The Movies I Liked

[heliumflight]

I watched John Wick 3 and liked it a lot as the earlier ones.

 

[sam9s]

I missed it in Theaters ... now waiting for 4K UHD

 

[ranojoy]

Two more films on the same event ...
1. Operation Daybreak 1975 - watched this when I was in school and heard about Reinhard Heydrich for the first time.
2. The Man With the Iron Heart 2017 - once again about the assassination, but with more screen time on Heydrich himself.

Anthropoid... A powerhouse of a movie after a long time. A true story of Operation Anthropoid, the WWII mission to assassinate SS General Reinhard Heydrich. I enjoy WW movies, coz I love war history and eager to know, learn more of that era. So I am always on a lookout for serious cinema that depicts stories of that era.

Anthropoid is once such movie, nothing is short of spectacular in the depiction of the mission to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich. Performances are top notch, the direction is grim and serious, but the last one hour of the movie will leave you with your fists clenched and jaw dropped in admiration of what these Czech soldiers had to go through during this mission. I would not give any plot lines, and if you have not read about the mission on the internet ...then dont ...see the movie and then read as I did and came to know a lot about the fate of 7 soldiers who fought like true soldiers for their country. Highly recommended movie ...... especially if you are WWII movie fan .... 7.5/10 for this onw

 

[sam9s]

oh man I have seen operation daybreak, same again when I was in school, and I have completely forgotten this movie and so didn't know it was on the same subject. But by the ratings I gave to it, I can say that Anthropoid must have been much better.

 

[esanthosh]

I need some help. I haven't watched Tamil films in a long while (12-13 years maybe). Can anyone tell me about 10-20 essential Tamil films to watch

a) Was released in the last 15 years
b) Is different (at the very least).
c) Is available on some streaming service (I have APV, Netflix, Hotstar, Sun Nxt, Zee 5 and Sony LIV)

So far, I have watched and liked (based on IMDb and Quora)

• Aaranya Kaandam and Super Deluxe
• Ratsasan
• Dhuruvangal Padhinaru
• To Let
• Theeran Adhigaram Ondru
• Thadam
• Sathuranga Vettai
• Vikram Vedha
• Pizza

Of course, I haven't watched "Bahubali" and others like it yet . But, I thought I'll focus on select good movies first and visit them later on.

Watch list:

• Kakkaa Muttai
• Aruvi
• Merku Thodarchi Malai
• Visaranai
• Pariyerum Perumal
• Paruthi Veeran
• Peranbu
• 96 ?

Any other good or great films? Any particular directors I should check out? (I am not familiar with the current crop of directors). You can also PM me if you feel that it would clutter the thread.

 

[edjamesx]

Any other good or great films? Any particular directors I should check out? (I am not familiar with the current crop of directors). You can also PM me if you feel that it would clutter the thread.

You missed lot of movies to watch Here are Some movies i liked personally in Tamil
Adanga maru
100
Dora
Kolamavu kohila ( good comedy )
Imaikka nodikal
Aram
Vada Chennai
Irumbu thirai
Kuttram 23 (Thriller)
Aandavan kattalei ( very nice screenplay)
kanithan
Kodi
Thodari
Papanasam
Madras
Thegidi
Arima nambi
Salim
pisasu
Thanga meengal
Aravaan
Mouna Guru
.... etc ...
thats all i remember now ...

 

[esanthosh]

@edjamesx, Will go through the list.

An Elephant Sitting Still (2018)

This film will appeal to a very specific audience - those who are extremely patient and do not mind slow movies with long running time.

• The film is nearly four hours long.
• The film has a tragic background. Its director, Hu Bo, committed suicide (aged 29) after completing the film. So, this happens to be his first and only film. Based on what I've read, there were some issues between the director and the producers regarding the length of the film (producers wanted to cut it to two hours), but not sure if it played a big role in his suicide.
• Those familiar with Bela Tarr's works will feel at home here. This film has many Bela Tarr influences - long takes, long walks you take along with the characters and the characters feeling trapped without hope in their circumstances. Only after watching the film did I learn that the director Hu Bo was a student of Bela Tarr (Also see: Béla Tarr's note). While the elephant reminded me of the whale in Werckmesiester Harmonies, the sense of hopelessness in the film reminded me of The Turin Horse. It is also much closer in tone to Tarr (though this is about middle-class than the even poorer people Tarr deals with) than Tarkovsky (whose tone is more poetic). Many reviews have mentioned that the subject matter is closer to Jia Zhangke's films, but I am not familiar with his work.
• The film avoids bright colors and feels gray all the time. Another interesting device used by the director is that in most scenes, you see just the main character as the background and other characters are out of focus (shallow focus). Only when the other character is doing something relevant to the plot (the bully in school, vice dean) do they come into view. It's another variant of removing the unnecessary - Yimou Zhang does not show the face of the master in Raise the Red Lantern though we see him a lot and Wong Kar Wai only lets us hear the spouses of the lead characters in In the Mood for Love.
• There are movies that pack in so much that they do not feel that long (Judgment at Nuremberg, Yi Yi, The Best Years of Our Lives), while a few others seem longer than they are (Tarkovsky). The pacing in this film is not as slow as Bela Tarr, but much closer to that of Christian Mungiu (In metal music terms, it's like saying "The pacing is doom-like, but not as glacial as funeral doom"). The whole story happens from dawn to dusk in a single day. There are four characters - two of them are in school, one is a gangster and the other, a retired army officer. This film takes about an hour to introduce the characters and another hour to show us how their lives are going to criss-cross. Once I settled in (30 minutes), I did not feel the length to be a burden because a lot does happen over four hours. These people, stuck in hard economic and personal circumstances (their personal hell) are united only by their desire to see a (circus) elephant in Manzhouli which sits all day long. The connection between characters also occurs more naturally rather than forced by 'convenient circumstances'.
• The film can be summed up by this dialogue (which happens around the second hour, IIRC): "Life just won't get better. It's all about agony. That agony has begun since you were born. You think that a new place will change your fate? It's bullshit. New place, new sufferings. You understand? No one truly knows about existence". Yet, there's a slight bit of hope as the last (beautiful) scene moves away from tight close-ups. While this film is not hopeful, it is also not as bleak or pulverizing as a few other films.

I hope there may be a handful here who might want to watch this film but have not heard of it till now (like I was until a few weeks ago).

 

[mmail552000]

any reviews on

The Lighthouse

 

[Yogesh]

I need some help. I haven't watched Tamil films in a long while (12-13 years maybe). Can anyone tell me about 10-20 essential Tamil films to watch

a) Was released in the last 15 years
b) Is different (at the very least).
c) Is available on some streaming service (I have APV, Netflix, Hotstar, Sun Nxt, Zee 5 and Sony LIV)

So far, I have watched and liked (based on IMDb and Quora)

• Aaranya Kaandam and Super Deluxe
• Ratsasan
• Dhuruvangal Padhinaru
• To Let
• Theeran Adhigaram Ondru
• Thadam
• Sathuranga Vettai
• Vikram Vedha
• Pizza

Of course, I haven't watched "Bahubali" and others like it yet . But, I thought I'll focus on select good movies first and visit them later on.

Watch list:

• Kakkaa Muttai
• Aruvi
• Merku Thodarchi Malai
• Visaranai
• Pariyerum Perumal
• Paruthi Veeran
• Peranbu
• 96 ?

Any other good or great films? Any particular directors I should check out? (I am not familiar with the current crop of directors). You can also PM me if you feel that it would clutter the thread.

I have watched Vikram Vedha, Aruvi and 96 of the list. 96 is excellent. Vikram vedha Good, Aruvi I found a bit on boring side.

 

[Yogesh]

You missed lot of movies to watch Here are Some movies i liked personally in Tamil
Adanga maru
100
Dora
Kolamavu kohila ( good comedy )
Imaikka nodikal
Aram
Vada Chennai
Irumbu thirai
Kuttram 23 (Thriller)
Aandavan kattalei ( very nice screenplay)
kanithan
Kodi
Thodari
Papanasam
Madras
Thegidi
Arima nambi
Salim
pisasu
Thanga meengal
Aravaan
Mouna Guru
.... etc ...
thats all i remember now ...

It's shame that quality Tamil/Telugu movies aren't dubbed in Hindi. Only stupid masala ones do. I have to watch these with Subs. I would say that in quality and originality Bollywood lags way behind.

Thanks @esanthosh & @edjamesx for an excellent list. I will now try to cover the I missed.

 

[esanthosh]

any reviews on

The Lighthouse

It is not released yet. It is only playing in the festival circuit as of now. This is one of the films I am looking forward to and so far all the reviews I have scanned have been glowing.

Links: Vox, Taste of Cinema, Independent and so on (except Vanity Fair)

 

[mmail552000]

I am looking forward to Knives Out


and COMA 2019

and The Irishman

 

[mmail552000]

Another Movie Upcoming

Dolittle - Official Trailer

 

[Hiten]

Tanhaji Movie.

Those who are born in Mahrashtra and have read stories about Shivaji, heard powadas (valour songs), built Shivaji killa or made clay Mavlas (Soldiers) from POP moulds have certain mental image of shivaji and those times. These days we are fed hollywood style action and super glossy images, super duper hyper melodramatic dialogues and what not. Movies which are historical I like them documentary style. Like '22 June 1897' (old version not new). Well times have changed ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and we must change with times. I hope movie is a hit and people in other parts of the country knows about Tanaji Malusare. I hope they dont make movie on "Battle of Pavankhind" where suddenly in the middle of the movie 20 dancers come on screen and start dancing.

Sometimes I feel we Indians know too much about west but not enough about ourselves. Like we know 300 movie but probably only recently people came to know about Ishar Singh (Kesari movie). I doubt if any current generation knows Bina Das or Pritilata Wadedar whose stories I read in Gujrati Kumar magazines when I was kid, something went little wrong few decades ago.
Regards

 

[sam9s]

Danger Close I am always looking at war movies, and more often than not any movie that is close to 7 and 7.5 on IMDB I read reviews and watch it. This one had 7 but more of the negative reviews were coz of historical inaccuracies. otherwise, everything was positive. The movie showcases the battle otherwise knows as "The Battle of Long Tan " in 1966 fought between Australia and Vietnam. It's an Australian movie and is at par with any Hollywood recent war movie. The only exception is the blood and gore which is controlled as against to for example hawkshaw bridge. Otherwise, the movie is absolutely tense, gripping and out and out war movie. It starts off right from the action without going into any character background, which somehow works as well; as we get to know them during the course of the move. I would rate this a decent 7/10 worth your time I would say.

 

[docharsha89]

I am looking forward to Knives Out
View attachment 39940

and COMA 2019

and The Irishman

Very nice

 

[vikas pathak]

Bird box very nice dolby atmos effects in few scenes. 2012 & Avatar also very good for sound effects.

 

[supersaiyan]

Once upon a time in hollywood- total disappointment
Freaks- disappointment
Ready or Not- Again waste of time
the Irishman-Loved it

Ad Astra and Marriage Story in queue

 

[Haribabu]

I watched a latest wonderful Punjabi movie -
Ardab Mutiyaran (2019) directed by Manav Shah in Amazon Prime. Thanks to Subtitles,
It's far better than Tollywood, Kollywood and Bollywood movies.
A fun with message (treatment) must watch though you don't understand Punjabi

 

[Ashenden]

@edjamesx, Will go through the list.

An Elephant Sitting Still (2018)

This film will appeal to a very specific audience - those who are extremely patient and do not mind slow movies with long running time.

• The film is nearly four hours long.
• The film has a tragic background. Its director, Hu Bo, committed suicide (aged 29) after completing the film. So, this happens to be his first and only film. Based on what I've read, there were some issues between the director and the producers regarding the length of the film (producers wanted to cut it to two hours), but not sure if it played a big role in his suicide.
• Those familiar with Bela Tarr's works will feel at home here. This film has many Bela Tarr influences - long takes, long walks you take along with the characters and the characters feeling trapped without hope in their circumstances. Only after watching the film did I learn that the director Hu Bo was a student of Bela Tarr (Also see: Béla Tarr's note). While the elephant reminded me of the whale in Werckmesiester Harmonies, the sense of hopelessness in the film reminded me of The Turin Horse. It is also much closer in tone to Tarr (though this is about middle-class than the even poorer people Tarr deals with) than Tarkovsky (whose tone is more poetic). Many reviews have mentioned that the subject matter is closer to Jia Zhangke's films, but I am not familiar with his work.
• The film avoids bright colors and feels gray all the time. Another interesting device used by the director is that in most scenes, you see just the main character as the background and other characters are out of focus (shallow focus). Only when the other character is doing something relevant to the plot (the bully in school, vice dean) do they come into view. It's another variant of removing the unnecessary - Yimou Zhang does not show the face of the master in Raise the Red Lantern though we see him a lot and Wong Kar Wai only lets us hear the spouses of the lead characters in In the Mood for Love.
• There are movies that pack in so much that they do not feel that long (Judgment at Nuremberg, Yi Yi, The Best Years of Our Lives), while a few others seem longer than they are (Tarkovsky). The pacing in this film is not as slow as Bela Tarr, but much closer to that of Christian Mungiu (In metal music terms, it's like saying "The pacing is doom-like, but not as glacial as funeral doom"). The whole story happens from dawn to dusk in a single day. There are four characters - two of them are in school, one is a gangster and the other, a retired army officer. This film takes about an hour to introduce the characters and another hour to show us how their lives are going to criss-cross. Once I settled in (30 minutes), I did not feel the length to be a burden because a lot does happen over four hours. These people, stuck in hard economic and personal circumstances (their personal hell) are united only by their desire to see a (circus) elephant in Manzhouli which sits all day long. The connection between characters also occurs more naturally rather than forced by 'convenient circumstances'.
• The film can be summed up by this dialogue (which happens around the second hour, IIRC): "Life just won't get better. It's all about agony. That agony has begun since you were born. You think that a new place will change your fate? It's bullshit. New place, new sufferings. You understand? No one truly knows about existence". Yet, there's a slight bit of hope as the last (beautiful) scene moves away from tight close-ups. While this film is not hopeful, it is also not as bleak or pulverizing as a few other films.

I hope there may be a handful here who might want to watch this film but have not heard of it till now (like I was until a few weeks ago).

I finally got around to watching "An elephant sitting still", it was a very moving and powerful experience. Thanks for the recommendation!.
The two prerequisites I had before starting watching this film was to start earlier so as to finish on the same day, and a more chirpy day so as to accommodate the bleak nature of the story that I had anticipated. Yesterday night both these worked out, and I could sit still throughout the length of the movie and never felt it's length weigh down my experience .
The characters were well developed, the close shots following them (rather than static frames) around increased the immersion. As you had rightly noted the claustrophobia that resulted in the close ups clear up towards the end, indicating a release for them from their suffering.
You had also noted on camera focus, which renders those not relevant to the scene as background noise.

There was also a short interview with Aliza Ma, a film critic who calls this one of the greatest movies that ever came from China (and from modern cinema, across languages). A few additional pointers:

• Hu Bo wanted this to be unlike any other movie which was made in China. In essence this was what kept him ticking and he wanted to have the last word. As you have already pointed out, there were issues with the producer who wanted to keep it around 2 hrs to make it more sale able. Hu Bo's idea was to tell the story of the characters plight, with the slow unraveling needing the full 4 hrs. He tried to buy the rights from the producer, but since he had no money, he couldn't at that stage. Making this movie was the hope that kept him going, and he took it hard, resulting in deep depression and alcoholism. So, this had a major role to play in his suicide
• Following his suicide the producers handed over the rights to his parents and the film was released for the full duration.
• The muted color palette that he uses throughout the film was an effect which he wanted to give, it gave the required atmosphere for the story, the pollution in the city and at the same time the spiritual vacuum and dissipation of the characters. To achieve this he was almost monomaniacal in restricting shoot to 3 hrs per day (early morning and towards dusk) and the rest of the day they choreographed what they intended to film the next day.
• He asked the characters to wander around listlessly and the camera following close behind. This lack of focus which came naturally to the cast, also highlighted their general state of hopelessness. Hu Bo believes that one can be happy only if one is willing to deceive himself (which you had mentioned as the quote from one of the characters, this also sounds close to Albert Camus' thoughts on absurdism and existentialism)
• While the general tone is a bit bleak, there is still hope, there is a scene in which Wei Bu throws up a match stick and creates an ink like vortex pattern on the roof of his apartment, which achieves a sense of beauty amidst the commonplace. The journey to see the elusive elephant is also just that, a journey which is more important than the destination, a source of hope for them all.