Raxivace's 2017 List of Movies or (Neo-General Chat)

[Eva Yojimbo]

Those are pretty awesome. Even though the second one's a parody, it is fun to think you can do these same kinds of analyses with terrible films as well as masterpieces. The Vertigo one echoes a lot of what I've written about Hitch over the years; he loves using blocking and relative positions to express things like power struggles. Notorious may be his best early effort on this front.

32. King Kong (1933)

33. King Kong (1976)

34. King Kong Lives (1986)

37. Shane (1953)

Though I can appreciate the originality/creativity of the original Kong, it just doesn't do much for me. Compared to something like, say, Metropolis, another early film that made its impact because of its revolutionary visual effects/designs, Kong just feels much more dated and less awe-inspiring. I saw the '76 and '86 ones as a kid. Don't remember much about them but I don't think I liked them much more back then... probably because I was much more a Godzilla kid. Shane is a solid film. I saw it before I became really familiar with Ford and the better revisionist Westerns so I appreciated more as just a good drama, probably not unlike Giant. I don't know what I'd think of it now...

[Eva Yojimbo]

I was slightly disappointed with Cranes after the visual magic of Cuba, but in retrospect it was a pretty amazing film as well. I think I slightly preferred No Letter Sent to it though; pretty great (and underrated) survival film.

Thanks, I set it on download. Anything else from him that I should make a priority to check out?

I think those are the only three widely available; they're all I've seen. I also realize I got the title of Letter Never Sent wrong (it's that, not No Letter Sent).

[Raxivace]

Though I can appreciate the originality/creativity of the original Kong, it just doesn't do much for me. Compared to something like, say, Metropolis, another early film that made its impact because of its revolutionary visual effects/designs, Kong just feels much more dated and less awe-inspiring. I saw the '76 and '86 ones as a kid. Don't remember much about them but I don't think I liked them much more back then... probably because I was much more a Godzilla kid. Shane is a solid film. I saw it before I became really familiar with Ford and the better revisionist Westerns so I appreciated more as just a good drama, probably not unlike Giant. I don't know what I'd think of it now...

You probably don't remember the '86 one since your brain erased the memory as a self-defense mechanism. From what I understand the mind has a way from protecting itself from traumatic memories in extreme circumstances.

I've not seen nor heard much about Giant, but knowing it was James Dean's last film makes it sound like its at least worth a watch.

[Eva Yojimbo]

Though I can appreciate the originality/creativity of the original Kong, it just doesn't do much for me. Compared to something like, say, Metropolis, another early film that made its impact because of its revolutionary visual effects/designs, Kong just feels much more dated and less awe-inspiring. I saw the '76 and '86 ones as a kid. Don't remember much about them but I don't think I liked them much more back then... probably because I was much more a Godzilla kid. Shane is a solid film. I saw it before I became really familiar with Ford and the better revisionist Westerns so I appreciated more as just a good drama, probably not unlike Giant. I don't know what I'd think of it now...

You probably don't remember the '86 one since your brain erased the memory as a self-defense mechanism. From what I understand the mind has a way from protecting itself from traumatic memories in extreme circumstances.

I've not seen nor heard much about Giant, but knowing it was James Dean's last film makes it sound like its at least worth a watch.

One thing I do vaguely recall about one of the later Kongs is the scientists messing with the artificial heart. Your description of it kinda jogged my memory. :/

Back in the day I remember really loving Giant and thinking it was the best of the BP noms from that year... which isn't saying much as the others were pretty forgettable.

[Raxivace]

39. The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918) - It seems not even the great Winsor McCay was immune from making propaganda.

According to Wikipedia, the RMS Lusitania Bristish ocean liner was shot down by German submarines in 1915- about a year into World War I. McCay was outraged by this, and despite pressure from his boss, that villain of history William Randolph Hearts, he sought to depict the event by creating what was at the time one of the longer (If not the longest according to some sources) animated films ever made. The version I watched on YouTube was a little over nine minutes.

It's odd to watch. It's something of a proto-documentary (Even moreso than Nanook of the North), as it depicts the ship shot down and exploding, intercut with images and brief descriptions of some of the more famous passengers killed (Including a member of the Vanderbilt family). There's some live actors thrown in there in that McCay way (Such as in Gertie the Dinosaur), and the animated explosions feel unsettling in some ways for me to watch in their pre-Disney style- I don't know how else to explain it. The shots of the sea corpses toward the end look perhaps a tad bit silly now.

What's more even more odd is that the film begins with McCay and co. literally making the film we are watching, mentioning that in this production "Twenty-five thousand drawings had to be made and photographed one at time".

If you're into animation or documentary history it's perhaps worth a look if as nothing more than a curiosity.

[Raxivace]

40. I Vitelloni (1953) - Not really sure what to say about this one. It often looks beautiful and while I dig the idea of the theme (The younger generation feeling they have no real future and the ways they express that) the movie just didn't really connect with me for whatever reason. It's kind of the same issue I had with the previous Fellini I saw, 8 1/2, where as much as I like what he's trying to go for the result just leaves me feeling a bit cold in the end despite ostensibly being about the passions of various characters.

[maz89]

It's kind of the same issue I had with the previous Fellini I saw, 8 1/2, where as much as I like what he's trying to go for the result just leaves me feeling a bit cold in the end despite ostensibly being about the passions of various characters.

How about La Dolce Vita? Did that work for you?

[Raxivace]

Haven't seen La Dolce Vita yet.

[Raxivace]

41. The Maltese Falcon (1931) - Recorded this off of TCM the other day. This was the first adaptation of the Hammett story (The second being Satan Met a Lady in 1936 and the more famous version with Bogart in 1941), and being an early talkie it shows. A lot of shots weirdly break continuity- Spade will often be doing completely different actions between cuts and it causes the film to be awkward. The script is weird in what it pulls from the novel and what it changes- its a much lighter tale than the novel is, despite keeping the basic plot super in tact, though Wonderly (This is straight up her name in her version, and not an alias as in the others) is played up as evil way earlier than any other version I'm aware of, and the scene from the novel where she strips is kept in. This version also invents an epilogue, where Spade continues to visit Wonderly after she's in prison- that kind of changes the whole nature of the story. It just doesn't seem quite as dark or subtle overall, compared to the novel and the Bogart version.

There's also this weird addition of an Chinese man who witnessed Archer's murder in this version. He's only in one scene and has a conversation with Spade in untranslated Chinese, and I think the implication is supposed to be that Spade knew who killed Archer from basically the beginning. He's referenced again at the very end in a newspaper article as a witness to the crime. It's an odd addition.

The casting here feels a bit weak to me too, while the casting basically makes the 1941 version a classic. Other than the awkward cutting, the actual direction doesn't actually feel that much worse to me than what Huston did either.

[Islandmur]

31. The Informer - John Ford is mostly known for his wonderful westerns, but that's not all he could do. Back in the mid-30's he did this proto-noir, and boy is it fucking stylish in a way that I did not expect from ol' Pappy.

Actually one of my favorite Ford's. It's a solid 9.5 for me and probably my 3rd favorite behind only Grapes and Clementine (keeping in mind I'm waiting to rewatch most of the later "masterpieces" before I rate them).

I think I have watched most of the rest of the 2015 noms. I just stopped posting reviews because I haven't been online very much. If there's any in particular you'd like to hear about, ask and I'll post it (if I've seen it).

Did you see Room and/or The Big Short?

Yep. Here are my reviews:


Room (Lenny Abrahamson) - 7/10

We tend to think of art as inspiration and creativity, but films like Room subtly illustrate the engineering ingenuity required, especially in a medium like film, for either inspiration or creativity to become reality.

The premise is simple: a kidnapped woman named Joy (Brie Larsen) has spent 7 years locked in a shed; her son, Jack (Jacob Tremblay), has spent his entire life there. When he turns 5, Joy tells him the truth and plans their escape.

A simple premise, yes, but it yields interesting problems: how to create a whole world out of an 11x11 space? How to light/shoot within that confined space? Narrative focus: mother or son? How to maintain tension/drama after the escape? How to convey the son's sense of “newness" of the world outside?

These are not easy problems for any filmmaker to solve, and to his not-inconsiderable credit, Lenny Abrahamson succeeds more than he fails. He's certainly aided by a tremendous performance by Brie Larson, who, despite the emotional subject matter, never crosses into mawkishness, and is, in fact, quietly understated—much could be said for the rest of the film. Tremblay, if not her equal, is certainly impressive for an 8-year old.

Kudos aside, there are some failures: the underplaying tends to keep things at a too-consistent dynamic level, weakening the drama. The restricted narration on Jack's POV works inside Room, but outside Joy is the far more interesting character and the film leaves her at key moments, making the film's second half far weaker than the first. The film is also just too linear and traditionally-minded to convey Jack's sense of experiencing a new world: this is the kind of thing few filmmakers can do (Terrence Malick being the most notable exception).

Ultimately, the film is an interesting mix of successes—mostly the acting, the detailed production design, understated score, thoughtful direction—and failures, which I listed above, which I think leaves it as a good film with some unfulfilled potential.

*****************************************
.

I actually found the 2nd half of room better than the first.
This mom who has lived on the outside before, who has been holding it together for 7 years, being strong and imaginative so that her son really is almost well adjusted in his confinement... once her ordeal is you think over, that is when she crumbles and that is so real and raw.

She just deflates...and I can understand that, she has used all her energy to focus for the last sever years on two things, making sure her son had a life and thinking of her escape, once these thigns are done... she has nothing and the reality of what she has been through just hits her like a hammer. And she crumbles because she now can crumble... her parents are there, her son is safe... she can let go and does...

[maz89]

I actually found the 2nd half of room better than the first.
This mom who has lived on the outside before, who has been holding it together for 7 years, being strong and imaginative so that her son really is almost well adjusted in his confinement... once her ordeal is you think over, that is when she crumbles and that is so real and raw.

She just deflates...and I can understand that, she has used all her energy to focus for the last sever years on two things, making sure her son had a life and thinking of her escape, once these thigns are done... she has nothing and the reality of what she has been through just hits her like a hammer. And she crumbles because she now can crumble... her parents are there, her son is safe... she can let go and does...

+1

[Raxivace]

42. The Blob (1958) -



This was a pleasant surprise. The monster effects were cool, and the generational conflict throughout the film about the young desperately trying to convince the dismissive older generation that the monster killing them is even real feels surprisingly relevant to modern times. Yes the acting cheesy and a bit stilted (Even from Steve McQueen, who is, rather preposterously, playing a teenager), but its enjoyable enough.

In the end of the movie, the Blob is captured and imprisoned in the Arctic. One character asks McQueen if this means it has been defeated for good. McQueen that it has been, as long as the Arctic stays cold. I dunno how much the filmmakers knew about climate change back then, but to a modern audience this ending line certainly is a biting bit of commentary. I really do think this movie ages better than even the people making it would have intended. If you're into monster movies of the time and haven't seen this, check it out.

43. Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei (1987) -



So my interest in the video game series "Shin Megami Tensei" was recently revitalized after I played two games in the franchise called Persona 5 and Devil Survivor Overclocked. It's a relatively old game series that's taken many forms over the years, starting way back on the NES. The original NES game, Megami Tensei, was based on a novel called Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei. That novel was adapted as an animated OVA back in 1987- of course, I had to go dig up a copy.

The OVA is basically every bad edginess cliche of 80's anime crammed into 45 minutes. The plot revolves around a guy summoning a demon using his computer to kill his classmates, except it doesn't work and it only controls the mind of other students or something. I don't fucking know, I started getting lost right here at the beginning. For some reason one girl kills another by biting her vagina off (????), and also the teacher of this class apparently wants to fuck the demon the guy is summoning. The guy decides he's dun goofed by summoning the demon and kills it with a girl who I guess is a reincarnated goddess (Though she randomly is turning into a zombie throughout the movie. I can't explain this). They kill the demon and the movie ends on a sequel hook with the teacher using her computer to summon another demon to have sex with and also possibly conquer the world with.

Yeah if you somehow find a copy of this nonsense, don't watch it. I've been informed that this adaptation is actually somehow better than the source novel, which is hard to believe. It's telling that the site I downloaded this from literally shut down forever mere days after I acquired this. The video games in the broader series are still cool and have none of this nonsense and are actually fairly thoughtful at times, unlike this.

44. Dressed to Kill (1980) -



Gus Van Sant once said he remade Psycho so no one else would. The problem with that statement is that it had been basically done already, and twice before- once with Halloween (1978), and again in Dressed to Kill (1980).

Like this is straight up De Palma trying to out-Psycho Psycho, but in the trashiest way possible. There is more nudity and sex throughout, a killer in women's clothing with a split personality who is explicitly motivated to kill by having an erect penis, and there's even three freaking shower scenes throughout the film- one and the very beginning and the very end, and one in the middle with a killing in an elevator. The elevator one might actually be the most blatant as its framed the most like the shower scene in Psycho, and even kills off the female lead we had been following throughout the movie about 45 minutes in.

I don't mind trash, and I actually did like this movie, but fuck if De Palma just wanted to make the porno version of Psycho he should have just gone all the way. I mean it's not like ever was actually going to make a better a movie than Hitchcock in his prime- he certainly does not and will never have that talent. Few ever will.

[maz89]

I don't remember Dressed to Kill much, but I do remember enjoying de Palma's operatic sensibilities and over-the-top style. His movies do have a Hitchockian vibe; only he dials up the crazy and madness, and the results are usually fascinating.

In other news, I've seen a bunch of movies but I don't have my own thread so I can't really talk about them.

[Raxivace]

Post about them here. Or make a thread. Or I'll make a thread for you and you can pay me a finder's fee.

[Raxivace]

The Leftovers Season 3: Halfway Trip Report - So far I think it's better than season 2, though my problems with that season didn't quite start until the second half. As far as season 3 goes I think its smartly been trying to bring things down from the kind of ridiculous second half of season 2, finding a comfortable middle ground between that and the tone of season 1.

Still, it starts with a super awkward cleaning of the slate. Like a fucking attack plane from the government comes out of nowhere and reigns a fucking missile down upon characters there was no reason to think were about to die at the end of season 2 despite season 3 starting the next morning levels of awkward. There are also a couple of scenes that only exist to explain why other characters just won't be around anymore- my favorite being Kevin's daughter who is just like "Yeah I'm going to college kthnxbye" and is never seen again. Like it just very much has this feeling of season 2 being written without even the idea of how season 3 will play out in mind.

I don't mean that as a "They were making it up as they went along!" complaint, but more that it feels like at some point the writers said "We don't know how to handle some of these characters so we're just dumping them entirely and having our main characters that we actually care about going on an adventure in Australia" and then they did that. Improvisation can be done well, as it was in Breaking Bad and Evangelion, though here it doesn't feel quite as smooth as it should.

In general seasons 2 and 3 like this is Lindelof repeating the bearded white messiah with a father in Australia stuff from Lost again, though I think its at least better this time, and without the weird themes about how critical thinking is bad and how its so much better to just blindly believe in vaguely authoritarian figures.

[maz89]

Insane rating on Metacritic... quite tempting.

Thank you for putting spoiler tags. Might actually check this one out at some point.

[Raxivace]

If you watched it I'd definitely be interested in hearing your opinion on it.

[maz89]

If you watched it I'd definitely be interested in hearing your opinion on it.

Right now, it's added to my list but it's at the bottom and it will be a while before I get around to it. But wait... I'm open to making a trade. You have to finally play you-know-what for my attempt at the Leftovers.

[Raxivace]

Look, I'm just not going to play the obscure early 2000's Rareware game "It's Mr. Pants!" for the GBA. It just isn't going to happen.

That's what you're referring to, right?

[maz89]

Look, I'm just not going to play the obscure early 2000's Rareware game "It's Mr. Pants!" for the GBA. It just isn't going to happen.

That's what you're referring to, right?

Fair enough, I'll take that as a no.

[Raxivace]

I have strong opinions about that game.

Like why does he name himself after pants? I just don't understand.

[Raxivace]

Okay this is what I mean when I say television criticism is a bit silly. Here's a line from Alan Sepinwall, a supposedly respected critic, writing about last night's Better Call Saul episode.

Hell of a two-night performance by Sackheim, who, through the vagaries of scheduling, directed both last night's achingly beautiful The Leftovers and this episode, which featured some gorgeous imagery despite taking place almost entirely indoors

Source: http://uproxx.com/sepinwall/better-call ... -review/3/

I mean how can a professional critic with years of experience be surprised that good cinematography can happen inside? That just seems like a goofier line the more I read it.

[maz89]

I have strong opinions about that game.

Like why does he name himself after pants? I just don't understand.

I mean how can a professional critic with years of experience be surprised that good cinematography can happen inside? That just seems like a goofier line the more I read it.

Woah... I've read bits and pieces of what Sepinwall writes but I don't think I've ever come across anything like that. Perhaps... he meant it relatively, and in terms of cinematography in the recent crop of TV shows only. I don't know... seems like too many filters and it'd probably have been better for him to specify what he meant or not use that blanket statement at all.

[Raxivace]

So I finished watching Macross 7 over the past few days. As ridiculous as the premise of "mid-90's rock band on an intergalactic ship tries to melt the hearts of space vampire terrorists with the power of music" is, I think it works since show puts emphasis on character development and theme over scifi action (Though there is some of that).

The show ends with an OVA about whaling (IN SPACE!!!) of all things, which was interesting and has a cool Yoko Kanno song in the final episode featuring a duet between the lead guitarist/vocalist of the band and also a space whale.

[Raxivace]

Woah... I've read bits and pieces of what Sepinwall writes but I don't think I've ever come across anything like that. Perhaps... he meant it relatively, and in terms of cinematography in the recent crop of TV shows only. I don't know... seems like too many filters and it'd probably have been better for him to specify what he meant or not use that blanket statement at all.

Perhaps, though I do think its the kind of statement that perhaps reveals more than the writer intended.

Also FWIW I Vitelloni has been getting better in my mind the more I've been letting it stew there.

[maz89]

Post about them here. Or make a thread. Or I'll make a thread for you and you can pay me a finder's fee.

I'm hijacking this thread. Won't be paying you no damn fees either.

I've been catching up on the Scorsese films that I've missed out on. I'd been getting by on just knowing his major, well-known flicks but I thought it was time for a deep-dive. For the most part, I'm being pleasantly surprised by what I find. SPOILERS BELOW.

The Color of Money- 7.5/10 - This turned out to be unexpectedly very different from what it initially appeared to be, zigging where it seemed like it would zag, and becoming a lot more darker than it seemed to let on, concluding as it did with that satirical "victorious" final freeze-frame. This is a film about a mentor who, when confronted with his own flaws and imperfections, forgets his own lessons, falling prey to his arrogance. Newman's character seems to relapse into the addiction of competition once he gets hustled himself, his illusions of possessing the "brains" being shattered right before his very eyes. He becomes lost to his own demons, losing his calm, subdued personality in the process of his desperate attempt to convince himself of his 'unbeatable' talent in a never-ending rat race... (I really hope Scorsese didn't mean for this to be simply about an old man who re-discovers his purpose in life, because that would suck...)

Gangs of New York - 6.5/10 - This one... I'm less sure about. Not all that bad, but it did feel overlong and stuffed to the point of capacity, lacking a tight narrative view or focus, with the satire feeling a bit blunt and seemingly at odds with the tone of reverent nostalgia that Scorsese uses to capture these monstrous, ruthless gangs. I appreciated the climactic tie-in with the Draft Riots, and how Lincoln's mighty army put an end to the madness in what was fittingly the bloodiest confrontation in the movie, with one side armed with guns and the other comprised of the poor, faceless people, revolting against the unfair capitalist machine (even, if in this instance, the intentions of the 'rich men in power' were noble). But it was too brief a moment, and not developed enough. That's my primary problem with the movie: the half-baked development of interesting ideas that simmer but never really reach boiling point. In the end, all of it is kinda just swept aside to delve into a nostalgia for New York's "forgotten" past, which is actually quite hideous and ugly and messy. Perhaps, I am mistaking Scorsese's warning (a reminder of New York's horrible history so that it does not repeat itself - because it does indeed keep repeating itself) for nostalgia... it's just that Di Caprio's narration doesn't help. When he says "for the rest of time, it would be like no one ever knew we were ever here", he surely doesn't mean it as a warning and I wish Scorsese would have interjected somewhere to offer his own view rather than his character's.

New York, New York - 8/10 - Despite a slow start, I ended up getting pulled into NY, NY, falling for its drama, music, characters and slow, jazzy atmosphere. And for that devastating climax too. What a sorrowful, sad ending it has, one that can be read in so many ways. One of De Niro's most underrated performances; the way he balances his two halves - his love for family vs his love for music - and how he habitually ends up doing or saying something insensitive or callous to his wife (and others) born from his own insecurities, until he just can't take it anymore and, finally, abandons one of his halves. I loved the humor in the script too - small moments like Jimmy trying to romantically explain to Francine in the cab about his three favorite things in life and how she could replace his number one favorite thing, and the revised order of his favorite things becomes all muddled and confused even to Jimmy himself, or the sequence much later in the red-lit jazz club (where their old band is performing) and when it takes four of them all of five minutes to decide what drinks to order and it's absolute complete mayhem. The use of artificial sets lend a romanticism to the movie too - the orange skies and black woods in particular - putting this story, perhaps in a refreshing way, far away from the gritty realism that Scorsese is so renowned for, in the spirit of the Technicolor movies of Hollywood's Golden Age. In the last third of the movie, Liza Minnelli really sets the stage on fire. Her whole play as alter-ego Peggy Smith is, of course, about the real price of Francine's success - costing her a relationship with the love of her life, who had refused to live under her shadow. While I wanted a reunion in the climax (now that they both had gotten some measure of success, they could possibly reconcile, right?), I think Scorsese offers a more real ending to a relationship that was never meant to last, that was only causing grief and pain to both parties involved, fooling them into thinking they could have it all. I don't know if Francine going 'up' on the elevator is meant to show that she did not want to become a part of Jimmy's drama, or if her success had gotten to her head, but it's heartbreaking nonetheless. I don't think I'll forget the glistening, red "exit" sign that Francine refuses to go through. And this is where the long run-time makes so much sense - it's almost as if we lived with these two and experienced, with them, all of their memories beginning from their drawn-out, almost tiresome meet-cute to their sudden, midnight marriage to their days of touring together as musicians to their up-and-down marriage in which the communication breakdown began to occur - and it just really hits home. What an underrated film.

Cape Fear - 7.5/10 - I probably need to see the original, but I never understood why one of the lieutenants (I think) looks so disapprovingly at Nolte's decision to bury evidence. Okay, yeah, it sounds horrible out of context, but it was done to put away a violent thug for all the other heinous crimes he'd gotten away with like rape. Anyway, Scorsese directed Cape Fear after the radically different Goodfellas... is there any genre this guy hasn't touched in which he hasn't producing something that isn't - at least - more than half decent? I liked Cape Fear enough, a neo-noir shot stylishly with tilted pans, shaking shots, odd movements, and unsettling closeups with bursts of alarmingly blaring orchestral music, and a brutal performance from a terrifying De Niro. I didn't even notice the cameos from the film noir greats (who were in the original) or the reference to Night of the Hunter (the tattoos, the final showdown in the river) or the darkly comic throwback to Psycho in De Niro's cross-dressing intended to deceive, but it was all nicely interwoven. That being said, I think it still felt a bit overlong and drawn out in some places - unlike the two movies it references, which had a taut, superbly paced narrative. For now, a 7.5... but I'll see how it ages.

[Raxivace]

It's been a while but I've seen all four of those. Can't remember them quite well enough to get into detail but I can share some general impressions from deep within my memory.

I know a lot of people that hate The Color of Money and I've not really got why. I thought it was a pretty solid film, and I would have liked to see Cruise and Newman work again with Scorsese.

Gangs of New York has never really worked for me and I consider it one of Scorsese's worst features. Just on like a dramatic level it never worked for me- as much as I think DiCaprio is actually a good actor I don't think he was cast well here, and I think this film also started Daniel Day Lewis' ridiculous reliance upon caricatures.

New York, New York is a bold film to follow up Taxi Driver with. I'm not sure that its combination of classical musical artifice of old Hollywood with the acting style of New Hollywood entirely works, but I can't help but respect the attempt more than anything.

Cape Fear I like well enough (And actually living near the real Cape Fear gives it a bit of a special place in my heart), but it's kind of obvious that this was a movie Scorsese made for the studios. The original Cape Fear is a little campier but I like it, though with Mitchum in the De Niro role it feels like a bit of a rehash of Night of the Hunter.

[maz89]

Gangs of New York has never really worked for me and I consider it one of Scorsese's worst features. Just on like a dramatic level it never worked for me- as much as I think DiCaprio is actually a good actor I don't think he was cast well here, and I think this film also started Daniel Day Lewis' ridiculous reliance upon caricatures.

Yeah, it's been said that Di Caprio never seemed to be a worthy foil for DDL (whose performance I liked myself). Unlike Di Caprio's character who is played as a traditional hero (when none can exist in this kind of world), DDL's character actually seems to realize - and fit in - with the brutal ugliness of gangs' power struggles. And, at the same time, in a vulnerable moment he shares with Di Caprio's character later, DDL does 'try' to imbue some kind of longing and regret in his character, trying to take him beyond one-note villainy (for a moment, at least). In the climax, there are traces of the friendship the two once shared because of the much bigger battle happening around them and consuming them and their legacies forever, which only DDL's character seems to realize because Di Caprio, still stuck in his revenge narrative, kills him after only a moment's hesitation.

New York, New York is a bold film to follow up Taxi Driver with. I'm not sure that its combination of classical musical artifice of old Hollywood with the acting style of New Hollywood entirely works, but I can't help but respect the attempt more than anything.

Nice way to put it. Definitely worked for me.

Cape Fear I like well enough (And actually living near the real Cape Fear gives it a bit of a special place in my heart), but it's kind of obvious that this was a movie Scorsese made for the studios. The original Cape Fear is a little campier but I like it, though with Mitchum in the De Niro role it feels like a bit of a rehash of Night of the Hunter.

Hah, cool! I'll probably check it out when I'm doing a noir run-through at some point.

[maz89]

Checked out two well-known Soviet films.

Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears - 8/10 - Even if the plot felt familiar, this was rousing and sentimental and funny, directed with affection and care. The film's notion that one is 'incomplete' until they find their second half is steeped in a sweeping romanticism but this is balanced with the harsh realities shown in the film's depiction of the naivety of youth (including the influence of peer pressure), and how poor choices made as a young adult can create everlasting ripples well into adulthood, causing pain, suffering and loneliness that feed into even worse decisions in a kind of vicious, never-ending loop. In the end, this movie really is one that celebrates life and love, finding optimism in the family and friends that surround us. The lead actress was fantastic, too, and I didn't realize until later that the guy who plays Georgy - Aleksey Batalov - played Boris in the Cranes Are Flying, which I saw (and loved) only a couple of weeks ago.

Come and See - 9.5/10 - In all honesty, I was at a loss for words after watching this. To be sure, going into this movie, I expected a great war film, well-shot and well-acted, one that would remind us, like all great war films, of the chilling consequences of war and the price paid in blood by innocents... I just didn't expect it to be this kind of a cinematic masterpiece. Klimov's fluid, oft-panning camera, dynamic compositions and immaculate sound design immerses right from the start. It is a film without a single false note, flowing from one horrifying set-piece to another, revealing a base form of human savagery at every turn until it bottoms out, until it cannot sink any further, and finally, it pans upwards to the skies. I still can't shake away the experience, the images, the sounds. The teen lead actor absolutely steals the show, visually aging fifty years over the course of the movie, and, by the end of his harrowing coming-of-age journey, wearing a world weariness in his eyes that arouses, cripples, and absolutely devastates. This is the second movie I've given a 9.5-10 to this year, and the first one (I Am Cuba) was a Soviet film too.

[Raxivace]

45. Godzilla Raids Again (1955) -



On kind of a whim I watched this, which was the first sequel to the original Godzilla. It's kind of odd because it doesn't quite have the serious tone of the original but it's also not quite the campier tone I seem to remember some of the other movies having. Apparently there's just a second a Godzilla roaming around after the original was killed in the first movie, and hey there's a third monster too called Anguirus that has also survived to modern times and just really wants to fuckin' murder Godzilla.

Godzilla kills Anguirus like half way into this short movie and the military then has to defeat Godzilla, but they don't know how since the dude that made the Oxygen Destroyer in the first movie committed suicide. They decide to trick Godzilla into stumbling around a glacier or snowy mountain or some shit and there's this weirdly elongated sequence of fighter planes shooting at pufts of snow and ice to bury Godzilla in. Kind of reminds me of the ending to Dracula: Prince of Darkness I think it was, that ends with Christopher Lee's Dracula being trapped under a frozen pond or something.

I also started watching another monster movie today, Douglas Sirk's Imitation of Life, but I didn't get a chance to finish that and hopefully I'll be able to do so in the morning. Seemed good.

[Raxivace]

46. Imitation of Life (1959) -



My favorite films tend to be ones that combine genre with either some kind of attempt at social commentary or deeper thematic substance. Sirk takes the conventions of romance and melodrama of his era and does exactly, much as he had done with All That Heaven Allows (1955). He's a little more explicit this time, addressing issues of race in America right as the Civil Rights Movement is beginning to heat up.

The plot of the film follows aspiring (white) actress Lora, her daughter Susie and the black family they take into their home after a chance encounter- Annie and her daughter Sarah. Lora wants someone to look after Susie as she pursues her acting and Annie agrees to help. Drama ensues from two fronts- in the figure of (white) Steve, who is interested in Lora but also has the eye of Susie, and from Sarah's skin color. Sarah has "inherited her father's skin" and is able to pass for white. Throughout most of the film she prefers to be thought of as white, and this naturally causes conflict with her mother who sees her as black.

This Sarah premise easily could have failed completely and frankly it shouldn't work as well as it does. However, Annie and Sarah are given tons of focus throughout the film, to the point where their relationship eclipses the Lora/Susie/Steve triangle. It's a neat trick, as Lora is so distant not only from her daughter's concerns, not even realizing she loves Steve, but despite her good intentions she's so privileged that after living with Annie for ten years she does not once think to ask if she has any friends of her own. There are several moments like that throughout the movie, and they really stand out.

The movie's self awareness doesn't end there- Sarah later compares the living situation to that of a slave and master, in a rage against Lora and Annie. While Lora means well despite her flaws and Annie has been trying her best, Sarah has a point about how uneven the relationship is. Her even wanting to pass as white is understandable, particularly in a horrifying scene where a white boy she's had a crush on calls her the n-word and beats her in the street. It's pretty horrifying, a kind of ruthless but necessary break from Sirk's 50's facade. That facade that had to be torn down.

Sarah later completely rejects her mother, fleeing to seedy (white) burleseque shows and seedy (white) dancing halls where she sings songs with suggestive lyrics about how she "hates being empty" and "wants to be filled up"- lines that wouldn't be out of place in a bad (good) hentai, and certainly would have been risque in 1959 Hollywood. Annie tries to come backstage during these events to talk and make peace with Sarah, and it goes about as well as you might expect, and things take a downturn from here on out.

The film ends with a tragic funeral sequence for Annie out in the city streets, where tons and tons of black people have come out to honor Annie...people Lora just doesn't know at all, because she never bothered to, because she could never see the woman she lived with for a decade as anything other than a maid or servant, lending an even more tragic tone to an already sad scene. I've seen some people suggest that the film would have been better had it been even more from Annie's perspective, and while I'm not sure how far Hollywood would have let that go in the 50's Sirk at least has enough sense to hint that perhaps that is the way things should have gone, while keeping her reasonably well characterized too, even if the film has to start from a whiter perspective.

This is another piece worth looking at in the complicated history of Hollywood's depiction of race.

[Raxivace]

47. Cube (1997) -



Bunch of people wake up inside a giant cube. Inside that cube are tons of smaller cubes- cubes within cubes. Those smaller cubes have murdertraps. The people crack under pressure, tensions arise and people die and so forth.

I dunno, it didn't do a lot for me despite the "closed room, vaguely sci-fi" premise that I usually dig. The cubes had a kind of neat visual design, and any time there was a cube with weird colored lighting that was kind of neat. The actors are fine, but I think the script kind of suffers from that pre-9/11 but mid-to-late 90's Gen X apolitical cynical malaise about everything (Even with politically charged comments, like one from a black police officer complains about "bleeding hearts" and so on in this big nothing rant he has at one point) that makes some of the discussions feel a little off to me watching this at 3 in the morning. The whole thing kind of feels like an attempt at something like Romero's Night of the Living Dead without quite getting why that worked, and fucking murdercubes instead of zombies.

I remember one character is named "Holloway" as a blatant pun on "hallway" which I thought was clever.

Apparently Cube spawned a few sequels like "Cube 0" and "Cube 2: HyperCube". That second one is a hell of a title.

[Gendo]

I absolutely love Cube. Just the whole style of it. I wouldn't say I found it scary, but not sure if it's supposed to be really. It's not quite horror, anyway. But I love the style and mood of it, and the story itself is unique.

Cube 2 (the first sequel) is pretty bad in comparison. Had a couple neat ideas though. Cube 0 is actually pretty cool. A prequel that actually gets a bit into the lives of those running the cube.

Man, thanks to Breath of the Wild, I literally haven't watched a movie in a few weeks.

[Raxivace]

I'm kind of curious about Cube 0 now, since who the hell was running the Cube was something the first movie kind of danced around and avoided.

[Derived Absurdity]

Wait, wasn't Cube about existentialism/absurdism or some shit, with the cube a metaphor for life? I would think explaining how the cube was running would kind of ruin that.

[Raxivace]

Wait, wasn't Cube about existentialism/absurdism or some shit, with the cube a metaphor for life? I would think explaining how the cube was running would kind of ruin that.

There's elements of existentialism in there, as much as "deciding to actually try to get past death traps and not succumbing to despair over this sudden change in circumstance" is an existentialist theme.

How the Cube was run would seem less strange to me if one of the dudes trapped in it wasn't a guy who literally designed part of it. The characters in the movie try to pass off the idea that the Cube is literally a purposeless creation, but because everyone trapped in it has some specific skill necessary to survive the place, as long as they work together I don't think you're supposed to take their conclusions at face value. If it isn't meaningless, if there's a method to the madness then I'm not sure that's necessarily absurdist.

I did not expect a discussion of Cube to last even this long or get this much response lol.

[Raxivace]

48. 21 Jump Street (2012) -



Way funnier than I expected it to be- the arcs and general plot developments may by pretty basic but a film that actually makes me laugh goes a long way in my book. Not much else to say about this, though the fight scene on the stage toward the end probably had my favorite gag where Jonah Hill starts jumping over Tatum.

I was going to watch A Brighter Summer Day today but somebody deleted it off my DVR. :(

[Raxivace]

I dunno if anyone has been following or cares about my Leftovers posting, but the show is wrapping up (Only two episodes left as I write this, one of which airs tomorrow) and the ending story arc is really turning into this kind of dumb nonsense about a dude using his magical powers to go into the afterlife to do what is basically a fucking seance so he can learn a magical song to save the world.

It's not that such things can't be good, but the afterlife stuff so far has been conceived in a really boring, Inception-ish video game style way. Really stands badly in contrast to the Black Lodge sequences in Twin Peaks, which actually manages to feel strange and alien. I'm really hoping it ends up done differently tomorrow and next week.

[maz89]

I have been following your Leftovers postings, and honestly, all of what you just posted is gibberish to me because I ain't clicking on the blackened tags. I intend to see the show at some point if there's enough positive chatter after it ends (also, that metacritic rating is insane) and I am also spoiler-phobic... so... let's see how it ends then.

[Raxivace]

I don't really put any stock into review aggregate sites like Metacritic, Rotten Tomatoes etc. myself.

49. 22 Jump Street (2014) -



Basically the same premise as the first movie but COLLEGE instead of high school. Actually they do add a lot of jokes about the nature of the movie being a sequel, which builds up to a pretty glorious credits sequence parodying the different premises that cash in sequels will use to attract new viewers (Ironically, they did not hit up on the one premise 23 Jump Street is actually going to use- a crossover with, of all things, the Men in Black franchise).

This film doesn't exactly push boundaries, but it got laughs out of me.

50. Drive Angry (2011) -



So a lot of the posters for this movie made it look like some kind of knock off of Refn's Drive or perhaps the Fast and the Furious franchise. While there are some car action scenes, it doesn't really resemble either of those. Oh boy does it not.

A much better comparison is something like From Dusk 'Til Dawn. The premise is that Nic Cage escapes from Hell to save his granddaughter from devil worshippers on Earth who are planning to sacrifice her for some nefarious purpose like immortality or something. Meanwhile, an angel or something is chasing Cage, tasked with bringing him back to Hell. Both are killing tons of people along the way, and the whole thing is kind of insane.

I think its better than it gets credit for. While not the most cinematic thing ever, it's shot with some basic visual clarity which is more than I can say about a lot of recent action films. It's just so ridiculous though that I find it fun. Like its the kind of movie where Nic Cage gets in a gun fight mid-coitus- it relishes in absurdity.

51. Friday the 13th (1980) -



I picked up the new Friday the 13th game recently and since I've been enjoying the hell out of that I went back to see the original movie, since I don't think I had seen it before. I knew Jason wasn't the killer in it going in, but I can't say I was too surprised by this also devolving into a Psycho riff. At least this had the decency to change up the premise, since it was the mother this time with the split personality being her dead son.

Actually I liked this movie overall, but I feel like I should watch a few more of them to get the essence of what these movies were going for.

52. Get Out (2017) -



I often complain about directors who have the talent to imitate their inspirations but simply stop there, not doing anything new with their sources or even trying to take them somewhere new. Jordan Peele is clearly influenced by Hitchcockian thrillers and classic horror films and the like but is able to combine that with his interest of race in America (As often explored through satire in sketches on his Comedy Central show with Keegan-Michael Key) to make a movie that someone like Hitchcock wouldn't have ever made.

It's kind of hard to talk about without spoiling, but the premise of "black man meeting white girlfriend's rich family, shit goes awry" works really well here, using horror plot points as some solid satire. Some good comic relief here too. Check it out, it's damn good.

[maz89]

Mean Streets 7/10 - Scorsese's first gangster flick felt a bit light thematically, anchored to a fairly predictable story as it was. That being said, De Niro's performance as an incompetent screw-up with a loose mouth is a genuine treat. The best moments are the ones in which the camera lingers and floats around, as it does when a brawl breaks out between the two factions in the basement (spurred by a ridiculous remark by De Niro's Johnny, who flippantly makes a necessarily offensive observation just for the hell of it) or the trippy, psychedelic red-lit sequence in the bar which ends with a drugged Charlie passing out. There's also another dream-like moment when Charlie is peering through his apartment's window to look at Teresa undressing herself in her apartment, and it segues into the two of them making love later together. Anyway, one of my major issues with the movie was its heavy implication that Charlie was helping Johnny to 'redeem' himself in a way the Church wouldn't, but this was somewhat undermined by his affair with Johnny's cousin, Teresa. To be clear, Charlie is doing it for his love, Teresa, and Johnny just happens to be the dope who's related to her. Then again, she does represent the good, honest, virtuous life, so perhaps the redemption angle does work in that respect.

Age of Innocence 8/10 - A handsomely shot film with excellent production design that accurately recreates New York's high society milieu as it existed in the late nineteenth century, and revels in its disturbing, almost eerie artifice. I was absolutely floored by DDL's performance, possibly because I haven't ever seen him play a 'normal' guy ever (he seems to be fond of playing idiosyncratic types nowadays). The way he gushes and laughs, akin to an excited teenage boy, when he first makes the acquaintance of Pfieffer's Olenska was sublime. Of course, because of his 'normalcy' and conformism, he is never able to overcome the cultural facade and live a life with the woman he loves. While he initially chides Olenska to save her marriage (and thereby avoid the implications of being 'damaged goods' in an archaic, ruthless society), he quickly relapses, professes his love and tries to 'save' her from the clutches of her husband - to 'save' her for himself. All this time, he fails to take the final step of dismantling his own relationship with Winona Ryder's May, cowardly living a lie until it doesn't matter anymore. Of course, the whole situation is sold as being partly tragic - May would be devastated and never reconcile with her aunt if her husband broke up with her and shacked up with Olenska - but the real tragedy lies in how their lives turn out. The most chilling realization comes towards the end of the movie, even before the somber flash forward that promises some kind of late reunion before permanently ending with bleakness. At Olenska's farewell party, the narrator confirms that it slowly dawns upon Newland that the 'secret' of his affair with Olenska was actually not a secret at all, but a widely known reality that was being suppressed amidst the light chatter in the superficial masquerade. Despite May knowing the truth, Newland and Olenska continue to play the roles that society has preordained for them simply to avoid having to deal with the fall-out. Appearances matter. While Scorsese has set this story in the past, its scathing commentary is timeless.

Mustang 6.5/10 - Yojimbo gave this a glowing review when he used to visit these forums, and I can see why he liked it. During the first half, there's an easy naturalness in the film's warm slice-of-life episodes about ordinary girls living in a needlessly prohibitive society that cannot see beyond the roles of wife and mother for them. Of course, the carefree naturalness slowly wears off once the sisters start getting married one by one in arranged marriages to men who the girls' guardians know little about apart from superficial details such as the community's opinions of the parents. An incredibly sinister vibe bubbles to the surface, with one subtle devastating reveal late in the film taking it into heavy-handed territory (for me). When the guardians turn out to be ridiculously villainous instead of 'normal' people caught up in a flawed world, I felt like the film got carried away in its dissection of an alien culture (although I understand it wasn't alien for the director) and tried to bite off more than it could chew. It felt like an unnecessary add-on inserted simply to raise the dramatic stakes for the survivors to pave the way for that unconvincing action-oriented climax. When the film was operating on its turf though, it did conjure some memorable visuals - I can't stop thinking about the haunting overhead shot of Selma laying on the operating table, getting her vagina examined by a doctor who is required to confirm her virginity to her new husband and his parents - after her hymen didn't break on her wedding night. The doctor's flashlight beneath her dress causes it to glow an angelic white, and her conversation with the doctor about her so-called sexual affairs is heart-breaking, with the director firmly chastising a culture that so hell-bent on trivialities that it demonizes innocent angels.

Tiny Furniture 6.0/10 - This is a slow-paced black comedy/drama about a girl who is lost in life. After her long-time boyfriend dumps her, she doesn't know who she is, or what she is supposed to be doing, so she ends up seeking refuge at her mother's place. At home, she is unable to reconcile her aimless life with the lives of the two women around her - her mother's a well-respected artist (who photographs "tiny furniture") and her sister seems to be following in her path by winning some unique scholarship. Outside her home, she trades in her educated, clever friend for an older, wilder, vivacious one, and pursues two different men at the same time. Both of them are assholes. Only Dunham's character doesn't see this, finally succumbing to the low point in the film's climax in which she allows herself to be fucked "in a pipe on the street". There is humor throughout, as a result of the absurdity of some situations (as well as the lead's cluelessness, which is the writer-director's trademark personality), but it never quite manages to reach the peaks of Dunham's follow-up show, Girls (in fact, this whole subtle, slow-boil type of drama worked much better in the TV format). The climax finally has Dunham's character open up to her mother about some of her disastrous choices, suggesting some kind of subtle forward movement, but I'm not sure if it all really comes together.

[maz89]

I don't really put any stock into review aggregate sites like Metacritic, Rotten Tomatoes etc. myself.

I put stock in Metacritic, not RT. It helps me prioritize as I can't watch every single thing under the sun, and I find some really lovely gems there from time to time.

[maz89]

The Lobster 8.5/10 - I can't think of another movie in the recent past that has made me laugh so much. Lanthimos' deadpan, surreal black comedy about an exaggerated, bizarre universe is an unforgiving critique of human superficiality and shortsightedness*. There are so many hilarious subtle (and not so subtle) attacks against the narrow-minded in this film, starting with the bizarre tenets of the world itself, which categorically "reject" people who have not found their partners, by will or by fate. The plot follows a recently divorced man who mandatorily enrolls in a rehabilitation center masquerading as a hotel where he must find his perfect match in 45 days or... be turned into an animal of his choice. (Plot spoilers ahead - if you plan to see this movie and want to go in blank, stop reading.) The catch is he and his potential partner must share an easily identified 'defining' characteristic... such as the ability to play a particular instrument or have the same disease or - to add more complexity - possess a similar nihilist approach to life. To make their search more desperate, they are not allowed to masturbate, although a hot maid does drop by every day to grind the men's privates until erection is achieved (...so they can search for their partners better). To make sure they understand that wanting to be alone is downright insane, the hotel puts on crude, educational stage performances starring the maid, two butlers and the couple who owns the hotel, which serve to emphasize the importance of companionship... by showing that a woman walking alone will get raped but if there's a man with her, she won't. To throw a rope to people who struggle to find their partner, the hotel allows for the extension in the 45 day time limit if the singles can tranquilize and capture 'loners' during their daily hunting sessions (one loner adds one day). "Loners" hold beliefs that are the polar opposite to those of general society's - they pride themselves on being alone to the extreme extent that they forbid each other from engaging in any romantic relationships whatsoever, handing out cruel, barbaric punishments to those among them who do. (They can masturbate, of course, and they can only dance to electronic music as it can enable them to dance by themselves.) During the film, these two worlds collide, often in hilarious fashion, with each and every bit of dialogue and newly revealed mythology serving as a reminder of the fucked-up way in which people view, approach, understand, simplify and trivialize relationships AND go on to impose their understanding on others, which is a theme that extends even farther than just relationships. Lanthimos' rich visual sensibilities give the film its dour, drab yet majestic look (with the wide landscape shots being absolutely gorgeous), which is supported by the eerie dissonant bursts of orchestral music. The film's serious look and feel both enhance the hilarity of the absurd scenarios as well as the devastating implications orchestrated in the film's climax. This one is a treat for the senses* *(puns intended, for those who've seen the movie). Next time someone asks you why you haven't found your significant other yet, this is the movie to recommend.

On IMDB, this is marked as a 2015 film. In that case, it's my favorite film from that year.

Apart from this one, I've seen Lanthimos' Dogtooth, which was an insanely disturbing study of a dysfunctional family... that I also thought was pretty great.

[Raxivace]

Anyway, one of my major issues with the movie was its heavy implication that Charlie was helping Johnny to 'redeem' himself in a way the Church wouldn't, but this was somewhat undermined by his affair with Johnny's cousin, Teresa. To be clear, Charlie is doing it for his love, Teresa, and Johnny just happens to be the dope who's related to her. Then again, she does represent the good, honest, virtuous life, so perhaps the redemption angle does work in that respect.

It's been a long while since I last saw Mean Streets, but IIRC what Charlie seeks redemption for isn't just the Teresa thing (Then again, its worth remembering that he looks down upon her too for her epilepsy), but the general moral dissonance he feels between his devout Catholicism while also wanting to rise in the Mafioso. He feels he's constantly in sin, and by the standards of his religious beliefs he is. It's his job to be, and a contradiction in the Italian-American experience of that time that Scorsese will continue to struggle with throughout his career.

A lot of people don't realize that the title Mean Streets is an ironic quotation in nature, from a famous Raymond Chandler essay: "But down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. The detective in this kind of story must be such a man. He is the hero, he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor, by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world". Charlie is the opposite of most of these qualities Chandler saw as positive- hardly the heroic, knightly Phillip Marlowe type being described.

[Raxivace]

Yojimbo gave this a glowing review when he used to visit these forums

He's never coming back, is he?

I wish he would have at least said goodbye if he was done with all of us.

[maz89]

It's been a long while since I last saw Mean Streets, but IIRC what Charlie seeks redemption for isn't just the Teresa thing (Then again, its worth remembering that he looks down upon her too for her epilepsy), but the general moral dissonance he feels between his devout Catholicism while also wanting to rise in the Mafioso. He feels he's constantly in sin, and by the standards of his religious beliefs he is. It's his job to be, and a contradiction in the Italian-American experience of that time that Scorsese will continue to struggle with throughout his career.

Yeah, his kind treatment of Teresa/Johnny is a way for him to feel less guilty for continuing to enable that contradiction. In the end, Charlie's balancing act falls apart as his two worlds are ultimately shown to be irreconcilable.

I have to see Goodfellas, Casino and The Departed again at some point to see why they left more of an impression.

A lot of people don't realize that the title Mean Streets is an ironic quotation in nature, from a famous Raymond Chandler essay: "But down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. The detective in this kind of story must be such a man. He is the hero, he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor, by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world". Charlie is the opposite of most of these qualities Chandler saw as positive- hardly the heroic, knightly Phillip Marlowe type being described.

Oh, I wasn't aware that it came from a Chandler essay or that it was an ironic quotation. Does add a layer on what Charlie sought to be in a kind of self-delusion... but couldn't.

[maz89]

Yojimbo gave this a glowing review when he used to visit these forums

He's never coming back, is he?

I wish he would have at least said goodbye if he was done with all of us.

That, and I sure hope he's okay...

[Raxivace]

53. Logan (2017) -



This was one of the more creative super hero movies in recent years, I feel. It downplays a lot of the traditional action story elements to focus on aging and loss and legacy- Logan himself is more or less ready to die, but when a young girl appears in his life that may be a mutant, he and an aging Xavier must take her on a journey to someplace that may be safe for her.

The characters in the movie watch Shane at one point, which is a nice comparison for the tone of the film. There are a lot of nice moments of characters just...sitting down and talking about things- one of the highlights being a dinner scene about halfway through the film, done with improvised dialogue in a way you just don't see in other movies like this. It was a nice sendoff to Hugh Jackman's time as Wolverine, and probably the best X-Men movie overall.

54. Murder on the Orient Express (1974) -



I dunno why Lumet thought a throwback movie to classic Hollywood was a good idea considering his own style in this time period is kind of antithetical to that. Still, its nice to see a star studded cast with people like Anthony Perkins, Lauren Bacall, Sean Connery, Ingrid Bergman etc. And of course Albert Finney is quite good as Poirot. As much as I like Agatha Christie though I feel like her material just isn't a good fit with Lumet's dull naturalism. It makes the movie just not flow all that well to me, despite how much I like the specific genre of a murder mystery in a closed off location like a train.

It'll be interesting to compare this with Kenneth Branagh's upcoming adaptation. He seems to be taking it in his bigger, showy style (Like in his Hamlet for example) that will hopefully make it a fun watch.

55. Friday the 13th: Part 2 (1981) -



This is a stranger movie than I think people realize. The first 15 minutes of the movie is a sequel to the original, where the surviving girl from the first movie is killed off. And yet, logically this doesn't make any sense at all. Jason is the killer, but he's a full grown man who somehow is still alive and specifically seeking revenge for his mother's death. Yet the first movie established that not only was he dead and gone, but that his mother believed him to be dead to the point she fucking hallucinated him in her head. That Jason, this stunted mountain-man of a killer, somehow left his forest, cross all the way to California, and somehow was able to track down a specific person too to their home is craziness. It almost feels like a deceptively Godardian breaking of the fourth wall, especially considering how this sequence begins with some clips of the first movie's ending.

After this we get the title sequence and the movie proper begins. It goes into normal slasher territory for a while until the ending. We're down to a surviving girl and a surviving boy holed up in a cabin. They open a door and a dog that the movie lead us to believe had been killed earlier (Some other characters find a similar looking dog in the forest that had been killed and mutilated) walks in. Then Jason jumps in through a window, despite the movie leading us to believe he had been knocked out and possibly killed, and attacks the boy. Then we cut to the girl waking up as an ambulance is taking her away, leading us to believe that the last attack was all a dream...except the boy and the dog are nowhere to be accounted for. Did the boy get killed? If so, how? Was the dog real? If the dog was the same one that had been killed in the forest, than what even is this ending? If the boy had already been killed, how the did the girl get away from Jason with her leg being severely injured?

This is almost like a slasher film via Godard or someone like that, where the entire film seems almost deliberately designed to not make less and less sense the further you get into it. The illusion keeps shattering more and more...but for what purpose? I'm not sure I understand.

56. The Tall Target (1951) -



This is a pretty underrated suspense thriller (I think that's the genre at least?) from Anthony Mann. The story is about an officer trying to prevent an assassination attempt on President-Elect Abraham Lincoln, but its filmed entirely like a noir even though everyone is dressed in (close enough) period appropriate dress, where the men have handlebar moustaches and so forth. It's even mostly shot on a train, making it a lot like Murder on the Orient Express ironically enough. On top of that, the officer's name is John Kennedy, making the whole thing feel like this weird postmodern blob of references despite that not really being the case.

That mixing of styles though really did kind of make me think of stuff like No Country For Old Men, though that film was a noirish crime story that used some western stylistics and this is kind of the opposite. It's a weird movie I don't quite know what to do with, but I had fun watching it since it was so unusual. Dick Powell is good as the officer too, though this wasn't the first time he played a tough guy role- he had also portrayed Philip Marlowe in Murder, My Sweet (1944).

[Raxivace]

So Leftovers is done now. The ending was kind of whatever, and I think overall season 3 was probably worse than season 2.

Welp.

[Raxivace]

57. Les Carabiniers (1963) -



Godard's take on the war film. Two men, Ulysses and Michelangelo, are called forth to fight for the king of their fictional country. However unlike typical war films what convinces them to go is not honor or duty or anything like that, but the appeal of being able to steal from, shame, plunder and rape their enemy.

I'm guessing he did this to challenge war films that provide a more glorified view of battle, and while that's a valid impulse I do think its perhaps a bit didactic since most of the movie is just these two dudes fucking with and murdering random people. The movie is only like 75ish minutes but it does feel like it drags a bit. It's done in that typical "bloodless carnage" way of old movies too, which I'm not entirely sure fits the material even if I suspect Godard may have liked that.

There's an interesting scene where Ulysses and Michelangelo go to a movie theater. One of them says they've never seen a movie before. We get a recreation of the stories of the first screenings of Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat, and then when a woman is bathing on screen the guy even attempts to jump into the movie a la Buster Keaton's Sherlock, Jr., but fails and only tears the screen off of the wall. Most movies like this would parallel real life violence with how people perceive movie violence (Like Tarantino in Inglourious Basterds), but I don't think that's what Godard is doing here. I don't know what to make of it but the sequence sticks with me.