Movies 52 - 1917: Sonic the Bad Boys of Prey

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

Watched the stowaway on Netflix.

based on the cold equation sci fi story from decades ago.

good movie all things considered

[Kepler]

The Iron Rose, Jean Rollin (1973)

Art film from the director famous for his lesbian vampire cycle. This is a strange, beautiful movie. There is zero plot, what characterization there is springs completely from the film, there is almost no dialog. On the other hand, it's never boring, it's beautiful, and it's easy to watch as opposed to most art films. Everything in the movie is about atmosphere. Even the (spare) poetic dialog and the (even more spare) occasional action are there to either shadow or enhance atmosphere.

Definitely do not watch this movie before midnight, and I would suggest watching it alone. I'll watch it again, something I almost never say about this type of film. I might not watch it again if the lead, a lovely girl, didn't spend about 1/3 of the movie nude. It's opaque, it's really gorgeous cinematography, it's borderline pornography, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

A-

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

In addition to retail, that quote also perfectly describes consulting.

[Kepler]

In addition to retail, that quote also perfectly describes consulting.

And elected office.

[MissThundercat]

And elected office.

And at my job, I still have milk maids.

[Slap Shot]

And at my job, I still have milk maids.

My office:

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

Tried to watch tenet tonight.

kind of hard to follow

[Kepler]

Rape of the Vampire, Jean Rollin (1968)

What did I just watch?

Continuing my Rollin mission I am now watching his four vampire movie cycle. Rape is the first one and it's supposedly his least accessible, and I believe it. Spoilers below:

OK, this started life as a short film of 30 minutes. It's Rollin's first as director and the entire cast and crew's first, so. It's also 1968, and France, in the middle of the student riots. Supposedly the scripts were either lost or abandoned and the movie became an experiment. For that it does have a plot, which is actually good, and the actresses are lovely and the atmosphere very interesting. The movie is macabre and there is a sense of mystery if not horror. And then... there's a whole other movie attached to it.

What happened was very few movies were made or screened in Paris in 68 what with Sur les Pavres La Plage and all. This one was seen, and people went apesh-t. It became a sort of acid test for the revolts: it was condemned, people burned copies, others thought it was amazing, and they decided to cash in by turning it into a full length feature rather than a short, so they picked up at the end of act I and just made up an entire second act that had almost nothing in common except some characters (and lots of nudity). The second act is less atmospheric and more about action and dialog, but in all honesty it's kind of stupid and crass and doesn't hold interest or weirdness the way the first act does. It's a little like a high school production of Rocky Horror except with boobs.

So: act I, B+; act II: C-

Now we're on to the second movie in the sequence.

[Kepler]

The Nude Vampire, Jean Rollin (1970)

#2 in the vampire cycle.

Spoilers:

OK, that was silly. Lovely set, extremely self-conscious studied surreal plot, some charmingly clunky humor. This time we have an explicit mystery, motivations that make sense, plot points that... well, plot points, anyway.

There's implied lesbian intimacy, I'm not sure I'd call it sexuality, exactly. There's even a "boy meets girl, boy loses girl" sub plot arc.

The resolution is supposed to tie everything together but frankly it seems pretty irrelevant to the whole movie experience to me. This was clearly something French hippies were having fun with as an excuse for some meh futurist philosophy and some typically French decadent sex and theatre.

Farce: B-
Horror: non-existant
Mystery: C
Aesthetics: sure, why not, A-

2 down, 2 to go, I'm not regretting this assignment but so far it hasn't yielded much beyond the enjoyment of French artsy self-indulgence.

[SonofSouthie]

If you're a fan of Dylan, Bob not Thomas, check out Don't Look Back on TCM at 12:15 tomorrow. It's a documentary about Dylan's 1965 tour of England.

[Slap Shot]

The Mauritanian. Jodie Foster plays a defense attorney that takes the case of a Gitmo prisoner accused of recruiting key 9/11 participants - from true story story. First movie I've seen that dug deep into some of went on at the prison. Great performances all around from including Benedict Cumberbatch, Tahar Rahim who played the lead role, and Foster's best work in years.

Details will make you sick and ashamed by what the orcs did in the name of national defense.

[Slap Shot]

Our family did our annual watch of The Impossible. We were in the south of Thailand when the tsunami hit and 2 of the 3 spots we considered to travel to were obliterated. We were lucky to come out unscathed.

So our personal connection coupled with my own experiences as a parent made for a very powerful experience. On top of that knowing this will likely be the last time we watch this together as a family (before my eldest heads to college in the fall) hit me pretty hard.

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

Our family did our annual watch of The Impossible. We were in the south of Thailand when the tsunami hit and 2 of the 3 spots we considered to travel to were obliterated. We were lucky to come out unscathed.

So our personal connection coupled with my own experiences as a parent made for a very powerful experience. On top of that knowing this will likely be the last time we watch this together as a family (before my eldest heads to college in the fall) hit me pretty hard.

Such a great film.

im watching wean now in the long way up. Love him.

[Kepler]

There will be a sequel to Knives Out.

The last original idea in Hollywood died, in development hell, in 1953.

[St. Clown]

There will be a sequel to Knives Out.

The last original idea in Hollywood died, in development hell, in 1953.

2 sequels. At least. The bidding war for both sequels was covered in the news, using the context of the streaming services’ competition for content.