TV/Movies Megathread

[Duque de Bragança]

Daughters of Darkness (1976)

Vampires can't have tan lines.    This film has absolutely no credibility.      

Lesbian vampires run amok in Belgium!  Countess Elizabeth Báthory and her "Personal secretary" ( ) arrive at a hotel where a very 70s newlywed couple is staying.  Countess Báthory seems friendly, but the hotel clerk remembers her staying at the same hotel 40 years ago and looking the same as she does today and there are a number of young women found murdered in nearby Bruges all of them completely drained of blood.  Could these facts be related?  Could this Countess Báthory in fact be the same as the bathed in the blood of virgins?  and could she be leading the newlywed wife into a depraved world of lesbian blood-drinking?

This is a little better than most 70s Euro-sexploitation vampire films (not a real high recommendation, I realize.)  For one thing the cast all speaks English rather than being dubbed.  For another the film works the psychological angle more plausibly than most.

Seems there are two language versions of it then. Don't remember Delphine Seyrig having another role in English.
Well, given the level of most 70s euro-sexploitation vampire, even Rollin, I can see your point.
Those into lesbian vampire feminism would enjoy it more I believe. 

[Josquius]

Mentioned in the other thread but got accidentally dragged into a massive Morse marathon - then ended up in a wider exploration of the ITV4/Viking River Cruises Cinematic Universe. So I watched the prequel, Endeavour, which I really liked (I love Roger Allam and Anton Lesser though).

The started watching Lewis and had forgotten Laurence Fox is the sidekick there which rather ruins it (especially as his character is a bit of a bell). Makes me slightly sad as I feel Kevin Wheatley deserved better.

I loved (and love) Morse. On Fridays, there was something called "Detektimen" on NRK. We were shown "Bergerac" (which I loved) and "Derrick", a German serial set in Munich. It was a bit, well, repetitive. Horst Tappert, who played Derrick, usually spent his summers in Norway. He also spent his youth in the Hitlerjugend, so it somewhat diminished his reputation here.

"Morse" came along, and most of us were hooked, although a bit worried that how many murders there were in Oxford. Not that any of us would have qualified for studies there, anyhow.

Did Vera reach over that way?
Similar thing. But a woman. And in the north.
I confess I've watched a few episodes when bits were filmed in e.g. my old school et al. Always funny to see them going down a set of stairs and teleporting across the city.

[celedhring]

What we imagine as light

This was widely expected to be India's official Oscar submission last year after a strong festival run, until the academy there controversially picked another (apparently unremarkable) film. Given that the film  doesn't portray contemporary Indian society in the most flattering light (even though it's not a political film), it's hard not to see that decision as at least partly political.

The film follows three women working at a hospital in Mumbai: two nurses and a cook. The veteran nurse, a sticker for rules, is stuck in a limbo - she was married off in an arranged marriage years ago but she hasn't seen her husband in years, yet she still clings to the idea of the marriage. The younger, happy-go-lucky nurse is secretly dating a Muslim man, a relationship they both keep hidden from their families and that seems to have no future. And the cook is facing eviction from her home to make way for a luxury development.

It's a fantastic film, one of the best I've seen all year. Yes, it's a deliberately paced and understated movie about three women seeking happiness, but the filmmaking is fantastic, and the script is very tight and emotionally satisfying - it's not one of those films that just meanders. What impressed me most is how it portrays solidarity and resilience between these women without ever feeling phony or forcedly sentimental. There's a scene involving the older nurse and an amnesiac patient who mistakes her for his wife that it's one of the best bits of filmmaking and writing I've seen in years.

Reading up on he non-selection controversy, I see that some in India criticized the film for being "too European," and I can see where that comes from. The storytelling structure and tone are very approachable for a Western audience. It certainly doesn't feel as "alien" as other Indian movies I've seen.

[Duque de Bragança]

Tron: Ares

A departure from the previous two, specially TTron Legacy almost ignored, yet with some Tron fan-service. It targets people who have not seen the previous two says the script writer. I believe him. 

Disney wants a new franchise to milk it, a sequel more than alluded in the post-credits.

Technically, this is top-notch, CGI does not bother me for a movie such as Tron. However, given there is much more real world than grid this time, it may be more visible. Plenty of night shots though to compensate.

Did Jared Leto killed another cult movie?