Movie Tab II

Sean O'Casey: The Spirit of Ireland (Edwin Apfel, 1965)

The Curse of Frankenstein (Terence Fisher, 1957)

-
Rasputin: The Mad Monk (Don Sharp, 1966)

The Gorgon (Terence Fisher, 1964)

Dr. Peter Cushing knows that Medusa (Prudence Hyman) is killing people in his village but has kept quiet.
Scars of Dracula (Roy Ward Baker, 1970)

losin’ it (Curtis Hanson, 1983)

+
Taste the Blood of Dracula (Peter Sasdy, 1970)

+
The Black Cauldron (Ted Berman & Richard Rich, 1985)

The villainous Horned King curses his enemies.
Dracula A.D. 1972 (Alan Gibson, 1972)

Modern Guatemala City (James A. FitzPatrick, 1945)

The Get-Away (Edward Buzzell, 1941)

In a Valley of Violence (Ti West, 2016)

+

Stranger Ethan Hawke and his dog (Abby) choose a town full of violent eccentrics to mosey into from the wilderness.
Step by Step (Phil Rosen, 1946)

-
Guns Don't Argue! (Richard C. Kahn & Bill Karn, 1960)

-
I Was a Communist for the FBI (Gordon Douglas, 1951)

-
Mr. Duck Steps Out (Jack King, 1940)

Donald Duck enjoys dancing with his love Daisy (in her first appearance with Donald) – he even gets to jitterbug in spite of interference from his three nephews.
Nerve (Henry Joost & Ariel Schulman, 2016)

+
The Choice (Ross Katz, 2016)

The Hands of Orlac (Robert Wiene, 1924)

113 min
Last Cab to Darwin (Jeremy Sims, 2016)

-

When 70-year-old Broken Hill cab driver Michael Caton learns that he has six months to live, he decides to leave his lover (Ningali Lawford-Wolf) and drive 2000 miles to Darwin where euthanasia has just been legalized.

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

Not a bad rating for Losin' It!

The Idol (Hany Abu-Assad, 2016)

The Ice Pirates (Stewart Raffill, 1984)

-
Satellite in the Sky (Paul Dickson, 1956)

Indignation (James Schamus, 2016)

In 1951, troubled but free-loving WASP Sarah Gadon and free-thinking Jewish Logan Lerman meet in college and seal each other’s fate.
Logan’s Run (Michael Anderson, 1976)

-
The Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy (Rafael Portillo, 1958)

-
The Weather Underground (Sam Green & Bill Siegel, 2003)

Soylent Green (Richard Fleischer, 1973)

-

NYPD detective Charlton Heston searches for the secret of 2022’s favorite food – Soylent Green.
Calvaire (Fabrice Du Welz, 2005)

Observe and Report (Jody Hill, 2009)

+
Time Bandits (Terry Gilliam, 1981)

The Candidate (Michael Ritchie, 1972)

Longshot California Democratic Senate candidate Robert Redford’s message unexpectedly gains in popularity.
Women of San Quentin (William A. Graham, 1983)

+
Joe (John G. Avildsen, 1970)

Dead Men Can't Dance (Steve Anderson, 1997)

-
The Infiltrator (Brad Furman, 2016)

In the 1980s, U.S. Special Customs agent Robert Mazur (Bryan Cranston) goes undercover to try to take down the Colombian drug cartel’s and an international bank’s multi-billion dollar money laundering scheme.
The Housekeeper's Daughter (Hal Roach, 1939)

+
The Mechanic (Michael Winner, 1972)

Eddie Macon’s Run (Jeff Kanew, 1983)

Infernal Affairs (Andrew Lau & Stephen Mak, 2002)

Hong Kong undercover cop Tony Leung works as a mole in a mob boss’ triad, but he’s being brought back into the force by a cop (Andy Lau) who is actually a mole planted by the same mobster (Eric Sang).

風立ちぬ [The Wind Rises] (2013) -



When this started I thought this might be the best Miyazaki movie ever as the dreams-come-true theme seemed to be working super-fine and the actual dreams felt very beautiful and genuine, but it went downhill from that point. The romance subplot was pretty, but it overshadowed the other subplot and then I found out that the movie is highly fictionalized and I felt somehow cheated. That being said, it's still a good film that truly shows Miyazaki's love for planes (his family's business was making parts for planes when he was a little boy) and respect for Jiro Horikoshi. It's an interesting statement on the line between the inventor and his invention (after all he's designing machines that kill people) and the portrait of real commitment that resulted in defeat.

The Thief (1952) -



Surely, a one-of-its-kind no dialogue movie from the USA of the 50's (!!!). This film did not need any dialogues as the build-up and action were extremely understandable. That clarity proves that after all these American movies did not need dialogue to be great. This is a spy thriller, but the cinematography makes it look like a film noir. The cold war era plot is superbly affecting, especially if you think about Rosenberg's execution (only one year after movie's release!), and then really wish you are not on McCarthy's list yourself!

To Have and Have Not (1944) -



Tropical film noir with Bogart and Bacall. Is there anything more you might want?

A Nymphoid Barbarian in Dinosaur Hell (1990) -



A great surprise! This was as entertaining as it was bad. Which means it was very entertaining. Good job Troma!

Atlantis (1913) -



A bit of a let down, especially considering two other August Blom film I saw, The End of the World and Temptations of a Great City, were very good. Sadly, Atlantis does not star the star of the second one Valdemar Psilander. Instead, Olaf Fønss, the guy who was in The End of the World acts here. The disaster scenes were really well-made, but overall the movie isn't great.

High Sierra (1941) -



Future director Ida Lupino falls in love with Bogart, who on the other hand falls in love with a limp girl. Oh, and everyone loves the dog.

Sweet Movie (1974) -



Chocolate and sh*t, sugar and blood, vomit and urine, Communism and Capitalism, Viennese Actionism and Katyn forest exhumation. This is a little bit like Jodorovsky if you think about the controversy factor, but Jodorovsky's films have metaphysics that I missed in Makavejev's work. Still a very strong satire on almost everything that can as well be ignored for this to become a "f*ck the meaning let's have fun" kind of movie. Judging from the movie the only difference between chocolate and feces is the chocolate is sweet. I dunno about sh*t. I never tasted it.

W.R. - Misterije organizma [WR: Mysteries of the Organism] (1971) -



Looks like sexual revolution and communist revolution don't have to be different things! Comrade lovers, for your health's sake, f*ck freely! My apologetics for the profanity.

The Informer (1935) -



Beautiful cinematoraphy and good direction, as always with Ford, but McLaglen's character was a little too blunt for my taste. He was a little bit like Anthony Quinn's character in La Strada, but with the wits of Gelsomina.

__________________
Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.

You actually wached it!

__________________
/watching movies for mark f/
MovieMeditation's Cinema Reviews // Film Diary 2015 // Letterboxd Profile // MovieMeditation's Top 50 Horror

Amanda Knox: Pretty shallow but worth a watch. Knox is an interesting person and you get to see her speak here more than you probably ever have. The opposing view doesn't get much of a fair shot but also doesn't look very competent.

Murder On The Orient Express: Incredibly entertaining because of the protagonist. The others don't get enough screen time but are all fun in limited scenes. I kept thinking almost the whole movie I wish Guy Ritchie would have checked this film out before making the Sherlock films. Not everything needs huge action set pieces, in fact most movies don't. I hate to be that guy, but they don't make them like this anymore. A popcorn flick without any explosions.

The Accountant: An interesting premise blown. It has its entertaining moments for sure but is mostly a muddled mess that will be very easy to forget. Plus a typical thriller ending that I absolutely despised.

Patton: Scott is incredible and I always love Malden if he was reading the phone book. The problem is this is just three hours of the same scene over and over. Glad I watched it but I won't again.

Mascots: I liked this more than most people seem to. I thought the first twenty minutes was really funny and the actual competition was pretty good. Maybe if I had seen this in the theater I would have been more disappointed but as it is I enjoyed it for the most part. It is going to get me to dig into Guest's filmography a bit as well. I have only seen Best In Show before this and it has been years.

Rio Bravo: I really enjoyed this because of the great cast of characters. Not the masterpiece for me that it is for others because it feels dated from a visual standpoint.

Hunt For The Wilderpeople: One of the best of the year. The story is so endearing. This movie is funny and the characters are great. I love the music as well. Wes Anderson-eque.

Stroszek: Another absolutely perfect first time viewing for me this year. Like a lot of my favorites it is hard to put into words what makes this movie so great, but everything just is. There is a naturalness to the film that is really compelling but it is also delightfully weird. The characters are all perfect, the dialogue is funny. I loved it so much. Surprised it doesn't get more talk with all the Herzog fans.

Fitzcarraldo: This Herzog is really good in many ways. The cinematography and story are really good. It is a bit long and the ADR really kept me from fully embracing the film.

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Letterboxd

Glad you liked Rio Bravo. Love Stroszek too, I think it's my favourite Herzog film, need to watch it again.

__________________

Pappa ante Portas (Vicco von Bülow, 1991) -
Geomsa-wa yeoseonsaeng A Public Prosecutor and a Teacher (Yoon Dae-Ryong, 1948) -
Scream (Wes Craven, 1996) - +

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

A bit late but here's September record:

Harrigan's Kid (Charles Reisner, 1943)

The Land of the Lost Sidekicks (Roger Ross Williams, 2016)

Life, Animated (Roger Ross Williams, 2016)

The Black Cat (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1934)

No wonder Satan worshiper Boris Karloff loves black cats and his rival Bela Lugosi doesn’t.
Cheers for Miss Bishop (Tay Garnett, 1941)

-
Dirty Grandpa (Dan Mazer, 2016)

-
The Taste of Others (Agnès Jaoui, 2000)

+
The Black Scorpion (Edward Ludwig, 1957)

An erupting Mexican volcano unleashes giant scorpions which terrorize a doll, the countryside and even Mexico City.
Fat Man and Little Boy (Roland Joffé, 1989)

+
The Uninvited (Lewis Allen, 1944)

A Hologram for the King (Tom Tykwer, 2016)

+
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (Fred F. Sears, 1956)

Aliens ironically invade Washington, D.C., to help drain the swamp.
Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key aka Excite Me aka Eyes of the Black Cat aka Gently Before She Dies (Sergio Martino, 1972)

+
Mondo Cane (Paola Cavara, Gualtiero Jacopetti & Franco E. Prosperi, 1962)

The Baby (Ted Post, 1973)

-
Carnival of Souls (Herk Harvey, 1962)

-

After she miraculously survives a deadly accident, organist Candace Hilligoss begins seeing a strange man (Herk Harvey).
The World's Greatest Sinner (Timothy Carey, 1962)

Wild in the Streets (Barry Shear, 1968)

How to Make a Monster (Herbert L. Strock, 1958)

+
Blood and Black Lace (Mario Bava, 1964)

+

Another model (Claude Dantes) becomes a victim of the masked killer.

Mod lyset [Towards the Light] (1919) -



From the director of Himmelskibet comes this beautifully shot drama starring the one and only Asta Nielsen. What a great film! Nielsen is already a big star with a lot of films on her account here and generally this is a film made after the Golden Age of Danish cinema, long surpassed by Swedish and American movies, but it's also one of the better films to come out of Denmark in the late 1910's. Its religious message may be seen as too idealistic or even corny, but the movie is mainly about the cinematography, that being pretty modern, still seems like a tribute to the movies of the Golden Age (both Danish and Russian (Bauer!) flicks). I really liked how both this and Griffith's Broken Blossoms had a similar motif of drunken father beating the daughter. Of course, Griffith exploited the theme more in depth, with the help of the wonderful doe-eyed Lilian Gish. The leitmotif here is still Nielsen's atheist (!) character stubbornly walking the path of shame (i.e. coquetting a priest!), but I mean, who cares about plot anyway, just look at the conflagration scenes to understand.

Yume de Aimasho: Wonderland [Meet Me in the Dream: Wonderland] (1996) -



It starts like a cute high-school girl teen film, but don't be deceived, it's Hisayasu Sato's film. However, just like his other late works, it's not as sex-filled and perverted as his earlier films. Still, Sato shows his fascination with every possible form of sexuality and also a peculiar kind of voyeurism, as well as introducing his habitual themes of alienation and weird illnesses. The movie is based on some manga and you can clearly see this. I had no problem reimagining every scene as if it was animated. Maybe it's the source material, but there are some incredibly atmospheric scenes that don't feel like Sato at all. I particularly love Sato's films for their specific atmosphere, but this film had a different kind of mood, which doesn't of course mean it was worse, or anything.

The Babadook (2014) -



I was getting into it almost sure I'm gonna get a mediocre horror film (at best!), so this was quite a surprise for me, when it turned out to be a psychological drama that only cloaks itself in the garments of horror. It may not be the best horror movie of the last decade, but it surely is quite fresh with its ambiguous symbology, that although pretty apparent and not that hard to get, makes for a fascinating watch. I'd never questioned Essie Davis' acting when I watched the film and it was when it ended that I realized how well she acted. Plus her character has a better movie taste than half of MoFos (Black Sabbath, Georges Méliès etc.)! I don't want to get into interpreting the movie here, so I'm gonna leave it at that.

Topaz (1969) -



After having seen 28 Hitchcock films, every time I find yet another film of his I haven't seen, I feel like I'm scraping the bottom (although there are still about 2 or 3 films of his that have a chance of being good). I was getting into this almost sure this is not going to be a good film and it turned out to be just the way I thought. Well, the premise is quite interesting. A Cuban Missile Crisis spy thriller. Sounds cool, right? Sadly, the film is neither thrilling nor engaging. It's well-directed and there are some occasional great shots (like the one on the screencap above), but most of the this feels like Hitchcock didn't know what he was trying to achieve. A lot of the movie works like a pendulum. The Cuban part of the film is beautifully shot albeit annoyingly melodramatic, etc. Well, after struggling the first 40 minutes, I didn't have any problem finishing the other 85 minutes, but boy, is it overlong. Summing up, the lowest trier Hitchcock. Only for completists.

October watches (All Hallow's Eve/Day so all up for once):

The Railway Man (2013)
Sil jong [Missing] (2009) +
Chugyeogja [The Chaser] (2008)
Monsters (2010) +
Boys Don't Cry (1999) +
Room At The Top (1959)
Gin gwai [The Eye] (2002)
Átame! [Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!] (1989)
I, Frankenstein (2014)
Ruby Sparks (2012)
Frozen (2013)
Leaves Of Grass (2009) +
La lune à un mètre [The Moon At Arms Length] (1898)
Le voyage dans la lune [A Trip To The Moon] (1902) +
A Trip To Mars (1910)
Himmelskibbet [A Trip To Mars] (1918) +
The Killer Shrews (1959)
Alraune (1952) +
The Silent Village (1943)
The Day The Earth Caught Fire (1961)
Panic In The Year Zero! (1962)
About Elly (2009)
Thunderbirds Are GO (1966)
Kvinden i buret [The Keeper Of Lost Causes] (2013)
The Drop (2014) +
Lifeboat (1944)
The Machine (2013) +
Strange Days (1995) +
Space Master X-7 (1958)
La morte viene dalla spazio [The Day The Sky Exploded] (1958)
The Colossus Of New York (1958)
Wir sind die Nacht [We Are The Night] (2010)
The Hidden (1987)
The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962)
Slashers (2001)
Death Sentence (2007) +
Kosmicheskiy reys: Fantasticheskaya novella [Cosmic Journey] (1936) +
Ex Machina (2015)
Beyond The Time Barrier (1960) +
Attack Of The Crab Monsters (1957)
The Fly (1958) +
The Wasp Woman (1959)
Invasion, U.S.A. (1952)
Devil Girl From Mars (1954)
Silent Running (1972)
Hanyo [The Housemaid] (2010) +
Hanyo [The Housemaid] (1960)
Night Of The Creeps (1986)
The Thin Red Line (1998) +
Cashback (2006)
Beyond The Rising Moon (1987)
Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971) or depending on proclivity
It Conquered The World (1956)

Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944) -
Ace in the Hole (Billy Wilder, 1951) -
Piagol (Lee Kang-cheon, 1955) -

October, 2016 movies watched-

Nightmare Alley (1947) + Unusual type of story for a noir, with a haunting ending.

The Nice Guys (2016) - I give Ryan Gosling most of the credit for this movie being decent.

Miracle on 34th Street (1947) * A great Christmas movie.

Bashu, the Little Stranger (1989) A moving story and a nice look at a different culture.

Laura (1944) + Practically flawless, yet it did not leave me satisfied.

Sunrise (1927) I wasn't in love with some of the middle scenes, but the rest was spectacular.

Late Night Trains (1975) + Italian knock off on Last House on the Left is a must watch for fans of the sadistic.

Her (2013) + Phoenix is great, and more importantly, I believed it was possible.

Ex Machina (2015) Strong contender for my Sci-Fi list.

The Neon Demon (2016) + I would have liked this much more if the pace was a little quicker.

Ida (2013) A couple of great performances and good power.

Sergeant York (1941) + Great true story, and I loved how it shifted from western to war film.

The Cell (2000) -I really enjoyed the story and the bizarre imagery.

The Flowers of War (2011) -Quite flawed I thought, yet I enjoyed the hell out of it.

Disco Pigs (2001) Nice little Irish independent movie, but very slow at times.

The Infiltrator (2016) - Well done and entertaining, but no great qualities.

Citizen Kane (1941) Repeat viewing Very good movie that doesn't overly excite me.

The Letter (1940) + Hidden gem from director William Wyler.

The Lady from Shanghai (1947) - Fast paced with awesome characters and dialogue.

Odd Man Out (1947) Beautifully shot and well executed, but it could use more excitement.

Born to Kill (1947) + I loved the nasty tone and despicable characters.

[b]Moon (2009) [rating]3 Fairly compelling, looks great, and has Sam Rockwell.

Lady in the Lake (1947) - Philip Marlowe noir filmed pov style, that I enjoyed largely due to the star's wisecracking ways.

On the Town (1949) Rating this classic musical is ridiculous because it's just not my type of movie. I'm only doing it for my records.

Good Bye, Lenin! (2003) - If not for a little zaniness in the middle, this could have been a new favorite.

A Boy and His Dog (1975) + Strange, perverse, and funny post apocalyptic gem.

Mildred Pierce (1945) From the top 100 noirs list, directed by Michael Curtiz, and starring Joan Crawford, this movie kept surprising me.

The Lady Eve (1941) + Highly recommended for fans of rom-coms.

Rabid (1977) - Early Cronenberg is a winner for horror fans.

The Conjuring 2 (2016) - A lot like the first one; nothing original but well done.

Ronin (1998) Repeat viewing - A little more intelligent than the average action film, and a strong cast.

A Trip to the Moon (1902) Good watch for a movie about 13 minutes long.

Pi (1998) + Unique and unnerving.

Pursued (1947) + Robert Mitchum western that has a strong sense of dread and looks great.

Children of Men (2006) Repeat viewing Loved it this time around after not caring for it about 8 years ago.

Total October viewings-35
Total 2016 viewings-290

Taxi Driver (theatre) (1976)
The Dead Girl (2006) -
Alfie (2004)
Ronin (1998) +
Samurai Rebellion (1967) +
Moby Dick (1956)
Good Bye Lenin (2003) +
For Your Eyes Only (1981) +
Octopussy (1983)
A View to a Kill (1985) +
Ida (2013)
Bringing Up Baby (1938) +
The Living Daylights (1987) -
Goldeneye (1995) -
Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) -
The World is Not Enough (1999)

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

Bashu, the Little Stranger (Bashu, gharibeye koochak) (Bahram Beizai, 1989) -
Fire in the Sky (Robert Lieberman, 1993) (Rewatch) -
Le Cercle Rouge (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1970) -
Fathers and Daughters (Gabriele Muccino, 2015)
Ghostbusters (Paul Feig, 2016)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (James Cameron, 1991) (Rewatch) -
Over the Hedge (Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick, 2006) (Rewatch) +
Jurassic World (Colin Trevorrow, 2015) (Rewatch) -
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004) (Rewatch)
Ernest & Celestine (Ernest et Célestine) (Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar, 2012) (Rewatch) +
Dark City (Alex Proyas, 1998) (Rewatch) +
The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese, 2013) (Rewatch) +
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha: The Movie 2nd A’s (Mah ô shôjo lyrical Nanoha) (Unknown Director, 2012) -

__________________

The Mephisto Waltz (Paul Wendkos, 1971)

Lesbian Vampire Killers (Phil Claydon, 2009)

The Monster (Roland West, 1925)

-
Don't Torture a Duckling (Lucio Fulci, 1972)

+

The Fall of the Roman Empire.
Blow-Ups of 1947 (No Director Listed, 1947)

The Black Cat (Lucio Fulci, 1981)

Richard Pryor: Live and Smokin' (Michael Blum, 1971)

Island of Lost Souls (Erle C. Kenton, 1932)

”What is the Law? Are We Not Men?” Dr. Moreau (Charles Laughton) learns the hard way.
Charlie Cobb: Nice Night for a Hanging (Richard Michaels, 1977)

The Mummy (Terence Fisher, 1959)

Playful Pan (Burt Gillett, 1930)

The Abominable Dr. Phibes (Robert Fuest, 1971)

Organist Dr. Phibes (Vincent Price) sits at the altar of his dead wife (Caroline Munro) – he blames the doctors who couldn’t save her on the operating table and plans to kill them utilizing the Biblical plagues of Egypt.
The Hound of the Baskervilles (Terence Fisher, 1959)

Scream of Fear aka Taste of Fear (Seth Holt, 1961)

+
The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (Terence Fisher, 1960)

The Wolf Man (George Waggner, 1941)

Jenny Williams (Fay Helm): “Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright.” Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney, Jr.): [after hearing it twice already] “You know that one too ah?”
Storm Warning (Stuart Heisler, 1951)

Dallas (Stuart Heisler, 1950)

The Invisible War (Kirby Dick, 2012)

The Blob (Chuck Russell, 1988)

The Blob appears from the strangest (which are subsequently the most-obvious) places.

October 2016 Watches:

The Nice Guys - +
Bashu, The Little Stranger -
Chungking Express - +
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang -
Samurai Rebellion -
Alphaville -
Dark City - -
Ida - +
Frankenstein -
The Flowers of War - +
Good Bye Lenin -
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring - +

So here are my October viewings and all:

Fatima (Philippe Faucon, 2015)
Wild (Nicolette Krebitz, 2016)
Happy times will come soon - I tempi felici verranno presto (Alessandro Commodin, 2016)
The death of Louis XIV - La mort de Louis XIV (Albert Serra, 2016)
Psychic school wars - Nerawareta gakuen (Ryosuke Nakamura, 2012)
Magical sisters Yoyo & Nene - Majokko shimai no Yoyo to Nene (Takayuki Hirao, 2013)
Gyo: Tokyo Fish Attack - Gyo (Takayuki Hirao, 2012)
Human desire (Fritz Lang, 1954)
Sausage Party (Conrad Vernon & Greg Tiernan, 2016)
Shoot the piano player - Tirez sur le pianiste (François Truffaut, 1960)
Finding Dory (Andrew Stanton & Angus McLane, 2016)
Angst (Gerald Kargl, 1983)
Time Stranger - Toki no tabibito (Mori Masaki, 1986)

Well, this month was sort of disappointing...

Victoria [My Name Is Victoria] (2015) -



In 1982 Bela Tarr shot his adaptation of Macbeth in one continuous 72 minutes long shot. In 2002 Sokurov made Russian Ark, a film shot in one take clocking at 96 minutes. Since that time movies like Birdman were made. Faked one-takes. Movies built of many takes sewn together so that they look like one. This by no means was a new way of cinematic fakery. Hitchcock did this in 1948 with Rope. However, Sokurov's achievement had to be topped. Victoria's director Sebastian Schipper accepted this challenge and nailed it. 140 minutes of uninterrupted trip, during which the camera constantly follows the heroine, Victoria, travelling Berlin streets, quiet roofs and obscure parking garages at night.

At first I was quite disgusted with the juvenile hooligans portrayed on the screen and quite surprised that girl has even started a conversation with them, but then the movie got more tension-based and I stopped caring about character's motivation. The tension here is skillfully built and one can see that the one take technique required a lot of planning. I was greatly surprised with Laia Costa that was great and genuine in her role. All that drool towards the end... This stuff in modern cinema always gets me, because as opposed to classic movies where crying and mourning is incredibly staged and often seems artificial, modern films really seem to nail it. So does Victoria.

Saboteur (1942) -



Thankfully, much better than Topaz! This had a huge potential that I believe wasn't entirely fullfilled, but it still was an incredibly fun movie to watch. I appreciated the Eisenstein-inspired short bit when the ship explodes and several shocked faces of people are shown in a very rapid montage. Cult Statue of Liberty ending and some cool scenes (speech attempt at the party, circus cart etc.). Typical theme of falsely accused man, as well. A good Hitchcock film!

Regeneration (1915) -



If Griffith's The Musketeers of Pig Alley was the very first gangster film, then Raoul Walsh's Regeneration was the first full-blown gangster film. It shows the life of the protagonist - Owen - from the age of 10 to the age of 25 and gives a reason for his (lack of) welfare as well as takes an in-depth look into his surroundings. As brutal as it is romantic, as grim as it is hopeful, Regeneration is not only the first masterpiece of Walsh, but also the first complex masterpiece of gangster film genre.

Festen [The Celebration] (1998) -



This was one of these days when I thought I finally found the answer to all these questions. While watching this wonderful Dogme 95 film I thought to myself: "Now this has to be what they call black comedy." - and mind you, not because a black person is introduced in the movie - "I finally unveiled the mystery of what black comedy is. The movie may not be laugh-out-funny, but it surely has something about it. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I will find black comedy in movie's genres on the Internet". And then I visited a couple of movie database sites and none had this listed as black comedy. Yet another defeat! BUT THIS WAS QUITE f*CKING FUNNY EVEN THOUGH IT WAS DEPRESSING TOO. Well, above all it was outstanding. The camera work really worked and wasn't annoying like I thought it would be!

ایینه [The Mirror] (1997) -



Iranian cinema would have never been the same if it wasn't for Abbas Kiarostami, a director I feel I have greatly underrated. His film Close-up was the main inspiration for the whole generation of Iranian filmmakers, including Jafar Panahi, who would study how much fiction there is in real life and how much real life is there in fiction. The movie plays like your ordinary low-key film for the first part, but then something incredible happens (not gonna spoil you the pleasure of finding out what, but it's quite amazing) and... the movie doesn't change that much after all! Viewer finds out that fiction is the mirror of real life. The Mirror is the very definition of docudrama.

La dentellière [The Lacemaker] (1977) -



Huppert plays a gorgeous and incredibly sensitive girl here. The first (vacation) part of the film seems like Rohmer's work, but then the movie becomes different in mood to end on an almost-Bresson note.

Mephisto (1981) -



It's been awhile since I saw such a complex character study movie. Such a memorable ending, as well. "What do they want from me now? After all, I am just an actor.". A wonderful tractatus on the relationship between politics, art and artist. The main hero is the Faust of the Third Reich.

Also a f*ckload of shorts, ranging from 3 to 45 minutes long.