Movie Tab II

½
Grey Lady (2017) - Shea
A policeman’s partner / wife is executed before his eyes and he is either locked out of the investigation (she was shot with his gun) or suspended or given forced time off or whatever, so he travels to Nantucket to continue his own insular investigation from there---fortunately the murderers follow him. Our hero has a great authentic Bostonian accent; he majestically pronounces “auhnt” through-out the film but forgets to do all the other words with the same inflection. The director has an unfortunate tic of giving certain characters a big splashy moment which means they are going to be killed off in the next scene. This was hypnotically bad; I would liken this film to watching someone completely drunk trying to get to his feet and falling down again and again and again, unaware he’s trying to stand on ice.

★½

The Rewrite (2014) - Lawrence
A tale of dueling shticks: Hugh Grant does his loveable bumbler routine as a washed up screenwriter taking a temporary teaching gig in the sticks and Marisa Tomei does her fetching older woman (with two young daughters) routine. That they will end up together is never in question as they bumble and fetch together. The great drama is that he insults a sensitive Jane Austin specialist the first day at a faculty party and she is out for blood the rest of the film and wants to have him fired. At the end of the movie he simply asks her to give him another chance and she does.

★★

Instant Family (2018) - Anders
The film almost has too much sugar content to be legitimately classified as an adoption PSA. Wahlberg shows the guns in his designer tee-shirts and strikes a manly pose in his signature line of Tough Guy Trousers © throw in a tool belt and adoption is no longer a viable challenge. Once Rose Byrne makes goo goo her eyes at her new brood, it’s a done deal. Hell you can even throw in the most dangerous type of child in the system, the dreaded older teenager. Iliza Shlesinger gets a small bit part as a single white woman who wants to blind side the dickens out of some future hall of famer.


★★½

The Collector (1967) - Rohmer
This is a talky French film with some insufferable intellectuals squatting in their rich friend’s St. Tropez villa. The collector is a lusty young woman who sleeps around indiscriminate of emotional attachments but totally uninterested in our bookish older man. He’s a professional collector. He says he wants to revel in his solitude; he wants to spend the month reading important books, swimming in the ocean, and sunbathing but the second he gets his wish, he bails on the vacation. This felt a bit slight but on reflection this is going to get a lot better with a re-watch; there are some deeper structures at play here. The objet d’art: a pop can lined with razor blades which seems to be symbolic of the way they use language and conversation to keep the world from getting a hold on them.

Inherent Vice (2016) - Anderson
This started off as a nice soft-boiled detective story in stoner land, where everyone suddenly goes missing only to be discovered alive and kicking and stoned a couple hours later. Near the end unfortunately, there is a rather cruel and nasty tonal shift that sabotages everything that came before it.

Barton Fink (1991) - Coen
Although presented as a nightmare scenario, this is actually about a winning lottery ticket. At the end the studio head will deprive the world of Barton Fink’s genius and as a punishment he will be kept on salary---not to write. This is a version of heaven. This princely sum would come in today at over 17,000 dollars a week--- to do nothing. His biggest problem will be in deciding which mansion he should buy. The range of craftsmanship between the stellar heights of Bunuel’s buzzing box and the cellar lows Coen’s of brown paper gift is painfully evident here.

★★★

The Hangman (1959) - Curtiz
If you hunt monsters for a living, you ought to be very careful that you don’t turn into one yourself. Our lawman no longer does range work and travels exclusively from town to town by stagecoach. He simply collects and escorts the garbage to the gallows. Hunting the worst of the worse has made our lawman cold and cynical and the people he meets utterly predictable. This last job is a little more problematic, when people find out the identity of the condemned criminal he is in town to collect; no one believes him for a second. The guy is a decent, hard- working family man and everybody is willing to help him escape his clutches, to the point of breaking the law themselves to protect him. Rather than a western this is more of reflection (with some cheese cake) on frontier justice.

Shadows in Paradise (1986) - Kaurismäki
Numbed by the years a working guy is nudged towards a life change when an older worker secures financing for a new company and taps him as his second in command. The old guy has been working as a garbage truck driver for 25 years and vows he is not going to die there. He had promised his wife as newlywed that he would show her the world and he wants to make good on that promise in their twilight years. He promptly has a heart attack and dies a couple of days later; but a seed has been planted in our hero. Having his lethargy shaken from him, he feels adventurous enough to ask out a mousy supermarket cashier and wows her with a hot and heavy evening of bingo, she dumps him after the second game but their paths keep crossing.

Green Book (2018) - Farrelly
This follows the standard recipe for the prefect martini (and road movie); take two opposite characters that go together like water and oil, put them in a martini glass (or motor vehicle) and they are shaken by the trip, but not stirred. There is some nice method acting riffs by Mortensen, he’s got a pot belly here; he does gluttony contests at the drop of hot dog; he’s handy with his mitts but draws the line at becoming a career thug. He’s a great contrast to the lonely, articulate jazz musician who wants to make a difference in the world, one concert at a time. I liked the time posts, obsessively identifying the months and weeks in question, either to show how far America has come from that period or how America has scarcely changed.

Body Snatch (2003) - Hanss
The other dancers in the gentlemen’s club tease Laura about her new conquest who sits in a corner week after week worshipping her, although they choke a little on their cackles after they discover the guy is loaded. He keeps proposing the storybook life to her and finally she decides to take him up on it and leave her crazy life behind. She has a fiery car crash on the drive to her future mansion. She awakens in a long term care facility; the crash has rendered her deaf, her body is horribly scarred and burnt, and yet the first thing she sees when she opens her eyes is her Prince Charming arriving with her daily bouquet; he maintained a bedside vigil for weeks and months when she was in a coma, and his undying, eternal love for her shines even more brightly. Wow, she really lucked out. Or did she?

At Eternity’s Gate (2018) - Schnabel
This is the umpteenth hagiography on the unappreciated, mad genius of Vincent Van Gogh; a painter so original he never sold a single painting in his lifetime which has obvious appeal to commercial film makers where the box office determines each and every artistic stroke. You’re here for the lush imagery that transcribes his desperate passion; the director uses a strange bifocal lens in certain scenes which obscures the bottom of the frame. The end credits state a priceless notebook was recently discovered (conveniently forgotten and undiscovered in someone’s bookcase) for 116 years … ka-ching ka-ching. Van Gogh is now the artist with the most prestigious amount of forgeries hanging in the world’s great museums; it turns out originality is the easiest thing to fake. On the downside the director gives himself a huge continuity headache when the artist slices off his ear half way through the film.

Good time (2017) - Benny & Josh Safdie
The only thing our anti-hero has going for him is the gift of gab; he can talk his way in and out of any situation but he doesn’t seem to realize that not all forward motion is motion forward. Our boy puts his head down and just bulls his way past each and very obstacle; the film is a winner-take-all endurance contest between grim reality and relentless optimism. There are only two tiny pin pricks of intrusive reality in the entire film. The first one is a character-tell where a mother has loaded up her (dim witted and vulnerable) daughter’s purse with a fistful of credit cards, but none of them work. And the second one is near the end when a character suddenly turns to our boy and says; “Jesus, how many years are you facing?” And the audience realizes with a gasp that the meter has been on and running the entire time during his crime spree and he won’t see daylight a very long time indeed. That is, unless he gets the chance to speak in his own defensive.

The Favourite (2018) - Lanthimos
In a feudal society the royal court is the only place where fortune can be made. This is a glimpse at the wretched aristocracy and a cautionary tale between two actresses losing and gaining the upper hand. I loved the fish eye lenses, where the gravitational pull was so compelling you can feel the heat on your face as one approached the realms of power and immediately your life became small and insignificant the moment favor moved away from you. Although the thematic question the film poses is a little underwhelming: given the choice which would you prefer; getting unvarnished reality every day or the candy coated, soft tongued version of it … no one chooses the former.

Sisters (1972) - De Palma
This is a great little Psycho knock-off from the 70s. Bernard Hermann brings all his requisite Hitchcock baggage with the soundtrack. A fresh faced Margo Kidder works a French-Canadian accent trying to make it as a model in the Big Apple. Jennifer Salt is the intrepid reporter who sees a murder in broad daylight but no one believes her. Charles Durning has a nice supporting role as a recent night-school detective graduate who will go by the textbook and grind it out, no matter how long it takes to get his man. The film has a great body scar ever that would make even David Cronenberg flinch.

The Women (1939) - Cukor
True it to its title, there are no male actors in the film. The cast is a motley crew of high society women living only for the latest gossip; sultry vixens with fingernails painted gold digger red; and rich dumb divorcées ready for another stroll down the aisle. There is a strange product placement segment where the black and white film blossoms into glorious Technicolor for a fashion show then returns its regularly scheduled programming. The film even includes a work-out video and a cat fight at the Nevada divorce ranch.

Little Foxes (1941) - Wyler
I thought (because of the title) I was going to see and some southern belles preparing for their first Cotillion and a few gratuitous pillow fights, not quite. There was a slow set-up (but the fireworks in the third act more than make up for it) where the ultimate bad ass is revealed. This wouldn’t be out of place on a double bill with The Founder (2016)

★★★½

Klute * (1971) - Pakula
This is a brilliant character study of a complicated career gal in New York City. There is a great jittery soundtrack which immediately suggests the 70s paranoid thriller genre. She lives next door to a funeral home. Bree is irresistible; she supplies the permissive okay to her clients with her “Let it all hang out, baby; we are both mature adults here” spiel. The villain is wonderfully bent. He gets away with all his crimes, but can’t leave well enough alone. He jump starts the cold case by bringing in a private detective and begins dropping bread crumbs for him. Bree is the only clue to a missing (and now feared dead) business exec. She gets a seedy glimpse into her future when she helps the detective (Klute) track down a missing junkie /hooker. Klute is unafraid of her moods, unafraid of her anger, even though Bree keeps pushing him away he is always right there, in her face. She is completely baffled by this small town cop from the sticks. Fonda is given a couple of great acting scenes.

Four Days in September (1997) - Barreto
The film allows each and every character to be sympathetic in this kidnapping drama. Although a few of the characters carelessly self-incriminate themselves with their time in the spotlight. The ambassador is great with his semantic tap dancing. There is a horrid moment when the policeman justifies torture. He even admits the majority of his brutalized and broken victims are unsuspecting Poly Sci majors who learn the hard way that the state will do everything (up to and including mass murder) to keep power from falling legitimately into the hands of the people. There is a nice reminder that in a police state, all the old hens and malcontents will to remain at their assigned post as a sacred trust and flood the police snitch lines with tips on the people in their neighbourhood who appear odd, walk funny, do suspicious things (according to them) and they not above having people disappeared over old simmering grudges.

Mrs. Miniver (1942) - Wyler
This was made has a special invitation to the Yanks to please join World War 11. The British stiff upper lip is embodied by this one suburban family during the bombing campaign. The husband takes his Yacht for a spin over to Dunkirk and returns with it riddled with bullets. The son becomes an ace pilot. The entire male population of the town is hunting for a downed German bomber but the wife is the one that disarms and captures him. The poor sod’s arm hangs limp and useless at his side, he hasn’t eaten in four or five days, yet he still manages to uncork a great bug eyed, Hitlerian rant before being led away. Sunday service continues every week in a bombed out church. The morning after their house was bombed, they gather to survey the improvements: a splendid new panoramic view of the entire neighbourhood from the living room couch. It was at this point I imagined a comedy troupe was about to wander on screen and commandeer the film. “I’ve ‘ad worse, Gerry! Give it up!” The eponymous Mrs.Miniver is a prize winning rose: the secret ingredient? Horse manure; not unlike the propaganda in this film but this is devastatingly glorious propaganda.

Clara (2018) - Sherman
This is a low budget love fable masquerading as Science fiction. Our astrophysicistprofessor is on a downward trajectory. Ourcurmudgeon gets one smart ass question too many during his lecture and decides to go for the full body slam by proving logically that searching for the presence of extra-terrestrial life in the universe is a much a smarter bet then trying to find true romance here on earth. He’s called to the Dean’s office later that afternoon after a never ending parade of emotionally distraught and teary eyed students complaining he used big math to prove they were going to die alone and unloved. He is given the boot (who cares) but he gets his telescope time revoked (major problem) and now he needs a way back in.

A Pain in the Ass (1973) - Molinaro
This starts off a serious crime drama with a car bombing gone wrong; there is a quick settling of accounts where the careless bomber (the target is now in protective custody) is made redundant (bullet to the head) and a more competent man is given the contract. There is a nice hand held camera in certain scenes and the great stone face of Lino Ventura. The best thing about this film is the seamless transition; where the hitman remains in his gritty gangster film but a comedy slowly forms around him from until he is up to the neck (and I can pinpoint the exact moment when he goes under.) The hitman ends up in the countryside and needs to get back into town immediately for the kill shot. He simply steps in front of an oncoming car. The camera holds on the driver so I’m guessing this was a famous race car driver from the 60s, and they take off at a 120 mph. When he nervously reaches for the seat belt and buckles up, that is the moment when he concedes the defeat.

Hurry Sundown (1967) - Preminger
The film begins with an aerial shot of the wheelers and dealers already counting their lucre; the only thing that stands in the way of progress (in the year of our Lord 1946) are two plots at the edge of a (whites only) real estate development, and securing them from the share croppers is a mere formality. Resistance to change in the film is established with an ironic counterpoint; the new preacher man desegregates the highway to heaven and mixes the races during the Sunday sacrament, and an old white cracker goes ballistic over having to share his communion wafer with the coloreds. On the down side, the movie fails to establish and hold a realistic tone to the proceedings; Michael Caine and Jane Fonda both take a run at a southern drawl and fail; there is some bad looping (you can hear the redubs in certain scenes) and clocking in at 2:26 it’s one cool, lingering lemonade drink in the shade too many. On the upside, there is sly sexual innuendo and hilarious characterizations, like the old judge never goes anywhere without his rubber donut. This is a kind of a curiosity; but I liked this because of the duplicitous absurdity on display there.

Broken (2017) - Norris
Three (broken) families form an interactive triangle on a dead-end street in North London. The lead character’s name (Skunk) immediately suggested Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird and immediately imposed that film’s perspective of a young girl’s point of view leaving childhood and entering the bewildering adult world. Her mom simply skipped town with another man. Her older brother delights in tormenting her about the sadistic hazing she is going to get when she enters high school at the end of summer. The first time director fills his scenes with business; there are delightful throwaway moments like tiny terror dancing on the stairs. This actually wants me to revisit TKAM simply to check out the age of Scout’s au pair.

I'm debating whether to go and see this in the cinema. Maybe it's harsh to judge after one film but I hated Dogtooth so I haven't wanted to watch any of films from Lanthimos since. Trailer looks interesting and the subject matter quite suited to comedy, I think it would at least be interesting to see the audience reaction to the film.

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I’ve only seen his last three films and apart from a mild progression there is no great stylistic jump between them. Lanthimos's films seem to be about individuals trapped in closed social worlds with rigidly prescribed and enforced behaviors. The main characters seem to have self-awareness that their world is completely false and perverted, yet they deliberately harm themselves in order to belong to the group because the price for non-conformity is even worse.

View Spoilers

WARNING: "" spoilers below

There is a scene in the film where Emma Stone enters the castle as a lowly scullery maid and as a hazing prank the kitchen crew tricks her into plunging her hand into a bucket of lye.

There is a scene in the film where Emma Stone enters the castle as a lowly scullery maid and as a hazing prank the kitchen crew tricks her into plunging her hand into a bucket of lye.

Lanthimos clearly has a wry (sadistic?) sense of humour and a certain sector of the movie going audience will never ever find him funny. So I imagine your reaction to the Favourite would not be that much different from Dogtooth.

Seen in December Pt.2



My second Andrew Haigh film. He seems to have his own unique style, he portrays his stories in a very quiet and quaint way, no over-the-top camera angles or music. He also really has a way with direction, there's lots of gorgeous shots of nature in this (Like there were gorgeous shots of the rain-soaked English country-side in 45 Years). Despite being only 2 hours, it felt very long, probably because it has so much content in it. The performances were fine, didn't like how the main guy kept muffling his words. It was pretty emotional too: In a sad way and in a happy way, like when he's with the horse at the lake and he's just very happy and content, that got a smile out of me.


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RE-WATCH
Ok, I’ll be honest, it’s not as good as I remember. I still enjoyed it though. There are still bits that are really funny (When someone asks you if you are a god you say YES!) and the final battle is still cool as hell.



So if you don’t know, this is ‘Shrek’ recreated shot-for-shot by over 200 different people. I noticed a TON of people I recognized while watching the film: Antony Fantano, Chris Chan, UnkleJoel, Big Man Tyrone and Noah Munck (aka Gibby from iCarly). The film is made with a very ironic, meme sense of humour which may not appeal to some, but I’m a sucker for that s*it. It’s just a wonderful expression of passion and creativity. I loved the ‘Hallelujah ‘ scene.



I mean I loved Bill and Ted so it’s no surprise I loved this. The slightly ‘plotless’ nature of the film may be off-putting to some, but it didn’t bother me. I loved all the ‘dude-bro’ language and humour and the fourth-wall breaks were very funny too.


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Almost finished with Denis Villeneuve's filmography. He's just great at his craft, he manages to make this film so good looking, the shots (The bus one holy crap), the tint, the shot composition, this dude's got himself perfected I think. The story is pretty original and great. It's really emotional too. I noticed that in one scene Denis used that stupid stock scream you hear in every cartoon or screamer video from the mid-2000's, but he actually makes it work. Just shows how talented he is. It was a good choice to have it take place in an unknown country in a fictional war, using a real war may have felt exploitative.




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RE-WATCH
I don’t like it as much as my other nostalgia-fest films but it’s still a classic. The spooky score by John Williams is amazing and the comedy is great.



You can tell that the dude who made this absolutely loves movies. References to famous directors, Citizen Kane, the Godfather. There are montages of the film production set to beautiful classical music. The passion is steaming up the room. As a film nerd there's something so lovely about this film about films, it expresses perfectly what the appeal of cinema and the creation of it is. Usually in these 'film within a film' films the fictional film is very half-assed, but in this film it looks like a legit film the director would make. On the technical side it's great film-making with excellent montages and engaging characters.


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Having the Muppets act out A Christmas Carol sounds bonkers but it actually works. Michael Caine makes an excellent Scrooge and an excellent singer! There’s some funny moments, sad moments and absolutely heartwarming moments. The songs are great too. The amount of puppetry that must’ve gone into this is incomprehensible, so much talent here.



Interesting opening. I see some people don't like the washed-out colours and film tint (A big contrast to the colourful Amadeus), but I think it works: It shows how dirty (physically and morally) people were back then. Nobody took showers, they were constantly sweating underneath their white face-paint, just general grossness. I won't lie I got bored and inattentive halfway through (Committed the unforgivable sin of looking at different tabs on my laptop). There's lots of good about the film though. The make-up is really nice, there's good performances and casting choices all around, and the soundtrack was great (My favourite element of this film). I loved the scenes where Depp was teaching Morton to act.


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I don't think I've ever seen a film like this before. It just has a very unique tone. It feels nostalgic and rural, being set in a tiny village in the '50's. I got incredibly invested in the story and characters. I loved all the characters. I loved the mystery. I loved the romance. I just don't know how to describe it cause it's so unique. The light-hearted tone and comedy was very nice. The performances were great.


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The script seems to jump from one story to the next, one minute it's a murder mystery the next he's stopping the end of the world. I feel like this film would be better if it was shortened and focused on the president story and the moral dilemma of it. I liked Walken's performance and so is the film-making.

Final films of 2018!



An interesting take on the story. There’s lots of good comedy. Murray is great in this. I really loved that ending speech.



Aw, this was so nice and wholesome! I hope that ticket boy got the message.


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This is one strange film. It has no style or grace, but the songs and the whole corniness makes it a blast to watch. Streep was a good singer but apart from that…oof (Pierce Brosnan singing ’S.O.S.’ was so bloody surreal). Most certainly gonna watch the sequel.



1.Loved this short, Buster Scruggs is a really fun character (That scene with the table OMG that was amazing!). I wouldn’t have mind if the whole film was about him.
2.This was a strange one, it felt like it was taking too long to get to a single punchline.
3. A simple, sad tale with minimal dialogue.
4. I loved this one, the scenes of the nature were beautiful.
5.The ending was cool but this story was just too long.
6.What was even the point of this one?

Ranking: 1.4.3,2,5,6

Julie and Julia - Rewatch. I still liked this one. Julia Child's voice is irritating. Amy Adams is adorable. good flick.

Little Women - Masterpiece Theatre version with Ethan Hawke's daughter and Angela Lansbury. This is emotionally draining. Well made, and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

The Dark Tower - Dreadful. Could they have tried any less to make a good movie? Not an adaptation of Stephen King's epic fantasy, but a continuation of the series....sort of. It's slow, dull, joyless, confusing, and the casting is really bad.

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

https://shawnsmovienight.blogspot.com/

Where is everyone in here?


January, 2019 movies watched-

Ginger Snaps (2000) Repeat viewing - I don't think the last half hour is quite as good as the rest.

A Field in England (2013) Some good qualities that don't quite add up to a good film.

Mandy (2018) Not as crazy as I expected.

The Killing Gene (2007) - Brutal with a good cast. Just wish it were better.

[b]Philosophy of a Knife (2008) Maybe the most depraved movie ever made, and it's over 4 hours long.

Saw (2004) Repeat viewing + I enjoyed the hell out of it even if much of it seemed preposterous.

The Blood on Satan's Claw (1971) Pretty good British horror.

Peppermint (2018) Way too run of the mill.

Shadow of the Vampire (2000) + Pretty well done but forgettable.

Martyrs (2008) Repeat viewing Much better this time around even though I still find the last 40 minutes to be a bit of a let down.

Saw II (2005) Repeat viewing - Not as good as the first but I was just as entertained.

Trip with the Teacher (1975) An exploitation movie that barely passes as exploitation.

Don't Torture a Duckling (1972) I was surprised by just how solid this movie was.

Chaos (2005) Garbage that I wouldn't recommend to anyone, yet I liked it. This is not the Jason Statham movie of the same year and name.

Faust (1926) Maybe I'll love it the next time because it seemed like the total package.

Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (1981) Way more fun than it has any right to be.

The Last House on the Beach (1978) Ok Italian rape and revenge.

Bad Times at the El Royale (2018) As much as I liked it, it should have been better.

Sleep Tight (2011) A great hidden gem thriller.

Ringu (1998) At least as good as the remake.

Saw III (2006) - I liked it but the series is definitely trending downward.

Girls Against Boys (2012) - Would have been better if more consistent.

Halloween (2018) Has it's moments but not notable for anything.

Opera (1987) + One of Argento's best.

Scream (1996) Repeat viewing - Not a favorite but plenty entertaining.

Absurd (1981) + Some great scenes.

Total January viewings-26

I think it's got something to do with quite a few of the usual contributors (e.g. mark f, Minio, myself) giving up posting in here.

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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

A description so straightforward I'd go gay for it!

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/watching movies for mark f/
MovieMeditation's Cinema Reviews // Film Diary 2015 // Letterboxd Profile // MovieMeditation's Top 50 Horror

At least you post in the other thread but I still would feel a certain comfort when seeing your tabs here. Not seeing Mark's thoughts anywhere makes me absolutely mental, and as far as Minio, hopefully he escapes custody and comes back.

I think some folks get frustrated when they take the time to post and nobody comments. For me, I actually am not that into talking about movies that much. I love movies and the site, but prefer to mainly just read, digest opinions, and take notes.

Key

• Like
• Meh
• Dislike

Rewatches are in italics, underlined and marked with asterisk*

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Letterboxd

It really is a question of whether or not the endeavour is truly worth the effort, which I've definitely been going back and forth on for a variety of reasons before deciding to quit.

Seen in January Pt.1


RE-WATCH
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You know how you’ll see people referring to certain movies as ‘classics’ and ‘masterpieces’ and then when you see them you’re like “Yeah it was good, but it wasn’t anything special’. But with Alien, I think I agree with those guys. I realised this in the scene when they were going to inspect the ship: The atmosphere, the music, the sets, it was so effective. Some may see this as bias due to the film’s popularity, but I just find this a masterful exercise in atmosphere, hour and film-making.



It’s a cool concept made into a great story. I loved all the characters and different stories (Holy crap the Diner guy was such a good character). All the performances are good. It’s themes of race and gender are a bit on the nose, but they’re effective. Tobey Maguire's little speech at the end of how things are changing that old people don’t understand is still so relevant today.



I really don't understand the glowing reviews of this, but as Clint Eastwood once said "Opinions are like butt-holes, everyone has one". You don’t know how glad I was when I found out this didn’t have any stupid monotone dialogue like the previous Yorgos’ films. The performances from the leading ladies were great, wouldn’t mind them taking home the Oscar’s. As a period drama it’s quite effective: The sets, natural lighting and soundtrack are all very good. The comedy wasn’t laugh out loud or anything, but it was fun. The ending was very interesting. Maybe Yorgos’ best film so far?



David Slade is one of those directors who you don’t actively seek out his films yet they sneak up on you anyway. This feels like a Black Mirror episode (Cute references to previous episodes) and it’s own thing at the same time. The way in which it played with the concept of ‘choose your own adventure’ was really cool; How the main character soon started to become aware of you. I felt like I was violating someone. Good performance from the main lead.

Also the ‘Netflix’ ending, holy mother of god, that was glorious.


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Off the bat, this film is really well lit. The ‘calm before the storm’ atmosphere in the first half was handled very well. Not much else to say, just a very good horror film.



Not only is it silly popcorn fun, it’s also great film-making! Can’t wait to check out the sequels. The CIA heist scene was masterful.


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Did we REALLY need this film? The direction appears to be trying to emulate the direction of the first: Lots of scenes where Michael is silently stalking people in the shadows (That one shot where the nurse is talking and you can see him slightly in the baby ward, so spooky!). I guess what brings this film down a lot is it’s more focused on violent slasher deaths than actual suspense.


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While we have Marvel movies, baby boomers had James Bond. Silly popcorn fun with great suspense, action and soundtrack.


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Was very excited for this after seeing the trailers. After seeing it, I thought it was ok, but fairly disappointing.

Good stuff:
-Opening scene
-The references to the original didn’t draw attention to themselves in an annoying fanboy way.
-The long shot was impressive.
-The black kid being babysat was hilarious.
-Soundtrack by Jon Carpenter was very good.
-Jamie Lee Curtis’ performance was great
-The film shows off really well just how f*cking evil Michael is: Violently smashing people against doors etc. I think the casting choice added to this: The man playing him is very fit looking and is 2 meters tall. Very threatening.
-The final battle was intense as hell (Also that ‘gotcha’ moment gave me goosebumps it was so good.

Bad stuff:
-While Laurie was pretty badass in the film, she also seemed a bit of a jerkwad. Kinda out of character for her.
-The fast paced editing was very annoying.

Apart from the stuff with Laurie, the whole film felt unnecessary.


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It was fine

★★

They shall not grow old (2018) - Jackson
This is essentially war propaganda; footage from a century ago is given a digital spit and polish with not a single thing added from the present day. There is a simple arc of enlistment, training, trench warfare, a jog over to the other side, the armistice, and the return home to the clueless civilian population. The climax of film is one horrific push across no man’s land while being strafed by machine guns---they didn’t do that once---they ran across no man’s land every single week for four long years, so the open insanity of war is effectively concealed for the audience. There is only a glancing shot in the film of one soldier with the beginnings of shell shock (his hand twitches with the pulse of adrenaline) which is a natural reaction to aerial bombardment for days and weeks on end. It’s irresponsible to present this material shrink wrapped of any political content. Simply presenting footage from the other side that also loved God and country and apple pie (or strudel in their case) and went off to war to protect their way of life would have raised the essential question: why was that war fought if they are fighting for the exact same things? It’s absolutely astonishing the truth remains an official secret a hundred years after the fact. I have to give top marks to New Zealanders for still referring to the Armistice, in more dishonest nations it has been rebranded as Remembrance Day. As for the eponymous title, this is just the Darwinian thinning of the herd.

Mishima: a life in four chapters (1985) - Schrader
What a waste of celluloid. The film strangely uses encapsulations of his novels (which are fictitious) and crass publicity stunts as actual, lived life. Even a cursory glance at the encapsulations the film uses reveals far more banal explanations. In one of his books he wants to kidnap and kill the top ten capitalists in Japan then leave everything to the one remaining hyper capitalist; the emperor/ living god who will then redistribute all wealth and privilege based on direct blood lines. It’s hard to take this bird brain seriously. I did like the moments of pink; some set decoration and lighting---and the vibrant sound track from Phillip Glass contributes hugely in the effort, but this is all wasted on a pathologically vain, egocentric, strutting glory hound that only opened his mouth to remind everyone what a genius he was. The biggest lie is that he was too damn beautiful to go on living; his suicide was merely a marketing device to sell more books and the film becomes another embarrassing publicity plug in that continuing effort.

Glass (2019) - Shyamalan
This movie celebrates the buying and collecting of comic books as essential education about the real world; only they tell the dark truths. This comic book universe is set up immediately by a guy (a fruit cake with multiple personalities who can’t manage to go two minutes without being bumped off-screen by another raging drama queen scrambling for their time in the spotlight) who waltzes into a cheerleader practice and makes off with not one, but four bonny lasses without anyone noticing or caring. Kudos to McAvoy’s agent who cleverly reworked in the fine print of his contract to state he was to be paid---not for the role but for each the individual character creation in the film resulting in McAvoy’s biggest film paycheck ever, the producers of the film are still bitching and moaning they had to shell out twenty times more than what they had originally budgeted for.** Jackson’s roles are becoming increasingly sedentary; here he is comatose for three quarters of the film, he executes one daring stunt during the film; he falls out of his wheelchair---which actually is fraught with real danger because Jackson is 71. Old ladies are breaking hips at that age. These senior citizens are way too old (Willis is 64) to be still doing action films.

★★½

UFO (2018) - Eslinger
The story is actually missing the third act, what we have here is a low budget sketch of a math genius (on the eve of his year-end finals) becoming obsessed with the mathematical contradictions emanating from an UFO incident at the local airport. He begins to work the problem which becomes his audition and job application (the extraterrestrial travel section) for DARPA. I liked it because a section of the FBI simply does public relations, they feed the gullible public a routine cover story and lock down any challenges to the official narrative; eye witnesses are simply held until they sign an affidavit of secrecy. Part of the exercise involves the media following along in lock step,ridiculing everyone who doesn’t believe the official cover story.

Kanto Wanderer (1963) - Suzuki
The criminal gang in question is on its last legs, everyone would immediately get a huge salary bump with a day job or a legit business; the only one who holds the clan together and still believes in the code of honor is thelieutenant Kanto. The amorality here is that the crooked allegiances can’t be broken but probably should be. Suzuki uses the women in the film to mirror how ridiculous is the Yakuza code of honor. You are here for the mise-en-scène, the lightning tricks, and the flashes of color.

Ride the Pink Horse (1947) - Montgomery
Our hero arrives by bus in a sleepy little Mexican town swollen to the gills for the annual festival. He doesn’t understand Spanish; all the hotel rooms have been booked in advance for months; he hides a piece of paper in a luggage check in the bus station then hides the key to it with a piece of chewing gum behind a wall map in the waiting room. Clearly our man is a rocket scientist. In the swanky hotel, he sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the rich American tourists and a big city cop simply strolls up to him in the lobby and asks him instead avenging and blackmailing his best friend’s killer would he be so good as to simply hand over the proof to him and he’ll take care of everything lawfully. When our hero goes looking for a room for the night in the poorer Mexican quarters he drops his tough guy routine and is warm and affable amongst them. There is a suggestion he is suffering from PTSD from the war.

Cold War (2018) - Pawlikowski
The difficult story at the heart of this film doesn’t really match the marvelous black and white photography. She’s a hard luck woman; an abusive father has left her scarred with a permanent mistrust of men. This is a love story with a curse; they run parallel to and criss-cross each other briefly all their lives, unable to be together and unable to be apart.

The Shooting (1966) - Hellman
This is a strange western where a question mark is placed at the end of every sequence. A prospector bringing supplies back to his gold camp suspects he is being followed by someone, so he pierces the 10 pound bag of flour so they won’t have any trouble following him. Say what? When he arrives in camp only one terrified man / child remains; hiding inside his tent and taking pot shots any sounds outside. The two other guys in the crew went into town a couple days earlier and something happened (which is never explained) someone was run over and there may have been a child involved and they immediately high-tailed it back to camp. The other guy was killed by an unknown sniper during his morning coffee. And his brother not wanting to join him six feet underground has wisely taken to the hills. The next day, a woman wanders into camp and offers the prospector a fortune to hunt someone down. The woman echoes the man/child’s fear; ever so often on the trail she empties her gun in all directions for no apparent reason. They follow the trail into the desert, their horses drop dead from exhaustion, their empty water canteens soon follow and they continue on foot in the scorching sun … chasing what?

★★★

Fight Club * (1999) - Fincher
Jack in not insensitive to the world. Jack’s insomnia and alienation comes directly from his day job of cheating people out of their insurance claims and hiding corporate crimes scenes. He even spills the beans to a complete stranger on an airplane: if all the payouts remain less than an actual recall (the idea being that dead customers tell no tales of corporate culpability) it’s business as usual. The hunter-gather society has disappeared and all the red meat has been placed in the glossy pages of catalogues and on-line shopping with advertising orchestrating the cravings of the consumers. One of reasons for avoiding a film is the presence of one of these two lunkheads in the lead role, so this is a double whammy which unexpectedly improved with a second re-watch.

Sleep Tight (2011) - Balaguero
This is s mean spirited thriller about a concierge who wants to spread as much misery as he can in the world (it’s the only time he feels truly alive) all the while maintaining his polite, fawning exterior for the tenants. The owner of the building hates his guts and patiently collects each dereliction of duty for his iron-clad dismissal notice one proof at a time. When the axe falls, the concierge says farewell to an elderly lady (the sweetest person in the whole the building) by describing when she dies alone in her apartment she is going be eaten by her poodles. The film is rather off-putting because it’s so laced with malice.

Ben is Back (2018) - Hedges
When a wayward son in rehab shows up unexpectedly on the family doorstep, I was bracing for one belated, humdinger of a Festivus celebration where the all the family secrets where painfully revealed. Instead, this strangely resembles the visit from the first ghost in A Christmas Carol in that Ben is forced to revisit all his horrible deeds and rock bottom moments as a drug addict with his mom in tow during Christmas Eve. The film fudges a bit during his quest (ruling out all the suspects one by one) because he knows in advance he skipped town with a huge outstanding debt to a drug dealer who has climbed the ranks in the underworld and become even more powerful in during his absence.

Shoplifters (2018) - Kore-eda
There is a great reveal when the boy returns home and asks the little girl if she is going to return to her family; this functions as a soliloquy because he is standing alone in the alley looking at her off-screen, which immediately suggests her story is repeating his, the family also “rescued” him. It’s the boy’s conscience that fuels the drama, he gets tiny signals that confirm this from the elderly shopkeeper who loads him up with sweets then whispers in his ear: please don’t to teach your little sister to steal, to the way the parental units ghoulishly celebrate finding grandma’s secret money stash. Japanese society appears to be far more rigid and conformist; in western societies (I would hope) any openly loving surrogate family would be accepted as genuine.

The film slyly points out the financial structures in Japanese society are the actual shoplifters in the film creating the dysfunction of people who fall through the cracks of society. Bosses no longer fire anyone but send workers out into the alley outside to fight it out amongst themselves and the only the most desperate and clueless return. The father works renegade construction so when he is injured, there is no workman compensation to help him recover. The family can no longer afford to go see the annual fireworks display downtown, so they instead sit on the back porch and look up at the empty sky imagining the iridescent bursts from the sounds of a booming market economy.

Inju: the Beast in the Shadow (2008) - Schroeder
Alex Fayard travels to Japan to promote his first novel, which is a kind of pastiche of a reclusive Japanese pulp fiction writer’s style (who is notoriously publicity shy) he has never be seen or spoken in public yet he phones the live TV literary program Alex is appearing on to say how displeased he is with this foreign devil ripping him off and warning Alex to leave Japan or else. The book publisher immediately begins doing cartwheels in the wings because this public feud virtually guarantees the novel will be a best seller. Apart from an impeccable first sentence in Japanese Alex appears immediately lost afterwards so everyone speaks French to him. The identity of Japanese writer is complete mystery for the entire population of Japan, yet Alex quickly zeroes in on his true identity and is within days of meeting his idol in the flesh. The tone of the film is overtly theatrical and stilted; the lead is wonderfully wooden and out of place.

Kids Return (1996) - Kitano
This is about two best childhood buddies entering the adult world (which is far more corrupt than anything they could have imagined) and the proverbial parting of the ways. The prevailing opinion amongst the teachers is that expelling the twin terrors of the hallways would require too much effort so they tolerant them coasting through their remaining months of high school, pranking students and teachers alike. Masura joins a boxing club for revenge when he bullies the wrong boy out of his pocket money. The quieter one, Shinji (who taxis him around town on his bike) eventually begins training at the gym also, but he has a real gift; he can knock people out. One great prank finally gets them kicked out of school. Masura quickly loses interest in the amount of hard work involved in becoming a professional boxer and joins the Yakuza tragically learning, as an organization they have no sense of humour. Shinji continues training but he is too meek to stand on his own and is corrupted by a second rate boxer that shows him all the short-cuts to his own ruin. Their tale is sandwiched between two other stories; an aspiring comedy duo that eventually makes it; and in an attempt to gain the attention of a daughter in a family restaurant, a shy classmate works himself to death.

Pillow Talk (1959) - Gordon
Great set design and costumes in this film. The two leads are supported by strong secondary characters; the hapless, twice divorced multi-millionaire who is willing to book a church the moment she says yes to his declaration and her maid who shows up for work each morning with a hangover and has to hang on for dear life during the elevator ride to her apartment. I liked the slightly malevolent idea that the playboy originally set out on a Frank T.J. Mackey seduce and destroy mission to personally deliver hercomeuppance then for the good of the comedy ended up falling in love with her.

Of Time and the City (2008) - Davies
A dazzling opening reveals the shadows of the past and the ghosts of days gone by. There is a direct comparison between a small child’s first tottering steps and the last shuffles of octogenarians held up by canes and elbows at the ready. This is fleshed out with a few poetic observations and one of the best lines I’ve heard in a movie in a long time: “As you are now, we once were” which speaks to the futility of old age standing in the optimism of youth and the look of utter disbelief on their face. As in listen to me you whippersnapper, one day in the not too distant future, your hair will turn white, your teeth will fall out, your magnificent body will become a frail bag of bones like mine. And by the time you realize this: it will be too late.

There is a sly suggestion that the repressive ideologies of the past (church and state) have been replaced with that of the global market place which is even more cruel and mercenary. The gargantuan dock structures do the work of a thousand men; the monumental daggers of crystal (each condo has marbled floors and an east European maid) that slice the sky; the exclusive franchise restaurants that sell the same 125 dollar sandwichin Miami, Shanghai, and Liverpool. It’s not alienation, baby---you just can’t afford it.

Cyclo (1995) - Tran
This film has a great villainess. She is a successful businesswoman who sings like a songbird; dotes on her mentally disabled son; and lives in luxury from the people she ensnares with her miserable debt traps. Her right hand man is a reluctant gangster; in better world he would have been a poet and a teacher, but in this one he is a blackheart and a pimp who gets nosebleeds whenever he is overwhelmed emotionally. The indentured slaves (brother and sister) despite being lodged across the street from one another are tricked into paying off each other’s debts. She becomes a prostitute. And he starts as entry-level muscle in the underworld---a slight step up financially from being a cyclo-cab driver but a huge step down as a human being. From their second story apartment windows, there is a river of bicycles glimpsed at any hour of day or night.

★★★½

Raise the Red Lantern * (1991) - Yimou
Unable to afford her tuition when her father dies, a college student is yanked from university and shipped off on a rich man. Penniless and powerless in the world, her only remaining act of autonomy is to refuse. Unfortunately, she can’t afford to be emotionally detached as the fourth wife in this medieval estate: this is a swim or sink competition and not being in the master’s favor seriously reduces her quality of life in the great house. These women have to live in the ethereal hue of the red lanterns, but there is no way to actively influence the master’s nightly whims; the only options available are to outmaneuver and aggressively neutralize the other women. The greatest prestige of a foot massage is that you are denying this privilege from the other wives. The acoustics are such that the sounds (or the cries and secret whispers) emanating from one house resonate just as clearly in all the other houses … omigod, it’s a wonder they all didn’t go insane.

Rebellion (2o11) - Kassovitz
This starts off as a kind of delta force thing (the French GIGN is a kind of national SWAT team for crisis situations) then morphs into a moral awakening for our hero. As a seasoned negotiator he works the problem and finds common ground between the two warring parties; he diffuses the situation and wins the day; unfortunately by the time he realizes he is only used as the moral facade to briefly engage their attention, it’s too late. There is a whole witches' brew of self- interest here of people who want to exploit the situation; the main one being this crisis is occurring during an election period and no electorate on earth would elect a wimp. The back room boys gleefully seize the opportunity to show the voters they are law and order candidates to the bitter end. One interesting idea: he actually says the use of the term “terrorist” is a dissociative trick deliberately used to make mass murder more palatable for the masses, one wouldn’t feel remorse over killing a rat or cockroach, why would one shed tears over a terrorist?

UV (2007) - Paquet-Brenner
Everything is suggestion in this story where a mysterious, hunky stranger shows up at a palatial villa on the French Rivera looking to reconnect with his boyhood friend. The young people frolic in the sun. The father is a spry old fogey who knows the limits of his failing power. He putters around the villa in his slippers but his presence and routine dominates the house. Every so often the old guy gives a glancing look of quiet evil; his children are indolent layabouts waiting for a hand out simply because he would never tolerate ambition or talent in anyone close to him otherwise his animal instincts would kick in, those ones about eating the young. The title suggests the father is a monster who has quietly irradiated his family. Each year the waters off shore from this municipality claim a victim or two who foolishly over-estimate their ability to swim with the sharks.

* = rewatch
** I’m kidding

Pretty old tabs, but I haven’t gone a movie binge for a while now…

November (2017) –
A beautiful, twisted, and sometimes amusing folk tale. The focal romantic tragedy isn’t that interesting, but the odd folklore enveloping it is great, and the opening scene is one of the more hilarious I’ve seen lately. Music, cine, and setting are all gorgeous too. As a Floridian, seeing Estonians’ tolerance for cold weather is like struggling to lift 200 pounds while the guy next to you is benching 500 with one arm.

The Predator (2018) –
I’d like to earnestly rate it higher, because it did make me laugh, but the thriller/action portions are just so bleh, and the leads are cutouts. The movie would be worth watching if it’d just gone full comedy.

What We Do in the Shadows (2015) –
Vampire mockumentary. It’s hard not recommend to everyone. Characters and writing are just so enjoyable and funny.

Halloween (2018) –
Some odd unnatural dialogue and cringey scenarios, but entertaining overall. Jamie Lee is very good, and MM was exhibited pretty well for a 60-something year old unstoppable killer. It’s far from great, but it did tingle my nostalgia senses, and I think there’s rewatchability here. Mr. Carpenter assists with the score again as well, and it sounds good. I’ll have to give Halloween II another spin, but this is probably my favorite of the sequels.

The Seventh Continent (1989) –
A depiction of depression and routine dreariness that feels much more genuine than most. There’s no sense of hope or relief in mood; just a feeling of being trapped in first world monotony. In effect, it gets boring, but it needs to.

I got so confused for a moment thinking this was me.

Also a bit insulted... 60!? The killing-thing is on point, but I'm not 60!

I am looking forward to see November, reanimator!

VICE was nominated for 8 oscars ...so i know whose opinion I value the most....take a seat pal.

Yeah, let us know if you still feel that way when they pass over ya boi for Rami Malek.

it's an honor to be nominated. The movie is already in the record books of film history.