That moment almost broke the fourth wall for me.
铁西区 [Tie Xi Qu: West of Tracks] (2003) -
(557 min of Chinese workers, how they live and go by in direct cinema style. The first hour was extremely powerful. Almost like a descent to hell. It was about smelter workers and all them drab ashy locations were extremely hypnotic. Then, the other three hours of this part were just as great, only the initial 'descent' feel vanished. Then, the second 3-hour part was the worst. It was a three star one. The last only two hour long part was almost as good as the first, but slightly worse. I give it four stars as well. It was more focused on particular family than the whole society, so it helped to make an emotional impact. An impressive documentary.)
Matka Królów [Mother of the Kings] (1982) -
(A Polish movie that shows a mother in Poland from 1930s to 1950s. The ending felt like somebody slapped me with a pancake. But damn, it was a heavy pancake.)
Die Büchse der Pandora [Pandora's Box] (1929) -
(Louise Brooks is a cute femme fatale sort of character, who brings every man to ruin. Her amazing charm would tame any beast. But beasts are wayward. I found the cinematography very alluring and Brooks engaging. Or maybe it's the other way around.)
Badass!
The Searchers (1956) -
(I don't remember much and I've seen it the 4th. The cinematography was good and I liked the scene, in which cowboys are flanked by Indians, but that's about it. The white actor playing Indian chief was hilarious. Blue-eyed Indian FTW! But seriously, it's such a classic and it's mediocre.
)
Faces (1968) -
(Oh my! <creepy Asian guy smile> It's completely nuts in the beginning. People behave strangely like they are high or children, but I didn't find it annoying and were just observing them. Then, the movie gets more and more serious with a totally groundbreaking finale. It's not the plot that's most important, though. It's cinematography and particulary the zooms on faces. Many faces. Many emotions. Gotta watch more Cassavates.)
The Invisible Man (1933) -
(How did they do it back then?! Don't tell me how, I read about it, so I know, but still.. how!? An amazingly executed movie that probably couldn't have been made better technically. And Gloria Stuart is a total babe.)
You said kinky?
怪談昇り竜 [Blind Woman's Curse] (1970) -
(Meiko Kaji in
Ninkyo Eiga flick! You don't know what does it mean? No worries, I didn't before I'd seen the movie neither.
It's amazing, tho, the movie. It's exploitation with chambara themes and it's based on Japanese legend as well.)
The Vampire Lovers (1970) -
(How come I rated it four stars?! Oh, must've been them b00bies, but seriously it's quite appealing with nice ladies, cool vampire themes and vivid colours.)
三匹の侍 [Three Outlaw Samurai] (1964) -
(It's cliche to say, but it's like Kurosawa movie not directed by Kurosawa. There's a dose of humanism and also some samurai fights. Nothing to hate.)
Clothes always are an unnecessary ballast in a fight. ALWAYS!
Village of the Damned (1960) -
(These kids. There's something wrong with them. These eyes. Crappy & kitschy as hell, but it does work!)
やさぐれ姐御伝 総括リンチ [Female Yakuza Tale: Inquisition and Torture] (1973) -
(For Reiko Ike it wasn't enough to kick ass topless in Sex and Fury, now in this film there's a whole gang of such ladies at the end! And everybody's naked. Haha. And there's a gangsta smug with bare butt and hookers smuggling coke in their private parts. The humour in this is the lowest you can imagine, but still it's such a guilty pleasure gem you can't ignore if you're into them exploitation flicks.)
Singin' in the Rain (1952) -
(At first I didn't like the idea of them singing without any reason. Like they just have a casual conversation and out of nothing they decide to sing, but later I stopped payin attention to this detail. Also, the final scenes when that screeching lady was p0wn3d were amazing. And I'm sure she was an inspiration for Lynch to make that dumb policewoman secretary in Twin Peaks.)
Wow!
Vtáèkovia, siroty a blázni [Birds, Orphans and Fools] (1969) -
(I watch movies to have moments like these. Madness. Madness is the movie. And mad are the characters. And everything is so beautiful visually. But then you realise that madness is the only way to keep your sanity and liberty. No matter what you do, though, you're going down anyways.)
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959) -
(Weakest Hammer so far. It's cool to have both Cushing and Lee in one flic, but I prefered the Soviet take on this story in that amazing Sherlock Holmes series I've been watching some time ago.)
Final Cut: Hölgyeim és uraim [Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen] (2012) -
(The idea is impressive and it took a lot of time, making it, for sure, but all in all, the final output is just your usual romance flick, isn't it?)
It's not easy to be crazy.
Berg-Ejvind och hans hustru [The Outlaw and His Wife] (1918) -
(Sjöström on his way to masterpieces. The ending is very powerful.)
The Other Side of the Underneath (1972) -
(Asylum. Everyone's mad and has some visions & speaks with therapist and then has a good time with some Scotch hippies!)
Аэлита [Aelita: Queen of Mars] (1924) -
(freakin' amazing for what it is. And it's a sci-fi flick with a lot of underlying themes. Too bad the Earth scenes outnumber the Mars scenes by so much. The costumes and scenography are impressive. The idea of Red Revolution on Mars made my laugh, though. Red revolution on red planet. Kinda fits.
)
That's how the Queen of Mars looks like. In case you're wondering.
Regi Andrej Tarkovskij [Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky] (1988) -
(Tarkovsky works on his last movie and we observe him. How much control he has over everything. He doesn't compromise, neither. You have to shoot the scene once again, because you f*cked up? Let's do it! You have to rebuild the freakin' villa? Then do it! So many great quotes from the master director as well. So wise. Now I love him even more.)
L'étrange couleur des larmes de ton corps [The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears] (2013) -
(And I thought Amer was awesome... Total audiovisual orgy with a nice mystery YOU have to solve. A lot of leads to be found in VISUAL side of this pic.)
Zabiæ bobra [To Kill a Beaver] (2012) -
(Probably the worst Kolski movie. It wasn't as bad as people made it to be, though. LOL @ comments of sex scenes and how the parents of the girl would be ashamed. She's 24 but plays 16 and has a nice body. The movie was underwhelming and nothing new.)
Them Belgians are modern giallo masters!
Angst [Fear] (1983) -
(More disturbing than all Saw movies together. This stuff f*cks with your brain, man. When I was watching it I started to think what I would do if I was a killer. How would I do in the victims. God, it made me realise I'm a psychopath. OK, I'm kidding, but it still gets under your skin. Amazing movie. Colder than polar bear's butthole.)
乾いた花 [Pale Flower] (1964) -
(Underwhelming Japanese New Wave flick. I didn't even feel like one. It's about gambling and I didn't find it particulary great. The cinematography is good.
)
Thriller - en grym film [They Call Her One Eye] (1974) -
(I really wanted to rate it higher, but I can't. LOL @ porno scenes that are too short to do anything and too long to not notice them. I'm indifferent to them, though, so I'm not like decreasing my rating because of 'em. The movie just didn't feel like a great one, though, but it actually had a lot of potential seen in the first scene, the last one with the horse and the one with two policemen getting their ass kicked in slowmo. Hell, there's even some kind of perversed beauty to it.)
Lookin' for ya to kick your ass!
Letter From an Unknown Woman (1948) -
(Such an insipid rom flick, but Ophüls really squeezes off everything he can out of it and actually makes it a beautifully shot and EMOTIONALLY ENGAGING story.)
Tempo di viaggio [Voyage in Time] (1983) -
(Another Tarkovsky doc, directed by him and one of the best screenwriters in history. Sadly, it's much shorter than the other one. It's less interesting and powerful too, but it was nice to hear who are Tarkovsky's favourite filmmakers.)
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) -
(I can't believe how much I actually liked that one. It's in my Hitchcock Top 5 outrunning films like Rear Window and Dial M for Murder. The Albert Hall scene is one of the best things Hitch has ever directed and I liked all these pastel colours and sense of humour as well.)
Love that moment!
Obsession (1976) -
(Another good De Palma flick. It heavily borrows from Hitchcock, namely Vertigo, but also somehow doesn't feel like a rip-off. The cinematography and music are top notch and the usual De Palma over-the-top love moments are amazing. The solution is obvious and the weakest part of the movie.)
Хрусталёв, машину! [Khrustalyov, My Car!] (1998) -
(Wow! What a disappointment. The movie is a very chaotic and annoying mish-mash of everything you can possibly think of. There's some film noir atmosphere and outstanding cinematography (that's a good thing) and a lot of annoying characters and unfunny scenes, anal rape being one of them.)
Casualties of War (1989) -
(The worst De Palma. His style doesn't fit war flicks at all. His over-the-top kitschy soppy moments really fit them crime/romance flicks and make them guilty pleasures/feel goods, but in a war movie it just turns out to be PATHOS. And pathos in a war movie is bad.)