Movie You're Watching Tonight

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

I liked this movie very much, but now can’t recollect a single scene. My bad, not the bad of the movie for sure.

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I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.

That happens to me, too — I look through my very long list of what I’ve seen that doesn’t have posters, just titles, and have no idea what some of these were. This one is quite memorable, to be fair. It was far more action-heavy than I’d expect from an Iranian film — and I’ve always loved Iranian cinema and have form there, as it were.

Another awful day for me. This feels like something I’d enjoy.

Loving the painted nails and mascara on a spaceship. USS Callister is impacting group imagination. I mean, I’d hope women would wear make-up on a spaceship — I guess Katy Perry & Co sure did — but still kind of wild to see it. Actual bright nails, too — not just vaguely well-maintained ones.
Loving the paper notebook, too.

Always meant to see this but only just getting around to it. Absurdly hard to find, had to resort to illegal streaming.

I did my very first re-watch of this movie quite recently. Don’t think I had finished it before, but this time I thought it very good.

I definitely streamed it, but that doesn’t seem to be an option right now. Only dvds.

Yeah, I’ve been trying to find it for ages. I mostly enjoyed it, but probably wouldn’t rewatch, I don’t think. It’s the sort of film my mum loves (some of them I love too, but this one I was largely neutral on).

This was actually quite enjoyable. Everything works, the character motivation, the pacing, the chemistry. A surprisingly wholesome ending though .

I hate such stuff, but the soundtrack is good. Dear mother wanted to watch this. I just cannot stomach anything made for women, it seems.

Rewatch I think

Getting lost in a great film (or book) can definitely take the sting out of a bad day

I don't care for romantic dramas as a rule (Shadowlands is one of a handful of exceptions), but decided to give this one a chance, simply based on the setting. I go to the Outer Banks every year to fish and kayak, and have visited Rodanthe a number of times.


Bleah.....even by romantic drama standards, this was a steaming pile of schmaltzy excrement.


Now cleansing my palate with

A great (if slightly disturbing) film. Who'd have thought Dumbledore could be such a deliciously despicable villain...

I thought about starting Lonesome Dove tonight. I know it's a miniseries. Is it still okay for this thread?

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"Some day this war has to end."
"Wash your mouth out with soap!"

I watched The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover a few years ago on Peacock. I think Amazon had a listing for the DVD for a fair price, although that was around the same time so I couldn't tell you its price now. Addendum; I looked on Amazon, and a Blu-ray is less than $25, in case that's an option.

It's an interesting movie with some grotesque imagery and some bizarre set pieces. It's a pretty good film overall. What'd you think of it?

What did I think. It was largely quite funny, in a good way. I enjoyed much of it. It’s great to see Helen Mirren young, she’s fantastic and a very good fit for this part (that’s how I came to think about it that day— after 1923, I wanted to check out some of her much earlier work). Loved Michael Nyman’s soundtrack, made me think of Klaus Nomi’s Cold Song.

The film reminded me of Delicatessen, which I’m sure was inspired by this at least a little, and The City of Lost Children (which is a bit more steampunk), and of The Canterbury Tales (the book). Very interesting that Greenaway said that ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore inspired the screenplay. I’m not a fan of that thing though I studied it rather more than I wish I had.

The

I appreciated the Renaissance/Mannerist/Baroque vibes, and, strangely, the formalism in this instance. It’s funny, I started writing I tend to focus on the score and characterisation in terms of what I enjoy about films, less so the set design or the editing, lighting etc., but realised that’s not entirely true. Blue Velvet (and much of Lynch’s other work) is quite a formalist undertaking, after all, and I love it among many others. I did think the way Greenaway does it was a bit too ostentatious, but that’s what he’s going for, Baroque and all. I strongly prefer this to the likes of Kubrick’s formalism.

(About a year ago I went through a similarly arduous process to find Edward II on streaming, and that I hated — a similar film structurally, felt like a live theatre production, even more formalist in its approach — I couldn’t get into it at all; it took me out of what little story there was.) Not so with The Cook, the Thief... Some aspects of the formalism did work for me here: it ends up being a very ambiguous film, open to interpretation, and I love that. Of course the entire cast is spectacular.

My mum said relatively banal things such as that the film shows really well how hateful living with a rich husband from a different class whose values/worldview revolt you is. I certainly agree with that, though it’s very much the basics in my view, and arguably there are films that address this better. I think it could be, again, a little more nuanced (to me it’s a bit much that the working class-accented thug-cum-businessman husband likes food whereas the erudite lover prefers ‘books’ — how much more in-your-face can you get? But my mum found it very accurate, so who knows). Either way, it was interesting to think that what was so groundbreaking then is, if not ‘normal’ now then reliably wins awards — looking at you, Poor Things and Lanthimos’ entire oeuvre.

I’m really glad I’ve now seen this.

Yeah, I feel the same about romantic films, dramas or not.

Finally. Well.


For the most part, I loved this. Glad this isn’t framed as The Odyssey. (Looking forward to seeing Nolan’s treatment of that one, though). But, well, Fiennes and Binoche have always had wild chemistry imo, and here, too. I wasn’t overly convinced by

I liked the treatment of war and how it changes the personality. Commentary about men needing to be with their family always comes off a bit strange to me, but that’s just me being me. Similarly, the repeated complaints that Odysseus ‘killed all his men in a war’ when not a single one of his people died in the Trojan War itself is just bizarre. And goes unchallenged, of course.

Wild that Visconti’s nephew made this.