MicShazam

Being a big film geek, it's a bit weird that there are several important directors whose movies I have never watched. I got a few movies recently, made my Ingmar Bergman (probably the most important Swedish director ever) and François Truffaut (one of the biggest in French cinema history). There are so many more directors that I need to catch up to, but I'm starting with those two for now.

Watched Ingmar Bergman's "Sawdust and Tinsel" late today. I'm really surprised by how much I liked it.

Sawdust and Tinsel (1953) (US title)

The above picture is the Danish version that I've got. The Danish title roughly translates to "Night of the Carnies". The cover of this version makes it look curiously like a B-movie, which it isn't at all.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045848...=m_nmfmd_dr_57

It's about the leader of a circus of outcasts with lots of lice and no money. As with many drama movies, it's a bit hard to say what it's about without spoiling important scenes. So broadly put, it's about the safe life versus life on the road. It's about the past and people changing with time. And it's about strongly conflicting emotions between people - not least lovers and former lovers.

Tensions rise and things get pretty crazy near the end of the movie. I felt several very different strong emotions while watching this movie. Sets my expectations pretty high for other Bergman movies. Luckily, he's got a pretty sizeable filmography.

Damned impressive performances as well. There were several actors and actresses here that I'd love to see in some more movies. Which would require me to see some more Swedish 50's cinema. With a bit of luck, some of these actors figure in other Bergman movies.

Justthefacts

Just watched The Death Of Stalin. If anyone wanted to know how much of bastard Stalin and his cronies were, look no further than this hilariously told satire. Armando Iannucci, who directed In The Loop (another satirical farce), has made his masterpiece with this film.

As if anyone didn't know how garbage Stalin was and the people he chose to have around him, this is perfect little film about the people who backstabbed their way to come into power after he died. All the while no one's head of Government while all this is happening.

Biting satire hardly gets better than this.

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Goofle

Iannucci is a genius. His best work is The Thick of It if you haven't seen it. He also has a completely lesser known show called The Armando Iannucci Shows which is pretty good.

And I need to watch that movie.

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MicShazam

^ I missed a free showing of the Death of Stalin a couple weeks ago :/


Watched a couple movies today:

Interview
A movie made by Steve Buscemi. He plays a jorunalist that interviews a celebrity and it's sort of a ping-pong where it's not clear who is putting on who until the end. Pretty good. Not sure I can see him making a masterpiece. Not based on this. But it was a solid attempt at making an interesting movie.

Also watched Atomic Blonde. Complete crap from top to bottom. Nearly unwatchable. Must have been one of the worst movies of 2017. I felt like it was probably going to be bad. Not sure why I watched it, actually? Maybe just to ogle Charlize Theron.

Frownland

Trees Lounge had some great characters but a very firmly late 90s indie flick plot.

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Trollheart

Battle of Britain (1969). Tosh, but entertaining tosh, and for once a war film with hardly any Hitler. Big names in it too - Laurence Olivier (before the knighthood), Michael Caine, Ian MacShane, Robert Shaw, Christopher Plummer, Trevor Howard, Susannah York. Low-level brain power required but it does give a good insight into how close the Germans came to achieving the invasion of England.

One very good scene stood out to me: a load of German pilots sitting down to dinner, having taken pretty catastrophic losses recently. No dialogue, hardly any sound. Camera focusses on one empty chair, and his mate looks glumly at the chair too. End scene. Thought that was very well done.

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Justthefacts

Revenge is an absolute grisly, gritty, greasy, splatploitation flick made by none other than the masters of gooey extreme horror, the French. These people seriously fucked with the wrong chick.

So basically this beautiful blond girl takes a vacay with a married man and a couple of his bumbling friends and long story short girl gets raped, girl gets revenge. Absolutely fucking brutal, disgustingly bloody. Probably the bloodiest film of 2018 so far and all the better for it.

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Chula Vista

A Quiet Place

Really slow burn at first, but once you get the drift, it rocks. Emily Blunt is awesome as usual, but the real revelation is John Krasinski. His 'The Office' character could have typecast him but he blows the doors off with this. Directed it too.

Go in totally blind and give it at least 15 minutes before bailing - slow burn.

95% on RT for what it's worth.

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YorkeDaddy

Great film. Nothing too groundbreaking but some excellent suspenseful scenes throughout and Krasinski is awesome. Can’t wait to see what he does next

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Justthefacts

Probably might go down as one of the greats over time.

It's all about that Hereditary though.

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