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Post by stephen on Mar 24, 2019 3:33:42 GMT
So we're a quarter of the way through 2019 and as the new year begins to ramp up in earnest with spring releases, I figured we could suggest some under-the-radar picks for those looking for some hidden 2019 gems to get the year started.
Mine:
The Vanishing Donnybrook Arctic The Hole in the Ground Piercing
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Post by Ryan_MYeah on Mar 24, 2019 4:02:42 GMT
I think it’s slowly creeping out, but everybody’s gotta go see Gloria Bell.
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Post by Mattsby on May 23, 2019 20:04:37 GMT
As we near the halfway mark... Anybody else catch something overlooked and worth seeing? Last night I watched Never Grow Old, a 2019 Western with John Cusack and high praise from stephen - so that was an easy pick for me. Crappy title, released on VOD by the awful Saban Films.... yet despite some unsubtle moments and dialogue, I was surprised how good it was. The set-up is standard, newcomer upheaval in a virtuous if dull frontier town. But its themes and subtext of the American dream, assimilation, corruption, moral relativism... it deepens the movie, which gets better as it goes on. Ivan Kavanagh's last pic was The Canal a horror that was at times powerfully scary and gutting but also very busy. Here, Kavanagh is mostly restrained in how he guides the movie, cleverly using the muddy locations (shot in Ireland) - and with great help from the terrific anamorphic visuals, the later scenes crest with intensity and emotional weight. In fact, I wanted more - ten more mins might've helped - I wanted more from the son character (altho I was still very moved by his ending scene) , and a little more of Cusack's increasing threat. 7ish / 10. This is the 10th or 11th Western so far this decade that I've liked, though it's second-tier among them. Some of the screenshots I'll put in spoilers bc some might consider them that... That last shot is brilliant and almost gave me chills - it's two kids running behind a burned silhouette of the corrupted saloon. They could've worked backwards from that shot, with the kids as the protags, doom looming over innocence...
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Post by stephen on May 23, 2019 20:13:44 GMT
Yeah, I don't think Never Grow Old is a perfect movie or even a great one . . . but it's a cracking good watch nonetheless. Even though Hirsch and Cusack are giving it their all, I feel like if you swapped them out for actors with stronger screen presence, you might be able to overtake that hurdle.
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Post by Mattsby on Aug 19, 2019 21:33:44 GMT
Bumping this thread to talk about Saban Films, a genre-focused indie label for VOD distribution that launched in 2014. They've released about 60 movies now and I've referred to them as "the absolute worst" before too - bc most of their movies are bottom of the barrel (they've only made like 5 that are worth seeing) and their release strategy and marketing is beyond lazy. But..... I'm calling myself out bc besides Netflix their outfit has released the best films so far this year!
Well, it's at least a bunch of underrated, pretty good stuff - Never Grow Old, The Vanishing, Light of My Life, Domino.
I've reviewed the first three around MA but Domino specifically gets a bad rap - it's f'n De Palma and the movie works as a compact genre exercise, chute-the-chute paced, with radiant visuals including some noir-harsh lighting and clever zooms, and a big Pino score that adds lift to everything. Yes the perfs are very unremarkable, the characters are paper-thin and the context is a bit of a jumble.... but the thematic provocation is traced effectively enough.... the way these professional operations fuel a sort of fuzzy moral justification with the extortion of criminality, and how technology has become a frightening foothold within terrorism. Haters be damn'd!
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Aug 20, 2019 17:56:24 GMT
Watch The Souvenir people
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Post by Johnny_Hellzapoppin on Aug 20, 2019 20:17:17 GMT
I definitely second The Vanishing and The Hole in the Ground
I'll add
Room 37: The Mysterious Death of Johnny Thunders The Legend of Cocaine Island (Doc)
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Film Socialism
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Post by Film Socialism on Aug 20, 2019 22:48:33 GMT
Glass, It Has To Be Lived Once and Dreamed Twice, Cinema Steve, The Beach Bum, and Surrender are the only things i've seen so far worth recommending. these threads are always way too premature for my liking; i'm just now getting caught up with most of what i wanted to see in 2016, let alone the current year where everything is doing festival runs or is otherwise unavailable
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