What DVD have you just watched?

Richard Dane posted:

Is that Elliot Gould or John Kerry conducting US policies?

Mr Underhill posted:

Adam Meredith posted:

tonym posted:

Do I take it that you're not a fan of Mr Tarantino then Adam?

"Violence is one of the most fun things to watch."

I can't agree

I am fully in agreement with Adam on this one. The only film of QT that I really enjoyed and re-watch is Pulp Fiction, all the others have small elements I like, with the exception of Inglourious Basterds, which I gave up on in ten minutes - a great rarity for me.

This is a man who treats violence as a Tom & Jerry cartoon and in doing so he helps normalise that which should be reviled.

I think that probably the BEST QT film is True Romance, a film made by Tony Scott and, with Pulp Fiction, a movie where the violence is in service of the story.

I will watch The Hateful Eight, but my daughter went and saw it and didn't give a good report.

So, why keep watching? He is talented and I hope for him to extend the list of his films that I will re-visit.

A man who would improve if he had restrictions placed around him me-thinks.

M

Naturally, I couldn't disagree more with you both. Tarantino's a unique talent & one of the very few directors whose films I can watch again and again. There we are, it's very much down to individual taste.

I think we need to arrange for a few pints!

Mr Underhill posted:

I think we need to arrange for a few pints!

That would be splendid Mr Underhill! Not sure where you are?

Hi Tony,

I've dropped you an email.

M

I worked at this place in the 1980s. The pay was terrible, the hours were long but it was just the most fun. Best job I've ever had. Watched with great interest, and although some of the major characters have been written out of the story - and there was virtually nothing about the London adventures - I enjoyed it immensely.

Richard Dane posted:

 

I love this film, it's both true and completely untrue to the book. Very arbitrary, but the most fascinating, atmospheric rendition of a Chandler novel.

As for Adam's opinions on Tarantino, I'd say Jackie Brown is by far his best film, and the only one I actually like, beyond (mandatory) admiration.

N

Yup, Jackie Brown is by far my favourite as well; Tarantino does a love story and the result is a well disguised, subtly moving and totally unexpected delight that bears many repeat viewings.

Forgotten about Jackie Brown, haven't watched it for many years - put it on the immediate list.

Mr Underhill posted:

 with the exception of Inglourious Basterds, which I gave up on in ten minutes - a great rarity for me.

Inglorious Basterds was brilliant to me. Great performances by Pitt and Waltz (and Bowie in the soundtrack). Any Tarantino film could be readily abandoned within ten minutes, but his long scenes tie into a complex plot and demand full attention - an attribute rare in films these days and one I consider an indicator of a worthy watch. Surficial Hollywood tripe abounds - watch it once, laugh or whatever and forget about it. Tarantino's movies are among the few that I can be bothered to re-watch and glean more appreciation each time.

tonym posted:

The usual killer Tarantino dialogue, good acting from his usual crowd of actors plus some excellent new blood. Perhaps overly long at over three hours, but I was pretty riveted for most of the time. Tarantino has a most wonderful knack of creating a constant atmosphere of brooding menace as you sit waiting for the inevitable bloodfest. Stunning scenery, immaculately filmed.

Kind of a waste, using Ultra Panavision 70 cameras and Kodak Vision 3 film for a movie shot mainly indoors or was it just to add galore to the gore?  The few outdoors scenes were not spectacular by any means.

I always appreciate a believable story. It just doesn't make much sense that the gang would go through such an elaborate staging (after killing so many) just to confront a lone bounty hunter whom they could have taken out easily anywhere and any time. Two and a half stars for me.

Haim Ronen posted

Kind of a waste, using Ultra Panavision 70 cameras and Kodak Vision 3 film for a movie shot mainly indoors or was it just to add galore to the gore?  The few outdoors scenes were not spectacular by any means.

There were "pre-premiere" showings of The Hateful Eight on analog reels in markets that still have the required equipment and a qualified projectionist. Akin to a musical artist recording and mixing on tape then pressing on vinyl - the whole while knowing the mass market will ultimately buy the digital product. Kudos to Tarantino for the old school effort.

Seattle was one such analog showing market, but regrettably, I had to settle for the digital presentation. I hope that if the analog version of The Hateful Eight hits movie houses again I'll be able to attend the analog presentation, complete with an intermission. It's been decades since I was able to appreciate the glory of the silver screen sans digital blurring.

In 1973 London, playwright Alan Bennett (Alex Jennings) develops an unlikely friendship with Miss Shepherd (Maggie Smith), a homeless woman who lives in a van in his driveway for the next 15 years.

Set in Norway and Germany, the film is loosely based on an unpublished novel by Hannelore Hippe since released as Ice Ages. It explores the history of the Lebensborn or war children, born in Norway and raised in Germany. It tells the life of a grown woman who had claimed to have escaped from East Germany, where she was raised, and her Norwegian mother, with whom she is reunited.

The BFI shop in London had a sale on so after a visit on Sunday I came away with a vast haul of Blu-rays and DVDs.

Last night I watched this (for the first time in many years). Dreyer's first sound film - like so many of his movies - had a difficult birth and Vampyr didn't make it to cinemas until 1932. It was a critical and commercial flop.

This excellent DVD transfer in Eureka!'s superb Masters of Cinema series shows off this strange film to good effect.

The acting is atrocious, and it has an odd, dislocated feel. It's ostensibly a horror film, but there's nothing conventionally scary about it. What it is, is closer to is a bad dream: misty, disorientating, surreal, non-linear. Typically for Dreyer, the pace is very slow (so don't expect to jump out of your seat with fright!).

But it is, for all its faults, a great film, quite unlike anything else made before or since and Rudolf Maté's photography is wonderful.

A  superlative 1949 picture by the quietest and (along with Renoir) most acutely observant of film-makers. Ozu's movies are unremarkable stories of ordinary working and middle class people going about their unremarkable lives, but are somehow elevated to the status of high art by his ability to create masterful character studies (as well as being a great director, he was a superb screenwriter)and draw  out nuance and detail from ordinary settings and situations. There are few greater masters of composition in cinema, either. Gorgeous, luminous monochrome photography by Yuuharu Atsuta too, in this excellent blu-ray transfer. Part of a recent haul from the BFI Shop sale in London - at just £8, this was a bargain.

Shutter Island on blu-ray.

How did I miss this one when it was first released?  

The atmosphere pulls you in from the very moment Dicaprio's character steps off the boat and onto the island. A fascinating and gripping film that is also filmed and directed like a true work of art. The blu-ray itself is pretty much flawless.  

I think I need to watch it again.  Soon.

Richard Dane posted:

Shutter Island on blu-ray.

How did I miss this one when it was first released?  

The atmosphere pulls you in from the very moment Dicaprio's character steps off the boat and onto the island. A fascinating and gripping film that is also filmed and directed like a true work of art. The blu-ray itself is pretty much flawless.  

I think I need to watch it again.  Soon.

Haven't watched it in years. Must pull out the Blu-ray soon.

Richard Dane posted:

Shutter Island on blu-ray.

How did I miss this one when it was first released?  

The atmosphere pulls you in from the very moment Dicaprio's character steps off the boat and onto the island. A fascinating and gripping film that is also filmed and directed like a true work of art. The blu-ray itself is pretty much flawless.  

I think I need to watch it again.  Soon.

Fantastic film Richard and yes it can hold your attention again and again. DiCaprio is a fine actor in my opinion

I'd forgotten I'd even bought this! Yes, excellent film and quite true to the book. I've dragged it out for a watch.

tonym posted:

I'd forgotten I'd even bought this! Yes, excellent film and quite true to the book. I've dragged it out for a watch.

Just watched it again. Yes, excellent movie.

A gripping 2011 procedural about a pandemic, directed with great precision by Steven Soderberg and featuring a splendid ensemble cast (including the lovely Marion Cotillard). One tiny downside - Jude Law's annoying conspiracy theorist-cum-blogger feels a bit unneccessary to an otherwise taut plot, but otherwise this one is highly recommended.

Kevin-W posted:

A gripping 2011 procedural about a pandemic, directed with great precision by Steven Soderberg and featuring a splendid ensemble cast (including the lovely Marion Cotillard). One tiny downside - Jude Law's annoying conspiracy theorist-cum-blogger feels a bit unneccessary to an otherwise taut plot, but otherwise this one is highly recommended.

I enjoyed that film too, Kevin. I thought it unusual for Gwyneth P to have relatively minor role and kept expecting her character to have some unexpected prominence in the latter stages of the movie. 

A tale of a Polish singer Weronika and French music teacher Veronique -- two women who share a deeply haunting emotional bond, though neither is consciously aware of the other's existence. A 1992 film by Krzysztof Kieslowski.

Blow Out on Arrow Video Blu-Ray.

Wow, another cracking release from Arrow Video - a very nice 2k restoration of an excellent, well directed, well shot and well acted film. And with John Lithgow as the "baddie", what's not to like?

I hadn't seen this since my school days and in retrospect it's possibly one of John Travolta's best roles.  If you have never seen Blow Out, it's a film all about recorded sound, so may well have some additional appeal to members here..

This release is comes highly recommended.