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Trying Real Hard To Be The Shepherd
Too long and too few movies since my last post. I did catch up with a couple that I have put off for too long though.

Alien:
The first of a couple embarrassing blind spots. I did not love it as much as I hoped. The characters were very good. I just don't see how anyone finds this remotely scary.

Gravity:
Rewatch
I don't usually revisit movies this quickly but I was overly anxious to see how I would respond to this at home. The visuals are still amazing. I know people's issue is with the story. Every so often a movie comes along where that doesn't matter. Gravity is one of those films. The pacing is fantastic which helps.

The Straight Story:
A HOF watch. I really liked the main character and a couple of scenes were fantastic. It dragged too often though.

The Last Temptation Of Christ:
This is a movie I want to write a lot more about and will at some point in my review thread. In my opinion a movie has never been as misunderstood. It is a perfect example of how casual movie goers prejudge "Hollywood" and its intentions. The ending of this film could not have a more Christian message. Could have earned a half star more if not for the incredibly miscast Keitel.

Chinatown:
Really great film. One I will want to revisit sooner than later because I think it will be fun to watch knowing the twists that are coming. At this point I don't know if I am a bigger fan of 70's Jack or 70's Coppola. Every 70's film I watch that I love it seems like one of them is a part of it. Too bad there are not any that they did together.

The Hedgehog:
Another HOF watch. The eleven year old protagonist was way too self aware for a character that age in my opinion. What should have been an emotionally devastating film ends up falling flat for me. Felt like the characters only existed to tell me how I should live instead of actually living.
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Letterboxd

“Except for markf, you’re all a disgrace to cinema.”



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.

Happy Together (Kar-Wai Wong, 1997)
+
Wild Water (Earl Luby, 1957)
+
The Bachelor Party (Delbert Mann, 1957)
+
Middle of the Night (Delbert Mann, 1959)
-

In spite of their age difference, Kim Novak and Fredric March love each other, but everything and everyone is against them
Stopover in Hollywood (Will Williams, 1963)

The Murderer Lives at Number 21 (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1942)

Who’s That Knocking at My Door? (Martin Scorsese, 1967)
-
Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (William Greaves, 1968)
-

William Greaves directs a "screen test” for Don Fellows and Patricia Ree Gilbert, but what is the point?
Changing (Hubert Smith, 1971)

Deep in My Heart (Stanley Donen, 1954)

Red Dust (Victor Fleming, 1932)
+
Carnival of Sinners aka La main du diable (Maurice Tourneur, 1943)
+

Pierre Fresnay meets a group of masked figures who have something in common with him
Undercover Blues (Herbert Ross, 1993)
+
Sometimes They Come Back... for More (Daniel Berk, 1998)

Domino Kid (Ray Nazarro, 1957)

Heidi (Allan Dwan, 1937)


Jean Hersholt (the guy for which Oscar’s Humanitarian Award is named) adores
his granddaughter Shirley Temple, but a biatch conspires to keep them separated

Comin’ Round the Mountain (Mack Wright, 1936)

Stars Over Texas (Robert Emmett Tansey, 1946)
+
Stowaway (William A. Seiter, 1936)
-
L'amour existe (Maurice Pialat, 1960)
+

Paris and its suburbs are separated by commuter trains and broken dreams
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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page



Bad Words (2014):

Very funny film that avoids the usual cliches of modern comedy movies.

Grand Piano (2014):

I wanted to like this more, but the script was too lazy for me. Very well directed though.

Nymphomaniac (2014):

Lars von Trier's latest will definitely divide audiences. I found it to be another brilliant look at people and society. Volume II is definitely stronger, as that is where the film really starts to come together. But of course, Volume I is definitely important to set this up.



Gangster Rap is Shakespeare for the Future
I'm planning to see The Young Girls of Rocherfort and Singin' in the Rain. Both look good judging from the screens, but I'm not sure they can beat The Umbrellas.
Glad we're getting people to see Rochefort, it's a wonderful movie. Singin' in the Rain is great, but I find Rochefort to be more invigorating, and I adore Cinemascope. Rochefort even has a Francophone Gene Kelly, who looks fantastic and dances great at 55!
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Mubi



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.

Daily Beauty Rituals (No Director Listed, 1937)

Zorns Lemma (Hollis Frampton, 1970)
-
Frontrunners (Caroline Suh, 2008)
+
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (Kevin Reynolds, 1991)
+

Morgan Freeman is saved from a Turkish prison by Kevin Costner and vows to stay with him until he repays his debt
Every Sunday (Felix E. Feist, 1936)

Nothing Left to Fear (Anthony Leonardi III, 2013)

A Well-Spent Life (Les Blank, 1972)

The Ruling Class (Peter Medak, 1972)


Arthur Lowe is the newly rich, faithful manservant of the also-new 14th Earl of Gurney Peter O’Toole who also believes he’s Jesus Christ
A Kiss for Corliss aka Almost a Bride (Richard Wallace, 1949)

Grace (Paul Solet, 2009)

Clues to Adventure (No Director Listed, 1949)

The Blues Accordin' to Lightnin' Hopkins (Les Blank, 1970)


Hopkins fishes, sings, tells stories, visits his friends and pauses for a drink
Lightning Strikes Twice (King Vidor, 1952)
+
Zooman (Leon Ichaso, 1995)
+
Challenge the Wilderness (Jack Atlas, 1951)
+
The Incredibles (Brad Bird, 2004)


When the opportunity arises, Mr. Incredible can’t resist secretly reliving his glory days
Follow the River (Martin Davidson, 1995)

Dahmer (David Jacobson, 2002)

Seattle: Gateway to the Northwest (James A. FitzPatrick, 1940)
+
Nymph()maniac Vol. I (Lars von Trier, 2013)


Sophie Kennedy Clark & Stacy Martin play a sex game aboard a train – who will "win"?



Nymph()maniac Vol. I (Lars von Trier, 2013)


Sophie Kennedy Clark & Stacy Martin play a sex game aboard a train – who will "win"?
I wonder how much you're going to rate Vol. 2 then. I thought Vol. 1 was the better one of the two.
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Cobpyth's Movie Log ~ 2019



I personally preferred Vol 2. Von Trier is one of my favorites, and I was kind of disappointed after Vol 1. I felt it was really lacking in the usual emotions found in his films. Vol 2 I found to be so much more deeper and profound. I loved it.



Sunset Blvd. (1950) rewatch


Couldn't really find any flaws in it this time. Easily my favorite Billy Wilder film.

Touch of Evil (1958)


I loved it. I love how it looks and how the tension was built. The camerawork in particular is sublime, that impressive opening shot lets the viewer know they will have one hell of a ride. Welles does a terrific job both in front of and behind the camera. A truly great noir that makes Chinatown look like a mere melodrama. Hell, I think I even prefer it to Citizen Kane.

Cool Hand Luke (1967)


Fifty f*cking eggs. I don't think I could even eat five.

Blue Is the Warmest Color (2013)


Well acted and well shot, but there wasn't a single moment during it's three-hour runtime where I felt it showed true signs of greatness. I actually didn't find the explicit sex scenes arousing at all. Wtf is wrong with me.

Hard Boiled (1992)


Totally badass Hong Kong action film. It's just over two hours long and it has a body count of 300+. Go search 'Best action sequence ever filmed' on youtube. It's what made me see it.

Tremors (1990)


Campy and silly b-movie that never takes itself too seriously. It's actually on the MoFo list of horrors. Watched it with a 12 year old and he thought it was one of the coolest movies he'd seen.



Before man was, war waited for him.
Blue Is the Warmest Color (2013)

I actually didn't find the explicit sex scenes arousing at all. Wtf is wrong with me.
That's a seriously good question.



Give me a day or two.
I also watched Volume 1 and would give it a similar rating, perhaps
, thought it was pretty bad but hopefully with the two parts it comes together as something better.




Tim's Vermeer (2014, Teller)

In the early 2000s, two books were published, one by artist David Hockney and the other by historian Philip Steadman, theorizing that Johannes Vermeer and other 17th Century artists who seemingly overnight made such incredible leaps to an almost photo-realistic style of painting may, in fact, have been using optical aids, such as the camera obscura. It was a somewhat controversial theory in some art circles, and though Steadman's book in particular built a pretty good argument, there was no "smoking gun" in the form of a letter confessing the technique or a notebook detailing the specs, and certainly nobody had ever replicated such a process.

Enter Tim Jenison, an inventor and computer visuals pioneer who had a burning curiosity, the mind of a scientist rather than an artist, and a lot of time and resources on his hands. Not only did he seem to figure out the relatively simple piece of the puzzle that made the theory physically viable, but then he set out to painstakingly prove its veracity by exactly replicating one of Vermeer's famous paintings, The Music Lesson, using only materials that would have been available to Vermeer. Oh, and by the way: Tim had never picked up a paint brush in his life.

This documentary is wonderful, and even inspiring. If not inspiring for the diefication of the artist as an almost supernatural talent, then definitely for the tenacity of the human mind. It presents quite convincing evidence, and so very charmingly, that Vermeer and some of his contemporaries may in fact be fathomable geniuses, not unfathomable. And Tim Jenison is such an interesting man who's curiosity and dedication is infectious, even though he couldn't be more humble or low-key.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra



No one needs to watch that...
Don't you like Cthulhu? Don't you like girls? And now you can have both at the same time! Kinky!
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San Franciscan lesbian dwarves and their tomato orgies.



冷たい熱帯魚 [Cold Fish] (2010) -



"Life is pain. Living your life hurts."

After Love Exposure that blown me away my expectations were very high. Too high, I guess. It's a perfectly executed movie, but the topic is nothing new and I'm not too keen on 'gore Asian killers' films. It's very violent and the director's not afraid to show scenes of dismemberment and both psychical and physical violence. If you loved I Saw the Devil you're probably gonna love Cold Fish as well.

Modern Times (1936) -



"Can't I stay a little longer? I'm so happy here."

Just your usual Chaplin. Not funny, but charming and entertaining. If it wasn't for the cute girl, I would rate it half a star lower. I'm getting bored with his tramp character, though. Gotta see Monsieur Verdoux.

Thundercrack! (1975) -



"And what about the godd@mn bananas? I have a crate of bananas!"

TokeZa, you kinky bastard! Ironically, this half-porno flick is the best movie in this set. It tells a very loose story of a mad woman and a bunch of 70's-lookin' people staying at her place. This movie screams 70's - just look at these manly men - moustache and chest chair. Now that's kinky! I was impressed with Marion Eaton's performance. Great acting! As I mentioned, there's a lot of porn thrown in, so expect girls sucking off guys, casual sex, gay butt sex, cucumber masturbation, people getting raped and killed by sexually frustrated gorilla and.. okay, I guess this is too much already.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) -



"A scratch? Your arm's off"

It's executed really well, but I didn't laugh even once. Don't really know what to say. I have heard legendary quotes like that one above long before I ever saw the full film, but they never really were hilarious to me. Not my kind of humour I guess.

I also watched first three episodes of On The Air. Mediocrity at best.



The painting Guap posted is The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife (Hokusai, 1814) in case someone's wondering.





It was a rewatch and I liked it even more than the first time. Great film that really touched me, with many great stories and characters. One of the best cast of actors I've seen, fantastic musical scenes and impeccable direction. And how can't you love Tom Cruise speech about us respecting the cock. A masterpiece and by far the best PTA movie in my opinion

++
I was pretty sure that I would enjoy this film and I did. I would recommend it to anyone as an introduction to film noir. I personally prefer The Third Man, Sweet Smell of Success and Notorious, but I think this movie is more ''entertaining''


Great movie that laugh about Hollywood and the ending gave me a huge smile. I absolutely loved the scene at the end where the british writer says something like: My initial movie was good, but the public hated it, now with this cheesy ending they love it so I'm happy'' And how the person who was right (Bonnie) got fired for being honest and truthfull.

I love Clint Eastwood, I love western so it wasn't a surprise that I liked this film, but I think it's the worst Eastwood western that I've seen yet. (Still a great film)

++
My second Godard, it started really slow and it was a little melodramatic, but towards the last part of the film it started being pretty good. I really disliked the main actress so that didn't helped. I'm still interested in seing more Godard


I couldn't finish it in one sitting, but I still managed to finish it. I didn't liked it. I was bored, found it pretentious and the drama is pointless. I just don't care for the characters. The reason why I give it 2 is the beautiful black and white cinematography that is really nice to look at. It was my second Antonioni and Blow-up is very very very superior to that.
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I do not speak english perfectly so expect some mistakes here and there in my messages