Guess I'll start this off here. What's everyone watching or trying to watch?
Stuff that's stood out recently:
Re-read Miami Blues earlier this year, so it was time to revisit the movie. Took a few tries to really click, but I'm totally on board with it now.
The Arts center in town was marking down all their DVD back stock, so I picked up Guy Maddin's filmography for dirt cheap and have been working through those. Great stuff if you're in the mood for his style, Careful and Archangel are the stand-outs so far.
Watched A Different Man with the girlfriend last night and was really into it.
And a whole score of underground trash in the off-hours.
Last couple movies I really loved included Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets from 2020 by the Ross Brothers (my first of their docudrama hybrids). Floored me. So funny and poignant and messy and beautiful.
I also love love loved Do Not Expect Too Much of the End of the World, which while long really stuck the landing for me in an astutely class conscious way.
Still need to see the Brutalist, but not much else is exciting to me at the moment (except for A Different Man which I intend to watch soon!)
Saw Nosferatu on Christmas Day. It was a very bad movie and they made him look like Waluigi. It was cool when he hung dong, though
last good one I watched (at home) was Terror Train featuring Jamie Lee Curtis
@Luke Henley Do Not Expect too Much... is high on my list, hoping to find the time for it soon.
Two recent favourites are the Austrian folk horror movie The Devil's Bath and the bleak British drama The Outrun.
How has this thread made it to the 6th post before the Cannonball Run gets mentioned?!?
@Luke Henley Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets is fantastic!
I gotta rep Noir Ally on TCM. Its always playing the real good shit.
Nosferatu was mid but a lot better than his last flick.
Anora was excellent. Very stoked on Sean Baker and have loved everything I've seen. Red rocket is still my fave but Anora is a close second. He's doing a straight up comedy next
Been renting John Waters movies from the library and watching them with the director's commentary. Just watched Female Trouble. Gonna watch Cry Baby later this week.
@Future Trash watched Polyester with commentary recently, and got a real strange 'out of time' feeling listening to John talking about still trying to get his parents to star in one of his movies. That's when I realised the commentary was recorded in 1993... I'd just assumed it was more recent. I saw him just a few months ago giving a talk onstage, his energy was exactly the same. I hope if he can't get 'Liarmouth' funded, he gets something funded. We need new John Waters.
Recent watches I really enjoyed:
- Banshees of Inisherin
- Anatomy of a Fall
- Monkey Man
- Rewatched Arrival, still great
- Carlito's Way
Korean flick Exhuma is pretty good. A successful blend of folk horror and lightweight 80s popcorn horror.
Bleak Moments by Mike Leigh. Tough but fair survey of multiple sad souls' failed attempts at human connection. Betcha a young Todd Solondz saw this mf'er.
I liked Nosferatu just fine, a pretty faithful adaptation in Eggers' style. Not on the level of The Witch or The Lighthouse, but that's fine. The Northman does nothing for me.
I like Baker, but Anora is the weakest I've seen. Not bad, and I enjoyed it while watching, but afterward it didn't stick with me, nothing really to keep thinking about. Also, the middle 45 minutes where they're looking for Ivan was a drag, it felt like it turned into The Hangover.
Since folk horror is popping up here, I've been working through the second Severin box this month. Not as strong as the first so far, but looks like some good stuff ahead. Standouts for me have been The Enchanted with its unique southern gothic atmosphere, and Born of Fire, which is ridiculous and disjointed, but has some great imagery throughout, and the religious/mystical ideas underneath are interesting.
I thought Anora sucked.... Watched the Swiss film Sukkubus and it was the perfect blend of folk horror and big breasts.
Really need to get those folk horror box sets next time Severin does a big sale. Eyes of Fire is a good one.
@Uptown ruler 666 420 I bought the first set and it is super worth it. The documentary is exhaustive (and maybe a little overlong, but good!) and there are some really great titles. I'm a big fan of A Field In England which looks fantastic and I also really loved Clearcut and Alison's Birthday. I'm still making my way through the set and there are some stinkers, but overall a beautiful collection.
They do a nice box set sale around Black Friday every year, totally worth it.
From the first, Eyes of Fire is killer, as are Clearcut and Alison's Birthday. Celia is another great one, and I was really pleasantly surprised with Tilbury and Witchhammer. Honestly, some of the weaker ones are the Polish and Euro titles, which can lean a little to heavily into fantasy for my tastes.
Penda's Fen is in the set, and essential as well. I picked up a set of Alan Clarke's BBC productions a while back and have been slowly going through those. Some real gems in there.
movies are none of my business
