Film Recommendations
 

I'm a bit bored so thought I'd offer some film recommendations, these are a bit more obscure (depending on your age and if you're into your films) than the usual fare (if your idea of a good movie is Fast & Furious or the next marvel comic superhero shite, then this won't be for you).

Southern Comfort (1981) - Thought I'd start with this one as it's available to watch on YouTube. A Louisiana National Guard troop go on weekend maneuvers in the Bayou and make the mistake of pissing off the locals. This often gets compared to "Deliverance" I think it's better.

Hombre (1967) - A Western starring Paul Newman, doesn't get talked about as much as his other films, but I think it's one of his best.

Midnight Cowboy (1969) - Great film with some good performances from Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman. A would be gigolo goes off to New York for a bit of adventure and to make his fortune, but things don't turn out the way he expected.

Eagle vs Shark (2007) - A quirky romantic comedy from New Zealand starring Jemaine Clement (of Flight of the Conchords), I think it's quite underrated, I liken it to "Napoleon Dynamite".

The Ladykillers (1955) - Probably the best Ealing Comedy and just a charming film, it stars Alec Guinness, (a young) Peter Sellers and Herbert Lom. It's also set around Kings Cross, so interesting to see how much it's changed.

Don't Look Now (1973) - This is kind of a Thriller/Horror, a British made film starring Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie, good lead performances, it's mostly set in Venice, just a great piece of work.

The Hill (1965) - Stars Sean Connery in one of his best performances, it's set in an army prison in North Africa at the end of the Second World War.
It focuses on the fear and punishment doled out by the army officers in their attempt to break the human spirit of the prisoners.

Excalibur (1981) - Best Film adaptation of the King Arthur legend, and a great classical score which includes a lot of music by Wagner.

I could go on, but I better leave it there.

Good Vibrations is a good film from 2012. It is set in 1978 in Belfast and is about record shop owner Terri Hooley who owned the record shop of that name. He helped local punk bands to get gets out by starting a record label of the same name. He also discovered punk chart busters The Undertones as well. It is well worth a watch. You can watch the full film here: https://youtu.be/Od5UaNvzRZQ

By the way how could I have forgot! The Pick Up Artist from 1987starring Robert Downy junior and Molly Ringwold! You can watch a short clip from it here: https://youtu.be/Y3h_FEtzmDw

By the way here is a recent film set in Liverpool. It is a gritty modern gangster film called Shooters: https://youtu.be/lOUdkMjIZSo

Don't think I've watched any of those, I'll check them out, see if it's my cup of tea.

Haha lol, oh the obvious :D :D :D

My top five..

1. Shutter Island
2. Inglorious Basterds
3. Wolf of Wall Street
4. Pulp Fiction
5. Fight Club

Just watched the movie version of 1984.

The book is obviously way better, but the movie painted a grim picture.

I've been hooked on criminal psychology stuff lately. There's this awesome YouTube channel JCS - Criminal Psychology. They post videos of interrogations with psychos and murderers and shit. It's awesome the way they break down the suspect's demeanor and body language and all that stuff, and the little tactics the detectives use.

The 1984 movie is pretty bad.


I’ve been watching a lot of Spanish stuff in recent years what with living here and all that. Here’s a couple that I would consider to be worth reading subtitles for:

1. La Isla Mínima (The minimal island) - If you aren’t hooked from the haunting beauty of the very first shot of the intro, you might actually be blind and deaf. Seek medical assistance! The film follows two cops investigating a murder in a remote rural area. It is very well done in every aspect.

2. Intemperie (Intemperate) - In feudal times a young son of a servant family escapes mistreatment at the hands of the master who pursues him relentlessly through Andalusian mountains in the dead of summer, when nature is without charm. In my opinion they muck up the ending, and I wonder did the book end differently, but that can’t really take much away from the overall brilliance of it.

Those aren’t the English movie names in parentheses, rather they are translations of the Spanish names. They may have renamed them for foreign markets.


Peace,

kowalski

K,

For someone at entry level Spanish, what media would you recommend (even if it's something simple like Dora the Explorer)? Bonus points if available from Amazon Prime lol.

Z

There are some cooky programs that were made just for language learning, for example extr@ which tries to be a bit like Friends. It’s odd but entertaining. Then there’s a few fun YouTube channels, my favourite is Tío Spanish which is like a guys finger with a bullfighter hat on and a drawn in moustache and he does silly voices. It’s good, you’ll be amused.

As for actual shows I learned a lot watching The Walking Dead because they talk too much and repeat the same conversations over and over and nothing happens for hours. So, if you are watching with Spanish subtitles you can just keep hold of the thread and you start to think “hey, I think she’s pregnant” and when it turns out she is you feel proud for understanding. I couldn’t possibly sit through it in English though.

Another thing I did a lot it was taking movies where I know the dialogue inside out and watching Spanish versions with Spanish subtitles and watching it repeatedly. I must have watched the Back to the Future trilogy at least 50 times this way. This can also be confusing though as the subtitles rarely match the dubbing, so you are getting different synonyms thrown at you all the time.

Overall though I don’t think it is a good learning method. It can supplement your learning and it’s a good gauge of your improvement when you can read the subtitles less etc. To get the most out of it your level needs to be just under the level of the show, so that you follow everything except new vocabulary relating to the context or some kind of slang variant used. So, if your level is low shows with an appropriate level will be frustrating to watch such as Dora the Exploradora. When I was at that level I also searched kids tv from my own childhood to find Spanish versions because there’s nostalgia aspect plus you already know what is happening and who the characters are.

Rather than looking and sourcing stuff, just always watch everything set to the very least in English with Spanish subtitles or in Spanish with English subtitles and then don’t really try too hard just be passive with it.

Reading is a much better supplementary activity because of the pace and you will stop and look words up more, you will let things fly by in a show or movie. But again when your level is low this gets really frustrating too. Even up to today I’ve never read a book in Spanish cover to cover. Maybe if I tried again now it’d be more comfortable.

Really though, focused learning with tonnes of repetition plus some regular reason to improve is how you get most of your learning. Duolingo. From the beginning till now where I can just go about my day in Spanish working, socialising, dealing with legal and medical stuff without much of a second thought about it. All throughout, regular duolingo use plus the need to improve because my life depends upon it have been the keys to my learning.


Peace,

kowalski

K,

Cheers for that. I'm using Duolingo for like 10-15 minutes every day (though I'm swapping between Polish and Spanish, the former of which I've completed though am far from good at it). The film thing where you have Spanish subtitles was pretty fun when watching the Star Wars films recently, haha.

Books, sure. Got one for Polish, guess I should get one for Spanish too. Any recommendations (again, even if it's Dora lol)?

Z

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