What DVD have you just watched?
Posted by: u5227470736789439 on 27 November 2005
All the best from Fredrik
Haim Ronen posted:
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.
Known in the UK as The Two Vronnies.
C.
Closely Watched Trains’ was made in 1966 and was one of the major Czech New Wave films, winning the Academy’s Oscar that year for the Best Foreign Film.
For some reason I've never seen this Blu-ray before. A pretty interesting way to spend 85 minutes, but no way is it as good as the DSOTM one:
Ken Russell's The Boyfriend, 1971. My sister sent me the DVD for my birthday; it dragged me back to 45 years ago in a moment – each song, each number. I was 18, each new film by a great director was an event, I and friends and girlfriend and friends' girlfriends and boyfriends, all went out in a flock of happy youngsters to watch them...
It has left me some melancholy. A great film, by a crazy genius.
M
Enjoyed this one!
Very Cohen Brothers! It follows a couple of days in the life of a movie producer in the 20's -30's, with umpteen different crises happening simultaneously. Chaotic, lots of cameos, and some truly brilliant reconstructions of practically every type of movie genre from that age, staged in such a way as to be simultaneously deferential but wonderfully corny. Great turn from Ralph Fiennes as a frustrated movie director, George Clooney playing stupid movie star, at his daft best in the hands of the Cohens. Loved it!
The problem with this film - while it looks dramatic and has a really interesting premise - is that it suffers from the malaise that afflicts most modern movies, which is that it takes itself way too seriously.
Self-consciously "enigmatic" and sinking ever deeper under the weight of its own self-importance, it becomes annoying by the third of fourth "act". Add in that most egregious of modern movie tropes - the self-proclaimed "serious" director's desire to use a dun-coloured palette as a signifier of profundity (cf Zach Snyder et al) - you have a real wasted opportunity.
A real pity, as the idea was intriguing, the landscapes fabulous and the cast good. Refn is a film-maker with potential, but you wouldn't really know that from watching this pretentious tosh. 4/10.
A superb and taut British thriller from 1962 about a young woman being "groomed" by a serial killer (never seen, only heard on the telephone). Just 63 minutes long, it is directed with great economy by Pat Jackson (who later went on to direct episodes of Man In a Suitcase, The Prisoner, Danger Man and The Professionals). 8.5 out of 10, a real find.
Barbet Schroeder's first feature (1969) is better known for its soundtrack by Pink Floyd than as a movie. As a film, this story of hippies, drugs and ultimately, tragedy, on Ibiza, is very much a product of its time. The acting is a bit ropey, the script opaque, but there is something compelling about it. It's also gorgous to look at, and Schroeder has a real feeling for locations.
Interestingly, apart from the opening theme, Schroeder doesn't use incidental music, so when you hear the Floyd their music is emerging from a radio, being played on a turntable at a party, performed by a band in a bar, etc.
Well worth a watch. 7.5/10.
Kevin-W posted:
The problem with this film - while it looks dramatic and has a really interesting premise - is that it suffers from the malaise that afflicts most modern movies, which is that it takes itself way too seriously.
Self-consciously "enigmatic" and sinking ever deeper under the weight of its own self-importance, it becomes annoying by the third of fourth "act". Add in that most egregious of modern movie tropes - the self-proclaimed "serious" director's desire to use a dun-coloured palette as a signifier of profundity (cf Zach Snyder et al) - you have a real wasted opportunity.
A real pity, as the idea was intriguing, the landscapes fabulous and the cast good. Refn is a film-maker with potential, but you wouldn't really know that from watching this pretentious tosh. 4/10.
Kevin,
I'm not quiet clear - did you like it? 
Mr Underhill posted:Kevin,
I'm not quiet clear - did you like it?
Loved it! 
Horrible Histories goes to the movies. Continuing their efforts to bring mild Python to your children
Intimate portret of this great artist....
Harrowing doesn't come close!
Or "Brexit with Baby"
Terrific filming, especially the single shot sequences
An old timer in Canada insists on building a house without following the rules and permits of present times.
"Still Mine is about the extraordinary qualities of resilience, loyalty, and dogged determination that can be found in ordinary people. Accented with wry humour, this tender tale reaffirms the strength of the human spirit and the enduring power of love."
Over the course of a tumultuous year, contented medical counselor Gerri and her geologist husband, Tom, see their friends and relations through a series of happy events and heartbreaks -- including a birth and a death.
In celebration of the great Olivia de Havilland turning 100 last month, decided to take this for a spin again last night. Made back in 1938, this is one that never gets old, and is surely the definitive telling of this oft-told tale, eclipsing even Doug Fairbanks' splendid 1922 silent version. This movie has got everything going for it - not least the cast. Marvellous Miss de Havilland is a gloriously radiant Maid Marion; Claude Rains a rasping, treacherous King John; Eugene Pallet as Friar Tuck; Basil Rathbone superbly villainous as Sir Guy of Gisbourne; Alan Hale as Little John; and Patric Knowles as a dashing Will Scarlett. And of course there's Errol Flynn, having the time of his life in a role he was born to play: lithe, athletic, supremely handsome and with a twinkle in his eye, he's the ultimate cinematic superhero.
Then there is the glorious Technicolour cinematoggraphy of (among others) Natalie Kalmus and W Howard Greene; the eye-opping art direction of Carl Jules Weyl and that magnificent score by Erich Korngold. To top it off, Michael Curtiz and William Keighly direct with real vim and vigour. This is the Golden Age of Hollywood at its most glittering.
If it were made today, of course, it would have a buffed-up dullard (preferably American) as the hero, would be shot in the grimy tones of a latterday superhero film and be overwhelmed with CGI.
Mr Underhill posted:Hi Kevin,
Yes, excellent film. I always feel sorry for Basil Rathbone, he was an excellent swordsman but was usually cast as the bad guy and subsequently doomed to lose.
M
Yes, he always seemed to be losing swordfights to Errol Flynn... 
Better late than never for this excellent Norwegian film from 2012. Here seen on DVD courtesy of Lovefilm.
At times both riveting yet also quite uncomfortable. Mads Mikkelsen's performance as the man whose life quickly starts to shatter all around him is superb. My nephew recommended this one to me, so thanks Will.
The Floyd's former belligerent bassist and majordomo plays some intimate acoustic gigs. Picture and sound SQ very good on this Blu-ray. Some of the extras are pretty interesting. Worth a look.
My Old Lady
I knew nothing about this film going in and chose it as something that I thought would appeal to my wife and younger daughter. Kevin Kline, Kristin Scott Thomas & Maggie Smith, well this was going to be some light comedy of manners .......well, no, emphatically NO.
The director is Israel Horovitz, he is also the playwright and adapted it for the screenplay. I feel that as a film it never escapes its stage based roots, in no way is this cinematic, but for me this matters not a jot. This is an examination of a circumstance / decision from at least two points of view. What I love about the film is the way it plays with you, the viewer. I think that Horovitz understands that as an audience you will have certain expectations and he plays with those.
This is a film during which I had to quiet my daughter a number of times, as it does make you want to discuss it and the subject matter; we had a good discussion afterwards.
Thoroughly recommended.
M