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Films/Movies, Old & New - Recommendations and Reviews

TheDecameron said:
I’ve never seen a Barry Lyndon. Is it worth getting?
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One of my very favourite films. A still and intense masterpiece with a strange, haunted performance by Ryan O’Neil who is miscast and appropriate at the same time.It takes its time but it has its own meandering momentum.
 
I watched ‘Bull’ last light on Netflix, the ever wonderful Neil Maskell is the main protagonist. It’s a rather violent revenge type film with a nice twist at the end.
 
Recently viewed on Netflix.

Extraction (2020) and Extraction 2 (2023) both starring Chris Hemsworth.

Extremely slick and well filmed chase/shoot ‘em ups. ‘action thrillers’
The first is certified 18 and the second 15, but I think they are easily 18’s.

Both films are about the retrieval of a kidnapped person or family.

What stands out for us was the edit of the fight scenes. Fast paced isn’t descriptive enough. Hemsworth looks gorgeous as per usual, the supporting cast are great.
There is a linked back story with the death of Hemsworth’s son being a motivator for his lack of self care. And chickens get a mention as well…

The Baddies are very bad.
The vehicle chase scenes are great.
Hand to hand fight choreography is extraordinary! Very long single shot sequences.

These are throwaway films that provide escapism rather than any deep and meaningfuls.

Extraction 2 is the pick of the two films and can be watched without seeing the first, but the storyline does flow better if one is aware of Extraction.

Extraction
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8936646/

Extraction 2
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12263384/
 
Del monaco said:
One of my very favourite films. A still and intense masterpiece with a strange, haunted performance by Ryan O’Neil who is miscast and appropriate at the same time.It takes its time but it has its own meandering momentum.
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Stanley Kubrik had special camera lenses made, so that he could film by actual candlelight - this gives these scenes a wonderful visual quality. Ryan O'Neal said that Kubrik forced him into places he never thought he could go.

Interestingly, and ironically, given the recent cinema release, Kubrik's original project was a life of Napoleon. However, another Napoleon-based film failed at the box office, hence the deviation into Thackeray.
 
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Yes, there are remarkable things in the film. Kubrick’s original Napoleon is being taken up by Spielberg as he did with AI. Not sure whether it is a film or series and I think Spielberg may be producing. Should be interesting given the new Ridley Scott film coming up.
 
I never really understood the economics behind Kubrick, he didn’t make that many films, they were often challenging yet he was always given a lot of rope by the studios. Not sure he would have a career these days?

He certainly never seemed short of money.
 
I'll only add one recommendation, possibly my favourite film ever. A rather unique, & a fairly slow & considered character-based drama, but stands apart & I think just stunning quality cinema & remarkable. French.

Portrait Of A Lady On Fire.
 
Woodface said:
I never really understood the economics behind Kubrick, he didn’t make that many films, they were often challenging yet he was always given a lot of rope by the studios. Not sure he would have a career these days?

He certainly never seemed short of money.
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His reputation was cemented and sustained by the success and enduring spectacle of 'Spartacus'. Then there was 'Lolita', 'Dr. Strangelove', and of course '2001 - A Space Odyssey'. The 1960's was a productive and successful period for Kubrick.

John
 
palindrome said:
His reputation was cemented and sustained by the success and enduring spectacle of 'Spartacus'. Then there was 'Lolita', 'Dr Strangelove', and of course '2001 - A Space Odyssey'. The 1960's was a productive and successful period for Kubrick.

John
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Yeah, he had a very productive 60s but not sure how commercially successful his films were, particularly Lolita. The Shining probably did very well though.
 
My point was that, Hollywood in particular, reputation carries a lot of weight. Back when Studios were actually making films instead of just financing them, being clearing houses and distributors, Kubrick had a lot of support from insiders, and major actors would 'pull strings' to work with him. He may have been regarded as a maverick but he was also respected.

John
 
Re-watched 'Carlito's Way' yesterday.

I enjoyed it the first time round, and again a decade or more ago since release. Now it struck me as really rather better than I remembered; with Al Pacino delivering a superb performance - one of his very best, nuanced in its subtlety, the inner struggle to restrain his instincts appropriate to a former 'big guy' living with no small remorse / a real desire for a more-normal life and not just for himself. Oh - and part of that heft also lies with the rest of the really quite-small, ensemble cast and supporting performances.

tl;dr:
Everyone remembers Scarface for its brash upfront sustained assault on the senses, around a magnetic character. It remains great entertainment!
- But De Palma's later film Carlito's Way revisits sim territory from another perspective/ in a very different way: and is the better film.
 
The Captain said:
I'll only add one recommendation, possibly my favourite film ever. A rather unique, & a fairly slow & considered character-based drama, but stands apart & I think just stunning quality cinema & remarkable. French.

Portrait Of A Lady On Fire.
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I loved the painterly compositions and gorgeous visual quality. Sciamma's next film, "Petite Maman", is even better IMO.
 
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