FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION: films of a certain quality

[semper occultus]

JG Ballard + the director of Kill List...sounds like a dream ( maybe nightmare ) ticket..

[Iamwhomiam]

I watched Coming Home last night, a very good film that tugs your heartstrings.

[JackRiddler]

Late to the party, but wow . . 'Ex Machina' is tremendous. Wears its Kubrick influences on its sleeve yet way more than a terrestrial retelling of 2001' or a claustrophobic nod to 'The Shining', and at its best when it acknowledges those films in ways almost purely visual (the staging in the bunker hallway at the film's denouement is both subtle and shocking). One of the first great films of the 21st century. Am curious how the framing of its subtexts read to those unfamiliar with the themes upon which this narrative is structured.

Hell yeah to this review.

Should keep this thread kicked until I watch everything.

[JackRiddler]

...really grokked this one recently for its retro 1970's paranoia vibe - the sort of film James Coburn used to be in - and nicely plotted story centring on a massive AI system. These sorts of films used to be on tv every weekend, really miss them

That was fun. Thanks for the rec. And ha, the premise of this think-heavy thing (albeit schematic, earnestly thought) was reborn as The Terminator!

[Cordelia]

I watched Coming Home last night, a very good film that tugs your heartstrings.

Thanks for the recommendation--surprised to find it my local Redbox, which generally stocks only the latest horror and action films; never foreign language. Very poignant story with understated acting.

Over the weekend I dusted off this dvd. It addresses the plight of an American 'GI baby' from Vietnam, refugee camps, the perilous voyage to America and forced labor conditions once here. (Nick Nolte's role is small; Tim Roth is always good.)



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTpw52G3XTg

[Nordic]

From friends I know who went to Sundance, I have heard that this is really great:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4285496

Embrace of the Serpent.



Anyone seen this yet?

[semper occultus]

...cheers JR...


thing is back in that era they didn't worry about having to bolt happy feel-good endings onto everything.....in fact it was pretty much de rigeur to do no such thing ...the big come-down from the 60's I guess...made the films feel a bit more grown-up somehow....

[JackRiddler]

I recommend this, but can't talk about it...too painful.

It is the film that The Magus should have been.

All the trailers give too much away.

Thanks for this recommendation too! Great film.

Greatly enjoyed this and would say the same: don't watch any trailers or read reviews. You'll see it coming, regardless, and wonder how it will play out. And it's about a lot more than just the plot... sort of a meditation on what we might call bourgeouis society and what undid it.

.

[Harvey]

I'm conflicted about this film as I am about most things, but it's good.

The Barbarian Invasions by Denys Arcand



This is a sequel to The Decline of the American Empire which I haven't seen, but I don't feel impoverished by the lack. Essentially a clash of cultures and how a dying academic forges a new community of misfits through his dying and through the relationships he has already forged. Beautiful and funny.

[Harvey]

Thanks for this recommendation too! Great film.

Greatly enjoyed this and would say the same: don't watch any trailers or read reviews. You'll see it coming, regardless, and wonder how it will play out. And it's about a lot more than just the plot... sort of a meditation on what we might call bourgeouis society and what undid it.

.

Cinema Paradiso isn't bad either.

[JackRiddler]

Cinema Paradiso isn't bad either.

Really? I had my doubts but I'll put it on my bootleggers' queue. But is it a meditation about (the promise of) bourgeois society and what undid it?

[Harvey]

Cinema Paradiso isn't bad either.

Really? I had my doubts but I'll put it on my bootleggers' queue. But is it a meditation about (the promise of) bourgeois society and what undid it?

Not really. Why should it be? It's about cinema, a beautiful story about a projectionist who takes on a young boy as an apprentice in a small Italian village and many other things along the way.

To a man with a hard on for 'meditations upon (the promise of) bourgeois societies' it might just be, but then everything will, or not.

[JackRiddler]

Cinema Paradiso isn't bad either.

Really? I had my doubts but I'll put it on my bootleggers' queue. But is it a meditation about (the promise of) bourgeois society and what undid it?

Not really. Why should it be? It's about cinema, a beautiful story about a projectionist who takes on a young boy as an apprentice in a small Italian village and many other things along the way.

To a man with a hard on for 'meditations upon (the promise of) bourgeois societies' it might just be, but then everything will, or not.

Come on, it's not a hard-on, it's just repartee, man. Since you were responding to my comment and all. (Maybe it was a lack of humor what killed society, not just the bourgeois?)

I'll watch it soon, surely.

[Harvey]

I was smiling while I typed, but I prefer not to use green phosphor. Anyway, I was amused.

Edit: And exhausted. Sorry my friend, I read my response back and it does indeed sound like I'm a po faced arsehole. Which is true enough, but I was smiling! Honest!

[chump]

Crossroads

Ralphie's acting is as it always was, and I wasn't much into the Karate Kid, but Crossroads, directed by Walter Hill, was a cool little movie - when you're in a bad mood.