Movies you've just watched

[Steamflogger Boss]

Ugetsu

9/10

Great Mizoguchi film about greed and ambition.

[deimos-remus]

Marketa Lazarova (1967) dir. František Vláčil.

Incredible Czech film with some of the most gorgeous cinematography I've ever seen. Medieval period, feudalistic drama with art-house sensibilities. (somewhat similar to Bergman's The Virgin Spring).

[lilmanjs]

The Last Witness
A Korean movie from 1980 that deals with happenings during the Korean War at times. The movie has you following a policeman around the countryside of South Korea to uncover a mystery as to who killed a person. This is one of those quite slow moving movies, but just about each time I'd say this is too slow, some twist would happen and things would get interesting again. We get Guerilla soliders in flashbacks and a guy at his wit's end wanting to just give up on the murder mystery, but it all plays out wonderfully. Glad I gave this the 2 and a half hours it deserves.

[Mischief Maker]

Hellboy 2: The Golden Army.

Amazing costumes and visuals. Terrible plot. The ending felt like it belonged in a sitcom.

Not quite Pacific Rim levels of visuals/story imbalance, but definitely a step in that direction.

[GaijinPunch]

Marketa Lazarova (1967) dir. František Vláčil.

Incredible Czech film with some of the most gorgeous cinematography I've ever seen. Medieval period, feudalistic drama with art-house sensibilities. (somewhat similar to Bergman's The Virgin Spring).

Google Image Search reveals some very interesting images... they look like stills even. This might be the best first (or second?) post on the board ever.

[drauch]

^It's pretty rad. A little too artsy fartsy at times in my book, but comparing it to Bergman's Virgin Spring is a good comparison.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Marketa Lazarova (1967) dir. František Vláčil.

Incredible Czech film with some of the most gorgeous cinematography I've ever seen. Medieval period, feudalistic drama with art-house sensibilities. (somewhat similar to Bergman's The Virgin Spring).

I saw neither of those, but when reading that, I immediately thought of the 1972 French film Blanche. Unjustly forgotten seems to be (whereas the more exploitative of Borowczyk films appear not). I couldn't even find a decent rip those few years ago when I was more into piracy than I am nowadays, but what I did find (about VHS quality) impressed me to the point of my shelling out for a Blu-ray/DVD double print the moment I saw it released.

Bear in mind that a considerable expertise in art directions of time & place depicted HARDLY EVER shows in the movies. Usually, we are being shown the same old "medieval Europe theme park" we saw in Errol Flynn films, only these days shot with a digital camera. So a fully fledged feature flick where someone says "no" to that loudly should not be easily forgotten.

[dan76]

Filmworker (2017)
This is a doc about Stanley Kubrick's assistant Leon Vitali. I'd recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Kubrick and the way films are made. He's an interesting subject in that he appears to have basically devoted himself to Stan. Was it worth it? He seems to think so, though my gf had tears in her eyes at the end.

The actual format of the doc is ok, starts a bit crap but once it settles down to interviews it's really good. I don't know why these films always have some crap animation to illustrate what is being said. Does everything have to be made for kids? Wtf, it's Kubrick.

Saw it at the ICA in London, only £6, which I think is the maximum price cinema tickets should be.

Seeing Solo on Sunday...

[GaijinPunch]

Filmworker (2017)
This is a doc about Stanley Kubrick's assistant Leon Vitali. I'd recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Kubrick and the way films are made.

Just had dinner with two girls who could not place Kubrick by name, nor had they heard of 2001. One vaguely recalled A Clockwork Orange though. One of them is my girlfriend, and probably the reason she remains so after such heresy is that she never really remembers anything from any film ever. EVER. She confused No Country For Old Men and Brokeback Mountain. So, she gets a pass (sort of).

[lilmanjs]

Filmworker (2017)
This is a doc about Stanley Kubrick's assistant Leon Vitali. I'd recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Kubrick and the way films are made.

Just had dinner with two girls who could not place Kubrick by name, nor had they heard of 2001. One vaguely recalled A Clockwork Orange though. One of them is my girlfriend, and probably the reason she remains so after such heresy is that she never really remembers anything from any film ever. EVER. She confused No Country For Old Men and Brokeback Mountain. So, she gets a pass (sort of).

What the hell? She's probably got a lot of other good qualities I would hope. As for my last movie, that would be Ek Tha Tiger. Not a horrible movie, but I fell asleep, and then watched the rest yesterday afternoon. It gets into typical bollywood romance towards the end, but before that, it does a decent job with the action and you kinda can forgive it for allowing a bunch of white folks to dance really awfully during the first musical number of the movie. Not gonna recommend it cause it takes too long to figure out if it is making fun of the genre or being a serious movie.

[GaijinPunch]

What the hell? She's probably got a lot of other good qualities I would hope. .

Yes, but at a decade and a half my junior, you lose some things.

[Zen]

Yes, but at a decade and a half my junior, you lose some things.

[GaijinPunch]

[chempop]

Marketa Lazarova (1967) dir. František Vláčil.

Incredible Czech film with some of the most gorgeous cinematography I've ever seen. Medieval period, feudalistic drama with art-house sensibilities. (somewhat similar to Bergman's The Virgin Spring).

Looks awesome, 3 hours long damn. I will have to czech it out

[Vexorg]

Black Panther: ***

Pretty middle-of-the-road for a Marvel movie. The villain was basically your average Berkeley student, and in the end it was basically filler material to tide the fans over until Infinity War.

[lilmanjs]

Star Wars (Project 4k77 release)
Everyone has seen the movie , but even though I only saw the 1080p no-dnr release, I can say this is the best the movie has ever looked. It might get surpassed when the dnr versions are released, but wow. Even with a few spots of dirt and a couple of scratches, they did a fantastic job. A must have release!

[GaijinPunch]

Star Wars (Project 4k77 release)
Everyone has seen the movie , but even though I only saw the 1080p no-dnr release, I can say this is the best the movie has ever looked. It might get surpassed when the dnr versions are released, but wow. Even with a few spots of dirt and a couple of scratches, they did a fantastic job. A must have release!

Will have to check these out. WHat's the timeline for Empire & Jedi?

[dan76]

Star Wars (Project 4k77 release)
Everyone has seen the movie , but even though I only saw the 1080p no-dnr release, I can say this is the best the movie has ever looked. It might get surpassed when the dnr versions are released, but wow. Even with a few spots of dirt and a couple of scratches, they did a fantastic job. A must have release!

This is a different version to the silver screen one? That was amazing. It was like the film was swimming in grain. I'll be sure try try and find this one.

My gf wanted to see some Giallo ( as we are going to Italy in July )so we've watched Argento's Bird with the Crystal Plumage and Bazzoni's The Fifth Cord. Both are shot by Vittorio Storaro and scored by Ennio Morricone. Both are great. Storaro's films from that period all look fantastic - The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris, Le Orme (also by Bazzoni and also brilliant).

Something about that time in film making. The colours are so good. I was worried she might be a bit bored but she liked them both. They skip along a quite a pace and style keeps the interest up during some of the bonkers plotting. I hadn't seen them for a while but the these remastered versions are the best looking I've ever seen.

Deep Red and Suspiria are next. Christ knows what the remake of Suspiria is going to be like.

[drauch]

Christ knows what the remake of Suspiria is going to be like.

Garbage

[lilmanjs]

Project 4k77 is done by the same people who did the silver screen edition. From what they say, think of that as being like the beta version. 4K83 they say will go a lot faster since what they have for that is in much better shape than what they had for star wars. The 70mm sound mix is brand new to this release as well.

[Skykid]

My gf wanted to see some Giallo ( as we are going to Italy in July )so we've watched Argento's Bird with the Crystal Plumage and Bazzoni's The Fifth Cord. Both are shot by Vittorio Storaro and scored by Ennio Morricone. Both are great. Storaro's films from that period all look fantastic - The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris, Le Orme (also by Bazzoni and also brilliant).

I recently watched Argento's Opera and it's blindingly beautiful to look at. Wonderful cinematography and scene crafting, check it out.

[dan76]

Project 4k77 is done by the same people who did the silver screen edition. From what they say, think of that as being like the beta version. 4K83 they say will go a lot faster since what they have for that is in much better shape than what they had for star wars. The 70mm sound mix is brand new to this release as well.

Awesome. Can't wait. I just found a copy... 23 GB!

I recently watched Argento's Opera and it's blindingly beautiful to look at. Wonderful cinematography and scene crafting, check it out.

Yeah, I think I'm going to have a summer of Giallo. The last time I saw Opera was on pan and scan VHS.

[emphatic]

I've only seen two Argento films, Tenebre (amazing) and The Stendhal Syndrome (very cool). I recommend both.

[soprano1]

The Bravados (1958)
Nice cast and acting, but the story seemed badly executed and weak. Looks nice on paper, though.

[BIL]

I've only seen two Argento films, Tenebre (amazing) and The Stendhal Syndrome (very cool). I recommend both.

Tenebre fuckin rules. Splendidly evil giallo with bangin' tunes. That describes a fair bit of Argento ofc, but he was on especially swaggering form there.

[lilmanjs]

Project 4k77 is done by the same people who did the silver screen edition. From what they say, think of that as being like the beta version. 4K83 they say will go a lot faster since what they have for that is in much better shape than what they had for star wars. The 70mm sound mix is brand new to this release as well.

Awesome. Can't wait. I just found a copy... 23 GB!

Nice! Though the official release is something like 40GB for the 1080p version, but that size should still look really good. I can't wait for the dnr version to compare! The original trilogy release thread has some nice shots of the work being done for that version.

[Mortificator]

I was going to watch George Romero's second zombie trilogy, but I don't know if I can get through it.

Land of the Dead reminded me of a worse Escape from LA. Campy post-apocalypse hedonism, hero on a meaningless time limit forced to work for the man in charge, multiple unlikable factions stumble around each other until the status quo collapses.

Diary of the Dead seemed to have something going for it, but degraded the found footage aspect with pretentious voiceovers, and by the last act, every character's behavior was so dumb it hurt.

[Xyga]

Project 4k77 is done by the same people who did the silver screen edition. From what they say, think of that as being like the beta version. 4K83 they say will go a lot faster since what they have for that is in much better shape than what they had for star wars. The 70mm sound mix is brand new to this release as well.

Awesome. Can't wait. I just found a copy... 23 GB!

Nice! Though the official release is something like 40GB for the 1080p version, but that size should still look really good. I can't wait for the dnr version to compare! The original trilogy release thread has some nice shots of the work being done for that version.

So next is 8K ? how big will that be like 1TB ?

While I understand the archival purpose, personally after watching the despecialized eds. and silver-screen I think I've come full circle with the franchise and won't be rewatching any for a decade or two.
Especially IV even if it's iconic I don't think it has aged as well as V & VI, at least in the visuals area.

--

@Tenebre is my favourite Argento as well. Suspiria would be the opposite, while it might have been great back in the 70's the mystical-creepy themes and ambient are passé af today and don't work at all anymore, imho. It's abslutely pointless and impossible to do a remake of it, wtf seriously.

[soprano1]

Tenebre (1982)
Thanks for mentioning this one, everyone. Brilliant movie. The ending death was a bit silly, though.

[BIL]

It's fuckin nuts. One of those plots that gains on rewatches just knowing how things end up.

Diary of the Dead seemed to have something going for it, but degraded the found footage aspect with pretentious voiceovers, and by the last act, every character's behavior was so dumb it hurt.

There was one (1) decent shot I remember from that, when the survivors are walking along a corridor and a zombie unceremoniously brushes past the cameraman to join them.

However what I remember far more is the utterly half-assed attempt at found footage, especially the fucking dire use of "comedic music" when the Texas chick hightails it in the van. HOW THE MIGHTY FELL.