What was the last film you watched?

[James from London]

A brilliant sequel, but much more than "just" a sequel. It's a very satisfying, viciously funny, deeply touching film about regret, ageing and male friendship. And just like the first Trainspotting, it's also a really pleasurable slice of cinema.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Batman becomes Birdman.
Hm-hm, what shall I say? Apart from Lindsay Duncan's role ("I'm going to destroy you") the characters failed to enthrall me.
It's not a bad movie, but I think it was too hysterical and also a little stereotypical.
The Broadway play that plays inside the movie didn't look very good. Pretentious and hysterical at the same time.
Is it one of those clever "mirror" things? Does the movie mirror the Broadway play, and were they both massively overrated? Is that the irony?

Maybe I would appreciate it a little bit more if they hadn't tried so hard to give the movie an "indie" look, it feels so...cultivated.
But in a different genre, say, a trashy Harold Robbins story, this could have been awesome.

 

[Toni]

I watched last week the sequel to "Mary Poppins", "MP Returns" (not "Melrose Place"...) and I loved it. It´s really as if it had been done 3 or 4 years after the first one, with another actress replacing Julie Andrews. Emily Blunt has not the same vocal range than Andrews but aside from that, she is "practically perfect in every way", and the animated scenes are especially remarkable, not only because of the technical achievement but also because it reminds people the way animation looks when it´s done in the classical 2-D way. Nothing to do with the Pixar creepy characters luckily. But above all, I must say that the script is good, or at least as good as was "The Force Awakens" compared to the "Star Wars" original trilogy. It´s not easy to capture the essence of films from 3 or 4 decades ago, and they did it wonderfully in both cases. I hope the new Mary Poppins doesn´t become a never-ending franchise more and more centered in making money like some others out there.

PS: Do you know what scene I found completely expendable? The one with Meryl Streep, honestly...and not because she looks uglier than ugly!!

 

[Karin Schill]

The Time of Their Lives (2017) with Joan Collins.

I was delighted to see her in a new movie that had actually been showed at the cinema. The role of Helen really fits her. Although Joan is far from a has been like the character she portrays and in much better shape, as Helen can barely walk without a cane. She does look significantly older in this movie than we are used to seeing her and I think she's supposed to look old. So it's brave of her to take on such a character.

But yeah without spoiling too much of the plot I can say that at the heart of the movie it's a story about an unlikely friendship between two older women who go out on an adventure together. As the journey progresses they learn to take a good look at their lives and how their past experiences has shaped them into the ladies we meet in the film.

 

[Toni]

I have this to watch asap @Karin Schill! I also love Pauline C. slnce Upstairs Downstairs!!

 

[James from London]

I hadn't seen this in so long I'd pretty much forgotten everything about it. It's got 007's fingerprints all over it, from Ken Adam's design to John Barry's score, but it's a very different kind of 60s spy flick -- there's a lot more Whitehall pen-pushing than there is international jet-setting. It's fascinating to see central London in 1965 and there's some brilliantly groovy camera work which makes the film feel gritty and psychedelic at the same time. The main fight scene takes place on the steps of the Royal Albert Hall and for no apparent reason is shot from inside a nearby telephone box, but it looks great.

As Harry Palmer, Michael Caine gives very little away but oozes a charismatic insolence (he's called an insubordinate bastard on more than one occasion), and there's a strange sensitivity about him too. Gordon Jackson plays his sidekick, more happy-go-lucky than he would later be as either Hudson or Crowley, and Barbara Hunter from Crossroads provides the glamour as a kind of Hitchcock brunette.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

I hadn't seen this in so long I'd pretty much forgotten everything about it.

Somehow I've never seen this. I've long thought I'd quite like to at some point on the strength of Barry's great theme, but your comments have definitely sold me on the idea.

 

[James from London]

It's on the iPlayer until tomorrow afternoon!

 

[Willie Oleson]

John Barry's score,

*runs to youtube*

Okay, not his most epic theme, but I seriously wonder if it has inspired the creators of DEXTER.

 

[James from London]

not his most epic theme

It's not an epic film really so that makes sense.

I seriously wonder if it has inspired the creators of DEXTER.

I never would have made that connection, but listening to them together, there is a similarity! It's like Dexter's upped the jauntiness to represent all that ironic Florida sunshine while The Ipcress Files's downbeat theme reflects an overcast London.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

not his most epic theme

No, but there's something hypnotically mysterious about it.

I've never been able to skip it when it comes on - I'd feel like I might miss something, even though I've heard it many times before.

I seriously wonder if it has inspired the creators of DEXTER

My turn to run to YouTube.

Yes - there's definitely a tonal kinship. If I'd heard the Dexter theme independently of this conversation it would probably drive me mad trying to work out which piece of music it reminded me of.

It's like Dexter's upped the jauntiness to represent all that ironic Florida sunshine while The Ipcress Files's downbeat theme reflects an overcast London.

I like it!

 

[Willie Oleson]

And also the video aspect - making coffee and getting dressed. I think Dexter borrowed that too.

 

[James from London]

And also the video aspect - making coffee and getting dressed. I think Dexter borrowed that too.

Oh, good thinking! Grinding your own beans and making your own coffee must have seemed so exotic in 1965 that it probably warranted the film's opening credit sequence for novelty value alone.

There's a great scene later on where Michael Caine is wheeling his trolley round a supermarket and another character says, "I don't really care for these American shopping methods [but] one has to move with the times, I suppose."

 

[Willie Oleson]

Michael Caine is wheeling his trolley round a supermarket and another character says, "I don't really care for these American shopping methods

I systematically refuse to use a shopping trolley. Everything goes into the basket, and will use my other arm for the toilet paper if necessary!

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

It's fascinating to see central London in 1965

There seems to be nothing more mid-'60s than London, and nothing more London than the mid-'60s.

 

[Toni]

The Time of Their Lives (2017) with Joan Collins.

I was delighted to see her in a new movie that had actually been showed at the cinema. The role of Helen really fits her. Although Joan is far from a has been like the character she portrays and in much better shape, as Helen can barely walk without a cane. She does look significantly older in this movie than we are used to seeing her and I think she's supposed to look old. So it's brave of her to take on such a character.

But yeah without spoiling too much of the plot I can say that at the heart of the movie it's a story about an unlikely friendship between two older women who go out on an adventure together. As the journey progresses they learn to take a good look at their lives and how their past experiences has shaped them into the ladies we meet in the film.

I just watched this one today. It was fun and heartwarming. I honestly think that Pauline Collins stole the movie from Joan, with the latter´s ok (because she is one of the producers, maybe symbolically). PC plays basically the same character that she did in "Shirley Valentine" minus the Greek background. Collins certainly is brave to appear with no makeup in some scenes but when she is photographed from her left side (right for the viewer), the camera makes her look 20 years younger, really beautiful. I think that she looked much older in "The Royals"...The subplot of her past, well, it´s very underwritten to be kind, and Joely Richardson is wasted. But it makes you wish for more Collins, which is good...

 

[Willie Oleson]

There seems to be nothing more mid-'60s than London, and nothing more London than the mid-'60s.

 

[Richard Channing]

There seems to be nothing more mid-'60s than London, and nothing more London than the mid-'60s.

Speaking of Michael Caine and London in the 60's, this is a pretty good documentary (On Netflix, this side of the pond anyway) hosted/narrated by him on the subject.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

It's on the iPlayer until tomorrow afternoon!

Well, how could I resist. I dived into the film this evening.

Very enjoyable. I especially enjoyed the muted colour pallets: lots of washed out greens and yellows with grey. And then bold flashes of teal, red or rich browns. And with long shadows everywhere indoors. It had a very distinctive and attractive look. I was reminded of what David Fincher would be doing three or four decades down the line.

there's some brilliantly groovy camera work which makes the film feel gritty and psychedelic at the same time. The main fight scene takes place on the steps of the Royal Albert Hall and for no apparent reason is shot from inside a nearby telephone box, but it looks great.

It does. The dutch angles in the library, and shots through phone boxes, light shades, disembodied spectacles and parking meters. I liked that some of these shots seemed to be used for emphasis or symbolism. In the phone box, he'd dialled a number that was unobtainable and then when he got hands on with the fight immediately afterwards, his target proved equally unobtainable. The phone box framing the fight subtly foreshadowed the outcome. At least that's how I saw it, watching with your comments fresh in my mind.

 

[James from London]

Very enjoyable.

Oh great, I'm glad you liked it.

The dutch angles in the library, and shots through phone boxes, light shades, disembodied spectacles and parking meters. I liked that some of these shots seemed to be used for emphasis or symbolism.

Yes, those shots were all so cool. The film as a whole has that 60s thing where it feels mainstream and accessible on one hand and artistically experimental on the other. I guess the Beatles and Beach Boys etc., were doing that in music at the time -- breaking new artistic ground without alienating the public -- and it was reflected in film and other parts of the culture too.

In the phone box, he'd dialled a number that was unobtainable and then when he got hands on with the fight immediately afterwards, his target proved equally unobtainable.

That makes sense!

I just watched this and really loved it. At times it feels like an intimate personal story told in an epic way and sometimes it feels like an epic story told in a personal way. It's the opposite of The Ipcress File visually in that its made up of lots of long takes where the camera watches everything in a very calm, serene way, even when all hell is breaking loose on screen. It's really beautifully made. Too good for the Oscars, I think!