Movie Tab II

'Cos I only visited for a fortnight, list would've been a lot longer if I'd moved in

No rating Camo - can't believe you thought that badly of it to deem it not worthy of one

Shhh - Brenda hasn't realized it yet.

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

Final Films of 2017!



Absolutely brutal. The performance by Riseborough was great. I loved how the episode mostly focused on the characters and not trying to explain how the new technology worked. The soundtrack is fantastic, the occasional ear-splitting shrieks show the true mental state of the main character. The direction also helped this, which was also brilliant (This guy needs to direct more stuff). It's extremely interesting to see all of these similar stories written by the same man, Charlie Brooker, and different directors depicting them in completely different lights.

Some people were upset by the extreme violence in this story. To those people: This is the same show that has an episode where 1.2 billion people watch the British prime minister f*ck a pig. I don't think you have an excuse to worry about violence, haha.

The next one I watched half of in 2017 and the rest in 2018 so I guess it counts



Pretty great. I'm usually not a fan of prison movies, but I was never bored during this. Clint Eastwood is awesome as always. There are many well paced butt-clenching moments, surprised it didn't get onto the 100 Years 100 Thrills list.

I only started archiving my seen movies like this in June so unfortunately I can't give a big badass tally of everything I've seen in 2017.

December, 2017 movies watched-

War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) - I didn't love it like the first two, but still very good with awesome effects.

Men Behind the Sun (1988) - Rightfully considered one of the most disturbing films ever made.

Tumbling Doll of Flesh (1998) Good for what it is, the true definition of torture porn.

Macabre (2009) + Highly recommended for horror fans.

Fracture (2007) Ok thriller thanks to Anthony Hopkins.

Lost in Translation (2003) More of an experience for me than something I enjoyed watching.

Baby Driver (2017) Silly as hell but still plenty of fun.

The Peeping Tom (1996) + Decent Cat III thriller that could have been a little nastier.

Nothing Bad Can Happen (2013) This German film directed by a woman is an upsetting true story.

Red Psalm (1972) Poetic and somewhat powerful but limited.

Kramer vs Kramer (1979) Repeat viewing + As excellent as it is, Apocalypse Now got robbed.

Good Time (2017) Not quite great but the originality is very much appreciated.

Fish Tank (2009) + Very realistic feel with fine performances.

Morvern Callar (2002) - Very good but missing that memorable moment that would make me love it.

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970) + Much more intriguing than the usual crime thriller.

We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) Repeat viewing Didn't care for it the first time but loved it this time.

Ingrid Goes West (2017) Very solid movie even if ultimately there wasn't anything special about it.

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) - I'm probably in the minority in not liking the cinematography. Other than that I thought it was pretty good.

Mother! (2017) Not shocking or original enough to overcome the absurdity.

Turkish Delight (1973) - Paul Verhoeven and Rutger Hauer team up for a sordid and sleazy love story.

Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017) Looking forward to the director's third movie.

Raw (2016) - Well made horror with good style.

Hounds of Love (2016) + Terrifying true story style horror that I only wish had a different ending.

Jesus Camp (2006) Effective and troubling with showing children getting brainwashed into religion.

Valley Girl (1983) + I enjoyed it much more than the rating for nostalgia.

The Last Supper (1995) Very relevant for today but I thought it was average at best.

The Sting (1973) Repeat viewing - I wasn't crazy about the last half hour but thought most of it was pretty great.

Dog Day Afternoon (1975) Repeat viewing Funnier than I remembered.

Wind River (2017) + As good as I could have hoped.

Total December viewings-29
Total 2017 viewings-311
4 year total since keeping track-1668

The Florida Project (Sean Baker, 2017):
Spider-Man: Homecoming (Jon Watts, 2017):
Wonder (Stephen Chbosky, 2017):
Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond (Chris Smith, 2017):
I, Tonya (Craig Gillespie, 2017):
The Ornithologist (João Pedro Rodrigues, 2016):
Dressed to Kill (Brian De Palma, 1980):

It's good to see on tab as well.

12.30.2017

Interstellar (2014) -



Way too quasi-scientific to be taken as a scientific movie. Way too ridicilous and quasi-scientific to be taken as art movie. There's so much wasted potential here, that it makes me angry. Some crazy people compare it to 2001, but Nolan is light years behind Kubrick.

12.31.2017 AND 01.01.2018

Indio Black, sai che ti dico: Sei un gran figlio di... [Adios Sabata] (1970) -



Starring Yul Brynner, hence 100% @Dani8core this spaghetti western was the first out of eight (!) films I watched on New Year's Eve. Great entertainment. The movie features a vast plethora of characters, including a typical fat Mexican honcho and his two circus-esque sidekicks (one of them performs the flamenco of death, whereas the other one drops metal balls into small holes in his shoes and then discharges them with one swift kick), and a charistmatic and cunning blondito you simply can't dislike. Thanks to this film I learnt about Maximilian I of Mexico. The Lee Van Cleef vs. Austrian duel in The Big Gundown makes so much more sense now.

Ritual dos sádicos [Awakening of the Beast] (1970) -



Yet another gem from José Mojica Marins, a movie that had been banned for 20 years, a sex- and drugsploitation Cinema Marginal-style cinema that quotes among others Glauber Rocha to end with a psychedelic nightmare of a finale.

Riti, magie nere e segrete orge nel trecento... [The Reincarnation of Isabel] (1973) -



This is like a Rollin film directed by Jesus Franco. Way worse than I expected and way more terrible than what my rating (and the picture I chose) for it may suggest. An incredibly disjointed mess of a plot with only occasionally nice visuals. Also, undoubtedly deserves its exploitation genre tag as it shows a long scene of burning a witch probably only for the sake of its shock value. But it has boobies. All sins forgiven. Neeext.

The Enforcer (1951) -



What a blast of film noir! It starts with Bogart trying to make a witness survive the night, so that the next day he can testify against a prisoner held in the same building. I expected the film to never move past this premise, so I was really surprised at the little twist at the beginning. Everything turns out to be way more complicated and the film spreads its wings introducing new places and characters. The last film I saw in 2017. I ended up with more than 700 films seen this year.

女殺手 [The Lady Professional] (1971) -



I chose The Lady Professional to be the first movie I watch in 2018, and what a great decision it was. Produced by Shaw Brothers studio and co-directed by a Japanese director (Shaw Brothers decided to bring some Japanese directors from Japan to teach local HK directors the craft) and Gwai Chi-Hung (who later directed classics such as Corpse Mania and The Boxer's Omen) and shot handsomely in Shaw Scope with nice colours, the film is a blast! Lily Ho is Lady Professional, a female assassin that gets cheated, and then seeks revenge on the perpetrators. She's hot as f*ck as well. The silent assassination in disguise in the final scene would get her a Silent Assassin rank from Agent 47 himself!

Good Time (2017) -



A neon-lit, blood-pumping one-nighter with strong Progressive Electronic/Synthwave score courtesy of Oneohtrix Point Never. I don't have too much to say about it. It just flows and it's great, and then it just stops flowing, it ends, and it was great. But I have one thought loosely connected with the movie. Just imagine a bank robbery with robbers wearing masks (like the ones in this film) of black men, but the twist is that the robbers are black men as well. Then they leave the masks in a place they know police will find them. Now, the police will think the robbers are whites/Asian/Latinos who had to disguise themselves as blacks, but the truth is it's the blacks disguised as blacks! F*CKING GENIUS! Well, that's the kind of thought you get at 2 AM when you're watching your 5th movie today.

人が人を愛することのどうしようもなさ [The Brutal Hopelessness of Love] (2007) -



Despite Mai Kitajima's indisputable attractiveness and sexual nature of scenes depicted, the film is not titillating in the least, as there is a piercing layer of sadness behind every scene. The film could be described as Perfect Blue gone sexual, and even though the plot seems convoluted at first, it does not seem too complicated nor sophisticated by the end. Still a great film with devastating yet peaceful (in a way) ending that (just like the ending of A Night in Nude: Salvation) gives me no other choice, but to love the film as a whole. All that being said, I still think that Salvation with its Dostoevskian character and soul-crushing yet campy YET kinky finale is a better film, so I might want to consider bumping it to 4.5!

マタンゴ [Matango] (1963) -



Way more down-to-earth than I expected, the film starts and ends in a typical Poe/Lovecraft horror story style, with an additional unexpected social commentary punch line at the end. In the middle it's quite interesting to observe the characters trying to survive with their food slowly ending and Mushroom People taking over. Pretty kewl.

All in all 764 minutes = 12.73 hours ~= 13 hours of movies in one day. Take that, @mark f!

SLEEP

Tirez sur le pianiste [Shoot the Piano Player] (1960) -



Read about it on Arthouse Mafia: Monthly Thematic Explorations.

La mariée était en noir [The Bride Wore Black] (1968) -



Read about it on Arthouse Mafia: Monthly Thematic Explorations.

01.02.2018

Les cousins [The Cousins] (1959) -



Read about it on Arthouse Mafia: Monthly Thematic Explorations.

Fort Apache (1948) -



The first installment in John Ford's Cavalry Trilogy is a great triumph of classic Fordian western. It's a pean in the name of cavalry, but it's also full of bitterness, and does not hide errors of Fonda's character, who seems to be the only counterpoint to the otherwise perfectly virtuous cavalry, *cough* *cough*. Anyway, a great film with some breath-taking cinematography and a couple of funny scenes. "No questions.".

01.03.2018

La Pointe-Courte (1956) -



Read about it on Arthouse Mafia: Monthly Thematic Explorations.

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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.

comparing interstellar too 2001 is a joke.

So is rating a Coffin Joe movie higher than it.

All Coffin Joe films I saw were better than anything by Nolan. I've seen only the three highest rated ones, though.

I feel like if you go in expecting another Empire Strikes Back, you're going to be deeply disappointed. The film has it's own rhythms and plot points, some that totally caught me off guard. I think it feels like a direct response to the complaints that Force Awakens seemed too much like ANH, and this is the director throwing down the gauntlet, so to speak.

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"You, me, everyone...we are all made of star stuff." - Neil Degrasse Tyson

https://shawnsmovienight.blogspot.com/

Seen in January Pt.1



Pretty great. The main characters were great. Lots of interesting ideas. Pretty cool twist.



This story is better on the screen than the stage. The main character was depicted as a heartless POS in the play, but he’s very deep and sympathetic in the film. The film’s ending is better. The stage play’s ending had a beautiful bluntness to it, but the film’s ending is more realistic. The performances from the main 3 are brilliant and the church scene is amazing.



Very limited story, I usually love films like this but this film didn’t seem to cut it properly. I didn’t cop on to the fact that it was a post-apocalyptic story until half-way through it. Considering the plot is basically a slasher film, it would’ve made more sense (and way more entertaining) for the dogs to be some extreme burglar-protection system than some evil robots that took over the world.



Just fantastic. Each story was entertaining, interesting and intense. All of the characters are very interesting and you yourself get very invested emotionally.


+
Unfortunately, this well done movie suffers from ‘categorised as psychological horror but the psychological horror doesn’t come into play until the last couple of minutes’ syndrome. The plot is very intriguing, the mystery constantly keeps you interested. The performances were good.

The ending is legitimately 10/10 material.

I adore the ambiguity of the ending. Also the end card is genius. Anyone who has seen the film NEEDS to follow the end card advice, otherwise, I’ll kill ya!


I fell asleep during the second half so I can't really say anything lol.



The colour tint was very interesting. I liked the way it transitioned between scenes, it shows the character’s mental state. Th twist becomes very obvious when he goes to report the hit and run, but the foreshadowing before that was very well done. The twist kinda feels like a Hollywood thing.



Hilarious. The plot is a very original and interesting, considering the stage we're in where the left is getting many negative connotations due to the misandrists who claim to be "feminists". Each of the main characters bring a new element of comedy to the table (I seriously did not intend that pun!). Many quotable lines. Not for a single second did the film feel boring or tedious.


-

What I loved:
-Characters and relationships
-Horror elements
-Suspense
-Imagery
-Soundtrack
-Mystery
-Episode 8 & 17

What I hated:
-Scenes that added nothing to the plot
-Pointless sub-plots
-Scenes where it's just the mentally disabled version of Cooper doing random s*it
-The contrast in quality between episode 17 and episode 18.


: Critical rating:
Just sit down with a group of friends, some food and drinks and enjoy this travesty. The backstory to the film is quite hilarious and tragic. Not gonna lie, I really dig some of the soundtrack. Not nearly as entertaining as some other bad movies, but it still works.

Alien: Covenant (Ridley Scott, 2017) -

Original review found here. As of writing, I'm ready to consider it one of my favourite films of 2017 and even give it an edge over Alien 3 when it comes to ranking the series. Now I have to get around to giving Prometheus a third chance.

Coco (Adrian Molina and Lee Unkrich, 2017) -

Despite the high rating, this does feel like a bit of a mixed bag. In many ways, the Disney/Pixar formula feels much more readily apparent this time around (if only due to the recurrence of various specific tropes that have popped up in recent releases). Fortunately, these movies' strengths always reside in how they flesh out the gaps with all sorts of visual and emotional verve. Also, I need to re-watch The Book of Life at some point.

Pitch Perfect 2 (Elizabeth Banks, 2015) -

I already think very little of the original Pitch Perfect and the sequel just proves to be more of the same. It's not completely devoid of laughs, at least, but it's still too long and its musical numbers tend to be aggravating more than effective.

The First Wives Club (Hugh Wilson, 1996) -

A passable little comedy that's got a simple high concept - three middle-aged divorcées take revenge on their philandering ex-husbands - and is able to wring a decent amount of laughs out of it even if it does lose a little momentum as it (quite understandably) aims for dramatic heft towards the end.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle (Matthew Vaughn, 2017) -

Original review found here. I've realised that the first film had a fairly strong middle and iffy first and third acts while the reverse is true of this one. Also, what in the hell is up with that tracking-device scene.

The Shape of Water (Guillermo Del Toro, 2017) -

A solid reminder that I really don't appreciate Del Toro as much as I should.

World of Tomorrow Episode Two: The Burden of Other People's Thoughts (Don Hertzfeldt, 2017) -

As with 2015, I made sure that the last film I watched was a Don Hertzfeldt short about the existentially bittersweet science-fiction misadventures of a little girl and one of her time-traveling clones. It isn't as surprising and thoroughly concentrated as the first one is, but it's complementary in all the right ways while also offering new material.

The Handmaiden (Park Chan-wook, 2016) -

It's been easy enough to forget what Park Chan-wook is capable of (Stoker didn't really do much for me), but this twisty and twisted drama is certainly as good a reminder of why his work is good as any.

Blazing Saddles (Mel Brooks, 1974) -

This seems to hold up even better with each viewing and does a remarkable job of exemplifying what the parody sub-genre is capable of doing.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (J.J. Abrams, 2015) -

Yeah, I wasn't expecting to re-watch this again so soon after my previous viewing last month but there you go. It's still very watchable, at least, but I feel like I need to be careful not to let myself get so caught up in watching it whenever it's on.

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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

The Leopard (1963) [Luchino Visconti]


I'll never be the same, after this masterpiece! Watched twice (December 24 and 25) and I can't wait to watch again. Strongly recommend to any movie lover! Strong performance by Burt Lancaster and great direction by Luchino Visconti! A movie that will stay with me forever!
"everything needs to change, so everything can stay the same"
Lots of themes, like: Struggle between mortality and decay, death, fading of beauty, fading of memories, change of political system, false relics, abstraction and eternity! Beautiful!


Monamour (2006) [Tinto Brass]


I was looking for a good erotic drama to watch and this was the selected one. What a mistake! Bad acting, bad directing, awful script, just... that bad... At least Anna Jimskaia have a beautiful butt and breasts...
But she has hair under her arms... ¬¬
Not exciting...



Gate of Hell (1953) [Teinosuke Kinugasa]


One of the most beautiful looking films out there. It's great to observe colors and how the director uses this in the narrative. Also, it's like watching a play in a theater! Great piece of art!


Long Arm of the Law (1984) [Johnny Mak]


One of the most violent climax in Heroic Bloodshed history. Number 6 in the Hong Kong Film Awards' List of The Best 100 Chinese Motion Pictures.


The Seventh Seal (1957) [Ingmar Bergman]


Still wonderful! It's nice to see that the same questions in this film, still relevant (and unanswered) to the date! I love how GOD is just in the mouth of the filth ones, and how the realization of death is portraied. The Dance of Death scene is scary and peaceful at the same time.


Police Story (1985) [Jackie Chan]


What do you expect when you're going to watch action movies? Well, I expect good stunts, good entertainment, good violence... This film have all of this and more! The comedy is phenomenal. Jackie Chan best imo. This is one of that films that made me love films when I was a kid. It's very important to me, I love every frame. If you like action or just like Jackie, watch this one!


Solaris (1972) [Andrei Tarkovsky]


Andrei Tarkovsky space masterpiece made for the ones that care to every single detail of the story. The climax change everything that you may thing during your first view. This is one of that films that it's impossible to understand everything in the first view, but with time, when the idea of the ocean of solaris starts to grow in to your mind, you will get it. A film for film lovers!


Paradox (2017) [Wilson Yip, Sammo Hung]
The Meyerowitz Stories (2017) [Noah Baumbach]
Dog Day Afternoon (1975) [Sidney Lumet]
Score (1995) [Atsushi Muroga]
A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) [Kim Jee-woon]
The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (1952) [Yasujirō Ozu]
An Autumn Afternoon [Yasujirō Ozu] (1962)
Good Morning (1959) [Yasujirō Ozu]
New Nightmare (1994) [Wes Craven]
Legendary Weapons of China (1982) [Liu Chia-Liang]
Sakebi - AKA Retribution (2006)
Vincent (1982) [Tim Burton]
(Best Tim Burton work)
Pikachu’s Vacation (1998)
Geri’s Game (1997) [Jan Pinkava]
(Favorite Pixar's short film)
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) [Park Chan-wook]
Once Upon a Time in America (1984) [Sergio Leone]
Hardcore (1979) [Paul Schrader]
Rolling Thunder (1977) [John Flynn]
Kill Baby, Kill (1966) [Mario Bava]
The Beyond (1981) [Lucio Fulci]
The Place Beyond the Pines (2012) [Derek Cianfrance]
Sleepaway Camp (1983) [Robert Hiltzik]
A Bittersweet Life (2005) [Kim Jee-woon]
Lolita (1962) [Stanley Kubrick]

These were the best. The whole series could be like Episode 8 and then it would be a masterpiece.

Episode 8 was different. That was art.
A 5 minute scene dedicated to Cooper learning how to eat is not art.

It is. It's just that Episode 8 kind of art is more along my way.

The Mad Genius (1931) –
An uncreative cash-in on Svengali, apparently. Similar premise with the same two leads. I really enjoyed Svengali though, and could watch Barrymore play this sort of character for hours. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie is mostly boring and uneventful, with some good dialogue. ‘The mad genius’ isn’t really mad enough; he’s just a dick. Not too sensational beyond face value.

Calamari Union (1985)–
The meandering plot can drag, but it has a very cool nighttime atmosphere. Easy to sink into.

Lights in the Dusk (2006) –
The most deadpan of the Kaurismaki movies I’ve seen so far, which is sort of like being the most explosive Michael Bay movie. It’s very akin to Man Without a Past. So much so that the existence of the former makes this seem a little gratuitous.

I Hired a Contract Killer (1990) –
My favorite Kaurismaki flick yet. A more effective use of dry wit and gritty setting, and the Asperger-esque characters are the most sympathetic. This has a charm that the others I’ve seen may fall a little short on. I love the whimsicality amidst death, grit, and sluggish pacing.

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