Cobpyth's Movie Log ~ 2019

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#55 - Halloween (1978) ~ November



Really easy to see why this became such a classic. It's a perfectly made slasher film, with the right amount of (atmospheric) mystery, the right amount of buildup and the right amount of shockingly scary moments. Really enjoyed this. Glad I finally saw it.
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Cobpyth's Movie Log ~ 2019



#56 - John and Mary (1969) ~ November



A man (Dustin Hoffman) and a woman (Mia Farrow) wake up together after a night out. And then they awkwardly spend the day assessing eachother's feelings, motives and character, while thinking of potential scenarios that could unfold. And their own individual past.
It's a cute little film that's obviously a product of its time. I enjoyed it.



#57 - The Castle of Cagliostro (1979) ~ November



Truly an awesome adventure film. It felt like one of those great adventurous comic books from my youth (like Tintin or the Red Knight, two Belgian comic series) coming alive on film, only with different characters. I had a blast!



#58 - The Silent Partner (1978) ~ November



Oh boy, this was GREAT! One of my instant favorite new watches from this year.

It's a superb thriller, featuring a bank robbing psychopathic Santa played by Christopher Plummer, a double-crossing nerdy bank clerk played by Elliott Gould, a couple of gorgeous women (one of them being Susannah York, whose character mostly has absolutely no clue about what's going on beneath the surface), and a whole bunch of thrilling, erotic or hilarious sequences.

This picture is absolute GOLD. Watch it!



#59 - The Irishman (2019) ~ November 15



I know this is getting released on Netflix at the end of this month, but I felt like watching this in the theater, so I did.

As to be expected from Martin Scorsese, possibly the greatest director still alive, this was stunning. It's not as flashy as Goodfellas, Casino or The Wolf of Wall Street, as he obviously wanted to tell a more existential and spiritual gangster story with this film. He succeeded wholeheartedly. Of course there's violence and of course this film also contains a lot of great humor and a couple of spectacular scenes, but overall this film plays like a philosophical lookback at the gangster ethos and the lives of those who are committing or bound to it.

De Niro, Pesci and Pacino give outstanding performances, with the latter having the opportunity to play the most famous and colorful character: Jimmy Hoffa. It's De Niro's character who's at the center of this story though, and in the end it's about how he looks back at his life and the people he got himself involved with. He looks back at how he basically became a medium within an underworld system that gradually got out of control. Functioning as a diplomatic figure and an occasional high profile assassin within the maffia culture of his time, he doesn't realize that he may be losing sight of what's actually important.



Miss Vicky's Loyal and Willing Slave
Complete agreement on The Silent Partner. Was a great discovery for me as well several years back thanks to mark f



#60 - Gladiator (2000) ~ November 16



Believe it or not, this actually was the first time I watched Gladiator. It has long been one of those really well known and well liked films that I personally never watched in its entirety. There are still some more of those left, like for instance Braveheart.

Gladiator certainly was entertaining, but it's a bit too by-the-book for it to truly have conquered my heart. I did love the music (which I already knew of course as it's really famous) and Phoenix's wild performance. It also has some really cool setpieces and it's always nice to see great actors like Richard Harris and of course Oliver Reed (who's one of my favorite actors of all time and who also died during the shooting of this film) in action.

Another famous film that I can finally check off my list.



#61 - White Dog (1982) ~ November 17



Fantastic film by Samuel Fuller. This was my third Fuller film (I've already seen The Naked Kiss and Pickup on South Street) and I must say that they've all been very interesting and peculiar in their own way. Can't wait to see more of his work. I'm probably going to watch Shock Corridor somewhere in the near future.



Miss Vicky's Loyal and Willing Slave
Nice to see you've caught up on some great films, Cob.
Can't believe you didn't follow that up with, "plus Gladiator" just to rile MV up



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#61 - White Dog (1982) ~ November 17



Fantastic film by Samuel Fuller. This was my third Fuller film (I've already seen The Naked Kiss and Pickup on South Street) and I must say that they've all been very interesting and peculiar in their own way. Can't wait to see more of his work. I'm probably going to watch Shock Corridor somewhere in the near future.

You should watch Shock Corridor asap then quickly followed by The Steel Helmet.
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Can't believe you didn't follow that up with, "plus Gladiator" just to rile MV up
You have no idea just how close to the actual words I was going to use you are. But it's heading towards Christmas. Good will to all men and all that, so I let it slide.

Tis true though



#62 - Sorry We Missed You (2019) ~ November 24



A film with a clear agenda, but that doesn't make it less powerful. I enjoyed this Ken Loach drama!



#63 - Shock Corridor (1963) ~ November 24



Deliciously weird and unique, as to be expected by Samuel Fuller. It might not've worked for me as well as some of his other films, but it was still very much worth watching!



Shock Corridor was my first Fuller film, and there was a such a sharp contrast between my preconceptions and the actual film that I don't think I fully appreciated what I was watching. The nymphos scene is pretty much all I remember from it now. Despite being his most popular film, it's probably my least favorite of the six I've seen, so I need to revisit it now that I have more familiarity with his distinct approach to cinematic form and storytelling. I love White Dog. At first glance it's just a provocative exploitation flick, but there's a ton of substance to be gleaned from it. You should seek out Fuller's I Shot Jesse James and The Baron of Arizona for the upcoming Westerns countdown. To no surprise, Fuller's voice is just as strong in those films, resulting in two films quite atypical of the genre and era.

I'm surprised that you hadn't already seen Halloween. I re-watched it earlier this year, then proceeded to run through the entire series. I respect the enormous influence Carpenter's original had on the genre, paving the way for countless slashers to follow, but the film itself doesn't really do it for me. I guess partly because I find Myers such a bland antagonist. To his fans, he's "The Shape," "The Bogeyman," the "Manifestation of Evil," but even in the original, before the sequels turn him into Laurie's brother and a murderous tool of the occult and a victim of white-trash upbringing, I still find him too humanized to be as mysteriously terrifying as he's made out to be. Mostly that's due to little nit-picky stuff on my end. I hate seeing him drive a car, for instance. I prefer to think of my slasher villains as continuously stalking in a slow, lumbering, never-ceasing walk toward their eventual victims. And if they need to close a large distance, let me just imagine that they teleported offscreen.

I'm glad to see that you loved Once Upon a Time . . . in Hollywood. It's easily my favorite film that I've watched this year (not just counting 2019 releases, but films in general). I wanted to step through the screen and live inside its world. I think it's QT's funniest film since Pulp Fiction. I'll have to see it again to know where I rank it among his films, but it's likely top-five for me, and that's already enough for me to consider it a new all-time favorite. Also happy to see that Ran and Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer made strong impressions on you. The former is a masterpiece, and the latter is the most compelling, disturbing examination of a serial killer that I've seen.

There's a lot of other movies in here that I'm keen to watch: Climax, Vox Lux, Cold War, The Forbidden Room, among others. Never even heard of John and Mary or The Silent Partner, but both sound more than worthwhile. I thought Hereditary started strongly but got weaker as it went along, so hearing that you much preferred Midsommar makes me hopeful that I'll feel the same. Spring Breakers is one of my favorite films of this decade, but I haven't heard much about The Beach Bum. Your great write-up for it has ignited my interest.
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