Cobpyth's Movie Log ~ 2019

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Have been watching some short tv-docs about Local Hero, which keeps getting better and better in my head. I also revisited the music score a few times already since watching the film. Very special picture.

(Scroll past the quote for the tv-docs)

#8 - Local Hero (1983) ~ January 24



Beautiful, poetic, subtly funny and at times deliciously ungraspable film. I loved this quite a lot and am sure this will hold up really well during rewatches. It's that kind of movie. The soundtrack by Mark Knopfler is also fantastic!


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Cobpyth's Movie Log ~ 2019



#11 - The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970) ~ February 1



Cool, funny, sexy and - above all - warm-hearted motion picture. Its wildness is more youthful and innocent than the usual Sam Peckinpah film, but viewers who pay attention will recognize some of the director's idiosyncrasies.
The ending is one of the weirdest tragicomical endings out there, especially after the road we've taken with the main characters. There's actually a refreshing use of comedy throughout this film's whole running time.



REWATCH #3 - Forrest Gump (1994) ~ February 2



This was on TV and I somehow kept watching. It's a fun classic to revisit for sure.



#12 - A Wedding (1978) ~ February 2



It had been quite a long time since I watched a new Altman film. But now I finally was able to get a hand on A Wedding, a 70s Altman film I'd been wanting to see for a while. It's my 13th Altman picture. As MoFos who know me are aware of, Altman is one of my favorite directors of all time. And once again, oh man, he didn't disappoint.
This is a fantastic ensemble comedy, with wild turns left and right, and full of great characters and subplots that are all interesting in their own right. Altman's creative hand is very noticeable. He obviously had a lot of fun making this film.
This is one of his lesser known films, but in my opinion it's right up there with the rest of his great work. I'm not sure if it's absolute top tier Altman (that's a very exclusive category anyway), but that hardly matters when you're having so much fun. This is an extremely enjoyable, rich and crazy picture, which - by the way - is masterfully directed as well. Altman juggles with about 48 characters and manages to give us an interesting enough impression of all of them in just above two hours. Man, I loved this. Altman was a king!



Had you not seen Local Hero before? I could've sworn you'd eulogised about it before? Or was it The Field? For some reason, I often get those two films mixed up in my head.
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5-time MoFo Award winner.



Had you not seen Local Hero before? I could've sworn you'd eulogised about it before? Or was it The Field? For some reason, I often get those two films mixed up in my head.
I hadn't. I also haven't seen The Field yet, so you must be confusing either me with someone else or Local Hero with another film.



#13 - Fyre (2019) ~ February 3



Interesting documentary about how the fake Instagram "influencer" culture got exploited by a fraudulent guy named Billy McFarland, who promised 5000 young rich people the ultimate festival experience on the Bahamas.



#7 - Pretty Baby (1978) ~ January 23



A brutally, disturbingly honest picture about a 12 year old girl (played by the then 12 year old Brooke Shields) growing up as a prostitute in a whore house in New Orleans in 1917. The film is beautifully shot and there are some seemingly lightweight scenes, but there's a constant atmosphere of creepiness, sorrow and pure darkness surrounding the events that are portrayed. Malle sketches a savage, almost hellish world (even though he does his very best not to make it seem like hell on the surface) that's based on sheer survival. Malle decided to make this film as a non-judging storyteller. The result is quite stunning and revealing.
This is quite good film in my opinion as well. It's also a film that couldn't be made today (a fact that's way more disturbing than the film itself to me). Maybe I should nominate this to some future HoF just to amuse @Citizen Rules
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This is quite good film in my opinion as well. It's also a film that couldn't be made today (a fact that's way more disturbing than the film itself to me). Maybe I should nominate this to some future HoF just to amuse @Citizen Rules
Seriously I was thinking of nominating that for the 19th. I was thinking about that just today as a matter of fact! (I probably won't nominate it BTW)



#14 - Me and Orson Welles (2008) ~ February 4



Very solid piece of historical theatrical fiction by Linklater. McKay's performance as Welles is of a very high level. Enjoyed this!



I hadn't. I also haven't seen The Field yet, so you must be confusing either me with someone else or Local Hero with another film.
Either are entirely possible. I think it's more likely I'm confusing you with someone else, though.



#15 - Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988) ~ February 6



One of those (at least nowadays) little seen gems that Francis Ford Coppola, the former greatest filmmaker in the universe, directed in his post-70s career.
I liked this film's (true) story a lot. I had never heard about Preston Tucker before. His life makes for some good film material, and Coppola did a great job with it. Very much recommended!



Great variety of movies your watching as always. As far as The Doors, I didn't quite love it, but Stone knows how to do a movie like that. I don't even want to see Bohemian Rhapsody because I know it's not what it should be.



Cobpyth,

I have come to loathe Forrest Gump, but the Orson Welles and Coppola films look interesting. I'll make sure to check them out sometime.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll be following along.



REWATCH #4 - Double Indemnity (1944) ~ February 9



This was on TV tonight and of course I couldn't not watch it. I remembered it as one of my favorite film noirs of all time and this rewatch only confirmed that sentiment. It's a fantastic noir classic with an amazing screeplay and flawless directing by Billy Wilder. Remains an absolute favorite!



#16 - Thieves Like Us (1974) ~ February 10



It's amazing what Altman could do with a seemingly simple genre story. In this film he initially tells the (adapted) 1930s depression era story of three bank robbers on the run. Along the way, the youngest of the three meets a girl (Shelley Duval) who ultimately goes along with him after the three are forced to split.
Altman isn't interested in the romantic or entertaining aspects of the "gangster life". Instead he uses the story to gain insight into these characters' minds. We also get loads of subtle commentary about the story's time and place. The commentary is paradoxically timeless.
On the tunes of 30s radio shows and with a bottle of coke in pretty much every scene, Altman strips down the materialist and consumerist fantasies and myths that have been driving our society for a whole while now. And meanwhile, he offers us some very strong and enjoyable cinema. Yet another great picture (I've seen 14 of his films now) by one of the greatest filmmakers of all time.



#17 - Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976) ~ February 11



This is the lowest rated Altman film I've seen so far, but - you guessed it right -, I couldn't help loving it. I get the criticisms of it being overly cynical and too much of a caricature. The film basically keeps hammering on the same points throughout the whole film. Sure, it's all valid.
But good god, is it gloriously filmed. And man, is it darkly hilarious at times! Purely cinematically it's a uniquely crazy achievement that only a director of the magnitude of Altman could've pulled off.
Can't wait to see some of Altman's other "lower rated" films. If they're all this interesting and impressive, he might just be the greatest director who ever lived (he already is easily top 10 for me). Very glad I watched this!



#18 - Quills (2000) ~ February 12



I've been wanting to watch this one since I saw @Miss Vicky praise it everywhere on here and I finally got to it.
I liked it. Great work by Kaufman. The film starts off extremely promising with that guillotine scene, and the rest was also very watchable. I always love a Kate Winslet in top form and the other actors are of course also very interesting to watch (it's a great cast with amongst others Rush, Phoenix and Caine).
I'm not sure how much new I'll get out of this film when I'll rewatch it in the future. It's a (seemingly) very focused film so it doesn't seem like there's that much more to discover during second or third watches. I could be underestimating it, though. Time will tell. I can say this, however: this first watch was very enjoyable.