The Resident Bitch's Movie Log - Volume 2
 

The Resident Bitch's Movie Log

Volume 2

I started The Resident Bitch's Movie Log in 2015 and it's getting a bit hard to manage, so I'm starting a new thread.

A Note About My Rating System: I'm not super strict about what a film must accomplish in order to get a high rating from me. I mostly take into account my overall enjoyment of the film, how the finished piece compared to my expectations, and how well I connected to the story and its characters. I may add or subtract a half a popcorn box or two for more specific things like performances and cinematography if there was something that stood out as particularly good or particularly bad about a movie.

A rating of

or higher means I liked the film. Anything above that is a measure of how much I liked it. A rating of

means I was fairly apathetic to it, and anything below that is just a measure of how much I disliked it.

EDIT FOR 2021: I'm preparing for the 2000s countdown and have made a separate thread for my thoughts on those movies here: The Resident Bitch Prepares for the MoFo 2000s Countdown


2020
January
The Breakfast Club
Pretty Baby
Pride
Moonstruck
Joker
Wedding Crashers
Dark City
The Tree of Life
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
February
The Hunt
Being There
Quills
Django Unchained
Fury at Furnace Creek
March
Rango
Eyes Wide Shut
Brick
Starship Troopers
Drive
Peeping Tom
The Wicker Man (1973)
Pickup On South Street
The Fly
A History of Violence
Mystic River
25th Hour
Judgment at Nuremberg
April
Near Dark
Onward
The Hateful Eight
Bone Tomahawk
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
The Mask of Zorro
Legends of the Fall
Becoming Bulletproof
The Dark Valley
The Tracker
Slow West
Dead Man
Seraphim Falls
The Good, the Bad, the Weird
Hell or High Water
May
Let the Bullets Fly
Giant
Hidalgo
Aferim!
Once Upon a Time In the West
The Revenant
The Matrix
Genocide
Blue Ruin
In Pursuit of Honor
The Last Picture Show
Pain and Glory
Queen of Hearts
Waco: The Rules of Engagement
State of Siege
Shine
Mildred Pierce
I, Daniel Blake
Inglourious Basterds
Joker
June
Jojo Rabbit
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Proposition
July
The Age of Innocence
Fox and His Friends
August
Christiane F.
Al-Mummia/The Night of Counting the Days
Stand By Me
The Reflecting Skin
The Great Mouse Detective
Le Samouraï
Hunger
The Fisher King

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The Breakfast Club (John Hughes, 1985)
Imdb

Date Watched: 01/02/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 21st MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by Citizen Rules
Rewatch: Yes.

"It's kind of social. Demented and sad, but social."

When I last did my top 100 movies, I had The Breakfast Club ranked in my top 20. If I were to redo the list today, it would probably rank considerably lower.

Which is not to say that I don't still love it. I do - and still consider it a favorite - but there are parts that bother me and it's sometimes just downright corny. I've always hated Allison's makeover scene (actually, I pretty much hate everything Claire does) and Andrew's fist-pumping dance/run/whatever around the library, but I think I hate them even more with every rewatch.

That said, I've always related to some degree to Allison and Brian and have long struggled with my own feelings of inadequacy and invisibility. John has always been my favorite character though. He's by far the funniest of the group, but also has the most heartbreaking backstory. I may have had a bit of a crush on him growing up. And maybe I still do.

Despite its flaws, this is still to me the quintessential 80s movie. It still makes me laugh. It still makes me cry. And I still love it.

+

Re: The Resident Bitch's Movie Log - Volume 2
 

Wow look at you. You weren't sure about starting a reviews thread; you needed me to convince you (yup still taking credit! :D), and now you're on to a volume 2! And a great film to kick it off :up:

Re: The Resident Bitch's Movie Log - Volume 2
 

Volume two? Oh snap! I’m ready whatever it’s called... and what a start to the thread!

I saw this movie for the first time last year I think it was. And I really enjoyed it.

Just last year? I guess better late than never.

I grew up watching it and have always loved it, but I have to wonder what I would think if I hadn't seen it until I was an adult. It's the only one of Hughes's teen movies that I watched growing up and is still the only one I like. The lack of Judd Nelson in the others may be a contributing factor.

I still haven't seen it yet :eek: but obviously that'll change soon.

At your age, I suppose that can be forgiven.

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Pretty Baby (Louis Malle, 1978)
Imdb

Date Watched: 01/03/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 21st MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by pahaK
Rewatch: No.

Well that was icky. And sad. And kind of confusing. But mostly icky.

The cause of the icky-ness and sadness is pretty obvious, but what makes it confusing is that I have really conflicting thoughts on both the events of the film and certain casting choices. Or rather, one casting choice. It's not often that I'm bothered by watching sexual content, but this bothered me quite a bit - which I suppose is a testament to the film. It's full of sex and yet is not at all sexy - and in the middle of this you have a character (and an actress) who is only a child. I was not okay with watching a 12 year old Brooke Shields doing what she was doing.

But despite my discomfort, there were things I appreciated about the film. It's beautifully shot with wonderful lighting and sumptuous colors. It also offers up a group of characters that, for the most part, are many shades of gray. They're complicated and full of contradictions and the cast all do well to bring them to life.

Overall I think it's a pretty solidly crafted film but - though I admire its boldness in its storytelling - I can't get over my hangups with it and simply didn't like it.

Correction. It was December 2018. But yeah... gave it the same rating as you minus the plus though.

The area I’m hugely lacking in when it comes to films has always been the teen dramas or romantic movies with cult statuses and whatnot. I’ve not even seen Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Or Dirty Dancing or The Notebook or all that stuff.

I never made it all of the way through Ferris Bueller or Dirty Dancing and never even bothered with The Notebook. Heathers and Saved! are pretty much the only non-Breakfast Club teen movies I like.

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Pride (Matthew Warcus, 2014)
Imdb

Date Watched: 01/04/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 21st MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by TheUsualSuspect
Rewatch: No.

Somehow I don't think I'd ever heard of this film prior to its nomination here. As a general rule, I try to avoid live-action films that can be described as "heartwarming." I'm all for emotional movies, but I favor the ones that make me cry from sadness, not joy.

Pride had me shedding tears of both kinds and it did warm my bitter little heart. As per usual, I'm not at all familiar with the actual history behind this story and I don't really care to know. What I do know and what I do care about is that it features some very heartfelt and funny performances and a really engaging story.

It's not without its flaws though as it does get pretty silly at times - even to the point where it's a bit difficult to suspend disbelief - but overall it succeeds admirably in telling a sweet and easily relatable story of love, acceptance, and an unlikely alliance.

+

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Moonstruck (Norman Jewison, 1987)
Imdb

Date Watched: 01/05/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 21st MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by edarsenal
Rewatch: Yes.

One of these days I might watch an edarsenal nomination and really love it and be thankful for having been exposed to it. Today is not that day.

Granted, this is technically a rewatch. I'd seen it a few times as a child, but I remembered almost nothing about it so it might as well have been the first time. Now, don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with the film. The story was fine. The performances were fine. It looked good. It had a nice soundtrack. But damn were those people f***ing annoying and I just didn't give a crap about any of them. I just don't get the appeal of watching a bunch of loud-mouthed, superstitious, and overly dramatic people fight with and cheat on each other.

But I suppose it could've been worse. There weren't any naked kids at least.

-

Glad you liked Pride! Had only heard of it when looking up Bill Nighy films and it's one of my go-to feel good movies. Andrew Scott is great in everything I've seen him in and quickly becoming a favorite. Not sure if you'd like Fleabag but I think you'd like the Hot Priest.

Re: The Resident Bitch's Movie Log - Volume 2
 

Would MV like Fleabag? Y'know, I hadn't thought of it. But now I want her to watch it to see which way she goes.

Two requests for watching Fleabag! I liked the first season but the second season was very near perfect. Fleabag, Midsommar and The Peanut Butter Falcon are my favorite things from 2019. The Peanut Butter Falcon is a bit too heartwarming for your taste (on top of your dislike of Shia LeBeouf) and I'd bet that you'd dislike Midsommar BUT I'd really like to read your review and reaction to Midsommar. It's a little closer to The Strange Thing About the Johnsons than Hereditary IMO.

Re: The Resident Bitch's Movie Log - Volume 2
 

I agree with FF about the first series beng good, but the second is really where it goes to another level, IMO. That's where the heart is.

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Joker (Todd Phillips, 2019)
Imdb

Date Watched: 01/07/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: Joaquin Phoenix
Rewatch: Yes.


This was my fourth time seeing Joker and Phoenix was just as mesmerizing as before. He's creepy and yet almost sympathetic. It's a masterful performance that is very darkly funny in ways that make you squirm with discomfort while you laugh, but he also lends a lot of humanity to the character.

I really hope that 2020 is the year he finally gets his long overdue Oscar.

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Wedding Crashers (David Dobkin, 2005)
Imdb

Date Watched: 01/10/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 21st MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by rauldc13
Rewatch: Yes.


Wedding Crashers has never been a favorite, but I always liked it. That is, until now. It's been so long since I've seen Owen Wilson in anything that I'd forgotten just how irritating he is when he's doing anything other than voicing Lightning McQueen (to say nothing of how much I hate Will Ferrell and dislike Bradley Cooper). Not helping the situation was just how much of a douchebag Wilson's character John was in inserting himself into the Cleary family, pursuing someone in a committed relationship, and then the BS he pulled at his best friend's wedding. What an a**hole.

Which is not to say that Jeremy was a gem, but he at least wasn't pining after a girl he barely knew. Of course his situation is helped by the fact that I do still enjoy Vince Vaughn and found him to be the one significantly positive part of the film. That said though, his fast-talking brand of humor works so much better for me in other films, such as in Dobkin's first feature Clay Pigeons.

Overall, the jokes were more miss than hit. Comedies just don't often age well for me and this was definitely not an exception to that.

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Dark City (Alex Proyas, 1998)
Imdb

Date Watched:01/28/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 21st MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by wyldesyde19
Rewatch: Yes

I generally don't care for heavy Sci-Fi and I struggle with suspension of disbelief, so a film about a dying alien race that holds a group of humans captive and modifies their memories for experimental purposes is pretty well out of my comfort zone. Fortunately Dark City features a strong cast, an intriguing premise, loads of atmosphere, and a short enough run-time to keep me from losing interest. But only just.

One of the biggest problems with Sci-Fi films is that they often rely heavily on special effects and, more often than not, those effects don't age very well. I think this is true, at least in part, of this more than twenty year old film. In particular, the final battle between Murdoch and the stranger just looks downright silly and took me out of the film.

The other thing I struggled with is the underdevelopment of its peripheral characters. I understand that this is necessary given the premise, but I generally find it much easier to engage with a film when I'm invested in the people in it. It's a rare occasion when a movie can keep me totally enthralled with only story and imagery and, though it does offer a decent amount of development for Murdoch's character at least, Dark City is not one of those exceptions.

That said, I've seen this movie on a number of occasions, including during its original theatrical release and have always liked it. I last watched it in 2016 in preparation for the MoFo Sci-Fi Countdown and I rated it a 3.5+ at that time. I liked it a little less this time around but I still think it's pretty solid.


-

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The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)
Imdb

Date Watched:01/29/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 21st MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by ahwell
Rewatch: No.

Although there's no denying that The Tree of Life is a visually beautiful movie, I spent nearly the entirety of the film being utterly bored by it.

Granted, my atheism doesn't exactly predispose me to enjoying a film that ruminates on the concepts of faith and the origins of humanity (though at some points I contemplated prayer - or rather I nearly prayed for the film to end) but the way it is constructed was just a huge turn-off for me. By the time the overly long Discovery Channel-esque footage of volcanic activity, the oceans, and dinosaurs finally ended, that tiny window of opportunity the film had to make me give a **** had closed and I had mentally checked out. Though I was at least thankful for the lack of people in monkey suits screeching and banging on rocks (a la 2001: A Space Odyssey, which I also found incredibly dull).

But the clash between the film's take on God and my own aside, when what passes for a story did begin to unfold I again found myself repelled and unable to connect. I found each of the film's primary characters to be unlikeable, but not even enough so for me to be invested in wanting to see their failures. I was completely apathetic to it and the only emotion The Tree of Life managed to stir in me was annoyance.

I still have one other first-time watch to get through, but I'd say that this is a pretty strong contender for my least favorite film of this Hall of Fame. Oh well, I suppose it could be worse. I mean, at least it's not a musical.

-

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The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (Tommy Lee Jones, 2005)
Imdb

Date Watched: 01/30/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: MoFo Top 100 Westerns Countdown, recommended by @cricket
Rewatch: No.

I had some trouble engaging with this film. It's a good looking movie and features very good performances, but its populated with characters that aren't especially likable but I wouldn't call totally despicable either and, honestly, I didn't find them all that interesting... at first.

Once Pete (Tommy Lee Jones) enacted his plan to punish his friend's killer, things got real interesting. I really enjoyed the power dynamic between Pete and his captive. I also thought Barry Pepper did a fine job of showing the gradual breakdown of Norton's arrogance and selfishness and that final scene of him begging for forgiveness was really powerful.

That said, there were some things that I wasn't too keen on. Well, really, there were a couple of characters I wasn't too keen on: the patrolman's wife, Lou Ann, and Rachel, the married waitress who was carrying on affairs with both Pete and the town's sheriff. January Jones and Melissa Leo both did fine jobs with their performances, but too much time was spent with them and some of their scenes just felt like filler.

That is pretty insignificant gripe, however and I thought this was a very solid film overall. I didn't love it, but I do think there's a good chance that I'll like it more if I watch it again. It's unlikely that I'll get back around to it before the voting deadline, but it may still sneak its way onto my ballot.

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The Hunt (Jagten) (Thomas Vinterberg, 2012)
Imdb

Date Watched: 02/01/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 21st MoFoHall of Fame, nominated by Neiba
Rewatch: Yes.

I first watched this movie about three years ago when it was nominated for the 13th MoFo Hall of Fame. I was very much impressed by the stellar performances and the heartwrenching story. I also found the film to be both challenging and frustrating, as it was very difficult to watch the events unfold while knowing the truth of what happened. I felt strong sympathy for Lucas as he watched his life disintegrate around him, all because of a lie.

But I also had to ask myself how I thought I would react if such accusations were made against someone I knew. Who would I believe? If that person was shown to be innocent, would I still have doubt? I gave these ideas more thought this time around and, while I still don't know how I would react in such a situation (and I hope I never have to find out), it did help me to feel a lot less anger towards the reactions of the other people around Lucas - that is, of course, with the exception of what happened to Fanny. I could never feel less anger over something like that.

That said, I do think I actually enjoyed Jagten a little less this time than I did in 2017 but I still have a lot of respect for the way it makes me think and it will probably rank high on my ballot.

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Being There (Hal Ashby, 1979)
Imdb

Date Watched: 02/04/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 21st MoFoHall of Fame, nominated by Siddon
Rewatch: No.

There are few things that I find more tedious than having to sit through an unfunny comedy and Being There was an absolute chore to watch. I didn't find a single scene amusing (though I'll grant that this statement is probably true of the majority of the comedies I've seen) and the dramatic elements failed to engage me. I simply didn't give a crap about any of its characters or any of the events of the story.

In fact there is absolutely nothing about this film that I did give a crap about and I cannot think of a single bit of praise to offer it. About as close as I can come is to echo what I said about The Squid and the Whale: There have been many movies that I've hated than this one - though none of those films have been nominated in this hall of fame.

I'm probably being far too generous with this rating, but **** it.

-

Re: The Resident Bitch's Movie Log - Volume 2
 

That's a shame, MV. Although it's been a very long time since I last saw it, I enjoyed Being There.

I hope you're not as hard to please in bed as you are with movies. :p

It's always interesting to read responses to Pretty Baby. I got a chuckle out of Siddon acting like the FBI was legit about to bust his door down and haul him to prison. I watched Breakfast Club for the first time just 3 or 4 years ago, and I enjoyed it, but as with most coming-of-age movies, I think you have to be the perfect age for it to have the ultimate impact. Moonstruck was good for one watch, but I have no interest in ever re-visiting it. Wedding Crashers is fun (although a bit overrated by my peers), and I'm surprised by how many people dislike Owen Wilson, since to me he usually comes across like a chill, down-to-earth dude. I've been asking Santa for a lesbian sex tape of Rachel McAdams and Isla Fishers for the last fifteen years.

That final battle in Dark City is indeed very silly looking. It's a movie with cool ideas and a great aesthetic, but I've never loved it. Tree of Life is a movie I respect far more than I enjoy; although I really dug the creation-of-the-universe, history-of-the-earth stuff in the first hour; it was just the human portion of the story that left me indifferent. I've seen Three Burials . . ., and remember liking it, but nowhere near to the degree that Holden Pike and others seem to love it. At this point I barely even remember anything about it. Not yet seen Being There. Many people think highly of it, so it's a shame you didn't get more enjoyment from it.

Nah. I'm, uh... easy. :shifty:

Ahem.

That was pretty damn funny.

That's probably true. I grew up with it and Heathers and love them both, but when I've tried to watch any of the other teen movies there was just no connection.

Yeah, I'm not sure what the issue is exactly but I can't stand him. I was about to say that it's his voice, but I love Cars and that performance is just his voice so... :shrug:

Agreed.

I didn't particularly like either portion, but I preferred the human parts. The rest of it just felt like outtakes from BBC Earth.

I think it mainly just appealed to the Sadist in me. :D

I went into it without any expectations so I can't say I was disappointed. Just really, really bored.

Oh well. I've only got one nomination left to watch for this HOF and that's my own nomination, Quills. So I definitely won't be having that problem tonight.

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Quills Philip Kaufman, 2000)
Imdb

Date Watched: 02/06/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 21st MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by me
Rewatch: Yes.

There is absolutely nothing about this film that I don't love. I love that it addresses sexuality and sexual freedom and expression. I love that it addresses the clash between science and religion (or at least what passed for science in 18th century France). I love that it pokes fun at religion. I love that it addresses censorship and artistic freedom while not neglecting to address the effects art can have on the people that consume it. I love that we see the clash between the archaic notion that the mentally ill be punished and the more enlightened ideas of therapy and rehabilitation. I love that the Marquis de Sade is perhaps the least sadistic of the film's three key characters, despite his name being the root of the very word.

I love the performances. I love how in your face Rush's de Sade is. I love the more nuanced role Phoenix plays. I love the way Michael Caine chews up the screen as the evil doctor. I love seeing Simone's transition from naive young girl to sexy seductress.

Speaking of transitions, I love the way the asylum itself devolves from an idyllic and serene place of peace to a dark, claustrophobic nightmare. I love the color palate and the way it changes as the story progresses. I love the costumes and the sets.

But perhaps what I love most (aside from just how incredibly hot Joaquin Phoenix looks in this) is the film's wry sense of humor. And it is funny as hell - funnier than any comedy I've seen and the laughs keep coming even with repeated viewings.

When I first watched Quills, it was instant love for both the film and for Joaquin Phoenix. Never before had I come across a movie so perfectly suited to my tastes and in the roughly 20 years that have passed since then, no film has yet surpassed it. I doubt any movie ever will.

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Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino, 2012)
Imdb

Date Watched: 02/15/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: I was in the mood for some gratuitous violence
Rewatch: Yes.

It's been a number of years since I last watched this movie and while I've always ranked it among my favorites, I'd kind of forgotten just how much fun it is. So much violence. Such dark humor. And such great performances.

And, of course, people usually praise Christoph Waltz for his Oscar winning role as dentist turned bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz for his performance - and rightly so - but his has never been my favorite of the film. Jamie Foxx is also wonderful as Django, the slave turned bounty hunter on a mission to rescue his wife, but he is not my favorite either. That title has always been held by Leonardo DiCaprio who is chillingly great as mandingo-fighting plantation owner Calvin Candie. But not far behind are Samuel L. Jackson as Calvin's head slave and Don Johnson as Big Daddy, another plantation owner who doesn't take too kindly to Schultz and Django killing his overseers.

But the main thing here is the violence. This is Tarantino so of course the audience is treated to a most satisfying blood bath in the end and damned if I wasn't grinning ear to ear through the whole thing.

-

Fury at Furnace Creek (H. Bruce Humberstone, 1948)
Imdb

Date Watched: 02/23/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: MoFo Top 100 Westerns Countdown
Rewatch: Yes.

This is a pretty straight-forward Western about two estranged brothers that unexpectedly meet up while trying to clear the name of their dead father. There's nothing particularly exceptional about it, but it had an interesting story and kept me engaged. Victor Mature kept the ham relatively in check (which is actually slightly disappointing, since his hammy-ness is what I typically enjoy about him) and the other performances are decent as well. The film looks good, given the limitations of its age. About the only complaint I have is that the attempts at humor fall flat, but that's a very minor issue and I enjoyed it overall.

-

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Rango (Gore Verbinski, 2011)
Imdb

Date Watched: 03/08/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: MoFo Top 100 Westerns Countdown
Rewatch: Yes.

I swear, every time I watch this film my opinion of it changes. I never love it or hate it, but sometimes I come away feeling annoyed and other times I come away feeling amused. This latest viewing had me on the more positive side of the line, but the film still doesn't quite resonate with me the way so many other animated films do. It just doesn't spark the same sort of emotions and I don't love the character designs or the story.

It is a funny movie, though, and an entertaining enough watch that it'll likely find itself a place somewhere on my Westerns ballot.

-

Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)
Imdb

Date Watched: 03/16/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame, nominated by someone who wanted to see me suffer
Rewatch: No.

From a visual standpoint, Eyes Wide Shut is a beautiful and interesting film. The colors, the costumes, the lights - they all pop out of the screen to create dazzling imagery.

Unfortunately, nothing else really worked for me. The characters were underdeveloped and unengaging. It had that Paul Thomas Anderson-like quality of featuring sh**y people doing sh**y things to each other while not being sh**y enough to be interesting. What little plot there was felt weak and failed to intrigue me and it dragged on for far too long. And even the sex felt, well, not particularly sexy. The two leads never actually do anything and that was the tamest looking orgy I've ever seen depicted. I also didn't feel any sort of dread or real threat of danger when Dr. Harford was found out and being followed, but maybe that was just because I didn't care.

Brick (Rian Johnson, 2005)
Imdb

Date Watched: 03/17/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame
Rewatch: No.

I haven't got a clue who picked this for me or why.

I thought the basic premise of the film was interesting but I never felt fully engaged with the story or the characters. The dialog felt a bit unnatural and I had to turn on the subtitles to even figure out what was being said some of the time. I was also a bit bothered by just how little the high school felt like a school. Where were all the students? The faculty? The only "adults" we see (I put that in quotes because damn those are some old looking teenagers) are the vice principal and Pin's mother.

Speaking of... that was the one scene in the film that I genuinely enjoyed. The awkwardness of seeing these drug dealing, violent kids gathered around a table and being served breakfast by a very wholesome mom was pretty damn funny. Beyond that, though, I found it to be a mostly forgettable but not unpleasant experience.

+

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Starship Troopers (Paul Verhoeven, 1997)
Imdb

Date Watched: 03/19/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame, I think it may have been nominated by John-Connor
Rewatch: No.

Although this is not a movie that I think I ever would have chosen on my own, I can understand why someone would pick this for me. With films like Army of Darkness, The Fifth Element, and Verhoeven's own cheese-fest Showgirls in my top 100, it makes sense that someone would think that I'd like this as well.

Unfortunately it didn't quite hit the mark, though it gave one hell of a shot at it. Almost all of the necessary elements are there - the ridiculous premise, the over-the-top acting, the ridiculous effects - but it lacks a certain something: It lacks a memorable central character and it lacks memorable lines. There's no equivalent to Bruce Campbell's Ash or to Bruce Willis's Korben Dallas (or Chris Tucker's Ruby Rhod). And while Showgirls doesn't have the most interesting characters, there's something inherently amusing about people trying and failing to be sexy and it does at least have stupidly quotable lines like "everybody's got AIDS and sh**." All that said, I do understand that this is intended to be satire but the humor just didn't land for me and I appreciated the effort but was ultimately a bit underwhelmed by it.

+

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Drive (Nicolas Winding Refn, 2011)
Imdb

Date Watched: 03/20/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame, I think it may have been nominated by Captain Spaulding
Rewatch: No.

I never had much desire to watch this movie. I'm not a fan of Ryan Gosling or anyone else involved in it. I think the only Refn film I'd seen prior to this was Bronson, which is great, but is carried by a mesmerizing performance from Tom Hardy (who I'm biased towards anyway). All the images I'd seen from it looked very slick and stylish, but never hinted to me at anything of substance and so I went into this with basically no expectations.

I won't go so far as to say that I loved it - I didn't love it - but this was a welcome surprise. Although there are obvious exceptions (see Gladiator and others) I tend to favor films with complicated characters that are neither completely good nor completely bad. I like stories of redemption. I like bad guys with a heart of gold and Refn and Gosling definitely deliver. I really enjoyed seeing him going from tenderly kissing a woman one moment to kicking a dude's head in the next. I liked his gentle interactions with the kid, Benicio.

But the one thing that I didn't like - the thing that kept me from loving it - was that I felt I didn't get enough of that tender side. It's a rare instance that I complain about a film being too short, but I really would've appreciated another scene or two of the driver and Irene or the driver and Benicio to better fortify the believability of his motivations.

It's a pretty small complaint though and its possible that its importance will fade if I revisit the film later on. Not a home run, but a very good and surprising selection. Thank you to whoever chose it.

+

Re: The Resident Bitch's Movie Log - Volume 2
 

So sorry to hear that you didn't enjoy Starship Troopers very much. I adore that film. I agree that it doesn't have the things you mention though.

BTW, is that GIF from a game?

It might have been. I was kind of in a rush when I went looking for images. Fixed it now.

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Peeping Tom (Michael Powell, 1960)
Imdb

Date Watched: 03/21/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame, No idea who nominated this.
Rewatch: No.

I hope I don't offend whoever chose this film for me, but I found it incredibly dull and a chore to watch.

For being a horror film, it sure lacked tension and suspense. It lacked atmosphere and believability. And I don't mean believability in terms of its basic premise. I mean that I don't believe its characters. They didn't feel much like real people, especially the central character of Mark. I felt absolutely nothing for him. Not disgust. Not empathy. Nothing. And I was just as apathetic to his victims. Nothing about the performances, the characters, the story, or the cinematography stood out to me as being anything special.

About the only thing I liked about the film was the scene between Mark and Helen's mother. That had tension. That kept me interested. But my engagement with the film started and ended with that one scene and it is the only reason why I don't rate it lower.

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The Wicker Man (Robin Hardy, 1973)
Imdb

Date Watched: 03/21/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame, no clue who picked it.
Rewatch: No.

I don't care much for horror. I'm not overly fond of British films and, well, the 70s really isn't my decade when it comes to movies. Add to that the fact that my best friend described this film as "terrible" and the result was that I went into this film with really low expectations. Really low.

I actually found myself pleasantly surprised - though not overly so. The story and the premise were interesting but I didn't feel any sense of dread or tension with this one either. Sure the idea of it is horrific, but the execution just came off as kind of silly (though probably much less so than what I've heard about the infamous remake). That silliness did keep me entertained enough for its 88 minute runtime, but had it gone on much longer (or contained any more singing :rolleyes: ) the outcome for me probably would've been quite different.

-

Re: The Resident Bitch's Movie Log - Volume 2
 

Three of the last four ratings have been heartbreaking. :( I love ya MV, but never try and watch my top 100. :D

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Pickup On South Street (Samuel Fuller, 1953)
Imdb

Date Watched: 03/23/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame, no clue who picked it.
Rewatch: No.

Pickup On South Street has a lot going for it - it looks good, it has decent acting, and an interesting premise.

Unfortunately it also has two major things working against it - annoying characters (Mo and Candy in particular) and a love story that I simply didn't buy. (She meets this dude a couple of times - during which he treats her like crap - and I'm supposed to believe that she's in love and would risk her life for him? Yeah, no.) As a result, I was not at all invested in these characters or their fates and struggled to get through this despite its short runtime.

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The Fly (David Cronenberg, 1986)
Imdb

Date Watched: 03/24/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame, I'm guessing Captain Spaulding? Even though I guessed him for Drive
Rewatch: No.

I'm not even sure what to say about this truly bizarre film. It definitely falls into that category of things I don't usually watch. It had a premise that was at once very original and really stupid. It was funny, but more in a WTF kind of way than a laugh out loud kind of way. It was creepy, but more in a gross out kind of way than a chills up the spine kind of way. It had effects that were at once impressive but also cheesy and dated. It had a mulleted Jeff Goldblum trying to be simultaneously nerdy and sexy while also failing but weirdly also almost succeeding at both? ...What? I don't even know what I'm saying here.

What I can say with absolute certainty though is that at no point in the movie was I ever bored by it. I wouldn't go so far as to say that I genuinely enjoyed it, I was much too conflicted for that, but I do think it has the potential to really grow on me if I ever watch it again. Considering that this is a Sci-Fi Horror movie, I'd say that's pretty high praise coming from me.

-

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A History of Violence (David Cronenberg, 2005)
Imdb

Date Watched: 03/25/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame, I'm guessing Cricket?
Rewatch: No.

*Possible Spoilers Ahead*

Before yesterday, I had only ever seen one David Cronenberg film: Maps to the Stars. That film is bizarre, unsettling, and darkly funny but in ways that are quite different from The Fly. So going into A History of Violence - and knowing next to nothing about it other than that it is also a Cronenberg film, I was kind of expecting something that was also bizarre and darkly funny.

That's not what I got. Instead I got a taut drama about a family man whose unsavory, secret past catches up with him when an act of heroism brings him unwanted media attention and he is recognized by people he'd long left behind. There's no humor in this film and the story is fairly straight forward, but - like the other two Cronenberg films I've seen - it is an unsettling watch. Viggo Mortensen turns in a strong performance the film's protagonist, Tom - a man who is at once a dedicated family man and a brutal, skilled killer with ties to the mob. He is complex and colored in many shades of gray and that's how I like my characters to be.

But as much as this film has going for it - and it has a lot going for it - I did not love it. For all Mortensen's efforts, his character came across as little too stoic for me to develop a strong connection and thereby become truly invested in his fate. But, however tenuous it may have been, there was some connection for me here and I'll probably revisit this at some point.

+

Mystic River (Clint Eastwood, 2003)
Imdb

Date Watched: 03/27/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame, No clue who chose it, but thanks!
Rewatch: No.

I'd seen part of this film well over a decade ago but never finished it and never felt the urge to try again. I'm not sure why that is, exactly. It has a strong cast - Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laura Linney - and although I don't like Clint Eastwood as an actor, I do respect him as a director.

But I guess it's better late than never and Mystic River is just the kind of movie I was hoping to be exposed to in this Hall of Fame. Characters don't get a whole lot more complicated than this and the cast - Sean Penn and Tim Robbins in particular - turn in exceptionally strong performances.

The film features two stories - the first is the story of a man with a violent past (Penn) reeling from the murder of his oldest daughter and the other is the story of a shell of a man (Robbins) struggling with a lifetime of personal demons stemming from trauma he suffered when he was abducted as a child. Their lives and stories intersect and collide in some pretty shocking and heartbreaking ways.

And if the film had kept its sight focused on those two stories, I would've rated it higher. But there's a third, much weaker story in the film as well - that of a state police officer who is investigating the murder of the girl. Kevin Bacon does a fine job of portraying a man struggling with professional burnout, a personal life that's in shambles, and with the pressure of trying to keep his personal connection to the case (he and the other two men were all childhood friends) from clouding his judgement. The fault here is not in Bacon's hands, but the whole subplot of his absent wife was annoying, time-wasting, and unnecessary and it really dragged down my enjoyment of this otherwise fine film.

Still, I'm glad to have watched it. While its flaws will probably keep it from being a big personal favorite, it's a strong contender for #1 on my Hall of Fame ballot.

+

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25th Hour (Spike Lee, 2002)
Imdb

Date Watched: 03/28/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame, No clue who chose it
Rewatch: No.

I remember watching Do the Right Thing years ago and thinking that it had strong performances and a lot of tension, but it somehow just left me feeling cold. I was really hoping for a different outcome here.

That didn't happen. Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Barry Pepper, Rosario Dawson and Brian Cox all gave strong, convincing performances (I suppose Anna Paquin did, too, but I found her very annoying - which is typically what I think of her anyway), but failed to really draw me in. The only one of them that I felt even a little for was Hoffman's character, and that really was only because his so-called "friends" were so s***ty to him (I mean, come on, if you're going to be a douchebag, fine, but at least have the decency not to be one to the people you claim to like).

Ultimately, this is one of those films that falls into the category of things I respect but don't actually enjoy.

+

Judgment at Nuremberg (Stanley Kramer, 1961)
Imdb

Date Watched: 03/29/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame, No clue who chose it
Rewatch: No.

I don't especially care for courtroom dramas and that's for much the same reason as why I generally dislike films that rely heavily on narration: I want to see what happened, not be told about it. I haven't got the attention span to sit there for hours listening to a story. I don't watch movies to just hear people talking - and oh boy is there a whole lot of talking in this three hour long film.

Which is not to say that the film is bad. It isn't. If I were one for this sort of film, I'd probably love it. The performances are strong - if a bit too melodramatic at times - and the story is an important one, but the incessant talking, punctuated by moments of deafening shouting, kept me from feeling more than a vague sense of sadness and anger.

In fact the only time I felt any truly strong emotion was when it showed actual footage from the camps - footage of the bodies of victims being bulldozed into a mass grave, of more emaciated bodies piled high awaiting disposal, of skeletal remains in the "ovens," and of the still living victims with their haunting stares and gaunt faces. But how much credit can I really give the film for that? It is not a documentary, it's a drama. I acknowledge the fact that its makers had the guts to use such footage when others of the time might have shied away, but in the end Judgment at Nuremberg also falls onto that long list of films that I respect - and I respect it a lot - but don't actually enjoy.

-

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Near Dark (Katheryn Bigelow, 1987)
Imdb

Date Watched: 04/02/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame, No clue who chose it
Rewatch: No.

I don't know who decided that I should watch an 80's vampire movie that stars a bunch of nobodies (and Bill Paxton) or why, but it was a gamble that definitely did not pay off. While I didn't totally hate the movie, there was absolutely nothing about it that I liked and I was utterly unimpressed by it. The acting ranged from forgettable to ridiculous (and not even entertainingly so), the effects were terrible (and no I'm not going to give it a pass for being 33 years old), the cinematography and score were as forgettable as the performances, and the story was just stupid. I didn't care about any of these characters. I didn't laugh. I didn't cry. I felt absolutely nothing.

Oh well, at least it was short enough to keep me from getting too annoyed with it.

Ouch. That one really hurts. Near Dark is superb. I ****ing love that film.

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Onward (Dan Scanlon, 2020)
Imdb

Date Watched: 04/06/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: It's Pixar
Rewatch: No.

This was... not great. While I'll admit that I did get a little misty-eyed at the end, the majority of this film felt like some bizarre hybrid of Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, and one of Dreamworks's lesser efforts. Everything about it felt sort of mediocre and phoned-in, especially by Pixar standards (though honestly I don't even know what Pixar standards are anymore and they have repeatedly disappointed me). The story felt uninspired and I couldn't name a favorite or least favorite character. I wasn't particularly invested in any of them. The animation was pretty, but it didn't wow me like a Pixar movie should. It was just very forgettable.

This was actually my second attempt at this movie. I tried watching it a week or so back but just couldn't get into it. It's not terrible by any stretch - and who knows, it could possibly grow on me - but it's most definitely not something I'm in any hurry to see again.

Re: The Resident Bitch's Movie Log - Volume 2
 

Yeah I felt largely the same. Found it to be Pixar very much at its least inspired and most by the numbers; very much more in the Dreamworks vein. It was fun and watchable but nowhere near the level of creativity or depth that their best films have

You’re a fan of Inside Out right? I think that’s one of the better recent Pixar efforts. And really looking forward to Soul, considering it’s Pete Docter. Onward was Scanlon (Monsters University which I didn’t love) so I was a bit wary it wouldn’t be great. However, haven’t seen it yet do reserving judgements for now. Docter though... Monsters Inc, Up AND Inside Out, so excited to see what he brings the table with Soul.

Re: The Resident Bitch's Movie Log - Volume 2
 

Miss Vicky even dislikes Pixar films now (other than Brave). What is the world coming to?

Pretty soon we’ll see a 5-star review of Miyazaki’s last movie.

Never gonna happen.

And, yes, I do love Inside Out.

He has a new movie coming I bet you'll love.

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The Hateful Eight (Quentin Tarantino, 2015)
Imdb

Date Watched: 04/08/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: MoFo Top 100 Westerns
Rewatch: Yes.

This is not a typical Western but it's definitely a typical Tarantino flick - a whole lot of profanity, a whole lot of violence, and some familiar faces - including Samuel L. Jackson being his usual badass motherf***er self. This isn't a movie where you get emotionally invested in anybody. It's not a movie with a whole lot of story to tell. It's a movie that builds tension, that misdirects you, and that culminates in an explosive blood bath that is as fun as it is gory. Still not as good as some of Tarantino's other offerings, but highly recommended.

+

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Bone Tomahawk (S. Craig Zahler, 2015)
Imdb

Date Watched: 04/09/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: MoFo Top 100 Westerns
Rewatch: No.

I went into this movie knowing nothing about it except that it was another Western starring Kurt Russell.

But the movie is as much - or maybe moreso - a horror movie as it is a Western and it builds pretty impressive tension from the elements of both genres. The film also looks great and the acting is mostly good, though not particularly noteworthy.

Where it falls short though are in the characters. None of them stand out in any positive way. Or rather, any interesting way. Russell's Sheriff Hunt and Patrick Wilson's Arthur seem noble enough, but don't have a whole lot of personality, especially Wilson who just comes across as very wooden. Matthew Fox's gunslinger Brooder is equally so, though in a different way. The only one of the main characters with any real personality is Richard Jenkins's Chicory, the backup deputy, is a simple minded fool who won't ever shut the hell up and I would've enjoyed the film more had he either not been in it or had been killed off.

Still, I liked it well enough for what it was.

-

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Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (Kelly Asbury and Lorna Cook, 2002)
Imdb

Date Watched: 04/13/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: MoFo Top 100 Westerns
Rewatch: Yes.

Spirit is a children's movie and as such it sometimes veers firmly into nauseatingly cutesy territory, especially in some of its earlier scenes. And not just cutesy, but cutesy set to the music of Bryan Adams.

Unfortunately, these aspects of the film are what have stuck in my mind over the years and have been the reason why I've avoided rewatching it. Thankfully though tonight's rewatch revealed that Spirit is much better than I'd remembered it being. It features some really beautiful animation and an engaging tale of the bond between a wild mustang stallion and young indian man - two potent symbols of freedom and of the old frontier. I still rolled my eyes a few times at it, but I found myself drawn is as the story unfolded and soon I was paying little mind to its flaws. I don't think this will ever be an all-time favorite for me, but it may very well sneak its way onto my Western ballot.

-

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The Mask of Zorro (Martin Campbell, 1998)
Imdb

Date Watched: 04/14/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: MoFo Top 100 Westerns
Rewatch: Yes.

This movie is ridiculously over-the-top. Between the dialogue, the stunts, the dance sequence, the sword fights, and the explosions, it's got enough cheese to clog your arteries. I'm not sure which Antonio Banderas character is more cartoon like: Zorro or Shrek's Puss in Boots.

But I'd be lying if I said I didn't have fun with it anyway. Of course, it helps a lot that Banderas is pretty damn hot. :randy:

Wasn't it about 4 months ago that I watched The Hanging Tree on your recommendation? I just saw that I watched it in 2016. I had zero recollection from the title or while watching it. How is that possible?

Maybe you’ve just lost your mind.

I could have right, because I wouldn't know it.

Again, again??

It’s okay. Mine’s long gone, too.

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Legends of the Fall (Edward Zwick, 1994)
Imdb

Date Watched: 04/18/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: MoFo Top 100 Westerns
Rewatch: Yes.

Legends of the Fall is a slow burn that sort of meanders through much of its plot while trying to woo you with picturesque landscapes and swells of dramatic music. It wants to lull the viewer in with the promise of a sweet romance, only to then present a story of tragedy, betrayal, and innocent lives ruined and lost.

And for the most part it succeeds in its goal. I just wish the pace was a little faster. Romance, tragedy, and Brad Pitt's good looks can only hold my attention so long and I started to get a bit bored somewhere in the middle of it. Fortunately my interest was piqued again for the finale and I ultimately came away with positive experience - though I don't know if that'll be enough to get it on my ballot.

-

Becoming Bulletproof (Michael Barnett, 2014)
Imdb

Date Watched: 04/19/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: MoFo Top 100 Westerns
Rewatch: No

I don't normally go for documentaries, but after seeing this on @mark f's list of recommendations I decided to give it a try. It's a really sweet little film about a group of people who come together once a year to make a movie. (And the year that this documentary was filmed, the movie they made was a western.)

But the thing that sets this group apart from other amateur filmmakers is that many of them have disabilities - some even depend on others to feed them, bathe them, and dress them. But all involved pull their weight in the movie making process and emphasis is placed on what each person can do rather than on their limitations.

And with a subject like this, of course, it is a movie with a message: Don't write people off. Everybody has talents and abilities. But it never feels preachy. At no point did I feel like I was being taught a lesson. I just got lost in getting to know this little group of friends who at times made me laugh and at other times made me cry. And at only 80 minutes long, I never had time to get bored.

Re: The Resident Bitch's Movie Log - Volume 2
 

That sounds quite an intersting film, maybe one I'll try to track down. Actually reminded me of another documentary I watched several years back but I can't remember the name of it and it's been driving me crazy.all day

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Das finstere Tal (The Dark Valley) (Andreas Prochaska, 2014)
Imdb

Date Watched: 04/22/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: MoFo Top 100 Westerns, recommended by @mark f
Rewatch: No

I was really impressed by this atmospheric tale of deceit and revenge. It's beautifully shot, has a good soundtrack and is very well acted (though I probably would've been even more impressed had I watched it in its original German, but I'm poor and lazy and the version available for free from Amazon Prime is the English dub).

Most appealing for me though was the violence. It takes awhile to get to the revenge aspect of the story but when it does there's quite a lot of blood and some of the baddies die in pretty satisfying ways (Nails! Ouch! :eek: ). In that respect it's not on par with Tarantino or anything, but it was still pretty damn fun.

When all this Covid crap is done with, I'll have to see if my library's got a copy of it so I can give it a proper watch in German. But even with the crappy dubbing, this will surely earn a spot on my ballot.

Re: The Resident Bitch's Movie Log - Volume 2
 

Huh. I'm not sure I knew German western films were even a thing lol Oh and I remembered the film that Becoming Bulletproof sparked a memory of; it was called The Peddler. Was about a DIY filmmaker who went around small villages and towns in Argentina and shot films starring local residents then had a screening for the town/village before moving on to the next town

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The Tracker (Rolf de Heer, 2002)
Imdb

Date Watched: 04/24/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: MoFo Top 100 Westerns, recommended by @mark f
Rewatch: No

With its breathtaking shots of the Australian frontier and story of a clash between whites and natives - and also racism and justice - The Tracker in many ways mirrors many American films of the genre. It features a trio of nameless white men - The Fanatic, The Follower, and The Veteran - who, with their native tracker, set out to hunt down a native man accused of murdering a white woman. It is at once sad, sickening, and very darkly funny with a message about equality and understanding that at times teetered on the edge of heavy-handedness but never quite crossed it for me.

What's odd about the movie though Its more violent images are replaced by crude paintings depicting the action. I don't know if this was a true artistic choice or if it had something to do with budgetary constraints but either way I found it pretty effective.

Where the film suffers though is in the mixed bag that is its four central characters. The Veteran serves no purpose that I can see and I found him pretty dull. The Fanatic - with his constant cruelty - comes off as caricature rather than character. Dude might as well have had a handlebar mustache for him to twirl ominously. The Follower has a nice arc but still feels a little underdeveloped. It really is only The Tracker himself that feels real and he pretty much single-handedly carries the film on his gaunt shoulders.

But even with as much weight as I generally give to character development and acting performances, the weakness of the white men does little to drag down the overall experience. I still have quite a few more Westerns that I want to cram in before the deadline so it's unlikely that I'll revisit this soon, but this is definitely a movie I'd like to watch again.

+

Think I'll hit one of those westerns tonight.

Mark's recommendations are really hitting the . . . mark with you (cue groan or eye roll). Never heard of Becoming Bulletproof or The Tracker but both sound worthwhile. The Dark Valley has been on my watchlist for a few years now. I'll make a point to watch it soon. Never had any interest in Legends of the Fall, as the movie just seems like an excuse for women to fawn over Brad Pitt for two hours. I liked The Mask of Zorro as a kid, but don't have any desire to revisit it. I hated Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. A little surprised that you liked Bone Tomahawk. A lot of people do, but I was very underwhelmed with it and found the filmmaking somewhat amateurish. Also thought it dragged ass for most of its runtime. I had high expectations, though, given the rare mix of my favorite genres and the presence of cannibals and my homie Sid Haig.

I watched The Hateful Eight last week for the first time since seeing it in theaters. That's highly unusual for me with a QT flick, as normally I can't get enough of his movies and re-watch them ad nauseam. I guess the hatefulness of the characters and the confined location sap much of the fun for me. After this re-watch I'd still rank it toward the bottom of QT's filmography, but it was better than I remembered, and I already rated it four stars. I'd forgotten some of the twists and turns along the way. And I'd forgotten how funny it is in spots. Despite being close to three hours, it didn't have as many lulls as I remembered either. It's still an exhausting watch for multiple reasons, so it'll likely be a few more years before I visit it again, but it's a great movie.

Also wanted to tell you that I watched one of your all-time faves a few days ago: Bubba Ho-Tep. I enjoyed it a lot. Very entertaining. Very funny. Very creative. I expected a so-bad-it's-good type film, but it's a good film, period. I think the premise is sorta brilliant in a braindead way. It's also easily the best performance I've seen from Bruce Campbell. I loved all the inner monologues about his penis problems, but he also imbues his character with actual pathos, which surprised me. I've seen some complaints online about the movie's pace, but I thought it was the perfect complement to the setting and the elderly characters. I love the ambiguity of whether or not the characters are who they say they are. (I personally believe them just because I want to believe them.) If I had to find something to nitpick, I'd complain about the size of the cast, as it felt like the nursing home was all but empty of patients or staff. I felt a bit cheated that I didn't get to witness a bunch of people having their souls sucked from their anuses, but we can't have everything in this world.

Is Miss Vicky's leash so tight that you're unable to post in any thread besides this one?

Re: The Resident Bitch's Movie Log - Volume 2
 

Good to see some love for The Dark Valley. Hopefully, it's enough to put it on the top-100 as it definitely deserves that.

I can't really argue with that assessment. :laugh:

It's pretty stupid, but also fun. And Antonio's hot.

I was surprised that I liked it too. Though with the way things are going with the recs from Mark it may very well get booted from my ballot to make room.

That was true for me as well. I'd vaguely remembered liking it but the length and the single-location story kept me from revisiting it. Really glad I did though. I was laughing my ass off, especially at the whole bit about Samuel L. Jackson's big black dingus.

That's great! And I agree with everything you said about it. The premise is so stupid that it's genius and Campbell nails the performance. It's the movie that made me love him. :)

I'm just a very well trained boy :bashful:

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Slow West (John Maclean, 2015)
Imdb

Date Watched: 04/25/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: MoFo Top 100 Westerns, recommended by @mark f
Rewatch: No

I'm a sucker for films about redemption. I like complicated characters that do bad things but still find it within them to do some good as well so this tale of a bounty hunter taking advantage of the naivete of a teenaged boy in order to locate a fugitive was right up my alley. It also has the advantage - despite its name - of keeping a decent pace and clocking in at under 90 minutes so that's always a plus for me.

That said though, I found myself more engaged with the story than with its characters. The performances were all solid but Michael Fassbender has never been one to really capture my attention like some other actors can. As the bounty hunter Silas he's no different here but there was still plenty to like and this was very much a worthwhile watch.

+

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Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch, 1995)
Imdb

Date Watched: 04/25/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: MoFo Top 100 Westerns
Rewatch: Yes.

This is the tale of a stupid f***ing white man named William Blake, who is slowly dying from a gunshot wound to the chest, and a native called Nobody who is determined to help Blake cross into the spirit world.

It is amusing, confusing, surreal, tragic, and hilarious all while maintaining a heavy dose of atmosphere and feeling simultaneously ridiculously over the top and refreshingly authentic. It's clear that Jarmusch went to great lengths to give this gritty acid-trip of a movie a strong sense of realness and his attention to detail with the costuming and the representation of the language and culture of the native peoples is really impressive.

The performances are also all very strong. This bizarre role is tailor-made for Johnny Depp and he shines in it. Also great is Gary Farmer who brings warmth and humor to his role as Nobody. But the smaller roles, too, are quite impressive, with Iggy Pop stealing his scenes as a cross-dressing trapper who tells a rather unique version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

This was my third or fourth time watching this movie and I could never quite seem to decide if I liked it or not. It's so strange and original that I've long not known what to think of it, but after tonight's viewing I can confidently say that I enjoy it. It's really f***ing weird, but it's also really f***ing good.

Seraphim Falls (David Von Ancken, 2006)
Imdb

Date Watched: 04/26/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: MoFo Top 100 Westerns, recommended by @mark f
Rewatch: No

Not a lot to say about this one. This is the first of the mark f recommendations to be a miss for me, though it's not a big miss.

Much of the film is a pretty solid manhunt/revenge kind of a tale and though I never connected with either the pursuer or the pursued, it had enough violence and tension to keep me interested.

Unfortunately it all fell apart with the ending, which was confusing, unsatisfying, and dragged on for far too long. I couldn't tell if the indian and the woman peddling the cure-all were real or just hallucinations brought on by exposure and thirst. They both appeared out of nowhere and did little if anything to serve the story. But by that point I'd kind of stopped caring anyway.

Mildly disappointing after that streak of good experiences, but not terrible.

+

I'm surprised you like Dead Man. I've seen it twice and I can't stand it.

Re: The Resident Bitch's Movie Log - Volume 2
 

I too hate Dead Man Cricket. Seen twice

It helps that I like Johnny Depp a lot.

Well I admire you both for subjecting yourself to it twice. I hated it as well and once was most definitely enough

Joheunnom nabbeunnom isanghannom (The Good, the Bad, the Weird) (Jee-woon Kim , 2008)
Imdb

Date Watched: 04/28/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: MoFo Top 100 Westerns, recommended by @mark f
Rewatch: No

With its vibrant colors, colorful characters, and near non-stop action, The Good, the Bad, the Weird started off as being a bit of fun. It is quite light on substance though and the Western elements seem to be little more than an excuse to throw a train robbery, some cowboy duds, and a bunch of horses into the mix.

Unfortunately, it only started off as being fun. As the film went on, however, I began to notice some things with those horses that didn't sit well with me. A little bit of googling revealed that - as I had begun to suspect and fear - the filmmakers employed some pretty barbaric methods to get the spectacle they achieved (methods that have thankfully been outlawed in the U.S. and some other countries). It also revealed that the worst of the cruelty had been deleted from many of the international releases so I might not have even seen all of it. As such, any positive feelings I'd had for the film until that point evaporated and all I could feel was anger and disappointment.

-

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Hell or High Water (David Mackenzie, 2016)
Imdb

Date Watched: 04/29/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: MoFo Top 100 Westerns
Rewatch: No.

This is a really solid film about a pair of brothers that take to bank robbery in order to save the family's ranch and the Texas Ranger that is chasing them.

There's plenty of gunfire and even some scenes in a casino but this is not a flashy film. It's relatively short but still takes its time to let the audience get to know the key players. It doesn't prop anyone up as being particularly heroic and gives the audience plenty of opportunity to see things from the perspective of both the outlaws and the men trying to bring them to justice.

On that note, I enjoyed the intensity of Ben Fosters performance as the brother with the criminal past -and really, he was my reason for watching it- and I found Jeff Bridges's character amusing. Chris Pine did a decent job as the other brother but was not a stand-out for me.

Unfortunately though, once I got to know the characters I still didn't particularly like them and wasn't as invested in them as I'd hoped to be. As such, I respected the film more than I truly liked it.

-

Re: The Resident Bitch's Movie Log - Volume 2
 

Hell or High Water was a strange viewing experience for me. Throughout it I wasn't overly immersed or thinking much about it. However come the end of it I was left thinking it was really good, verging on great. It stuck with me. I can't explain it lol and intend to rewatch it at some point to try and figure out exactly how I do feel about it as I'm genuinely not sure

Really liked HoHW, will definitely be voting for it.

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Rang zi dan fei (Let the Bullets Fly) (Wen Jiang, 2010)
Imdb

Date Watched: 05/01/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: MoFo Top 100 Westerns, recommended by @mark f
Rewatch: No

Not at a lot to say here, but I had a good bit of fun with this one. It's a gorgeous movie with vivid colors, plenty of action and violence, and an engaging story. My one big gripe though is that it's as much - if not moreso - a comedy as anything else and all that silliness got a little old after awhile. I would've liked this quite a bit more had it been about 30 minutes shorter.

I also had a little trouble keeping up with reading the dialogue and watching what was happening on screen so I got a little confused at times.


-

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Giant (George Stevens, 1956)
Imdb

Date Watched: 05/02/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: MoFo Top 100 Westerns
Rewatch: No

I gotta say, I'm not entirely sure what I think of this film. I definitely admire it for its ambitions - telling a sprawling story of a Texas family while weaving in commentary about racism, sexism, classism, war, and greed. The film is beautifully shot, the acting is solid, and it has a lot to say.

But I'd be lying if I said I never got bored with it. The movie is nearly three and a half hours long and the male leads are not exactly likable guys. There wasn't really anybody to root for or against. The film is also seriously lacking in humor - though I did kind of have to laugh at the Thanksgiving scene when the children found out about Pedro.

In all likelihood, I'll never watch this movie again. It's too damn long and there's just not enough in it for me to make a revisit worthwhile, but I do have a lot of respect for it and it just might sneak onto my Western ballot.

-

It won't make my ballot but that's about how I felt about it.

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Hidalgo (Joe Johnston, 2004)
Imdb

Date Watched: 05/05/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: MoFo Top 100 Westerns
Rewatch: No

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

Even putting aside the fact that the authenticity of the stories the real Frank Hopkins told about his life is debatable at best, this movie is deeply flawed. My biggest issue with the film was with the tone. It's glaringly apparent which company created this film: Even with its considerable violence and a dick joke or two, it has Disney written all over it. It also has a few pointless characters with stories that are left as loose ends (what the hell was up with that little slave boy anyway? So Frank buys the kid, puts him to work doing various chores, and... what exactly becomes of him when Frank returns to America?) The goat herder too was pretty pointless. I was also fairly annoyed with how little respect the Bedouin characters were shown (only Omar Sharif's character seemed to have any dimension) especially when compared to how the Native American characters were treated. And while the image of that sandstorm was pretty damn impressive, those CG cats (leopards, I guess?) were decidedly not. And the icing on the WTF cake was that ending. Somehow I'm supposed to believe that an aging, severely injured horse that has been travelling thousands of miles in the scorching desert suddenly goes from lying near death on the burning sand to sprinting across the finish line and winning against younger horses that have not been injured? Yeah... no. No, I don't buy it. I don't buy it all.

But even with all of those complaints, I enjoyed it. It was fun. I was entertained and that's really what I most want out of any film. It'll definitely never be an all time favorite, but in my top 25 Westerns? Maybe.

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Aferim! (Radu Jude, 2015)
Imdb

Date Watched: 05/08/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: MoFo Top 100 Westerns, recommended by @mark f
Rewatch: No


This was a bit of a strange film. It's a Romanian Western that casts an eye on how horrible people are to each other, the ways in which they excuse their behavior, and how flippant they are to the suffering of those they consider less than or other than themselves. But it doesn't do this in a way that is overly dramatic or at all preachy. Instead it laughs at people's cruelty. It's pretty light-hearted in a very odd way - up until the brutal end, though even that has an element of humor.

While I never got fully engaged with any of its characters (they're not the most likable folks, but also given their circumstances, not totally despicable), I was fully engaged with and invested in their journey. I also was laughing right along with the film, but I was pretty uncomfortable with my amusement, which I think is a testament to the effectiveness of the movie. I'm going to go with a conservative rating for now, but I probably liked it a little more than is reflected here.

+

Hey was that the dvd?

Re: The Resident Bitch's Movie Log - Volume 2
 

@cricket

Yeah

Damn, I didn't know that :( I feel like my country as a whole doesn't treat animals that well, even in 2020...

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Once Upon a Time In The West (Sergio Leone, 1968)
Imdb

Date Watched: 05/10/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: MoFo Top 100 Westerns
Rewatch: Yes.


Not a lot to say about this. I think I liked it a bit less than last time. It's too damn long. Not that length is always a bad thing - the film that will take the #2 position on my Western ballot is even longer than this - but it did put considerable strain on my ability to stay focused. I also don't find enough in the characters to be much invested in them. That said, the story has a good amount of tension, a strong score, and an interesting story which is probably enough to secure it a spot on my ballot.

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The Revenant (Alejandro G. Iñárritu, 2015)
Imdb

Date Watched: 05/10/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: MoFo Top 100 Westerns
Rewatch: Yes.


It probably wasn't the wisest decision on my part to immediately follow a really long movie with another really long movie, but oh well. I don't think I've watched this movie since it was in the theater and what with his Oscar win and everything, I'd remembered Leonardo DiCaprio being very good in this. What I hadn't remembered, however, was just how strong Tom Hardy's performance was. It was quite a treat seeing two of my favorites go toe to toe - even if they both looked decidedly unattractive. The beauty of the cinematography and the scenery almost make up for that though. Almost. Kind of.

Still, about two and half hours of listening to Leo grunt and groan was a little wearing and I don't think I'll ever quite love this film.

Just watched this and absolutely loved it. At least we can agree it's better than the Good the Bad and the Ugly:D

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The Matrix (The Wachowskis, 1999)
Imdb

Date Watched: 05/13/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 22nd MoFo Hall of Fame
Rewatch: Yes.


This film was released in theaters in the spring of my senior year of high school. My friends and classmates absolutely raved about it. So I watched it.

With its slick costumes, Sci-Fi premise, slow-motion stunts, characters with names like "Neo," "Trinity," "Cypher," and "Morpheus," and a soundtrack that features the likes of Prodigy, Rage Against the Machine, Massive Attack, and Rob Zombie, The Matrix came off to me then as tryhard "hey, look how edgy I am!" bulls***. I could not understand what the hell everyone else loved about it. Twenty-one years later, it has left me with that same impression.

There is nothing that I liked about this. Not one damn thing. It's too slick. It's too stylized. It's too cold. It's got so much expositional dialogue that it might as well have had a narrator. And all that green tint just made me think of the scum I had to clean out of my family's fish ponds every summer. I didn't give a rat's ass about any of these characters, I didn't give a rat's ass about the story, and the closest thing to emotion it brought out in me was boredom. Absolute, utter boredom.

Re: The Resident Bitch's Movie Log - Volume 2
 

Fair criticism on The Matrix haha though I am decidedly more in favor of the movie. I am more in line with your rating when it comes to the sequels

Oh man that was a brutal skewering of a film I absolutely love :( But very entertainingly done lol