July film thread

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 Offwidth 15 Jul 2017
A few more recommendations from the last week or so.,

The experimenter: a research narrative style covering some very important work on the nature of obediance in the face of feigned immoral results. "In 1961, social psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted the "obedience experiments" at Yale University. The experiments observed the responses of ordinary people asked to send harmful electrical shocks to a stranger. Despite pleadings from the person they were shocking, 65 percent of subjects obeyed commands from a lab-coated authority figure to deliver potentially fatal currents. With Adolf Eichmann's trial airing in living rooms across America, Milgram's Kafkaesque results hit a nerve, and he was accused of being a deceptive, manipulative monster."

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/experimenter/

Her: as oddball as you might think for a gentle comedy Sci-Fi Romance... a relationship with an AI....but much better than you would expect. The added bonus of a soundtrack by Arcade Fire for fans.

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/her

Also saw King Charles III ....clever propaganda in the style of Shakespeare's War of the Roses plays with the war in this case political and domestic.... in practice didn't quite reach its high aims but worth the watch.

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/king_charles_iii_on_masterpiece


 Jon Stewart 15 Jul 2017
In reply to Offwidth:

> The experimenter

Thanks for the recommendation, interesting subject. I wish I could get round to watching films, for some reason I find sitting on my arse concentrating on one thing far more difficult than sitting on my arse flitting my attention between a few different things...

> Her

Awesome film. Really loved it.

Have you seen Anomolisa? Worth watching if not.


OP Offwidth 16 Jul 2017
In reply to Jon Stewart:
I find seeing films and plays can get a message across to me very effectively. I knew all about the research the film covered but it really hit home watching this: most normal people facing authority obey orders that are clearly stupid and damaging instead of challenging them (the opposite of what most of his fellow researchers expected).... something I've experienced too often in my relatively comfortable life (but the researcher was of course interested in the bigger picture, like the holocost).

Thanks for the tip... not seen that.
Post edited at 11:38
 deepsoup 16 Jul 2017
In reply to Offwidth:
> With Adolf Eichmann's trial airing in living rooms across America...

Speaking of which - did you see "The Eichmann Show" on telly earlier in the year? I think you might like that.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/11/exposing-adolf-eichmann
 Blue Straggler 17 Jul 2017
In reply to Offwidth:

Seen a few films at the cinema but nothing highbrow enough to keep up with these threads.

The little gem was "Gifted". On paper, should be awful. But I liked it. The trailer shows Captain America trying to raise a maths genius as a normal kid against the wishes of his evil mother. And that is pretty much the plot, but it is less trite than that. Well written, directed and acted. No classic and a total box office dud. Would work better on television actually. 8.5/10
OP Offwidth 17 Jul 2017
In reply to Blue Straggler:
Will you please stop being so snippy: the thread is for people to recommend films they enjoyed for whatever reason. Although mine tend to art house stuff at the moment its only as I'm slowly clearing those movies left after those I couldn't wait to watch have gone (from the free stuff on the BBC channels and Film4)..... almost any crappy Sci-Fi will have been watched near enough on the night. Talking of which, the moon has sadly left earths orbit... https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/jul/17/martin-landau-star-of-ed-wood-...

Last night I watched Tommy Lee Jones' The Homesman a bleakly enjoyable, inverted 'western' about the difficult realities of life on the Frontier (Nebraska in this case), especially for women. Just about on the right side of madness.

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_homesman

Quite enjoyed Middlemen the other night as well, which is hardly highbrow and never even got a release here

https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2011/jul/07/middle-men-luke-wilso...
Post edited at 07:47
OP Offwidth 17 Jul 2017
In reply to deepsoup:

No I didn't... cheers for the heads up.
 Blue Straggler 17 Jul 2017
In reply to Offwidth:

> Will you please stop being so snippy

For Heaven's sake, people are terribly sensitive. I wasn't being snippy at all! I was just making reference to the fact that I've been watching a bunch of "silly" films at the cinema; films which perhaps don't warrant highlighting here because everyone knows plenty about them and will make their own decision about seeing them (e.g. the new Spider-Man film).
1
OP Offwidth 27 Jul 2017
In reply to Blue Straggler:

Not sure what to say about this one... wicked satire beyond even the sins of its source material. Weird and nasty and muddled but played with gusto turned up to the max.

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/maps_to_the_stars
 sensibleken 27 Jul 2017
In reply to Offwidth:

Pilgrimage: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3531202/

I went to see this last night, not sure how wide its going to be distributed but I loved it. Set in Ireland in 1209 it tells the story of a group of Monks transporting a relic to Rome on the orders of the pope in a landscape being carved up between warring Normans and Gaels. Its in Irish, French and English (I believe standing in for latin as the lingua franca).

If you like historical films I can highly recommend it. Its extremely well researched, the violence is quite hardcore and the cinematography is gorgeous.
 Blue Straggler 27 Jul 2017
In reply to Offwidth:

Best film of 2014.

In 40+ years, Cronenberg films have amassed a grand total of approximately two Oscar nominations. I wonder if he was a bit bitter about that
 Tom Valentine 27 Jul 2017
In reply to Offwidth:

Just watched the latest Ape film.
It's always a risky business giving full marks but I really can't think of a reason not to.
Always ready to be corrected, of course.
Removed User 30 Jul 2017
In reply to Offwidth:

Went to see Ma Loute (Slack Bay) last night. It could have done with some editing towards the end but otherwise totally up my street and exactly what I needed. Extremely silly, much slapstick, darker than black humour and random and gratuitous bits of surreality. You can't go wrong with northern French coastlines, shellfish collectors, incest, a transgender child, cannibalism, Laurel and Hardy tribute cops and a few miracles thrown in. And Juliette Binoche, of course.
 Blue Straggler 31 Jul 2017
In reply to Offwidth:

National Theatre broadcast of Tony Kushner's "Angels in America"

Rather demanding material both for the actors and the audience!
Two 4h15m screenings (including two 15 minute intervals each).

Seems quite a long time to just say "being gay in America when AIDS became an epidemic, was a bit harsh". Some stunning performances.


I had a plan yesterday to watch The Big Sick, the "director's cut" of Raising Cain, and "David Lynch: The Art Life", but ended up seeing none of them.
Made comments about Dunkirk (2017) on the thread titled "Dunkirk"
 Blue Straggler 31 Jul 2017
In reply to Offwidth:

Oh and just as a time-filler I saw "47 Metres Down". Technically nonsense if you've ever even just read a single paragraph about scuba diving, but they get away with due to a trick ending.
Still just low-grade b-movie stuff but nonetheless engaging.

What was interesting about it, for this kind of film, is that it spends probably a whole hour completely underwater with just two characters (and the occasional disembodied voice on the radio). I think that must be unique for semi-major fictional feature film. In this sense it's a bit like a cheap version of "Gravity" and I think this aspect has been overlooked. The acting is unfortunately not quite up to the task (and I say this as someone who's been a fan of Mandy Moore's surprisingly edgy choices over the years - e.g. Southland Tales, Saved, and American Dreamz)
 nufkin 31 Jul 2017
In reply to Removed UserStuart en Écosse:

> Ma Loute (Slack Bay)...You can't go wrong

Mark Kermode thinks you can:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/markkermode/entries/e4704496-3ad5-4548-93ae-7da3...
Removed User 01 Aug 2017
In reply to nufkin:

Oh well that's me told.

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