The VCR / DVR / Streaming Alert Thread

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gunnar
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Re: The VCR / DVR / Streaming Alert Thread

Post by gunnar »

I posted a separate topic for this, but probably should have just posted it here:

The Irish Film Institute has uploaded a number of short films that were each nominated for an Academy Award. Included are some pretty rare films such as Cradle of Genius, Paisti ag Obair, and Three Kisses.

http://ifiarchiveplayer.ie/oscars/
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Re: The VCR / DVR / Streaming Alert Thread

Post by dws1982 »

Rewatched through The Deep Blue Sea, which may be my favorite of his four adaptations. Interesting that his feature film career so far is so symmetrical, for lack of a better term: Two autobiographical films, two adaptations, a documentary, two adaptations, and two biographical films.

The Deep Blue Sea may be my favorite of the adaptations, although The House of Mirth, which is badly in need of restorations (God only knows who owns the rights at this point), is excellent. The Neon Bible and Sunset Song (which I'll rewatch within the next few days) aren't at all bad either. I'm not familiar with Rattigan's play (which apparently gets staged all the time in the UK), but as an evocation of mid 20th-century England, it's as resonant as Davies' two autobiographical films, as a portrait of a doomed romanced, it's on the level of Brief Encounter. (Although this is an explicit affair that wrecks a marriage, rather than a largely unspoken one.) Rachel Weisz is excellent, never better, although she is ultimately sympathetic, she never begs for sympathy or understanding, never reduces Hester to depression and sadness. Simon Russell Beale is great too; so many actors (and filmmakers) would've really sold that character short; either would've made him so pathetic or so awful that it was obvious why his wife cheated on him, but while the character definitely has issues (he lets his mother control too much) and we can understand the problems in the marriage, Beale brings out that character's dignity in a really moving way. I haven't updated my 2012 awards since I posted them (definitely overdue for an update, along with a lot of years), but Rachel Weisz and Simon Russell Beale would be my Actress and Supporting Actor winners, easily. Honestly, if we put it with 2012 releases, which it was in the US, it might be my movie of the year, although I do love Lincoln a lot.
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Re: The VCR / DVR / Streaming Alert Thread

Post by dws1982 »

All of Terence Davies movies except for Benediction (obviously, as it's now just hitting theaters) and The House of Mirth (rights issues, I guess) are on the Criterion Channel as part of a retrospective. Sunset Song won't be available for a few weeks, however, although it is currently on HBO Max is you can't wait. He really is one of the best filmmakers ever.

I've ordered a DVD of The House of Mirth so I can watch all of his films. I haven't seen it in years and years, but I remember liking it but also thinking Dan Aykroyd and Eric Stoltz seemed really out of place in late 19th-century New York.
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Re: The VCR / DVR / Streaming Alert Thread

Post by Big Magilla »

If it's part of TCM's 30 days of Oscar it should be on HBO Max as well.
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Re: The VCR / DVR / Streaming Alert Thread

Post by Mister Tee »

Late alert for those (like me) who've searched in vain over the years for a chance to watch 1967's Best Foreign-Language Film, the Soviet War and Peace. TCM is running all 7 hours of it, starting early tomorrow: 3:30-10:45 AM EDT.
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Re: The VCR / DVR / Streaming Alert Thread

Post by dws1982 »

Louis Malle's God's Country, which was produced around the same time as Down and Out in America tackles some of the same subjects--specifically the way 80's recessions hurt farms in the mid-west. It's on the Criterion Channel too; I'm going to try to watch it soon.
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Re: The VCR / DVR / Streaming Alert Thread

Post by gunnar »

dws1982 wrote:
dws1982 wrote:
Greg wrote:Have you seen Down And Out In America? That is the documentary directed by Grant that won, actually tied for, the Oscar.
Watching it tonight.
That movie is bleak as hell. It's short, just under an hour, and honestly I couldn't have sat through much more of it. It's good, definitely a deserving winner, but that movie is not pulling any punches.
Bleak was my impression as well when I watched it. I could relate to the section on farms since my dad grew up on a farm in Ohio and my uncle was a farmer and brickmason during the time this movie came out. I also had seen Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern which shares a number of similarities with that segment from Down and Out in America.
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Re: The VCR / DVR / Streaming Alert Thread

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dws1982 wrote:
Greg wrote:Have you seen Down And Out In America? That is the documentary directed by Grant that won, actually tied for, the Oscar.
Watching it tonight.
That movie is bleak as hell. It's short, just under an hour, and honestly I couldn't have sat through much more of it. It's good, definitely a deserving winner, but that movie is not pulling any punches.
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Re: The VCR / DVR / Streaming Alert Thread

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Greg wrote:Have you seen Down And Out In America? That is the documentary directed by Grant that won, actually tied for, the Oscar.
Watching it tonight.
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Re: The VCR / DVR / Streaming Alert Thread

Post by Greg »

Have you seen Down And Out In America? That is the documentary directed by Grant that won, actually tied for, the Oscar.
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Re: The VCR / DVR / Streaming Alert Thread

Post by dws1982 »

There's not really another place to put this, but if you have access to the Criterion Channel, they have several of the documentaries that Lee Grant directed, and the ones I've watched so far are really good. They are fairly conventional stylistically, a lot of point-and-shoot talking heads with Grant narrating off-camera, which is how a lot of documentaries in the 80's were made, but she chooses unconventional subjects and she's a really good interviewer.
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Re: The VCR / DVR / Streaming Alert Thread

Post by Precious Doll »

For anybody trying to watch their way through the book 1001 Movies to See Before You Die (I think that's the title), Youssef Chahine's Cairo Station (1958) has turned up on Netflix (of all places) along with about 10 or so of his other films.

Cairo Station is a a classic and must see film (a long for a restored Blu Ray edition). I'll be dipping into the other Chahine's films, of which there are a number, that I've never had the opportunity to see before.
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
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Re: The VCR / DVR / Streaming Alert Thread

Post by dws1982 »

If you're looking up to beef up your digital library at relatively low cost, for whatever reason, Amazon has a lot of old film noir discounted to $4.99 this weekend. Most are Movies Anywhere compatible if that's important to you.
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Re: The VCR / DVR / Streaming Alert Thread

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If anyone is looking to build up a streaming library, streaming copies of lots of Best Picture winners are $4.99 on Amazon.
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Re: The VCR / DVR / Streaming Alert Thread

Post by dws1982 »

Pain and Glory is available to buy (but not rent yet) digitally today and Amazon has lots of other Almodovar films reduced to $4.99. Pretty much all of his films that are with Sony Pictures Classics are at that price point right now. (I think the version of Bad Education is the edited version however.) Worth getting some, especially if you don't have DVDs or Blu-Rays of them (and some aren't out on Blu-Ray).
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