Movie Tab II

A Song of Love (Jean Genet, 1950)

Jubal (Delmer Daves, 1956)

Paisan (Roberto Rossellini, 1946)

Lethal Weapon (Richard Donner, 1987)

Psycho LAPD officer Mel Gibson does his Three Stooges routine to capture some drug dealers.
Lethal Weapon 2 (Richard Donner, 1989)

The Elf Who Didn't Believe (Rodney McDonald, 1997)

Happy Birthday (Casey Tebo, 2016)

Shadows and Fog (Woody Allen, 1991)

Bookkeeper Woody Allen is saved from a serial killer by the hand of fate in a Kafkaesque nightmare comedy.
Jean Genet: Interview with Antoine Bourseiller (Antoine Bourseiller, 1981)

One Man Band (Andrew Jimenez & Mark Andrews, 2006)

Gun the Man Down (Andrew V. McLaglen, 1956)

The Handmaiden (Park Chan-wook, 2016)

Korean handmaiden Kim Tae-ri bathes Japanese heiress Kim Min-hee and massages down one of her teeth with a thimble attached to her thumb, while admiring her breasts, which is a turn-on for both.
Bad Moms (Jon Lucas & Scott Moore, 2016)

-
Le gai savoir aka Joy of Learning (Jean-Luc Godard, 1969)

Denial (Mick Jackson, 2016)

¡Bienvenido, Mr. Marshall! (Luis G. Berlanga, 1953)

+

When the citizens of a small Spanish town learn of the imminent arrival of American diplomats, they decide to redecorate their town and themselves in the hopes of gaining maximum benefits from the visitors. A town meeting includes doctor Félix Fernández, priest Luis Pérez de León, theatrical agent Manolo Morán, teacher Elvira Quintillá and pharmacist Nicolás Perchicot.
Cheyenne Roundup (Ray Taylor, 1943)

Deepwater Horizon (Peter Berg, 2016)

Hush (Mike Flanagan, 2016)

+
The Autopsy of Jane Doe (André Øvredal, 2016)

-

A pristine corpse with no apparent cause of death is given an autopsy by father (Brian Cox) and son (Emile Hirsch) coroners who get more than they bargain for.

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

Un tranquillo posto di campagna [A Quiet Place in the Country] (1968) -
Sleeping Beauty (1959) -
Cinderella (1950) -
Sommarnattens leende [Smiles of a Summer Night] (1955) -
ずべこう番長：懺悔の値打ちもない [Delinquent Girl Boss: Worthless to Confess] (1971) -
Silent Shout: An Audio Visual Experience (2006) -
Peter Pan (1953) -

Dude, I watched all of these in one day. I'm too tired to write about them.

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San Franciscan lesbian dwarves and their tomato orgies.

Freeze Frame (2004) –
A paranoiac attempts to thwart a conspiratorial gubberment by recording his every move. The writing may be a little immature at times, but it has a unique atmosphere and a good lead. The setting is modern, but with the technological emphasis it feels cyberpunky.

A Short Film About Killing (1988) –
A shoddy individual murder is juxtaposed with an efficient state-sponsored execution. The style is definitely my cup of bleak. The greenish tint is beautifully drab and photogenic. The movie does flirt with tedium, but I guess that comes with the territory.

A Short Film About Love (1988) –
A peeping tom confronts the woman he’s fallen for. I have an affinity for laxed movies with idiosyncratic characters. Kinda depressing, kinda bittersweet.

Schramm (1993) –
Super grim, borderline surreal depiction of mental insanity. Unlike most exploitation flicks, this is emotional and melancholic, which would probably make it even more distressing to most. Buttgereit’s films may come across as cheap and sick, but they’re genuinely artistic and experimental enough to interest me.

Jungle Holocaust (1977) –
Ruggero Deodato’s precursor to Cannibal Holocaust. Though there’s still plenty of shock value, it doesn’t leave as strong of an impression as CH. It still takes full advantage of the jungly backdrop and has plenty of engaging realism.

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Bad Night for the Blues (Chris Shepherd, 2010)

Ugly Duckling (Clyde Geronomi & Jack Cutting, 1939)

+
The Littlest Outlaw (Roberto Gavaldón, 1955)

+
Plácido (Luis G. Berlanga, 1961)

-

On Christmas Eve, poor trucker Cassen helps the well-to-do of a small Spanish town celebrate their annual feed the poor dinner which exposes him to much social hypocrisy.
The Ugly Dachshund (Norman Tokar, 1966)

The Tortoise and the Hare (Wilfred Jackson, 1935)

A Tale of Two Critters (Jack Speirs, 1977)

+
Train to Busan (Yeon Sang-ho, 2016)

An army of zombies attacks some of those unaffected at a station and aboard a train from Seoul to Busan.
Sammy - the Way-Out Seal (Norman Tokar, 1962)

Cinderella Once Upon a Time in the West aka Cinderella 3D (Pascal Hérold, 2012)

The Birth of a Nation (Nate Parker, 2016)

Remember the Night (Mitchell Leisen, 1940)

With her trial continued over the Christmas holidays, a woman (Barbara Stanwyck) goes on a trip with the deputy district attorney (Fred MacMurray) assigned to prosecute her.
Revenge of the Ninja (Sam Firstenberg, 1983)

-
The Line King: The Al Hirschfeld Story (Susan Warms Dryfoos, 1996)

+
Hanging Up (Diane Keaton, 2000)

The Visitor (Tom McCarthy, 2007)

While visiting NYC, bored college professor Richard Jenkins regains an interest in life by playing music on the djembe with Syrian Haaz Sleiman and taking an interest in the lives of him and his Senegalese girlfriend (Danai Gurira) [both turn out to be illegal aliens]. Later the young man’s mother (Hiam Abbass) shows up looking for her son.
The Haunting (Jan de Bont, 1999)

The Dark Half (George A. Romero, 1993)

Mesrine Part 1: Killer Instinct (Jean-François Richet, 2008)

+
The Capsule (Athina Rachel Tsangari, 2012)

From the producer of Dogtooth, a surreal short about six “women” learning discipline from a seventh.

It's a Wonderful Life (Frak Capra, 1946) - +
M (Fritz Lang, 1931) -
Der Schatz im Silbersee (Harald Reinl, 1962) - +
The Ladkillers (Alexander Mackendrick, 1955) -

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"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here. This is the war room."

The Black Widow (Arturo Ripstein, 1977)

Shanghai Surprise (Jim Goddard, 1986)

Week-End in Havana (Walter Lang, 1941)

Interstellar (Christopher Nolan, 2014)

The Endurance passes through a wormhole.
It Happened on Fifth Avenue (Roy Del Ruth, 1947)

+
School for Scoundrels (Todd Phillips, 2006)

+
The Steamroller and the Violin (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1961)

+
Scrooge aka A Christmas Carol (Brian Desmond-Hurst, 1951)

Miser Ebenezer Scrooge (Alastair Sim) is shocked to see the ghost of his partner Jacob Marley (Michael Hordern) and all he brings with him.
Holiday Affair (Don Hartman, 1949)

Lady Cocoa (Matt Cimber, 1975)

That Night in Rio (Irving Cummings, 1941)

The Shop Around the Corner (Ernst Lubitsch, 1940)

Pen pals Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart work together in a Budapest gift shop, fight and fall in love leading up to Christmas.
Wedding in Galilee (Michel Khleifi, 1987)

Hit Man (George Armitage, 1972)

The Dolly Sisters (Irving Cummings, 1945)

-
Paradise Now (Hany Abu-Assad, 2005)

One (Ali Suliman) of two recently-recruited suicide bombers in the West Bank tries to make a video explaining why he has no choice but to attack the oppressors in Tel Aviv.
Christmas in Connecticut (Peter Godfrey, 1945)

Bell Book and Candle (Richard Quine, 1958)

The Robe (Henry Koster, 1953)

Une Femme Mariée aka A Married Woman (Jean-Luc Godard, 1964)

Modern Parisian woman Macha Méril examines an anatomy book as she learns from her doctor that she’s pregnant, but who’s the father – her pilot husband (Philippe Leroy) or her actor lover (Bernard Noël)?

Charro (Charles Marquis Warren, 1969)

The Cowboy and the Indians (John English,1949)

Homie Spumoni (Mike Cerrone, 2006)

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (Frank Capra, 1936)

During the Great Depression, Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper) inherits $20 million, comes to NYC and meets and tries to save damsel-in-distress Jean Arthur, who’s actually a newspaper reporter trying to get a story on him.
Slow Burn (Wayne Beach, 2006)

+
Marius (Daniel Auteuil, 2013)

Winter A-Go-Go (Richard Benedict, 1965)

-
Gremlins (Joe Dante, 1984)

Billy (Zach Gilligan) meets his Christmas present – a mogwai he later calls Gizmo.
Stay Away, Joe (Peter Tewksbury, 1968)

Blood and Bone (Ben Ramsey, 2009)

The Trouble with Girls (Peter Tewksbury, 1969)

Addams Family Values (Barry Sonnenfeld, 1993)

At a dubious summer camp play, Wednesday Addams’ (Christina Ricci) Pocahontas pronounces sentence at the Pilgrims’ first Thanksgiving.
Pat Neal Is Back (Edward Beyer, 1968)

The Omega Man (Boris Sagan, 1971)

Right Now, Wrong Then (Hong Sang-soo, 2015)

+
King of Kings (Nicholas Ray, 1961)

Jesus (Jeffrey Hunter) looks upon John the Baptist (Robert Ryan) at the River Jordan.
No Blade of Grass (Cornel Wilde, 1970)

Save the Last Dance 2 (David Petrarca, 2006)

Fanny (Daniel Auteuil, 2013)

The Original Kings of Comedy (Spike Lee, 2000)

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Four stand-up comics perform – Bernie Mac, Cedric the Entertainer, Steve Harvey and D.L. Hughley.

刀不留人 [The Blade Spares None] (1971) -
Одиннадцатый [The Eleventh Year] (1928) -
The Letter (1940) -
Beyond Zero: 1914-1918 (2014) -
Salomé (1922) -
姿三四郎 [Sanshiro Sugata] (1943) -
Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie (1995) -
Klovnen [Clown] (1917) -
Ničija zemlja [No Man's Land] (2001) -
Nói albínói [Noi the Albino] (2003) -
Family Plot (1976) -
路上の霊魂 [Souls on the Road] (1921) -
まごころ [Sincere Heart] (1953) -
Le violon rouge [The Red Violin] (1998) -
Hævnens nat [Blind Justice] (1916) -

Wow "Gremlins" an entire bag of popcorn more than "Mr. Deeds Goes To Town" - maybe I should give "Gremlins" a shot. I don't remember seeing it, though it seems like something every kid saw who was born in the 80s.

Two viewings in the last week. I expected to like both but, frankly, my thoughts went the opposite as expected.




Really wanted to jump back into reviews with this one but I have been so busy I just don't see it happening. It lived up to all the hype for me. The difference between this and other musicals? I think it is the care taken with the characters. Most musicals just feel like they have filler between musical numbers, this one feels like a narrative with fleshed out characters. It is really well written, looks lovely, and has some great numbers. Stone doing Audition is the best musical number in cinema since Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls. My favorite film of the year thus far.

P.S. I was prepared to give 1/2 star bump for a poster on the wall of The Killers. The film didn't need it though.




I'm between a 3.5 and 4 on this one, I will give my boy Denzel the benefit of the doubt. Definitely will give you a Death Of A Salesman vibe, and there is nothing wrong with that. Washington and Davis are absolutely fabulous. Davis should win every award this year that is given. Touching story written wonderfully.

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Letterboxd

カルメン故郷に帰る [Carmen Comes Home] (1951) -



Japan's first color film shot using Fujicolor. Generally, a very colorful (so to show the possibilities of color cinema) and entertaining watch with some interesting insights into urban & rural life differences and Westernization, but does it really deserve that high a rating?





Okay, you convinced me, Hideko. FOUR STARS!

곡성 [The Wailing] (2016) -



Hands down, the movie of the year! It even tops Refn's The Neon Demon and that's something in my opinion! Somebody called this Korean Exorcist, but this also has all these crazy rituals, magician fights and fantasy elements these corny Hong Kong horror flicks had! This is 2.5 hours long, yet it flies over as if it was 1 hour long. The last 30 minutes' tension is almost unbearable! Also, two previous films of the director, although being good, didn't amaze me as much as this. Not for herp derp I don't want this magic sh*t in my serious thriller whiners.

續姿三四郎 [Sanshiro Sugata Part II] (1945) -



I want to complete Kurosawa's filmography, so I want to watch what is left chronologically. The first part was pretty freakin' good (for a debut), but government made Kurosawa make a sequel and although its propaganda isn't annoying at all, it is a distinctly weaker film. The cinematography is worse, for one. Secondly, the story isn't that good and only revolves around two matches: judo vs. boxing (the second portrayed as artless brawl only for entertainment of the audience) and judo vs. karate (with two hilarious-looking brothers). All in all, a decent film, but a terrible Kurosawa film.

台風クラブ [Typhoon Club] (1985) -



The definition of a e s t h e t i c. This film feels a little bit like August in the Water (which is a masterpiece), but it's not as dense and way more abstract (as in, the behavior of teenagers here is often mysterious, if not nonsensical, but the titular typhoon seems to have something to do with it). Shinji Somai is one of my favorite post-Golden Age Japanese directors (perhaps even the "favoritest") and with every movie of his I watch I am more and more convinced that he was a master.

Le fils de Joseph [The Son of Joseph] (2016) -



Remember when I said The Wailing is the movie of the year? Well, it took me exactly one day to find out I was wrong. Eugène Green is the best living director and I can't believe how lofty his films are (in the best meaning possible!). He makes elusive tangible. I'm always awe-stricken by movies of his and they give me this feeling films of no other filmmaker do. This one has quite a lot of comedy (more than his other flicks, anyway), so I naturally feared I'm not gonna love it that much, but hell, did I love it, I absolutely adored it. I'm so pumped and eager to watch more of his (watched all his films, so I'm waiting for new ones!!!)

流れる [Flowing] (1956) -



Mikio Naruse is so good and he understands women perfectly (unlike me) and this film has so many of great actresses and of course it's great I dunno what I'm saying anymore, just look it has Kinuyo Tanaka and Hideko Takamine, watch it or else, I overdosed masterpieces.

Love Don’t Cost a Thing (Troy Beyer, 2003)

The Fox Hunt (Ben Sharpsteen, 1938)

Kid Colter (David O’Malley, 1984)

Nocturnal Animals (Tom Ford, 2016)

+

The characters in a novel and real life intersect and comment about each other, but to what effect?
Trolls (Mike Mitchell & Walt Dohrn, 2016)

C’mon Man (Kenny Young, 2012)

Moving (Alan Metter, 1988)

-
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (John Korty, 1974)

110-year-old Jane Pittman (Cicely Tyson) has lived from slave times before the Civil War through the civil rights era of the 1950s and 60s.
On the Edge (Fred Williamson, 2002)

Hard Time: The Premonition (David S. Cass, Sr., 1999)

Canine Caddy (Clyde Geronomi, 1941)

+
The Young in Heart (Richard Wallace, 1938)

A family of ne'er-do-wells, including the charming son (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) are made responsible by a little old lady (Minnie Dupree).
Underworld (Roger Christian, 1997)

A Man Called Ove (Hannes Holm, 2015)

Bad Santa 2 (Mark Waters, 2016)

+
And Then There Were None (René Clair, 1945)

At an isolated island off the English coast, ten strangers are brought and killed off one-by-one, including caregiver Richard Haydn.
Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (Robert D. Webb, 1953)

The Dressmaker (Jocelyn Moorhouse, 2015)

Man About Town (Mike Binder, 2006)

+
Dances with Wolves (Kevin Costner, 1990)

Stands With a Fist (Mary McDonnell) marries Dances With Wolves (Kevin Costner).

American Son (Neil Abramson, 2008)

The Death and Life of Bobby Z (John Herzfeld, 2007)

-
Little Feet (Alexandre Rockwell, 2014)

Fluke (Carlo Carlei, 1995)

-

After a man (Matthew Modine) dies in a car accident, he’s reincarnated as a dog and gradually recalls his past life with his wife and son, with whom he tries to resume his relationship.
Hard Target (John Woo, 1993)

Diamond Demon (Dave O’Brien, 1947)

So Goes My Love (Frank Ryan, 1946)

The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (Irving Reis, 1947)

Two sisters - Judge Myrna Loy and high schooler Shirley Temple - are both disturbed because the latter has fallen in love with artist Cary Grant.
Island in the Sky (William A. Wellman, 1953)

Hot Shots (Jean Yarbrough, 1956)

The Staircase (Karen Arthur, 1998)

Belladonna of Sadness (Eiichi Yamamoto, 1973)

In a medieval world of depravity, peasant woman Jeanne is raped and controlled by a local baron and eventually Satan himself.
Le chant du Styrène (Alain Resnais, 1959)

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (Nicholas Webster, 1964)

Castle Keep (Sydney Pollack, 1969)

Hooligan Sparrow (Nanfu Wang, 2016)

-

Chinese sex worker and human rights activist Ye Haiyan, known as Sparrow, seeks justice for six elementary girls sexually abused by their principal who is being protected by the government and a local gang who terrorizes Sparrow and film director Nanfu Wang.
Bells of Capistrano (William Morgan, 1942)

Morris Engel: The Independent (Mary Engel, 2008)

The Magnificent Seven Ride! (George McCowan, 1972)

+
Mesrine Part 2: Public Enemy #1 (Jean-François Richet, 2008)

Jacques Mesrine (Vincent Cassel) becomes even more flamboyant, outrageous and violent in his criminal pursuits in the continuation of his film saga.

This is my third watch. I watch this enough I may get it up to a 4 or a 4.5. I really love the first half of this film. The water planet is one of the best things put on film in the last few years. The score is great too. It still loses me a bit with the where the black hole stuff goes at the end. I honestly could do with out that whole plot mechanic. Very good film though.




Shouldn't have taken me two year to get around to a Mann release, but I kind of wish I never had gotten around to it. Much more Miami Vice than Heat. Mann knows how to stage a shootout and I love the artificiality of his cities. Everything looks so clean. Probably wouldn't want that in every film, but Mann films just have a coolness to the aesthetic that I enjoy. The characters here are just incredibly bland and there is not much to cling too. Bummer.

I've still never gotten around to Interstellar. I do own it though.

December, 2016 movies watched-

Vanish (2015) + Pretty much a crappy low budget independent crime/horror type, that I happened to really enjoy.

The Secret in Their Eyes (2009) Part crime thriller, part love story, and both aspects hit me hard.

Murderers Among Us (1946) Post holocaust German film with a good powerful story.

Open Your Eyes (1997) - Probably a decent movie, but it's not a story that interests me.

Crossfire (1947) Finely acted noir that deals with bigotry.

Criminal (2016) + Some solid action and Kevin Costner playing a crazy badass made this entertaining.

Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) Repeat viewing + One of the better classic comedies I've seen.

eXistenZ (1999) - Classic Cronenberg weirdness.

Drunken Angel (1948) + A better ending and this Kurosawa likely makes my 40's list.

Waterloo Bridge (1940) + I'm a sucker for sad love stories.

Ratcatcher (1999) A good bleak Scottish film, but slow with no entertainment value.

Pursued (1947) Repeat viewing + I feel the same about it now as I did when I watched it the first time.

Timecrimes (2007) Decent time loop film, but just not that interesting for me.

Don't Breathe (2016) + Easily my favorite horror movie of 2016.

The Westerner (1940) Would probably be pretty average if not for great performances from Gary Cooper and Walter Brennan.

The Lost Weekend (1945) A pretty good movie but it's power was lost on me.

Avenged (2013) - Revenge horror that has some good qualities, but is ruined by it's supernatural aspect.

Shadow of a Doubt (1943) Repeat viewing - I liked the performances and story, but I could have used more suspense.

Three On A Meathook (1973) - Not a terrible low budget horror, but not nearly enough depravity.

The Blue Dahlia (1946) - I loved this noir, mostly for it's cast and dialogue.*

Stoic (2009) Brutal story about what can happen in a jail cell.

The Grapes of Death (1978) + Stylish zombie horror that tries, but lacks impact.

Hush (2016) Effective and tight home invasion horror that needed a better villain to be great.

The Living Dead Girl (1982) Artistic French horror with enough pluses to make it worth watching, but it has stretches of dullness.

Moebius (2013) + Korean movie that's pretty messed up.

Soylent Green (1973) - Works well as Sci-Fi and as a crime procedural.

The Greasy Strangler (2016) Not bad if you're looking for a different style of disgusting humor.

Donnie Darko (2001) Repeat viewing One of those random movies that just has a certain something that I can't explain.

31 (2016) - One of Rob Zombie's weaker efforts, but still worth watching for fans of crazy horror.

It's a Wonderful Life (1946) Repeat viewing One of the most special movies ever made.

Dark Passage (1947) A very good noir, even though Bogart's face is hidden for over half the movie.

Sullivan's Travels (1941) + Veronica Lake made this movie for me.

Ordinary People (1980) Powerful family drama, but not better than Raging Bull.

Santa Sangre (1989) A total goof show but still fun to watch.

House of Whipcord (1974) - Decent British horror that is not memorable in any way.

Cold Fish (2010) Gruesome and darkly funny Japanese film about a serial killing couple.

December viewings-36
2016 viewings-348
3 year total-1357

December crackers:

Léon Morin, prêtre [Léon Morin, Priest] (1961)
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) +
Braindead (1992)
Scrooged (1988)
The Train (1964) +
Enemy At The Gates (2001)
The Fifth Estate (2013)

December turkeys:

The Divide (2011)
Spaceflight IC-1: An Adventure In Space (1965)
Mars Needs Women (1967)
Attack From Space (1965) +
Calvary (2014) +

Total for 2016: 405
3 year total: more than 405

Everything I watched In December
(Thoughts posted in my Movie Log)

The House of Small Cubes(Tsumiki no ie) (Kunio Kato, 2008)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Chuck Jones, 1966) (Rewatch) +
The Incredibles (Brad Bird, 2004) (Rewatch) +
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (Jeremiah Chechik, 1989) (Rewatch) -
The Nightmare Before Christmas (Henry Selick, 1993) (Rewatch) -
The Secret Life of Pets (Yarrow Cheney and Chris Renaud, 2016) (Rewatch) -
Inner Workings (Leonardo Matsuda, 2016) +
Moana (Ron Clements, Don Hall, John Musker and Chris Williams, 2016) -
The Ref (Ted Demme, 1994) (Rewatch) +
Strange Days (Kathryn Bigelow, 1995) +
Kubo and the Two Strings (Travis Knight, 2016)

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December Watches: * = Rewatch

Sullivan's Travels - -
Julieta - +
Castle of Cagliostro* -
Computer Chess - -
The Big Sleep - -
The Murderers Are Among Us - -
Captain Fantastic -
Waterloo Bridge - -
Zero Days - +
13TH -
It Happened One Night* -
The Double Life of Veronique -
Swiss Army Man - -
In The Mood For Love - +
The Suspect - +
American Honey -
The Eyes of My Mother - +
5 Centimeters Per Second -
Wasp - +
Bambi* - +
Rogue One - +
Saludos Amigos
Elle - -
Certain Women - +
Tangled - -
The Secret Life of Pets - -
Blue Jay - -
Schindler's List - -
The Red Shoes -
Foxcatcher - +
The Man Who Knew Too Much - -
Home Alone* -
12 Monkeys - +
How Green Was My Valley -
Your Name - -
The Force Awakens* -