Galactic war update. Day 295-298

What I Watched This Week #152 (Nov 25-Dec 1) Radiohead: In Rainbows - From the Basement dir. David Barnard/2008/1h3m This concert film sees Radiohead play most of their In Rainbows album, plus a few select other songs, in Maida Vale Studios in London. The setting, and the fact that there is no audience, makes for an incredibly intimate experience and allows you to fully focus on the musicianship of each of the band members. Thom Yorke is an entrancing frontman – and excellent dancer if you've seen Paul Thomas Anderson's short film Anima – with his idiosyncratic twitching and distinctive wailing voice. I also liked how, thanks to the close proximity this films gives us, I was able to see the chord choices he makes when playing guitar. It's not something that the casual viewer would catch, but as a dabbler in guitar myself I really appreciated it. It was also fascinating to see lead guitarist Jonny Greenwood at work, his corner of the studio like a lab as he not only plays guitar but also keyboards and synths and at one point he's programming beats on a laptop. An up close and personal look at one of the best bands ever at work. 10/10 Harakiri dir. Masaki Kobayashi/1962/2h15m A depressed ronin – a samurai without a master – Hanshiro Tsugumo (Tatsuya Nakadai) comes to the house of Iyi looking for a place to commit honourable seppuku – ritual suicide – and a worthy swordsman to act as his assistant. The lord's chief counsellor Kageyu Saito (Rentaro Mikuni) questions him, as not long before a young man came to their house with a similar request. The film is made up of two stories that collide, that of the young man, Motome Chijiwa (Akira Ishihama), and Tsugumo's life story. This is an incredibly crafted film with some absolutely gorgeous cinematography and a perfectly paced plot that always keeps you hooked. It explores the samurai codes of honour and whether they are actually worth anything when challenged, and the differences between honour and respect as you can act with honour but no respect, as is the case in this film. What really drives this film forwards is the amazing performance by Nakadai in the lead role. He is the picture of absolute resolve, his one goal left in life to expose the hypocrisies of his fellow samurai. Even though this is made up of mostly conversations between Tsugumo and Saito I was still on the edge of my seat, with this story being one of the most enthralling I've ever seen. This is an absolute masterpiece in every way. 10/10 Lime's Film of the Week! Toy Story dir. John Lasseter/1995/1h21m Pixar's first feature length film is a genuine landmark in the history of cinema as it is the first fully computer animated film, ushering in a new age for animation like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs did nearly sixty years earlier. Expanding on their short film Tin Toy, Toy Story imagines a world where toys come to life when no one is watching. Tom Hanks stars as cowboy Woody, the favourite toy of young Andy (John Morris). Life is good until Andy's birthday when he gets the brand new flashy toy, Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), and feels like he's being replaced. Apart from the textures looking very flat, though at the time they set the high bar in the industry, and the human characters looking frankly grotesque – though nowhere near as nightmare inducing as the baby from Tin Toy – this is as close to perfect as you can get. The script is hilarious and also hits some big emotional beats, the characters all have real depth and personality, and the songs by Randy Newman capture the charm and whimsy of the film perfectly. In my opinion this is the defining role of Hanks' career, and he makes an iconic duo with Allen's egotistical space ranger. The supporting cast is also full of instantly iconic characters with performances that all match their personalities, with John Ratzenberger as Hamm the know-it-all piggy bank being my favourite. Arguably the best, and most revolutionary, animated film ever made. 10/10 Killer's Kiss dir. Stanley Kubrick/1955/1h8m This early Kubrick stars Jamie Smith as Davey Gordon, a boxer at the tail end of his career who falls in love with dancer Gloria (Irene Kane). But their relationship is threatened by Gloria's boss, club owner and violent criminal Vincent Rapallo (Frank Silvera). The best thing about this film is the moody, almost noir-like, black and white photography. The New York City locations all feel seedy and lived-in, giving the film tons of atmosphere. The boxing scenes are also very well shot, echoing his earlier documentary short Day of the Fight. Sadly the rest of the film is distinctly average. Apart from Silvera who gives a good turn as a sleazy gangster the performances are pretty flat and the story is predictable and drags even though it's barely an hour long. This is an improvement on his debut feature film, Fear and Desire, but it won't be until his next two films, The Killing and Paths of Glory, that he really hits his stride as a filmmaker. This isn't a bad film, but it's really only worth seeking out if you're aiming to watch all of Kubrick's rather slim filmography. 5/10 Dark Star dir. John Carpenter/1974/1h23m John Carpenter's debut feature length film tells the story of four working class astronauts on a decades long mission travelling through the galaxy destroying unstable planets, readying the universe for colonisation. One of the astronauts is played by Dan O'Bannon who also co-wrote the script with Carpenter and would go on to write Alien, another sci-fi film about blue collar workers in deep space, but unlike that film this is full of humour, at times it's almost a full blown comedy. One protracted scene sees O'Bannon's character chase the ships alien mascot around, the alien being what looks like a beach ball with feet. They also get into a philosophical argument with one of their thermonuclear bombs, which honestly put me in mind of Talkie Toaster from the British sitcom Red Dwarf. Actually, a lot of this reminded me of Red Dwarf, low ranking technicians stuck on a space ship bored out of their minds and looking for something to pass the time. Because it started out as a student film the budget is practically non-existent and none of the performances really stand out, but I really like the concept and there are lots of interesting ideas here. Not what I was expecting from a John Carpenter sci-fi film, but worth watching all the same. 7/10 Emilia Perez dir. Jacques Audiard/2024/2h12m Zoe Saldana stars as Mexico City lawyer Rita who is kidnapped by a the leader of a cartel, Manitas (Karla Sofia Gascon), who asks for her help in transitioning to a woman, becoming the titular Emilia Perez (Sofia Gascon is a trans woman herself). What sounds like a heavy drama is given the melodramatic treatment of a soap opera, and is also a musical (the vaginoplasty song being a highlight). Sadly this only undercuts the seriousness of the subject matter and at points comes off like a joke. I've read reviews that say this does nothing to help trans representation and having no lived experience of that I couldn't say, but Perez as a character does come off as a selfish *sshole who I couldn't sympathise with at all, and none of it has anything to do with her gender identity. The performances from the two leads are good, and they really invest themselves in their characters, as does Selena Gomez as Perez's ex-wife Jessi, and they really help sell the more sincere moments here. Well intentioned but off target, there are some decent moments here but the wildly inconsistent tone throws it all off. 5/10 First Man dir. Damien Chazelle/2018/2h21m First Man is a biopic of astronaut Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) covering his life from his time as a test pilot in the early 60s up to the moment he became the First Man on the moon in July 1969. As well as his professional life we also see his personal life with wife Janet (Claire Foy). The film presents Armstrong's stoic, isolated, obsessive personality as his way of dealing with grief, and makes his time on the moon imbued with even more meaning than it already has thanks to this. Gosling's performance is all under the surface but you can always feel his sadness, motivating him or maybe he's trying to run away from it. All of the launches and scenes in space make it feel suitably terrifying, with lots of close ups of all the bolts and rivets holding their ship together as they creak and groan. It's also mostly filmed from inside the ships during these scenes, no glossy shots of rockets gliding through space, so you feel like you're there with them. More of an emotional than informative biopic, if you're looking for a Wikipedia entry then you'll be disappointed, this is a very humane take on humanities greatest achievement. 8.5/10

@djw180 that sucks. It is on the Studio Canal service through Amazon, which I'm sure there's a free trial of.

The Untamed (2016) dir Amat Escalante This is quite a strange, but interesting film. It was in the Sci-fi section on BFI player. Although it certainly has some Sci-fi in it I would not say that was it's main genre. It's basically a drama about a group of people in semi-rural Mexico, at least two of whom have a s*x with an alien – hence the Sci-fi element. The main characters are Alejandra (Ruth Ramos) and Veronica (Simone Bucio). Alejandra is stuck in an unhappy marriage. Her brother introduces her to Veronica who already knows the alien, which she was apparently drawn to and found as if some mysterious force was guiding her to it. The alien's appearance is slowly revealed as the film goes on. At first all we see is a tentacle, so it's clearly not a human-like alien. It's largely left to your imagination what the alien looks like and how it has s*x with humans. Whilst there are a few explicit scenes, they tend to be quite short and I would say only two are particularly graphic. There's some nice cinematography, sometimes shot from unusual places, some nicely set against the landscape. There's not much in the way of special effects, but when we do get to the see the alien fully those are quite good. The music is good including some modern, not very melodic, orchestral pieces, adding to the atmosphere. I think the plot is a bit lacking in detail at times, for example some people who visit the alien get injured, or worse, and why that is was not clear to me. 7 / 10 @LimeGreenLegend I was planning on watching Ran this week, but it's not available as part of my BFI subscription, only as a rental. So when my subscription ends I'll either rent it on there or see if I can get a cheap second hand DVD copy.

Galactic War Update. Day 292-294 The seemingly forever war continues. Fight on Helldivers!