Been meaning to watch
Cabaret for years. Finally got around to it today. I admire the sinister undercurrent and how the rising tide of Nazism was rarely ever the focus. The increasing number of swastikas in the background was like a rapidly spreading bacteria bleeding into the lives of the characters. I loved the musical numbers, but admittedly found my interest waning during scenes outside the Kit Kat Klub. Liza Minnelli was great (and I shockingly found myself somewhat attracted to her despite her bizarre features and terrible hairdo), but I've always found Michael York an incredibly bland screen presence (he's like a fifth-rate James Mason), and his performance here did nothing to change my opinion. I was indifferent to their relationship, and I wish that the stodgy handling of relationships had borrowed some of the eroticism from the cabaret performances. Despite sexuality being one of the primary themes, the movie is very un-sexy. I guess I was expecting the movie to feel much more risqué after some of the things I've read about it.
Enter the Dragon is the only good movie Bruce Lee made. I don't know if that's a controversial opinion or not, but typically the connective tissues between his jaw-dropping fight scenes are extremely lacking.
Enter the Dragon is the only Bruce Lee movie with a compelling, entertaining plot. (I think I saw someone on here -- perhaps @
honeykid -- once describe it as a "kung-fu James Bond movie," which is an apt description.) Still not a huge fan of it, although nobody can deny Lee's charisma and physical skills. If it was up to me,
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin would be the countdown's martial-arts representative.
I was initially underwhelmed with
The Searchers, but now consider it one of the best westerns ever made and Ford's greatest achievement (not that I've seen anywhere close to all his films). Majestic Technicolor visual splendor, with possibly the Duke's most complex character. I see too many people nowadays lobbying the term "racist" at the film, even though the film's handling of racial themes is more nuanced and complex than any other western I can think of from the time period. I've even come to love the film's comedic aspects, which used to elicit major eye rolls.
If I'd tried to take an objective approach and only voted for the feats of filmmaking I find most impressive, Kurosawa would've had multiple entries on my list. Instead he had none, yet he's my choice for greatest director of all-time, and on average I've probably rated his films higher than any other filmmaker. Of the sixteen Kurosawa films I've seen,
Ikiru would rank near the bottom. I thought the first two-thirds were beautiful, but the last act for me dragged hard as it felt like I was being bludgeoned over the head with the movie's message. Takashi Shimura was excellent, however. I think he's perennially underrated as Mifune always steals the spotlight. Hopefully this is one of several Kurosawa films to make the countdown.
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