bcdcdude
Dude with tweed :)
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2018
- Location
- United Kingdom
- Favourite title
- Shenmue
- Currently playing
- The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel
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- bcdcdude
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- bcdcdude
Sorry, i'm a bit behind up to the point, i've seen a further 7 films (10 if you include ones i've seen before at the bottom), so might do another big post in the upcoming days!
1) I'm So Excited! (Pedro Almodóvar, 2013): Almodóvar's first comedy in almost two decades seemed to get pretty poor reviews (for him), but I was genuinely surprised at how fun it was! I guess after making 7 or 8 serious dramas, the need to get silly is overwhelming. It's short, frothy and lots of fun!
2) Morocco (Josef Von Sternberg, 1930): This was quite an important film back in the day; the first of 6 collaborations with Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich. This is a tough one, because it's actually a pretty boring film in places, but on the other hand, there are some amazing scenes. This is back when the 'talkies' were still finding their feet, so i'll give them the benefit of the doubt.
3) Godzilla vs Megalon (Jun Fukuda, 1973): Godzilla #13 might be the worst of the lot. For an 85 minute film, this sure dragged badly and most of it is footage from previous Godzilla films! Good lord!
4) Sweet and Lowdown (Woody Allen, 1999): A top-tier Allen film! This is a quirky little comedy about a womanising musician in the 1930's falling in love with a mute woman. It's gently quirky and sweet and just the tonic I needed on a bad day!
5) Abnormal Family (Masayuki Suo, 1984): I've long had an interest in 'pink eiga' (basically softcore movies. As long as the film was between 60 - 75 minutes, was under a certain budget and had a sex scene every 10-15 minutes, you were free to do what you want!), but all of them i've seen so far haven't been that great. This film spoofs the works of Yazujiro Ozu, but with more sex and nudity. To be honest, considering it was only an hour long, it was pretty damn tedious!
6) You, The Living (Roy Andersson, 2007): This is a Swedish comedy that is a little hard to explain seeing as it consists of unrelated sketches, but ultimately have a core theme running together. This wasn't a "funny" comedy, but it was very well made and had lots of dry bits that made me chuckle quietly. Very droll, very quirky!
7) To The Ends of the Earth (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2019): This is the last Kurosawa film I have to watch and it was wonderful. The drama was a co-production between Japan and Uzbekistan to celebrate many years of post-war peace and is about a shy TV presenter getting lost in the Uzbekistan city and trying to overcome the customs and language barrier. I saw a lot of myself watching this in that whilst visiting new places is exciting, it can also be scary when you don't understand the customs and assume the worst. Kurosawa is a bloody talented director and i'd love to watch more of his works!
8) Amadeus (Milos Forman, 1984): I've had this on the back burner for ages as the thought of watching a 3 hour film about Mozart would be dull, despite loving some of Forman's other films (One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest & The People vs Larry Flint). Indeed, the first 1/2 hour was a struggle, but before I knew it, I was hooked! I'm not really into classical music, but I did think the music was great and you could see why it won so many Oscars!
9) The Wild (Steve Williams, 2006): I thought Chicken Little was the worst Disney "classic" i've ever seen until I witnessed this cinematic equivalent of an STD. I hated everything about this film; obnoxious characters screaming all the time, lame jokes that insult the viewer's intelligence, a story that riffs on much better films and dialogue that just seems pathetic; "Your dancing is so awful...it's so....80's". There was no passion in this film whatsoever and the CGI has aged badly. The director was credited as Steve "Spaz" Williams; in the UK, 'spaz' is a derogatory term for someone who is mentally handicapped. Suffice to say, the next film in the 'classic' series was a million times better.
10) Nimic (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2019): This is a short film from the director of 'The Lobster' exclusively on MUBI (my streaming site of choice). It's only 10 mintues long, but it's pretty cool. Kinda creepy, especially as it's set during the daytime~
I've also watched some old favourites on days when i've been feeling down; Lethal Weapon 1 & 2 (Richard Donner, 1987 & 1989) still hold up very well (I love all 4 of them) as does A Fistful of Dollars (Sergio Leone, 1964). Even though I had 55 of them on DVD, I bought a 63-disc Clint Eastwood blu-ray boxset as a(nother) treat to myself. Sometimes I wonder if i'm *too* kind to myself, or perhaps i'm telling myself that when I eventually move out, i'll no longer be able to make such extravagent purchases, so do it whilst I can!
1) I'm So Excited! (Pedro Almodóvar, 2013): Almodóvar's first comedy in almost two decades seemed to get pretty poor reviews (for him), but I was genuinely surprised at how fun it was! I guess after making 7 or 8 serious dramas, the need to get silly is overwhelming. It's short, frothy and lots of fun!
2) Morocco (Josef Von Sternberg, 1930): This was quite an important film back in the day; the first of 6 collaborations with Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich. This is a tough one, because it's actually a pretty boring film in places, but on the other hand, there are some amazing scenes. This is back when the 'talkies' were still finding their feet, so i'll give them the benefit of the doubt.
3) Godzilla vs Megalon (Jun Fukuda, 1973): Godzilla #13 might be the worst of the lot. For an 85 minute film, this sure dragged badly and most of it is footage from previous Godzilla films! Good lord!
4) Sweet and Lowdown (Woody Allen, 1999): A top-tier Allen film! This is a quirky little comedy about a womanising musician in the 1930's falling in love with a mute woman. It's gently quirky and sweet and just the tonic I needed on a bad day!
5) Abnormal Family (Masayuki Suo, 1984): I've long had an interest in 'pink eiga' (basically softcore movies. As long as the film was between 60 - 75 minutes, was under a certain budget and had a sex scene every 10-15 minutes, you were free to do what you want!), but all of them i've seen so far haven't been that great. This film spoofs the works of Yazujiro Ozu, but with more sex and nudity. To be honest, considering it was only an hour long, it was pretty damn tedious!
6) You, The Living (Roy Andersson, 2007): This is a Swedish comedy that is a little hard to explain seeing as it consists of unrelated sketches, but ultimately have a core theme running together. This wasn't a "funny" comedy, but it was very well made and had lots of dry bits that made me chuckle quietly. Very droll, very quirky!
7) To The Ends of the Earth (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2019): This is the last Kurosawa film I have to watch and it was wonderful. The drama was a co-production between Japan and Uzbekistan to celebrate many years of post-war peace and is about a shy TV presenter getting lost in the Uzbekistan city and trying to overcome the customs and language barrier. I saw a lot of myself watching this in that whilst visiting new places is exciting, it can also be scary when you don't understand the customs and assume the worst. Kurosawa is a bloody talented director and i'd love to watch more of his works!
8) Amadeus (Milos Forman, 1984): I've had this on the back burner for ages as the thought of watching a 3 hour film about Mozart would be dull, despite loving some of Forman's other films (One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest & The People vs Larry Flint). Indeed, the first 1/2 hour was a struggle, but before I knew it, I was hooked! I'm not really into classical music, but I did think the music was great and you could see why it won so many Oscars!
9) The Wild (Steve Williams, 2006): I thought Chicken Little was the worst Disney "classic" i've ever seen until I witnessed this cinematic equivalent of an STD. I hated everything about this film; obnoxious characters screaming all the time, lame jokes that insult the viewer's intelligence, a story that riffs on much better films and dialogue that just seems pathetic; "Your dancing is so awful...it's so....80's". There was no passion in this film whatsoever and the CGI has aged badly. The director was credited as Steve "Spaz" Williams; in the UK, 'spaz' is a derogatory term for someone who is mentally handicapped. Suffice to say, the next film in the 'classic' series was a million times better.
10) Nimic (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2019): This is a short film from the director of 'The Lobster' exclusively on MUBI (my streaming site of choice). It's only 10 mintues long, but it's pretty cool. Kinda creepy, especially as it's set during the daytime~
I've also watched some old favourites on days when i've been feeling down; Lethal Weapon 1 & 2 (Richard Donner, 1987 & 1989) still hold up very well (I love all 4 of them) as does A Fistful of Dollars (Sergio Leone, 1964). Even though I had 55 of them on DVD, I bought a 63-disc Clint Eastwood blu-ray boxset as a(nother) treat to myself. Sometimes I wonder if i'm *too* kind to myself, or perhaps i'm telling myself that when I eventually move out, i'll no longer be able to make such extravagent purchases, so do it whilst I can!