I wouldn't call them underrated. DePalma is a well known and well regarded director, and many of him movies are famous classics. Personally I love The Untouchables. And I'm probably one ofthe few people who think Carlito's Way is a much better movie than Scarface (which is good, but a bit overrated in my opinion).

As for his later movies... well, there's the first Mission Impossible, which is perfectly ok, though I think the series really hit its stride with the third movie. And there's Mission to Mars (I guess De Palma likes missions :P), but that one does not hold up at all. The best thing I can say about it is that at least it's not Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars. I guess famous 80s and 90s directors should stay the hell away from Mars.

Fun fact- a rather obscure tv series [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizards_and_Warriors_(TV_series)]Wizards and Warriors[/url], made only two years later, extensively used footage from Excalibur for fight sequences.

Also, since you like Excalibur, you might want to track down an Italian movie Hearts & Armor. It's not as good, but the style and the mood are somewhat similiar, and the visuals really are great.

Speaking of Stephen King, I really enjoyed IT. Of course anything would be an improvement over that piece of shit mini series they made.

One for the future then. Only mobile internet with limited badwith currently for me (and TV cable, from I watched King Arthur yesterday).The links from the Wikipedia page do seems enticing.

Nightcrawler- movie about about the life of American photographer. He hires people to do small jobs for him and is competing with other photographers to catch a glimpse of the next scoop.

Recently saw Overboard, with Ana Faris and Eugenio Derbez. Not a bad remake of the comedy with Kurt Russell & Goldie Hawn. I wouldn't call it a favorite, but it's worth it if you like them. It's actually funny in its goofy, silly way.

The last very good movies I've recently seen are 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) and Rush (2013).


Indeed, great movie.

Favorite film is probably 9 (2009). I tend to like post-apocalyptic settings of all kinds - but something about this one strikes the right balance of sci-fi & tension, while also being relatively PG-13 about it. It's rare that I can say that. The visuals are great, the story is great, the characters are great.

Last One I saw was Incredibles 2 - some friends treated my sister & I. What a treat indeed. Great for fans old & new - the animation was great, the action was thrilling, & the humor was welcome throughout. Very creative, very fun. You should see it if you can.

My recommendation is The Babadook. The symbolism is done very well. The beginning fills you with discomfort - but when the hammer of suspense drops, it really drops. It's a great one.

Favorite Movies
Papillon, Seven Samurai, Starship Troopers, Dune, Big Trouble in Little China, National Treasure, Alexander Revisted, Life Aquatic, Nacho Libre

Recently Watched
The Outsider- not big into gangster movies but this was a good Yakuza period piece in 50's Japan.



Recommendations-
The only movie I have been impressed by the last couple of years was Hacksaw Ridge. I will recommend Apacalypto with that too since that is the other historical movie of Mel Gibsons that really impressed me. Mel Gibson has a way of immersing you in the time period and the people, as opposed to most period pieces where we are basically getting a modern Californian dressed up in a historical setting.

Oh, and I saw Rockula for the first time a few months ago. If you like strange, campy?, vampire rock operas abouts a vampire falling in love in 1990 then this is right up your alley. I loved it!

Favorite films: Seven Samurai, Bell du jour, My Neighbor Totoro, and Stalker

The last film I saw was As Above, So Below. The first 20 min. were greatly enjoyable. However after the introduction, the movie kind of descended into the decent zone. It's a real shame.

I Kill Giants

the first time was enjoyable

the second slayed me

Great comic, haven't seen the movie yet.


Destination Wedding (2018) - Amazing casting and great dialogue.

Hopefully, I'm finally in the right thread. XD

Yesterday I saw the movie "Ága" with a friend.

There will be spoilers in this review, but honestly, there isn't much to spoil story-wise.
Also, note that I will walk through the story and simultaneously tackle the analysis of other aspects of the movie through it. Therefore I can't separate spoilers from non-spoilers while going in depth.

General impressions and recommendation - without spoilers:

All in can say in general without spoilers is: the movie emphasized emotion that was incredibly well illustrated by the acting and the music (the latter was spot on).
Given that the story is very basic and not much happens, the movie is slow-paced, but that isn't bothersome it the least.
There is very little dialog (I don't think there are 50 lines of dialog in the whole movie) and most things are conveyed non verbally, however, I had no trouble following and understanding everything despite my Asperger's.

It's a very touching piece that tells a lot with little words, I'd literally recommend it to anyone and everyone. :)

Story and overall analysis - in depth, spoilers are inside this section

Note: avoid brackets to skip foreshadowing in the story summary.

An old Inuit couple live on their own with their sled dog in the middle of icey nowhere.

When the daily tasks are done (a showcase of traditional hunting and lifestyle that is no longer practiced) they tell each other stories to pass the time.

The man told his wife (It's not stated, but I'm assuming they are married or in a relationship of equal standing to a marriage) about a reindeer on his father's land that would stare at him a lot.
His father thought he (a mere boy at the time) was scared of the deer and killed it. He cried a lot, but he never cried after that event.

There is a mystery surrounding their daughter Aga, there was a disagreement that drove the parents and child apart, but it's never stated what exactly her mistake was. It is clear they haven't seen each other in forever.

A young man, likely a childhood friend of Aga's visits the couple to bring them some items and Aga's father tells him another story.
A long time ago lived a hunter.
He was very skilled, but could not hunt because all the animals disappeared except for a long reindeer.
The hunter tracked the deer and was about to kill him when the animal spoke: "I'm a magical deer. Spare me and I will grant you any riches you desire."
The deer beat his hooves on the earth and piles of gold and other valuables appeared.
The hunter replied: "I care not for such riches. I'm a hunter and I need animals to hunt."
The deer agreed to grant his wish and beat his hoves on the earth again.
This time snowflakes fell from the sky and when they touched the earth each one grew into an animal.
Rabbits, foxes, wolves, and kinds of animals are still plenty in the land to this day.

(I imagine this symbolizes the traditional way of life and hunting is deeply connected to the animals and how small things are sufficient to maintain it. Aga left for the city and turned her back on tradition and created a barrier between herself and her parents.)

The next day snowflakes fall just like in the story.

The young man leaves a little while later and among other things leave the couple a radio.
The woman asks the man that they should forgive Aga and go see her in the city, but he ignores her.
Instead, he comments on the music (It is a classical piece, but I've no idea which one.), saying that whoever wrote it must have known deep pain and sorrow.

(The music fits excellently and foreshadows a deep sadness as well.)

A snow fox is caught and the woman decides to make a hat out of its fur for Aga.

The woman also tells the man of a dream she had.
In the dream, she was a young woman who was met by a bear.
The bear transformed into a man and asked her to come to live with him.
She refused, but he took her anyway.
His home was a deep hole filled with all the stars from the night sky.
As she was blinded by the light, the woman forgot everything else: who she was or where she was from.
She woke at that moment.

(This part is deeply symbolic, the whole with stars, in the end, the hole of the mine and the stars all the emotions experienced there.)

Neither partner knows this will be their last conversation.

The woman dies soon afterwards while the man is out hunting (she has a big black spot on her skin for a long time, frostbite or diseases and eventually it was stronger than she was).

His grief is deep and he rediscovers his tears.

After burring his wife the decides to go see his daughter (and bring her the fox hat) at the diamond mine and fulfill his wife's last wish.

A reindeer he has been seeing for some time appears before him (I've no idea what it could symbolize).

Aga's father is driven part of the way by a passing truck driver, who accidentally hits a reindeer and loads in on the truck.
The widower is concerned for the deer as a former deer header and asks if the driver is sure the animal is dead and the driver is sure it is.

(Maybe the deer is the father stubbornness to forgive his daughter or to let go of the old way of life.)

After Aga's father is dropped off he successfully makes his way to the mine, where he meets his daughter.
She likely hasn't seen him since she was a child or a teenager and by now she's a grown woman fighting back tears in vain due to seeing the beloved person thought forever lost to her.

P.S. I was too lazy to copy the correct writing of "Aga", but since the reader can follow regardless, I can let it slide. :P

Part 1

A note on how animal scenes were handled:

I'm not using any external sources for this section and I'm not a professional, but I think there was no animal cruelty present in the film.

The sled dog was well cared for (though he (according to the credits "Hector") did struggle through the snow somewhat), and hunted animals were dead long before the scene.

The rabbit was a carcass as well as the white fox that was partially skinned onscreen. There were no signs of life in either animal, I imagine carcasses were used for filming.

The reindeer that was "hit" by the truck was visibly breathing and the small bit of blood on the road was far less then what would be seen if it was really hit by a truck. I imagine its only discomfort was getting loaded on the truck partly onscreen, still, it was tied securely preventing any injuries to the animal.

The animals being hunted were part of showing the old way of life and were therefore not out of context.

Part 2

Meeting one of the scriptwriters - Simeon Ventsislavov:

This was an unexpected bonus, I had no idea he was invited for a short talk after the movie. XD

The details were too fleeting to remember, so I'll just try to give the general picture.

The writer is friends with the director, who called him one day and said that they have only a few days to come up with a script because they have to apply to a movie festival (or something similar).
So they kept the script and the story quite basic.

They were chosen/nominated at the event (festival?) and at the end of the movie everyone in the audience had their hand up. Someone was selected and the question was "Why are Bulgarians making a movie about the Inuit?"
The answer: "Why not?"
After that, all the remaining hands dropped. XD

In the final version the main story is the same just adapted to the location - first they wanted to film in Greenland, but it was too expensive and Canada didn't work out; in the end, the movie was shot in Syberia.

It was emphasized how there "is no sound" in Syberia and most of the music and sound was done in postproduction by an acclaimed German studio.

Another interesting bit was about the language, it is spoken by the people who live near the filming location.
Yakut is apparently a Turkish language and every community speaks a dialect of sorts, but the language is made whole out of a combination of all of them.
Given how no viewer can be familiar with the local language, the cinema had Slovene and English subtitles on screen simultaneously (English on top and Slovene below).

The movie showed how the old way of Inuit life, but according to the scriptwriter no one lives that way anymore.

The actors that portraited Aga's parents were briefly touched upon.
The male actor (Mikhail Aprosimov) has some acting experience, but the woman (Feodosia Ivanova) is a cowgirl and until a movie festival (I think in Berlin) had never traveled outside of her hometown. However, she was treated like a real star at the festival.

Personally, I would not have thought of her as someone who had never acted before - all of the acting by her and her male costar was superb and conveyed the emotions the scene wanted to emphasize perfectly.

It was said that people often wondered about the music.
The ending piece was chosen because the director is a big fan of the movie Death in Venice, which also had that same piece.

As an interesting fact: the (by now abandoned) mine used to shot the meeting scene (to avoid spoilers, let's just say they haven't met in a LONG time) is a real place and the hole is so deep it can be seen from space

At the end of the talk, we were politely kicked out because another movie was supposed to play right afterwards.

Part 3

P.S. The names of the scriptwriter and actors were taken from the webpage the LIFFE webpage dedicated to the movie (LIFFE is Ljubljana's movie festival that hosted among others also the movies: "Ága", "Shoplifters" and "The Favourite").
I was unable to find the name of the music pieces used, but I think the credits said "5th symphony", if anyone has any clue or information, I'd appreciate it.

Link (in English):
http://www.liffe.si/index.php/en/program/abc-list-of-films?ln=en&idF=2962&url=filmi&groupBy=abc&pos=800

Some details I'm curious about:

- When the old couple sang in the native language they used deep tones and barely opened their mouths (unless something escaped my notice).
How does that work?

- Yakut is a Turkish language.
In my humble and admittedly more lacking than not, knowledge of geography, I'd connect Turkish to the Middle East and definitely NOT cold Syberia.
How can the language group be explained? What connection am I missing?

- What do you call the instrument used at the beginning of the movie (see link below for the picture)?
How does one play it, what's the science behind the process?

Picture link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7909444/mediaviewer/rm183990528

LIFFE, my deepest thanks for the opportunity to see "Ága" and "Shoplifters". :D
Both are true gems.

P.S. My review of Shoplifters can be found here.
Link: https://www.gog.com/forum/general/shoplifters_a_family_is_a_lot_more_than_just_blood_ties

Part 4 - end

No idea why I couldn't make a single post. :/