Film forum off topic/random chat thread

pixelburp

Obligatory 'Every Frame a Painting' video; though recommended because it features a hero of my childhood, Chuck Jones. I had actually forgotten just how fantastically hilarious his characters' facial expressions could be:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHpXle4NqWI

e_e

I'm really glad somebody on YouTube is pushing the boat out with their film analysis. Looking at you Jeremy Jahns/Chris Stuckmann/Schmoes et al.

https://twitter.com/tonyszhou/status/593913936690348032
https://twitter.com/tonyszhou/status/593913309948092416

shazzerman

I lasted 30 seconds with Jeremy Jahns. "Pushing the boat out"? I'll stick with Film Studies For Free.

e_e

shazzerman wrote: »

I lasted 30 seconds with Jeremy Jahns. "Pushing the boat out"? I'll stick with Film Studies For Free.

I'm saying that those people aren't pushing the boat out whereas someone like Tony Zhou (Every Frame a Painting) is.

Can't stand Jeremy Jahns tbh.

Mickeroo

Whats he saying with those tweets exactly?

shazzerman

e_e wrote: »

I'm saying that those people aren't pushing the boat out whereas someone like Tony Zhou (Every Frame a Painting) is.

Can't stand Jeremy Jahns tbh.

Apologies. I picked you up wrong. Tony Zhou is indeed very good.

Mickeroo

Mickeroo wrote: »

Whats he saying with those tweets exactly?

I assume he's discussing the fact that when it comes to film analysis on places like youtube it's the same directors being discussed time and again.

johnny_ultimate

I had never heard of Jeremy Jahns until ten minutes ago. I googled him out of curiosity.

You people have damaged my poor ears

e_e

Had YouTube recommend him to me for years. Got so tired of seeing his gurning face all over the site. :mad:

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

The Land Before Time is being released on BluRay in October.

http://www.rotoscopers.com/2015/07/22/the-land-before-time-to-hit-blu-ray-this-autumn/

Also some speculation as to The Iron Giant finally getting a proper DVD/BluRay release given it's being re released to cinema.

http://www.slashfilm.com/iron-giant-rerelease/

johnny_ultimate

Speaking of animation and Blu Ray:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1072409840/hertzfeldt-on-blu-ray

Some of the best animated films of recent times on that disc. Can only again encourage anyone who hasn't seen World of Tomorrow or Its Such a Beautiful Day to get on Vimeo and/or Netflix and rectify that!

pixelburp

Wait, I'm confused: a (successful!) Kickstarter that isn't a retro-tinged video game? What sorcery is this?

e_e

Audience reacting to Halloween in 1979:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ1M3P1isHA

johnny_ultimate

I've never paid as much attention to Arrow Films as I should - I've known for a while they release exceptional Blu-ray sets, but they're mostly horror / cult titles I wouldn't have a whole lot of interest in.

I have to say they've really knocked it out of the park with two upcoming releases though. They pretty much guaranteed themselves a place on 'best boxsets of the year' lists with their previously announced Kiju Yoshida: Love + Anarchism pack. But then they went and announced a ****ing Blu-ray release for Jacque Rivette's Out 1 today!!! The whole 13-hour version too! Not only that, but they've thrown three other films in there for good measure. I know the full Out 1 has infamously been quite elusive and difficult to find, so amazing to see such a generous set for it.

Given Masters of Cinema have had a relatively underwhelming year or two - some welcome releases here and there, but not quite as many left-of-field choices as they once had (they have announced a Shohei Imamura set for those who don't own the individual releases though) - Arrow seem to have stepped in with ambitious and imaginative releases and then some. I know their Borowczyk set got a lot of praise last year (even if had disappeared before I knew it existed), so definitely not missing out on these bad boys despite the substantial hit on the old wallet.

Further proof that physical media is still absolutely essential!

johnny_ultimate

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

I've never paid as much attention to Arrow Films as I should - I've known for a while they release exceptional Blu-ray sets, but they're mostly horror / cult titles I wouldn't have a whole lot of interest in.

I have to say they've really knocked it out of the park with two upcoming releases though. They pretty much guaranteed themselves a place on 'best boxsets of the year' lists with their previously announced Kiju Yoshida: Love + Anarchism pack. But then they went and announced a ****ing Blu-ray release for Jacque Rivette's Out 1 today!!! The whole 13-hour version too! Not only that, but they've thrown three other films in there for good measure. I know the full Out 1 has infamously been quite elusive and difficult to find, so amazing to see such a generous set for it.

Given Masters of Cinema have had a relatively underwhelming year or two - some welcome releases here and there, but not quite as many left-of-field choices as they once had (they have announced a Shohei Imamura set for those who don't own the individual releases though) - Arrow seem to have stepped in with ambitious and imaginative releases and then some. I know their Borowczyk set got a lot of praise last year (even if had disappeared before I knew it existed), so definitely not missing out on these bad boys despite the substantial hit on the old wallet.

Further proof that physical media is still absolutely essential!

I've the Yoshida and Imamura boxsets on order since they were released, Arrow are doing a lot of limited run box sets generally capped at 3000 so if you miss them then you're out of luck. Anyone who thinks psychical media is dead is deluded, looking through Fopp at the weekend and the wealth of great niche cinema in lovingly designed packages was a joy to behold. Sitting in work as I type waiting for 5:30 so that I can rush the post office and collect a package waiting for me, it's full of various MoC and Arrow titles and I cannot wait to get it home and open it. The excitement you get while waiting on something like that will never be matched by digital.

johnny_ultimate

http://www.arrowfilms.co.uk/battles-without-honor-and-humanity-arrow-video-dual-format-blu-ray-dvd-limited-edition/

Yakuza Papers / Battles Without Honour and Humanity box set from Arrow.

I'm going to have to skip this one because I'm already in for like 175 quid with the previous two sets and I'm not the biggest fan of the series anyway (only seen the first and it's solid but not spectacular), but again that's one hell of a release The hardcover book sounds fantastic particularly.

Any one of those three sets would have been a hugely welcome release, but three is just an incredible line-up. Up your game Eureka! (Where's that World Cinema Foundation collection volume 2 anyway?)

pixelburp

Hey it's Friday, so here's something silly: it's amazing the difference changing the key in some music makes to a spooky themetune

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPYV06j70qU

The Black Oil

Toy Story 4
Cars 3
Incredibles 2
Finding Dory

All on the way. The first two seem unnecessary, though I've not seen Cars (1 or 2), I believe it makes a stupid amount of money.

FunLover18

The Black Oil wrote:

Toy Story 4 Cars 3 Incredibles 2 Finding Dory

I'm curious and wary about Toy Story 4 (3 was such a perfect end). Cars was all right, Cars 2 is woeful but it makes money and if that buys Pixar the freedom to make the likes of Inside Out I'm not going to complain. Incredibles is the one Pixar film deserves and sets up a sequel so I'm excited about that. Finding Dory is a good premise, I'm optimistic.

THE SHOHEI IMAMURA MASTERPIECE COLLECTION is now at the bargain price of £28.71

FunLover18

So Kenneth Brannagh has been linked to the long gestating adaptation of Artemis Fowl which has me ridiculously excited. I always thought that if this did come to fruition it would be a low budget kiddy flick along the lines of the first two Potter films or the Percy Jackson films. If Brannagh is attached it gives me hope that this might actually live up to the potential of the book which for me was one of my favourite series as a young adult. His work on Thor and Cinderella has been brilliant, the former being one of the better Marvel entries and the latter perfectly capturing the innocence of Disney of old.

e_e

ancapailldorcha

Just seen this. Decent mashup:

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

e_e

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

I was wondering if an anime movie would ever get to Criterion but this is good enough for now.

Cantona's Collars

Had a work colleague complain over all the remakes/rehashes of 80's and 90's movies-that's grand except he "hasn't time to watch films".
The kicker was that he called Die Hard "sh1te".That was the last straw for me.Heathen!!

e_e

zerks wrote: »

Had a work colleague complain over all the remakes/rehashes of 80's and 90's movies-that's grand except he "hasn't time to watch films".

Whenever anyone complains about modern movies being rubbish it's safe to assume 99% of the time that they haven't really watched anything. :pac:

It's like this "TV is so much better than film at the moment!" argument that only really comes from people who watch 5 movies a year and are just on a high from the last Breaking Bad/Game of Thrones/True Detective episode. Why can't we just acknowledge that they're both very good, very different mediums with a lot to offer?

pixelburp

e_e wrote: »

Whenever anyone complains about modern movies being rubbish it's safe to assume 99% of the time that they haven't really watched anything. :pac:

It's like this "TV is so much better than film at the moment!" argument that only really comes from people who watch 5 movies a year and are just on a high from the last Breaking Bad/Game of Thrones/True Detective episode. Why can't we just acknowledge that they're both very good, very different mediums with a lot to offer?

I dunno, I think when comments like that are made, to me the implied sub-text is that popular, mainstream TV content (insofar as subscription channels like HBO can be considered 'mainstream') is seen to be at a more mature, sophisticated level of storytelling than the equivalent in film. And with film actors, directors and a greater cinematic sensibility genuinely informing how TV drama is made, it's not a completely unfair comparison to pit film against TV dramas.
Heck, if we stay in the realm of wild generalisations, sometimes it feels like TV's getting smarter, while film's getting dumber; or more vacuous & spectacle-driven anyway.

shazzerman

I think the argument that, concentrating on the mainstream, television drama is better than film, has some credence - but only in terms of the scripts being produced, not in terms of the actual visuals being produced in each medium.

e_e

I'm of the pretty hardline opinion that TV and film should be like church and state tbh. One is all about the content whereas the other should (imo) be more formally focused. Not a fan at all of the very flat and static scenes we've gotten from the likes of Marvel (even their release model feels like more of a content delivery system) who have often cribbed their directors from television and pushed away more cinematically-minded directors (Edgar Wright) who could have brought something different to the table.

That's not to undermine TV either, something like The Wire is such a massive achievement that the vast majority of films don't even deserve comparison. I just think we should be looking at them through a lens other than "TV is better because you get to spend 40 hours with the characters." which is great in some cases but doesn't automatically make something better imo. Also I'd take umbrage with the maturity and sophistication of television argument too, that is in a similar minority to the amount of major studio movies being mature and sophisticated tbh. I think to the execs at HBO maturity just means putting swearing, tits and violence in every second scene.

I'd still take a great 90 minute movie over an okay 10 hour series tbh. I think as viewers we're all too obsessed with "content content content" that we can't stop and smell the roses from time to time.

johnny_ultimate

I'm not going to repeat myself here (dedicated thread, yo!) but yeah to me there's still a major formal divide between the two. If I picked my favourite TV show and my favourite film in any given year, the latter would 100% definitely be a substantially more aesthetically accomplished piece of work (albeit the way TV is produced means that's almost always inevitable). I also feel a lot of TV is quite hamstrung by genre demands - couldn't count the amount of procedural crime dramas out there, even good ones :pac: That all TV is produced in an aggressively commercial sphere means there's less space for experiments and more complex, challenging content - the best shows still smuggle them in there, but cinema production has evolved to ensure it's friendlier towards the creation of 'art' productions.

Great to see TV continuing to mature at the same time. There's been a few fascinating experiments from filmmakers on the small screen - Top of the Lake, L'il Quinquin - and slowly but surely more and more TV 'auteurs' are emerging (still reckon Louis CK is the current master in that respect).