The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums - one of Mizoguchi's most masterful films technically, as well as one of his most romantic. However I still prefer Naruse's more realistic portrayal of women rather than Mizoguchi's self-effacing heroines.
Cemetery of Splendour - Very good, though maybe not as entrancing as some of Joe's previous films which were more influenced by classic American avant garde cinema.
With the start of the new year I figured now is as good a time as any to think back on all the movies I saw in theatres in 2015--here were my favorite 10 (yes, fully half of these are 2014 films):
10. Bridge of Spies
9. The End of the Tour
8. Whiplash
7. Song of the Sea
6. Mr. Turner
5. Selma
4. Spotlight
3. Mad Max: Fury Road
2. Leviathan
1. Inside Out
Onwards and upwards!
Youth (2015): 7/10
A stilted, too-on-the-nose script and detached plotting and characterization don't hold this back from being a good movie--the actors are at their able best, the cinematography is excellent, and when the whole thing works, it really, really works. Nonetheless, I think it's safe to say at this point that something about director Sorrentino's craft does not translate well into English-language films. The Great Beauty will stay with me for a long time. I'm forgetting Youth already.
The Big Short (2015): 8/10
The best feature film about the 2007-2010 financial crisis I've seen yet, and I have a hard time imagining it being topped. Yes, it does oversimplify quite a bit (usually letting the audience know when it does), but it does so with an infectious grin and joyous obliteration of the fourth-wall. The rapid-fire associative editing and see-sawing sound-mixing take a while to get a handle of--for the first half-hour or so of the film I wasn't really feeling it. The film's tone finally clicked firmly into place (or at least, I finally understood what it was shooting for) when the film took a few minutes to have Margot Robbie (as Margot Robbie) explain to the audience some Wall Street-speak from a bubble bath. The rest of the film was a near-masterclass display of how to balance black humor with rage and profound sadness, culminating in a shiver-inducing denouement. Only some questionable editing, a few over-the-top moments of attempted comedy (well, this was directed by the guy who did Anchorman), and some potentially misleading interpretations of real-world happenings are keeping this from a 9.
I have put off watching this one for years. The JPop idol angle was a real repellant for me. I was wrong on that and in a big way. Lynchian in its plotting and use of females, this is a thriller and a half. Hard to believe that in almost 20 years no anime director has managed to best the style and execution of this one. I daresay the same could be said of comparisons to live action. Watching this will make you realize just what a miserable effort Gone Girl was
What had me bedazzled here on an entirely different plain was the characters physical movements. They are beautifully done and almost merit a reviewing with the sound off just to observe them. 1997 was the time motion capture was just coming into being so I doubt it was used here. There is none of the jerkiness associated with it. Movement is fluid and natural just seeming slightly (milliseconds) slower that real human motion which gives it a contrasting softness to the plot lines of the film itself.
This is a film that comes off as being designed from top to bottom and executed with no compromise. There is not a molecule of wasted celluloid here.
The only way you are going to get BR on that is to order from afar or pursue less than legit means. I will wait and hunt for it and perhaps do a rip from a foreign disk.(It's as rare as the OST for Ghost Hound).
The good news is subs are aplenty for this one so it should not be a big deal if you go that route. The anime forums are rife with sub reccos on this one.
This one merits a good copy (the one I saw was pretty much TV quality for the time) as it is one of the few I can see revisiting for a myriad of reasons.
You can rip it and burn it with whatever subs you desire. If you want it that bad.
With the Canadian buck trying to compete with the peso, foreign purchases are being curtailed here.
Top 10 films of 2015 by a Russian film journalist who I follow:
Inside Out
My Good Hans ( director Alexandr Mindadze)
Cemetery of Splendour ( Thailand)
Carol
Taxi ( Iran, Jafar Panahi)
Lobster ( Greece)
Youth ( Paolo Sorrentino)
Anomalisa
The Brand New Testament
Bridge of Spies
Not really funny at all. Somewhat entertaining, but overall pretty bad.
I do like Eddie Murphy though sometimes. He was pretty funny in "Bowfinger and "Coming to America".
Interesting that the director of this also wrote and directed "Gigli" and has not made a movie since.
Maybe he deserves another chance. He's made a few good ones in the past.
BTW looking forward to Revenant on Thursday.
My theater always plays movies one day before release, but never in IMAX.
BHC = stone cold classic of the 80s. You stay on this thread long enough and you see all your idols trampled... Gremlins, Ghostbusters, now Beverly Hills Cop! Far better film than Coming To America IMO and probably Murphy's finest, along with Trading Places. Not really funny at all?
^^ Philistine BHC = stone cold classic of the 80s. You stay on this thread long enough and you see all your idols trampled... Gremlins, Ghostbusters, now Beverly Hills Cop! Far better film than Coming To America IMO and probably Murphy's finest, along with Trading Places. Not really funny at all? :blink: Whhaaa - it's a quote a minute!
Lol, no kidding. Bhc was a big hit and funny when it came out. I am not sure it has aged well for young fellers who have never experienced the 80s though.....
Interesting to see how IMDb lists the years movies for 2015. They have all 9387 movies for the year in order of popularity, lucky all the movies I saw were in the first (most popular) 250 in the list.
http://www.imdb.com/search/title?year=2015,2015&title_type=feature&sort=moviemeter,asc
Still a great way to refresh your memory and get a grip of what new movies were liked of 2015.
Lol, no kidding. Bhc was a big hit and funny when it came out. I am not sure it has aged well for young fellers who have never experienced the 80s though.....
Yes. I think you have to have a firm grip on the culture of the time to really appreciate that film. The scene with the guy walking down the street in the Red Michael Jackson jacket was priceless. The high water mark for Murphys career.
Lol, no kidding. Bhc was a big hit and funny when it came out. I am not sure it has aged well for young fellers who have never experienced the 80s though.....
True, true. I'm with Ebert on this one though - BHC is almost a perfect film taken on its own terms. Plot, score, dialogue, pace, casting are all right on the money for me, but I struggle to be objective now, having seen it first in the 80s and at least 20 times since then
. It is always comes as a shock that not everyone sees it the same way: I recently lent my Blu Ray copy to a friend, who'd somehow managed to have never seen it before - he gave it back saying "it was just a bunch of people getting in and out of cars".
True, true. I'm with Ebert on this one though - BHC is almost a perfect film taken on its own terms. Plot, score, dialogue, pace, casting are all right on the money for me, but I struggle to be objective now, having seen it first in the 80s and at least 20 times since then :tongue_smile: . It is always comes as a shock that not everyone sees it the same way: I recently lent my Blu Ray copy to a friend, who'd somehow managed to have never seen it before - he gave it back saying "it was just a bunch of people getting in and out of cars". :rolleyes:
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BHC = stone cold classic of the 80s. You stay on this thread long enough and you see all your idols trampled... Gremlins, Ghostbusters, now Beverly Hills Cop! Far better film than Coming To America IMO and probably Murphy's finest, along with Trading Places. Not really funny at all? :blink: Whhaaa - it's a quote a minute!
