Schmed’s Film Picks
Discussion
Q1 2021’s Films
Summary post as previously requested, not a bad start to the year. (Pls ignore as you wish.)
The Father (2021)
So we saw Francis McDormand’s bid for Oscar glory a couple of weeks back in Nomadland, with the multi-millionairess portraying a poverty stricken RV dweller travelling around the US whilst crapping in a bucket.
This one is Anthony Hopkins & Olivia Coleman’s effort and I must say it was bloody good. With the lovely Imogen Poots and the League of Gentlemen’s own Mark Gatiss picking up the supporting actor roles, AH gives a sterling performance. This reminded me a little of Memento for the somewhat (and deliberately) disjointed storytelling but the perception of the main character is conveyed brilliantly and the result is, although somewhat head-spinning, very real and suitably jarring.
7/10.
Star Wars (1977)
Well it had to be done, lockdown has truly exhausted my film repertoire so I thought I’d revisit the classics.
A bit of digging meant I was able to obtain the so called ‘despecialized editions’ i.e. as true to the actual originals prior to Lucas’s despised post 1997 b
disation. I really cannot watch these, or the prequels, just horrendous. In fact the only film made subsequently that was any good is of course Rogue One, the rest should all be destroyed.
The despecialised editions are what any true fan of the original era will remember, which means it is basically identical to the VHS edition I was fortunate enough to watch way back probably sometime around 1982.
But what an impact it had, having the original edit now, it is just as I remembered. Just legendary and the best of the three (imo!).
Absolutely superb, from the Moss Eisley Cantina scene, to the original opening sequence with the 70s model Imperial Cruiser, it doesn’t get much better than this.
10/10.
Come True (2020)
Mild psychological sci-fi horror. Typical slow burn teen faire somewhat reminiscent of It Follows but works well in maintaining a sense of unease throughout. Somewhat derivative, think empty corridors, slow camera pans almost straight out of the Shining, but the cinematography and 80s synth soundtrack were spot on.
May not appeal to all, and it also felt slightly overlong, but that said finding something watchable in this genre is a rarity and overall I thought it was quite well done with a nice twist at the end some will hate.
6/10. Oneiric.
Coming to America 2 (2021)
Just out today on Amazon. I wasn’t even going to bother watching since my expectations were that low. Times review today gave it one star. Currently a 5.6 on IMDb, when the original is a 7. Whaaat!
At five minutes in I fully expected to give up but I kept on watching, then Wesley Snipes appeared, oh Jesus Christ how bad could this actually be...
Well not actually as bad as I’d thought. So many of the original cast reunited (ok perhaps easier when some cast members are playing many characters,) then the Barber shop scene touched on the original’s magic with Arsenio and Murphy working together again like the preceding 33 years had barely been a few weeks.
I would have liked Patrice, Darryl and Samuel L.J. to reappear but apart from that (and the shock of how much Maurice has aged compared to the rest) it wasn’t too bad, even Randy Watson is temporally resurrected for a catchy song & dance finalé.
5/10, worth it for the flashbacks because the original was genius.
Nomadland (2021)
Like Craig David trying to break America again, this is another Francis McDormand bid for Oscar glory. In truth, given McDormand is worth nearly $30m (and her husband, Joel Coen of the Coen brothers is probably worth nearer to $60m), watching their film about extreme poverty living out of an RV after the 2008 recession seems (ahem) a little contrived.
So that said it also almost seems a bit like they both watched ‘The Lady in a Van’ with Maggie Smith one night and then decided to take the idea out on the real roads of the American West. As long as royalties were paid I’m sure it’s all well and good.
Cinematography was obviously superb and a predictable high point of the film. Many shots of Francis gazing into sunsets but with some nice touches such as using real life road nomads like Linda May and swankie as characters that add even more realism to the very raw (and at times very difficult to watch) filmmaking, which even features such highlights as McDormand crapping into a bucket.
Recent output in the art house genre such as ‘The Lighthouse’ is really far better in my view and it is fairly obvious what the overall aim of this film is. It’s also too long.
7/10.
Wrong Turn (2021)
I really liked this but didn’t expect to. A ‘diverse’ group of teens on a hiking trip get lost in a red neck backwater so initially I was thinking yet more Hollywood woke bks we could do without given the predictable start but it is worth sticking with. No banjos but plenty of Confederate flags around and the classic old guy in the bar warning the teens to go home or at the very least, not to go off the trail. Good advice to heed as ever ignored, and the ending is nicely done. Surprising. 7/10
Out on the 26th in the UK, but not sure which service.
Promising Young Woman (2021)
Finally a good one, it’s been a while. As an ardent anti wokist & currently highly unfashionable right winger, who’s favourite film is ‘the Wolf of Wall Street’, I read the summary and thought the last thing I’d ever want to watch is yet more #metoo feminist bks with any sort of liberal agenda.
However, and politics aside, I really enjoyed this film, it’s very different. Carey is truly excellent (and also smokin’ hot), the plot is really, really dark and it kept me & the Mrs watching throughout. Seth Cohen (Adam Brody) does a great intro as an 80s sleeze +Schmitt (max greenfield) does the ending, the revenge angle keeps you watching. I’d say if you’re looking for something to watch on Sunday that’s a little different to the usual lightweight faire this one could be just the ticket. Soundtrack was dead on too, thank you Paris...
Traumatic...
7/10.
The Little Things (2021)
Slow build suspense drama with nothing as it seems, Denzel Washington, Remi Malik, and Jared Leto star in this Se7en-esque cop thriller set in 1990. Plot takes a while to get going (is no Se7en) but it held my attention throughout and was nicely done, small details unravel slowly and Leto is particularly unsettling as the main suspect.
6 dead hookers out of 10 sleazy hotel rooms.
The White Tiger (2021)
Netflix
Some reviews have called this a cross between Parasite and Slumdog but in my view it’s far darker than both. It gets better as it goes along, “I think we can agree that America is so yesterday; India and China are so tomorrow,” days our antihero at the start, and you expect to see great things. I wanted to see more, but most of the film is about him escaping the rooster coup rather than an ascent to greatness but then it’s all over too quickly. I found the ending rushed, and far more prosaic than I’d initially expected. It’s as if they ran out of time- given the tremendous sacrifice incurred I’d just expected more.
Rushed ending but a good quality production, having spent some time over there I can say the atmosphere and settings were superb, great realism, watching the street scenes I really felt like I was there. 7/10.
Thomas Vinterberg wrote and directed ‘The Hunt’ 2012 with Mads Mikkelson. I’ve yet to see his next film ‘The Commune’ but based on the latest output I will certainly be looking it up.
Druk (2020) aka. Another Round is something else. The premise seems so simple that it would only provide enough content for a dull half hour short, but it is a far deeper film than this tag line would initially suggest. I think this will definitely appeal to the PH demographic:
Four emotionally jaded fortysomething teacher friends working at the same Copenhagen high school learn about the works of an obscure Norwegian philosopher who believes that deficiencies in human mineral make-up mean that optimum biological performance can be achieved only with a blood alcohol content of 0.05 per cent (roughly two glasses of wine.) As a serious, yet top secret sociological experiment, the men put the theory to the test. Daytime drinking ensues... What could possibly go wrong?
An emotionally solid skål! Five Skåne Akvavit’s out of seven, at least.
Summary post as previously requested, not a bad start to the year. (Pls ignore as you wish.)
The Father (2021)
So we saw Francis McDormand’s bid for Oscar glory a couple of weeks back in Nomadland, with the multi-millionairess portraying a poverty stricken RV dweller travelling around the US whilst crapping in a bucket.
This one is Anthony Hopkins & Olivia Coleman’s effort and I must say it was bloody good. With the lovely Imogen Poots and the League of Gentlemen’s own Mark Gatiss picking up the supporting actor roles, AH gives a sterling performance. This reminded me a little of Memento for the somewhat (and deliberately) disjointed storytelling but the perception of the main character is conveyed brilliantly and the result is, although somewhat head-spinning, very real and suitably jarring.
7/10.
Star Wars (1977)
Well it had to be done, lockdown has truly exhausted my film repertoire so I thought I’d revisit the classics.
A bit of digging meant I was able to obtain the so called ‘despecialized editions’ i.e. as true to the actual originals prior to Lucas’s despised post 1997 b
disation. I really cannot watch these, or the prequels, just horrendous. In fact the only film made subsequently that was any good is of course Rogue One, the rest should all be destroyed.The despecialised editions are what any true fan of the original era will remember, which means it is basically identical to the VHS edition I was fortunate enough to watch way back probably sometime around 1982.
But what an impact it had, having the original edit now, it is just as I remembered. Just legendary and the best of the three (imo!).
Absolutely superb, from the Moss Eisley Cantina scene, to the original opening sequence with the 70s model Imperial Cruiser, it doesn’t get much better than this.
10/10.
Come True (2020)
Mild psychological sci-fi horror. Typical slow burn teen faire somewhat reminiscent of It Follows but works well in maintaining a sense of unease throughout. Somewhat derivative, think empty corridors, slow camera pans almost straight out of the Shining, but the cinematography and 80s synth soundtrack were spot on.
May not appeal to all, and it also felt slightly overlong, but that said finding something watchable in this genre is a rarity and overall I thought it was quite well done with a nice twist at the end some will hate.
6/10. Oneiric.
Coming to America 2 (2021)
Just out today on Amazon. I wasn’t even going to bother watching since my expectations were that low. Times review today gave it one star. Currently a 5.6 on IMDb, when the original is a 7. Whaaat!
At five minutes in I fully expected to give up but I kept on watching, then Wesley Snipes appeared, oh Jesus Christ how bad could this actually be...
Well not actually as bad as I’d thought. So many of the original cast reunited (ok perhaps easier when some cast members are playing many characters,) then the Barber shop scene touched on the original’s magic with Arsenio and Murphy working together again like the preceding 33 years had barely been a few weeks.
I would have liked Patrice, Darryl and Samuel L.J. to reappear but apart from that (and the shock of how much Maurice has aged compared to the rest) it wasn’t too bad, even Randy Watson is temporally resurrected for a catchy song & dance finalé.
5/10, worth it for the flashbacks because the original was genius.
Nomadland (2021)
Like Craig David trying to break America again, this is another Francis McDormand bid for Oscar glory. In truth, given McDormand is worth nearly $30m (and her husband, Joel Coen of the Coen brothers is probably worth nearer to $60m), watching their film about extreme poverty living out of an RV after the 2008 recession seems (ahem) a little contrived.
So that said it also almost seems a bit like they both watched ‘The Lady in a Van’ with Maggie Smith one night and then decided to take the idea out on the real roads of the American West. As long as royalties were paid I’m sure it’s all well and good.
Cinematography was obviously superb and a predictable high point of the film. Many shots of Francis gazing into sunsets but with some nice touches such as using real life road nomads like Linda May and swankie as characters that add even more realism to the very raw (and at times very difficult to watch) filmmaking, which even features such highlights as McDormand crapping into a bucket.
Recent output in the art house genre such as ‘The Lighthouse’ is really far better in my view and it is fairly obvious what the overall aim of this film is. It’s also too long.
7/10.
Wrong Turn (2021)
I really liked this but didn’t expect to. A ‘diverse’ group of teens on a hiking trip get lost in a red neck backwater so initially I was thinking yet more Hollywood woke b
ks we could do without given the predictable start but it is worth sticking with. No banjos but plenty of Confederate flags around and the classic old guy in the bar warning the teens to go home or at the very least, not to go off the trail. Good advice to heed as ever ignored, and the ending is nicely done. Surprising. 7/10Out on the 26th in the UK, but not sure which service.
Promising Young Woman (2021)
Finally a good one, it’s been a while. As an ardent anti wokist & currently highly unfashionable right winger, who’s favourite film is ‘the Wolf of Wall Street’, I read the summary and thought the last thing I’d ever want to watch is yet more #metoo feminist b
ks with any sort of liberal agenda.However, and politics aside, I really enjoyed this film, it’s very different. Carey is truly excellent (and also smokin’ hot), the plot is really, really dark and it kept me & the Mrs watching throughout. Seth Cohen (Adam Brody) does a great intro as an 80s sleeze +Schmitt (max greenfield) does the ending, the revenge angle keeps you watching. I’d say if you’re looking for something to watch on Sunday that’s a little different to the usual lightweight faire this one could be just the ticket. Soundtrack was dead on too, thank you Paris...
Traumatic...
7/10.
The Little Things (2021)
Slow build suspense drama with nothing as it seems, Denzel Washington, Remi Malik, and Jared Leto star in this Se7en-esque cop thriller set in 1990. Plot takes a while to get going (is no Se7en) but it held my attention throughout and was nicely done, small details unravel slowly and Leto is particularly unsettling as the main suspect.
6 dead hookers out of 10 sleazy hotel rooms.
The White Tiger (2021)
Netflix
Some reviews have called this a cross between Parasite and Slumdog but in my view it’s far darker than both. It gets better as it goes along, “I think we can agree that America is so yesterday; India and China are so tomorrow,” days our antihero at the start, and you expect to see great things. I wanted to see more, but most of the film is about him escaping the rooster coup rather than an ascent to greatness but then it’s all over too quickly. I found the ending rushed, and far more prosaic than I’d initially expected. It’s as if they ran out of time- given the tremendous sacrifice incurred I’d just expected more.
Rushed ending but a good quality production, having spent some time over there I can say the atmosphere and settings were superb, great realism, watching the street scenes I really felt like I was there. 7/10.
Thomas Vinterberg wrote and directed ‘The Hunt’ 2012 with Mads Mikkelson. I’ve yet to see his next film ‘The Commune’ but based on the latest output I will certainly be looking it up.
Druk (2020) aka. Another Round is something else. The premise seems so simple that it would only provide enough content for a dull half hour short, but it is a far deeper film than this tag line would initially suggest. I think this will definitely appeal to the PH demographic:
Four emotionally jaded fortysomething teacher friends working at the same Copenhagen high school learn about the works of an obscure Norwegian philosopher who believes that deficiencies in human mineral make-up mean that optimum biological performance can be achieved only with a blood alcohol content of 0.05 per cent (roughly two glasses of wine.) As a serious, yet top secret sociological experiment, the men put the theory to the test. Daytime drinking ensues... What could possibly go wrong?
An emotionally solid skål! Five Skåne Akvavit’s out of seven, at least.
Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 28th March 23:02
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