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Victim of The Night
No rub felt. Welcome to the Brave New World.
I feel like we've been in it for a while. I gave up any notion that I have real privacy in this world several years ago and I've been happier for it. People have pulled the strings of human thought since who knows how long, certainly since the advent of newspapers, probably since the public speech before that. I can't be stressed about it. I try to act with kindness, do as well as I can in this life, as much for others as for myself, and that's all that I think can really be asked of me. Worrying about freedom and such feels like a waste of what time I have.



I just finished THE LIFE AHEAD (3 Stars) and completed every single Oscar nominated film.

I compiled a ranked list of all the features on letterboxd.

https://boxd.it/bVtze



That opening scene is... mesmerizing
Indeed it is, and I'm glad to see you've warmed up to Aguirre since your initial viewing, Thief!


= )
Annihilation, 2018 (A)

Outstanding movie. The plot centers around a team of scientists heading into a shimmering zone that appeared three years prior, and from which no one has ever come out.

From the moment the Shimmer is mentionned, you can't help but think of Stalker. This movie has sort of that vibe, but in a vastly more esotheric fashion. The visuals, and the audio in some parts, saturate the senses in places where Stalker is almost entirely mundane. It's hard to pick up on a theme through all this, just having watched it, but even on a surface level this is just great.

It's slow, but feels shorter than it is. Every scene brings something to the whole.
If I was just rating the climax of Annihilation, I'd at least give it an A too, probably even an A+, actually; unfortunately, the rest of it didn't quite live up to that high for me, as I felt the first two acts were somewhat overshadowed by what went on inside the lighthouse, and didn't distinguish themselves to the same extent, but despite that, I still felt it was a good movie on the whole.





Soleil, O, 1967

A man from Mauritania immigrates to France. The Visitor (Robert Liensol) hopes to find opportunities, but instead encounters discrimination and condescension.

Sometimes you know almost right off the bat that you are going to vibe with a film, and that was how it was for me with this one. A group of Africans go through a ceremony with a priest, in which they pray for God's forgiveness for having spoken the "wrong" language. It is both absurd and an on-point critique, and that's the way the whole film felt.

The film follows the main character through various situations. While he starts out optimistic, we watch as he gets worn down from his various encounters. Maybe the most depressing thing about the film--which is at this point about 50 years old--is how familiar some of the situations are. In one scene, he goes to a nice house in order to apply. "Who are you?! What are you doing here?" demands a white woman from the house next door. When he says he is there to apply for a job that was listed in the paper, she doesn't believe that he could be an accountant, tells him to go back where he came from, and then threatens to call the police. It's barely removed from similar scenes we've all seen recorded on cell phones in the last five or so years.

Despite the fact that the whole film is just watching this guy get more and more disillusioned, there is an energy to the film that keeps it from feeling like a slog. At one point he sleeps with a woman. Asking her if she enjoyed herself, she sighs and says that she only slept with him because "you know what they say about Africans in bed." Then she shrugs and goes, "But . . . ". There's a brutality to the blatant way that he is repeatedly put down, but Liensol does a good job of reacting in a way that balances "this is horrible" with "this is ridiculous."

A big part of the film also has to do with the idea of colonization. This is the part where I feel a little less confident in my interpretations, but I did grasp the idea of the way that Western culture is imposed on other countries--that it is "exported" to other countries, and that people who come to visit France are expected to internalize Western values. There are some more blatant sequences to this effect--such as when the main character sits by while two white men in his office discuss why France should get immigrants from closer and not all the way from Africa--but I also feel that there were nuances I didn't 100% grasp.

Many films that walk the line of absurdity do not know how to end, but I particularly want to call out the final scene and shot of this film, which I felt was perfect. It brings the emotional arc of the main character to a nicely realized conclusion, and it makes a lot of sense.

My only criticism is that there is that issue you sometimes get with low-budget films where something about the pacing feels a little off. But at the same time, that energy that I mentioned in the film keeps it from ever dragging.

I had not heard of Med Hondo before this film (and apparently he very recently passed away). He does not have a long filmography, but I am excited to see more from him. There is an inviting energy, even to this movie which was low-budget and filmed over several years. This film only has about 300 ratings on IMDb. I encourage you to check it out if you get the chance. I was able to watch it on the Criterion Channel.






The Girl from Nowhere, 2017

A couple heading off for a romantic weekend away picks up a beautiful hitchhiker, Liza (Christia Visser). Katherine (Tamryn Spiers) is more suspicious, while Hugh (Scot Cooper) takes a decided interest in their guest. As the weekend wears on, tensions rise.

So the whole time I was watching this film, I kept thinking, "What the heck? How on Earth did this win the Golden Leopard? It has a lot of issues!".

It didn't.

I watched the wrong film called The Girl from Nowhere.

Yes, I'm mad about it.

Yes, this review is going to be more than a little sassy.

Because I thought this film was an award-winner, I really kept looking for what was good about it. (For reference, the film has a 3.9/10 average rating, so . . . ). There really isn't much, I'm sorry to say. I did think that at points there was something interesting about Katherine's push-pull relationship with Liza--being drawn toward her one moment, and then jealous and annoyed the next.

But that's really the most I can say for it. The acting is bad. Or maybe the acting isn't bad, but the writing doesn't give the actors anything to work with. The characters are in this constant state of mood swings and blow-ups. The direction is unexceptional, except for when it calls attention to itself with weirdly long pans over the bodies of the two actresses or oddly framed action in the last act.

And speaking of the last act, it is stupid. Like, very stupid. (But not fun stupid, none of this film was bad in that enjoyable way).

It this movie was a person, I'd be bopping it on the nose with a rolled up newspaper. Bad movie. Shame on you.




I forgot the opening line.


Bad Company (1972) - One from the DVD pile. Jeff Bridges (fresh off an Oscar nominated performance in The Last Picture Show) and the somewhat tragic Barry Brown star in this western where avoiding the civil war draft leads to an even more dangerous life heading west. I really enjoyed this. Seen a lot of the young Jeff Bridges lately in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot along with Cutter's Way - this film was as good as those two. Written and directed by three-time Oscar winner Robert Benton. The film has a kind of Thieves Like Us outlaw feel to it.

7/10





Part John Wick, part The Equalizer: All fun
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Hangover (2009)


I just booked another trip to Las Vegas so I was in the mood to watch something related. I still remember seeing this opening weekend in the theater, and the humor still hasn't grown old on me. Disregard the sequels, because they are trash.





Bad Company (1972) - One from the DVD pile. Jeff Bridges (fresh off an Oscar nominated performance in The Last Picture Show) and the somewhat tragic Barry Brown star in this western where avoiding the civil war draft leads to an even more dangerous life heading west. I really enjoyed this. Seen a lot of the young Jeff Bridges lately in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot along with Cutter's Way - this film was as good as those two. Written and directed by three-time Oscar winner Robert Benton. The film has a kind of Thieves Like Us outlaw feel to it.

7/10
Like this one. I think it's refreshingly different. It's got a uniqueness that's enjoyable every time I watch it. Bad Company, good movie.



Hangover (2009)


I just booked another trip to Las Vegas so I was in the mood to watch something related. I still remember seeing this opening weekend in the theater, and the humor still hasn't grown old on me. Disregard the sequels, because they are trash.
make sure to watch other 2




KEEP AN EYE OUT (2018)

If you've enjoyed the previous films by Quentin Dupieux (I have), then you will likely enjoy this one as well (I did).

The plot, such as it is, consists mostly of one excruciatingly banal interrogation of an obviously-innocent man which is unnecessarily prolonged by various distractions and the incompetence of the interrogator. The only time we leave the interrogation room is for some increasingly surreal flashbacks and as usual things get pretty meta by the end.

Something about Dupieux just hits me where I live, so I laughed often. Highly recommended for fans of his.

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Meet the Feebles -


If you've ever wondered what happens behind the scenes on a show like The Muppets - well, beyond the sketches that take place there - this is the movie for you. According to Peter Jackson and to quote Obi-Wan Kenobi, it's a "wretched hive of scum and villainy," featuring everything from drug dealing to group sex to porn shoots to (literal) excrement-eating tabloid journalists. Speaking of, the movie features every kind of gag-inducing bodily excretion and sometimes consumption thereof you can possibly imagine. The important question, though, is any of this funny? For the most part, yes. My pet peeve when it comes to movies like this one is that in their pursuit of being as outrageous as possible, they forget to be humorous, and while that happens sometimes, it delivers more than it doesn't. As much as I love the Lord of the Rings movies, my favorite thing about Peter Jackson's direction is his talent for moments where I'm not sure if I should gasp at the outrageousness or laugh my head off. I especially enjoyed Harry the hare's bout with the bunny pox and, well...what happens when poor Heidi the hippo can't take it anymore. This begs another question: does all this grossness and illicitness amount to anything? Definitely. From Heidi the hippo's arc to the toilet-dwelling journalist I mentioned, it reveals that the entertainment industry is apparently one you cannot leave with your morals or self-worth intact. Nonetheless, if Scooter-adjacent Robert the hedgehog's heroics are of any indication, a good person can make a difference. Again, there are moments that are gross without offering any payoff, and even though some of the homophobia directed towards gay fox Sebastian is there to villainize his tormentors, it hasn't aged well overall. With that said, it's still a strong entry in Jackson's filmography, and to quote George Burns by way of Bart Simpson, as fine a demonstration as any that show business is a "hideous bitch goddess."





Loved this movie. Matt Dillon & Lili Taylor were so good.

Dillon is such a handsome man. Amazed he’s never been married or has kids.
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I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.



Meet the Feebles -


If you've ever wondered what happens behind the scenes on a show like The Muppets - well, beyond the sketches that take place there - this is the movie for you. According to Peter Jackson and to quote Obi-Wan Kenobi, it's a "wretched hive of scum and villainy," featuring everything from drug dealing to group sex to porn shoots to (literal) excrement-eating tabloid journalists. Speaking of, the movie features every kind of gag-inducing bodily excretion and sometimes consumption thereof you can possibly imagine. The important question, though, is any of this funny? For the most part, yes. My pet peeve when it comes to movies like this one is that in their pursuit of being as outrageous as possible, they forget to be humorous, and while that happens sometimes, it delivers more than it doesn't. As much as I love The Lord of the Rings movies, my favorite thing about Peter Jackson's direction is his talent for moments where I'm not sure if I should gasp at the outrageousness or laugh my head off. I especially enjoyed Harry the hare's bout with the bunny pox and, well...what happens when poor Heidi the hippo can't take it anymore. This begs another question: does all this grossness and illicitness amount to anything? Definitely. From Heidi the hippo's arc to the toilet-dwelling journalist I mentioned, it reveals that the entertainment industry is apparently one you cannot leave with your morals or self-worth intact. Nonetheless, if Scooter-adjacent Robert the hedgehog's heroics are of any indication, a good person can make a difference. Again, there are moments that are gross without offering any payoff, and even though some of the homophobia directed towards gay fox Sebastian is there to villainize his tormentors, it hasn't aged well overall. With that said, it's still a strong entry in Jackson's filmography, and to quote George Burns by way of Bart Simpson, as fine a demonstration as any that show business is a "hideous bitch goddess."
Been meaning to check that one out. I think it's the only one of Jackson's pre-LOTR films I haven't seen
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Been meaning to check that one out. I think it's the only one of Jackson's pre-LOTR films I haven't seen
I watched it on DVD, but I think it's on Tubi. Just don't eat anything before or during your screening because you will probably lose it.



Victim of The Night


The Girl from Nowhere, 2017

A couple heading off for a romantic weekend away picks up a beautiful hitchhiker, Liza (Christia Visser). Katherine (Tamryn Spiers) is more suspicious, while Hugh (Scot Cooper) takes a decided interest in their guest. As the weekend wears on, tensions rise.

So the whole time I was watching this film, I kept thinking, "What the heck? How on Earth did this win the Golden Leopard? It has a lot of issues!".

It didn't.

I watched the wrong film called The Girl from Nowhere.

Yes, I'm mad about it.

Yes, this review is going to be more than a little sassy.



Seriously, though, good for you for finishing the exercise.
I've actually often wondered if I sometimes feel more positive about some films because I go in with the idea that they're going to be really good or great so I'm quicker to see the positive and more likely to dismiss anything that rubs me the wrong way so I'm glad you went through this and I kinda wish I could.



“I was cured, all right!”


Where's the tournament?
Where's the good fight scenes?
Oh no...



At least this one feels like Mortal Kombat (even without the blood).