Even though your ratings for both films are respectable, I'm disappointed that you felt a disconnect with
The Apartment and
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Those are two favorites of mine, especially
The Apartment, which is firmly entrenched in my top ten.
I don't think I could be less interested in
Jiro Dreams of Sushi.
I've seen
Thank You For Smoking, but don't remember much about it except not particularly caring for it. Glancing over Eckhart's filmography, I seem to dislike almost everything he's been in. Dude's a very dull actor, in my opinion.
Your tepid response to
The Apartment is similar to my response to
The Graduate: liked it, didn't love it; respected it more than I enjoyed it. I've only seen it once, though, and that was several years ago, so I'm definitely going to revisit it before submitting my 60's list.
When it comes to confusing, mind-puzzle type of films like
Primer, I seem to prefer them with either a heavy dose of surrealism or a tint of schizophrenia.
Primer, on the other hand, just seemed too drab and clinical. I imagine the film appeals to people who solve complicated math equations for fun. I was bored to death by it. Carruth's followup,
Upstream Color, was more interesting and boasted some great visuals, but I still felt that same level of detachment. I know Swan's a big fan of both films, but his mind is broken.
I expect my reaction to
The Imitation Game to mirror your own.
Batman is my favorite superhero film, so I've seen it dozens and dozens of times, but as a kid I never cared as much for
Returns, so I'm much less familiar with it. I haven't watched
Returns in ages, although I actually own the DVD now. I'm looking forward to watching it sometime soon and seeing how I respond to it as an adult. If anything, I expect to like it a lot more now than I did back then, especially considering how much I miss camp in this new era of gritty, overly serious superhero films.
I haven't seen or heard of
The Kid with a Bike.
The "vulgar, silly" humor you complain about in American comedies is my bread and butter (because I'm a god damn patriot!), so some of the aspects that turned you off from
Top Five are likely to appeal to me. Even though I enjoy Chris Rock's stand-up, though, I rarely find him funny on screen. I'm not in a rush to watch
Top Five, but I'll rent it somewhere down the road.
I feel like a hater when it comes to
The Dark Knight, but only because I get so annoyed with all the "OMG GREATEST FILM OF ALL TIME!" declarations. I think the first two-thirds of the film is excellent, but I've always felt that it loses its momentum after the climactic showdown in the street between Batman and The Joker. If I'm watching it on TV or something, I usually turn the channel after The Joker's escape, since the movie is all downhill from there.
Not a fan of
Escape From New York, so I've never bothered with
Escape From L.A.
I Origins is on my watch list. The middling reviews don't leave me hopeful, even though I enjoyed
Another Earth.
I regret not making a point to watch
Interstellar while it was still in theaters. Your review and your rating seem out of sync.
I love your write-up for
Bambi. It was always my favorite of the classic Walt Disney films.
I also love your write-up for
Superbad. I've seen the movie so many times by now that it's started to lose its luster a little bit, but I still think it's one of the best, most quotable comedies of the 2000's. I'm happy that the movie is good enough to transcend your typical dislike for raunchiness.
I had never heard of
Winter Sleep until recently when Lucas or someone wrote about it on here. If I remember correctly, he said the same thing you did about the length, but was still impressed enough with the film to give it a good rating. I'll add it to my watch list.