What was the last film you watched?

[Mel O'Drama]

Should I ask why you feel that way?
For me it's the only Tom Hardy performance I've seen (or remember) therefore I only have the one positive reference.

It was the opposite for me. I thoroughly enjoyed the film remake of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy in which he had a small role which I consider the worst thing about it. I said this at the time:

It's also very nicely cast, again with a passing exception or two (I really wish Michael Fassbender had been available to play Tarr as the actor they ended up with didn't do subtle.

I'm sure he's fine at playing the angry alpha male type but his character here was meant to be nervous, edgy and reticent but he was just trying too hard for my liking and I found his performance for this part overly mannered, amateurish and unconvincing which briefly took me out of the otherwise-compelling story.

​

Incidentally, I've just watched a few scenes from Locke and found myself thinking he did a passable Newcastle accent.... Then I looked further and discovered it's meant to be Welsh. Seems he took a lot of stick over that (and rightly so). It is a nice concept though, and does look very well-made.

 

[Willie Oleson]

I thoroughly enjoyed the film remake of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy in which he had a small role which I consider the worst thing about it

Oh...I've tried to watch that a few weeks ago, but turned it off after 30+ minutes or so.
I have never watched the original series therefore it's all new to me. I found what I've seen (set up, characters, purpose etc) incomprehensible but I can blame that failure on my own nitwittery.
But it's also boringly incomprehensible and surely I shouldn't be blamed for both.
There's nothing outrageous about this situation, it's happened many times before....but probably not with films starring Gary Oldman.
On the upside, I never got to the part of Tom Hardy's (alleged) problematic performance which means that my opinion of Hardy & Locke remains untarnished.

I have been thinking about watching the original TTSS series (and its sequel) because I usually like to watch characters who pretend to be someone else. I'm sure it traces back to the children's stories about bad wolves pretending to be sweet grandmothers and whatnot.
Come to think of it, wasn't Gary Oldman in a modern version of Red Riding Hood?

 

[Willie Oleson]

The Unbelievable Truth (1989)



It's a combination of deadpan humour, pseudo-ambitious scenarios and a pseudo-earnest romance, but relatively lite on the quirks.
It's not a great or fascinating film and it's not super-quotable, but at the same time it never looks as if something comes out the wrong way. I believe this film looks exactly the way it was meant to be, aware of its limitations and to make the very best of it.
I'm easily persuaded if you show confidence and I think that's what makes this "underwhelming" romcom so oddly appealing.

In a rather soapy fashion it starts with the return of an ex-convict (a "mass murderer!") who may or may not have killed someone. So that's Elliot Carson from Peyton Place.
There's a recurring joke about I don't drink/I don't smoke, and the more I think about it the funnier this film gets.
Meanwhile, the daughter of the town's main and only family ponders the end of the world and she breaks up with her perfectly awful boyfriend Emmet. He may have been the inspiration for South Park's Eric Cartman.
She also becomes an international supermodel but no attempts have been made to make that look remotely believable (I'm sure that was the point).
And then other stuff happens blablabla mostly courtesy of the father's endless quid pro quos.

I like it very much, and I'll probably go back to it in the foreseeable future. It's sort of post-Repo Man (1984) and pre-Clerks (1994).




Barfly (1987)



CHEERS - The Movie
Not sure if I had seen it before, but what appears to be a draining session of drunks sharing their woe-is-me's turns into a delightful screwball romcomedy.
Mickey Rourke outbrandoes Marlon Brando and Faye Dunaway is always a good watch even when the film isn't (except for Laura Mars, perhaps).
Also starring Alice Krige in a catfight with Faye (was it a homage to the bar catfight in Get Carter?) and Frank "Far From Over" Stallone as the short-tempered bartender.
Story-wise there isn't much for me to comment on. Apparently it's autobiographical but I had never heard of this writer. Doesn't matter, the film is great regardless of the reason behind it.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

I found what I've seen (set up, characters, purpose etc) incomprehensible but I can blame that failure on my own nitwittery.
But it's also boringly incomprehensible and surely I shouldn't be blamed for both.

Oh, interesting. I can't say either way as I must confess I remember very little about it now (other than I came out thinking it was a really good film).

On the upside, I never got to the part of Tom Hardy's (alleged) problematic performance which means that my opinion of Hardy & Locke remains untarnished.

Ha ha. Well I'm glad. It does look a good concept, and perhaps one day (probably some long way off) I'll get over my first impression and be able to watch and enjoy it.

I have never watched the original series therefore it's all new to me.

I have been thinking about watching the original TTSS series (and its sequel)

Ditto on both counts. It sounds like you've thought more actively than me about watching. It's just one of many vintage TV series on a long-and-growing viewing wish list.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Yes, and it doesn't help that I have no real connection with Fifties and Sixties Americana. Somehow it feels so far removed from the more modest, kitchen sink drama or cheeky comedies that is my frame of reference for Britain in the same period

On that subject, have you seen this film?


I can't post the link because it's already been removed and the trailer shows too much of the highlights (not to mention the horrible and very obviously manipulative trailer score).
Purely based on the description it didn't seem like a film I needed to watch so I guess it was recommended in one of the online "forgotten gems" lists.
I wouldn't say that it was the story that won me over, but it has a certain vibe and attitude similar to Rita, Sue And Bob Too (also released in 1987).
Emily Lloyd is very convincing in her debut performance of the subversive protagonist, and she made me think of Julia Garner in Ozark.
And instead of the cheerleaders and milkshakes and big red glossy cars you'll get a strong sense of drab, post-WWII England. That's the main difference with America, Europe was still in the process of rebuilding, to make it normal again - and supersized milkshakes were not a priority yet.

Btw, this is definitely not to suggest that it was a walk in the park for Americans to make a living in the 1950s. They've always had their own issues to overcome, and personally I think there's something frightening about being part of such a huge and complex country. And there are horror stories of people who are forever lost in one of the extremely large supermarkets. "The exit is here, up down left right, or maybe not".
But in the fantasy of consumerist pop culture it certainly looks a lot friendlier, like, being in high school with John Travolta and Olivia Newton John.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Dead Poets Society (1989)



I want to give this film the benefit of the doubt and say that it might have looked sufficiently autre in the 1980s (well, more like the 1990s) but that doesn't change the fact that, even at the time of release, it should have been observed that this film looks like a friendly, heroic remake of The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie.
The finale made me think of the Lost Boys cheering for Peter Pan.
Furthermore, I'm not completely sold on the idea of teaching Carpe Diem to adolescents who only think of the present, girls and booze.
It's as if the story wants to take it away and then give it back in a meaningful and wholesome way, enhanced by poetry wanking.
The feeling of carpe diem usually comes after suffering or something lost, as it would happen in, say, a midlife crisis story. Educating Rita, and that sort of stuff.
Conveniently, there is one character who cannot do as he pleases and this results in Morte Diem. It feels a bit cheap and insincere but nevertheless, the death of a pretty young character is always going to look very tragic.

I'm sure there is an audience for this type of film, people love schmaltz and it's as simple as that. The problem is, I had not expected to find it in such a beloved classic that has cemented its place in pop culture history.
Dead Poets Society isn't just a title anymore, it has become a definition. In my opinion, the film does not live up to that reputation.
Yes, I was entertained, but not so much that my life has become richer for it.
And I think it was anxious pretty snotface Ethan Hawke who deserved the spanking but it didn't happen. An additional disappointment!

 

[Mel O'Drama]

On that subject, have you seen this film?

Do you know, I couldn't swear either way. I certainly remember the poster, and I seem to remember seeing it listed on TV over Christmas time, but with a very late start (probably after the News At Ten or something).

I feel I may have seen it (or parts of it), but then I may also be confusing it with another film made around the same time with a similar period setting. One scene from a film that sticks vividly in my mind is of a boy walking along a street when something can be seen silently gliding in the sky behind him and then there's a massive explosion as a shell drops. If it's not from this film then I probably haven't seen it.

When I just looked to see if I could jog my memory, I notice it's loosely based on the early life of Cynthia Payne, just as the same year's Personal Services was based on a slightly older Cynthia as she became an infamous madam. I loved Personal Services, so this has certainly piqued my interest.

And instead of the cheerleaders and milkshakes and big red glossy cars you'll get a strong sense of drab, post-WWII England. That's the main difference with America, Europe was still in the process of rebuilding, to make it normal again - and supersized milkshakes were not a priority yet.

This is very true.

 

[Willie Oleson]

just as the same year's Personal Services was based on a slightly older Cynthia as she became an infamous madam.

Aha, there's a sequel.


Bad Timing (1980)



The film poster promotes it as a double title but I only go by the title as seen in the film itself. There's enough tomfoolery going on with films getting re-titled to suit whatever demographics.
Having said that, the DVD I got has the translated Italian title "Il Lenzuolo Viola". If it's not one thing it's another!

I'm pretty sure this is not the first film about a toxic sexual relationship that I've seen, but the editing here is fantastic. There's a constant flow and overlapping between past events and present events and it never becomes confusing. It's somewhat similar to Altman's Images except that he did it with changing characters and situations.
Theresa Russell's character is the force of nature but Art Garfunkel and Harvey Keitel are also consistently very watchable.
For singer/songwriter Arty Fartyfunkel it seems to be an acting career "on the side" but I remember that he was also very good in Carnal Knowledge.
And so we can add another gem to the elusive year 1980. It's actually more like a mini-decade because it doesn't belong to the seventies or the eighties.

Theresa Russell also starred in Roeg's Track 29 (1988) which has my favourite Gary Oldman performance so far. Highly recommended if you like the zany stuff.

I just checked Nicolas Roeg's filmography (or directorography) to see if there's something else that would interest me, apart from his most successful/popular films like Don't Look Now, Walkabout and The Witches.
I found out that Theresa has been a recurring special guest star in his movies, just as it happens now with Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos, and Tilda Swinton with every filmmaker.
I've watched a lot of seventies psychedelic films and that's the reason why I've put Performance on hold. I will watch it because I need to see what almost destroyed James Fox.
Eureka (1983) is rated negatively but maybe that's a good thing because the main reason it "sucks" is because it's too soapy. I wonder if Rutger Hauer plays the Peter De Vilbis we couldn't see in Dynasty.

 

[Toni]

Aha, there's a sequel.


Bad Timing (1980)

View attachment 58001

The film poster promotes it as a double title but I only go by the title as seen in the film itself. There's enough tomfoolery going on with films getting re-titled to suit whatever demographics.
Having said that, the DVD I got has the translated Italian title "Il Lenzuolo Viola". If it's not one thing it's another!

I'm pretty sure this is not the first film about a toxic sexual relationship that I've seen, but the editing here is fantastic. There's a constant flow and overlapping between past events and present events and it never becomes confusing. It's somewhat similar to Altman's Images except that he did it with changing characters and situations.
Theresa Russell's character is the force of nature but Art Garfunkel and Harvey Keitel are also consistently very watchable.
For singer/songwriter Arty Fartyfunkel it seems to be an acting career "on the side" but I remember that he was also very good in Carnal Knowledge.
And so we can add another gem to the elusive year 1980. It's actually more like a mini-decade because it doesn't belong to the seventies or the eighties.

Theresa Russell also starred in Roeg's Track 29 (1988) which has my favourite Gary Oldman performance so far. Highly recommended if you like the zany stuff.
View attachment 58002
I just checked Nicolas Roeg's filmography (or directorography) to see if there's something else that would interest me, apart from his most successful/popular films like Don't Look Now, Walkabout and The Witches.
I found out that Theresa has been a recurring special guest star in his movies, just as it happens now with Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos, and Tilda Swinton with every filmmaker.
I've watched a lot of seventies psychedelic films and that's the reason why I've put Performance on hold. I will watch it because I need to see what almost destroyed James Fox.
Eureka (1983) is rated negatively but maybe that's a good thing because the main reason it "sucks" is because it's too soapy. I wonder if Rutger Hauer plays the Peter De Vilbis we couldn't see in Dynasty.

Thanks for the review! Now I want to see "Images", with one of John Williams´ early scores... And underrated Theresa Russell was Sharon Stone before Sharon Stone existed (or almost).

 

[Willie Oleson]

And underrated Theresa Russell was Sharon Stone before Sharon Stone existed (or almost).

I have a suspicion that she may be Kathleen Turner's sister.

 

[Toni]

I have a suspicion that she may be Kathleen Turner's sister.

Russell played her own Catherine Tramell a few years before, in a little gem called "Black Widow". Debra Winger in her usual fantastic in this too.

 

[Willie Oleson]

And Kathleen Turner played her own erotic nut job in Ken Russell's Crimes Of Passion, four years after Bad Timing and three years before Black Widow.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Oh, and then Theresa Russell continued it in Ken Russell's Whore in 1991.

 

[Toni]

And Kathleen Turner played her own erotic nut job in Ken Russell's Crimes Of Passion, four years after Bad Timing and three years before Black Widow.

This is certainly one of those movies that are so bad they are good for a laugh. Pity because the cast was truly talented. And I guess that Perkins saved a lot in shrink money by doing this movie. No more Norman Bates after this...

Spoiler

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[Seaviewer]

Mrs Harris Goes to Paris (2022)
This reminded me oddly of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, except that instead of chocolate, Mrs Harris's bliss is the haute couture of the Christian Dior salon.

 

[Willie Oleson]

This is certainly one of those movies that are so bad they are good for a laugh

I think it's an underwhelming hodgepodge of ideas that had been done before (and better) and it's mostly the vibrantly vulgar and witty dialogue that makes it interesting to watch.
The look of the erotic thriller looks fine in other genres (e.g. Body Heat) but operating on their own qualities they usually come across as try-hard shockers.
Nevertheless, Crimes Of Passion has the Ken Russell extravaganzas - as much as he could do in this awful looking mid-eigthies setting - so that sets it apart from the rest. I guess.
The story of a marriage falling apart doesn't look much better than the average Lifetime movie, and it's obvious that the frigid wife is to blame for everything, which brings the two protagonists together in a "sex saves the day" scenario.

Then there's the moonlighting hooker whose icy heart needs to be melted, and that also happens by means of good, personal sex.
For all its presumed audacity it's actually quite conventional, even a bit hokey sometimes.
Anthony Perkins in the role of the bewildered Reverend chewing the scenery starts very promising, but then that has to become the thriller aspect and it just doesn't work at all. Not even as a parody, if that's what they were was going for.
Perhaps the biggest surprise is that John Laughlin plays it relatively strong, considering the powerhouses he had to compete with.
I don't regret watching this film, it's got just enough novelty value and Kathleen Turner sure knows how to vamp it up.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Now that prime is removing Bond-for-free again I decided to do a 1960s James Bond rewatch mini-marathon.
From Russia With Love and On Her Majesty's Secret Service are still the glorious pinnacles of the series - albeit for different reasons.
Dr. No is a proper introduction (a little Thunderbirds-esque), and Goldfinger became the template for the more fantastical aspect of the Bond series, and with a rather clever villain's scheme.

The meticulous filming of the hijacking of the atomic bombs in Thunderball is completely disregarded in You Only Live Twice as the film opens with a ridiculous spacecraft-eating monster that pops up out of nowhere.
And to think that Moonraker gets all the hate.
Sean Connery's hair colour is lighter (almost like a coupe soleil) and the sumo wrestling looks anything but appealing. All in all, a very bad start.
The obligatory travelogue glamour takes place in Japan and it looks undercooked compared to the other films, but also overexposed as it shows too much of the cultural shenanigans, which affects the film's pace negatively.
James Bond fakes his own death and after that he tells everybody that his name is James Bond. It doesn't seem like a well thought-out scam.

Perhaps the main part of the film should have been played by Tiger (which would eliminate the over-explaining) only for James Bond to make a surprising and spectacular return in the final act.
The best or most memorable bits are the booby traps that literally pull the rug from under Bond's and Helga's feet, respectively.
The piranha pond scene looks believable enough, after all, a failing or disloyal SPECTRE agent needs to die in a gruesome way.
However, the floor trap that drops Bond in Tiger's office is not only made for that ridiculous purpose, it's also made for that exact moment. It's beyond cartoonish.
Well actually I'm just jealous that I didn't think of it myself.

I still think the 1960s was the most appropriate decade for the Bond fantasy, therefore I'm very disappointed that You Only Live Twice turned out to be such a stinker (despite being my umpteenth rewatch. How come I never noticed this before?)

Not as James Bond, he IS James Bond. It's as if that statement had to make up for something. According to my internet sources - how SPECTRE of me - he played Bond-san reluctantly, and it shows.
The series may have been too much of a guilty pleasure in the more serious New Hollywood decade, and in the 1980s and especially the 1990s there was too much competition for our favourite 007.
And yet I'm SO glad that they've never stopped making them. As soon as he's back in the prime catalogue I'll do a seventies rewatch mini-marathon.

 

[Toni]

Two more movies I had curiosity about:

- "Images", directed by Robert Altman, and mentioned above. Probably the oddest flick I´ve ever seen, it was interesting though. Starring Susannah York and René Auberjonois (aka the Fish Face Guy on "Star Trek Deep Space 9"), both carry the story even when they are not on screen. The other few actors are a burden for the plot because they just suck. In current days what we see might be interpreted differently initially (maybe hallucinations? Alternate universes?). But the movie is too serious for that. At the end she is what we suspect, though perhaps in its era it wasn´t so predictible. Even so, it´s worthwhile watching at least once. The music is composed by John Williams, but it sounds like the score from the first "Planet of the Apes". Rather gritty but suggestive and scary.

- "Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle": Directed by Altman´s protégé Alan Rudolph (who will have a little place in heaven for his lovely "Choose Me"), it stars a cast of rising actors in the 90s, with Jennifer Jason Leigh as poetess Dorothy Parker in the roaring 20s and 30s. I love her but here she is too intense and her role shadows the rest of the cast: Campbell Scott, Andrew McCarthy, and others that you wink and miss them, eg almost unknowns like Gwyneth Paltrow (more slappable than usual) and Stanley Tucci (only in one scene, but good as always). Its dialogues are very literary (Leigh is often reciting her poems) but it´s what I expected. If you prefer more action, watch anything else.

 

[Willie Oleson]

In current days what we see might be interpreted differently initially (maybe hallucinations? Alternate universes?). But the movie is too serious for that.

To me it almost looks farcical, which is what makes it work, I think.
Robert Altman was an American filmmaker but Images was obviously meant to be a British thriller. He didn't quite get that special kind of tongue-in-cheek venom that I've only seen in British films, but he came very close.
I don't mean to bad-mouth Susannah York as a writer, but I found her unicorn monologues a bit irritating sometimes. It doesn't distract and perhaps it even enhances the autumnal fairy tale vibes of this film, but in a strange way it made me enjoy the character's predicament.

Surprisingly, the blood on the kitchen floor turns out to be the real thing, and I found it peculiar that the bottle Heinz ketchup was the only item on the kitchen table.

René Auberjonois

Oh, he was terrific. I recognised him but his name doesn't ring a bell.

as poetess Dorothy Parker

Daaaahrathy, darling.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Sick Of Myself (2022)



Body Horror is not a new sub-genre but it seems that the modern body horror has a specific, ambition-driven angle.
How far will they go to become a successful actress or athlete, or a beautiful and beloved stepsister, or to be that young sexy TV fitness person again.
I think all these stories hark back to the Dorian Gray classic, but combined with social media self-worshipping and also the extreme pressure of the various audition TV programmes that started with Idols.
When I noticed the thumbnail for Sick Of Myself on prime (the English title) I instinctively hoped it would be a Scandinavian film.
And that's what it is, from Norway to be exact.

I'm going to avoid the plot because you really need to see it for yourself, but I will say that (thankfully) it's not as ghoulish as The Ugly Stepsister, but it's much nastier and more fun than The Substance.
It's vile and hateful and hilarious and just like Speak No Evil it only works if you're willing to surrender yourself unconditionally. The Scandinavians appear to be the masters of modern social commentary and super-dark comedy. Force Majeure and the brilliant The Square are similar in cringe-value but without the bloody horror.

One minor spoiler: the fake allergy. I'm sure we all know someone who claims to have a certain (food) allergy* and I know that you're all saying "she just wants the attention and special treatment". Yes, for whatever reason it's always a she.
Anyway, Sick Of Myself may not be a "great" film but it is an awesome guilty pleasure.

*disclaimer: I know, well believe, that food allergy is a real thing and should not be ignored when a person makes it known. But you are very much allowed to bitch about it andnowI'mgoingtotalkreallyfastbecauseI'veonlygot2secondstoreadoutthe75possiblesideeffects.