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Post by Mattsby on Feb 5, 2021 23:24:16 GMT
![](https://64.media.tumblr.com/8c3444737bf27ba0291f115f9f8742b0/tumblr_psvlyuEWQa1tbiihio4_500.png) The Secret (1979) 7.5/10 - Ann Hui's directorial debut, a Hong Kong giallo that's trickily structured, enthralling, perplexing. Sylvia Chang, who partly financed the movie, stars as a nurse looking into the double homicide of her neighbors. In terms of style, its moodiness and use of music and transitions, it's really impressive.....but the storyline doesn't exactly cohere and the rushed ending brings in at least three questionable (rather daring) elements in a row. Still, lotta giallo markers (cats - a wind up music box - flashback reveals - baroque soundtrack - cut off closeups of the "villain"), a major reference to Don't Look Now, and a character named Tsy-Cho.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Feb 5, 2021 23:47:05 GMT
Berlin Alexanderplatz (2020) - all 3 hours of it. I have to say I thought it was pretty wonderful. Haven't read the book or seen Fassbinder's miniseries so I went into it completely unprejudiced and what I got was a sprawling, stylish crime drama about an undocumented immigrant's broken dreams of upward mobility, with ambition enough to match its messiness. Headlined by strong perfs from Welket Bungué as the lead, Jella Haase as his pixie-haired proustite lover, and Albrecht Schuch (also great in System Crasher) as a queer-coded low-rent con who comes between them. The visuals are resplendent, capturing the grotesque beauty of Berlin's underbelly with neon hues and sublime tracking/drone shots. Burhan Qurbani's cerebral directing in conjunction with Philipp Thomas's crisp editing makes much of the runtime fly smoothly by until the plot starts to peter out in the last hour, but it all comes full circle for an affecting ending which after three hours of misery felt like a breath of fresh air. ![https://static.dw.com/image/54121738_401.jpg](https://static.dw.com/image/54121738_401.jpg)
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 6, 2021 0:11:54 GMT
Regalo di Natale (Christmas Present) (1986) - 7.5/10 - Kind of a terrific guys movie about 4 friends + 1 who get together to play poker on Christmas Eve - a tradition but this time things change. Directed by Pupi Avati who did the ace 70s giallo House of Laughing Windows it has a simple premise, a poetic vibe and a great last shot. This could have been a great US remake - guys playing poker, fnck yeah - even though the acting is straight ahead and not show-offish - DePac, Pesci, Walken, Keitel in the 90s.......take my money.... ![](https://www.debaser.it/resize.aspx?path=/files/2010%2F31320.jpg&width=1200&crop=1&height=1200)
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Post by Mattsby on Feb 6, 2021 3:34:40 GMT
Near Fear No Die (1990) 7-7.5/10. "The cocks are crowing but I can't see them." Jean-Pierre Brialy who memorably played the hosting reveler back during the French New Wave (Les Cousins, Les Godelureaux, etc) is now the older, sterner, crueler host to two immigrants who train roosters for him. Claire Denis opens with a Chester Himes quote and from there sort of minimizes, subverts, and redirects the noir formula, following the black leads in an industrial, freezing-out France.....the critic Ignatiy Vishnevetsky has a really great review that unpacks that. I usually struggle with Claire Denis's choppiness as a filmmaker, but not here.
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Post by MsMovieStar on Feb 6, 2021 17:51:18 GMT
![](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZTEwY2M0NzAtYjBiMi00Yzg3LWE0ZGYtYTYwODEzMWU0MDFhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDM2NDM2MQ@@._V1_.jpg) Oh honey, God only knows why I keep putting myself through these Sofia snoozefests... maybe just because they are pretty to look at... and her pretentiousness amuses me. Was she going for a Woody Allen-esque sophisticated, well heeled, urban comedy... but ending up with what felt like a well lit, beautifully styled, empty box from Tiffany's? On the Rocks 5/10
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Post by theycallmemrfish on Feb 6, 2021 19:04:12 GMT
The Way Back - you've already seen this movie probably a dozen times over. It's not horrible but it's so been there done that. Affleck is admirable but if you want to watch a good Gavin O'Connor movie check out Warrior or Miracle.
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Post by jakesully on Feb 6, 2021 19:13:10 GMT
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (re watch in honor of Mr Plummer's passing away) Such a great film . Plummer was awesome in it. RIP sir, you'll never be forgotten! ![](https://64.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0tdsbYqrx1qada99o1_500.gif)
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Post by Mattsby on Feb 6, 2021 20:37:34 GMT
Waking Ned (1998) Even tho this basks in itself, that same glow tugs at your heart and Ian Bannen/David Kelly are wonderfully funny together.
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Post by stabcaesar on Feb 7, 2021 17:42:16 GMT
Jagten - Very strong. Mikkelsen was a relevation. 8/10.
Promising Young Woman - Very fun to watch. Definitely the best I've seen from Mulligan. Both the script and the direction are excellent. Hope Fennell and Mulligan do well at the Oscars. 8/10.
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Post by Mattsby on Feb 7, 2021 19:00:58 GMT
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c8/R_xmas_poster.jpg) R Xmas (2001) 7 and Go Go Tales (2007) 7.5 - Well, this double feature further knots my Ferrara v Schrader poll for me. R Xmas reminded me of Light Sleeper actually, by way of Frank Capra or something - a sweeter Ferrara with emphasis on dissolves, how scenes spill into the next, how the fading also looks a little like renewal. The tender mood and the fresh perfs (Drea de Matteo and Lillo Brancato - both were mid Sopranos) make up for its slight, pushed context. Should've watched this in December, lotta holiday traits. Go Go Tales is a great surprise, proving Abel is the bruised Bronx bridge between Cassavetes and the Safdies. This steals the concept of Killing of a Chinese Bookie but puts it into Altmanesque use - backstage dreamers, actors improvising and overlapping. There's a thrilling sonic chaos to it, bumped up by the great soundtrack. Dafoe gives an underrated, swinging perf as the gambling addict owner of a broke club. At one point, asked about money, he says "It's coming our way!" and repeats it over and over, as if he's glitching. There's a drilled optimism to him...and remember the club is called Ray Ruby's Paradise - it's his fantasy (especially so given the ending punchline). Go Go, set in NYC but shot in Rome, has a fascinating purgatorial mood (I feel that way about a lot of Abels). Its exterior restrictions sort of add to that, like when club manager Bob Hoskins beckons a leaving bunch to come back - the camera never cuts to show what's out there. I wonder why these two movies are rated under 6.0 on IMDb. They aren't perfect but they aren't unenjoyable either. Go Go apparently had a lot of walkouts during its Cannes premiere and it went undistributed in the US. Maybe they didn't pick up on the comedy of it......and there's Abel, singing a punk song about Bed Bath and Beyond over the ending credits, laughing all the way. themoviesinner who I believe has seen these !
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Post by Mattsby on Feb 8, 2021 3:12:41 GMT
Bandits, Prostitutes, and Silver (1977) Pao-Shu Kao was an actress for the Shaw Brothers before working her way up their production ladder to director, and just when she got there she jumped ship, started her own company to independently kung fu. Maybe due to this her movies are very rare, outside of the occasional New Bev screening (Gogo's meteor hammer from Kill Bill? That's all Kao). This was her eighth directorial outing and, tho I've only eyed a few, probably her best? Only 78 votes on IMDb! It's Western-inspired, with a clear and urgent plot, a lot of great fight scenes, an extended cameo from legend Angela Mao as "Bandit Queen" who wears blades for feet? And the ending...leaves you hanging ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/6692321/images/VX9qBdLG_XyugpFkNIU4.gif) . It's awesome. The movie also shares a cinematographer with Edward Yang's A Brighter Summer Day.
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Post by themoviesinner on Feb 8, 2021 14:02:29 GMT
Mattsby yeah, those two Ferrara films are pretty great, especially Go Go Tales, which is among his most socialist and humanistic films as well. It also features one of Dafoe's very best performances.
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 9, 2021 12:34:58 GMT
A Dark Song (2016) - close to a ~ 7.5/10One of those sleeper UK "horror" movies that to me way overthinks its ending (some will find that divisively audacious) but what happened earlier justifies the rating and is my reason for it. This will get labeled a horror but it's more a genre mix - and it's better and more realized within its framework than the initially fantastic and eventually goofy, clunky Kill List. Ymmv People who don't like horror will like it I bet and be scared by it too which is why they don't watch horror to begin with - life is funny isn't it.........except not in the haha sense ![:uhoh:](//storage.proboards.com/6692321/images/c8bbBnLz3a98Jzy_29H2.gif) .........this is more chilling than scary ........ it takes its time to get to a place you may feel doesn't warrant it but when this works it REALLY works..... ![](https://kultguyskeep.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/a_dark_song_dvd_slv_v0e-e1500544037114.jpg)
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Javi
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Post by Javi on Feb 9, 2021 19:05:14 GMT
Odissea (1968) - Said to be the most faithful adaptation of Homer's Odyssey. Released as an 8-hour miniseries (it was a ratings hit in Europe) and shot on location in Tuscany and Yugoslavia with great attention to detail. The scenes look just as the Greeks might have pictured them, with minimal modern intrusions. Among its greatest episodes is Ulysses' encounter with the one-eyed cannibal giant Polyphemus—a triumph of imagination and effects work by Mario Bava. Franco Rossi's Hades is no ordinary purgatory either: its spirits stripped of both body and soul, and they're aware of it. A chilling, ominous netherworld, and when Ulysses meets his dead mother, it becomes the setting of a great scene. And the climax is a stunner. Sweet pagan wrath—it's no Christian reckoning! ![:uhoh:](//storage.proboards.com/6692321/images/c8bbBnLz3a98Jzy_29H2.gif) Ulysses' bloodlust is as satisfying as the moment he accepts the elders' peace. Bekim Fehmiu is a scheming, active, engaging Ulysses, a warrior navigating peacetime and homesickness, and a plaything of the gods. And Irene Papas is a magnificent Penelope, warding off a revolting gang of suitors. It's an amazing work overall... and the text isn't dumbed down in the least. This has the best Trojan horse I've ever seen, but Google Images doesn't have it so Irene will have to do! ![](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/18/b1/4c/18b14c65e3b2cf5ca87f86dbe100110a.jpg)
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Post by Mattsby on Feb 9, 2021 19:32:15 GMT
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DfTV-3KXkAEPxEZ?format=jpg&name=large) Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970) Up to 7/10 Come Back, Charleston Blue (1972) 7.5/10 Coffin Ed and Gravedigger Jones double feature. These two movies should've made stars of Godfrey Cambridge and Raymond St Jacques - they work like magic together and, to steal a stephen ism, they should've got their own series. Cotton, directed by Ossie Davis, is bigger and goofier and has a more daring, starrier villain (Calvin Lockhart). But.... Charleston Blue, a murder mystery, is more entertaining and looks closer at urban myths, the undertow of drugs, and the badass despite-all composure of our two cops. "Blink once and you're dead. Blink twice and you're buried."
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Post by stephen on Feb 9, 2021 19:43:51 GMT
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DfTV-3KXkAEPxEZ?format=jpg&name=large) Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970) Up to 7/10 Come Back, Charleston Blue (1972) 7.5/10 Coffin Ed and Gravedigger Jones double feature. These two movies should've made stars of Godfrey Cambridge and Raymond St Jacques - they work like magic together and, to steal a stephen ism, they should've got their own series. Cotton, directed by Ossie Davis, is bigger and goofier and has a more daring, starrier villain (Calvin Lockhart). But.... Charleston Blue, a murder mystery, is more entertaining and looks closer at urban myths, the undertow of drugs, and the badass despite-all composure of our two cops. "Blink once and you're dead. Blink twice and you're buried."You should totally read the series by Chester Himes. I went on a binge of Coffin Ed/Gravedigger Jones five or so years ago. Michael K. Williams and Charles S. Dutton were always my personal picks for the roles.
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 10, 2021 2:07:33 GMT
Montage (2013) - 7.5++ / 10Exciting, complex South Korean film that doesn't cheat though it could and is quite emotional too. This could be enjoyed by anyone - there is nothing off-putting about it - its an almost machine like efficient framework. Like all films from South Korea there's the past and the present and how they overwhelm and recede for a sad, permanently lingering criminal case. Sort of a twist on South Korean revenge stories and stars Kim Sang-kyung from Memories of Murder in a key role too. ![](https://d3rwyinxzcqr6y.cloudfront.net/Assets/60/819/L_p0054781960.jpg)
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Post by Pittsnogle_Goggins on Feb 10, 2021 3:11:21 GMT
The Bad Batch. Some interesting stuff throughout but ultimately a pretty big let down
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Post by stabcaesar on Feb 10, 2021 10:01:30 GMT
Wolfwalkers - Sensational. Just absolute marvel all around. The animation, the voice work, the score, and the songs were all perfection. Cartoon Saloon did it again. Running with the Wolves should be nominated for original song. 10/10.
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Post by mhynson27 on Feb 10, 2021 10:14:41 GMT
Wolfwalkers - Sensational. Just absolute marvel all around. The animation, the voice work, the score, and the songs were all perfection. Cartoon Saloon does it again. Running with the Wolves should be nominated for original song. 10/10. Well I've got some bad news for you, didn't even make the shortlist.
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Post by stabcaesar on Feb 10, 2021 10:16:52 GMT
Wolfwalkers - Sensational. Just absolute marvel all around. The animation, the voice work, the score, and the songs were all perfection. Cartoon Saloon does it again. Running with the Wolves should be nominated for original song. 10/10. Well I've got some bad news for you, didn't even make the shortlist. Ugh. Their taste ![:dead:](//storage.proboards.com/6692321/images/XEisjEQVcK7pQLa7iJnP.gif)
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Post by Miles Morales on Feb 10, 2021 11:03:32 GMT
Well I've got some bad news for you, didn't even make the shortlist. Ugh. Their taste ![:dead:](//storage.proboards.com/6692321/images/XEisjEQVcK7pQLa7iJnP.gif) Well, technically it isn't an original song. It was made by Aurora back in 2015, with a special version made for the film. Sucks, because the song is fucking amazing, but it won't make any awards shortlist because of this.
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Post by JangoB on Feb 10, 2021 11:11:42 GMT
Ugh. Their taste ![:dead:](//storage.proboards.com/6692321/images/XEisjEQVcK7pQLa7iJnP.gif) Well, technically it isn't an original song. It was made by Aurora back in 2015, with a special version made for the film. Sucks, because the song is fucking amazing, but it won't make any awards shortlist because of this. While watching the movie, I also thought it was an original one and hoped it would at least get nominated since it was so good. And then I found out that it wasn't original and in fact was very popular and well-known. Such a sadness. Still a great song in the movie!
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Post by stabcaesar on Feb 10, 2021 11:12:13 GMT
Ugh. Their taste ![:dead:](//storage.proboards.com/6692321/images/XEisjEQVcK7pQLa7iJnP.gif) Well, technically it isn't an original song. It was made by Aurora back in 2015, with a special version made for the film. Sucks, because the song is fucking amazing, but it won't make any awards shortlist because of this. Oh I did not know that lmao. Ok then. ![:laugh:](//storage.proboards.com/6692321/images/30ulL7PvEvGt97femFHx.gif)
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Post by Pavan on Feb 10, 2021 11:54:20 GMT
The Hours (2002)-
An engrossing multi-period drama about three generations of women having to deal common elements like choices, consequences, meaning, life and ultimately death. The movie fairly succeeded in getting all these right but at times it stresses the point a bit too much tossing away some of the subtlety brought in by the actors who were brilliant btw. A moody and evocative score from Philip Glass gave it a distinctive atmosphere- 8/10
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