Movies you've just watched

[sumdumgoy]

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[Sumez]

Maybe this'll help:

Still no idea what #2 and #4 are.
You could just write words, you know

[RGC]

Maybe this'll help:

Still no idea what #2 and #4 are.
You could just write words, you know

Ah sorry man, #4 (Driller Killer) had much notoriety over here due to its classification as a "video nasty", meaning distributors could face prosecution. Thanks to the notoriety from the ban, combined with ease of piracy, the film had more exposure than it perhaps would have otherwise. Though I doubt the filmmakers recovered their costs.

It's funny looking at that video nasty list these days. Much of it is tame by modern standards, and largely comprised of lame movies. I've a soft spot for a few of them though.

#2 An American Werewolf in London, was a smash hit in the UK, and had an X rating on release (escaping the video nasty category). I had a poster of it on my bedroom wall as a barely teen. Gen X parenting at its finest. Still love the film to this day.

[Sumez]

Ah. Never heard of the former. The latter is one I've really been meaning to watch, but I've never come across it anywhere

[RGC]

@sumdumgoy - quite a tasty viewing list there indeed. I wasn't aware of Rob's Nostalgia Projects before, but I'll be keeping an eye on that. The collection you've obtained looks to die for! Also, awaiting your thoughts on Hausu. "Batshit" is my tl;dr review.

Never heard of Long Weekend or Thieves Like Us, and not seen Southern Comfort!

Too many filmz not enough life!!!!!

[RGC]

Street Smart (1987) Dir. Jerry Schatzberg

Spoiler

Off the back of seeing Scarecrow, I decided to try another from Schatzberg. Street Smart is a crime thriller starring Christoper Reeve, Kathy Baker and Morgan Freeman. It's more plot driven than Scarecrow, but still manages to create some interesting characters, even if one of the main ones is a walking talking stereotype.

Ambitious reporter Jonathan Fisher (Reeve) proposes to write a two thousand word cover piece on the profile and lifestyle of a Harlem pimp. He knows there are plenty about, he just needs to find a successful one willing to share his story. When none oblige he fakes up the story, which is received with great acclaim, even helping him side-step into a TV news reporter role. However, somehow the fabricated character of his story all-too-closely resembles a notorious real pimp, “Fast Black” (Freeman), who has just been accused of second degree murder. Fisher is issued a subpoena by the DA to hand over all the notes he gathered while researching the unnamed pimp, in case they contain evidence that may bolster the prosecution's case. The notes of course don't exist, but meanwhile Fast Black tries to strongarm Fisher into jotting down something that'll pass as an alibi to exonerate him from the crime.

Despite its convoluted nature, the story is a tad predictable in places, and at other times stretches credulity too far. One flaw is how Fisher reacts when he's facing jail if he doesn't turn over his notes (surely he'd immediately mock up something that would neither help nor hinder the murder case, so that he'd still be in compliance with the law, or just say he lost the notes – is there even a legal requirement for journalists to keep their notes after a story is published? I don't know, maybe there is). Anyway, he dithers and hinders and this buys Fast Black time to make his blackmail move.

The other weakness I mentioned before is the heavy-handed characterization of Freeman's pimp. I felt the script gave him little room to maneuver or introduce much nuance. The story's more predictable elements stem directly from this, since he's a bad man and always does the bad man thing. Considering the death at the centre of the case was accidental, why didn't the writers give Fast Black some, any, redeeming or sympathetic traits? Instead he was presented as a run-of-the-mill asshole pimp, who cuts his bitches when they don't turn over dollars, and ultimately deserves to be sent down or killed. He may not have deliberately murdered the victim on that particular night, but on another night he might. Freeman does extremely well with the limited material, and deserves plenty of praise, but I feel he could have been given more to work with. I might be in the minority on this one.

Journalist Fisher isn't at all likeable due to his personal and professional ethics, which I'm sure was intended. But then his coming out on top only serves to disappoint. It's slightly cynical in that it implies there are no good guys, only shades of bad ones. No judgment on whether that's true, just an observation. But as a prospect it's a downer.

The only likeable character is “Punchy”, the hooker Fisher gets with and who serves as a go-between with Fast Black. Kathy Baker does a great job here, and gets a role that requires some range; she isn't so easily summed up by shorthand labels like “unscrupulous journalist”, “violent pimp” etc. You really find yourself willing her to escape from that world.

Schatzberg has a penchant for the downbeat, it seems. This is a weird film that I sort of enjoyed as it went along but afterwards felt a bit disappointed by. It was a breakout role for Freeman, by all accounts.

[Lord British]

So this just dropped

https://youtu.be/wdGKsijxHSQ?si=T7V6f-dPDm-OID3G

[RGC]

So this just dropped

https://youtu.be/wdGKsijxHSQ?si=T7V6f-dPDm-OID3G

I wasn't into the idea, but this made me laugh, so who knows - could be good!

[sumdumgoy]

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[sumdumgoy]

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[sumdumgoy]

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[GaijinPunch]

The Florida Project

I downloaded this when it first came to streaming ages ago, and it expired. With all of the Oscar buzz around Sean Baker, I figured it would be good fodder for a flight.

This has been on my watch-list since I saw Red Rocket earlier this year. What "streaming" were you able to find it on? I annoyingly haven't been able to dig up any other Sean Baker movies anywhere, but I nearly pulled the trigger on some blurays the other day.

It's on Prime in the US right now.

[GaijinPunch]

I was curious about how bad it was out there. Found a couple of YT reports about the place and....man. Well, I won't be going in person anytime soon! Makes me feel very lucky to be where I am. The whole notion of a "harm reduction" program by handing out needles and crackpipes, seems at best oxymoronic. Fentanyl is wiping out hundreds each year in that relatively small zone; a hundred times more potent than morphine.

Harm reduction is multi-faceted. It gives addicts a safe place to use and test their drugs. It also deals with passing out Narcan as well as educating users how to use it. It also educates about recovery options as well.

[RGC]

I was curious about how bad it was out there. Found a couple of YT reports about the place and....man. Well, I won't be going in person anytime soon! Makes me feel very lucky to be where I am. The whole notion of a "harm reduction" program by handing out needles and crackpipes, seems at best oxymoronic. Fentanyl is wiping out hundreds each year in that relatively small zone; a hundred times more potent than morphine.

Harm reduction is multi-faceted. It gives addicts a safe place to use and test their drugs. It also deals with passing out Narcan as well as educating users how to use it. It also educates about recovery options as well.

Fair point, it's a complex affair. The brief reports I saw suggest there's a mentality of "let 'em get high til they die" from local government over there, but that could be a very one-sided perspective. I wouldn't know. Trying to establish net harm reduction is going to be tricky, e.g. weighing total OD instances against cases of HIV/AIDS against estimated numbers of opioid addicts, etc. Maybe the program does more good than bad after all(?) Either way, from my naive outsider perspective it looks like a dangerous place for the un-streetwise!

[RGC]

INCOMPLETE IMPRESSIONS ~ MOVIES I COULDN'T FINISH

Kung Fu Hustle (2005)

Spoiler

I came into this one with enthusiasm to see someone other than Jackie Chan dominate the genre, but the more I watched, the more I became disappointed. It's not lacking for style, energy and imagination, but I found the humour to be crude, many of the characters to be annoying, and the tone isn't settled... it's all over the place. Like, it's cartoonish, but it also wants to be dramatic and touching. The result comes off not as confident, but schizophrenic. The biggest problem I had was with the CGI. It's one thing to use it sparingly to accent the action, like in Terminator 2, but here it goes whole hog-wild, post-Crouching Tiger style. Everyone's doing wild flips, kicks and jumps, but they're clearly moving around on harnesses, and so most of the action felt astroturfed in comparison to the genre's crown jewels, namely Drunken Master II. And when an action picture's action makes me feel disconnected, that's the death knell.

Yeah, I tend to associate the harness and wire HK films as a separate genre to straight up kung fu flicks (even where there's a slapstick overlap, e.g. most of Chan's work *). The latter tend to be more about tight -- often astonishingly inventive -- choreography with more believable physics. Drunken Master II is definitely a beast of the genre. The examples I favour the most haven't really shifted in the past decade, but that's probably because I barely visit the genre anymore (though I did see Five Elements Ninjas (1982) when that received a physical update a few years back, plus I was gifted the stupidly expensive Bruce Lee at Golden Harvest collection last year, which was bloody amazing). Sequences from The Prodigal Son (1981) and The Victim (1980), plus a handful of Jackie Chan flicks will forever be etched into my brain. Plus Lee's stuff too, of course.

* A nostalgic pleasure is one of his few serious films, Dragon Fist (1978).

[sumdumgoy]

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[GaijinPunch]

Fair point, it's a complex affair. The brief reports I saw suggest there's a mentality of "let 'em get high til they die" from local government over there, but that could be a very one-sided perspective. I wouldn't know. Trying to establish net harm reduction is going to be tricky, e.g. weighing total OD instances against cases of HIV/AIDS against estimated numbers of opioid addicts, etc. Maybe the program does more good than bad after all(?) Either way, from my naive outsider perspective it looks like a dangerous place for the un-streetwise!

Indeed -- there's a lot of things to look at. But the goal is, as the name says, to reduce harm (and death). It is a large umbrella though, and even goes down to non-profits (?) like Dance Safe, the main customer of which are people that attend raves and whatnot. The main difference, obviously, is that it's not government funded.

[Sumez]

This has been on my watch-list since I saw Red Rocket earlier this year. What "streaming" were you able to find it on? I annoyingly haven't been able to dig up any other Sean Baker movies anywhere, but I nearly pulled the trigger on some blurays the other day.

It's on Prime in the US right now.

God damn regional selections >:O

[Sanguis]

God damn regional selections >:O

It's also on Mubi, a very cheap streaming service.

[Sumez]

God damn regional selections >:O

It's also on Mubi, a very cheap streaming service.

No it's not.

EDIT: Oh wait it is
EDIT: Oh no, it has a page, but it specifically says "The Florida Project is not available at this time. Instead, check out François Truffaut's The 400 Blows, which is currently showing on MUBI." lololol

[Sanguis]

No it's not.

EDIT: Oh wait it is
EDIT: Oh no, it has a page, but it specifically says "The Florida Project is not available at this time. Instead, check out François Truffaut's The 400 Blows, which is currently showing on MUBI." lololol

They have indeed the filthy habit of withdrawing their movies after a while.

[Sumez]

Yeah, Red Rocket is also not on Netflix anymore, but hey, them marking it as disappearing soon was the whole reason I got around to finally seeing it. It had been on my watchlist for a while.

[cj iwakura]

If you didn't finish House, the roller coaster hadn't even BEGUN to start.

Also, I'll forever love how the director described his daughter's ideas, paraphrasing:

The imagination of a child is far more interesting than anything I could come up with.

Also, as nice as it was to see Second Sight remaster one of my favorite horror movies, I dislike Blair Witch's new cover.

This is still my favorite:

[ChurchOfSolipsism]

First, I got in a collection of 35mm scans from Rob in the UK.

Spoiler

I tried to find more info on this project and how I can actually get my hands on these blurays but to no avail; do you have to know this Rob fella or how does it work? I love what he's doing!

[RGC]

First, I got in a collection of 35mm scans from Rob in the UK.

Spoiler

I tried to find more info on this project and how I can actually get my hands on these blurays but to no avail; do you have to know this Rob fella or how does it work? I love what he's doing!

There's an email address on his website. I couldn't resist (curse you, sumdumgoy!), and took the plunge yesterday with his Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 disc set (will report back on the quality). Rob replied very promptly, but that may be because I'm in the UK so it's less hassle for him. The process is you send him money by paypal, then email him and tell him what you've just paid for. Or at least, that's a process he responds to.

[sumdumgoy]

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[ChurchOfSolipsism]

I tried to find more info on this project and how I can actually get my hands on these blurays but to no avail; do you have to know this Rob fella or how does it work? I love what he's doing!

RGC's got the drop on the deets there. The good news is that Rob's willing to send you a PayPal invoice to your e-mail if you don't have a PayPal account; you can checkout as a guest and send him the money that way.

Myself, I've bought two 35mm sets from him (04 & 07), and the quality is as you'd expect. These are not meant to be the most optimal viewing experiences, either visually or aurally. These 35mm scans are known as "grindhouse" experiences, a way to view a movie as it was originally projected in its time and place, warts and all. To preserve the same experience in its raw form and hopefully give you, the viewer, the same sensations the audience felt at the time of the movie's release. Each 35mm experience has been colour-corrected by Rob to stay as close as possible to each release's interpositive, with snipes & trailers before each feature for some retro flavour. This means the colour of the movie stays the same as it's always been on home video for years, not a scan of the original camera negative with new colour timing as others envision it to be. Sometimes, what the director, the cinematographer or whoever is doing the new colour grading or framing is not how you remember it, but instead what the "original intent" was, whatever that means. Some agree and take the position of the filmmakers, some disagree and hold onto their old video formats.

Now, to be fair, for every movie butchered by modern colour correcting and sound remixing, there is equally a release by some obscure boutique Blu-ray distributor who earns every top dollar they charge for restoring movies to the way we all remember them so fondly for. So, these scans aren't in any way meant to be replacements for those quality restorations. (Some of these scans aren't as good, in some cases. It's entirely subjective.) Yet, having said that, many new 4K releases are butchering our favourite movies in subtle (and not-so-subtle) ways and expecting $50+ for the privilege. These fan projects speak for themselves: that 35mm scans of release prints have a value of their own, too, helping counteract the arrogance of others who think they know better how to treat our beloved classics.

The good vs. the bad about 35mm scans:

Spoiler

Downsides to 35mm scans, depending on your point of view:

- Scratches caused by dust, dirt or debris from running the release print through unmaintained projectors.
- Red flaring in the center, right or left hand of the screen during sections of the movie, which are results of improper reel storage near heat sources.
- Consistent (but minimal) hiss and pops from the optical audio track.
- Some movies were clearly filmed with widescreen masking in mind, such as Day of the Dead, Psycho II and Evil Dead II; viewing those movies in open-matte exposes moviemaking techniques on the top and bottom of the frame that is meant to be masked out later, such as exposed boom mikes and movie stages.
- "Splices" where the print snapped apart during projection and had to be repaired using glue or tape, resulting in the loss of whole frames, seconds or sometimes even minutes of whole footage. Some features have more splices than others, depending on their popularity. For example, Shogun Assassin has only 2 splices in all its four reels, missing mere seconds (if any), whereas the first Psycho (a print 20 years older and way more popular) had over 131(!) splices over its six reels, which rendered a pivotal scene entirely missing! Usually, when it's minutes worth of footage missing (like in Suspiria and Straw Dogs), fans tend to reconstruct the movie using other sources to make it complete. Otherwise, splices that lose seconds of film here and there are not restored, to retain the grindhouse experience.

Upsides to watching these 35mm scans:

- Proper colour correction by fans, who did their best to reflect the original colour timing as found on interpositive prints, which were later used for home video. This results in the movie looking exactly like you remember it on VHS/Betamax/Laserdisc, with no cinematic revisionism whatsoever. (Improper colour timing, contrast/gamma tuning, overly aggressive framing and an overall teal look on 4K scans is an especially egregious fault of 21st century restorations. See Rob's "35MM vs. BRV comparisons" on his site for examples.)
- The scanning of optical audio tracks containing the original mono, dual mono or stereo mixes, resulting in preservation of the original sound effects and music scores/soundtracks, licensed or otherwise. Many modern releases of older movies have new "beefed-up" mixes that add extra sound effects (or replace the original ones, like gunshots in Dirty Harry) or new music tracks in place of the old licensed ones (like in The Return of the Living Dead).
- The original open-matte format, resulting in viewing the entire frame of what was shot by the cinematographer, which also allows the user to alter the framing of the picture as they like. Notable examples of open-matte viewing benefiting the experience include The Shining, which Kubrick had intended be viewed on home video in this manner, as this was his preferred ratio for the film (and, I think, adds to the architectural horror: tall doors and ceilings, the maze hedges, the Overlook itself, etc.); The Evil Dead, where a Band-Aid container floating in a puddle of blood is lost with 1.85:1 formatting, which masks the gag; Koyaanisqatsi, where cinematographer Ron Fricke clearly framed his careful compositions for the open-matte format and had them destroyed by the director's insistence on widescreen cropping; and many other examples where the open-matte print was copied directly onto VHS for mass distribution, leading to fan debates over which looks better... the unmasked open-matte as they've always seen it, or the filmmaker's original masking intention.
- Original release cuts with no digital alteration or modern-day tinkering, intended by the filmmaker or otherwise, as evidenced in fan favourites like the original Star Wars trilogy, who felt that the magic of the original was lost with Lucas' digital revisionism. Many such cases. (Said trilogy's 35mm scan set is so incredibly popular online, it's the easiest 35mm scans to get ahold of, bar none.)
- Original movie logos, including the old United Artists logo and Warner's classic "Big Red" opening by Saul Bass, missing on many Blu-ray re-releases of '70s films.

Here's an example of someone doing a scan at home. Fascinating stuff!

Thanks for typing all of that, it's an interesting topic for sure and, provided this Rob fella doesn't ask too much, I'll probably order a couple of his box sets.

First, I got in a collection of 35mm scans from Rob in the UK.

Spoiler

I tried to find more info on this project and how I can actually get my hands on these blurays but to no avail; do you have to know this Rob fella or how does it work? I love what he's doing!

There's an email address on his website. I couldn't resist (curse you, sumdumgoy!), and took the plunge yesterday with his Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 disc set (will report back on the quality). Rob replied very promptly, but that may be because I'm in the UK so it's less hassle for him. The process is you send him money by paypal, then email him and tell him what you've just paid for. Or at least, that's a process he responds to.

So how much did you pay for one box set?

[RGC]

Excellent info sumdumgoy, thanks! TCM was £32 plus p&p. It works out around £10-11 per disc for his sets approximately. Drop him an email enquiry re. the ones you fancy.

[sumdumgoy]

x

[ChurchOfSolipsism]

Thanks for typing all of that, it's an interesting topic for sure and, provided this Rob fella doesn't ask too much, I'll probably order a couple of his box sets.

Excellent info sumdumgoy, thanks! TCM was £32 plus p&p. It works out around £10-11 per disc for his sets approximately. Drop him an email enquiry re. the ones you fancy.

And hey, you know what I discovered? If you rip the discs using MakeMKV and a Blu-ray PC drive, all the snipes, trailers and movies are separate files. I then used an open-source video editor on Linux and made my own theatrical presentation! It's become such an addiction, I've found myself downloading 35mm scans of even more cinema snipes from YT channels (like FTDepot) and buying up trailer compilations (such as the Trailer Trauma and AGFA series) on Blu-ray discs and ripping literally hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of raw 35mm trailer scans! They're arguably more fun to watch than their respective full length features... it's become an addiction for me!

Now, whenever my wife wants to watch a movie with me, I say, "Alright," and spend a little bit making us a genuine theatrical experience. We've "went" to the Odeon in '70s London, GCC in '80s New York, and soon we'll hit up the Famous Players in '90s Ontario, Canada! Lol

Man, that sounds really cool