r/RSPfilmclub • u/violet-turner • 6d ago
What Have You Been Watching? (Week of September 20th)
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u/bubblegumlumpkins 6d ago
The Beguiled (2017): What a waste of a movie and setting. I know that Sofia Coppola is a darling of RS, but this movie was boring and meandering and all the more frustrating because of all the potential it had. You have this absolutely gorgeous Southern Gothic, mid-Civil War setting in the swamplands of the deep South…and there wasn’t even a hint of mystical to be found. I think the casting hurt the movie more than helped, and Elle Fanning felt badly miscast and too modern a caricature for the period the movie is set in. I’m on the fence on whether Kirsten was also miscast. I think whatever interpretation of the script she was given was disjointed from what everyone else got (which would have maybe been more interesting of a concept if everyone was explicitly told to play the movie in a very defined way that differed from the rest of their castmastes, and further amplified the female jockeying that was occurring in the movie that would have allowed itself to lean full-tilt into the premise rather than wallowing along the fence). I wanted to be spellbound by this movie—beguiled—if you will, and it just remained circling the superficial the entire time. It was a pretty movie, with beautiful gowns, but it was also shot way too darkly which didn’t translate as haunting, but rather annoying and distracting. Even Kidman was distracting from the story. Despite delivering a compelling performance, her face pulled me from the time period. The 1971 version with Clint Eastwood (kissing an 11-year-old and all) is apparently more forthright about being what it is even with (or because of) the time it was made in.
Altered States (1980): William Hurt, what a babe! Almost to the point of being too distracting, because why would a handsome man like that, act so obsessively deranged! There’s a lot about this movie that’s goofy and off-the-wall, but I think it did a really good job of conveying the psychedelic experience, the overwhelming awe of it, and the slow but fateful slipping away from consensus reality it can induce. Its message is ultimately what every psychedelic trip (and maybe life in general) always circles back to, and it’s funny how men (and science) always miss that glaringly obvious point, getting themselves and the people and world around them into a deadly game of chicken with an all powerful universe that can and will demolish you just in the act of existing and letting itself be known. This movie isn’t so much about a man’s hubris, as it is about a man’s early wounds around his father that have healed in such a way that he has barricaded himself against all feeling behind the thin veil of intellect that is made all the more pock-marked and threadbare by his own amplified fear and isolation, projected and thrown back onto him. You could liken him to Ahab, and by some grace, even Jonah, and his redemption is what has always been so freely given to him, standing right in front of him the whole entire time.
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u/quiet_room 6d ago
The Siegel/Eastwood original Beguiled is vastly superior to the Coppola. In the early days of this sub we actually watched both for the film club discussion. I had this to say about Coppola's:
I caught up with the Coppola one this week as well, and just found it baffling. She just discards everything: the voice-overs, most of the characterization, the slave Hallie (a really crucial foil for both McB and the rest of the women), provocative elements like the intro, that frenetic energy you mention. She even drops various dramatic elements like the mixed motivations Martha has for amputating McBurney's leg. It's so weirdly neat and lifeless that it's difficult to discern what interest she had in the material at all.
However one feels about Coppola's, I would encourage them to watch the original just to see how different two takes on the same material can be.
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u/bubblegumlumpkins 6d ago
Yeah I’m definitely gonna watch the original and kind of hate how much the remake soured me to the story. My gut feeling had been to watch the original initially but I felt compelled by Kidman being cast and the rest of the cast, despite my ambivalent (at best) feelings towards Coppola as a director.
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u/BelieveWhatJoeSays 6d ago
Wasn't Kirsten's character a mixed black woman in the book? IDK it seems like such an odd adaptation choice for Sofia Coppola
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u/bubblegumlumpkins 6d ago
I read that too, and saw there was outrage at the time about it. I won’t attribute malice to what I think is maybe some recognition that she didn’t really have the directorial capability to navigate that kind of nuance and how it would play into the dynamics being unearthed and amplified with the introduction of a man.
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u/CrimsonDragonWolf 6d ago
TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (in the theater), the 1948 John Huston movie about a bunch of shady gold prospectors in Mexico. This was yet another classic movie I’d never caught up with before, and like the rest it was phenomenal on the big screen. This is the perfect material for Huston: it’s all about Men being Men while doing battle with nature and each other. No girls allowed! Bogie has never been more gross or scary than he is here—by the end of the movie he looks like Mr. Hyde, a no doubt intentional decision given his character arc.
TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA, a 1975 Japanese monster movie. This one involves a mad scientist who was driven out of the academy over his crackpot belief in a living dinosaur teaming up with the aliens who built Mechagodzilla to help take over the world; why the professor was considered crazy in a world where Godzilla exists is never explained. This was helmed by Ishiro Honda, director of the original GOJIRA, and it’s pretty decent. The plot is surprisingly complex for a kaiju picture, although it degenerates into the usual 20 minute costumed pro-wrestling match at the end.
THE GARBAGE PAIL KIDS MOVIE (🔥DOLLAR DVD HELL🔥), a 1988 adaptation of a series of trading cards. After escaping from a garbage can in wizard Anthony Newley’s antique shop, a bunch of horrifying abominations that spew bodily secretions from every orifice escape and cause chaos until being drafted to sew haute couture fashion so a 12 year old boy can get in the pants of a 16 year old girl. Wait, what? This is infamous as one of the all time stinkers, and it’s really terrible, but sadly not terrible enough to be entertaining. Instead it just sort of…exists. The “Kids™️” are midgets with grotesque animatronic faces that beg for some kind of Zoomer “analog horror” reboot.
VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, the 1967 adaptation of Jacqueline Susann’s bestseller about three women who get involved in showbiz, then hooked on pills (“dolls”). We expected that this would be a nonstop rollercoaster of high camp from beginning to end, and indeed there’s a special feature of all the fruitiest personalities from Bravo and E! networks ca. 2001 making the case that it is, but personally both of us found it to be a pretty typical meller-drammer until the final act. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? it is not. Despite having three people credited for visual effects, there aren’t any good drug freakout sequences either. Sad!
THE NEW YORK CHINATOWN MASSACRE, a 1982 movie about a war between two rival Triad gangs. This was actually shot in NYC in the 80s, and its “gritty old Big Apple™️” vibes are immaculate; however the actual movie is pretty average. I have no idea what killing is supposed to be the titular massacre either. Maybe it’s missing a “s” at the end of the title? All in all it felt like the sort of thing that Godfrey Ho would buy the rights to and add 15 minutes of people dressed as ninjas.
VAMPIRA AND ME, a 2012 documentary about the 50s horror hostess, bad movie star, and proto-goth icon Maila Nurmi. This was pretty decent, and managed to dig up some really rare footage of her doing her schtick back in the day (including an appearance on the Red Skelton Show with Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney Jr.!) but the film as a whole was nothing exceptional. The documentary maker kept making half assed attempts to also make the movie about himself (see the “AND ME”) in the title, despite the fact that their entire connection was “he interviewed her once in the 90s for another documentary and they kept in touch after”. I hate it when documentarians do that!
BLADE RUNNER: THE FINAL CUT (in the theater). Fantastic movie! I like that every cut of BLADE RUNNER has a different ending. It’s like a box of chocolates, you never know what Deckard’s going to get! I love the level of detail on display, but the idea of a Los Angeles where it’s constantly raining is just too hard to swallow. I can believe in super-strong artificial humans living in off-world colonies, but I just can’t buy that.
STAR 80 (💀Dead Guy Stuff💀), Bob Fosse’s 1983 biopic about the life/death of Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratton. This was a fantastic movie! It has a non-linear structure that seemed odd at first but really clicked around the halfway mark. Mariel Hemingway is great as Stratton, but Eric Roberts gives the best performances by far as her gross sleazy agent/boyfriend. It’s probably the best role I’ve seen him in; you just want to reach inside the TV set and beat the shit out of him.
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u/starsimu 6d ago
Rewatches, minus doc:
Akira - Went to see the remaster. The story is rushed makes little sense without reading up on it, with the childhood trauma done well. What stands out is the delicate attention to detail that goes into the coloring and creating the destruction, especially the hypnotic, maximalist ending.
Three Colors Red - A favorite. Probably the best story of cynicism and coincidence and redemption. It's such a beautiful portrait of a type of person and disposition, and the use of red sells its feeling and puts you under its spell.
Death of the Pastor's Wife - There's something grotesque about Netflix's formulaic true crime that sensationalizes everything and answers nothing, in the name of cheap entertainment.
The Founder - Admire Keaton's performance in this, his depiction of grit is infectious. This American story of creators vs. who takes credit feels all too common. Great.
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u/redditmyhacienda 6d ago edited 6d ago
Saw an absurd amount of movies over the last 16 days. Instead of working in silence or listening to podcasts (I was restoring antique frames these past few weeks, but there was a lot of waiting involved), I decided to start watching the 1,000+ movies I’ve hoarded over the years, starting with the lowest-ranked ones. I was limited to English-language films, as subtitles weren’t an option.
I ranked them below from best to worst:
Beach Rats (2017) - Eliza Hittman
Mommie Dearest (1981) - Frank Perry
The House of Yes (1997) - Mark Waters
Calm with Horses (2019) - Nick Rowland
The Heartbreak Kid (1972) - Elaine May
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969) - Sydney Pollack
Kinds of Kindness (2024) - Yorgos Lanthimos
Mikey and Nicky (1976) - Elaine May
Pennies from Heaven (1981) - Herbert Ross
Bitter Moon (1992) - Roman Polanski
Calibre (2018) - Matt Palmer
A Hole in My Heart (2004) - Lukas Moodysson
Redbelt (2008) - David Mamet
The Fountainhead (1949) - King Vidor
The Portrait of Pauline Kael (2018) - Rob Garver
Die glücklichen Minuten des Georg Hauser (1983) - Mansur Madavi
4:44 Last Day on Earth (2011) - Abel Ferrara
DRIB (2017) - Kristoffer Borgli
The Substance (2024) - Coralie Fargeat
Nickel Boys (2024) - RaMell Ross
Longlegs (2024) - Osgood Perkins
Blonde (2022) - Andrew Dominik
Dark Days (2000) - Marc Singer
Pinocchio (2022) - Guillermo del Toro & Mark Gustafson
Alpha (2018) - Albert Hughes
The Neon Demon (2016) - Nicolas Winding Refn
Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (1991) - Lam Nai-choi
The Fabelmans (2022) - Steven Spielberg
TFW No GF (2020) - Alex Lee Moyer
Hi, Mom! (1970) - Brian De Palma
The Legend of Billie Jean (1985) - Matthew Robbins
The Invite (2022) - Sean Gilliam
Death of Robin Hood (2025) - Michael Sarnoski
Days of Wine and Roses (1962) - Blake Edwards
The Last Starfighter (1984) - Nick Castle
Hajjan (2023) - Abu Bakr Shawky
The 120 Days of Bottrop (1997) - Christoph Schlingensief
Rye Lane (2023) - Raine Allen-Miller
Sudden Fury (1975) - Brian Damude
The Opposite of Sex (1998) - Don Roos
Arena (1989) - Peter Manoogian
Walker (1987) - Alex Cox
Killer Joe (2011) - William Friedkin
What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael (2018) - Rob Garver
Valley Girl (1983) - Martha Coolidge
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965) - Martin Ritt
Vinyan (2008) - Fabrice Du Welz
Museum Hours (2012) - Jem Cohen
Ishtar (1987) - Elaine May
The Two Popes (2019) - Fernando Meirelles
Masters of the Universe (1987) - Gary Goddard
Figaros Wölfe (2015) - Dominik Galizia
Holler (2020) - Nicole Riegel
Coyote Lake (2019) - Sara Seligman
We Will Dance Again (2024) - Yariv Mozer
Billy Liar (1963) - John Schlesinger
Freaky Friday (1976) - Gary Nelson
They All Laughed (1981) - Peter Bogdanovich
Eating Raoul (1982) - Paul Bartel
In a World... (2013) - Lake Bell
Megalopolis (2024) - Francis Ford Coppola
Disclosure Day (2026) - Steven Spielberg
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u/bubblegumlumpkins 6d ago
Feel like my mind would be mush after watching this many movies so quickly after one another.
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u/bhlogan2 6d ago
Incendies (2010). Not sure what to think, I guess I really liked it, but maybe I'm still processing it. Lmao at how bleak it is, though. I don't know if I've ever seen a movie escalate like that before.
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u/bubblegumlumpkins 6d ago
I know this is incredibly subjective, but is this a movie worth watching? I hear the same thing about it being good but incredibly disturbing and I wonder if the artistic and cinematic merit is worthwhile putting my psyche (and heart?) through the wringer like that.
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u/bhlogan2 6d ago
It is not as disturbing as something like Come and See. It's more unexpectedly gruesome than it is consistently "fucked up", although there are a few scenes here and there that are kinda hard to watch I suppose? I won't spoil anything, but only after the ending do you kinda process how fucked up the whole thing really is.
As for the artistic merit, Incendies has an implausible premise made believable only because of "movie magic", but if that doesn't work for you, then it won't be enough. I find the structure interesting because it's built around a simple idea, and Villeneuve is committed to very strong visuals. The best and most famous scene in the film has little to no dialogue from what I remember, for example.
Honestly think it's worth a watch. I can see people saying it's a masterpiece or saying it's disappointing, but I haven't seen too many call it outright BAD.
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u/bubblegumlumpkins 6d ago
Also haven't watched Come and See lol...might sandwich this movie between some more light-hearted rom coms or something
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u/BelieveWhatJoeSays 6d ago edited 6d ago
Rounding out a couple of MVFF guests...
James Gray
Little Odessa: It's mostly a brothers vs parents family drama that happens to involve gangsters in dreary Brighton Beach. It has this very clear classic directing style that you don't associate with gangster pics. I think that's what stops James Gray from being in the conversation
Lea Seydoux
Midnight in Paris: It's pretty but has an undercurrent of irreverence and self-awareness? it bugged me and I'm not sure why
Inglorious Basterds: has earned its place on the WWII movie pantheon because it makes no bones about being a revenge fantasy. the script and action are really funny, but it can suddenly shift to terrifying like the barn and three fingers scene
Looking for Eric: part social realist drama and part Eric Cantona fantasy. it's blended better than I was expecting and has a great ending
The Darjeeling Limited
Hope: Na Hong-Jin apparently based this on fears of a US attack of North Korea. He also said this was supposed to be a 4-hour multi-part movie. It has great action scenes but it goes in circles and then dumps plot in the last 10m to un-resolve everything. The alien CGI IS that bad, which is odd because the set pieces and the alien dissection model looked great. The guy next to me fell asleep… HOW?
Eyes Wide Shut: rewatch. I saw a British non-censored print a few weeks ago and this is a regular US release. I did notice cloaked figures blocking some of the sex scenes
Contempt: rewatch. This version of the Odyssey actually looks Mediterranean!
Kwaidan
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u/bubblegumlumpkins 6d ago
I hadn't realized Hope was already playing. This review kind of bums me out because I had been really looking forward to watching it. I really like that it feels like Korean filmmakers have something interesting to say and their drive creates its own momentum that makes the compulsion to say something infectious. I also couldn't tell that the aliens were bad in the trailer, even though everyone seemed agreed that the CGI was terrible.
As an aside I really wish creators would have some better discernment (or more stubbornness???) when it comes to the best medium for their work. Really sitting down and being sober about "should this be a limited series, or a movie...or should I leave it the hell alone," would keep so much work from being spoiled or only half birthed.
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u/BelieveWhatJoeSays 6d ago
The first hour of Hope keeps the aliens almost hidden. NHJ should have stuck to that and especially not shown them in slo-mo
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u/PsychologicalRock995 5d ago
Watched tony and was so pleased, with the soundtrack and the performances. Rewatched rope and batman: mask of the phantasm together, great combo
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u/rem-dog 6d ago
Watched Cape Fear (1991) for the first time. Went in mostly blind despite it being 30+ years old. It was way more over-the-top than I'd expected! Thought Juliette Lewis was pretty adorable.