Last Movie Watched

Other non Stranglers stuff here

Moderator: StanInBlack

Post Reply
User avatar
unbroken69
Ugly
Ugly
Posts: 1245
Joined: 23 Mar 2008, 00:12
Location: Spain

Re: Last Movie Watched

Post by unbroken69 »

Jake wrote:watched a few good un's recently including 'The Baader Meinhof Complex', which I had wanted to see for a while and been told it was great and certainly was. I was given an Al Pacino boxset for some reason and I'm not really a fan except for 'Scarface', but watched 'Carlito's Way', Sean Penn was the best thing about that movie pulled off a corupt laywer very well I thought. Watched 'Blow', which I thought was just another movie about drugs and just reaffirmed that I don't think much of Johnny Depp, the chicks love him but I don't!. On the subject of drug movies also watched 'Drugstore Cowboy' which I thought was better than Blow, pretty good stuff. I should come to this thread more often :grin:
I had alot of problems with Baader Meinhof Komplex, as it was a subject I have been interested in, I was horrified at the simplifications given to the subject matter. It looks good, like most of Bernd Eichinger films and it starts well enough setting the secene of the era, but it goes rapidly downhill, with characters appearing without taking the time to explain who they are.

By the time Ulrike Meinhof joins the group and Andreas Baader breaks out of prison, we lose focus. Suddenly there are new members in almost every scene and none of them gets introduced properly (with the exception of Peter-Jürgen Boock). Certainly, not every character needs a back story, but it would have been essential to tell the audience at least how these recruits got to join the group in general.

By the time that Meinhof, Baader and Ensslin are imprisoned, we really don't care about the RAF any more. And this is mainly because we have no idea who these "2nd generation" people are. Even people who know about the RAF will wonder who this or that guy in each scene is supposed to be because only few of them are even mentioned by name. The assassinations of von Mirbach, Buback and Ponto are just checked off a list to get the story to completion. And the whole Schleyer-kidnapping as well as the attack on the "Landshut" which are supposed to serve as the climax of the movie have terrible timing and leave out so much important information.

Also the German governments role in the suppression of the group could be explored further.
Oh the bliss, oh the pleasure caressing your ears.
User avatar
Jake
ManinBlack
ManinBlack
Posts: 3202
Joined: 18 Oct 2005, 20:40

Re: Last Movie Watched

Post by Jake »

you obviously know the story better than I do mate, I mean I'm not going to pretend to have ever read a book on the subject so I will accept what you are saying, but it can't be as dubious as the Michael Collins movie from the 1990's if you know that one?
User avatar
unbroken69
Ugly
Ugly
Posts: 1245
Joined: 23 Mar 2008, 00:12
Location: Spain

Re: Last Movie Watched

Post by unbroken69 »

Jake wrote:you obviously know the story better than I do mate, I mean I'm not going to pretend to have ever read a book on the subject so I will accept what you are saying, but it can't be as dubious as the Michael Collins movie from the 1990's if you know that one?
Being from Northern Ireland, I do get wound up when it comes to history and politics of Ireland portrayed by Hollywood. Michael Collins is hoplessly mis-cast throughout and although it is historically twisted it was accepted as OK by irish nationalists as it was sympathetic to their cause.

The ones that really made my blood boil where both by Ken Loach, a film-maker I usually admire. His films Hidden Agenda and The Wind That Shakes the Barley are twisted to the point that they serve no purpose other than Irish republican propaganda.

I perfer Irish drama without the political cliches.

Have you seen the film Adam and Paul about two young Dublin heroin addicts, it´s a black tragi/comedy of which Samuel Beckett would be proud of.
Last edited by unbroken69 on 14 Jun 2010, 18:48, edited 1 time in total.
Oh the bliss, oh the pleasure caressing your ears.
User avatar
The Nosferatu
Ugly
Ugly
Posts: 1516
Joined: 24 Aug 2007, 10:25
Location: darlo
Contact:

Re: Last Movie Watched

Post by The Nosferatu »

Devils own is quite realistic I've found, the Irish accents were really quite accurate.
Cnut ? I think you're mistaken, it's CUNT.
User avatar
Alias
Maninwhite
Maninwhite
Posts: 11558
Joined: 14 Sep 2005, 12:54
Location: Horny, but tainted with melancholy.
Contact:

Re: Last Movie Watched

Post by Alias »

unbroken69 wrote:...Have you seen the film Adam and Paul about two young Dublin heroine addicts...

My missus is a heroine addict.
Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Joan of Arc, Mulan, she loves all dem bitches, innit.
I'm a comedian and poet, so anything that doesn't get a laugh is a poem. B.Hicks.

"Further modulation of the frequency rotation, Triggered waveband activation - near elation"

'Why are you so edgy, kid ?'
User avatar
The Nosferatu
Ugly
Ugly
Posts: 1516
Joined: 24 Aug 2007, 10:25
Location: darlo
Contact:

Re: Last Movie Watched

Post by The Nosferatu »

Outta Sight
Cnut ? I think you're mistaken, it's CUNT.
User avatar
unbroken69
Ugly
Ugly
Posts: 1245
Joined: 23 Mar 2008, 00:12
Location: Spain

Re: Last Movie Watched

Post by unbroken69 »

Alias wrote:
unbroken69 wrote:...Have you seen the film Adam and Paul about two young Dublin heroine addicts...

My missus is a heroine addict.
Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Joan of Arc, Mulan, she loves all dem bitches, innit.

lol :grin: I need to watch that spalling :grin:

Nosferatu....aye, the Quiet Man, probably the most realistic portatryal of Irish life. It and Darby O´Gill and the Little People. :grin:
Oh the bliss, oh the pleasure caressing your ears.
User avatar
Jake
ManinBlack
ManinBlack
Posts: 3202
Joined: 18 Oct 2005, 20:40

Re: Last Movie Watched

Post by Jake »

unbroken69 wrote:
Being from Northern Ireland, I do get wound up when it comes to history and politics of Ireland portrayed by Hollywood. Michael Collins is hoplessly mis-cast throughout and although it is historically twisted it was accepted as OK by irish nationalists as it was sympathetic to their cause.

The ones that really made my blood boil where both by Ken Loach, a film-maker I usually admire. His films Hidden Agenda and The Wind That Shakes the Barley are twisted to the point that they serve no purpose other than Irish republican propaganda.

I perfer Irish drama without the political cliches.

Have you seen the film Adam and Paul about two young Dublin heroin addicts, it´s a black tragi/comedy of which Samuel Beckett would be proud of.
Hidden Agenda didn't like the pace of the film too much, but sorry I fuckin love Wind that Shakes the Barley and a lot of Loach's other films Land and Freedom and Riff Raff were particularly good, sorry I thought Wind that Shakes the Barley was everything Michael Collins wasn't, but maybe lets not go there each to their own and all that, glad you do appreciate some of his films though.

Not seen Adam and Paul sounds interesting enough that I may have to check it out.
User avatar
Toiler On The Sea
Man Of The Earth
Man Of The Earth
Posts: 5310
Joined: 27 Mar 2003, 13:38
Location: The Middle of the North Sea
Contact:

Re: Last Movie Watched

Post by Toiler On The Sea »

Sex & Drugs & Rock'nRoll.

Much ado about nothing really, could have been a hell of a lot better. Disappointed :smt012
"They don’t come much better than The Stranglers when performing live; there is no pretence, no hiding place, just superb music"

Liverpool Sound and Vision March 8th 2013.
User avatar
unbroken69
Ugly
Ugly
Posts: 1245
Joined: 23 Mar 2008, 00:12
Location: Spain

Re: Last Movie Watched

Post by unbroken69 »

[quote
Hidden Agenda didn't like the pace of the film too much, but sorry I fuckin love Wind that Shakes the Barley and a lot of Loach's other films Land and Freedom and Riff Raff were particularly good, sorry I thought Wind that Shakes the Barley was everything Michael Collins wasn't, but maybe lets not go there each to their own and all that, glad you do appreciate some of his films though.

Not seen Adam and Paul sounds interesting enough that I may have to check it out.
But isn´t that the problem with movies on Ireland, Jake, always being told from the one viewpoint. The Wind That Shakes the Barley, would be an excellent film to someone who had no idea about Ireland and it´s bitter history and also to those from a republican viewpoint. Divorcing myself politically from it I can see it plays well. Hidden Agenda on the other hand could´ve been directed by Sinn Fein and indeed features a Sinn Fein councilor quite preposterously explaining away the murder of innocent people. Incidentally my other least favourite Loach film is Land and Freedom, he gets that one hoplessly wrong, again he relies on the viewer to have either a blinkered view or no knowledge of the Spanish Civil War. Loach also gets the leftist participants in the Spanish Civil war all mixed up. Communists, Anarchists, Social Democrats are all thrown together as communists. It was the failure of the republican side to communicate early on to that ultimately led to their downfall. The reason the war lasted so long was that Franco wanted to take his time to eradicate and humiliate the opposition. The character of David Carr is also portrayed as a communist with strong Roman Catholic leanings. A total contradiction, considering the RC church actively discouraged it´s flock in Britain and Ireland from joining the international brigades and indeed at times encouraged folk to join Franco´s forces, siting persecution of the church by communists as the reason.

My fave Loach films are in no particular order: Riff Raff, Sweet Sixteen, Poor Cow, Kes, My Name Is Joe, Raining Stones, Bread and Roses, and Looking for Eric.
Oh the bliss, oh the pleasure caressing your ears.
User avatar
Jake
ManinBlack
ManinBlack
Posts: 3202
Joined: 18 Oct 2005, 20:40

Re: Last Movie Watched

Post by Jake »

Unbroken I was gonna write a long piece, bit late for it really. End of the day I like Land and Freedom and I like The Wind that shakes the Barley not much more to it, some people like Top Gun and Rambo I don't and don't even get me started about Red Dawn, to be honest I am happy to watch something of a 'historically inaccurate' leftist leaning film than any of those awful Reagan era blockbusters any day of the week.

Oh and last film watched, as I was given a Pacino box-set for no apparent reason, watched 'Sea of Love', rather dull and un-enduring really, kind of belonging with that Reaganite mentality on Hollywood, of which surely Scareface is the epitome of? I will be watching Scarface again some point hopefully this week, I've been saving that up, as obviously that is the gem of the set. But Pacino he's such a one trick pony really isn't he? I thought the portrayal of Pacino by Peter Richardson in The Comic Strip Presents 'The Strike' was bang on, that's a film I am also meaning to watch again, yes more Leftist Propaganda- bring it on!
:lol:
User avatar
unbroken69
Ugly
Ugly
Posts: 1245
Joined: 23 Mar 2008, 00:12
Location: Spain

Re: Last Movie Watched

Post by unbroken69 »

Jake, I don´t mean to undermine your tastes and as I said The Wind That Shakes The Barley stands up as an excellent piece of film making if you divorce yourself from the subject matter. I take it your an Irish man like myself dude. Although I am now officially a Spanish citizen.

I think you´re being slightly unfair to Al Pacino by calling him "a one trick pony". I always find him watchable and although he does play very similar roles at times, when he´s out of his comfort zone he really can turn in great performances. His Shylock in Merchant of Venice is excellent and although his docu drama Looking For Richard is a little self indulgent, it still shows the range of the man, that he is often not given credit for. I also love his performance in the definitive "sports" movie, Any Given Sunday. You mentioned Carlito´s Way earlier which is great and indeed Sean Penn is fantastic as the crazed junkie corrupt lawyer.

The Strike is inspiring and hilarious and indeed a reaction to the Hollywood way of the 1980´s style of movie making, where authenticity is regarded as irrelevant. I have the Comic Strip box set and I was surprised at just how much of it is bloody unwatchable now, the Strike of course being a notable exception.

Anyway, the whole thing recently regarding accusations of election fraud against Hugo Chavez prompted me to re-watch the 2002 documentary by an Irish film crew The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. Have you seen it? To those folk blinded by the American anti- Chavez reports in the media, I always point them towards that movie.

Starting to notice a few more films with a sympathetic leaning towards atheism being made. Ricky Gervais´ patchy The Invention Of Lying is worth a look and the historical drama Agora starring Rachel Weisz and directed by Spanish director Alejandro Amenábar (The Sea Inside, The Others, Open Your Eyes). Agora although not perfect is well worth a look and gives an alternative viewpoint to how early Christians are portrayed in movies.

Last few watched you may want to look at : Agora, The Cry Of the Owl (starring Paddy Considine and Julia Stiles), Der Tunnel (2001 German movie set in 60´s Berlin), Four Lions (Chris Morris´s highly original and multi-layered comedy).

Any suggestions?
Oh the bliss, oh the pleasure caressing your ears.
Post Reply