1990's Countdown Group Watch

This is by design, of course. Jamie returned to help her move on and get past her grief, and one of the ways he does this is to remind her that he was not some perfect being made of light but a person who she loved who also had plenty of normal, annoying traits that she has been glossing over in her extreme sadness. By contrast, in Ghost Patrick Swayze sticks around this world so he can heroically save his girlfriend from being murdered over a real estate deal, the prize for which is a magical single kiss before he goes to the bright light. Believe me, I totally get that the thriller story undercut with the comedy of Whoopi Goldberg was a huge, gigantic hit. But to me what Ghost has to say about grief and love is absolutely nothing, it is only there for the sake of the plot mechanics. What Truly Madly Deeply has to say is true and resonant.

But, of course, your mileage may vary.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

beelzebubble sent me a DailyMotion link for it, if anyone needs it.

You can also find it on Amazon Prime with a free trial of France Channel (I know people hate free trials, but just sign up then immediately cancel and click the option to keep watching but not renew).

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I watched Une liaison pornographique today. I thought the acting was fine, but I didn't find the story very interesting.

I wouldn't compare Truly Madly Deeply to Ghost because they're not the same. While both of these movies are about a woman who is grieving the death of a loved one, one movie is about a ghost coming back to help her get over him, but the other is about the ghost coming back to protect her.

A better comparison would be comparing Truly Madly Deeply to Kiss Me Goodbye (1982). In this case, while Kiss Me Goodbye is a much more light-hearted movie because it's less about the grief itself and more about her moving on with her life and not comparing her fiancé to him, both movies are about a ghost coming back to help her get over him, but in Kiss Me Goodbye, it was much more obvious that he was a ghost, whereas in Truly Madly Deeply, it just felt like he somehow came back to her. Other than the fact that we knew he had died, nothing in the movie made it feel like he was a ghost.

Having said that, I liked the movie a lot. I just wished the movie had done something to make it feel more like he was a ghost of someone who died, rather than just an ex-lover who came back to her after a bad breakup.

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If I answer a game thread correctly, just skip my turn and continue with the game.
OPEN FLOOR.

An Affair Of Love (Une liaison pornographique)
(Philippe Blasband, 1999)

I really liked the look of this movie. The use of color, the angles, and the way the shots were framed were all quite impressive. However, if I notice and remember these sorts of things in a movie, it usually means I was bored - and that was very much the case here. I hated the structure of this movie. It was like a mockumentary without the comedy - it kept going back and forth between scenes of the two characters together during the affair and separate interviews with them some time after it had ended. It also had very little story to tell and we the audience never really get to know the characters. In fact, the characters don't even get to know each other, at least not until near the end of movie. We don't even learn their names and they don't learn them either. And the first act of the movie is a whole lot of talking. For a film with a title that literally translates to "A Pornographic Affair," it's incredibly tame. The characters kept alluding to some sort of really kinky/unusual sexual act, but they never name it or describe it and we never see it - just repeated scenes of them entering and exiting a hotel room. There are some sex scenes, but it's all pretty vanilla love-making. And I'm not saying that I needed to see some crazy sex act, but a movie needs to give me something - something to watch or something to feel - and it did neither. I think I was meant to feel something at the very end but the movie had so completely alienated me by that time that all I felt was relief that it was over.

Watching it now

Just a reminder to anyone considering participating in this round, the deadline is just under 12 hours.

@cricket will choose the next movie!

I was just about to go to sleep

My pick is on YouTube, you want to watch the version that is 139:06 long

That is, if you want to watch it

Sensitive viewers beware

Well, that'll cheer us all up.

I thought I might finally be able to join in with this this weekend...but then I saw the nomination! I watched The War Zone twenty years ago at least and parts of it are still seared onto my brain, I definitely don't feel the need to watch it again. Not that it isn't a good film. I was quite surprised to find that it is the only film Tim Roth has directed.

The War Zone is a very personal movie for Tim Roth so obviously there's a sad story that comes from his life. I would have really liked to have nominated this for a HoF, but it would take indecency or at the very least bad judgment to force people to watch it. I've been keeping a running list of the most disturbing films I've ever seen in case I ever do a top 100. Most of them are horror or exploitation films, but there are a few "regular" films. Tilda Swinton stars in 2 of them, We Need to Talk About Kevin, and then this one which is on a whole different level. It's complete misery porn. It is slow paced and has that great bleak British cinematography. But then the actual content will leave many viewers shook. Not for everyone but I love to feel something and with that The War Zone is a massive success.

I watched The War Zone today. I thought it was a feel good family comedy. No, not really. It was actually a very well made, dark and disturbing drama. Lara Belmont was excellent in what must have been a difficult role. I thought the brother character was strange though and that part of it didn't completely work for me. Also, I wanted more development of the father. His background, history, motivations could have been explored and I think it might have worked better if he was more layered. I had mixed feelings on the ending. In spite of those objections, I really liked the film (well, as much as you can "like" a film like this). There were some powerful and effective moments. It won't make my ballot, but I'm glad (well, as "glad" as you can be) to have watched it.

The War Zone
(Tim Roth, 1999)

This was a really challenging watch. After cricket's content warning, I did a little reading about the movie before committing to watching it so I had some idea of what I was getting into - or at least I thought I did. I was expecting a movie that would make me feel for its characters but this did not. Instead all I felt was revulsion - and not just because of the abuse that is shown and fully acknowledged or the even more disgusting abuse that is implied near the end - but because of the interactions between its two young stars. The relationship between Tom and Jessie bothered me immensely and it served as an obstruction to my ability to connect with them and feel for their situation. My revulsion to this film was so strong that I had to take repeated breaks which, while it gave me relief, only furthered my disconnect.

So ultimately I can't say that I liked it. I do think the performances were all very strong and the way that it is filmed certainly captures the bleakness of its story. I also think as a piece of art, the movie probably deserves a higher rating than I am giving it, but my rating system reflects my viewing experience more than anything else and it is for this reason that I settled on the rating that I did.

Well since Allaby and I were the only ones to watch The War Zone it meant that one of us was going to get to pick the next nomination and the randomizer chose me.

I originally had a different movie in mind for my next pick but decided to go with something a little lighter after the heaviness of the last nomination. It's Tim Burton so it's pretty macabre, but it's got a fair amount of whimsey too. It's been quite awhile since I watched it though and it's not a lock for my ballot so I will be watching it again in the next couple of days.

I'm hit or miss with both Johnny Depp and Tim Burton, so I'll watch Sleepy Hollow tomorrow and see how it goes.
(I'm pretty sure I have it on DVD.)

I've seen Sleepy Hollow and it wasn't for me