[Crudblud]

Essentially operating under the guise of a lesser Brazil, Gilliam's latest takes on the paradox of isolation in a world connected by fibre optics, the atomisation of society, the transcendence of faceless corporations from the geographic to the facets of our personal lives.

I just watched Brazil! Great stuff.

Brazil is one of my favourite films.

In total agreement with you fine fellows.

[Ghost Spaghetti]

I still need to see Twelve Monkeys (which is on my shelf), and Time Bandits.

[Blanko]

Catching up on what 2014 had to offer.

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (Alejandro González Iñárritu)

I had high expectations and I was kinda let down by it. It shares similarities with the cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki's previous film Gravity in that it has little substance beyond its neat camera work. The psychological struggles of a superhero icon of the past trying to stay relevant in Broadway seem to be buried somewhere in this film, but because of the film's obsession with the illusion of seamlessness has it zipping around and catching up on everyone, the end result feels more like a disjointed sequence of independent scenes that show what the characters are like but the viewer doesn't get to really know them. There are plenty of "great moments", but it felt like there was more to it than what was ultimately delivered. 7/10

Whiplash (Damien Chazelle)

This was really good. It doesn't miss a beat (sorry) and it's packed with intensity, but it also shows just enough restraint that it doesn't come across as hammy. Miles Teller's character shows genuine development and J.K. Simmons delivers some of the best verbal abuse since There Will Be Blood. The music itself is beautifully used as a storytelling device, and it speaks volumes about character relations and at times creates bigger emotional investment than the script itself does. 9/10

[spoon]

Master of the Flying Guillotine (Jimmy Wang)

Rewatching one of my favorite grindhouse films.

Physics-defying martial arts, flying guillotines, poorly translated English subtitles, all clearly on the lowest of low budgets makes for an excellent viewing experience.

[Crudblud]

The Story of Film: An Odyssey (Mark Cousins)

15 hour documentary covering cinema from the 1890s to the 2000s, described by the director as a tasting menu of world cinema. It's pretty exhaustive in its attempt to cover the history of film from a global perspective, and introduced me to cinematic traditions I had no idea existed, such as those of Iran and Egypt, and the cinema of India beyond cheesy Bollywood musicals, not to mention a shitload of Japanese cinema that I'm excited to see for myself, in addition to the often untold story of women working behind the camera as screenwriters and directors. It's really good, and if you're looking for an introduction to a wider world of cinema beyond Hollywood it should be just the thing for you. Some people find Cousins' distinctive enunciation and writing style off-putting, but ultimately the man is a vault of cinema knowledge and well worth persevering with past any initial hang-ups.

Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola)

It's a very funny film with a kind of bittersweet thing going on, Bill Murray and Scarlett Johannsson both give really good performances, but honestly I find that's all I have to say about it: it's funny, somewhat sad, and well made. I liked it a lot while it was on the screen, but it's definitely not something I'd go out of my way to see again.

[Rama Set]

Where did you watch The Story of Film?  Netflix?

[beardo]

How do I downloaded movies??

[Rama Set]

How can I see my penis again??

Fixed.

[Ghost of V]

That's just mean.

[Crudblud]

Where did you watch The Story of Film?  Netflix?

I found it by accident in a shop as a DVD set for £13. I don't have Netflix, so I don't know if it's on there.

[Rama Set]

Rama, you are hilarious.

Thanks!

Where did you watch The Story of Film?  Netflix?

I found it by accident in a shop as a DVD set for £13. I don't have Netflix, so I don't know if it's on there.

Thanks!

[Ghost of V]

I don't think I typ-

... Hmmm

[Foxbox]

Where did you watch The Story of Film?  Netflix?

I found it by accident in a shop as a DVD set for £13. I don't have Netflix, so I don't know if it's on there.

It is on Netflix indeed. I have been meaning to watch it myself.

[Rama Set]

Apparently the fairytale Frozen is based on actually featured a female hero trying to rescue a platonic male friend. it's a shame they went down the traditional Disney route.

I've been watching Prison break lately, while I loved the complex plan and trying to wok out what the symbols meant as they were introduced, I really wish they didn't have the ridiculous presidential conspiracy in the background - I don't care about the misadventures of the lawyers, I want to see Scofield try to avoid being shanked as he creeps into an intricately designed area of the prison.

The second series started well but the damn conspiracy is starting to take up too much screen time again. Agent mahone was a great character in his own right - and watching the cat-and-mouse between Scofield and him would have been really interesting to follow. Why did they have to over-complicate his character?

I loved that show, but alas, it succumbed to sequelitis very quickly.  They should have just kept it to two seasons and toned down the conspiracy subplot a good deal - it had to be there to a degree, of course, because you can't beat the classic story of the innocent man in jail - but it's way too complicated, and the writers just kept pulling more new dimensions and motivations for them out of their asses as the show went on.  As a result of all this stretching the plot out, the latter two seasons aren't nearly as good as the first two.  They're not all bad, admittedly - the characters are still great, the cast is still great, the directing is still great, etc. - but it's just unrecognizable as the show it was when it began.

It sounds like Lost with less seasons.

I watched Birdman and quite liked it.  They did a great job of presenting the seething egos of the characters, and the camera work to impart the feeling of being on stage was very good.  A little heavy-handed directorially, but it is nice to see something that creative on screen, and doubly nice to see Michael Keaton do his thing.

[beardo]

Do they reference Batman at all in it?

[Rama Set]

Do they reference Batman at all in it?

No. 0/10

[Ghost of V]

The Venture Bros.

I never really gave this show a chance when it first came out, but have been watching it on Netflix and loving it so far. Lots of cool pop culture references, and interesting characters. The Ventures Bros' naive stupidity is really the highlight of the show, I think. Their constant stupid remarks and ignorance is great. For example, Dr. Venture's skin falls off and Dean says "if you put that under your pillow the Tooth Fairy would give you a grand!", and the fact that they die a lot is also very amusing. It's a rip off of Johnny Quest and a few other older american cartoons, and as someone who grew up with that junk it's interesting to see how their satirize it. The show actually features Johnny Quest as an embittered adult junkie who scorns his parents for everything they put him through on the original show, and I think Race Bannon and a few other characters are in it as well. Totally recommend this show if you're bored and have nothing better to watch.

[rooster]

I love Venture Brothers. I own the first two seasons on DVD.

[Ghost of V]

I love Venture Brothers. I own the first two seasons on DVD.

Netflix only has the first 2 seasons. I guess Adult Swim does this on purpose to drive sales of DVDs or raise ratings on their network... but in actuality it only promotes piracy.

[rooster]

Netflix only has the first 2 seasons.

Yeah, I've noticed that. I still haven't seen any of the other seasons... maybe one day.