Film

[CorkonianHunger]

To whoever mentioned "The House that Jack Built" by Von Trier, I loved it. Rewatched last night.

One of my favourite (new) directors is a guy called S. Craig Zahler. He plays in metal bands but directed "Bone Tomahawk" (horror/western with Kurt Russel) and "Brawl In Cell Block 99" (Violent drama with Vince Vaughan), both worth a watch. Very quiet and slow but full of mad violcence and great story. (Like a better Tarantino without the overly done soundtrack)

[Pentagrimes]

Really like "Bone Tomahawk" and "Brawl" but his most recent one (the name escapes me right now.."Dragged Across Concrete"??) bored me stupid.

I've really liked some Von Trier stuff but "The House That Jack Built" I thought was absolute wank. Matt Dillon was good in it but that's about it.

Horrorthon will be announced in the next few weeks, with a  screening of the "Rabid" remake ahead of it which I'm curious to see. Doubt I'll get to much/any of it this year but curious to see what the lineup brings nonetheless.

[CorkonianHunger]

"Dragged Across Concrete" bored me stupid.

Have yet to see "Dragged" hope I like it, but if you think it's less than "Bone Tomahawk" and "Brawl" then I might be disappointed. Really liked the "The House That Jack Built" but can see why someone wouldn't.

Looking forward to "The Lighthouse" (from the director of "The Witch").

[Pentagrimes]

Yep, hearing great things about "The Lighthouse", a different vein to "The Witch" but equally solemn. Which reminds me, "Bait" looks like one to keep an eye out for. Hitting cinemas this month.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmydSyiR59o

I watched "The Wolf Hour" last night which was a waste of both my time and Naomi Watts' acting abilities.

Curious to see "Joker". Mainly just because Phoenix's performance in "You Were Never Really Here" was stellar.

"The Colour Out Of Space" should be out by halloween too I think?Word is Nicholas Cage actually ruins it, which is a shame given it's Richard Stanley's big return to directing.

[Juggz]

I've heard a lot of great things about Bait, I'm hoping it gets a run outside of Dublin too.

I picked up In Fabric on DVD, one for special occasions there.

[mickO)))]

Rewatched the Exorcist III for the first time in a few years last night. What a film I think it's even better than the first one.

[hellfire]

Got The Mule on DVD earlier. Already saw it on the cinema, but it was great to see it again.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Watched The House That Jack Built last night. It was watchably entertaining for a while, while it was being a poor man's Nymphomaniac (and Part II at that). Then, when it finally did something original in terms of form, it became, as Jamie put it, absolute wank. I think the word "gratuitous" would best describe every aspect of it, down to its being made at all.

[Pentagrimes]

If you want to see a far better (relatively speaking) film about a serial killer, I'd go for "The Golden Glove". It's genuinely horrible, an absolute kick in the face of a film. Up there with "Henry" in terms of making a film about a horrible person doing horrible things that reminds you of the stark reality of it all, and a needed antidote to the current climate of true crime as entertainment. Bleak as fuck.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

I don't particularly need to see another film about a serial killer. Part of the problem with The House... is precisely that, whereas Nymphomaniac was dealing with subject matter that has almost never been tackled in a visceral manner, this one rehashed the form of the latter only to apply it to subject matter that has been explored ad infinitum over the last few decades.

[Eoin McLove]

Suburbicon. I didn't realise until the end credits that it's a Coen Brothers film but it makes sense.  I haven't seen a good black comedy in years but this was enjoyable and not at all what I thought it was going to be.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Watched Vox Lux last night. What an odd, odd movie.

[Pentagrimes]

Didn't like it at all.


Watched 3 From Hell, yet another reason to ask myself why on earth I bother watching Rob Zombie's celluloid output.


Has anyone seen Joker yet? If so all I want to know is wether or not it's a big fat Taxi Driver ripoff or not. I'm not interested in either the moral debate about it (which seems like nonsense) or the proximity to the actual comics.

[StoutAndAle]

Has anyone seen Joker yet? If so all I want to know is wether or not it's a big fat Taxi Driver ripoff or not. I'm not interested in either the moral debate about it (which seems like nonsense) or the proximity to the actual comics.

I saw it on Friday night. I enjoyed it for the most part, it's not without its flaws. Ignore the media and, indeed, social media bollocks from people trying to torpedo it so that they can look woke (I fucking hate that term).

It was always going to be compared to "Taxi Driver" and "The King Of Comedy" but I think that this can't be helped. It has more in common with films like "The Machinist" and "Falling Down" once you get beyond the obvious references to the aforementioned De Niro films.

Todd Phillips definitely tried to make a film in the Paul Schrader/Martin Scorsese mould but he dialled in way too much misanthropy of the former and doesn't have the directorial skill of the latter. This is not to say it's a bad film but it's not the film that it could have been either.

There are three things that pull it out of being average.

Joaquin Phoenix absolutely burns up the screen.
The music score is perfect.
The cinematography (with big praise for location scouting) is very impressive.

[Pentagrimes]

Yeah, personally I'm not going to worry about the moral compass of someone who made "The Hangover" and a documentary about GG Allin's take on a fucking comic book character alright, but tbh given the Joker shooting in the US a few years back I can objectively see why this is happening with the American media, social or otherwise.

But I also don't need to sit through an over hyped Scorsese homage which as I say was my main concern, and the trailers were a bit..meh. I do think Phoenix is fantastic though, so I'll probably go. I don't have the highest of hopes.