Movie Tab II

May seen list:

Wonder Woman 1984 2020 Patty Jenkins

Coming 2 America 2021 Craig Brewer

Senso 1954 Luchino Visconti
L’Argent 1983 Robert Bresson
The Story of Adele H. 1975 François Truffaut

Joint Security Area 2000 Park Chan-wook
The Front Line 2011 Jang Hoon
The Host 2006 Bong Joon-ho
Inside Men 2015 Woo Min-ho

+ Pépé le Moko 1937 Julien Duvivier
+ The Seventh Seal 1957 Ingmar Bergman
+ Suspiria 1977 Dario Argento
+ A Touch of Zen 1971 King Hu
+ The Professor 1986 Giuseppe Tornatore
+ Dazed and Confused 1993 Richard Linklater
+ Lone Star 1996 John Sayles
+ The Legend of 1900 1998 Giuseppe Tornatore
+ Incendies 2010 Denis Villeneuve
+ Kon-Tiki 2012 Joachim Rønning, Espen Sandberg

Ikiru 1952 Akira Kurosawa
The Cranes Are Flying 1957 Mikhail Kalatozov
The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity 1959 Masaki Kobayashi
Shoot the Piano Player 1960 François Truffaut
The Human Condition III: A Soldier’s Prayer 1961 Masaki Kobayashi
8½ 1963 Federico Fellini
Goyokin 1969 Hideo Gosha
One Deadly Summer 1983 Jean Becker
A Brighter Summer Day 1991 Edward Yang
Underground 1995 Emir Kusturica
Buffalo ’66 1998 Vincent Gallo
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring 2003 Kim Ki-duk
A Separation 2011 Asghar Farhadi
The Age of Shadows 2016 Kim Jee-woon

+ Grand Illusion 1937 Jean Renoir
+ Port of Shadows 1938 Marcel Carné
+ Umberto D. 1952 Vittorio De Sica
+ Tokyo Story 1953 Yasujirō Ozu
+ Diabolique 1955 Henri-Georges Clouzot
+ The Hidden Fortress 1958 Akira Kurosawa
+ Red Beard 1965 Akira Kurosawa
+ Say Anything… 1989 Cameron Crowe
+ Malena 2000 Giuseppe Tornatore
+ Masquerade 2012 Choo Chang-min

The Wages of Fear 1953 Henri-Georges Clouzot
The Postman 1994 Michael Radford

May, 2021 movies watched-

The Green Years (1963) + A Portuguese gem that I hadn't previously heard of.

Show Me Love (1998) Much better than expected.

Themroc (1973) One of the more unique movies I've seen that wasn't terrible.

Chungking Express (1994) + My favorite of the 3 I've seen from the director.

Three Colors: White (1994) - Loved it more than Blue, looking forward to Red.

The Truth (1960) A courtroom drama with Brigitte Bardot facing murder charges. Release her dammit!

Talk to Her (2002) I believe Almodovar will be one of my favorite directors once I see more.

Sundays and Cybele (1962) Repeat So much to appreciate about this movie.

About Elly (2009) The director has a gift for sucking the viewer in.

The Eel (1997) + A big step down from the other 2 I've seen from the director but still pretty good.

Touchez Pas Au Grisbi (1954) + Great noir with Gene Gabin.

5 Centimeters Per Second (2007) Excellent animation.

Three Colors: Red (1994) My favorite of the trilogy.

Rocco and His Brothers (1960) One of the best Italian movies I've seen.

The Official Story (1985) Foreign language Oscar winner with an excellent story.

Volver (2006) - Good, but my least favorite of the 4 I've seen so far from Almodovar.

May viewings-16
2021 viewings-75

I too loved Talk to Her and Show me Love, and also was disappointed by the Eel. It won the Palm D'Or too.

Seen in May

Miami Connection : Awful acting, a story that makes no sense, but it is good fun and the soundtrack is genuinely good.

The American Friend: +: A brilliant and quiet European drama with tinges of American cinema. Wonderful colour and cinematography. Good acting too.

The Naked Gun : If I saw this as a kid I would’ve adored it, but its power is lessened by the fact that I’ve now been so exposed to weird comedy. Still very funny though, I loved all the scenes where Neilsen was going haywire with his car.

Hellraiser -: Existenial gory nightmare with great effects.

Panic Room : Love a good survival movie (and Jodie Foster). Very intense.

Horror Noire : Interesting doc about the portrayal of black people in horror. Watch it if you want any good horror recommendations.

Different from the Others : Had to watch it for its historical significance (a pro-gay movie in the 1910’s sounds too good too be true), but it’s not exactly the greatest film. The story and structure are more like a PSA than an actual film; Imagine if Reefer Madness was about homophobia instead of weed. Still a very interesting film despite that.

Brain Damage : A humorous if gory story about ones spiral into addiction with awesome special effects.

Smoke and Mirrors: The Story of Tom Savini : Documentary about the personal life of an interesting man. He seems incredibly friendly and dedicated to the craft.

Quiz Show : Very well acted and shot historical film, even if it does have a sappy, Hollywood ending tacked on.

Pieces : Was expecting to get bored by this, but the suspense scenes are actually fairly well done (The kills and the hilarious acting also help!).

Friday the 13th Part 2 : It kills me how long this film takes to get to the slashing. Very good chase scene and interesting protagonist though.

In Search of Darkness : Man I’m having fun with my Shudder subscription. Essentially just 4 hours of horror celebs going ‘Hey, remember that movie? That was a good movie!’. The film is also intersected with short discussions on horror topics like movie posters and the final girl. I think this film would’ve been much better if it was an in depth look at those topics instead. The choice of interviewees was good too. One guy felt out of place though; The way he spoke made it sound like he was just reading a script/the films wikipedia page.

Four Flies on Grey Velvet : A bit of a drag, but contains some great suspense scenes and scary moments.

The Stone Tape +: A film that I simultaneously love and hate. I just kept on getting angrier and angrier in the second half: Our female protagonist is constantly making informed decisions and conclusions on the supernatural threat, but her boss keeps on dismissing her and threatening her with getting fired. YOU LITERALLY HIRED HER TO DO THIS! IT’S HER JOB!. WHY DID YOU HIRE HER IF YOU’RE JUST GOING TO CONSTANTLY IGNORE HER AND GET MAD WITH HER?! Even with that, it’s a great low-budget ghost story with an awesome atmosphere.

Anticipation of the Night +: Experimental feature by Brakhage. I could take it or leave it. Nothing wrong with it, it's just not my thing.

The Celluloid Closet: + Like Horror noire, watch if you want any good film recommendations

Maniac: Reminds me of The Evil Dead in some ways, it’s amateurish in places but also shows extreme talent. A serial killer movie with very good special effects. The scene in the subway was one of the best scary scenes I’ve seen in a horror film in a long time.

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon: No more uppity genre satires, society has progressed passed the need for uppity genre satires. The first 2/3rds of the film were quite good and I really enjoyed its take on the slasher. However, the last 30 minutes are so fcking bad that it badly hindered my viewing experience.

The Poseidon Adventure: Solid disaster film with solid performances.

Basket Case: Probably the thing that stuck out most about this film is how every secondary or background character is a total weirdo, making the villain seem like the normal one! Has great kills and some genuinely creepy moments.

June seen list:

Missing poster is: Brides.

Out of curiosity, what rating did you give New World and The 10th Victim?

New World:
The Tenth Victim:

June, 2021 movies watched-

Island of Flowers (1989) Amusing short from the Doc's list.

The Long Absense (1961) + Decent Cannes winner.

The Double Life of Veronique (1991) The 1st out of 6 movies from this director that I didn't care for.

The Long Goodbye (1973) Repeat I don't even think it's all that good but I really enjoy it anyway.

Blackkklansman (2018) Repeat I have a few issues with it but it's still entertaining and at times powerful.

Cut and Run (1985) Trashy action film for fans of cheese and sleaze only.

Dream Home (2010) Brutally violent but merely average overall.

American Movie (1999) Repeat - One of my favorite documentaries.

Whiplash (2014) Repeat I don't get the IMDb rating but it's a good flick.

Vertigo (1958) Repeat - Still not sure how much I like it after seeing it a few times.

Chimes at Midnight (1965) Repeat Nothing rougher for me than Shakespeare movies but this was much better than my first viewing.

Les Miserables (1935) Repeat + The only version I've seen and I love it.

Bicycle Thieves (1948) Repeat Better than the first time.

Wrong Turn (2021) Totally awesome for horror fans.

A Children's Story (2004) Strong Italian coming of age crime film.

Portraits of Andrea Palmer (2018) - Ok for a low budget sleaze fest.

Black Sun: The Nanking Massacre (1995) - Pretty damn disturbing.

June viewings-17
2021 viewings-92

Solaris and Solaris



A 3 hour movie that feels more like 20 hours. I don't think i've been this frustrated with a movie since I watched Throne of Blood, which is funny because Kurosawa actually visited the set of Solaris.

The concept is brilliant, the ending is insane, you have some incredible special effects and shots, but these elements can't quite gel together because of all the dumb stuff sandwiched between the film's magical moments.

The camera lingers on this foggy, dreamlike country house setting with swirling weeds and flowing water before immediately cutting to this bizarrely well shot government briefing film. The briefing paints Solaris as this fantastical and alien experience, far beyond anything we could imagine or understand. However when our main character arrives at the space station in it's orbit, he becomes so bored that he ends up sleeping for the rest of the movie.

The idea is man collapsing in on himself, unable to reach beyond his own hang ups. The repetitive plot makes sense thematically but is executed with such little flair that it drains all life out of the film.

As an art movie of course you have some of the most pathetic dialogue ever put to screen.

Kris and his dead wife clone talk in circles about nothing, forever. They're still figuring out the intricacies of being cloned from a memory hours after the audience has stopped giving a ****. The scientists babble on about philosophy in a less profound matter than The Matrix Reloaded, literally spelling out the themes of the film for the viewer.

Soderbergh's 2002 version with George Clooney is snappier with better dialogue, but is also far less memorable. Missing out on those special moments of Tarkovsky's film like the opening, finale, and zero gravity sequence.

To me Solaris is more fun to think about and dissect than it is to watch and experience. Tarkosvky infamously called 2001 "cold and sterile" which is ironically a far better descriptor of his own film. In that final, horrific, pan out shot, we see Kris entirely submerged in a world of his own, but the closest Solaris comes to illustrating what is lost here is a 5 minute scene of driving through traffic.

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Since January:
What Happened to Monday (Wirkola, 2017) -

-
Promising Young Woman (Fennell, 2020)-

+
Operation Varsity Blues (Smith, 2021)-

++
Child's Play (Klevberg, 2019)-

--
Tom Clancy's Without Remorse (Sollima, 2021)-

--
Mortal Combar (McQuoid, 2021)-

--
The Butterfly Effect (Bress/Grueber, 2004)-

Fear Street Part One: 1994 (Janiak, 2021)-

Fear Street Part Two: 1978 (Janiak, 2021)-

Fear Street Part Three: 1666 (Janiak, 2021)-

__________________

The Mirror



Compared to Solaris this is like an action movie. Lots of incredible images. I think he's trying to capture how parents and countries mold people into what they are, sometimes by literally putting a mirror in the scene.

Visceral, but also vague and formless.

Stalker



Now we're talking. Tarkovsky was clearly a fan of photographing nature at it's most surreal and here is the movie that lets him lean into that. The most simple and mysterious of these three.

July seen list:


Seems to be missing a few but hey-ho, too lazy to look into it

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

July, 2021 movies watched-

Nobody (2021) Just a lot of fun.

Bacurau (2019) Awesome Brazilian genre flick.

The Last Circus (2010) - Murder, mayhem, and clowns.

Unhinged (2020) Good fun if you want to laugh during a stupid road rage movie.

Stranger than Paradise (1984) Easily my favorite of the 4 Jarmusch films I've seen.

Red Road (2006) + What started off like a mystery became powerful and sad.

The Decline of Western Civilization (1981) - A good doc that would have been very good if I were into punk rock.

Field of Dreams (1989) + Sappy, but in a very pleasant and enchanting way.

Caravaggio (1986) Not a bad movie, but it has a bit going against it as far as my taste goes.

July viewings-9
2021 viewings-101

The Phantom of the Monastery (1934) –
Three hikers with nowhere better to go stay the night in a gloomy old monastery inhabited by silent monks. A bit of silly melodrama in a great macabre old locale.

Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953) –
Not much of note, but a funny enough romp. Somewhat darker material than most A&C horror crossovers, with the shoddiest makeup. I don’t know what to say about the odd suffragette stuff.


Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955) -
I want this to be my favorite A&C movie because I love old Hollywood Arabian fantasy paraphernalia, but the jokes are mostly misses, the Mummy seems like a sub-plot, and even for an A&C movie, it tests my tolerance for stupid.


Clue (1985) –
Very on the nose, hit you over the head with a [insert weapon] dialogue, but intentionally so. Not too funny, but has its charm. I like the mystery throwback vibe.

The Island (2005) -
Fascinating, odd sci-fi world to start with, but loses itself halfway and devolves into a CBS thriller.

August seen list:

Missing posters are:
Secret Workshops (top row)
Roaring Abyss (second row)

August, 2021 movies watched-

Sophie's Choice (1982) + Strong story and performances.

Monsieur Hire (1989) + Superb French film from the Ebert list.

August viewings-2
2021 viewings-103

Altered (2006) -
A troupe of rednecks abduct an alien. Schlocky and more fun than the IMDB score suggests. Decent actors either mumble or yell at each other while doing questionable stuff. They’re still relatable enough, but maybe that’s just cause I live in central Florida.


Joy Ride (2001) -
Two young men play a prank on a baddie. Said prank is painfully dumb & forced, kind of cheapening the whole conflict. Perfunctory thriller stuff, but it has cooler cinematography than I expected.


Abbott and Costello Meet The Killer (1949) -
One of the better ones. More whodunnit than horror spoof.


The Shrine (2010) –
Three travelers investigate disappearances in a small Lovecraftian village. Quite a few red flags are ignored. I didn’t get too invested in the characters, and the cult-ish baddies seems a little trite, but it finishes pretty strong.


Frozen (2010) -
Three people get left behind on a ski lift. A what-would-you-do scenario with great acting and a screenplay that really seems to care about its characters.


Asylum Blackout / The Incident (2011) –
Chefs and guards are locked in an asylum with rampaging lunatics during an electrical outage. Ultra-ultra-violent with a great atmosphere and a very twisted portrayal of sadistic loons. It feels like a survival horror game. The ending will likely disappoint.

Points for nice Wilhelm scream placement.


Underwater (2020) -
Apparently I can’t resist mediocre underwater monster movies. It’s often hard to make out what’s happening behind bubbles, dust, ridiculous Gears of War suits, & caffeinated camera men, and I have little desire to see folks dodging CG debris. I liked that it was a little more adventurous than most of its ilk, and some of the dramatic stuff was better than it has a right to be in this kind of movie. Whoever got to pick the title must have dirt on a studio exec.

I really wanted to like Underwater, I really did. It had so much potential. If I recall correctly it was the CGI monsters that ruined it for me. What little I was able to see, anyway. At least that's what I remember being disappointed with the most. Well, I'm glad you enjoyed Asylum Blackout, ha.