#filmlist

[monstrenke]

Guns Akimbo [2019] 

-Suicide Squad ft Deadpool

[imnothinginparticular]

+My 2019 Top Films list. 1. Atlantics- Mati Diop Haven’t seen this unpredictable supernatural style…yet rooted in social realism sort of film since Apichatpong’s classic Uncle Boonmee. Add in the fact this is the director’s debut film who was the actress in my favorite French film of this millennium in Clair Denis’s Ozu tribute, 35 Shots of Rum. 2. Parasite- Bong Joon Ho Ya he probably had the best film of the year, just with the director’s level of greatness at this point I judge in comparison to his past works. I noticed in this and his last film Okja how obvious his messages are becoming whereas I prefer the poetic nuance of Memories of Murder which is something a Korean film last year mastered in Lee Chang-dong’s Burning. I didn’t release a list last year but I felt that was the best film easily of the last 5 years and had that fresh in mind while watching this. 3. Varda by Agnès- Agnès Varda If you really love cinema how can you not love her swan song. I just adored her on stage recalling her career beginning in the Left Bank movement (not new wave). Varda and her contemporaries are the reason I wanted to make films and the film captures that naive fun of making films for the right reasons. 4. Hale County This Morning, This Evening- RaMell Ross A mix of the realistic atmosphere of Burnett’s Killer of Sheep with the pictorial sensibilities of Rinko Kawauchi. This is a beautiful personal portrait of black life in very rural Alabama county that we just don’t see. 5. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood- Quentin Tarantino Also with Tarantino you judge him by his own merits. Coined as an ode to Hollywood, I would call it an ode also to the two post Italian art cinema movements: Spaghetti westerns and Giallo films. Rather obscure I appreciate that he doesn’t care if he looses people. The violent ending can be explained by a quick viewing of Dario Argento’s The Bird with the Crystal Plumage that would of been released in real life right around the time as this film was set in.

6. The Irishman- Martin Scorsese It is a Scorsese classic genre film, akin to Kurosawa’s late samurai films like Ran….in that we view simply with appreciation. How can we not appreciate all of his stars coming back in this? Also he uses CG correctly. And that is not to make your film, but to better it by giving the actors more freedom to do what they do. 7. The Lighthouse- Robert Eggers Liking this art house horror genre him and Ari Aster are doing. I love the subtlety and less is more approach of Eggers though. Casting teenage heartthrob…ahh I don’t know his name as the opposite of William Defoe in such a gritty economical manner that plays out as a horror parlor film was a real achievement. That would be like Howard Hawks in something like Key Largo with he sensibilities of Edgar Allen Poe. Like the continuing motif of the birds consuming us as he did in The Witch.

8. Ash is Purest White- Jia Zhangke I just love his social realism, he is like dramatist with the eye of a documentary filmmaker. He doesn’t rely on cliches to draw emotion in his films…he just shows. 9. The Farewell- Lulu Wang It is like Yi-Yi A One & a Two… with American cynicism. The way it dances between tragedy and comedy is what our most classic forms of entertainment come from in Greek tragedies. The dynamics of culture are well played it in this as well. Just a fun film.

10. The Dead Don’t Die- Jim Jarmusch/Us- Jordan Peele These I lumped together simply because they are the same films using a genre as symbolism. Both are American political horror films.I wouldn’t consider either innovative but that becomes the point.The former is over the top and if you look closely all for a reason and the latter is ambitious exploration into our nation’s past oppression that we are still afraid to address. Every shot in both film is clue with multiple metaphors that has become the American dream deferred….a nightmare.

Honorable mentions: Hotel by the River- Hong Sang-soo I love the repetitions in his films. If you have even seen one of them, the prevailing egotistic…humility is rare as he constantly blurs his films with his real life. Asako 1 & 2- Ryusuke Hamaguchi I was excited the first time a Japanese film, not made by Kore-eda could crack my top ten this decade. It didn’t. It was a film that took heavily from the “it” anime director Makaoto Shinkai (minus his masterful atmosphere) and relied heavily on coincidences with a strangely poor cliched acting performance by the female lead. The films saving grace was strangely the actor’s performance in his doppelgänger role that was cleverly metaphored by the reoccurring theme of photographer Gocho Shigeo’s work Self and Others. The ending as well…that was an ode to Kore-Eda’s first film which in turn was an ode to Ozu. Midsommar- Ari Aster A decade from now this will probably be the most remembered from 2019 (besides parasite) achieving a cult status exactly for its pretensions. Yet it was audaciously unforgettable. Long Day’s Journey Night-Bi Gan Like Midsommer this as will be remembered for its pretensions. An unnecessary 3D 59 minute one shot one take and copied Wong Kar Wai aesthetics complete with a misleading marketing plan that pitched this as a mainstream romantic drama although it was an unnecessary complicated art film that bored us with its unoriginal atmosphere. I list it still for the sheer audacity. The Souvenir- Joanna Hogg Sight and Sound rated this as number 1 as they always prop up their British films. I wanted to hate it but enjoyed the director’s exploration into her own maturation. Monos- Alejandro Landes Was really excited to see this! Much rooted in the realism of the Zhangke and Diop film it just missed what the other two innovated.

[claireisanaspiringnovelist]

FILM 1869: TITANIC

TRIVIA: The elderly couple seen hugging on the bed while water floods their room were the owners of Macy's department store in New York, Ida and Isidor Straus, both of whom died on the Titanic. Ida was offered a seat on a lifeboat but refused so that she could stay with her husband, saying, "As we have lived together, so we shall die together." There was a scene filmed that depicted this moment but was cut from the final version. It was Mrs Straus' who originally said "Where you go, I go" that inspired Rose's same line in the film.

After finding out that she had to be naked in front of Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winsletdecided to break the ice, and when they first met, she flashed him.

James Cameron went on the dives to the real Titanic himself, and found it an overwhelming emotional experience to actually see it. He ended up spending more time with the ship than its living passengers did.

Due to the long theatrical run of the movie, Paramount had to send out replacement reels to theaters that had literally worn out their copies.

The first film to be released on video (DVD/VHS) while it was still being shown in theaters.

At $200 million, the movie cost more than the Titanic itself. The cost to construct the ship in 1910-1912 was £1.5 million, equivalent to $7.5 million at the time and about $120 to $150 million in 1997 dollars.

With her nomination for Best Supporting Actress at age 87, Gloria Stuart became the oldest person to ever be nominated for an Oscar.

Was #1 at the U.S. box office for a record fifteen consecutive weeks, from 19 December 1997 to 2 April 1998.

A recent investigation showed that if Titanic had hit the iceberg head-on, she would have survived. Though damaged she would not have sunk and would have reached New York -- maybe a day or two late.

This was the first film to be nominated twice for an Academy Award, for the portrayal of the same character: Kate Winslet received a Best Actress nomination for her role as Rose and Gloria Stuart received a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her portrayal of the older Rose. The next time this happened was with the movie Iris (2001), which also starred Winslet.

The first Best Picture Academy Award winner to be produced, directed, written, and edited by the same person (James Cameron).

James Cameron was adamant about not including any song in the film, even over the closing credits. Composer James Horner secretly arranged with lyricist Will Jennings and singer Céline Dion to write "My Heart Will Go On" and record a demo tape which he then presented to Cameron, who responded very favorably and included the song over the closing credits. The song went on to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

In the scene in the beginning where the captain orders full-speed ahead and the shot moves down into the boiler room, the set was really just about three boilers but the film makers had huge mirrors installed to visualize a great big long room. (In this scene you can see workers shoving in coal, and about 20 feet down the room you can see the mirror image of the workers).

One of three films to win a total of 11 Academy Awards, the others being Ben-Hur (1959) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).

Was the highest grossing film in box office history with a worldwide gross of US$1.8 billion until it was surpassed by Avatar (2009). Both films were directed by James Cameron.

Real Beluga caviar was used in the first class dining room sequence. After sampling it, Jonathan Hyde said he "made an acting decision on the spot that Ismay was a big eater."

The first movie to gross a billion dollars.

In a recently-completed investigation by Tim Maltin, he reveals that the reason the iceberg was not seen was due to a "cold water mirage." This is the opposite of a desert mirage. The multiple layers of cold and warm air cloaked the iceberg. Normally the iceberg could have been seen as far as 12 miles, giving Titanic 30 minutes to avoid. This is revealed in his e-book "Titanic: A Deceiving Night" and his Smithsonian documentary "Titanic's Final Mystery." This also explains why the Californian failed to receive the distress message "Come at once; we are sinking" that crew on Titanic signaled with Morse lamps.

In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #83 Greatest Movie of All Time. This was one of the newest entries on the list (from films which were released between 1997 and 2005).

Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.

DIRECTOR TRADEMARK: James Cameron: [perfect cut] Several dissolves between the Titanic on the seabed to the Titanic of the past, and the dissolve from the young to the old Rose.

[alwaysthewindneverthebird]

films i’d like to watch in my spare time soon:

how to talk to girls at parties

three colors: blue

call me by your name

lady bird*

everything beautiful is far away

loving vincent

permanent

the handmaiden

desert hearts

certain women

fried green tomatoes

the wait

euphoria

you’re killing me susana

under the silver lake

can you ever forgive me

vita & virginia

the shape of water

everybody knows

picnic at hanging rock

wonder wheel

cloudburst

a ghost story

american honey

the incredibly true adventure of two girls in love

the cleanse

[hunters-schafer]

endless list of my favorite movies → arrival (2016), dir. denis villeneuve

Despite knowing the journey… and where it leads… I embrace it… and I welcome every moment of it.

[patroqlus]

“Who is you, Chiron?”

-- Moonlight (2016) dir. Barry Jenkins

[theoppositeofkitsch]

Movie list

I was thinking about what international films I could write about and came up with this list. They’re not all superduperomg profound criterion movies (Close Up is though), but mostly random ones I’ve come across. 

I feel like there is sometimes a perception in the US that if you like foreign films, you’re a snob and you think you’re better than people who don’t watch them. I’ve gotten that vibe from people when they’re almost berating me because I haven’t seen X movie. I don’t really get it because I’m happy to watch anything. Let’s sit down and do it. I don’t think foreign films are inherently better than US films. But I’ve always been interested in watching movies from other countries mainly out of curiosity. I remember renting my first subtitled movie in high school (Amelie, obviously), and my family teasing me about it. Idk. When you don’t have the means to travel everywhere, international film is a good way to imagine being elsewhere. A lot of these films have some beautiful cinematography, so it makes it really easy to do that. They’re not all happy films of course.  

Movies, like any art, should primarily be enjoyed to me. These are films that captivate me in different ways.  I’ve watched these ones a lot or watched them once and been totally blown away like Te Doy Mis Ojos (kind of intense to watch multiple times - involves domestic violence). And I also really like talking about them. I feel like I haven’t been able to talk about a lot of these movies with people. 

I would say I really want to write the most about the Celine Sciamma movies and Force Majeure. 

Always taking movie recommendations from any country and any time period! :-)

Israel/Palestine

Strangers (2007) - Guy Nattiv, Erez Tadmor 

Lebanon

The Attack (2013) -  Ziad Doueiri

France

Girlhood (2014) - Celine Sciamma

Tomboy (2011) - Celine Sciamma

Waterlilies (2007) - Celine Sciamma

Last tango in Paris (1973) - Bernardo Bertolucci

Iran

Close Up (1990) - Abbas Kiarostami

Italy

La grande bellezza/ The great beauty (2013) - Paolo Sorrentino

Sweden

Force Majeure (2014) - Ruben Östlund

Spain

Te Doy Mis Ojos/ Take my eyes (2006) -  Icíar Bollaín

Tambien la lluvia/ Even the rain (2010) -   Icíar Bollaín

Norway

Oslo August 31 (2012) -  Joachim Trier

Singapore

Be with me (2005) - Eric Khoo

Philippines

Metro Manila (2013) - Sean Ellis

[philomaela]

The Birkebeinerne are the King’s men. But have they met him? He who hides away in Nidaros, while the Baglers are burning our lands. He who sits in a golden chair, sleeps on silk linen and sucks his thumb. We are farmers, not warriors. But, we are fighting for all that we love. For our families. For survival. The Baglers killed my wife. They butchered my boy, Eirik. He did not even reach his second birthday. And for what? For what? The King in Nidaros is dead, but Norway has a new King. And he is here with us tonight. This is Norway’s new King, Hakon Hakonsson. The Baglers are coming to kill him. Help me stop the Baglers once and for all, so we can unite under this King and send these Bagler devils back to hell. Not as farmer’s, but as this King’s men. As real Birkebeinerne.

The Last King (2007) dir. Nils Gaup ✦