TENET
just saw it at the little flea pit cinema 13 miles away, for £3, could not understand what was going on! Counted 12 people in total, and 7 got up and walked out half way through!
Sleepwalker (2017)
Quite good, psychological thriller, creepy, weird, and solid acting. Worth a look, and only 90 minutes long.
If the seats in our Odeon weren’t so comfortable, we might have walked out too… Interesting that people Have actually walked out though.
I’ve never understood the walking out of the cinema thing.
The cinema and studio already got your money…
1 Like
If it’s that bad, then there’s no reason for them to get more of your time too.
I’ve never walked out of a film, but I’ve come close a couple of times.
I remember just before Christmas of 1993,going to the cinema one Sunday night with a lady, and we planned to see Addams family values, only trouble was, she got the times mixed up, it had started half an hour earlier and we ended up seeing MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, I think we would have walked out, but she dozed off!
And missed a wonderful film.
I recommend 2 Netflix movies
The Ritual (2017) - about 4 British lads whose hiking trip in Sweden takes a turn for the worse
and
Calibre (2018) - about 2 guys whose hunting trip in Scotland takes a turn for the worse
Both beautiful photographed, eerie, well-acted thrillers.
1 Like
The empire strikes back, at the cinema last night, re-released for the films 40th anniversary, technically not the original though, as this was a tinkered with post prequel trilogy version
2 Likes
The Invitation (2015)
I really enjoyed this one, too.
While attending a dinner party at his former house, a man (Logan Marshall-Green) starts to believe that his ex-wife (Tammy Blanchard) and her new husband (Michiel Huisman) have sinister plans for the guests.
Well directed thriller builds VERY slowly (which I like), with a sense of dread, but also has some interesting twists. Well worth watching on Netflix.
1 Like
Bullitt 1968
What a film, car chase as bone crunching as it was first time I saw it, McQueen as cool as ever ( my entire adolescent wardrobe based on his attire) two things struck me watching again…
- My romantic view of America in general and San Francisco in particular comes entirely from this film.
- The small scene in the hospital where Bullitt and the Doctor overhear Chalmers demanding the doctor be replaced is on of the best micro disections of privalge and power on film.
5 Likes
The mule
The other night I watched “From The Earth To The Moon” (1958) based on Jules Verne’s novel. I was hoping it would capture some of the magic of Disney’s marvelous adaptation of “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” but it falls well short of that. Despite staring Joseph Cotton and George Sanders the film was a major bore. Watching paint dry would have been more exciting. RKO produced the film but went bankrupt before it was finished and WB stepped in the distribute. Seems like what budget the film did have went toward the period setting details and they skimpped on the outer space visual effects. A disappointment.
Here’s a film that really could use a remake.
THE CONFORMIST (1970)–restored version on blu-ray
Discovering Bernardo Bertolucci’s movies in my youth was an amazing experience–they were lush and erotic, and seemed to radiate influence in many directions. THE CONFORMIST was one of the first films of his I saw, and it was a favorite. Over time, I realized that Bertolucci’s interest was in ridiculous men–a businessman, a hotel proprietor, an emperor, an architect, a scion of a landowning family, and a Fascist wanna-be.
Fabrizio in BEFORE THE REVOLUTION is Bertolucci’s first ridiculous man, but Clerici in THE CONFORMIST’s is my favorite. It may be that I grew bored through repetition in subsequent movies–same ridiculousness, same inability to resolve contradictions, same indulgence for male angst, ennui, and inability to resolve contradictions. But Clerici manifests a ridiculousness born of a desire to conform/be accepted/not be different. He is a betrayer who betrays his own betrayal–a conformist unhappy with his achievement of conformity. This difference may be accounted for by the fact that Bertolucci was adapting an Alberto Moravia novel, but nevertheless it enlivens the film (and Jean-Louis Trintignant is perfect in the role, expressive in gesture and facial expression even when doing nothing. It is an amazing performance).
Then there is Vittorio Storaro’s cinematography and Bertolucci’s mise-en-scene–a Fascist aesthetic to expose/explore Fascism. THE CONFORMIST may be the most stylized of the Storaro/Bertolucci collaborations (each one seems uniquely suited to its film), and the visual deliriousness plays in brilliant counterpoint to Clerici’s passivity.
Lastly, there is the homoerotic/queer element which hovers/hides in many Bertolucci films. Ingmar Bergman said that the problem with LAST TANGO IN PARIS was that Maria Schneider’s character should have been a boy, and for me the film possesses a queer/not queer appeal. We also have the erasure of male queer desire in THE LAST EMPEROR and THE DREAMERS, the presence of female queer desire in THE CONFORMIST and THE LAST EMPEROR, and the there/not there male queer desire of LUNA.
For me, THE CONFORMIST is Bertolucci’s most successful/honest iteration of the peek-a-boo queerness that haunts his films. I am not quite sure that repressed homosexuality will always lead to an embrace of fascism, but overall the film paints a desperate portrait of the need to conform and the price such a need exacts.
1 Like
TENET - a loud movie that left me confused about the story Nolan wants to tell, he wants to be too smart for his own pretentions, At moments a 007 fibe, black Bond than, Pattison was actually one of the better actors in this movie. So roll on his Batman.
1 Like
I saw it at the cinema a few weeks ago and did not have a clue what was going on!
1 Like
Eli (2019)
This was OK. It is a movie about a boy with a rare skin disease, whose parents take him to a strange clinic for radical treatment. Whilst there, he feels the place might be haunted, and that the doctors may not be what they seem.
Not bad, with some good direction, acting and lighting. It’s worth waiting for the twist.
This is superb.
Really quite eerily creepy and disturbing. An undercurrent of unease sits with you right from the beginning to the denouement. And then, as the film ends, a brand new scope of fear instils itself in you.
2 Likes
First Man
Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong. What more need be said? Very good indeed.
One rocket launch, or take-off, was experienced entirely from within the cockpit, eschewing the normal wide shot to show the wonder of rockets. And it was bloody terrifying.
2 Likes
Had you already seen it, Simon? Or did you watch it on my recommendation?