In Order of Disappearance A guy, mixed up with some Norwegian drug dealers, gets his friend killed via overdose which doesn't sit very well with his Pa. His Pa, a snowplow driver, knows something is fishy because his kid wasn't a heroin addict. He starts poking around and eventually goes on a revenge tour trying to get to the top of what happened. Stars Stellan Skarsgård as the grieving father hell bent on revenge. Much better than your average revenge flick.
Ford vs Ferrari - Another
film. I'm not much of a car guy, more of a put it in (D)umb and go, but this was good. One of the Ford's decides to build race cars to compete against Ferrari in the 24 Hour Le Mans after being insulted by Enzo. Good performances from Bale and Damon and the racing scenes were pretty exciting. The ending sucked but apparently that's what really happened.
Cargo 200 - A young girl gets abducted in the boonies of 1980's USSR by a policeman who is moonlighting at a moonshine distillery. Takes a while to get there but trust me, it'll happen. Unbeknownst to the guy (but later beknownst), the girl is the daughter of a well connected Russian dude. Doesn't matter to the guy. He keeps her and a search for the missing girl begins. There's a lot more to this one than a simple kidnapping flick and it's obviously saying something about 1980's USSR but my knowledge of that era of the Soviet Union is all supplied from Kurt Loder and MTV News (They didn't have Jordache? The Horror!). The conditions for the girl in this guys apartment get a little nasty (IT'S A STIFFFFFF!) but this isn't a gore/torture porn flick at all. One of those movies that keeps ramping up the tension until the finale.
Murder Set Pieces - (rewatch) I saw this a long time ago but think it was a heavily edited version. This was definitely not the edited version and it didn't make it any better. A serial killer/rapist kills and rapes and does a lot of driving in Las Vegas. If it wasn't for all the raping and killing it could be a nice little tourism video for the parts of Vegas that nobody wants to go to. This gore-fest, splatter, shocker sucks.
Oppenheimer - Really wish somebody would tell Nolan that you don't need bombastic music in EVERY ****ING SCENE! Especially when people are talking. Other than that I really liked it. Would not be surprised if RDJ walks away with a little statue from this.
The Woman in the Window - Noir about a professor who sees a woman in the window, goes for a drink with her, ends up at her apartment, another guy comes in and he's angry, "WHAT THE **** YOU DOING HERE?!?" a struggle ensues, the other guy dies, the guy and gal get rid of the body, it gets found, an investigation begins, it doesn't look good for the Professor and the end. The ending was awful BUT it was pretty good up to then.
Stray Dog - First Kurosawa film that I didn't like. A cop has his gun pick-pocketed on the bus and begins a search in the seedier parts of town looking for the thief. Thought it was quite slow and I like my Mifune a bit more charismatic.
Out of the Past - Robert Mitchum plays an investigator trying to lose his past when he's recognized by a former associate working in a garage. Apparently there's a job about a missing woman and 400 grand that Mitchum never finished and now the boss, Kirk Douglas, having found him, wants him to finish it. This was good. Reminded me of a cross between Jackie Brown and A History of Violence.
The Big Steal - Another Mitchum film. A Lt. in the Army, Mitchum, is accused of stealing some cash from the Army and is on the run in Mexico from his Captain. The the Lt. however, is also following a guy and the guy he's following is the guy who REALLY stole the money. Not a bad film but it lost me towards the end and the car chases, there are a few, felt a little long. Not as long as driving Route 66 through Oklahoma but long.
Killers of the Flower Moon - Another very good movie. I don't think it's as good as a couple of the other BP nominees I've seen but another solid offering from Scorsese. It could maybe have been trimmed a little, especially in the first hour but who the hell am I to tell Marty how to make his films? Deniro's accent started to grate on me a little.
The Housemaid - Japanese flick about a wealthy family, husband, pregnant wife and young 'un, who hire a new housemaid to take care of the place. If you're going to hire a housemaid make sure she's at least an 8/10 when walking around and a 10/10 when cleaning the bathtub. Anyway, the husband does what husbands in his situation do, he bangs her and knocks her up. That's where things start going a little awry. Not terribly original but it was fun watching how everybody turns on everybody else and the ending is a wtf ending. This was an accidental watch as I was looking for the Park Chan-wook film with a similar name but once I got a glimpse of the wife and housemaid I figured, what the hell, this'll do. [rating4[/rating]
R100 - A sub signs up for a dominatrix service with a twist. The doms come to you but you don't know when and you don't know where. There are rules, of course, like it's a year long contract with no early cancellations and you can't touch or do anything to the girls. Think of the
Smokers Anonymous segment in Cat's Eye only with leather clad, Japanese ladies beating the hell out of you and spitting on you and doing whatever dominatrix's do. Had one hilarious scene with a heavy set expectorating lady. Disgustingly funny. Once the giant American Dom showed up to collect payment for an accidental death of one of the ladies I lost interest. Then it just got goofy. [rating]2.5[rating]