rigorousintuition.ca

^^Speaking of Spanish directors - a couple of good Spanish horror movies (one by Alejandro Amenábar):

The Nameless:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m9Xt6mMbSU

Thesis (by Alejandro Amenábar. The full movie is on youtube, but no subtitles):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIrrXbhIuzI

"Slow West."

I've seen some really good post-Unforgiven Westerns, and it's no surprise this was a New Zealand production, since both The Proposition and The Rover, despite the repetitive naming scheme, were asynchronous masterpieces, to me. But "Slow West" was an unusually inspiring labor of love. It was recommended to me on the basis of the photography - on par with anything in 2015, to be sure - and the timeless "The Ending is So Crazy, Bruh, You Have No Idea."

In this case, I did not. I'm happy to report I can't give you any spoilers, the ending is such paroxysm of magical realism. AKA, Magical Realism. This one will survive most of us and I hope it inspires young men of all ages to respect their counterparts in the war against assholes.

.

Saw this on Netflix the other day...

"...freedom breeds inequality" (in a non-regulated capitalist system)

semper occultus » Fri Nov 20, 2015 6:48 am wrote:....god help me I've just signed on for this one...13 hours....9-5pm over Saturday-Sunday ....I'll be talking in a french accent by next Sunday afternoon...

Looks interesting. I started to download but learned that a restored version will be released on blu-ray in January...

Lots of good recommendations here recently. Thanks everybody.

I thought The Lobster was both good and discomfiting.

The Lobster

Single people must find romantic partners in 45 days or be transformed into beasts and sent off into the woods.

Initial release: October 16, 2015 (United Kingdom)

Director: Yorgos Lanthimos

Wombaticus Rex » Tue Dec 29, 2015 9:22 pm wrote:"Slow West."

I've seen some really good post-Unforgiven Westerns, and it's no surprise this was a New Zealand production, since both The Proposition and The Rover, despite the repetitive naming scheme, were asynchronous masterpieces, to me. But "Slow West" was an unusually inspiring labor of love. It was recommended to me on the basis of the photography - on par with anything in 2015, to be sure - and the timeless "The Ending is So Crazy, Bruh, You Have No Idea."

In this case, I did not. I'm happy to report I can't give you any spoilers, the ending is such paroxysm of magical realism. AKA, Magical Realism. This one will survive most of us and I hope it inspires young men of all ages to respect their counterparts in the war against assholes.

Forgot to include this in my best of 2015 tweet, thanks. Dark lyricism, magical realism as a tonic for the usual post-Tarantino nihilism. Fassbender obviously doing an Eastwood homage, pulls it off. Occasionally sublime.

I watched Sicario this week - fantastic. So beautifully shot, with all the aerial pans hinting at constant surveillance. And an awesome score, very atmospheric and very unusual, completely staying away from the usual Hollywood string arrangements. And a great plot. One of the better movies I've seen this year for sure.

My vote for best R.I.-ish film of 2015 (although released in 2008 I think.)



I think in many ways it is better than the Thing prequel/remake that came out.

brekin » Thu Dec 31, 2015 1:50 pm wrote:
I think in many ways it is better than the Thing prequel/remake that came out.

I have known few Philistines who can offend my aesthetic sensibilities as flagrantly as you.

I cannot help but admire the gesture of submitting a music video as superior -- albeit "in many ways" -- to a John Carpenter film.

Don't ever change.

Anyways. Just caught The Big Short and was surprised how much I loved it. They took all kinds of liberties to make it so entertaining, but it's more than the sum of its parts...really does the naked insanity of the CDO bubble justice.

What's the big tobacco angle on Star Wars?

And long as we're doing entertaining SF Neo-Noir trifles with "Big" in the title...

The Big Bang
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwntbsRIYNs

Wombaticus Rex » Thu Dec 31, 2015 2:13 pm wrote:

brekin » Thu Dec 31, 2015 1:50 pm wrote:
I think in many ways it is better than the Thing prequel/remake that came out.

I have known few Philistines who can offend my aesthetic sensibilities as flagrantly as you.
I cannot help but admire the gesture of submitting a music video as superior -- albeit "in many ways" -- to a John Carpenter film.

Don't ever change.

Ha, ha. Angry tiger lies heavy on the Buddhas mind clouding judgement. I was talking about the non-Carpenter Thing prequel/remake that came out in 2011.

The Thing (2011 film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_%282011_film%29

I don't consider myself even worthy to even talk about John Carpenter original. Do you?

I do, but I also stand corrected, and frankly relieved. Hugely relieved.

I have been on a crusade through Every Horror Re-Make, very few gems to be found. Special mention to Michael Bay's training camp Platinum Dunes, a prolific source of mediocre content who managed to produce not a single decent film so far.

(Side note, I have been surprised how many people I talk to about this who don't realize Cronenberg's '86 rendition of The Fly was a itself a re-make.)

The 2011 iteration of The Thing was executed like a rich film student doing a boring project, which is to say like Gus Van Sant doing Psycho. Painful.

In related news, it's pretty weird to me that I've seen most of my favorite 2015 films in the past two weeks of my life. Something is very broken with the release cycle, yeah? I found a page-long list after I moved - a sheet of reminders, films I wanted to see in 2015. About half of that list isn't even out yet.

A small reminder to the criminally inclined: It's Oscar season, which means it's screener season, which in turn means Jackpot!

Watched Straight Outta Compton yesterday and enjoyed it. Gonna watch The Big Short in a moment.

Arrrr!

Denis Villeneuve has some RI sensibilities for sure... Prisoners had a very weird undertone for a major studio release and Sicario was already discussed above. Sicario is his best thus far I think. Wonder what he'll do with Blade Runner 2. At least he's got Deakins lensing.

Anybody seen "Revenant" yet? I've always been fascinated by the original story which I read back in the 9th grade.

brekin » 31 Dec 2015 20:10 wrote:I don't consider myself even worthy to even talk about John Carpenter original. Do you?