the 2009 Christmas Carol with Jim Carrey

the LLLighthouse is by the same guy who did the VVVVitch. I'll sssskip it.

Anyone sssseen Cold Skin?

I haven't seen The Witch (not doing the double V-thing, it was only a stylistic choice in the promotional posters and apart from imdb no site refers to it that way) so I can't speak for either its merits or against its shortcomings, but I'd say you're missing out on something. Even if, let's say you don't like the plot progression or the type of narrative, the cinematography and the sound design alone are well worth a watch. And Dafoe's acting is absolutely superb and delightful in its twisted ghastliness. And Pattinson is a great foil for him.

i appreciated the witch better on rewatch, and knowing what it had meant to recreate

i did have a problem with my teevee depicting the darkness in hd, maybe it required HDR, maybe it was something else, i had at time problems seeing what was on the screen. purposeful obscurity or technical limitation, some day i might know

great atmospherics, although the plot is not really a plot, which can be bothersome. but once you understand the nature of the source material you can say “ah!” and readjust your expectations

maybe it should help to say, without real spoilers: it’s not meant to be a tight modern narrative, rather it gathers materials from old-timey horror folktales of the early new england colony, and stitches them together.

from that perspective, it was very good, but my initial reaction was disappointment. then it “grew on me,” as they say.

Maybe I'll get around to watching it somewhere online. If the atmosphere is even a smidgeon as dense and well-crafted as in The Lighthouse, I'm all in. That alone of course does not a great viewing experience make, but it goes a long way. The Lighthouse isn't really a plot-driven movie either, it's really more of a character study and a depiction of creeping derangement. I appreciated that a lot.

oh, this will echo with that then. check it out.

ps here it was in netflix some months ago

muerte de un ciclista [“death of a cyclist”] (juan antonio bardem, 1955)



yes, the director is javier’s uncle:



(this is javier bardem)

but the important part is that el tío josé antonio made a great little social realist movie that managed to squeeze past the censors during franco’s dictatorship.




simple but great story, beautifully shot and well edited with limited means. won the critics prize at cannes. a classic really.



another of almodóvar’s favorite spanish movies, and with good reason

the story though...

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.


Much like The Last Jedi, I enjoyed it. People are way too pissy about these things.

We’ll watch that Xmas day, tradition for the Ilds. I know I’ll be bored shitless, but will enjoy the popcorn, anyways


Bardem movie sounds great, I’ll look for it. We have a decent library locally if it’s not on NFLX.

Edit: it IS!

Watched the best Christmas movie ever last night, plus another pretty good one.

/s? or furreal? :D

ps best xmas movie ever is bad santa unrated

wait, no, criterion put on a “blue xmas” program i should post you titles. rn busy tho. but i prommix

The former is, honestly, the best.

It's a strongly accurate adaptation of a classic story; it features the Muppets in roles that genuinely suit them (Kermit the Frog as Bob Cratchit); Michael Caine absolutely nails it as Scrooge; the songs in it rule; it's just so great.

oh! the dickens!

well...

bad santa unrated cut ftw :D

Muppet Christmas Carol, very much is my #1 "A Christmas Carol" adaptation, and a very strong contender for my #1 Christmas movie overall.

Ha! The Muppet Christmas Carol was a staple on German and Austrian tv back in the 90s. It was probably my first exposure to the master of exposition, Sir Michael Caine. It's possible they still air it as extensively, but neither am I watching tv these days, nor do I want to surround myself with much holidays-y stuff. But fond mem'ries. The Muppets were the shit when I was a kiddo.

criterion curated a little playlist for the season:

https://www.criterionchannel.com/blue-christmas

fanny & alexander, fuck yeah

also i really did enjoy that arnaud desplechin movie—although i remember little of the plot, the characters interacting with each other (big french family) were great.

rohmer = great
black narcissus = great

Dutch children movie starring Carice van Houten, of Game Of Thrones fame. I have a general dislike of Dutch adult movies, but we do make very cool children movies. This is one of the better ones. The story is based on a book by Annie MG Schmidt, who's like the Roald Dahl of the lowlands.

If you like movies with cats but were disappointed with the Cats that's now in the cinemas, give this a try ;)

Muppet Christmas Carol is great fun.

Very depressing and surreal. Reminded me a bit of Barton Fink in some ways. Joycean In it’s story-telling. Didn’t love it but glad I finally watched it.

This too. With fam during holiday. Good film. Just brimming with Salingerisms — the brilliant family and its sad, complex dynamic. Noah Baumbach, like his mentor Wes Anderson, seems to be obsessed with this kind of thing, but Baumbach has a gritty, almost realistic approach while Anderson is obviously outlandish and cartoony much of the time.

Some ACTING! Moments from ScarJo but overall good

For me I've noticed that it takes me a couple of watches of each film to really enjoy it and this was no different. I watched it again a couple of months back and really enjoyed it. I really liked the whole idea that he's trapped in the same cycle, and the end of the day he's never going to get the success he so desperately wants. The music was just great too.

Damn what a great movie this is!

The scientist that invents a computer to track down the golden chocolate bars, only to get the answer "I'm not gonna tall you, what does a computer need with chocolate?" :D

A must see

A stunning and sad true story

Pre-90s digital retouchup of the original Star Wars.

Watched with the family to get out of the house on a hot day. Found it aggressively mediocre.

The ever great movie The Frighteners.


Michael J. Fox's last leading role in a movie, of all things.

Couple of duds
New Star Wars, Joker

Were there any movies that were first time watches that were holes in your film viewing you had to fill?
This year I watched the Sean Connery Bond movies fully for the first time this year. Saw All The President's Men, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Who's That Knocking On My Door, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Cabaret, Ocean's Eleven(the original), Cool Hand Luke, Cleopatra Jones, and Midnight Cowboy

Very cool film. It gets a bit too weird towards the end though.

One that's weird from the very beginning and I'm halfway watching it, in the 30th anniversary remastered edition:

Labyrinth is awesome, i don't care what anyone says.

^^A CLASSIC

—

and for me, just now



supposed to be a tale of the macabre but fellini’s touch makes it FUCKING HILARIOUS

a+++++ in the satire dept.

Debating watching Star Wars Rogue One tonight.

desperately seeking susan



sort of a fitting movie for a hangover, featuring an entertaining but anodyne plot, sights of new york when it was still a fun place, and more importantly, very pretty 80s girls, as this poster demonstrates. rosanna hhnnnnnnnnggggg

not sure how this found its way to the criterion collection—maybe as a cultural artifact of the time? they’re doing something about the director for some reason. but anyway, it was okay. you could watch it and not die of it actually.

So I started Rogue One last night, but am finishing it tonight. I got too sleepy drunk to finish originally.

The 30th anniversary edition is really good. First of all they remastered or recoloulered or however you could name it the movie, which makes it look like it was shot yesterday. But the special features are cool as well, with extensive Making Of documentaries, and new interviews with Jennifer Connelly and some of the puppeteers, including several Henson family members.

Nice quote by Jim Henson from the Making Of that cracked me up:
"Working with babies had its problems, but then I tried at directing chickens. "

It's sad but not surprising that Jim Henson's non Muppet projects were not commercially successful when they were first released, and now are regarded as classics. Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal, both are beautiful films and it unfortunate he didn't make more original films like them. That of course does not mean I don't love The Muppets as well, I believe that Henson was a one of a kind artist.

Watched a bunch of older flicks while on holiday in El Paso this xmas.

Xmas classic. Much better film than It's a Wonderful Life. Funnier for sure.


A Shot In The Dark, the second pink panther movie, with Inspector Clouseau in full effect.


The Maltese Falcon - One of my all time fave movies. Love it to death.


Animal Crackers - the 2nd Marx Bros film. I love the Marx Bros.

just another girl on the i.r.t. (leslie harris, 1992)



brooklyn in the 90s! wow. i bet it looks very different today. fucking hipsters!

this is an indie film that got some recognition at sundance back in the day and was distributed by miramax.

part of it is great, part is actually quite amateurish, but considering how it was shot for a mere $100k in 17 days in actual film stock, i say “of course, what else did you want.” miramax might have seen it as a chance to enter urban markets or something. unfortunately there were no sequels.

film starts as a hilarious look at a smart, self-absorbed teenage girl from the projects. then midway it turns into sad soap opera, and by the end it’s sheer ridiculousness and absurdity but o well—it’s okay to talk back at the screen and make jokes. yeah. so we did that.

it’s very far from a perfect movie. but holy shit, we need more movies like this that aren’t about rich white people (robigator hi) and don’t portray black people as either thugs or cops. was also a nice look back at a different side of the 90s because yeah, not everyone wore flannel shirts lmfao.



anyway, criterion put it up on their service. points for originality i say.

Some stuff I watched over Christmas:



Electric Dreams

Can't pretend this was anything other than a pure nostalgia pick, and strictly on those terms it delivered.



Mississippi Grind

Good low-key character study. Really well done.



Donnie Darko

Never really got this film. Not when it came out and even after rewatching it, I still feel like I must be missing something.



Invasion USA

Another nostalgia pick. Basically Norris beating up the Soviet Union for 90 minutes, wearing double denim.