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Batman Returns - 8/10

Strongly increased the circus freakshow vibe from the previous movie, for better or for worse. I liked the tone of the previous movie a little better, but on the other hand, this one's more focused identity has allowed it to have objectively stronger story theming. The plot of weirdo 1 vs weirdo 2 vs weirdo 3 vs decadent normal world as embodied by Max Schreck has a lot more going on than the previous Batman, which almost had something to that effect, but missed it by a hair. Thankfully, the dark humour and Danny Elfman's whimsical score are as good as ever, and while there's noone as good as Jack Nicholson's Joker, Danny Devito's Penguin is really good in his own right. Simultaneously scary, disgusting, funny, and pitiable. You can easily buy that this is a person raised in the sewer, without a smidgeon of social grace, fueled by nothing but spite and bodily drives.
I always felt like the first Batman (1989) was a DC Comics adaptation which just happened to be directed by Tim Burton. But I feel like Batman Returns (1992) was a thoroughbred Tim Burton film which just happened to be set in the DC Comics universe!
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"Well, it's what people know about themselves inside that makes 'em afraid" - Clint Eastwood as The Stranger, High Plains Drifter (1973)

"I'll let you be in my dream if I can be in yours" - Bob Dylan, Talkin' World War III Blues (1963)



I always felt like the first Batman (1989) was a DC Comics adaptation which just happened to be directed by Tim Burton. But I feel like Batman Returns (1992) was a thoroughbred Tim Burton film which just happened to be set in the DC Comics universe!
Yeah, that's a good way of putting it.
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Nashville (1975)



Even though it's a (relatively) well-known seventies classic I never got the opportunity to watch this. DVDs from marketplace sellers were usually on the pricey side hence why it's stayed in my wish list for such a long time.
Well, today I finally got it, and the first thing I noticed was that the disc is not a factory pressed DVD but one of those manufactured-on-demand disc recordings.
I feel this is becoming an increasingly alarming issue with R1 DVDs (to compare: in the heyday of DVD sales, collectors often considered the R1 releases to be more "prestigious").

But anyway.

For a film with so many characters and ongoing - sometimes overlapping - dialogue I find it surprisingly accessible, but I can't even begin to imagine what it looked like on paper.
I guess the trick here is Altman's incredible talent to make every detail pop without giving it too much attention, something I had previously witnessed in Gosford Park.
I struggle to categorise Nashville as a genre, even "drama" seems too generic in the context of this film.
Partially documentary, road movie, dark comedy, social commentary, satire counterbalanced by just enough optimism, and even shades of a psychological thriller. And music.

I'm not a hardcore country & western music fan but at least it taps into childhood nostalgia.
I thoroughly enjoyed most of the songs especially the ones by Ronee Blakley who comes across as a 1970s Julianne Moore.
At some point in the story it starts to hint at a possibly dramatic climax, I suspected the army guy who seemed like an obsessive fan.
Then later I figured he would prevent the assassination, just like his mother had saved Barbara Jean from the fire.

Quite cheekily, it even features a little bit of the "Eurotrash villain" trope in the narcissistic and intrusive BBC reporter brilliantly portrayed by Geraldine Chaplin.
Un deux trois quatre, testing.
The DVD also features an interview with Robert Altman, and the comment that stood out to me is that Karen Black was (at that time) considered the biggest name in this film.
The first time I saw Karen Black in a movie she had already followed in Adrienne Barbeau's footsteps and become a familiar face in B horror films.
Her performances are either great or awful, and that makes her difficult to rate as an actress.

What's not difficult to rate is Nashville, the movie.



VISITORS
(2021, Ugana)



"Give me something to kill!"
"Ehh, do I have such a thing?"

Overall, Visitors is a fun watch, even though it doesn't offer much else beyond the gore. I read there's a feature length version that came out a year later, so maybe that polishes some of the issues and improves. As it is, this isn't more than an enjoyable curiosity.

Grade:



Full review on my Movie Loot
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I forgot the opening line.

By Film Development Council of the Philippines, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53663067

Insiang - (1976)

From Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project and Criterion comes Insiang, a film from the Philippines not afraid to upset the Marcos regime and depict life as it really was for most people struggling in poverty - and from these slums comes Insiang (Hilda Koronel), forced to live in close proximity to her elderly mother Tonya (Mona Lisa) and her much younger brute of a boyfriend Dado (Ruel Vernal) - but Dado really has eyes for her. Insiang is let down by society, her boyfriend Bebot (Rez Cortez), her mother and her lack of options - so she plans vengeance against all. This acclaimed film from the "Rainer Werner Fassbinder of the Philippines", Lino Brocka, shows the degenerative effects of poverty and squalor, and it's rawness really cuts away what's extraneous to deliver a searing tragedy with mournful melodramatic overtones. I wasn't only moved by it, but became more enlightened about the lasting damage slum life inflicts on families and society by relentlessly dehumanizing, brutalizing and delivering despair to those who live there. A definite recommendation, but be warned - the very first shots are of a pig being slaughtered (by Dado), which is unpleasant.

9/10


By May be found at the following website: Motech posters, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19695901

Fifty Dead Men Walking - (2008)

It's the 1980s, Northern Ireland. 21-year-old Martin McGartland, a petty crook, loves his country and hates the British - but when he's introduced to the ruthless tactics of the IRA he's sickened and as such becomes an undercover agent for the Brits, saving lives and risking his own torture and execution. Fifty Dead Men Walking (a reference to all of the lives McGartland saved) also features Ben Kingsley as this agent's handler, "Fergus", and is a tightly scripted, swiftly paced true-story/thriller that I have to admit was pretty good. Heroism is the last attribute you'd guess McGartland might possess when you meet him, but living the life of an undercover agent who would meet a painful demise if discovered is above and beyond in my book.

7/10


By IMDb, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57662088

Basic Instinct - (1992)

Is Basic Instinct really that good? I see it's well-produced neo noir credentials, but was Sharon Stone's performance really meant to be as vapid as it ends up being? Some of what's meant to be steamy and erotic I see as camp. I guess the movie does have style going for it, and Jerry Goldsmith's score is a kind of ode to classic noir. In fact, everything is so stylized it's an almost surreal journey into the thrills of tempting fate and risking everything to get one's rocks off. Both Detective Nick Curran (Michael Douglas) and novelist Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone) are icky characters with mysterious motives who are almost mirror images of each other - jaded and looking for something that will make them feel alive. The mind games commence with the murder of an old rock star with an icepick, with Catherine looking for all the world guilty, yet seen by Detective Curran as the off-ramp from an overly restrictive "good guy" mode of behaviour after being investigated by internal affairs for shooting innocent tourists on duty (while drunk and high on drugs.) But is the real killer Catherine's jealous girlfriend? Or is she Curran's psychologist Dr. Beth Garner (Jeanne Tripplehorn)? The answers are wrapped in riddles hidden inside an enigma, and not as evidently plain to see as Michael Douglas's oft-seen buns. Technically excellent.

6/10
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THE DOOR
(2022, Froening)



"It's an old house and has its demons... just like the rest of us."

Stumbled upon this one in the weirdest way. I fell asleep while watching Visitors, and YouTube auto-played this one right after. So when I woke up, I decided to back it up and check it out. It is very low budget, but for the most part, it is well shot and director Andrew Froening manages to set an effective atmosphere of dread.

Grade:



Full review on my Movie Loot



SOLILOQUIO DE UN ADULTO
(2023, Rivera)



"Do not sacrifice freedom for security."

Written by Rivera himself, the dialogue has the peculiarity to be in the form of a poem. Although Rivera is pretty good with his delivery, it can't help but feel a bit unnatural. The effect is also hindered by the performance of the young man, who I think is Rivera's real life son, which is pretty weak.

Grade:



Full review on my Movie Loot







SF = Zzzz

Viewed: Amazon Prime



[Snooze Factor Ratings]:
Z = didn't nod off at all
Zz = nearly nodded off but managed to stay alert
Zzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed
Zzzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed but nodded off again at the same point and therefore needed to go back a number of times before I got through it...
Zzzzz = nodded off and missed some or the rest of the film but was not interested enough to go back over it



Batman Returns - 8/10

Strongly increased the circus freakshow vibe from the previous movie, for better or for worse. I liked the tone of the previous movie a little better, but on the other hand, this one's more focused identity has allowed it to have objectively stronger story theming. The plot of weirdo 1 vs weirdo 2 vs weirdo 3 vs decadent normal world as embodied by Max Schreck has a lot more going on than the previous Batman, which almost had something to that effect, but missed it by a hair. Thankfully, the dark humour and Danny Elfman's whimsical score are as good as ever, and while there's noone as good as Jack Nicholson's Joker, Danny Devito's Penguin is really good in his own right. Simultaneously scary, disgusting, funny, and pitiable. You can easily buy that this is a person raised in the sewer, without a smidgeon of social grace, fueled by nothing but spite and bodily drives.
Aw, no love for Michelle's Catwoman? Such a good character on page, and brought to life with an even better performance, if you ask me.



The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan (2023)



The first time I heard about this new adaptation I dismissed it as yet another example of modern cinema's creatively bankrupt remake-mania, but in this case it turns out to be a blessing in disguise.
If anything, it needed to be done again because there's something (very) problematic about all the previous versions though I haven't seen the one from 1948.

The dream cast in the seventies films could have given us the definitive version, but unfortunately it was ruined by camp and slapstick farce (incidentally, that misplaced tone made the execution of Milady look disproportionately dark, and not in a bad way).
Musketeers '93 is bland and forgettable but at least we got a pop hit out of it.
I'm not a Dumas purist therefore I wasn't offended by the fantasy version from 2011, but it's just as "Musketeers" as the sixties Casino Royale was "Bond".

This new European adaptation is the first one that satisfies in every aspect: the action, the story, the characters and scenery.
Interestingly, my favourite fight scene happens in the background during the queen and duke's secret rendezvous.
My only point of criticism is that modern film makers often confuse "realistically gritty" with "colourless". There is nothing realistic about a world in washed-out colours.
On the other hand I can understand this sylistic choice as it kinda resembles the colour palette by classic painters such as Rembrandt.

The casting is spot on, imo. It's the best group of Musketeers I have seen so far, and of course there was never any doubt Eva Green would pull it off as Milady.
And yet I was mostly enchanted by Lyna Khoudri as Constance Bonacieux.

The rating is a combination of "film" and "Musketeers film".


Roll on, Part II.




Nosferatu (2024, Robert Eggers)

Cool visuals and cinematography, the sets were pretty convincing, nothing to complain about there, but the pacing and editing was a little weird and awkward at times, and just generally the atmosphere was a bit off (for me). The film definitely succeeded in showing the horror in all its gross detail but if you ask me, sometimes less is more, and that's how I feel in this case. I mean, I remember how much more spooked, and awe-struck, and creeped out i was by Max Schreck's Count Orlok and just the whole vibe of Murnau's film. It had that spectral, otherworldly quality to it. Remember the ship scene in that one? That film is still the king for me. This one was ok but I didn't love it.






Umpteenth Rewatch...Barbra Streisand put her own feminist leanings into this second remake of the Janet Gaynor/Fredric March classic playing a struggling singer who falls in love with an alcoholic rocker (the late Kris Kristofferson) whose career missteps and constant partying are affecting both their careers. This film really could have been something special but it really suffers from all the backstage turmoil that was going on during production, most of it fueled by Streisand's boyfriend at the time, an ex-hairdresser named Jon Peters, who butted heads with both Kristofferson and director Pierson throughout filming. The film does come alive whenever Streisand sings though, especially "Woman in the Moon" and the Oscar-winning "Evergreen."






Umpteenth Rewatch...The ultimate date movie that made an official movie star out of Julia Roberts. Garry Marshall was in the director's chair for this charmer about the romance between a wealthy executive named Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) and a Hollywood Boulevard hooker named Vivian Ward (guess who). This movie is just as richly entertaining as it was back in 1990, despite the slightly cliched presentation of Roberts' character.



Raven73's Avatar
Boldly going.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
6.5/10.
Yet another unnecessary sequel.
Over 30 years later, the cast have not aged gracefully (except Catherine O'Hare, who doesn't seem to age, and Michael Keaton - only because he wears makeup the entire time; he does have a noticeable gut, though). Winona Ryder's acting seemed a bit off. The movie suffered from too many subplots, one of which didn't amount to much in the end.

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Boldly going.






4th Rewatch...This Americanized re-imagining of La Cage Aux Folles has a lot for going for it, and I came to a revelation during this most recent viewing. On paper, it might seem like Gene Hackman's conservative Senator Kevin Keeley is the villain of the piece, but if you ask me, the real villain of the piece is Armond's son, Val (Dan Futterman) who blows into town and demands that his father (Robin Williams) and his lover (Nathan Lane) completely cover up who they are in order to please his future father-in-law. Mike Nichols' direction is splendid as are the performances. There is a school of thought that Lane should have received an Oscar nomination, but Williams quietly brilliant performance is just as effective and Hank Azaria steals every scene he's in as the housekeeper. Never tire of re-watching this movie.







1st Rewatch...The extraordinary performance by Renee Zellweger in the tile role that won her a second Oscar, is the anchor of this lavish and heartbreaking look at the final years of show biz icon Judy's life, as she struggled to keep her career going in an effort to not lose custody of children Joey and Lorna. Zellweger absolutely nails Garland and I really liked Finn Wittrock as Judy's fifth and final husband Mickey Deens too,





Snow White meets Dorian Gray meets The Fly meets Baby Jane meets Requiem For A Dream.
Good luck respecting that balance.
I won't mention anything about the story, but the instructions for the substance kit give a good indication of the way it will spiral out of control.
I guess it's the modern equivalent of the grande dame guignol exploitation movie, or in this case, a grande demi guignol.
It's funny, it's kitsch and has lots of T&A.
As for the themes of youth and beauty ideal, and the possible dangers thereof, I feel the film has arrived late to the party.
My favourite scene doesn't have any horror in it. I found it very nerve-racking to see that she coudn't leave the house because she had to check and redo her make-up one more time, and then again and again. And each time she got a little closer to the door.




Allaby's Avatar
Registered User
The Brutalist (2024) One of the best films of the year. Masterfully directed by Brady Corbet, The Brutalist has excellent performances, especially by Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones, both of whom deserve to win the Oscar. The score is fantastic, one of the year's best, and the cinematography is great too. It's very long, but always compelling, engaging, and interesting. This is my current prediction to win best picture, director, and actor at the Academy Awards.