Rate the Last Film You Watched

Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971)

An affluent professional drummer himself targeted by a mysterious stalker, determined to make his life as miserable as possible before finally killing him, in this slick and surprisingly funny early giallo film from Dario Argento, unreleased on home video until the late 2000s. While you couldn't call it a parody, the film plays up its dark comedy and feels quite knowing about its genre conventions, frequently delighting in winking at the audience as it puts as many of them up on screen as possible, to the point where I genuinely couldn't work out who the killer might be until nearly the last minute. I think the only weak link is probably Michael Brandon as the protagonist, who is lifeless and faintly unlikeable compared to the far more entertaining characters orbiting around him, but maybe that's part of the joke?
 
Professor Irony said:
Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971)

An affluent professional drummer himself targeted by a mysterious stalker, determined to make his life as miserable as possible before finally killing him, in this slick and surprisingly funny early giallo film from Dario Argento, unreleased on home video until the late 2000s. While you couldn't call it a parody, the film plays up its dark comedy and feels quite knowing about its genre conventions, frequently delighting in winking at the audience as it puts as many of them up on screen as possible, to the point where I genuinely couldn't work out who the killer might be until nearly the last minute. I think the only weak link is probably Michael Brandon as the protagonist, who is lifeless and faintly unlikeable compared to the far more entertaining characters orbiting around him, but maybe that's part of the joke?
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It was first released by Mya label in US in 2009 and German dvd in fact I think was earlier - I bought both though not at same time and now I have the best version of FFOGV on my Shameless blu ray
As regards to your opinion about the 2nd best film of the animals trilogy- after The Bird With The Crystal Plumage - Michael Brandon was very good as was the plot which had its twist and the ending which broke a camera or two in filming the scenes is brilliant in typical Argento styled
 
Saw the excellent South Korean thriller Tell Me Something and a
‘71 giallo What Have You Done Solange?
Also saw Del Toros Pacific Rim which I enjoyed / my only gripe was the 2nd blu ray disc with the features- I wish there was a feature length making of doc & interviews etc instead of clicking on stuff relating to the creatures and robots
 
Saw The Long Good Friday blu ray & still my fave British film
Vidocq, Inside & Possession
Zulawskis Possession is a film which no matter how many times you watch you are confused but still enjoy it - love watching so many of my fave films over and over
 
Jinjer said:
got to see doctor strange lately, love how it shows us a side of the marvel universe that has only been seen in the comic books (the magical, mystical side, and by magic like spells and spirits magic instead of highly-sufficient alien technology magic)

i was almost expecting an mvc3 kinda showdown near the end too, yeah, that would've been kinda neat :p
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A real shame that they barely used him in Infinity War. The guy could change the passage of time but it seems that he completely forgotten about it during the decisive battle.

I also don’t understand what the heck is happening with MCU’s definition of Multiverse. What they describe in Doctor Strange is very different from multiverse described in Loki. Which is apparently leading directly to Doctor Strange’ s sequel (same as WandaVision). Kind of ridiculous that they are making these 6-hour long tv shows so vital for understanding of their movie universe. I used to be excited about Dr Strange’s return but now I barely care.

That said, the original movie is definitely in my top-5 favorite MCU movies. A truly amazing use of CGI and a very unique take on superhero genre

EDIT: LOL Haven’t noticed that I was replying to the post from 2016 but whatever
 
I most recently watched Career Girls by Mike Leigh.

It's about two friends who were struggling with life a bit when they were young at university. They are now adults and are doing well for themselves, and have reunited for the weekend. The film switches between the past and the present.

Mike Leigh is one of my favourite directors. He does a great job at capturing working class Britain. Career Girls is lighter than a lot of his other films, which was refreshing. There's so many times where I'm thinking "I can relate to that!" and it's always nice to feel represented.

I would recommend this film to anyone that is interested in social realism.
 
Eternal chibi said:
I most recently watched Career Girls by Mike Leigh.

It's about two friends who were struggling with life a bit when they were young at university. They are now adults and are doing well for themselves, and have reunited for the weekend. The film switches between the past and the present.

Mike Leigh is one of my favourite directors. He does a great job at capturing working class Britain. Career Girls is lighter than a lot of his other films, which was refreshing. There's so many times where I'm thinking "I can relate to that!" and it's always nice to feel represented.

I would recommend this film to anyone that is interested in social realism.
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Thankyou so much for reminding me that I wanted to see Happy-Go-Lucky Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) - IMDb by him! Might check out Career Girls too and also is your avatar from Kaiba? I love Kaiba I've been rewatching it on the Discotek Blu-ray release :)
 
RadFemHedonist said:
Thankyou so much for reminding me that I wanted to see Happy-Go-Lucky Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) - IMDb by him! Might check out Career Girls too and also is your avatar from Kaiba? I love Kaiba I've been rewatching it on the Discotek Blu-ray release :)
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I watched Happy Go Lucky the other day too. It's really good, you won't be disappointed!

Yes it is from Kaiba. I hope you are enjoying your re watch! It is one of those stories that is great to see again so you can make the links.
 
Unit-99999999 said:
A real shame that they barely used him in Infinity War. The guy could change the passage of time but it seems that he completely forgotten about it during the decisive battle.

I also don’t understand what the heck is happening with MCU’s definition of Multiverse. What they describe in Doctor Strange is very different from multiverse described in Loki. Which is apparently leading directly to Doctor Strange’ s sequel (same as WandaVision). Kind of ridiculous that they are making these 6-hour long tv shows so vital for understanding of their movie universe. I used to be excited about Dr Strange’s return but now I barely care.
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I would assume that the millions of possible futures Dr Strange watched for their fight against Thanos included every possible variation of using the time stone, and none of them worked. If that's the case, they really should have hung a lantern on that fact, since it was quite distracting.

Yes, they really got their terminology muddled in Loki. Despite having an interesting plot, that show felt like it was giving the middle finger to everything that had come before in the MCU, which was irritating in places. Using infinity stones as paper-weights? Really?
 
Dai said:
Despite having an interesting plot, that show felt like it was giving the middle finger to everything that had come before in the MCU, which was irritating in places
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Which makes me wonder how they are going to bring it all together in Doctor Strange 2. There were reports that both Loki and Wanda show up in the movie (and the latter plays a very significant role, apparently) which means they are directly inserting the TV shows in the MCU timeline (unlike what they did before with ABC and Netflix series). I personally am not sure that this is a good idea. I found both of these shows boring. I like marvel, big fan of superhero stuff and I am glad to see that shows are finally catching up with movies in terms of production quality, but I found stories they want to tell uninteresting. Which certainly doesn't help with my enthusiasm for Doctor Strange movie.

Will there be many people willing to watch these 2 6-hour long shows only to understand what is happening in the upcoming movie? I'm not sure. I already heard people complaining that there is too many movies in MCU and it's hard for new viewers to get into it.
 
Unit-99999999 said:
Which makes me wonder how they are going to bring it all together in Doctor Strange 2. There were reports that both Loki and Wanda show up in the movie (and the latter plays a very significant role, apparently) which means they are directly inserting the TV shows in the MCU timeline (unlike what they did before with ABC and Netflix series). I personally am not sure that this is a good idea. I found both of these shows boring. I like marvel, big fan of superhero stuff and I am glad to see that shows are finally catching up with movies in terms of production quality, but I found stories they want to tell uninteresting. Which certainly doesn't help with my enthusiasm for Doctor Strange movie.

Will there be many people willing to watch these 2 6-hour long shows only to understand what is happening in the upcoming movie? I'm not sure. I already heard people complaining that there is too many movies in MCU and it's hard for new viewers to get into it.
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It's quite troubling that Disney's strategy for Marvel is getting so entangled with their overall aim of brute-forcing people into subscribing to Disney+. I've been subscribed to it for less than a fortnight, and I've already watched almost everything I want to see on there. It will be interesting to see just how much Dr Strange 2 actually ends up leaning on WandaVision and Loki as setup.

I enjoyed the first seven episodes of WandaVision a lot, and thought it only lost its way when that one-dimensional supervillain suddenly popped up out of nowhere. Opening the door to bringing Vision back for real was also a cop-out, but hardly a surprising one considering that comic book death is usually as serious and long-lasting as the common cold.
 
A couple of 80’s slashers
My Bloody Valentine R1 dvd & uncut - I saw this last night and it’s the best Canadian slasher Of it’s time - the R0 blu ray is selling for dumb amounts of money
The Prowler R0 dvd is excellent and I have the Blue Undergound dvd & why it hasn’t been released in the UK (I’m including MBV as well) on blu ray w/ great extras I don’t know
 
Dawn of the Dead (1978) Argento Cut

Having often heard about the edited version of Dawn that Dario Argento prepped for the Italian market, but never actually seeing it, I thought I'd have a look while it's up on Prime. It is much as everyone says, to be honest; the film has been trimmed by about ten minutes to focus on the action, mostly at the expense of Romero's more comic or satirical musings.

There seems to be a little bit of b-roll footage included that I didn't recognise, which was interesting, but being quite familiar with the film, I found it jarring when it skipped over the scenes I was expecting, and I think it loses a lot of its personality without that comedic edge. This version is also notable for making much more use of the Goblin score for the film, which I really like, but it's used so heavily here that it actually becomes annoying. The main theme in particular is jammed into more scenes than I'd care to remember - seems like every time there’s a zombie on screen, it’s DAN NA NA NA, DUN DUN DAH, DAN NA NA NA, DUN DUN DUN!

It's still perfectly watchable, but mostly this is just a curio that I wouldn't really recommend to anyone who hasn't already seen another version of the film.
 
I prefer the Argento version of Dawn Of The Dead much better than Romero’s own theatrical / directors cut
Yes it’s more action orientated and less humour which I find better especially in horror films
Having said that I like the extended version as well
Got the Second Sight 4xblu ray 👍
 
I watched Sound It Out, which is a documentary film by Jeanie Finlay. It is about the last record shop in Teesside and the people that like to go there. It's nice to watch a documentary that isn't just about making fun of eccentric people, it's actually interesting and respectful. I recommend if you are interested in either records or British life; and it's interesting because it's a look at that region of the country as well!

I've now watched Goth Cruise, Teenland and Indietracks all by Jeanie Finlay as well, and I expect I will watch everything she's made by next week. It is a bit of a time portal as well as most of them are around 10 years old now!
 
Guns Akimbo (2019)

Daniel Radcliffe stars as a hapless mobile game developer dragged into a live-streamed real life deathmatch after he annoys the wrong people, in this likeable slice of action hokum. It feels very much in the mould of game-inspired Neveldine-Taylor films such as Gamer and Crank, while arguably bringing little in the way of fresh ideas and relying a little too conspicuously on CGI for my taste, but the cast do well with the self-consciously silly material and it’s generally a good time throughout, even if it does flag a little in the third act.

Palm Springs (2020)

While the ‘endlessly repeating day’ formula is very familiar at this point (both from films and, frankly, real life) Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti make an appealing duo as a pair of disgruntled wedding guests trapped reliving the big day. Wisely skipping a lot of the familiar establishing tropes, the film gets right to the heart of the matter and has a lot of fun putting its characters through the sort of increasingly ridiculous antics that most other takes on this story spend far longer trying to reach.
 
Professor Irony said:
Palm Springs (2020)

While the ‘endlessly repeating day’ formula is very familiar at this point (both from films and, frankly, real life) Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti make an appealing duo as a pair of disgruntled wedding guests trapped reliving the big day. Wisely skipping a lot of the familiar establishing tropes, the film gets right to the heart of the matter and has a lot of fun putting its characters through the sort of increasingly ridiculous antics that most other takes on this story spend far longer trying to reach.
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Brooklyn Nine-Nine is one of my favourite shows, so an Andy Samberg time-loop story is a definite watch for me. I see it's on Amazon Prime.
 
The Ninth Configuration (1980)

A thematic sequel of sorts to The Exorcist, this is a deeply strange film that sees Stacy Keach's distant-but-sincere army psychiatrist placed in command of a remote hospital for traumatised veterans, where he becomes obsessed with the case of an astronaut who suffered a complete mental breakdown just before a space launch. Much of the film is played as a kind of comic farce, with some genuinely funny one-liners and an atmosphere weirdly reminiscent of MASH, but I felt it was always an uneasy humour; Keach's intense, searching gaze functions as a constant reminder of the sad plight the patients face, and there always seems to be something much darker lurking just at the edge of your perception. I think it's a bit overlong and it noticeably feels about ten years older than it is (the source novel was a product of the late '60s), but the film does get under your skin, and will reward those who can embrace it.
 
Billy Elliot - I hadn't seen this since I was fairly young, and I'm really glad to have revisited it as an adult as it's a beautiful, witty, wise, touchingly compassionate film, following the story of an 11-year-old boy called Billy living in County Durham in the North East of England during the 1984-1985 miners' strike, who wants to be a ballet dancer, but who's father Jackie (still grieving the loss of his wife) and brother Tony hold negative stereotypes about the profession (but the film does not demonise them) - Billy starts to flourish under the tutelage of Mrs Wilkinson, a dance teacher who shares a hall with the local boxing club. It's sensitively handled and I'm curious to know if there are any other films with a similar feel. Particularly loved all the great child acting (Debbie and Michael were wonderful!) and Billy's nan who was really sweet and kind. Dialogue is on point too. Not really got anything negative to say about it it's just a great film. 10/10.
 
Dune (2021)

I'm a massive Villeneuve fanboy, so even if I wasn't familiar with the source material, this got me back in a cinema. I had an idea about what it was, in general terms and I was also familiar with a bit of the memes surrounding Lynch's adaptation, but that was it.

I was pleasantly surprised to see the "Part One" subtitle in the title screen, since I never saw it during marketing. Feels like a second part is more concrete than an idea, somehow?

Really stunning movie, with a massive sense of scale with ships and structures towering over people who seem as small as an ant. Beautiful set and mechanical design, too. The textures were almost palpable and a great contrast to the smoothness of the desert in Arrakis. The three worlds depicted give you a sense of who their inhabitants are and what they stand for.

Everyone was at the top of their game and The King and this have sold me really hard on Chalamet. He's very, very good and gives Paul nuance, authority and fragility, as needed.

The beginning felt a bit heavy on terms and notions, but you soon understand exactly what you need to to make sense of what's going on. A lot happens but a lot is set up too, and it feels uncomplicated in the sense a classic would be. I'm eager to see more of the supernatural elements in the next movie.

Apparently, Villeneuve has plans for a trilogy, which would include the second part of Dune and Dune Messiah. I've heard the books get progressively worse, but I hope he sees his vision through to the end.

TL;DR - Villeneuve can do no wrong.
 
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