often better looking. But 'for me' the movie is lost.

Always make me think of "The movie-within-a-movie in Robert Altman's 1992 Hollywood satire where Bruce Willis breaks into the gas chamber to rescue and carry off Julia Roberts" ..

 

Yeah, it's been good fun. There's a core of 4-5 people that make it to every one, but people are always bringing friends, significant others, etc. so we average around 10 per screening. We also turn it into a chance to trade microbrews and/or have a potluck. We're trying to work our way through as many countries as possible too. We've watched stuff from South America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Europe, etc. I'm considering trying to work with a local venue to have public screenings.

 

Inglorious Basterds (2009)

Despite my earlier statement about almost exclusively watching foreign films, I watched this last night. Somehow, my girlfriend hadn't seen it so I was happy to watch it again as it's one of my recent favorites. I somehow forgot how attractive Melanie Laurent is...don't really know how that's possible. Not much about this one I didn't love. Even Brad Pitt's incredibly over the top performance (and accent) just work.

 

Le Petit Nicolas (2009)
Dir. Laurent Tirard


Movie adaptation of the famous series of children's books. A noble effort, but it doesn't quite catch the mischievous charm of the source material. The kids are all adequate in their roles, but it's really Kad Merad who steals the show as Nicolas' dad.

Nothing in the movie quite matches the simple brilliance of Jean-Jacques Sempé's illustrations. I remember how a single illustration could regale me for 5-10 minutes as a kid. So many little jokes and winks to discover.

 

Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980, Special Edition)

Not a whole lot philosophically or politically going on - this is more of a transition between movies IV and VI.

Vader shifts a bit from the previous movie - instead of merely being the Emperor's representative, here he is the supreme military commander. That means stamping his authority the only way a Romantic overlord can: gratuitous killing and using his peons in brutal ways. He throws his troops into the asteroid belt as if to demonstrate that nothing matters more than blind obedience. And when that doesn't work, instead of changing tactics (or using tactics) or delegating the task to a subordinate who might know what to do, he farms the job out to outsiders. He has zero respect for his men, yet Boba Fett is allowed to talk back to him.

In absolute temporal terms, this is the second (second! I saw the Star Wars Christmas Special live.) appearance of Boba Fett. Boba Fett is a real romantic archetype: the mysterious stranger. Emotionless. Hidden face. No past. Doesn't give a crap about anything. It's clear why people love him even though he does pretty much nothing to deserve it. And it's why he's allowed to talk to Vader as an equal - they are of the same class.

 

Time for a French movie last night. "Point Blank" Kidnapping, hitman, murder, bad cop, thriller shoot'em up. Mission impossible meets Bourne.

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"Samuel is a nurse working at a hospital when his pregnant wife is kidnapped before his very eyes. Knocked unconscious, he comes to and discovers that a dangerous criminal named Sartet is responsible, and if he’s ever to see his wife again, he must do Sartet’s bidding. Samuel quickly finds himself pitted against rival gangsters and trigger-happy police in a deadly race to save the lives of his wife and unborn child."
Left me a little breathless with all the fighting, running and chasing.
A lot of "No, Really " moments.
Enertaining to a point. No football on telly..