list/discuss/rate - your recently watched movies

As always I often go to the movies,I've lots of DVD's to watch.Last week I saw Snowpiercer(a very good science fiction film:dark,violent,with a very good cast.There were Chris Evans,Tilda Swinton,John Hurt and Ed Harris....),Thor the dark world(entertaining but more and more formulaic as most of Marvel Movies,I prefer Jack Kirby's comic books).Yesterday I went to see Inside Llewyn Davis(a very good one,Oscar Isaac is great and the supporting cast too,good music,funny and sad at the same time and a beautiful portrait of a man far from being a careerist).Tomorrow evening Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus is on TV and I'm about to watch again A fistful of dynamite and The wild bunch.

Behind the Candelabra

Michael Douglas in a bold performance as Liberace during the last half of his life and Matt Damon his partner living through the drugs, money, sex and craziness of the 70s/80s, and eventually the AIDS that killed the legendary performer.   We are put right in the middle of Liberace's personal life and though we don't always want to be there, it's too interesting to look away.   We're also reminded of his incredible piano skills and musical gifts.   One of the better HBO-made biopics.

Since one of my flatmates works as a volunteer for the Copenhagen Film Festival held this week I've got to see quite a few films shown there for free. Stay tuned for reviews.

Lovelace

Earnest and painful biography of Linda Lovelace, star of the highest-grossing porno Deepthroat, and her possessive boyfriend who compels her into adult films.   Made with the same sleazy grittiness as the X-rated movies of the era, Lovelace is a difficult but revealing story.   Not as fun or entertaining as Boogie Nights but very good.

The stuff I saw at the Copenhagen Documentary Festival:


I'm a casual fan of both individuals, but seeing this has definitely gotten me inspired to investigate the rest of the oeuvre. It's as much about the natural origins of music, both the theoretical dimensions of it and how it emerges from human psychological nature as well as the physics of the universe - and how that reflects in the work of both.


I knew of Google getting into problems with copyright laws, but I had no idea that they were on this terrifying a scale in terms of consequences for the entire basic premises of literary publishing. The real mind-bender is how not just some futurologists speculate that this might be the beginning of one of those singularitarian super-intelligences ubiquitious to cyberpunk literature, but that a few of those work for Google and have been working to make such a prophecy come true.


Goes behind the scenes of one of the most famous movies-that-never-were - and shows how far Alejandro Jodorowsky actually got in prepoduction, not to mention how he did that. It's obviously made for fans of both Dune and AJ, being surprisingly short and assuming quite the background knowledge about both from viewers. There's some things I wish it had gotten more in details about, but I still enjoyed the viewing experience especially thanks to Jodorowsky himself being as entertaining as always. There's also animated versions of a couple storyboarded scenes.

the Ladykillers.

That might have something to do with Scientology being a religious movement that does not take criticism lightly.

Toaster Mantis wrote: That might have something to do with Scientology being a religious movement that does not take criticism lightly.

Possibly but they called the cult 'The Cause' in the film and the ideas were just different enough so it wouldn't offend the Scientology Cult...er excuse me,  Church.

The Wolverine

Half-decent second go at a solo Wolverine story and though there is nothing new or interesting in the film, Hugh Jackman's strong presence holds things together as he travels to Japan to help the granddaughter of an old friend.   Very much in the style of Hong Kong action and more or less on a par with X Men Origins: Wolverine.

Saw this last night:



If this is an accurate adaptation of Mickey Spillane's novel, I can definitely understand why people call Frank Miller his spiritual successor. It's very stylish and entertaining, as well as hitting almost every film noir cliché in the book... but in a so screwed-up yet po-faced way that I'm not sure how much is satirizing the genre and how much is just plain bad writing.

One thing's for certain: It's not a movie you forget easily.