Movie Tab II

I highly recommend it if you like dark fantasy/surrealism. A bit proto-Gilliam. I may be underrating it. I’m afraid that gif is the only footage of its kind though. No more shoving impoverished children on crutches.

I was probably in the right mood for PF. I liked the elegant setting, music, & cinematography in the beginning, but I can see how someone would find it boring.

I think Mandy took its visual cue from older Italian horror. Did you see Color Out of Space yet?

It’s a Fulci movie, so the practical effects are really the most fun thing about it apart from a foggy, colorful tomb at the end. But be prepared to see that kitty get flung.

Don't believe in that blasphemous two popcorn rating It's a solid film.

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Checked out a couple of decent films this weekend.



(Engler, 2009)





It's rare these days to find a totally original sci-fi film. If that is what you are looking for, well, Cargo will not qualify. That said, even though it's somewhat derivative, 2009's German-made Cargo is well worth a watch. Atmospheric and well made, I found it quite entertaining. I including the sometime-not-used addition to the tile of the film, as there are several films that share the name.



Smith, 2009





While clearly borrowing from the superior Spanish film Timecrimes, Triangle is still a pretty cool flick. First, it stars Melissa George, who is my future ex-wife. Secondly, while Triangle clearly doesn't handle its Schrodinger's cat material as well as Timecrimes, I still give it high marks for its brass balls ending, that pulls exactly zero punches. Sure, the thing has plenty of plot holes, but I still found myself enjoying it as I watched.

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I'll add it to my queue.

I haven't seen Color Out of Space yet, but I plan on it very soon.

"But be prepared to see that kitty get flung." Not cool.

July 2020

The Hateful Eight (2015) rewatch -
Fitzcarraldo (1982) -
Bicycle Thieves (1948)
Millennium Actress (2001)
Rio Bravo (1959) +
Elevator to the Gallows (1958)
The Battle of Algiers (1966)
Mildred Pierce (1945) +
Last Picture Show (1971) -
Blue Ruin (2013)
Rules of Engagement (2000) +
Waco: The Rules of Engagement (1997) -
State of Siege (1972)
Shine (1996) -
Dronningen (2019) +
Joker (2019) rewatch +
Miss Violence (2013) +
The Secret in Their Eyes (2009)
The Nice Guys (2016) +
Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005) +
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
The Old Guard (2020) +

Month Count: 22
Year Count: 120

Lost Highway
1997

Creepy and atmospheric in the first half, then morphs into the goofiest **** ever in the second half. Feels like the demo run for Mulholland Drive. The acting/dialogue here is god-like compared to the new Twin Peaks episodes.

Boys State
2020

High school nerds employ real tactics to win their faux election. Worth signing up for Apple TV free trial. Just remember to cancel your subscription afterwards.

Strangers on a Train
1951

Robert Walker is incredible here, it's a shame he died a year later.

Ran
1985

Strong first half capped off by one of the best battle scenes i've ever seen. Meandering second half that refuses to end.

Under the Skin
2014

Coherent David Lynch fan film propped up by sci-fi cliches.

The Maltese Falcon
1941

Bogart has to find a Falcon made out of chocolate for a collector.

The Assistant
2020

Mostly going for super-realism but then decides that being a movie is more entertaining.

Sonic the Hedgehog
2020

Close call between this and the Mario movie.

Suspiria
2018

Very serious Dragonball Z art movie. One of the dumbest films yet to come out.

Throne of Blood
1957

Frustrating because it's not perfect. An incredible story that is hampered by some barely realized characters. A brilliant mashup of Shakespeare, samurai, and demonic horror filled to the brim with memorable imagery and scenes.

Probably one of the bigger influences on The Shining, along with The Haunting and Eraserhead.

Sunset Boulevard
1950

The real deal.

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The Arrival (1996) –
An astronomer is promptly fired after receiving a mysterious space transmission, which tingles his tin foil. It’s dumb Hollywood adventure sci-fi that takes a baton from the X-Files. Characters and actions are often cartoonish. Charlie Sheen goes from zero to 2011 within the first 20 minutes. The movie actually gets really fun around the halfway mark, but overstays its welcome and ends on a generic note.


If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969) –
A comedy about a group of American tourists on a hurried bus tour through Western Europe. Unfortunately, the closest thing we get to a central story is the least entertaining subplot of the movie, but the ‘character’ tourists with forced quirks are hilarious.

Diabel (1972) –
What happens when you give your actors Shakespearean material and an endless supply of cocaine?


The Stunt Man (1980) –
A man on the run from the police stumbles onto a movie set overseen by a power-crazy director. This is carried by quick, clever dialogue and superior acting from an Altman-esque cast. Then there are impressive stunt scenes within stunt scenes within stunt scenes. A little humor, a little tension, a little drama.


The Blood of a Poet (1933) –
A young man experiences surreal goings-on that include his hand developing a mouth, a hotel with an uncertain gravitational pull, and a living statue. Then schoolboys get into a dangerous snowball fight. Like most classic surrealism, hidden meanings are elusive (if they’re there at all), leaving the mind plenty of room to wander.



The Dunwich Horror (1970) –
An out of town girl is charmed by a locally shunned young man that lives in a creepy old manor with his gramps. Campy acting, on the nose dialogue, and an enjoyably groovy but cartoonish Les Baxter score make it impossible to take anything here seriously, but it is admirably artistic. *sniffs wine The aesthetic recalls Corman’s colorful Poe films with a dash of Scooby Doo. It’s still possible to have some fun with properly tuned expectations.




Depraved (2019) –
A modern-day Frankenstein story with pessimistic commentary about human nature. Henry, the ‘creator,’ comes across as a bit too normal for a guy that wants to splice together corpses. I like a bit of sensationalism here. The rest of the cast is irritating at times (often by intention), but largely believable. The movie has a decent look with a yellow & green color scheme, is set almost entirely at night or in a derelict warehouse, and flirts with stop motion and psychedelic CG effects.

I only watched this because Larry Fessenden was in the chair. I liked Fessenden’s movies a lot around 10-15 years ago, but he lost me after Beneath (a low-brow deviant amidst his pretty original filmography). I’m glad that he’s at least exercising his tried and true style here: psychological drama disguised as horror. That is until the last half hour, wherein the movie turns into an implausible, hastily edited mess. Maybe I’m being a little generous because I’m rooting for Fessenden to continue making movies in his pretty unique style.

August, 2020 movies watched-

Turkey Shoot (1982) Ok low budget Australian cult film.

Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (2010) + A step down from the first but still a terrific crime film.

Submarine (2010) Excellent coming of age story set in Wales.

Compulsion (1959) I liked it more before it got to the courtroom despite the entrance of Orson Welles.

Schindler's List (1993) Repeat As great as it is, I still don't think of it as a personal favorite.

Capernaum (2018) - Nominated for best foreign film, it should have won best picture.

JoJo Rabbit (2019) Repeat + A good quality movie that I just don't care for.

JoJo Rabbit (2019) Repeat 3rd times a charm.

Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020) I thought it did well for an average at best story.

Yellow Submarine (1968) Repeat It's a good thing I love The Beatles.

Late Spring (1949) Repeat - Less impactful than my 1st time but still one of my favorites from director Ozu.

Long Weekend (1978) + Not good enough to make up for the lack of excitement.

August viewings-12
2020 viewings-106

Bad Times at the El Royale
2018

Tarantino fan film starts off promising but gets less interesting as the mystery is sucked out.

The Lady Vanishes
1938

The perfect movie to watch in a hospital at 5:00 in the morning.

Rebecca
1940

Hitchcock winning best picture for this is like if Scorsese won best picture for The Departed.

Dracula
1931

Dracula shows up at some guys house uninvited so they get mad at him and he says that he is an evil vampire then leaves but then comes back which slightly irritates a doctor and he steals a woman to be his dracula wife but he falls asleep during the chase scene so they stab him and he dies.

It Happened One Night
1934

A grumpy guy yells at a woman for an hour so she falls in love with him. More logical than Dracula.

The Wizard of Oz
1939

The tornado in this movie is insane.

It's a Wonderful Life
1946

Way different than it's countless parodies.

Midsommar
2019

Another neat but hollow follow up by a promising horror director to sit alongside El Royale, Under the Silver Lake, and Southland Tales.

Too one dimensional to work as a break up flick. Too predictable to work as a thriller.

All About Eve
1950

A mirror film to Sunset Boulevard which came out the same year. This one won the oscar which means it's not as good. But it's still pretty good.

The Favourite
2018

Surprisingly watchable for the guy who made Dogtooth.

It's been a while!

Watched since April:


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The Hollywood Knights 1980 Floyd Mutrux
The Patriot 2000 Roland Emmerich
The Physician 2013 Philipp Stölzl
Ronny Chieng: Asian Comedian Destroys America! 2019 Sebastian DiNatale
The Informer 2019 Andrea Di Stefano
Project Power 2020 Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman
Justice League Dark: Apokolips War 2020 Matt Peters, Christina Sotta
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+ Wyatt Earp 1994 Lawrence Kasdan
+ Reign of Fire 2002 Rob Bowman
+ Greyhound 2020 Aaron Schneider
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The General 1926 Buster Keaton, Clyde Bruckman
All Quiet on the Western Front 1930 Lewis Milestone
A Place in the Sun 1951 George Stevens
The Man Who Knew Too Much 1956 Alfred Hitchcock
The Innocents 1961 Jack Clayton
Silver Streak 1976 Arthur Hiller
Blue Collar 1978 Paul Schrader
Gettysburg 1993 Ronald F. Maxwell
Ninja Scroll 1993 ‘獣兵衛忍風帖’ Yoshiaki Kawajiri
The Bandit 1996 ‘Eşkıya’ Yavuz Turgul
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son 2008 Kurt Kuenne
Centurion 2010 Neil Marshall
Exodus: Gods and Kings 2014 Ridley Scott
Jerry Seinfeld: 23 Hours to Kill 2020 Joe DeMaio
Mulan 2020 Niki Caro
Bill & Ted Face the Music 2020 Dean Parisot
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+ Metropolis 1927 Fritz Lang
+ Somewhere in Time 1980 Jeannot Szwarc
+ Diner 1982 Barry Levinson
+ Body Double 1984 Brian De Palma
+ About Last Night… 1986 Edward Zwick
+ Eight Men Out 1988 John Sayles
+ The Way Back 2010 Peter Weir
+ The Social Dilemma 2020 Jeff Orlowski
+ I’m Thinking of Ending Things 2020 Charlie Kaufman
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The Lady Vanishes 1938 Alfred Hitchcock
Leave Her to Heaven 1945 John M. Stahl
The Cruel Sea 1953 Charles Frend
The Enemy Below 1957 Dick Powell
A Night to Remember 1958 Roy Ward Baker
Z 1969 Costa-Gavras
The Mack 1973 Michael Campus
Lucky Luciano 1973 Francesco Rosi
Dead Man’s Letters 1986 ‘Письма мертвого человека’ Konstantin Lopushansky
Matewan 1987 John Sayles
Mystery Train 1989 Jim Jarmusch
Geronimo: An American Legend 1993 Walter Hill
We Were Soldiers 2002 Randall Wallace
The New World 2005 Terrence Malick
Curse of the Golden Flower 2006 ‘滿城盡帶黃金甲’ Zhang Yimou
Bill Burr: I’m Sorry You Feel That Way 2014 Karas Jay
Brooklyn 2015 John Crowley
Jerry Before Seinfeld 2017 Michael Bonfiglio
Adam Sandler: 100% Fresh 2018 Steven Brill
Togo 2019 Ericson Core
8:46 2020 Dave Chappelle
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+ The Human Condition I 1959 ‘人間の條件’ Masaki Kobayashi
+ The Train 1964 John Frankenheimer
+ Dressed to Kill 1980 Brian De Palma
+ Gallipoli 1981 Peter Weir
+ Never Cry Wolf 1983 Carroll Ballard
+ Ran 1985 ‘乱’ Akira Kurosawa
+ The Vanishing 1988 ‘Spoorloos’ Directed by George Sluizer
+ Bacurau 2019 Kleber Mendonça Filho, Juliano Dornelles
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Cat on a Hot Tin Roof 1958 Richard Brooks
War and Peace 1966 ‘Война и мир’ Sergey Bondarchuk
Lady Snowblood 1973 ‘修羅雪姫’ Toshiya Fujita
Inside Moves 1980 Richard Donner

Bill and Ted Excellent Adventure
Bill and Ted Bogus Journey
Bill and Ted Face the Music

As a big Bill and Ted fan since last week, the new one is lame.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Half lifetime channel movie, half The Master with Tom Hanks as Mr. Rogers.



I'm Thinking of Ending Things

Kaufman running circles around younger filmmakers trying to be surreal. Turning a bleak, mopey, mess of a movie into fine entertainment.



Child's Play
(2019)

This would have been a great movie if Chucky wasn't actually evil.



His Girl Friday

September, 2020 movies watched-

Stand By Me (1986) Repeat A mixture of good and nostalgic.

The Great Mouse Detective (1986) - I think I enjoyed it as much as I could have.

The Skin I Live In (2011) Repeat Definitely my kind of movie.

The Fisher King (1991) A lot that I loved but not consistent the whole way through.

Le Samourai (1967) Repeat There's plenty to like despite my issues with the main character.

The Reflecting Skin (1990) - Fairly unsettling and worth a watch.

Hunger (2008) + Great performance from Fassbender.

The Mummy (1969) More a very good experience than a movie I really enjoyed.

Rise of the Footsoldier 4: The Heist (2019) - Big fan of the whole series.

Gangs of New York (2002) + I couldn't take it seriously but I did enjoy myself.

September viewings-10
2020 viewings-116

The one w/o a poster on the second row is Intimate Stranger (2006).

Cant see First Cow anywhere there?!

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Too weird to live, and too rare to die.

Darn, I guess I must've forgotten to rate it

I’m Thinking of Ending Things (2020) –

A surreal movie about a young woman having doubts about visiting her boyfriend's parents. The plot seems like a canvas for disheartening philosophical diatribes about complacency in relationships, delusional hopefulness, and more. The writing might be too surreal and/or gloomy for many, but I loved the sometimes funny, oft thought-provoking story that (to me) seemed to be about confusion & apprehension that comes with youth.

Under Siege (1992) -

An 'up to one man to stop them,' 'he's the best there is' action extravaganza, wherein one 'lowly cook' aboard a naval vessel must thwart a disgruntled hippie's violent takeover. Steven Seagal activates all video game action hero perks to nonchalantly tear through highly trained operatives while babysitting a playboy model. Pretty fun, but I started to get bored with the pandemonium in the second half.


Death in Brunswick (1991) –

A hapless man in his mid-30s gets a new job and girlfriend. His life is looking up until a coworker dies in violent fashion. It's a comic-thriller-drama, although not too funny. The comedy comes from OTT characters and quirky, Gilliam-esque cinematography amidst a colorful, trashy setting. The romance is forced and not very likable, but the movie gets better when morbid elements come into play.


A Perfect Getaway (2009) -

Killer thriller in the jungle. A gimmicky cast of characters begin to suspect one another when they hear of a killer couple on the loose. There seems to be a subtle yellow-ish post-production filter to add a humid-feeling, but it makes the scenery look less attractive than it should. Despite some audience insulting plot points & red herrings, it's enjoyable. David Twohy is one of my preferred popcorn directors.



Matchstick Men (2003) –

A professional con artist meets his 14-year-old daughter for the first time. Well made movie. Good acting, writing, camerastuffs, etc., and a fun, OTT, neurotic Nic Cage performance.
“BULLSH*T MON”

LOVE, both Triangle and Timecrimes, the latter slightly more

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Nostalgic Halloween week. Revisiting 80s & 90s movies I haven't seen in many a moon:



The Night Flier (1997) -
Miguel Ferrer plays the usual sweet, affable, kindhearted, considerate and generous individual who works for a highly reputable tabloid that, in absolutely good faith, puts him on the case of a vampiric serial murderer. Hacky writing and OTT characters, but a comfortable & spooky atmosphere with a big Fulci-esque climax. Also, the movie takes its runtime to build up the big face reveal of the villain, so you can thank the marketing team for putting it on the poster.


Deep Rising (1998) -
A group of ruffians board an ostentatious cruise ship intending to rob it, but are foiled by the offspring of CG water tremors & the langoliers. Dumb fun action horror. There are actually some pretty funny one liners, a consistently fun plot, and a likable wise cracking hero played by Treat Williams. It seems a bit more self-aware than most of its ilk. Best consumed with testosterone, caffeine and popcorn.


Pumpkinhead (1988) -
A rural shopkeeper employs a rubbery demon to enact revenge on a group of cityfolk. I did not remember how great the cinematography is. Although there's plenty of camp, there are also some powerful and morbid moments that aren't drug down by it.




Leviathan (1989) -
An underwater Alien rip-off with elements of The Thing thrown in. It's not too ham-fisted until the gore commences. Most of it is a lot of fun, with a decent cast and a well-paced build to the horror, but is bookended by one of the tackiest, most phoned in endings I've ever seen.


Mimic (1997) -
Killer man-sized roaches in New York. Steamy dark blue-green-yellow cinematography is the most standout element, along with Charles S. Dutton stealing every scene he's in. The great atmosphere carries it most of the way, but the final act is too hectic for my tastes, and hinders the creepiness that came before it. Still my favorite Del Toro movie behind Pan's Labyrinth.


Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988) -
A heavy dose of twisted, fantastical, borderline surreal horror that goes way beyond even Barker's original vision. Christopher Young's score is even more aptly epic. The movie is batsh*t and creative enough for me to forgive some silliness and implausibilities.



Lord of Illusions (1995) -
A neo-noir horror movie about a private eye getting mixed up in a case involving real magic. Special effects range from outstanding twisted practical effects to some absurdly corny CGI. It's a unique horror movie, though the noir elements and lead character are cliche (that may have been the point; a homage to old school gumshoes).

October, 2020 movies watched-

Possessor (2020) + A must watch for fans of Sci-Fi/horror.

The Nightingale (2018) I was pleasantly surprised at how brutal this historical revenge tale was.

Borat 2 (2020) - The dude is just funny.

Totally Under Control (2020) Excellent documentary even if it's liberal propaganda.

A Man and a Woman (1966) Beautiful French romance with it's share of pain.

October viewings-5
2020 viewings-121