Movie Tab II

Private Parts (1972) –
A naïve coming of age girl moves into an apartment with uber oddball tenants. There are some lapses of logic, but the mystery is strong, and the characters are an absolute blast (specially the priest).

Recollections of the Yellow House (1989) –
The pathetic, depressing, monotonous, and sometimes dryly hilarious life of a sickly old man. I don’t know why I liked this so much. Maybe because it feels so immersive. It’s hard not to feel for the characters, bad as they are at times.

The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992) –
A woman seeks revenge on a family without their knowledge. Very average psych thriller, but certainly not bad. It seems like it was made by talented pros who just clocked in and fulfilled their duties. Acting, music, cine, etc. are all very well done, but the overall result is just kind of bleh.

Pitfall (1962) –
A traveling laborer is led into a deserted town with the promise of a job opportunity. That mystery sparks a series of odd criminal events. The characters are nothing special, but the plot is consistently interesting, and has a very dark atmosphere.

Ariel (1988) –
A down and out job seeker turns to crime. Expect uber deadpan comedy, non-supermodel leads, and a hefty dose of rock n roll with pretty much any Kaurismaki flick. This is more of the same, but the editing seems much tighter, so it may be slightly more accessible than his usual sort. I wouldn’t call any of the Kaurismaki movies I’ve seen absolute favorites, but I love the guy. I think many would consider the style tedious, but I find his movies so relaxing & easy to watch, and he’s got an original voice that he sticks to. This isn’t a masterpiece, but one of the better ones I've seen. I doubt many filmmakers could find hilarity in such subtleties as passing cigarettes & a lighter back & forth.

Taste of Cherry (1997) –
A man searches at random for someone to bury him after he’s committed suicide. You’re mostly a fly in the middle of a car carried on by introspective dialogue. It feels like the writer was having this debate with himself.

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This post is sponsored by an elite squad of delinquent girl bosses.

Soundtrack to the post:


For some time now I've been watching almost only masterpieces, and I've been feeling so good! I again feel that I love cinema more than anything else, and I'm eager to watch movies more than ever. That natural wonder of discovering new masterpieces is back! At times I also feel I have OD'd on masterpieces, so I throw in some schlock to even things out!

母べえ [Kabei: Our Mother] (2008) -

Yoshida's weakest so far (but still so damn good!). Quite melodramatic, but not maudlin. Even though it shows a lot of sad, depressing, miserable scenes, it never drowns in self-pity, but rather tries to alleviate these moments with humour and warmth. At times the film feels like a live-action anime. This two-shot sequence of Tadanobu Asano and Sayuri Yoshinaga just plain Ozu-style walking down the street and having a conversation is perhaps the most memorable scene in the entire film. It's all thanks to how it's shot. Asano's character is portrayed as a giant, so the first shot shot on the level of his head shows just his head, and nothing next to it. The next shot however reveals his interlocutor. This time we see her head, and Asano's chest. This is such a simple yet for some reason heart-warming moment! The last 30 minutes of the film are very sad as the humor vanishes and all we're left with is the misery of life. Just when I survived all of this and thought this will be the second Yamada that didn't make me cry, the ending credits scene came. I exploded. The Japanese are the masters of cinema that pays tribute to a mother. Naruse's Mother. Shindo's Mother, and now this. Oh well, the Japanese are masters of cinema bar none.

アンテナ [Antenna] (2004) -

A very peculiar film about a traumatic event in the past and its impact on the entire family. Apparently nobody's normal in Japan, and everybody's got some serious problem! What a gut-wrenching portrayal of unnecessary feelings of guilt, trying to cope with loss, psychological trauma! The film is shot as if from behind the mirror. Especially the retrospections are. As many BDSM scenes as I've seen, I've never seen a femdom gone psychological therapy one. Holy moly!

原爆の子 [Children of Hiroshima] (1952) -

The 8:16 AM scene is nothing short of genius in its horrifying portrayal of the moment the A-bomb hit Hiroshima. Torn clothes of anonymous women bare their breasts* and make them look like petrified bodies of Pompei, or Bernini's sculptures reimagined by a Chernobyl victim. The scene is brief, but extremely powerful. The docudrama form is effective, but it's good to see how it more and more turns into a fictional story. The impact the bomb had on the lives of every individual is uncanny, and their personal stories are heart-breaking. It's trite to say, but it's quite horrible how it's always the innocent that suffer the most.

* This is the earliest Japanese film that shows female breasts. It's often said Suzuki's Gate of Flesh is the first one, but this film came two years prior! Then again, the portrayal in Children of Hiroshima is everything but sexual.

東京家族 [Tokyo Family] (2013) -

To remake a film that is often cited as one of the best movies ever made is a risky business to say the least, but Yoji Yamada not only came off victorious from this ostensibly suicidal task, but also created a masterpiece that stands on its own. A film that rather pays tribute to the original than preys on it, and also a work of art that takes the original idea and improves on it. Not just by mere permutations, mind you. This is the second Yamada that didn't make me cry, which, traditionally, makes it absolutely worthless! /s

PS: Noriko is the ideal human being, and a worthy successor to Ozu's Noriko. It's hard not to fall in love with Yu Aoi.

水のないプール [A Pool Without Water] (1982) -

Cinema of Moral Anxiety meets proto-Satian (but late-Wakamatsian) fetishism with incredible atmosphere and wonderful 80s music. The movie screams eighties, but at the same time predates mood-based pieces like August in the Water, and elicites the same feeling Polish Cinema of Moral Anxiety does. There is a scene at cinema, and they watch Wajda's Man of Marble! This is no coincidence. The film had a potential to become a real shocker, but (even in his most violent films) Wakamatsu never resorts to cheap exploitation. The film is quite tame in that aspect, but it doesn't mean I won't warn you: Close your windows at night, MoFo ladies!

死霊の罠２ヒデキ [Evil Dead Trap 2: Hideki] (1991) -

Really good! Almost as good as the first part! In the first 40 minutes the atmosphere is incredible (neon lights!), but then it all goes crazy slasher route! It's basically a dreamlike Japanese slasher paying tribute to giallo! If you like any of the things I listed, don't miss it!

兽性新人类 [Naked Poison] (2000) -

Next month I'll be returning to CAT III and watching more crazy HK scuzz! This is just the beginning. And a pretty good beginning at that! This is a rather late CAT III offering, and a manic film filled with lots of nudity and coitus. It's already a tradition to start a CAT III film on a humorous, comedic note, and then go darker and darker, and this film is no different. The protagonist seems like quite an innocent pervert at first, a cunning loser later, but then becomes really vile! The premise is that he discovers a poison that makes any girl beg for it...

赤い報告書　鮮血の天使 [Red Account: My Bloody Angel] (1988) -

A typical flick @MovieGal watches while eating breakfast. Clocking in at 60 minutes, at least half of it is vintage AV (which has its charm). The rest means murder and an "autopsy" of a man's body. A crazy exorcist taking the guts in his hands and fiercely flinging them on the ground was hilarious. Then the lady starts getting kinky with a cutoff hand (using a pointy radial bone to pleasure herself!!!). Now that's 100% MovieGal-core!

逆噴射家族 [The Crazy Family] (1984) -

Hilariously funny! One of the craziest films I've ever seen! Ishii is no schmuck and he surely knows how to direct. You can still find traces of his style in this film. The fact Youki Kudoh really was 13 in this was creepy, but got the point across especially well. Stil, it was pretty disturbing.

La casa con la scala nel buio [A Blade in the Dark] (1983) -

Mario Bava's son is but a shadow of his father. The film ain't got nothing on Argento's Tenebre either. This is a much weaker offering, but still a fine flick, if you like slasher/giallo mixes (I want more giallo and less slasher next time!).

Undo (1994) -

Iwai being ambiguous. A girl begs her man to tie her up, but his kinbaku skills are highly questionable, so he can't fulfill her masochistic cravings. Naaah, that's not really the point, but I had a lot of fun pretending it was when I watched it. I think the film has something to say about relationships, taking care of your sick loved one (it reminded me of Welcome Home in that aspect) and communication failures, but I don't really know, because I'm still amazed by that final frame or two.

Beauty in Rope Hell (1983) -

The story is quite restrained (pun intended!) for Dan Oniroku's standards, and we definitely don't get anything like "rope hell" that the title promises. However, we do get a beauty. The film is really well-shot, too. :3

Delinquent Girl Boss: Tokyo Drifters (1970) -

Early Pinky Violence, the second in the series, and one that recently got English subbed! Pretty sweet if quite formulaic. The first part is just humour, then we get some sadness, to end the film with a big massacre - this feels like most films like this, including Nikkatsu's Stray Cat Rock series. As a matter of fact Toei made Deliquent Girl Boss as a response to Stray Cat Rock's huge success. The grand finale in which the ladies walk down the street all wearing red coats.

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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.

Dug the middle third of the movie when I watched earlier this year, some amusing stuff too, can't get much better than a Van Damme-Dolph Lundgren duo. Wish the ending hadn't been quite so underwhelming.

If you haven't seen them, I'd recommend the last couple of DTV sequels, Regeneration and Day of Reckoning, which I felt managed to make better use of the premise (and arguably JCVD/Dolph themselves, even if the latter's restricted to glorified cameos) than the original did.

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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

Thirst (Chan-wook Park, 2009) -

A bit too much of a mixed bag, this one - its central concept (extremely pacifistic priest contracts vampirism via blood transfusion and shenanigans ensue as he tries to survive) has considerable potential but is ultimately drawn out a little too much for its own good.

Boy Erased (Joel Edgerton, 2018) -

I guess you can say that this means well with its true-story account of a closeted teenager being subjected to conversion therapy, which is why it's too bad that the resulting film is such a dour and overwrought chore to watch.

Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain (Tsui Hark, 1983) -

Relentlessly fantastic wuxia action that gets crazier and more colourful with each passing frame without becoming an incoherent mess in the process. You can definitely tell that it was directed by the same man who managed to do both Once Upon a Time in China and Double Team.

The Band Wagon (Vincente Minnelli, 1953) -

I've finally gotten around to watching a Fred Astaire movie and this certainly seems like as good a starting point as any with its classically self-reflexive Hollywood musical tale of has-beens and up-and-comers trying against all odds to put on a good show. Numbers are generally good (if occasionally a little too bizarre for their own good like the triplets number) and it's just a fun watch.

Kwaidan (Masaki Kobayashi, 1964) -

I don't think I care that much for horror anthologies in general, which is why I'm glad that a second viewing confirms my initial impression that Kwaidan is at least one or two cuts above the rest, which is pretty staggering considering that it's about three hours long and at least half of that is spent on only one of its four segments. Such is the strength of Kobayashi finding a whole new way to expand upon his usual fixations on both military and class warfare but with added technicolour panache.

Jour de fête (Jacques Tati, 1949) -

My second Tati ends up being his debut about a French village's annual fair day and how it impacts upon the local postman (played by Tati himself). It's obviously more than a little rough, but it's still good enough that it's not about to dissuade me from checking out the rest of his filmography.

Beautiful Boy (Felix Van Groeningen, 2018) -

One very sluggish dramatisation of a college student's out-of-control drug addiction and the emotional toll it takes on his family (especially his loving but conflicted father). Steve Carell's good as said father but that's about all I have to recommend about it.

Suspiria (Luca Guadagninio, 2018) -

While you can still question whether or not Guadagninio's take on Argento's dream-in-a-witch-house classic truly earns the right to be as long or as drab as it is, I'd say it ultimately manages to take the basic framework (which it sticks to fairly faithfully) and fill it out with its own directly political variation on the original's more abstracted (yet still recognisable) themes and fairytale logistics, which I'd at least consider interesting enough to justify the remake's right to exist.

Hard, Fast & Beautiful (Ida Lupino, 1951) -

This tale of a young middle-class woman who finds herself pushed into tennis superstardom by her ambitious mother is a curious one in how it treats its subject matter and especially its two leads. I'm still undecided as to whether or not its attempts to bring nuance and sympathy to mother and daughter alike are subversive genius on Lupino's part or backfiring attempts at the same, but in any case you can still split the difference and find a fair bit to enjoy.

On Dangerous Ground (Nicholas Ray, 1951) -

This noir starts off considerably hard-boiled with its protagonist being an embittered cop demonstrating Bickle-esque isolation and contempt for street scum before being sent up north to deal with a small-town murder that ultimately causes him to soften up once he's away from the big mean city. Not the worst material, but there's no way an 80-minute noir (and an intriguingly subversive and emotional one at that) should be this much of a drag to watch.

That's a bit disappointing.

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"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews

Yeah, I think it's just a little too easy to be skeptical about films like it that may want to be about addressing important subjects but don't necessarily go about it in the best way. I think that might be because it's intended as a message movie aimed at parents who, like Jared's parents in the movie, aren't so much raging homophobes as they are well-meaning religious folks who honestly think they're doing what's right by both God and their children by putting them into such programs, which does give it an appreciable layer of complexity that is always at risk of getting lost under the more straightforward depictions of physical and psychological abuse that the subjects constantly deal with throughout the movie.

November, 2018 movies watched-

The Hawks and the Sparrows (1966) + Not bad but it's a fairly odd film that's not my type.

Carne (1991) Intense short film from director Gaspar Noe.

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976) Perfect in some ways.

Let the Right One In (2008) Repeat viewing + Not quite a favorite but it's very well done and I like it a lot.

Biutiful (2010) - Worth watching even if it just missed the mark for what I was looking for.

The White Ribbon (2009) + Very much like Bergman except not quite as good.

Bloody Birthday (1981) Ridiculous fun.

Ghostwatch (1992) It's possible I would have enjoyed it if viewed as intended.

Anthropophagus (1980) - A bit on the dull side save for a handful of scenes.

Day for Night (1973) Repeat viewing Exceptional for movie fans.

Manila in the Claws of Light (1975) - Bleak realism in Manila.

Intruder (1989) Pretty worthless besides some good kills.

Lean on Pete (2017) Loved the first half, didn't like the second half.

BlacKkKlansman (2018) + As much as I liked it, I think it still fell short of it's potential.

Total November viewings-14
Total 2018 viewings-287

The Wolf House (Cristobal León and Joaquín Cociña, 2018) -

On a visual level, this is a perpetually-fascinating watch as its simplistic fairytale of a girl trapped in a house in the woods is rendered in perpetually-undulating stop-motion as everything within the house is constantly shifting and reconstituting itself so that everything is always different and always the same. Unfortunately, even at 75 minutes it struggles to stay interesting even underneath its ever-changing surface.

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (Kevin Reynolds, 1991) -

Considering how Robin Hood occupies the same pseudo-mythical territory as King Arthur, I'm somewhat disappointed that this film is arguably the closest he's come to having his own version of Excalibur, especially since it plays as a bloated and barely-coherent mix of neutered Hollywood crowd-pleaser and would-be cult oddity (the former quality best demonstrated by Costner's stiffly stalwart Robin, the latter best demonstrated by Rickman's scenery-devouring Sheriff of Nottingham).

You Can't Take It With You (Frank Capra, 1938) -

The tale of an eccentric family from a poor neighbourhood butting heads with the wealthy developers looking to buy them out (and the star-crossed lovers from both sides) plays like a veritable mishmash of every other Capra movie I've seen - fortunately, it never really becomes a problem as it's able to effectively compress most of those movies' strengths into a thoroughly enjoyable film.

All the Light in the Sky (Joe Swanberg, 2012) -

Jane Adams stars in and co-writes this mumblecore piece where she plays a character actress whose own search for work is briefly interrupted by the arrival of her niece, herself an aspiring actress. Mostly just a chilled-out dramedy with little in the way of external drama (for better and for worse), its slight and matter-of-fact nature mean that it's sporadically interesting but not enough for me to truly enjoy or appreciate.

Shoplifters (Hirokazu Koreeda, 2018) -

Definitely a worthy Palme d'Or winner with its tale of a makeshift family resorting to petty crimes in order to live through a poverty where all they ostensibly have is each other. Patiently-executed in a way that earns its emotions under unlikely circumstances and, being the first Koreeda film I've managed to see, definitely makes me want to see more.

Girlhood (Céline Sciamma, 2014) -

There's something to be said about this coming-of-age tale about a black teen navigating her way through the trials of living in a French housing project by befriending a gang of rebellious classmates, though I have to admit it's ultimately not that much as it proves a mildly engaging watch and little more.

Journey's End (Saul Dibb, 2018) -

A World War I drama set in the British army's trenches as the soldiers wait around for a German offensive to arrive, dealing with conflicts both internal and external even without the threat of enemy action to deal with. Though it goes some way towards evoking the desperate nature of the situation, the stilted direction tends to bring out the worst in the source play and interferes with the actors' ability to make the material really work.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, 2018) -

The Coens' Western anthology maintains their usual high standard of storytelling with a variety of stories that cover the entire spectrum of the brothers' favoured themes and approaches ranging from nihilistic black comedy to bleakly existential drama and all points in between. Considering how much of their filmography's DNA can to be found to one extent or another across these six segments, I definitely feel like re-watching their entire output now.

The King of Marvin Gardens (Bob Rafelson, 1972) -

A decidedly standard New Hollywood piece from the people that brought you Five Easy Pieces that doesn't match that particular film, though not for a lack of trying. If nothing else, it makes me want to go re-watch Five Easy Pieces.

On Deadly Ground (Steven Seagal, 1994) -

Not necessarily the best Seagal movie, but maybe the most Seagal movie (for whatever that's worth). His usual brand of Gary Stu shenanigans is only amplified by him trying to give the whole thing an environmentalist bent, which manages to crank up the absurdity even more as he causes untold damage in his quest to save the environment from one appreciably hammy Michael Caine.

All EXCELLENT movies by some great directors of the time... "Taste of Cherry" is my favorite of Kiarostami, and "Close-Up" is pretty great with the idea.. I'm a big fan of Kaurismaki, but mostly of movies with Matti Pellonnpaa in them, "Shadows in Paradise" being my favorite... "Woman in the Dunes" or "The Man With No Face" are the only ones I like better by him.

Taste of Cherry is the first I've seen from him, but I'll check out more soon. Close-Up should be in the near future. Shadows in Paradise is very good; I Hired a Contract Killer & La Vie de Boheme are my favorites. I prefer Woman in the Dunes & Face of Another as well, but I liked the darkness of Pitfall. It seems like those are all of his 'notable' movies unfortunately (at least where I live).

★½

Gemini (2017) – Katz
The film uses the conceit of the movie star instantly identifiable to millions of adoring fans, then pretends no one notices (despite having distinguishable marks) it’s not her corpse on the floor. The film tells the audience several times that her personal assistant is a detail person and whip smart, yet shows us the exact the opposite; the moment the detective told her, only her fingerprints were on the murder weapon, she should have hit the ground running. At the end, she doesn’t seem to harbour a grudge about her glamourous movie star boss stitching her up for murder.

★★½

Killer Joe * (2011) – Friedkin
This was less sensational the second time around, the scenes where they opened it up from the play are more obvious and the characters became relentlessly stupid and dumb in the process. The violence seemed scripted and gratuitous, like when the loan shark takes a quiet moment with the kid before having his biker buddies stomp him into oblivion. The pit bull at the next trailer over always kicks into gear whenever the kid comes along, but never dares to open his yap around Killer Joe; which for some strange reason, I am willing to bet money this is an obscure film quote from Shane.

A Cure for Wellness (2016) – Verbinski
It is kind of fun to spot all the borrows in this piece about the quest for immortality; it’s almost as if the director can’t digest his influences and the moment he sees something cool in another film he has to use it in his next film.

Last Letter (2018) – Iwai
This is a melancholy epistolary Chinese film of one sister going to her older sister’s 20th high school reunion to deliver the news she has recently passed away, but chickens out at the last moment and ends up impersonating her. The only one to notice the ruse is a man who has been obsessively in love with her sister all his life and he goes along with the pretence in order to get a line on her current address. It seems improbable the younger sister doesn’t seem to recognize the man, being the go-between for his letters to her sister and being head over heels in love with him during high school.

★★★

A very special favor (1965) – Gordon
This took a little time to set up the intrigue; but once comedy was on the rails, this moved along nicely. A French lawyer is about to see his American daughter for the first time in 20 years. He has just lost a million dollar litigation when the judge threw out his case. On the flight over to America he bumps into the opposing litigator and all the women on the plane are throwing their phone numbers at him and immediately he understands why he lost the case. He seduced the judge. He doesn’t bear any grudges. The smiling playboy tells him, if there is anything he can do while he is in New York, don’t hesitate to ask. The French man is shocked to discover his little girl has become a passionless, dour psychoanalyst (and despite having grown up in the states still has a French accent). He calls in that favor and asks the playboy to fling her into the sensual world. I have to single out Dick Shawn; his fiancé is a genius for finding and correcting faults in him he didn’t even know existed, and he is happy to have her. When he sees Rock Hudson in her bed, he knows there is a perfectly logical therapeutic reason for him being there and doesn’t give it another thought; his reaction shots are priceless.

The Golden Blade (1953) – Juran
After Harun’s father is mortally wounded in the first scene, he has the presence of mind to wait until his son fights his way into his tent before dying in his arms, placing in his hand the scorpion amulet his killer wore. Basra born Harun sets out for Bagdad withvengeance on his mind. Arriving in the palace city he finds a sword in a bundle of clothes (along with the bones of the previous owner) in second hand clothing store. Then rushes out with it and decimates a phalanx of palace guards and the market square to boot. It turns out to be a magic golden sword that makes him invincible. A lot of this story is just plain goofy. The sword even came with instructions. His new side-kick draws out the faint inscriptions on the sword until they are instantly legible. Harun then spends an entire afternoon sword fighting (the victor claims a wedding with the princess as the prize), not noticing the bad guys have switched magic swords and he astonishingly loses. The film moves along a good clip. When this film was originally released, I suspect it wasn’t this delightful tongue-in-cheek Technicolor comedy it’s become.

Novo (2002) – Limosin
The short term memory loss character has appeared before in films, most notably in Memento and 50 first dates and now appears in this French drama with uh … European sensibilities (okay that meant matter of fact nudity). The main female character, can clock to the exact gestures of the new men in her life pulling away in the relationship; the battle of the sexes is clearly marked by mind games, defensive manoeuvers, and yawning interest, so it is next to impossible to resist a man---who is dazzled each time he looks at her. Other women also find this vulnerability impossible not to exploit, by simply pulling a few pages from his notebook he keeps velcroed to his wrist and they can get hot and heavy in a heartbeat, hell they can even ask for seconds; it doesn’t hurt he looks like the younger brother of the Marlboro man.

Suspiria (2018) – Guadagnino
A new American dancer tries for a place in an avant-garde dance troupe in the divided, cold war city of Berlin, circa 1977. When she quickly steals the spot of the another top dancer, she symbolically kills off her competitor during her dance, the movements of her body become kicks and punches as she wrenches the life from her rival. Except for two cops (who are openly belittled by the women) this is an exclusive female cast. The new girl has three different character strands; emancipating herself from her fundamentalist upbringing; asserting her talent in her new artistic career; and she doesn’t know it yet, but she is also being groomed for a top spot in the operation. She is about to be given the symbolic title of Mother Suspirium. I liked the suggestion that art is more than just idle entertainments, that there are deep seated psychic reasons for these rituals of sacrifice and regeneration. Even the events in the background seem like political theater.

Magnificent Obsession (1954) – Sirk
This is gorgeous, Technicolor hokum; the rear projection scenes, the studio sets and the outlandish story line clearly distance the viewer. Our hero is a one man wrecking crew, not only does this millionaire playboy knock off the saintly doctor by scheduling his medical emergency before his, he has to blind the doctor’s grieving wife in a freak auto accident. But hey, this is melodrama so he then has to fall head over heels in love with his frumpy, disapproving widow and become a practising altruist to boot. The overwrought artificiality in the film creates a wonderful kind of reverb effect.

The Bad Batch (2016) – Amirpour
The world presented here was a little disturbing and off putting. In the near future America not only bars immigrants (dark skinned) from entering the country (the go-to-example that Globalization is a complete fraud), they also expel their incorrigible social misfits. The film is less science fiction in a dystopian outland than full blown allegory. The political creation of a race of disposable human beings creates the eco-system that allows the fascists to thrive in the homeland and the community of flesh eaters to congregate near the free range food source being released close to their barbecue pits.

All that Heaven allows (1955) – Sirk
Like the pharaoh’s of old, widows are supposed to immure themselves when their husbands die and suffer in silence; a chorus of disapproval emerges if she dares to seek happiness by remarrying. This proves difficult when the hunky landscaper is around who rejects crippling social conformity; his vibrant red flannel jackets always contrast with her dark grey suits. You are here for the great set design and lush coloration; there is always a blue spot on her front door and windows, almost like a blueish hoar frost freezing her inside the mausoleum. There is one gorgeous shot (among others) near the end when she realizes that everyone was wrong and she was wrong to reject him and she goes to his house, and she turns to the camera wearing this spiky, cream colored shawl that rings her face perfectly, it almost looking like a nimbus.

Night and the City (1950) – Dassin
This begins on a high note with a desperate man being hunted through the back alleys of London, it turns out it’s just a guy chasing down some scratch the other guy borrowed. Our hero, Harry Fabian is a terminal loser. He sees bags of money everywhere, but completely clueless when it comes to turning any of his schemes into a workable reality. He assumes (when he latches onto a legendary Olympic wrestler) that the public is going to pay good money to see his authentic Greco-Roman wrestling over the live action cartoons currently being promoted. The film gains nicely in the third act where other dreamers have unknowingly placed all their own hopes in Fabian’s doomed scheme, and the curtains come crashing down on their own dreams one by one.

★★★½

Win Win * (2011) – McCarthy
It begins with family man and lawyer realizing his practice is slowly being nickel and dimed to death and he starts having panic attacks. He sees the successful people around him cutting corners and cheating to get ahead and when he spots an opportunity to be a little more prosperous: hey, why the hell not? The story shifts to a gifted high school athlete and there is a great wrestling move at the end where the film body slams the original drama back into the spotlight when the (soon to be disbarred) lawyer is caught for all to see with his hand in the cookie jar. You are here for the acting: the director sends everything down the center of the plate and the actors just swing away for the entire film. With her performance Amy Ryan rockets to the number 3 spot on the all- time top ten best mother characters in a film.

Necrology (1973) – Lawder
This is a single take 9 minute film of a down escalator in New York City. But the film comes to life by simply playing it backwards. Instead of commuters heading off to work or returning home, these travelers are lit for a moment at the bottom of the frame then float into blackness at the top. The title is a roll call of the dead or an obituary page: is this the result of an airplane crash? There is a complete cast scroll after the film and it is almost as if they were asked at the bottom of the escalator to describe themselves before hurrying off; most of them were too busy to spare a moment to get their obituary notice correct and are simply listed as yawning woman, or man in fedora, but some people did stop and answer the question as best they could: who were you?

The Proposal - Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds in a rom-com about a seemingly heartless book editor who makes her assistant marry her to keep her work visa (She's Canadian). Predictable? sure, but it's a fun, sunny little film with enough likable actors for me to say I enjoyed watching it. A few really good laughs throughout.

28 Days - Sandra Bullock (yes, again) plays a woman who checks into rehab after ruining her sisters wedding. It's a really good film, it finds humanity and humor in it's dark premise, and has some fun supporting turns from Alan Tudyk, Steve Buscemi, and Viggo Mortensen as a drug and sex addicted baseball player.

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

https://shawnsmovienight.blogspot.com/

Sur [The South] (1988) -



Reminiscing the past when the past of an individual is inevitably connected to the past of a country. I loved the fog/smoke in the streets and the phantoms of the past transcending the real and the imaginary. The music by Piazzolla is of course sublime. Had this had Angelopoulos-esque long takes, it would've been even better!

十六歳の戦争 [The War of the 16 Year Olds] (1973) -



Really great, and masterful in how easily it changes its atmosphere, and how well it uses music to accentuate the point (especially towards the end - the horror parts are SPOOKY!). The weakest Matsumoto out of 3 full-length films of his I saw, but still a great film!

ねらわれた学園 [The Aimed School] (1981) -



Feels like a poor Sukeban film (back in time I tried the TV series with Yuki Saito and gave up after four episodes), but the sequence of the fight with that Venusian god partially makes up for it! Still, a big disappointment!

Молитва за гетьмана Мазепу [A Prayer for Hetman Mazepa] (2002) -


That feel when you spend 15 minutes censoring naked mannequins...

Ruiz raped by Jakubisko during the battle of Poltava in 1709: The Movie! It's been a long time since I've seen such a visually brilliant film! The film is almost solely shot using a Steadicam to a staggering effect. The mise en scene that often consists of theatrical, weird, sparkly, vivid decorations really works. Mazepa is played by like four actors, and he is portrayed as a sort of a demigod - dying/undying, changing shape and form. The film tells the history in a highly surreal way using the means of allegory and satire.

海と毒薬 [The Sea and Poison] (1986) -



Harrowing!

俾鬼捉 [The Ghost Snatchers] (1986) -



FUN! The TV ghost blew my mind! Zombie-ghosts are so funny, and that bloody skeleton fight! The director of Story of Ricky ALWAYS delivers! Joey Wong is such a babe.

午前中の時間割り [The Morning Schedule] (1972) -

Pretty good, but still a minor disappointment, but I guess every film of the director is when compared to his magnum opus Nanami. When I heard this mixes the stark black and white film with Super 8 color footage I was floored, but in the end I wasn't that big on the hippie-like feel of it. The color sequence in Nanami is much better. :P Still, the editing, sound, cinematography are all wonderful, and this is a great film.

Les démons [The Sex Demons] (1972) -

No way I'm posting an image from this!!!

A lousy Jesus Franco flick that mixes erotica with medieval tortures in a pretty boring and cheap way (BUT WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?!). I watched the Director's Cut that lasts for two hours, which was too much even for me. The guy was making 10 flicks like this a year, so it's hard to maintain quality with such quantity. I mean, he ain't no Fassbinder. He did make some great flicks, but this film is by no means his top trier, and it pales in comparison to his masterpieces like Eugene or Vampyros Lesbos!!!

性戯の達人　女体壺さぐり [Teachers of Sexual Play: Modelling Vessels with the Female Body] (2000) -

No way I'm posting an image from this!!!

Early Sion Sono pink film means almost non-stop coitus!!! Seemingly nothing too great, but the little of the plot it has is absolutely hilarious! I love how this time the title is perfectly descriptive of the contents of the movie, and I love the different modelling techniques employed by the female employees to MAKE ART! The entire film is about making phallic scuplture-like vessels for the sake of art, and the motto is to make vessels by day and have sex by night, but in reality they have sex day and night, which definitely isn't a bad thing! SPOILER! The best modelling technique turns out to be the between-the-legs modelling technique! The girl was so hard-working the vessel made her thighs sore and left a reddening! Now that's what I call sacrificing for art! Of course, every girl wants her art to be appreciated by the critics, so they're willing to "convince" the critics in the hilarious finale. Sion Sono acts in this himself, the lucky bastard!

Le livre d'image [The Image Book] (2018) -



The newest Godard, and what a normie destroyer he is! He takes no prisoners and uses all means of cinema to his advantage! He changes the aspect ratio, turns the sound on and off, adds English subtitles to some parts, and leaves other parts completely unsubbed, uses (suitably modified) paintings and movie clips, stills and contemporary footage, quotes from books, his own raspy voice... and the voice of his long-time partner Anne-Marie Mieville... He makes fifty references a minute, mixes poetry with politics, believes only a single moment can hold truth, so uses a chopped and screwed technique by assembling ideas into blocks

ずべ公番長 はまぐれ数え唄 [Delinquent Girl Boss: Ballad of Yokohama Hoods] (1971) -


Since when am I into Japanese girls with blood on their faces? *thinks about Lady Snowblood* Yep since I can remember.

The third in the series, and the last one I still hadn't seen. Again the same old yarn, but Reiko Oshida is so badass! She rides a motorcycle while slashing Yakuza with her katana. She also shoots them down using a machine gun. And there is an entire gang of female motorcycle-riding girl bosses to boot!

Leprechaun in the Hood - Ice-T steals the Leprechaun's magic flute, sending the tiny terror on a rampage. Kind of dated (does anyone even remember terrible rapper Master P enough to get that the main character's name, Postmaster P, is a parody of him?), and only fitfully funny. One scene featuring a drag queen is incredibly distasteful. Not my favorite Leprechaun movie, but it has it's moments. Lep in the hood, it isn't that good...

Bend of the River (Anthony Mann, 1952) -

Mann's a pretty dependable director and never more so than when he does a Western with James Stewart, but I've definitely seen the pair do better than this rather slight (but still enjoyable) effort.

The Sword in the Stone (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1963) -

A Disneyfied take on the King Arthur myth that follows him during his time as a young squire who is tutored in the ways of righteousness by Merlin and eventually becomes the once and future king by (you guessed it) pulling a sword from a stone. Definitely comes across as repetitive and episodic (in this sequence they turn into fish, in that sequence they turn into birds) as it tries filling out its brief running time, but there's energy a-plenty that helps it hold up even now.

The Jungle Book (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1967) -

Part of me wonders how I'd rank every animated Disney film I'd ever seen, especially since so many of them kind of blur together quality-wise. This one bears similarities (simple bear similarities) to Reitherman's earlier Sword in the Stone in its largely episodic structure involving the hero bouncing through all sorts of similarly-structured adventures and musical numbers, none of which manage to outstay their welcome. I reckon this one would do fairly well if I ever ranked Disney cartoons, never mind the moments of obviously-recycled animation.

The Little Mermaid (John Musker and Ron Clements, 1989) -

Considering its status as the film that sparked Disney animation's so-called renaissance, it's easy to look at this less as its own film and more as the malleable blueprint that the next decade or so of their big movies would follow for better or worse (and also the inspiration for the gloriously bizarre Ariel Needs Legs). On its own terms, it's a decent enough movie even as I don't care all that much about the songs.

Hercules (John Musker and Ron Clements, 1997) -

Regardless of era, I don't think you can watch too many of these Disney fairytale movies in a row as they do start to bleed together a little too much for their own good. Even with that in mind, it's hard to really get engaged in their incredibly soft, dated, and garish rendition of the eponymous Greek hero of myth. Also, it's really distracting when they resort to referencing Roman culture for the jokes.

The Train (John Frankenheimer, 1964) -

A solid tale of French resistance members trying to foil a Nazi officer's plan to steal a collection of priceless paintings as they are transported across the country on, well, take a guess. Frankenheimer definitely knows how to craft a setpiece, though the downtime between each one isn't put to especially good use.

The Man From Laramie (Anthony Mann, 1955) -

I get the impression that Mann and Stewart ran through seemingly every archetypal Western plot available over the course of their creative partnership, if only because this sees Stewart play a familiar Western role of the lone drifter who ends up embroiled in a real town-ain't-big-enough dispute between a couple of landowners. Definitely one of their better collaborations, at least.

Roma (Alfonso Cuarón, 2018) -

A Fellini-esque slice-of-life drama about the members of a well-to-do household in early-1970s Mexico (primarily the young housekeeper who has to deal with problems of her own) that drifts patiently and monochromatically through a turbulent narrative and setting, never once allowing Cuarón's now-patented capacity for long takes to become distracting for their own sake (if anything, I'd argue that this only renders one of the film's most striking images all the more so because it happens in a split-second shot). I'm still undecided as to whether or not this absolutely needs to be seen in a theatre (mostly on a sound level as off-screen dialogue comes across as audience members whispering when in surround sound) but I'd still say it's worth making the effort.

Cry-Baby (John Waters, 1990) -

As of writing, my least favourite John Waters movie. His tale of 1950s greasers going up against the local squares reads like a sub-plot from the first draft of Hairspray that he somehow thought was worth turning into a feature-length musical. Even the recognisable elements of Waters' filmmaking are not only diluted but now come across as actively obnoxious more so than genuinely enjoyable.

Beyond the Hills (Cristian Mungiu, 2012) -

Mungiu follows a group of Orthodox nuns whose lives in a remote Romanian monastery are up-ended when one of their number brings her non-believing friend to stay. While it initially seems to settle for a fundamentally simple criticism of religion as an archaic and oppressive institution, it goes deeper than that as it offers a genuinely conflicted tale of how faith (and how said faith is rewarded or not) intersects with mental illness and life both inside and outside the strictures of the church.

November Tab


Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance (Kenji Misumi, 1972)
Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx (Kenji Misumi, 1972)
Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades (Kenji Misumi, 1972)
Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril (Buichi Saito, 1972)
Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Land of Demons (Kenji Misumi, 1973)
Lone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell (Yoshiyuki Kuroda, 1974)


Wait Until Dark (Terence Young, 1967)
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (Melvin Van Peebles, 1971)
Love & Mercy (Bill Pohlad, 2014)
Skyscraper (Rawson Marshall Thurber, 2018)
The Devils (Ken Russell, 1971)
Doctor Strange (Scott Derrickson, 2016)


The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Niels Arden Oplev, 2009)
The Girl Who Played with Fire (Daniel Alfredson, 2009)
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Daniel Alfredson, 2009)
Leatherface (Alexandre Bustillo & Julien Maury, 2017)
Tag (Jeff Tomsic, 2018)
Trumbo (Jay Roach, 2015)
Hotel Artemis (Drew Pearce, 2018)


Cure (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1997)
Sanshiro Sugata (Akira Kurosawa, 1943)
Sanshiro Sugata Part Two (Akira Kurosawa, 1945)
Happy Death Day (Christopher B. Landon, 2017)
Street Smart (Jerry Schatzberg, 1987)
Vegas Vacation (Stephen Kessler, 1997)
Daddy's Home 2 (Sean Anders, 2017)


The Black Hole (Gary Nelson, 1979)
Cruel Story of Youth (Nagisa Oshima, 1960)
The Plague of the Zombies (John Gilling, 1966)
A Star is Born (George Cukor, 1954)
Watership Down (Martin Rosen, 1978)
Legend of a Duel to the Death (Keisuke Kinosh*ta, 1963)
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (J.A. Bayona, 2018)


Three on a Match (Mervyn LeRoy, 1932)
Dreams (Ingmar Bergman, 1955)
Cell (Tod Williams, 2016)
Upgrade (Leigh Whannel, 2018)
The Harvest (John McNaughton, 2013)
Safety Last! (Fred C. Newmeyer & Sam Taylor, 1923)

Monthly Total: 39
Yearly Total: 467

Thoughts on Some of the Films:

I've wanted to see the Lone Wolf and Cub series for years. Now that I have, I'm fairly disappointed. Despite most of the movies clocking in under 90 minutes, each entry drags when the action ceases. The unremarkable plots blur together and the multiple sub-plots feel like padding. The "Lone Wolf" of the series, Tomisaburo Wakayama, wears but one expression: stern constipation. Part of that is how his character is written, but he came across similarly in the Hanzo the Razor Trilogy. He doesn't make for a compelling lead. The same can not be said for the little boy who plays "The Cub," as he alternates between cutely menacing, cutely quizzical, cutely amused, and a host of other (cute) emotions. The violence is spectacular. Geysers of blood gush and spray from decapitations and dismemberments, often against a beautiful backdrop. I loved every moment that utilized the tricked-out baby cart, with its hidden guns, bulletproof panes and retractable blades. The last movie ends without a true conclusion, as if the series was meant to continue, but the lack of finality also fits the self-appointed purgatory of the main characters, as they find themselves trapped in a never-ending cycle of violence. The second movie was probably my favorite, although I also really enjoyed the fourth movie, with its memorable involvement of a topless assassin and her mesmerizing breast tattoo. Might watch and review Shogun Assassin sometime.

I was also disappointed with Wait Until Dark. The elaborate con game was just too ridiculous and contrived to generate much suspense or intrigue. The small apartment setting was also a hindrance and betrayed the movie's theater origins. The performances were great, however. Hepburn's frailty and convincing blindness made for a very sympathetic lead. Alan Arkin was entertainingly over-the-top. Also enjoyed Richard Crenna's performance as a likeable villain. The last act finally delivered on the thrills and suspense.

I had planned on writing a review for Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, but too much time has passed since I viewed it for me to do it justice. I can't say I necessarily enjoyed the movie, but its cultural importance can't be understated. It feels like an anti-movie, basically; an angry, indignant middle finger to "The Man." It also feels too much like a vanity project, with Van Peebles doing everything himself. He's like a chef in the kitchen using everything at his disposal, often to the detriment of the film. His unrestrained experimentation makes for a jarring, chaotic, anarchic viewing experience, although I guess that's sorta the point. Reading about the production was arguably more interesting than the film itself.

Paul Dano, in Love & Mercy, gives an excellent performance as a young Brian Wilson, although I personally found the storyline with John Cusack the more intriguing of the two time periods. Not being a fan of The Beach Boys probably lessened my emotional investment, especially during the scenes showcasing the making of Pet Sounds. I never realized how useful a detachable leg could be until watching the ridiculous Skyscraper. I enjoyed the trippy visuals of Doctor Strange but little else. The abrupt character change from the titular wizard was unconvincing; Mads Mikkelson was sorely wasted as the villain (as was McAdams as the love interest); and the big, blustery set piece at the end was a shiny bowl of who-gives-a-f**k.

The Swedish version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo lacks the polish and industrial-metal style of Fincher's version (of which I'm quite the fan), but the central mystery remains compelling despite already knowing how the pieces come together. Noomi Rapace's interpretation of Lisbeth Salander isn't as multi-layered as Rooney Mara's, although Rapace remains a magnetic screen presence. Years have passed since I read the books, but from what I remember of them, the Swedish adaptations are very faithful to the source material. Michael Nyqvist is a better fit for the written Blomkvist character than was Daniel Craig. My rating for the bloated sequels and their pedestrian direction (which has the mundane look and feel of a TV-movie) would likely be lower had I not been anxious to see the events of the page played out on screen. My fetish for gothic chicks might also play a factor.

The Japanese Cure is an essential thriller. The premise involves a string of dead bodies, each with an "X" carved into the throat, and the investigation into the killings, since each murder involves a different perpetrator with seemingly no motives. Early on the movie reminded me quite a bit of Fincher's SE7EN and Zodiac, but over time the movie slowly shifts from crime-thriller to psychological horror. The slow-burn pace has an eerie, unnerving, hypnotic quality, as many scenes are filmed in deceptively long takes that draw you in as a viewer. There's an eerie, mysterious quality to Cure that separates it from most crime-thrillers. The film also invites repeated viewings due to its enigmatic, ambiguous nature. Highly recommended.

The Sanshiro Sugata films mark the first occasion that I haven't given an Akira Kurosawa film a positive rating. They still feature some of Kurosawa's directorial trademarks, but both films are very rough around the edges --- especially the first film, which is missing 17 minutes of footage due to Japanese censors, resulting in a very disjointed narrative. For a PG-13 horror, Happy Death Day is surprisingly decent, as the slasher version of Groundhog Day makes for a fun, albeit flawed and predictable, thrill ride. I just wish that the script was a little more clever and less hackneyed. Street Smart is worth watching just to see Morgan Freeman's Academy Award nominated performance as a pimp. He still displays plenty of his usual likeability and charm, but he also flips a switch to terrifying menace like I've never seen him do, as he threatens to disfigure hookers with a switchblade. Being a Canon Films production, there's still plenty of delicious sleaze, despite the movie feeling like one of their more "prestigious" efforts.

The Black Hole, Disney's answer to Star Wars, likely felt dated even at the time of its release, as it feels like something made in the 50's as opposed to 1979. The cast boasts many familiar faces (Anthony Perkins, Robert Forster, Ernest Borgnine, among others) but most of them look out of place among the robots and lasers. The talky nature of the film makes for boring proceedings early on, but things eventually pick up as events take a turn for the dark and surreal. I enjoyed the sets and special-effects. I did not enjoy the corny floating robot that serves as comic relief.

While I loved select scenes and moments from A Star is Born, the movie is ultimately too damn long and self-indulgent. I watched the restored version and was completely taken out of the film every time the pan-and-scan of production stills are shown. Garland was excellent and she sings her ass off. I thought James Mason was miscast. Having watched the 30's version a few months ago, I was crossing my fingers that this version would adopt a different tragedy, but no such luck. Hopefully the Streisand and Gaga versions go in different routes.

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The Old Man & the Gun (David Lowery, 2018) -

A lackadaisical New Hollywood-esque biopic of sorts about an elderly bank robber that gets by largely because said robber is played by Robert Redford mustering all the easygoing charm he can in a fundamentally basic tale that's by and large a nice and chilled-out take on the heist film - perhaps a little too nice and chilled-out even when things inevitably take a turn for the seriously dramatic.

Carlos (Olivier Assayas, 2010) -

I watched the full 330-minute miniseries version as opposed to the considerably shorter feature version, which I'm not entirely sure was for the better or for the worse. Even so, I have a hard time determining exactly how much of the full version of this decade-spanning biopic about the eponymous terrorist could afford to be cut, which I suppose is a point in its favour even as I'm not entirely sure that it's saying or doing a whole lot to truly merit such length.

Passion (Brian De Palma, 2012) -

De Palma has long since been established as one of those I'll-watch-anything directors for me and this quick little tale of the rivalry that develops between two advertising executives is at once testament to the truth and falseness of that statement. Even his seemingly by-the-numbers use of trademark techniques is still used with some degree of effectiveness, though not enough to seriously elevate proceedings.

I Am Love (Luca Guadagninio, 2009) -

Yet another Guadagninio piece about Italian affluence and the ways in which it can both accentuate and stifle the melodramatic adventures of the people who exist within it - in the case of this film, it's the lovelorn matriarch (Tilda Swinton) of an industrialist family who develops an attraction to her son's best friend. A bit on the stuffy side for my liking barring the occasional isolated moment where it rises above that.

Anna and the Apocalypse (John McPhail, 2017) -

An earnest attempt at doing one of those zany parodic genre mashups - in this case, a high school musical set during the zombie apocalypse at Christmas - that's regrettably light on laughs, enjoyable songs, or even gory undead mayhem.

My Winnipeg (Guy Maddin, 2007) -

Maddin's weird and wonderful film is a documentary of sorts about the eponymous Canadian city that refracts its long and storied history through the prism of his own incredibly subjective and idiosyncratic perspective (most prominently through him crafting dramatisations of his own childhood memories that vaguely brush up against any kind of historical fact). I do like this kind of matter-of-fact approach to the mundane weirdness (or is that weird mundanity?) of a life that was ever-so-slightly off-kilter (it certainly feels like it influenced Don Hertzfeldt's It's Such A Beautiful Day in this regard) and the ways in which it assembles surreal montage ("The Forks!") to get across a greater truth about the city than any dryly straightforward documentary ever could certainly makes it noteworthy.

Birds of Passage (Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra, 2018) -

Guerra's Embrace of the Serpent was one of my favourite films of 2015 so I'm pleased to report that his follow-up shows a decent effort at maintaining that standard in its somewhat unconventional tale of an organised crime saga that, much like Embrace, shows the jagged intersection between native traditionalism and the corruption caused by the encroachment of Western civilisation (this time via the burgeoning drug trade giving rise to whole new levels of greed and violence).

A Field In England (Ben Wheatley, 2013) -

Wheatley's one of those directors where I haven't exactly loved any of his films yet I still feel compelled to check more of his work out anyway. This decidedly surreal tale of a ragtag group of 17th-century deserters wandering around in, well, a field in England for ninety minutes gets consistently weird and nasty in a way that I find vaguely agreeable in a way that most of his films aren't.

Drop Zone (John Badham, 1994) -

A Point Break knock-off where Wesley Snipes must track down a gang of thieves by going undercover in the local skydiving scene. Fun enough from time to time, but unless you're really in the bag for some thoroughly '90s Snipes action you might as well just watch the actual Point Break.

Kill List (Ben Wheatley, 2011) -

I remember not thinking of this as particularly good when I first watched it, but that didn't stop me from thinking it was worth another shot and now it may well be the closest I have to a favourite Wheatley. It's a dark little exercise in taking a simple set-up - two veterans-turned-hitmen are given three new targets to kill - and then twisting it up into something truly sinister by putting its already-troubled protagonists on a seriously dark and twisted journey into a darkness that is at once disturbing in its incomprehensibility and then even more so when it is comprehended (which it very much is a second time around).

Anna Karenina (1997)

Based on the novel by Russian author Leo Tolstoy, this version caught my eye for starring Sean Bean as dashing young Russian Imperial military officer Count Alexei Vronsky and Sophie Marceau, who I recognized from one of the Pierce Brosnan Bond films, as Anna. Anna is married to a prosperous nobleman twenty years her elder, and then she meets Vronsky at a ball in Moscow. After the two dance under the lights, Vronsky unabashedly pursues Anna to St. Petersburg, where they effectuate a scandalous fling. Tragic anti-Imperialist story about withstanding excitement.

Rating: 6.0 / 10


Urban Legend (1997)

A glimpse into a series of murders at private Pendleton University in New England, in which the butchery seems to be designed in-line with fashionable teen folklore legends. The film has a keen company of characters including Joshua Jackson, Rebecca Gayheart, Jared Leto, Danielle Harris, Tara Reid, and Robert Englund. Went full on love-fest on first viewing earlier this year, and remains a highly enjoyable 90s Teen-Horror flick in connection with I Know What You Did Last Summer and Scream.

Rating: + 7.5 / 10

Soldier Of Orange (1977)

A Paul Verhoeven (Starship Troopers, RoboCop, Total Recall, Showgirls, Basic Instinct) film starring Rutger Hauer as enlisted resistance courier Erik Lanshof in the German-occupied Netherlands during the Second World War. The story tracks a set of six friends from the town of Leiden, as the situation drives their lives in dissimilar directions. As a sincere enthusiast and college graduate in history, I am frequently let down when films focus too much on the personal while neglecting the crucial larger sweep of what is at stake. While Soldier Of Orange doesn't necessarily CRUSH that aspect of wonder and spectacle, it provides a lot that other productions from the period don't, and for that reason resembles a feel of a favorite-kind-of-film.

Rating: + 8.5 / 10


Night Of The Demons (1988)

The first movie I chose to watch in groundwork for the upcoming forum list about Angela's party she throws at Hull house, an old haunted estate with a hidden secret in the basement. Director Kevin S. Tenney's follow-up to Witchboard, the most memorable sequence features Linnea Quigley and her psychotic lipstick transformation, along with several other highlighted gore effects from effects designer Steve Johnson (Dead Heat, Species). A fun atmosphere is presented at times, but it all flops at surpassing better films from the time.

Rating: 6.0 / 10

Battle Of Britain (1969)

The military campaign set in the air in 1940 of The Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) shielded the United Kingdom from assault by National Socialist Germany's Luftwaffe commanded by Herman Göring. The film stars a bevy of famous actors including Michael Caine, Laurence Olivier, Christopher Plummer four years after The Sound Of Music, and Robert Shaw. The German Luftwaffe, or Air Force, targetted RAF airfields, infrastructure, and production factories, but made a fatal flaw to re-direct their assault after Great Britain desperately carpet-bombed German cities and civilians in response. Germans were forced to assail Britain by air as a seaborne strike would prove too severe with English Naval control of the Channel and The North Sea. Hitler (appearing in the film for a speech to the German volk) desired to launch Operation Sea Lion, a combined amphibious (sea) and air assault once the Luftwaffe gained air superiority, but that failed to materialize. The movie is dated theaterically, but gets a lot right both factually and especially with the music. This is the movie George Lucas used to track, imitate, and translate the aerial battles into his first installment in his space saga Star Wars.

Rating: + 7.5 / 10

Attachments

   

Tamahori, 1997





Much better than I remember it being, both Hopkins and Baldwin dial in good performances as they endure the Alaskan Wilderness as intrigue between the two mains unfolds slowly as the film progresses.



Gilby, 2011





Continuing along with the wilderness theme, five mountain climbing friends become entangled in the machinations of a child trafficking ring when they discover a child hidden in a wooden box in the mountains. A couple of minor quibbles with this one, but it was pretty well done.



Macdonald, 2003





Gripping docudrama concerning the true events of a mountaineering duo in the 80s. A story of the indomitable power of the human spirit in the face of crippling diversity.



Kormakur, 2015





Yet another stuck on the mountain movie! Not as compelling a watch as Touching the Void, for sure, but still pretty well done. Did I mention I am going to avoid icy cliffs in the near future?



Granik, 2018





Let's hang out in the wilderness some more! An off-the-grid father and daughter duo get caught living on government land illegally, and are relocated to a Christmas tree farm. While the daughter adapts to and even begins to like being in society, the father has trouble adjusting and soon they are off into the woods again. I liked this one a whole lot. I will mention that my wife did not like this film, mostly due to some decisions the characters made at certain points in the film.



Abrams, 2018





I almost want to give this a higher rating simply due to the fact that it is ridiculously entertaining. That said, the story is a bit convoluted, as in most of the M:I flicks. Also, more so than the others, knowledge of the previous film is almost required, as this is pretty much a direct continuation that story. Still, this thing rocks! Awesome action set pieces, intrigue, fun characters, stunts... Pure entertainment, especially when watched in tandem with Rogue Nation.



Ramsay, 2017





Grim stuff! While clearly derivative of Taxi Driver, this film eventually establishes its own identity. And let's face it, there are worse films to ape themes from. Phoenix dials in a tortured performance as he is thrust into a nightmarish child trafficking plot. A visceral experience awaits those brave enough to venture into the dark corners exposed by this film.



Feig, 2018





Feig has been hit or miss for me, but this flick was both just funny and just clever enough to win me over. Not a great flick, and it tacks on one or two twists too many, so it sort of stumbles over the finish line, but Kendrick is a funny gal, and Lively is quite a looker, so it all works fairly well. Worth a watch for a few chuckles.

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