IMPORTANT NOTE: please use a VPN whenever visiting Hextube, or anywhere else on the internet, for that matter. Protect your privacy.
For this Friday Movie Night, first up is Kagemusha (1980), one of the most critically-acclaimed films of one of the most renowned filmmakers of all time, Akira Kurosawa. It is a war epic set in feudal Japan, concerning a petty thief who finds himself enlisted to impersonate a deceased warlord. As he cements his place in his new role, he is torn between his inability to fit in with the social mores of the military-nobility class, and his drive to inhabit the warlord’s life seamlessly, so that he may exert his power to its fullest extent. Universal praise for this one, so let’s check it out.
After that is Lovers Rock (2020), a romance from Steve McQueen, whose films Hunger (2008) and Mangrove (2020) we previously watched. It is part of the “Small Axe” collection of five films (all centering on Black British life, though otherwise unrelated) that he released simultaneously in 2020. The film is set during a wild house party in 1980s London, and sees a dude and a lady meeting and beginning their romance while racial, class, and political tensions threaten to explode around them. Excellent reviews for this one, so we’ll give it a try.
We’ll start at 8PM EST on Hextube, right here:
https://live.hexbear.net/c/movies
Be there, comrades!
IMPORTANT NOTE: please use a VPN whenever visiting Hextube, or anywhere else on the internet, for that matter. Protect your privacy.
For this Special Thursday Cinema Night, 8PM EST, there’s no special theme, just two more good flicks. First up is 25th Hour (2002), a crime drama from renowned auteur Spike Lee, whose work, surprisingly, we have never watched on Hextube. Edward Norton stars as a convicted drug dealer living out his last day before starting his prison sentence, making preparations with his friends and family and walking the post-9/11 urban hellscape known as New York City. Actually, it was the first theatrical feature film to mention 9/11 at all. Highly critically-acclaimed; let’s watch.
After that is Lone Wolf & Cub: Baby Cart to Hades (1972), the third installment in the grindhousey Japanese samurai action series starring a rogue swordsman and his increasingly-sickofied child protege. They kill a whole lot of bad guys in creatively gory fashion. We watched the first two films some time ago, but not this one, which is about as well-regarded. As with the others, this one contains some sleazy sex stuff too, which is pretty much par for the course for this sort of film, but be forewarned.
We’ll start at 8PM EST on Hextube, right here:
https://live.hexbear.net/c/movies
Be there, comrades!
IMPORTANT NOTE: please use a VPN whenever visiting Hextube, or anywhere else on the internet, for that matter. Protect your privacy.
For this Wednesday Super Slop Night, first up is Duel to the Death (1983), a Hong Kong wuxia film set in 16th-century China about a duel between the top swordsmen in China and Japan. Outside forces seek to rig the fight, and the supporters of the respective combatants attempt to intervene. Who will survive? I guess we’ll find out. Director is Tony Ching Siu-Tung, who is otherwise best-known for A Chinese Ghost Story (1987), which we have not yet watched.
After that is Glass Onion (2022), the sequel to Knives Out (2019). As with its predecessor, it is a murder-mystery comedy following the silly adventures of Southern detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) as he tries to uravel a web of intrigue surrounding a rich tech-bro and his douchebag friends. Hilarity and satire ensue. Director is Rian Johnson, the guy behind both the first film, as well as, Looper (2012), and, uhh, Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017). Let’s check it out.
We’ll start at 8PM EST on Hextube, right here:
https://live.hexbear.net/c/movies
Be there, comrades!
IMPORTANT NOTE: please use a VPN whenever visiting Hextube, or anywhere else on the internet, for that matter. Protect your privacy.
For this Sunday Kino Night, first up is Ritual (2000), the best-known and best-reviewed of Neon Genesis Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno’s live-action films. It centers on the attempts of an amateur filmmaker to connect with a teenage girl who he spots wandering the streets and muttering the same phrase every day. Romance ensues, along with Anno’s signature monologues on existentialism and so on. Looks pretty neat, so let’s check it out. Currently ranked #224 on Letterboxd’s Top 250 films of all time.
Next is My Darling Clementine (1946), a classic Western from the maestro himself, John Ford, whose work has never been shown on Hextube, until now. It is one of the many retellings of the story of real-life Old West lawman Wyatt Earp (here played by Henry Fonda) and the lead-up to the famous shootout at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. Considered one of Ford’s best films and one of the best Westerns ever.
We’ll start at 8PM EST on Hextube, right here:
https://live.hexbear.net/c/movies
Be there, comrades!
IMPORTANT NOTE: please use a VPN whenever visiting Hextube, or anywhere else on the internet, for that matter. Protect your privacy.
For this edition of Saturday Anime Night, the people demanded more magical girls, and so, we’re going to start what is arguably the most acclaimed magical-girl anime of all time, Revoutionary Girl Utena (1997). Think Sailor Moon, but a bit more highbrow, and a bit more gay. Episodes 19 through 24 tonight.
After that is I Lost My Body (2019), an animated French thriller about a pizza-delivery guy who becomes infatuated with one of his customers. That would be all well and good, except that the hand he previously lost in an accident becomes sentient and escapes from its lab to pursue him. Drama ensues. Will romance blossom anyway? I guess we’ll find out. This is by far the best-known and best-reviewed work to date of director Jeremy Clapin.
We’ll start 8PM EST on Hextube right here:
https://live.hexbear.net/c/movies
Be there, comrades!
IMPORTANT NOTE: please use a VPN whenever visiting Hextube, or anywhere else on the internet, for that matter. Protect your privacy.
For this Friday Movie Night, first up is Better Days (2019), a Chinese thriller about a bullied schoolgirl who enlists the aid of a bodyguard with a mysterious past to ward off her assailants. Meanwhile, she tries to pass her final exams, and uh oh, what’s this? Could romance be blossoming? I guess we’ll find out. One of the highest-rated Chinese films on Letterboxd, and by the best-known and best-reviewed work to date of director Derek Tsang.
After that, since Fury (1936) was a hit last night, we will delve again into the filmography of renowned director Fritz Lang, with The Big Heat (1953), another highly-regarded entry in his Hollywood phase. A classic film-noir, it follows the one good cop in a corrupt police force as he tries to take down a sadistic mob boss, as revenge for the suicide of his friend. A whole lot of shooting and other bloodshed ensues, to a greater extent than pretty much any movie that preceded it. This is considered one of the best crime films of the 1950s, so let’s check it out.
We’ll start at 8PM EST on Hextube, right here:
https://live.hexbear.net/c/movies
Be there, comrades!
IMPORTANT NOTE: please use a VPN whenever visiting Hextube, or anywhere else on the internet, for that matter. Protect your privacy.
For this Special Thursday Cinema Night, 8PM EST, there’s no special theme, just two more good flicks. First up is Climax (2018), which centers on the worst party ever, a French dance-rave that turns into a nightmare after everyone’s drinks are spiked with LSD. A whole lot of drug-addled revelry and excess follows while some of the partiers try to find the culprit. Oh, and did I mention there’s dancing? Director is French auteur Gaspar Noe, whose films we have not watched yet, but he is a good buddy of Harmony Korine, whose Gummo (1997) was a hit on Hextube.
After that is Fury (1936), a crime drama from renowned director Fritz Lang, the guy behind Metropolis (1927) and M (1931). In this, the most-acclaimed film of his Hollywood phase, a man (Spencr Tracy) goes to visit his girlfriend in a small town, at which point he is arrested and accused of being a fugitive kidnapper. Drama ensues as he tries to secure justice and avoid being lynched by the irate townspeople.
BONUS: We will also watch the 22-minute short The Private Life of a Cat (1947), an up-close-and-personal look at a cat’s birth and upbringing from avant-garde duo Alexander Hammid and Maya Deren. It looks adorable.
We’ll start at 8PM EST on Hextube, right here:
https://live.hexbear.net/c/movies
Be there, comrades!
For this 9/11 edition of Super Slop Night, by popular demand, it’s the long-awaited screening of the fifth and six Project A-ko movies, the final entries in the series, which transplant the characters into a completely new setting and otherwise have nothing to do with the previous installments. They’re still fun.
After that is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023), the latest version of the neverending franchise. It follows a quartet of four anthropomorphic turtle brothers who emerge from the sewers of New York City at 15 years old and interact with humans for the first time. Also, they fight stuff. This is animated in a style similar to Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse (2018) and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022). Many are calling it the best version of TMNT ever. I guess we’ll find out. It is the debut feature of director Jeff Rowe, who was previously a writer for The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021).
BONUS: we will also watch The Red Balloon (1956), a short film about a French boy searching for his beloved balloon on the streets of Paris. It is widely considered one of the best short films of all time, even winning the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. It is the only film of note by director Albert Lamorisse, who is better-known as the creator of the board game Risk. Small world.
We’ll start at 8PM EST on Hextube, right here:
https://live.hexbear.net/c/movies
Be there, comrades!
IMPORTANT NOTE: please use a VPN whenever visiting Hextube, or anywhere else on the internet, for that matter. Protect your privacy.
For this Sunday Kino Night, first up is The Chaser (2008), a Korean crime thriller about a corrupt cop who has become a pimp and finds his prositutes sddenly disappearing without a trace, only to realize tht they had all seen the same client beforehand. Cue a cat-and-mouse game between the two shitty guys as each attempts to take down the other. Director is Na Hong-jin, whose horror film The Wailing (2016) we previously watched; this is debut, and one of the highest-rated Korean films on Letterboxd. Let’s check it out.
Next is Breaker Morant (1980), an Australian drama set during the Boer War (1899-1902) and concerning a cout-martial of three Australian soldiers for executing prisoners. The trouble is that their British commanding officers ordered them to do so, and are now pinning the blame on their underlings to save the reputation of the general staff. God Damn the UKKK:The Movie. Director is Bruce Beresford, who is better known for, uhh, Driving Miss Daisy (1989); this is by a pretty wide margin his most critically-acclaimed film.
We’ll start at 8PM EST on Hextube, right here:
https://live.hexbear.net/c/movies
Be there, comrades!
IMPORTANT NOTE: please use a VPN whenever visiting Hextube, or anywhere else on the internet, for that matter. Protect your privacy.
For this edition of Saturday Anime Night, the people demanded more magical girls, and so, we’re going to start what is arguably the most acclaimed magical-girl anime of all time, Revoutionary Girl Utena (1997). Think Sailor Moon, but a bit more highbrow, and a bit more gay. Episodes 13 through 18 tonight.
After that is White Snake 2 (2021), a Chinese CGI animation and sequel to White Snake (2019), which we watched last week. This time, the plot centers on the green snake lady, who while rescuing her sister, travels though time to a futuristic cyberpunk city and takes part in a battle-royale-style competition. In other words, it isn’t like the first film at all. But hey, we enjoyed White Snake, so let’s continue with the saga. A third film was released this year, too.
We’ll start 8PM EST on Hextube right here:
https://live.hexbear.net/c/movies
Be there, comrades!
@wombat
@hexbear.net