Waltz with Bashir 8.5/10

One of the best things I've seen all year. Unlike anything you will have seen, it comes highly recommended!

Mad Detective 7.5/10

Yeah, not at all bad. The structure puts you slightly on the back foot, whilst reminding you of several films 'Old-Boy lite'?. However it's a solid little film, with some nice cinematography and music.

Version watched: Region 3 DVD

Persepolis 7.5/10

A really good B&W cartoon dealing with a young girl growing up in Iran during the revolution.

Burn After Reading 6/10

Really average for the Coen's, it's only the dark humour (check out the chair), a few laughs ("Come back when it all...er makes sense") and some solid performances that save it. As the Kermode would say 'Stuff happens' but that doesn't make it a good film. An average 6/10

Gomorrah 6/10

Just saw Gomorrah, really overated IMHO, even though it's received some great reviews....the documentary style doesn't pull you in, however 'hard-hitting' the subject matter I couldn't give a monkey's about any of characters, simply because not one of them seemed to have any character whatsoever, they were just walking plot devices. Once again it's another case of a film with at least one reel to many. It's a shame as the subject could make an interesting film, it's just that Gomorrah isn't it 6/10

Unknown White Male 9/10

The best documentary I've ever seen, certainly the most thought provoking (highly recommended):





The Fugue State:

sudden, unexpected travel away from home or one's customary place of work, with inability to recall one's past,
confusion about personal identity, or the assumption of a new identity, or
significant distress or impairment.

Jar City: 8.5/10

Jar City: an excellent little Icelandic film, with some amazing photography. Highly recommended!

Planned viewing:

Jar City at the Cinema...report to follow

ON DVD: Miller's Crossing, I hadn't seen this in ages, and it be honest it was better than I remembered it. 8/10

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes...one of best SH movies IMHO (Although I should add I'm not that big a fan of Sherlock Holmes). It's just a shame that so much is missing from the version currently available on DVD, two major scenes have be lost over the years; firstly the story of the upside room and I seem to remember another one where Holmes takes part in rowing at Henley (I should check really, especially as I seem to remember I have a magazine lying around somewhere that covers the film and the missing reels). Perhaps not as good as I remembered it on DVD, but still worth a look. 7/10

Just watched: The Girl on the Bridge 6/10

The Girl on the Bridge (La Fille sur le pont 1999)...hmmm this didn't really float my boat at all. What get's me is that a film like Angel A is panned for being empty and shallow and yet TGOTB basically does the exactly the same thing (an unlikely pairing, with a potential romance, within a Parisian backdrop) and gets praised to the hilt. OK, to be fair the photography was fantastic, but at no stage were any emotions evident. Maybe that's the whole point and I'm missing the whole arc of the film. However the film didn't make much of an impact on me and, if I'm honest, I'm glad I spent only a few quid on it.

Currently watching: Fox and his friends, er yes, Rainer Werner Fassbinder stars in his own film about a gay bloke who wins the lottery...cue full frontal nudity and every Gay cliche imaginable. I guess it might have meant something in the '70's but currently this isn't keeping my attention glued to the screen.

Final score: an average 6/10

On Order

It's a mad, mad, Mad Detective:



Available now on region 3 DVD and from November 2008 on region 2

UPDATE: REGION 3 DVD DELAYED!

Somers Town 7/10

Yesterday afternoon we watched Shane Meadows' latest film Somers Town. Not too bad at all, although to be honest it's pretty slight (not to say short, at just 71 minutes long). I doubt whether you'll remember much of it in the long term, but it was nicely shot (on DV in B&W) and even the Eurostar plugged coda is watchable, although the change to colour for the final reel is a bit OTT and sticks in my craw if I'm honest. 7/10

The Kermode's verdict:

I also watched a couple of DVDs:

Wim Wenders: Wrong Move (Ugh...totally pretenious crap! avoid it at all costs). It's hard to believe that a director as good as Wenders could come up with something as empty and pointless as this. 2/10 (the 2 is for the photography only!).

Version watched: region 4

Rainer Werner Fassbinders': Mother Kusters goes to Heaven. Not too bad, an interesting film that shows how a tragic event can be exploited for personal gain 6/10

Version watched: region 2

The Marriage of Maria Braun 7.5

I saw Rainer Werner Fassbinder's classic film 'The Marriage of Maria Braun' last night. A bit stagey, but that's Fassbinder for you, you might as well complain that a wheel is round (nice print though, and the cinemaphotography was brilliant). Anyway it's good to see the actress Hanna Schygulla again, it's an over used term perhaps but she is luminous in this film, the camera simply loves her (another over used term!) but her performance is remarkable. Recommended



I also saw Wim Wender's 'Kings of the Road' the other week (on region 4 DVD, as part of the Directors Suite/ Road Movie boxset). Only Wim would get away with a shot of an actor actually having a shit and still keep the audience on board (strong stomachs are needed). It's interesting to see how the basic concept of the road movie taken to it's logical conclusion as a metaphor for how people, even when physically close to each other (by distance) can also be a million miles away emotionally, and the road is a metaphor for that huge gap. Great soundtrack as well.

7.5/10 recommended but for adults only (and patient ones at that as it's a L-O-N-G film). The film also contains one scene of masturbation, so it ain't fer yer grannie.

The Dark Knight 8/10

The Dark Knight, first off it's way too long* (but then again what's new these days? everything is too long), in some ways it's a strangely cold and detatched film... but...still worth watching. Heath Ledger is very good, creepy, deranged and violent, but Christian Bale looks almost out of place, oddly he's side-lined in a Batman film. However there's some great set pieces, especially a chase sequence with the Joker in a large lorry (all bike riders will want the Bat-bike pronto).

One side note, this is a 12A film, so it's not a kids film, so you'd have to be a complete moron to want to bring your very young kids along to it (as some did today, it makes you wonder what a 4 year old would have thought of it). Let's put it another way, it's called the 'the Dark' Knight...you know...Dark, in tone, as in Violent with a vein of sadistic humour. Oh and one last thing, the film is very loud...that's VERY LOUD! so mind those ear drums down at the front :)

Worth watching though and still recommended, even though I'm no comic-book film fan

*Take my word for it your bladder will soon tell you this (actually make that it'll be 'screaming it'...you have been warned). At the Screening I went to the toilet looked like Glastonbury's finest after the film ended...splosh!

Cineworld Glasgow

Alice in den Städten/Alice in the City. 7.5/10

One of Wim Wenders earlier films. In some ways it's a minor masterpiece, even if Wim hates it being referred to as having the three AAA: Angst, America and Alienation, once again it's a road movie with a twist. It's also notable for having a soundtrack by the Krautrock group Can. Recommended.

Version watched (Region 4 DVD)

The Mist 7/10

Just saw 'the Mist', some poor CGI in places, a few genre cliches, and some solid acting, but the ending saved this film and raised above the norm. Probably one of the best downbeat endings I've seen for some time...and one of the greatest betrayals of a Lovecraftian horror ever.

Update (24 hours later): There's 'something' about the ending that's so out of character with the rest of the film (basically a daft creature-feature based on a novella by Steven King) that will stay with you for a long time. A perfect example of Lovecraft's 'Cosmic horror' (shock and awe in the ultimate sense), where the mind cannot/will not comprehend what is happening, and yet (all along) it's not 'without' where the real horror lies, it's always 'within'. Given certain conditions what would we do? Would we make the right decissions at the right time?

I watched the American (region 1) special Edition version. If you get this you'll also find the whole movie again on the second disc, but this time in glorious B&W....unusual for a horror film these days.

Das Experiment 7.5/10

The movie is based on the infamous "Stanford Prison Experiment" conducted in 1971. A makeshift prison is set up in a research lab, complete with cells, bars and surveillance cameras. For two weeks 20 male participants are hired to play prisoners and guards. The 'prisoners' are locked up and have to follow seemingly mild rules, and the 'guards' are told simply to retain order without using physical violence. Everybody is free to quit at any time, thereby forfeiting payment. In the beginning the mood between both groups is insecure and rather emphatic. But soon quarrels arise and the wardens employ ever more drastic sanctions to confirm their authority.

Yeah, not bad at all, it's got a bit of a TV-feel to it, but it's nicely shot and fairly well acted throughout. Worth a look. As the trailer says 'What would you do'?

More on the real Stanford Prison Experiment:

The Visitor 5/10

I saw this last night at the cinema, very dull and twice as predictable. The acting was ok, but the film telegraphed every part of the plot. Within 20 minutes you could have guessed the whole film.

GFT: Glasgow Film Theatre

The Singing Detective 10/10

Today I've been watching Dennis Potter's TV series 'The Singing Detective' on DVD. IMHO it is one of the 3 most important programmes to be broadcast during the eighties, perhaps 'ever' (the other two are of course: The Edge of Darkness and Boys from the Blackstuff).

The Singing Detective is a masterpiece, note perfect from beginning to end, enjoyable on loads of different levels, in fact it's was TV should be like (all the time) in an ideal world. Sadly we don't live in that idea world, and I've almost given up on TV altogether. Sad really, but Dennis reminds what real TV is all about.

The Third Part of the Night 6/10

Trzecia czesc nocy an interesting little film from 1971, with some great cinematography. Checkout this chase sequence for example:











The music used in the film is also quite odd, think Morricone meets TD circa Electronic Meditation (Nasty Twangy electric guitars) meets lounge jazz (Vibraphone) with some Florian Fricke/Popol Vuh (strange stuff) with strings. It certainly creates a weird dream-like atmosphere.

The film rather tails off at the end, but overall it's just about worth the effort

The 'problem' with Morgan Freeman

Rewind back many years ago and I had just seen Se7en at a cinema in Derby. We left suitably impressed with the film and the actors...only that we differed in who we thought was the better actor. On one hand my mates thought that Brad Pitt was the best, and on the other I thought it was Morgan Freeman who gave the best performance (I seem to remember I used the phrase he had 'acted Pitt off the screen'). Fast forward to the present...and I've got to admit 'they' were right afterall. In the last year Pitt has appeared in the brilliant 'the Assassination of Jessie James by the coward Robert Ford' a very subtle and errie performance, whilst Morgan Freeman...just does...'the Morgan Freeman thing', as I like to call it. Basically he's just playing a version of himself, charismatic maybe, but still playing himself nevertheless. As bad as I feel about it I'm beginning to get annoyed by his acting...he's become the Sean Connery of America. This opinion hasn't changed after I saw Gone Baby Gone, where yet again Morgan plays a cop...zzzzzzzzzz...come on man, you can do better...do something different!

Currently watching: the Third Part of the Night

Films I should be watching at the cinema

So weird it must be good



Giant insects and Lovecraftian horrors...who could resist?



the Visitor

Gone Baby Gone 6.5/10

I saw Gone baby gone at the cinema last night, not bad, not perfect, but all in all very watchable. Definitely at least one reel too long and to be honest I'm growing bored with the whole plot twist/ explanation thing, it's old hat and script writers need to move on. Casey Affleck puts in a solid performance as a private investigator in search of a missing child, pitted against not only the police but also a family that's not all that it seems.

Bargain time at Fopp

I'm hot-foot from Fopp (can you have three words in row starting with one letter? they never told me at Oxford ;))..anyway it's always good to see what bargains can be had in their Glasgow branches. Today I found 4 which might be watchable:

A History of Violence (£3). For the record I should point out I hated Eastern Promises (total one dimensional pish and that fight scene was over hyped to hell....I've seen better fights in the town on saturday night!), but for this price it's well worth the risk

The Girl on the Bridge (La Fille Sur Le Pont) (£6)

Das Experiment (by Oliver Hirschbiegel the director of Downfall) (£7)

The Third Part of the Night (Poland 1971) (£8)

Annie Hall (1977) 7.5/10

I got to watch Annie Hall last night after a gap of 15-20 years. Ok, well perhaps not as good as I remembered it, but still very watchable indeed. It was funny to see how many of the one-liners from Allen, I could (almost) repeat word for word; surprisingly almost all of them, which is amazing considering I've ever seen the film once before. It's still a classic, and maybe as Woody has said on many occassions 'probably' not his best film

Recommendations

Two Korean film recommendations for you, firstly Oldboy...it shouldn't really need an introduction, as it was probably the most outstanding film to come out of the country in years. Go rent or buy it now! I can't recommend it enough, and I'm not going to say a word about it as it's a film that needs its surprises...and believe me you 'will' be surprised. If you have seen it go hunt down the other two parts of the Vengence series.

Secondly, and perhaps slightly less well known is A Bittersweet life...a more straight forward film but with style by the bucket load. Tarantino wishes he could be this inventive.

Click on the youtube clip to see the entire start of the film. NOT FOR KIDS THOUGH!

BBC Imagine Documentary: Werner Herzog, Beyond Reason

Werner Herzog was featured on BBC1 last night, in an hour long documentary by Alan Yentob. Neither the programme or the presenter were the most exciting thing I've seen in years, nor did it add much to what I already know about the director, however it's always good to see a few clips from Herzog's films and documentaries (I need to hunt down the one he did on the oil refinery fires after the first Gulf War, it has some amazing footage).

A few screen grabs from Beyond Reason

Stroszek (1977): 7/10

One of Werner Herzog's lesser known films...very odd, with real life odd-ball non actors. Good though, full of imagery only Herzog would have used

Bruno Stroszek is released from prison and warned to stop drinking. He has few skills and fewer expectations: with a glockenspiel and an accordion, he ekes out a living as a street musician. He befriends Eva, a prostitute down on her luck. After they are harried and beaten by the thugs who have been Eva's pimps, they join Bruno's neighbor, Scheitz, an elderly eccentric, when he leaves Germany to live in Wisconsin.

Radio On: 7.5/10

I got to watch 'Radio On' the other night. It's one of a rare breed, a truly English road movie (well, with a German in it). Not bad at all, but it's mostly of note for:

A) the Music, a nice selection from David Bowie, Ian Dury and Kraftwerk (near the beginning of the film the lead actor receives a package of 3 Kraftwerk cassettes):




B) It's one of the first appearances of Sting as an 'actor'...and strangely enough he isn't too bad.



C) Lastly it's one of the first films to use a steadi-cam

Obviously influenced by Wim Wenders (and less obviously by Fritz Lang) Radio On is visually very good, but almost ruined by some of the worst print damage I've ever seen on a DVD. Perhaps the BFI were short of money? Therefore I can't really recommend it on DVD, but keep an eye out for it on TV, it's worth a watch.

Never trust what people tell you

That reminds me...I have a film to watch:

Recommended Directors

Actually, this should be titled 'Directors who provide you with something different' (in no particular order):

Aki Kaurismaki: Where do you start? at first look there's nothing to his films, deadpan x 1000, nothing flashy, simple stories of losers and underdogs...and yet they gradually seep into your consciousness and you start to get them, the Finnish humour and I guess the truth behind the everyday emotions. Highly recommended:

La Vie De Boheme (shot in Black & White and strangely enough in French by an all Finnish cast. Classic stuff).

Calamari Union (B&W. A group of men, all called Frank, bar one, try to travel to a mythical part of the city. Not all of them make it. As mad as a box of spiders ;)



Wim Wenders: shouldn't need any introduction really:

I'd recommend The American Friend, Wings of Desire and (rather obviously) Paris, Texas



Werner Herzog: Watch everything you can by this director, even at his worst he says more about the Human condition (the Ecstatic Truth!) than Hollywood will in a 100 years:

Werner on Languages:



Rainer Werner Fassbinder: little to add really, just try some of his work. However I'd especially like to recommend the massive Berlin Alexanderplatz (although I can't stand the last hour or so...I like to pretend it didn't happen), but the rest of the huge running time more than makes up for. It can be watched on several different levels; Franz Biberkopf as a metaphor for Germany, sleep-walking into Nazi rule, the goodness in it exploited by others, giving way to madness and horror. However you look at it, it's just a brilliant film and shouldn't be missed.

Recommendations for 2008....so far

There Will be Blood

Here is DVD Times' review




No Country for old Men



The Orphanage



The Assassination of Jessie James by the Coward Robert Ford

"I'm finished"

My 'To Watch List'

The Woody Allen Collection Vol. 1:
Bananas/Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex But Were Afraid To Ask/Sleeper/Love And Death/Annie Hall

Radio On [1979]

The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection - 1973-1982
Fear Eats The Soul (1974)
Fontane Effi Breist (1974)
Fox And His Friends (1975)
Mother Küsters Goes To Heaven (1975)
Fear Of Fear (1975)
Satan’s Brew (1976)
Chinese Roulette (1976)
The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)

The Singing Detective (BBC TV series)

Another bizarre moment for Werner Herzog

"The poet must not avert his eyes"

Probably the best film I saw last year

The Lives of Others

So Last Year

DVDs and Films seen in 2007:

1. Stalker (DVD) 7
2. Life is a Miracle (DVD) 8
3. Goodbye Lenin (DVD) 9
4. Dog Bite Dog (DVD) 7.5
5. The Story of the Weeping Camel (DVD) 7
6. The Cave of the Yellow Dog (DVD) 7.5
7. The Edukators (DVD) 8
8. Forbidden Planet (DVD) 7
9. A Scanner Darkly (DVD) 7
10. Angel A (DVD) 8
11. Children of Men (DVD) 7.5
12. Quatermass and the Pit, BBC TV series (DVD) 8
13. Casino Royale (DVD) 8
14. Beasts, ATV TV series (DVD x 2) 7-8
15. Murrain TV (DVD) 8
16. Boys from the Black Stuff TV (DVD) 10
17. The Science of Sleep (Glasgow Film Theatre) 7.5
18. Hot Fuzz (Cineworld Glasgow) 5.5
19. Red Road (DVD) 8
20. The Host (DVD) 7
21. Inland Empire (Glasgow Film Theatre) 7.5
22. Knife in the Water (DVD) 9
23. Repulsion (DVD) 8
24. Pans Labyrinth (DVD) 9
25. Cronos (DVD) 7.5
26. Fitzcarraldo (DVD) 8.5
27. Sunshine (Cineworld Glasgow) 6
28. Paris, Texas (DVD) 8.5
29. Head On (DVD) 8
30. This is England (Glasgow Film Theatre) 8
31. The Inheritors (DVD) 6.5
32. Eureka (DVD) 8.5
33. The Lives of Others (Grosvenor, Glasgow) 9
34. The American Friend (DVD) 7
35. Zodiac (Cineworld Glasgow) 8
36. Jindabyne (Glasgow Film Theatre) 7.5
37. Raising Phoenix (DVD) 7
38. Bangkok Dangerous (DVD) 5
39. Night of the Sunflowers (Glasgow Film Theatre) 7
40. Operation Goodfellers (DVD) 8
41. Magnolia (DVD) 8
42. Tell No One (Cineworld Glasgow) 6.5
43. The Bad Sleep Well (DVD) 8
44. The Seventh Seal (DVD) 8
45. Distant Voices, Still Lives (Glasgow Film Theatre) 7
46. The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (DVD) 8
47. Private Fears, In Public Places (Glasgow Film Theatre) 7.5
48. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolfe (DVD) 9
49. Night of the Sunflowers (DVD) 8
50. The Legacy (L’ Héritage) (Glasgow Film Theatre) 8
51. Inland Empire (DVD) 8.5
52. The Lives of others (DVD) 9
53. Gokudô kyôfu dai-gekijô: Gozu (DVD) 7.5
54. Bugs (DVD) 6
55. Die Fälscher / The Counterfeiters (Glasgow Film Theatre) 8
56. L'Avventura (DVD) 7.5
57. London to Brighton (DVD) 7.5
58. Extras: Series 2 (DVD) 7.5
59. The Science of Sleep (DVD) 8
60. Cobra Verde (DVD) 7.5
61. The Squid and the Whale (DVD) 7
62. Bladerunner the final cut (DVD) 8.5

Lights, Camera, Action!

Yet another new blog (wake up at the back!) but this time it's on films and DVDs. Over the year I'll be reviewing and/or commenting on ALL of the ones I get to see, whether that's at home on DVD, whilst travelling or at the cinema. Wherever possible I'll be adding some screen grabs to give you an idea what the film is like