TV/Movies Megathread

[The Brain]

Is there some superduper extra deluxe director's cut of The Godfather out there?  Swear I just saw about 10 scenes I've never seen before.

It's called the second half.

[Admiral Yi]

Thanks.

[celedhring]

Have you seen "Following" and if so, your thoughts?

First part is "not yet," and will have to answer at some point in the near future, like the next 24 hours, since I've been intending on watching Following and now am a little obliged to.

Right now I just wanted to ask if Cel has any colorful anecdotes about Nacho Vigalondo's Open Windows.  He's hooked into that whole scene.  Anyone on that project owe you money?

The actual question is if this is becoming a big thing in Spain (and perhaps Europe generally), "this" being neo-classicist Hitchcock/De Palma-inspired thrillers, or if it's just kind of coincidence that Maniac, Grand Piano, and Open Windows were all made around the same time.  (I'm including Maniac, even though it's a French film, and a remake, for its clear line of descent from Psycho and the participation of Elijah Wood; I'm aware stretching a bit to get to three.)

I know some of the people involved indeed, but I don't have colorful anecdotes to share on this one; most of them reside in LA and we don't talk often. None of them owes me money :p

Twist-heavy neo-Hitchcock Spanish films aren't something new, though. It's always been one of our main tropes when trying to set up a film with a view to the export market. Hitchcock is immensely popular among our film intelligentsia and it's a genre that can get foreign investors on board instead of some Spanish Civil War drama or some tacky Spanish comedy (we have non-tacky ones too, but don't export well either). The rise of Spanish Horror in the past decade is sort of an outgrowth from that.

For example:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090644/ this was one of the first big Spanish joint productions with American capital in the 80s. It's extremely De Palma-esque.

[The Minsky Moment]

Ide is gonna hate it.

Needs more long takes and better costume design.

You joke, but this is in fact entirely the case

[Razgovory]

Ide, who's the mother-fucking pinhead that taught you this baroque curly cue writing style?

I know it was while you were in shyster training.

I have no idea, but reading his film reviews on his blog makes my eyes hurt.  I'm telling the truth there.  I thought in Shyster training they taught you to right clearly and to the point.

[CountDeMoney]

I thought in Shyster training they taught you to right clearly and to the point.

Lulz

Actually, that's a big fat lawyer myth:  lawyers write specifically to obfuscate.  Ever read an end user license agreement, or credit card conditions or other similar documentation?  Designed with the specific intent to fuck you with words.

[FunkMonk]

Watched The Politician's Husband. I approve of power-mad David Tennant.

[Ideologue]

Ide, who's the mother-fucking pinhead that taught you this baroque curly cue writing style?

I know it was while you were in shyster training.

Leave something out, you get a B, i.e. fail.

[Ideologue]

Have you seen "Following" and if so, your thoughts?

First part is "not yet," and will have to answer at some point in the near future, like the next 24 hours, since I've been intending on watching Following and now am a little obliged to.

Right now I just wanted to ask if Cel has any colorful anecdotes about Nacho Vigalondo's Open Windows.  He's hooked into that whole scene.  Anyone on that project owe you money?

The actual question is if this is becoming a big thing in Spain (and perhaps Europe generally), "this" being neo-classicist Hitchcock/De Palma-inspired thrillers, or if it's just kind of coincidence that Maniac, Grand Piano, and Open Windows were all made around the same time.  (I'm including Maniac, even though it's a French film, and a remake, for its clear line of descent from Psycho and the participation of Elijah Wood; I'm aware stretching a bit to get to three.)

I know some of the people involved indeed, but I don't have colorful anecdotes to share on this one; most of them reside in LA and we don't talk often. None of them owes me money :p

Twist-heavy neo-Hitchcock Spanish films aren't something new, though. It's always been one of our main tropes when trying to set up a film with a view to the export market. Hitchcock is immensely popular among our film intelligentsia and it's a genre that can get foreign investors on board instead of some Spanish Civil War drama or some tacky Spanish comedy (we have non-tacky ones too, but don't export well either). The rise of Spanish Horror in the past decade is sort of an outgrowth from that.

For example:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090644/ this was one of the first big Spanish joint productions with American capital in the 80s. It's extremely De Palma-esque.

Lol, Carrie's caught in a cycle of abuse.

Interesting though.  Maybe it's just we've become connected enough to notice it in America?  I mean, ten years ago, Open Windows might've been obscure and hard to get ahold of.  Now it's just an ordinary small movie.

[celedhring]

We've certainly become better at exporting stuff in the past years, pretty much out of necessity due to the paucity of our home market. All the productions I'm working in involve foreign capital.

Plus digital film makes distribution so damn easy.

[Ideologue]

Huh, you'd think that there's a huge Latin audience for Spanish cinema, but I guess the dialectical differences strangle that baby in its cradle?  Or is it just that Mexico etc. can satisfy their own demands at home?

So, my follow-up questions regarding Spanish thrillers are:

1)Do other films and directors in the Spanish thriller set have the same level of formal ambition as Grand Piano or Open Windows?
2)Anything you'd recommend?  I found some potentially neat Spanish movies, like Cell 211 and King of the Hill, but the lists are dominated by horror in general (which I'm interested in, but it's a wholly distinct genre) and De Toro and Almodovar in specific (which results in me saying "no shit").  I do still need to follow up on Eugenio Mira's work.  I made it a point to check out some of Nacho Vigalondo's earlier stuff, namely Timecrimes, which is actually kind of the opposite of ambitious, unless doing your damnedest to recreate the feel of an extraordinarily cheap and innovation-free 1980s SF film counts as "ambition."  (For the record, I still kind of like Timecrimes.  Extraterrestrial also sounds fun--both of them do, in fact.)
3)Does Elijah Wood have a statue in Madrid yet?

[Savonarola]

The Grandmaster (2013)

You say.  You say.  You say.  One for the trouble two for the time, come on girls let's rock that

This is a biopic of Ip Man; who sounds like he should be the internet's greatest hero, but is actually the eponymous Grand Master (his zodiac sign is CAPRICORN!) of Wing Chun Kung Fu; and ultimately the teacher of Bruce Lee.  Wong Kar Wai directs; so it's filled with philosophical meditation and incomplete relationships.  There is a lot of fighting in it and even a revenge sub-plot; but it's not really an action film.  It's interesting, but I don't think it works.  I find Wong Kar Wai to be a challenging director; so maybe I need to watch it again; but don't push me 'cause I'm close to the edge.

[The Brain]

Wong Kar Wai isn't a name though.

[Ideologue]

The Grandmaster (2013)

You say.  You say.  You say.  One for the trouble two for the time, come on girls let's rock that

This is a biopic of Ip Man; who sounds like he should be the internet's greatest hero, but is actually the eponymous Grand Master (his zodiac sign is CAPRICORN!) of Wing Chun Kung Fu; and ultimately the teacher of Bruce Lee.  Wong Kar Wai directs; so it's filled with philosophical meditation and incomplete relationships.  There is a lot of fighting in it and even a revenge sub-plot; but it's not really an action film.  It's interesting, but I don't think it works.

Nope, hardly a bit.

I'd have watched the Gong Er movie that's happening in all those text blocks though.

[celedhring]

Huh, you'd think that there's a huge Latin audience for Spanish cinema, but I guess the dialectical differences strangle that baby in its cradle?  Or is it just that Mexico etc. can satisfy their own demands at home?

So, my follow-up questions regarding Spanish thrillers are:

1)Do other films and directors in the Spanish thriller set have the same level of formal ambition as Grand Piano or Open Windows?
2)Anything you'd recommend?  I found some potentially neat Spanish movies, like Cell 211 and King of the Hill, but the lists are dominated by horror in general (which I'm interested in, but it's a wholly distinct genre) and De Toro and Almodovar in specific (which results in me saying "no shit").  I do still need to follow up on Eugenio Mira's work.  I made it a point to check out some of Nacho Vigalondo's earlier stuff, namely Timecrimes, which is actually kind of the opposite of ambitious, unless doing your damnedest to recreate the feel of an extraordinarily cheap and innovation-free 1980s SF film counts as "ambition."  (For the record, I still kind of like Timecrimes.  Extraterrestrial also sounds fun--both of them do, in fact.)
3)Does Elijah Wood have a statue in Madrid yet?

Yeah, our films don't export well there; although Argie films are somewhat popular over here. Ungrateful bastards. Language isn't the only aspect of a culture, anyway.

1) Spanish genre film (thriller and horror) has usually always been quite formalist. The film I linked you too (Angustia), is very stylized for example. Amenábar used to be great with the camera, but doesn't do thrillers anymore. There's Rodrigo Cortés too (Buried), I personally don't like his films; but he's formally very ambitious. And there's of course Collet-Serra; he's made a name for himself with those Liam Neeson action flicks after doing shitty yank horror movies, but Orphan is pretty good. And JA Bayona (The Orphanage) and Jaume Balagueró (the REC flicks, which I hate, I prefer his previous work) are both great visual directors.
2)
My favorite Spanish thrillers are stuff like El Lobo, La Isla Mínima, Grupo 7, Las Horas del Día, En la ciudad sin límites, Caja 507... - but all those are more "realistic" gritty thrillers, and I'm not sure a foreigner will get them since they deal with a lot of Spanish issues and social commentary. For more stylized fare - and avoiding horror films - I'd go with Mientras Duermes (the best of the lot, imho), Tesis, Los Ojos de Julia, Intacto. Heck, Intacto could've been one of the greatest Spanish genre flicks of all time if they had bothered to write a third act. None of those is as crazy as Grand Piano, though - although you should really check out Angustia; it's a silly film but crazily stylized and over the top.
Cell 211 is allright but it's just a decent prison flick, it made a huge splash here because we don't make decent prison flicks. Extraterrestrial is awful; stay away.
3) No.