The King Of Comedy at the cinema was a real treat. Top 3 Scorsese for me
4 Likes
This film has probably got my favourite twist of all time when it turns out heās actually funny
2 Likes
The French Connection - dvd
Good but not as good as Big
Thought Past Lives was really nice, even if it did get a bitā¦ serious and weighty filmmaking in places for my tastes. The bit where he ruminates about her dreaming in a language he doesnāt know 
. But otherwise it looked amazing, the cast were all really good, I really felt the story, and it was almost exactly the right kind of length.
I watched A Woman Under The Influence for the first time yesterday. Brilliant. Never want to watch it again.
3 Likes
Dangerous Liaisons (1988) 
Scenery chewing a-go-go but a great adaptation that doesnāt shy away from the nastiness of it - Malkovich you really are a shit.
Living (2022) 
Bill Nighy is dying and youāll soon wish you were. A criminal waste of Patsy Ferran.
5 Likes
4 Likes
My September so far;
Past Lives 4/5 (Cinema)
Wasnāt fully feeling the wonder until the final act where all the previous work comes together in a truly magical rollercoaster of emotions. Some stellar writing and the handling of the boyfriend character was fresh and delicately handled.
They Cloned Tyrone 3/5 (Netflix)
Some strong highlights in style, lighting, costume and soundtrack, but found a lot to be rather jumbled with major pacing issues.
LOLA 4/5 (VOD)
The production design and attention to detail (especially for an indie) are truly incredible and work wonders in rooting us in a time and place. A ālo-fi sci-fi time travel found footage collageā ticks a lot of my boxes as does the irony of trying to avert a dystopian fascist filled futureā¦ I really liked this - Sam Barlow would LOVE IT.
King Kong 4/5 (1933) (iPlayer)
How is this not the hokiest looking thing imaginable? You could see it working out ok if they just had to deal with Kong alone, but to not only nail his movement, humanity and general characteristics, but to also do it for half a dozen other creatures and creepy crawlies is hugely impressive. It is amazing to see such ambition for spectacle and big ideas totally nailed nearly 100 years ago with projection, puppetry, design, paintings, stop motion, mirrors, miniatures and many more aspects all working seamlessly together to create legendary movie magic. Everything else in terms of representation with race, gender, colonialism and capitalism is awful.
Terminus 4/5 (Talking Pictures TV)
What a wonderful peek into an almost (to my eyes) unrecognisable train station presumably near its peak just before motorway and airport ubiquity. The snapshots of these quintessentially British 60ās faces and fashion are all so fascinating and would make a great double bill with Cairo Station.
The Seventh Seal (YouTube) 4/5
Didnāt see it as an all time great, but wasnāt the best viewing experience with a few annoyingly unavoidable interruptions - would love an unbroken rewatch down the line in a cinema. Touches upon the biggest of questions possible and unlike 2001, Tree Of Life and Andrei Rublev it tries to answer them in a much smaller runtime. The looming presence of death throughout is such a great element and much funnier than expected.
Landscape With Invisible Hands (VOD) 1.5/5
Didnāt connect at all. Half baked ideas, a glacial feel, rather naff looking effects and a few dodgy performances didnāt help in making this feel like a rejected Black Mirror episode. Near the bottom of 2023 for me.
Kubrick By Kubrick (Sky Arts) 2.5/5
Didnāt really learn anything new, but some nice footage and the thread of using iconic artefacts from his filmography as chapter markers was imaginative. Beyond excited to see Barry Lyndon at the cinema for the first time soon and hopefully catch Room 237 down the line.
The Pod Generation (VOD) 3.5/5
Watching this right after Landscape With Invisible Hands further highlighted how poor that was. This is so much better in every department and stating that the former would be a rejected episode of Black Mirrorā¦this would easily be a standoud from the recent series. It only scratches the surface in some areas and could use a sneaky re-edit cutting out any reference to NFTās however. Also I really donāt like to rag on performances, but Emilia Clarke is so jarring, off putting and would be so far down my list if I was in charge of casting.
2 Likes
will be renting this tonight!
1 Like
Its on BFI subscription soon
1 Like
Judgement at Nuremburg is on iPlayer, 3 hrs 10 that just flies by despite the tough subject matter. Just great performances
Sympathy for the Devil is a recent āCage up to 100ā where he actually is doing his thing but its not annoying. Decent
1 Like
Recently watched:
Battling Butler - Posh stone face Buster Keaton accidentally is mistaken for a champion boxer. He goes along with it to impress his new girlfriend and then wife.
Might be one of his early ones where we didnāt get the full Keaton like in Seven Chances or Cops. Good but with not amongst his best. 6/10.
Elevator Game - Horror film thatās really shit. 1/10.
The Abominable Dr Phibes - Vincent Price hams it up well but it didnāt quite click with me. 6/10.
This Is Spinal Tap - Seen it many times but not for a few years. 11/10.
Evil Dead Rise - Another shit horror. Just too repetitive and dull. I can accept if it offers nothing new but it offered fuck all entertainment. 2/10.
2 Likes
The cold open deserves more than that on its own!
1 Like
Dunno if youāve seen this, itās really good.
I have a DVD from a Kubrick boxset I got many moons ago. Going to save it until I fully complete his filmography. Only 2 more to go.
1 Like
I had semi-high expectations for thisā¦my quality control for films is fairly low as most know on here but that film was so poor.
I had either this or The Ones You Didnāt Burn as my horror that afternoon. Iāll watch that maybe in the next few days.
Bottoms starts off quite weak, really grows into itself then it has one of the most jarring and weird scenes I can remember seeing and loses its way completely. Very odd
Dumb Money is fine - Paul Dano lifts it from average but the portrayals of several people involved feel half-baked and a documentary probably would be more satisfying. Still donāt really understand how stonks work. 3 stars.
seems a much different film to what I expected
No Way Out - A thriller from the 80s with Kevin Costner and Gene Hackman. Iād never heard of it, so that didnāt bode well, but it turned out to be a perfectly decent political thriller, and genuinely tense.
Gringo - Recentish (2018) comedy action about a hostage being taken in Mexico. David Oyelowo and Charlize Theron star. I thought it perfectly fine, silly, funny though reviews werenāt great.
Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert - Saw when it was released, so it was interesting viewing again. Some bits donāt hang together and seem like a sequence of one-liners, but really quite lovely in parts.
Going in Style - Morgan Freeman, Micheal Caine doing a servicable - āold people doing things as they arenāt over the hillā film. There was a slew of these a while ago as they proved popular.
Run All Night - Liam Neeson in one of his post āTakenā films where he has to dust off his knuckle dusters to protect his son from his ex boss. Again, no huge surprises and fine as something to be entertained by.
The Accountant - Slightly ridiculous premise. Ben Affleck is an autistic accountant who is also a trained killer! But once it got going I enjoyed it. Funny in parts, though some of that was probably my recognition of the traits.