Raxivace's 2019 List of Movies or: (Goodbye to Neo-General Chat 3D)

[Raxivace]

New year, new movie thread. If someone can up with a better reference than Nightmare of Elm Street 3 then please share.

I start off 2019 with two short films from Criterion's Jacques Tati boxset.

1. On Demande Une Brute (AKA Brute Wanted, 1934, Dir. Charles Barrois) - Through some overly complicated scheme I didn't quite get, an unqualified actor (Jacques Tati, who also co-wrote this) ends up in a wrestling match. It's okay, reminds me of the boxing bits in Chaplin's City Lights.

2. Gai Dimanche! (AKA Fun Sunday, 1935, Dir. Jacques Berr) - Jacques Tati and a man that, from what I can tell, is only known as "Rhum" play two down on their luck dudes who try to make money by recovering a bus from a junkyard and starting a tour service. In proud slapstick tradition though, things go wrong.

I wasn't super into this one either, though it is a little better than On Demande Une Brute is. I'd have to imagine Tati movies start getting better once he actually begins directing them.

[Gendo]

So far I've watched twice as many hours of movies as you this year!

[Raxivace]

So far I've watched twice as many hours of movies as you this year!

Lol I'm still in the middle of watching a lot of anime and every Survivor season, so you probably will be ahead of me in terms of movie hours for a while.

[Raxivace]

Some more shorts today.

3. Soigne ton gauche (AKA Keep Your Left Up, 1936, Dir. René Clément) - Tati plays a farmer who becomes a boxer. It's pretty similar to On Demande Une Brute (Even more reminiscent of City Lights than the earlier short was), but without as unnecessarily complicated a setup and some better gags- I particularly like how Tati goes from looking at a book lying around to learn how to box on the fly, to accidentally looking at a fencing book and trying to fight like that, to finally imitating a chicken in the ring since the fight is outside and he sees one roaming around. It's fun.

Apparently, the title of Godard's Keep Your Right Up is a riff on this, though I haven't seen that film yet.

4. L'École des facteurs (AKA School for Postmen, 1946/1947*, Dir. Jacques Tati) - Tati's first directorial effort. He plays a postman trying to speedily deliver his mail, though runs into trouble such as running into and even losing his bicycle. It's pretty fun and is more kinetic than the other shorts- more Keaton than Chaplin.

It seems the same concept from this short is revisited by Tati in his first feature length film. It'll be interesting to compare to this.

*I've seen conflicting dates on this. The English and French Wikipedia lists the year of release as 1947, Criterion lists it as 1946. Neither one seems to have a more specific release date from what I can tell.

5. Armored Trooper VOTOMS: The Last Red Shoulder (1985, Dir. Ryosuke Takahashi) - Set between episodes 13 and 14 of the original VOTOMS anime, The Last Red Shoulder follows Chirico as he finds a few surviving Red Shoulder members and teams up with them to assassinate General Pailsen, the original leader of their unit.

It's a pretty lean and quick 50ish minute romp, with some good animation and fills in a few holes in the VOTOMS story, particularly on the background of the Red Shoulders as well as their connection to the “Perfect Soldier" program from the series. Helps explain some things about Ypsilon's character too, particularly why he's so attached to “Proto One".

[Raxivace]

6. Kingdom Hearts χ: Back Cover (2017, Dir. Tetsuya Nomura & Tai Yasue) - I'm not technically sure this should be on here since its arguably a collection of video game cutscenes without any gameplay first and foremost but oh well. This is an hour long CGI short that expands on the backstory of characters introduced in a downloadable phone game spinoff of the Kingdom Hearts, set like a thousand years or something (It's never quite made clear how long exactly) before the main series. It's very pretty looking and gives me hope for KH3's cutscenes.

In true KH fashion, Back Cover is fairly convoluted. The basic plot revolves around an organization of people trying to figure out who among them is a traitor. Said traitor is prophesized to destroy the world and bring about an era of darkness. We never find out who the traitor is exactly (There's three people that are implied to possibly be it), but we do know from the later games that they succeed.

I don't think anyone not already hugely invested into KH's bizarre ass mythology will enjoy this, but as someone who is I quite liked it.

7. Animal Crackers (1930, Dir. Victor Heerman) - Another classic Marx brothers movie. I don't have a whole lot to say about this one that I didn't already say about The Cocoanuts, but its good stuff and the pun game here is on a level I can only dream of reaching.

I do think its interesting how much these movies were also kind of musicals too, both with some extended singing segments, the extended harp bits (I guess that's why he's called "Harpo"?), and this one adds a fun piano bit that I think is more memorable than the one in The Cocoanuts. I guess that's just another part of the appeal of sound being introduced in the movies.

[Gendo]

According to my 2016 thread; Animal Crackers and Duck Soup are the two I've seen. I remember liking Animal Crackers.

[Raxivace]

Duck Soup is the last one in this boxset I got for Christmas. I'm looking forward to that one since Leo McCarey directed it.

[Raxivace]

8. Morocco (1930, Dir. Josef von Sternberg) - Turns out this is the first von Sternberg I've seen.

It's…alright. The basic story revolves around love shenanigans between a womanizing French Foreign Legion solider (Gary Cooper), a nightclub singer (Marlene Dietrich, who is easily doing the best work here), and a rich man (Adolphe Menjou).

I gotta be honest I just wasn't super into this one. It just feels awfully lethargic for a movie about complicated love passions, though Dietrich is good in it. Because this is a pre-code movie she gets to some risqué things for the era too, such as wearing a typically male suit and even kissing a woman on the lips at one point. That all comes fairly early in the film though (Like, first 15 minutes early), and everything after is kind of a blur.

9. Armored Trooper VOTOMS: Big Battle (AKA VOTOMS: Battle of the Heterogenous Species, 1986, Dir. Ryosuke Takahashi) - Set near the end of the anime, this one features Chirico and his friends being blackmailed into participating in underground robot fighting once again, this time against a villain who is suspiciously similar to Yazan from Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam.

Similar to The Last Red Shoulder this is largely a standalone piece, though Big Battle doesn't really give you any extra insight in the world or characters of VOTOMS at all. It really just seems like an excuse to have Chirico fight not!Yazan more than anything. It's decent at doing that though, and him having a giant moving desert fortress as a tank made for a fun setting. Not much going on than that otherwise though.

10. The Fountain (2006, Dir. Darren Aronofsky) - This is a pretty cool movie. I can kind of see why Jimbo wasn't as into Cloud Atlas as I was now (IIRC anyways), since in a lot of ways The Fountain is doing the same kind of “modern take on Griffith's Intolerance" thing that Cloud Atlas but in a way that is simultaneously both a little tighter and a little more cerebral (Though I still do love what the Tykwer and the Wachowski's did with their film).

I liked how all three stories were constantly echoing each other (Such as the present day's Jackman's fears about a tree being planted over his wife's grave materialize in the “past" as flowers growing out of Spanish Jackman's body). The ambiguity this creates is interesting too- is the novel “The Fountain" merely a fiction that Rachel Weisz has a created to entertain others that Jackman merely reads himself into, or is it specifically a fiction about her concerns about how her and her husband are drifting apart (A la Umineko no Naku Koro ni) and is that why she kept pushing Jackman to read it, or is it possibly memories of a past life manifesting through her writing? The specific answer doesn't really matter I think, though its interesting to consider.

I could see people finding this heightened acting a little overwrought, though it didn't really bother me because I expected that coming in.

This is definitely a movie I think I'll revisit at some point and will likely continue to enjoy.

[Raxivace]

11. Tom Jones (1963, Dir. Tony Richardson) - The 1963 Best Picture winner, and a rare comedy to win at that. Unfortunately, it's just kind of a terrible film.

The story loosely follows the romantic escapades of the title character Tom Jones, a “bastard" in 1700's Britain, but it feels real aimless in a bad way. You can tell that Richardson is being influenced by things he probably saw in French New Wave cinema of the time (Handheld camerawork, the Jones character occasionally breaking the fourth wall to address the audience, use of still photography etc.) but it really feels like a pale imitation of those works. None of the comedy lands either, making this a hard film to get through at a solid two hours length. What we're left with honestly just feels like a shitty version of Barry Lyndon (Not that Kubrick had made that yet but whatever).

The only other nominee I've seen from that year is How the West Was Won, which I liked better but am still not a huge fan of. Fellini was nominated for Best Director (But not Best Picture) for 8½ (Or as it's called in Europe, 8.5 (Yes I've shamelessly stolen that joke from somewhere else)), and he somehow fuckin' lost to Tony Richardson. I don't even like 8½ that much and I'm offended. This is to say nothing of the many other good films that came out in 1963 that weren't even nominated like The Birds, High and Low, Contempt, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Charade, From Russia With Love, The Sword in the Stone etc. I'm sure there's plenty others I haven't seen yet.

I'm not even saying all of those I just listed are necessarily the greatest films- like The Sword in the Stone isn't one of my favorites or anything but it still has more merit than absolute crap like Tom Jones, which I think is easily in the bottom 10 Worst Best Picture winners…and possibly the bottom 5 at that. It's just such a nothing movie.

12. Godzilla: The Planet Eater (2018, Dir. Kobun Shizuno & Hiroyuki Seshita) - The final part of Netflix's anime Godzilla trilogy. There's much not left to really say about these movies. The CGI is still wonky, writer Gen Urobuchi is still largely retrofitting ideas from his past works (Particularly Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet), the characters are a bit underwritten etc.

The antagonist here is primarily Ghidora. I can't quite remember his origins in the original Godzilla movies, but here he's treated as the god of a religious cult, ritually summoned by most of the surviving human/humanoid alien characters in a last ditch effort to kill Godzilla. Secretly though its a blood sacrifice, most of the characters are killed to bring him about. Also one of the aliens plans to sacrifice all of Earth to Ghidora, meaning much of the movie is spent actually saving Godzilla.

It's a neater premise on paper than execution, though I think I liked the idea a bit more than the weird "Mechagdozilla City" stuff from the second film. Still kind of a nothing ending to a flawed trilogy though.

[Eva Yojimbo]

8. Morocco (1930, Dir. Josef von Sternberg) -

Haven't seen this one, but I've generally been unimpressed with Sternberg. In fact, the best of his I've seen have been his silent films, which generally don't get much attention. I did really enjoy The Last Command and Docks of New York; but his Dietrich films have felt similar to how you described this one: lethargic. There's some interesting aesthetics, but they aren't enough for me to make up for their lack of narrative interest.

11. Tom Jones (1963, Dir. Tony Richardson) - The 1963 Best Picture winner, and a rare comedy to win at that. Unfortunately, it's just kind of a terrible film.

Yeah, pretty much. I don't know if I hate is as much as you, but it's pretty blah.

I don't even like 8½ that much...

WTF is this blasphemy?

This is to say nothing of the many other good films that came out in 1963 that weren't even nominated like The Birds, High and Low, Contempt, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Charade, From Russia With Love, The Sword in the Stone etc. I'm sure there's plenty others I haven't seen yet.

[/quote]Stuff like The Birds, From Russia, and Contempt are the types of films that almost never get nominated: "nature attacks" and action-adventure genre films (no matter how well-done, and no matter that The Birds is more thematically rich than almost any Oscar nominees ever), and REALLY artsy stuff like Contempt. Like I've said, Oscars are incredibly middle-brow, and anything below or above that and they generally ignore them. There are rare exceptions, but they remain exceptions, and history is a pretty harsh judge of such contemporary tastes.

10. The Fountain (2006, Dir. Darren Aronofsky) -

Cool that you saw this! Yes, there are echoes all across the three sections, not just in the story-points but in the visuals and techniques as well. Four I remember are the orange glow/white light dichotomy--IIRC, orange is associated with death here, but I forget about white; tunnels; the extreme over-head shot (like the camera is looking straight down), and a tilt shot that goes from looking upside-down/backwards to tilting rightside-up/forwards. As for the story, the way I read is that the past section is her story, the future section is his way of "finishing it," and the present section is reality. Thematically, what I found most interesting here is how the film suggests that art can be one of the best coping mechanisms we have for overcoming loss, how we can embody/express our thoughts, feelings, fears, hurt, anger, etc. in allegory and by doing so essentially expunge that which haunts and even controls us. The film suggests that finishing the book is Jackman's way of letting go of his wife, of completing the circle so he can move on.

BTW, I actually really liked Cloud Atlas! IIRC I gave it an 8 and said that it just demanded a rewatch (or several). I never got around to rewatching it, though. It'd probably be like a new movie to me now! I did like The Fountain more, though. I've seen it three times and have ultimately settled on a 9/10. Gut-wise it's more a 9.5/10, but I do think there are some problems. Mainly, I don't really think the plot convolution adds much to the film. Like, it would've worked just as well if it had made it clear that the past/present were just the stories that each were writing about their present situation. And it is true that the melodramatic acting becomes both more obvious and less impactful upon rewatches (at least for me), but I still think the visuals/aesthetics carry the film so well that it ultimately doesn't hurt that much.

BTW, no mention of that glorious soundtrack? Still probably the best music/visuals/story combination of any film this century is this:

(Sadly there is no HD version of this online that I could find)

[Raxivace]

Been a rough couple of days. There's a certain movie from a famous director that I've spent like five days trying to slog through and its been a real struggle.

WTF is this blasphemy?

It's not that I hate the movie or anything, its just never been a personal favorite of mine and it leaves me kind of cold. It would never make a list of my top 100 or anything, though I wouldn't argue with people that rank it super high either.

I'd still say it its baffling that it didn't get a BP nomination that year and then beat out Tom Jones of all things though, especially with that Best Director nod it did get (But somehow lost).

Stuff like The Birds, From Russia, and Contempt are the types of films that almost never get nominated:

Oh I know that. Usually I think the Academy people at least pick decent if unexceptional films, but when they pick outright crap I think its nice to put out a reminder how much good stuff there also was that year, even if its genre stuff or arty stuff they wouldn't normally go for.

Cool that you saw this! Yes, there are echoes all across the three sections, not just in the story-points but in the visuals and techniques as well. Four I remember are the orange glow/white light dichotomy--IIRC, orange is associated with death here, but I forget about white; tunnels; the extreme over-head shot (like the camera is looking straight down), and a tilt shot that goes from looking upside-down/backwards to tilting rightside-up/forwards.

Interesting. I noticed some of the repeating colors but never made any conscious thematic connection.

BTW, I actually really liked Cloud Atlas! IIRC I gave it an 8 and said that it just demanded a rewatch (or several). I never got around to rewatching it, though. It'd probably be like a new movie to me now!

Huh, I must be confusing you with someone else then. I could have sworn I saw somebody at some point say Cloud Atlas was just The Fountain but worse... Can't remember who it could be now if it wasn't you.

I did like The Fountain more, though. I've seen it three times and have ultimately settled on a 9/10. Gut-wise it's more a 9.5/10, but I do think there are some problems. Mainly, I don't really think the plot convolution adds much to the film. Like, it would've worked just as well if it had made it clear that the past/present were just the stories that each were writing about their present situation. And it is true that the melodramatic acting becomes both more obvious and less impactful upon rewatches (at least for me), but I still think the visuals/aesthetics carry the film so well that it ultimately doesn't hurt that much.

I dunno, I like how the ambiguity allows for other possible interpretations to exist, at least in theory.

Or perhaps another way to put is that without the convolution it keeps the film from being so easily reduced to just a single explanation like "The movie is about art therapy"- Not that I'm saying you're reducing the movie down to only that (I like that interpretation and think its totally valid), but if the movie just made that super explicitly clear then I think people would stop thinking about the movie altogether if they didn't have to work for an interpretation of their own. Just look at the reactions to mother! nowadays, and how the movie is "solved" and therefore not worth engaging with any further just because Aronofsky talked about some of the movies themes in an interview.

Anyways, more than anything I just found the contrast between the three eras themselves to be interesting and how they each dealt with death- with that mind whether there's specifically meta-fiction going or reincarnation shenanigans like I suggested or something else I haven't even though of isn't actually an aspect I feel strongly about one way or another.

The progression in the film from old world religion to modern science to new age-y spiritualism is perhaps telling of Aronofsky's beliefs too, now that I think about it.

BTW, no mention of that glorious soundtrack?

Actually I did really enjoy the soundtrack, I just forgot to mention it.

[maz89]

I've seen a bunch of movies I want to talk about, but haven't had the time to post here. Will get to it soon...

That, and Assassin's Creed Odyssey has taken over my life. :[

[Raxivace]

I've seen a bunch of movies I want to talk about, but haven't had the time to post here.

Anything in particular stand out?

[Raxivace]

Trying to get to some posts done before Resident Evil 2 and Kingdom Hearts III take over my life for a while.

13. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984, Dir. Hayao Miyazaki) - Yeah I dunno what happened here. It took me an entire week to slog through this nonsense about how it's good for ugly insects to have overrun the world because, uh environmentalism or something. Even as a preachy allegory for the very real concerns about pollution in the modern world, this just seemed like very silly primitivism that makes James Cameron's Avatar merely silly primitivism look nuanced by comparison.

Before watching Nausicaa, I honestly thought I might like it and that it might be the movie to change my mind about Miyazaki and would help push me into finishing his filmography. Well I certainly want to finish Miyazaki off now alright, if only because he single-handedly ruined the movie watching pace I had going for 2019.

Gone are my glory days when I could watch a four hour film twice in two days... Miyzaki has drained me of all my power and ability.

14. Notorious (1946, Dir. Alfred Hitchcock, Rewatch) - I think I realized my previous mistake with this movie. The first time I watched it, I took it more as a thriller with romantic elements, perhaps like The 39 Steps. That was wrong- in Notorious the plot is mostly an excuse for the classy, sexual drama to play out. The essay from the Criterion booklet really excellently talks about this.

This is easily one of Hitchcock's best films. Almost certainly the best performance he got out of Bergman and Grant.

I was also surprised how much this seems to recall other Hitchcock films. Claude Rains poisoning Bergman recalls the imagined murder plot in Suspicion (The use of the coffee or tea or whatever in this movie is very reminiscent of the “poisoned" milk in Suspicion), and Claude's relation with his mother even seems to foretell Psycho.

15. Christopher Robin (2018, Dir. Marc Forster) - “People say 'nothing is impossible', but I do nothing every day."

This is a pretty a cute Winnie the Pooh movie (Though bittersweet, like the better Pooh stories tend to be), focusing on an all grown up Christopher Robin relearning forgotten lessons from his childhood (Perhaps similar to something like Spielberg's Hook, though I think this is probably a little better).

I wasn't sure the live action nature of the movie would work, but I actually thought it fit pretty well here considering the subject matter.

16. Armored Trooper VOTOMS: The Red Shoulder Document: Roots of Ambition (1988, Dir. Ryosuke Takahashi) - Another VOTOMS OVA focusing on Chiricho's past, this one specifically on his recruitment into the military and how he met his buddies from The Last Red Shoulder.

It's another quick one, though I'm not sure I like the retcon of Chiricho, apparently, being from Sunsa and also a victim of the Red Shoulder's attacks there when he was a child. I'm not sure its actually more tragic that way, instead of him just being caught up in things.

There's a use of “muted lines" similar to End of Evangelion in this that's interesting, though I think not nearly as well done here as in EoE.

[Lord_Lyndon]

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984, Dir. Hayao Miyazaki) - Yeah I dunno what happened here. It took me an entire week to slog through this nonsense about how it's good for ugly insects to have overrun the world because, uh environmentalism or something. Even as a preachy allegory for the very real concerns about pollution in the modern world, this just seemed like very silly primitivism that makes James Cameron's Avatar merely silly primitivism look nuanced by comparison.

Before watching Nausicaa, I honestly thought I might like it and that it might be the movie to change my mind about Miyazaki and would help push me into finishing his filmography. Well I certainly want to finish Miyazaki off now alright, if only because he single-handedly ruined the movie watching pace I had going for 2019.

You should try Laputa Castle in the Sky. If you love set-piece cinema you'll love this one. It is an entertaining ride.
Regarding Miyazaki, I rewatched 3 of his films last year. I saw Princess Mononoke and I loved it even more than the first time. I think it is a masterpiece. I saw Spirited Away and I liked it much less than the first time. I used to think it was a masterpiece, but now I thinks it is only okay. It has it moments though. I also saw Howl's Moving Castle and I found it to be brilliant, It is a beautiful, beautiful mess of a movie. That is how I would describe it.
My ratings are:
Princess Mononoke 10/10
Spirited Away 7/10
Howl's Moving Castle 10/10

Anyway, it is nice to hear from you. I hope you are doing well, Rax.

Btw, am I the only one who loved Avatar?

[Raxivace]

Hi Lyndon, it's always nice to hear from you. :)

You're definitely not alone on Avatar, millions of people loved it, though I can't say I'm one of them. I don't hate the movie though. I was pretty harsh on its story when it came out, but over time I've softened on it.

I'll try Laputa, Mononoke, and Howl's at some point, I just feel way less motivated to watch through them now. I saw Spirited Away when I was a kid and didn't like it then, though that was with the English dub and cut up for television at that- I feel like I should give it a second chance.

[Lord_Lyndon]

Ok Rax. I will get back when I'm finished with watching anime series Monster. I think you've seen this one. I know you are a big anime fan.

[Raxivace]

Yeah I've seen Monster. It's been a while but I enjoyed it.

I think the biggest concern for that show for me though was whether the ending was quite worth the time investment it asks of viewers- 74 episodes is super long for the kind of show it is.

Let me know what you think of Monster when you're done with it.

[Raxivace]

Y'know, I'm surprised Jimbo hasn't come to bury me yet for that Nausicaa post lol.

[Lord_Lyndon]

I managed to see 230 movies and 5 anime series in 2018. Here are my top viewings. I will put an 'R' next to a movie which was a rewatch.

Now and Then, Here and There (1999-2000)
Princess Mononoke (1997) R
Sunshine (2007)
Logan (2017)
Make Your Move (2013)
Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) R
Django Unchained (2012) R
Avatar (2009)
Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003)
Blue Jasmine (2013)
Wolf Children (2012)
Being John Malkovich (1999)
Your Name. (2016)
John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)
Changeling (2008) R
Chungking Express (1994) R
The White Ribbon (2009)
Yojimbo (1961)
Cure (1997)
Dead Man (1995) R
Winchester '73 (1950) R
Hulk (2003) R
Constantine (2005) R
Cowboy Bebop (1998-1999)
Heathers (1988) R
Howl's Moving Castle (2004) R
Finding Nemo (2003)
Ratatouille (2007)
How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

[Raxivace]

I was at 238 movies, 28 anime series (I think that's right anyways), and I also watched something like 19 seasons of the reality show Survivor. I've become really addicted to the last one there, though I worry my cinephile friends will think less of me for that lol.

Now and Then, Here and There (1999-2000)

I remember you saying you liked this one. I still gotta get to it at some point.

Logan (2017)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) R
Django Unchained (2012) R
Avatar (2009)
Blue Jasmine (2013)
Being John Malkovich (1999)
Chungking Express (1994) R
The White Ribbon (2009)
Yojimbo (1961)
Winchester '73 (1950) R
Hulk (2003) R
Finding Nemo (2003)

I've seen these from this list, and am generally positive on all of them (Though I'm not a huge fan of the LotR story even if I respect the craftsmanship on display).

Django Unchained was one of my favorites the year it came out.

Avatar we kind of went over already.

Blue Jasmine was one I liked a bit at the time though it hasn't really stuck too hard in my memory. I'm just not super into Woody Allen's movies, regardless of the accusations against him.

Seeing Being John Malkovich on your list reminds me I need to check out more of Charlie Kauffman's stuff. I really loved what he did in that movie and Adaptation.

Chungking Express I liked, though I don't have much experience with Wong Kar-wai.

White Ribbon is the only Haneke I've particularly liked. The whole "Remote village where something seems very off" part of the movie kind of reminded me of an anime called Higurashi too if you've ever seen that, though its still super super super different.

Yojimbo is a classic, though I think I like Sanjuro a little better.

Winchester '73 is great. All the James Stewart/Anthony Mann collaborations are worth checking out if you have the time/can track them down. Winchester and Naked Spur were my favorites.

What did you think of Ang Lee's Hulk? I remember really digging it as a kid, but haven't gone back to revisit it.

Loved Finding Nemo as a kid, again I haven't revisited it though.

Cowboy Bebop (1998-1999)

I know I saw a bunch of random episodes of this when I was young, but I don't remember it very well. I did buy the blu-rays of it recently and have started watching through them. I'm still pretty early on though.

[Lord_Lyndon]

Thanks for the detailed response Rax.

I was at 238 movies, 28 anime series (I think that's right anyways), and I also watched something like 19 seasons of the reality show Survivor. I've become really addicted to the last one there, though I worry my cinephile friends will think less of me for that lol.

That is very impressive indeed. I've only seen 19 anime series in my whole life.

Chungking Express I liked, though I don't have much experience with Wong Kar-wai.

It was my favourite movie. But since last year Winchester '73 is my favourite movie. I had a great rewatch.

White Ribbon is the only Haneke I've particularly liked. The whole "Remote village where something seems very off" part of the movie kind of reminded me of an anime called Higurashi too if you've ever seen that, though its still super super super different.

Yojimbo is a classic, though I think I like Sanjuro a little better.

Winchester '73 is great. All the James Stewart/Anthony Mann collaborations are worth checking out if you have the time/can track them down. Winchester and Naked Spur were my favorites.

I agree with everything you said about these movies. I saw Higurashi and I really liked it. Some other Mann/Stewart films I've seen are The Naked Spur, Bend of the River, The Far Country, The Man from Laramie.

What did you think of Ang Lee's Hulk? I remember really digging it as a kid, but haven't gone back to revisit it.

People tend to dislike it, but I thinks it's really good. I rewatched it last year because I wanted to see something with Jennifer Connelly, but I enjoyed the whole experience a lot. It has a great visual style and well-developed characters. It is much more interesting than the Ed Norton version. Ang Lee is a great director.

[Raxivace]

That is very impressive indeed. I've only seen 19 anime series in my whole life.

Ha, my anime watching isn't that impressive. A lot of those shows were ones I watched week to week as they came out, and a lot of the other ones were 4-8 episode affairs.

I had a couple 45-50ish episode ones in there too though that took up some time. Aura Battler Dunbine in particular was a pretty huge slog to get through, moreso because the show was quite bad rather than the length itself.

It was my favourite movie. But since last year Winchester '73 is my favourite movie. I had a great rewatch.

I kind of want to rewatch both of these now. I'm not really sure I grasped much of the intricacies of Chungking Express, though I really liked the conceit in Winchester '73 of the rifle being passed around.

I kind of wish we would see more stories structured around objects like that.

Some other Mann/Stewart films I've seen are The Naked Spur, Bend of the River, The Far Country, The Man from Laramie.

Ah, I guess you've seen all of the Mann/Stewart ones then lol. I've seen a few of Mann's other movies and they're pretty good too.

People tend to dislike it, but I thinks it's really good. I rewatched it last year because I wanted to see something with Jennifer Connelly, but I enjoyed the whole experience a lot. It has a great visual style and well-developed characters. It is much more interesting than the Ed Norton version. Ang Lee is a great director.

God the Ed Norton Hulk is like over 10 years old itself now. I remember having fun with it at the time but yeah I don't think there's that much going on there.

Ang Lee was a really odd choice for the other Hulk movie in retrospect, though its nice to see people stick up for what he did with the movie. If we're going to have a million super hero movies these days I wish they would not only be given to more directors like him but the freedom to do interesting things as well.

[Lord_Lyndon]

So I've finally finished Monster. Maybe I didn't understand everything what was going on in the series, but I can say that it is a fascinating series. As something which tries to analyze what is apsolute evil and where does it come from, I would say it is one of the best. At least in my opinion. It is certainly creepy at times and twisted. Very dark. Probaby nothing like last anime series I watched, Cowboy Bebop. That was fun, playful and creative. Anyway... I'm not sorry I watched Monster. Even though it maybe could have been somewhat shorter.

Anime series I've finished so far:

Cowboy Bebop
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Monster
Ergo Proxy
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal
Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day
Clannad
Clannad: After Story
Paranoia Agent
Claymore
Serial Experiments Lain
Mushishi
Higurashi no naku koro ni
Texhnolyze
Revolutionary Girl Utena
Kino's Journey
His and Her Circumstances
Now and Then, Here and There
Haibane renmei
Elfen Lied

Cowboy Bebop, Neon Genesis Evangelion and Revolutionary Girl Utena are by far my favourite anime series.

[Raxivace]

I think the thing with Monster for me is that the explanations about Johan and his motives felt a bit dime store Freud for all of the buildup he got, which made the ending feel a bit underwhelming for me. Its been 7 or 8 years since I last saw the show though, I wonder if I'd like his character more now.

I think the real strength of Monster comes from how many different types of stories its able to seamlessly shift between. The opening few episodes feel like they could have been a Twilight Zone story, another one feels like traditional film noir, another more like a regular cop show, another feels more like Hitchcockian suspense etc.

anime list

I'm surprised I've only seen a few from this list. I loved NGE, Paranoia Agent, and Texhnolyze. Higurashi may not be great art but I thought it was quite fun though the larger "When They Cry" franchise I have very mixed feelings about as a whole now (Particularly Higurashi's sister series Umineko, which tries to have greater artistic ambitions than Higurashi did and falters pretty hard in its second half IMO).

I watched His & Her Circumstances for the first time last year and thought it was almost as good as NGE until its last few episodes didn't really come together right. Even then I think the strength of those first 18 or 19 episodes make it a strong recommend from me still.

[Lord_Lyndon]

I think the real strength of Monster comes from how many different types of stories its able to seamlessly shift between. The opening few episodes feel like they could have been a Twilight Zone story...

Those were the episodes I liked the most. By far.

Higurashi may not be great art but I thought it was quite fun...

Higurashi is great entertainment. I think it is much better than most horror films that come out these days. I'm not a big fan of the horror genre though.

I watched His & Her Circumstances for the first time last year and thought it was almost as good as NGE until its last few episodes didn't really come together right. Even then I think the strength of those first 18 or 19 episodes make it a strong recommend from me still.

I agree. I gave it 8/10 on imdb.

[Lord_Lyndon]

Anyway... I've seen only 4 films this year. My ratings and short info on them:

Infernal Affairs (2002; Andrew Lau, Alan Mak) my rating 9/10; imdb rating 8.1/10
The Deep Blue Sea (2011; Terence Davies) my rating 8/10; imdb rating 6.3/10
xXx (2002; Rob Cohen) my rating 8/10; imdb rating 5.9/10
The Chronicles of Riddick (2004; David Twohy) my rating 7/10; imdb rating 6.7/10

If anyone is interested to hear something more about them, I can write a little bit. If not, that's okay too.

[Gendo]

So I used to be really big into anime (obviously; look at my screen name). It started in high school; when some friends invited me to check out their anime club.. I hadn't heard of anime yet. And what were watching the first time I came? Evangelion, of course. Specifically, the episode with Toji and Unit 03. I was instantly hooked. Went to at least a dozen anime conventions over the next few years.

When I went to college, my school didn't have an anime club, so I founded one. Also got into Asian studies and took Japanese because of my interest. But my interest gradually declined, and now I just don't care about it at all, other than still liking my favorites from back then. Some favorites:

Evengelion (of course)
Trigun
Cowboy Bebop (but I liked it BEFORE it was broadcast and became popular in America!)
Serial Experiments Lain
Escaflowne
Akira
Child's Toy (though I never finished the whole show)
Golden Boy
Flame of Recca

Also love AMVs.

[Raxivace]

Escaflowne was pretty dope, still pops into my head every now and then...It's why I ended up buying that absurdly overpriced blu-ray set that came out a few years ago.

I've also seen several other "fantasy + mecha anime" since then. There's weirdly more in that specific niche than I thought but Escaflowne is still easily the best (Though when I get caught up on posting about stuff I've seen lately there's another I'll have some positive things to say about, even if I don't think its quite as good).

[Raxivace]

Those were the episodes I liked the most. By far.

Yeah those first few are probably the ones that have stuck with me the most.

Infernal Affairs (2002; Andrew Lau, Alan Mak) my rating 9/10; imdb rating 8.1/10

Is that the one Scorsese's The Departed is a remake of?

[Lord_Lyndon]

Is that the one Scorsese's The Departed is a remake of?

Yes.

[Raxivace]

Well, what did you think about it? How does it compare to the Scorsese version?

[Lord_Lyndon]

Well, what did you think about it? How does it compare to the Scorsese version?

One thing which is better in original is its visual style. However... I have to tell you that the plot is essentially the same. Therefore I really don't know why would you watch the original if you've already seen The Departed (and maybe seen it multiple times like me).

[Lord_Lyndon]

Funky Forest: The First Contact (2005; Katsuhito Ishii, Hajime Ishimine, Shunichiro Miki) my rating 8/10; imdb rating 6.9/10
''An outrageous collection of surreal, short attention span non-sequiturs.'' Another silly movie from Japan. Mostly notable because it stars Hideaki Anno and Rinko Kikuchi. Wanted to see it because I'm a fan huge fan of both. But the movie itself is pretty great. It definitely works.

Throne of Blood (1957; Akira Kurosawa) my rating 8/10; imdb rating 8.1/10
A fine film but I can't help but think this is just somewhat inferior version of his masterpiece Ran (1985). Ran is my favourite Kurosawa film and one of my favourite films of all time.

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976; John Cassavetes) my rating 9/10; imdb rating 7.5/10
A brilliant and off-beat take on the gangster genre. The naturalistic feel Cassavetes' direction lends the film makes is very fresh compared to other films of the same genre. Also, as expected from Cassavetes, another film about 'performance', 'putting on a show for people' and 'wearing many different masks'. A minor masterpiece and one of my favourite films. ''The show must go on.''

[Raxivace]

Well, what did you think about it? How does it compare to the Scorsese version?

One thing which is better in original is its visual style. However... I have to tell you that the plot is essentially the same. Therefore I really don't know why would you watch the original if you've already seen The Departed (and maybe seen it multiple times like me).

I've only seen Scorsese's version once. I liked it well enough but its not one of my favorites from him. I'm still kind of curious about the original though, especially if the visual style is better like you say.

[Raxivace]

Funky Forest: The First Contact (2005; Katsuhito Ishii, Hajime Ishimine, Shunichiro Miki) my rating 8/10; imdb rating 6.9/10''An outrageous collection of surreal, short attention span non-sequiturs.'' Another silly movie from Japan. Mostly notable because it stars Hideaki Anno and Rinko Kikuchi. Wanted to see it because I'm a fan huge fan of both. But the movie itself is pretty great. It definitely works.

I had no idea Anno starred in something like this, I'm kind of curious now.

Throne of Blood (1957; Akira Kurosawa) my rating 8/10; imdb rating 8.1/10
A fine film but I can't help but think this is just somewhat inferior version of his masterpiece Ran (1985). Ran is my favourite Kurosawa film and one of my favourite films of all time.

I love both Throne of Blood and Ran but I wouldn't really say its the former is a prototype or anything for the latter. Even just aesthetically the misty black and white of Throne of Blood puts me in an entirely different mood than the gorgeous colors of Ran do.

I'd say if anything was a warmup for Ran it was Kagemusha, and even that movie is still pretty different.

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976; John Cassavetes) my rating 9/10; imdb rating 7.5/10
A brilliant and off-beat take on the gangster genre. The naturalistic feel Cassavetes' direction lends the film makes is very fresh compared to other films of the same genre. Also, as expected from Cassavetes, another film about 'performance', 'putting on a show for people' and 'wearing many different masks'. A minor masterpiece and one of my favourite films. ''The show must go on.''

Yeah I dunno, I saw this one for the first time last year and had a bit of a rough time with it. It was specifically the shorter 1978 cut though even that I found to be pretty meandering in a bad way. Can't say I was into the movie or that I understood why the lead character cared so much about making that crappy strip club seem respectable.

[Lord_Lyndon]

I love both Throne of Blood and Ran but I wouldn't really say its the former is a prototype or anything for the latter. Even just aesthetically the misty black and white of Throne of Blood puts me in an entirely different mood than the gorgeous colors of Ran do.

I'd say if anything was a warmup for Ran it was Kagemusha, and even that movie is still pretty different.

You are right. Throne of Blood seems to be his take on Macbeth, while Ran is his take on King Lear. Also, it was pretty silly of me to compare black and white film to one in color. My mistake.

Can't say I was into the movie or that I understood why the lead character cared so much about making that crappy strip club seem respectable.

I don't know, but user chaos-rampant on imdb probably has an opinion about that. If you are interested, I can find his review on imdb and post it here. Under spoilers of course.

[Raxivace]

17. Dragon Ball Super: Broly (2018, Dir. Tatsuya Nagamine) -

This eight-year-old kid immortalized as an internet meme is right, Broly's power IS maximum.

This is a Dragon Ball movie from top to bottom and I wouldn't expect anybody who didn't grow up with the franchise to enjoy it. It is interesting from an adaptation point of view though- Akira Toriyama himself, the original creator of Dragon Ball, came back to write this and from what I can tell used three primary sources for this film- Dragon Ball Z movies 8 and 12 (“Broly- The Legendary Super Saiyan" (1993) and a conclusion that seems to be a modified form of the one from “Fusion Reborn" (1995). It's important to consider that Toriyama actually had incredibly limited involvement with these original films, providing little more than some character designs) as well as the “Dragon Ball Minus" chapter of his own manga Jaco the Galactic Patrolman.

Events from Minus make up this new film's prologue and are clarified and expanded (Broly himself is inserted into the events of the chapter, while other character's motivations are portrayed less subtly), and while the film loosely follows the plot of the 1993 movie mentioned above, Broly's actual characterization is handled way more sympathetically whereas in that original movie he's a pretty one note evil villain that gets an entirely different ending than his modern counterpart.

The director of that original movie, a guy named Koyama (A guy who is theorized to be a member of some weird religious cult), considered Broly his crowning achievement and when given the chance to do his own spin on him Toriyama basically calls Koyama's vision stupid (And he's right), and takes the character to a completely different place. Like just look at Toriyama's mission statement for the new movie.

Everyone, are you familiar with Broly? He's an incredibly strong Saiyan who only appeared in the old anime movies, and I apparently at least drew the designs for him, but I had practically no involvement with the anime at the time, so I had totally forgotten about the story content.

So, about Broly. I hear these days, he's still very popular not only in Japan, but also overseas. Based on that, my editor suggested we have Broly appear in this next movie. I went ahead and watched the movies from back then, and I felt this could be quite interesting once I got right to work trying my hand at a story that incorporates him into the Dragon Ball Super series. While keeping in mind Broly's classic image so fondly in the more fascinating Broly.

Naturally you'll get to see fierce combat, but also, the encounter between Goku, Vegeta and Broly. It also involves the Frieza Force and the history of the Saiyans, which end up having a major connection to everything. The story content turns out to be very large scale and dramatic.

Here comes that almighty Saiyan, Broly! I'm also including lots of other content all you fans will enjoy, so look forward to it, and be patient a while longer for it all to come together

That's some mad but relatively subtle shade being thrown around. I would love to know what Koyama thinks of the movie.

18. Vice (2018, Dir. Adam McKay) - McKay is back to that mixing of the documentary format and fiction that he was using in The Big Short, this time to tell the story of the rise of Dick Cheyney.

I don't love the film but I think I'm okay with it. I think the major difference between this and Big Short is that Big Short really does feel like it trying to not only educate an audience about a specific topic (The Great Recession) but do so in detail. Unfortunately, I'm not sure it actually has much retaining power.

Vice tries to hammer in a more general point about Cheyney being an awful human being, and I think that its probably a little more successful in doing so (Even if it certainly elides over and leaves important things out in his life), though I think that's also a lot easier kind of a story to tell than what The Big Short is going for.

19. Arcadia of My Youth (1982, Dir. Tomoharu Katsumata) - Captain Harlock is a space pirate, or something. I'm not really too familiar with the whole Harlock saga but this is supposed to be his origin story.

Apparently the Earth gets taken over by aliens (In a thinly veiled allegory for the U.S. occupation of Japan following World War II), and Captain Harlock is pissed off about this and fights Space Americia. Also, he was a Nazi in a past life apparently.

I dunno, its decent taken as silly space adventure but the kind of thinly veiled “Japan did nothing wrong in WWII" subtext is dumb.

20. The Blue Angel (German version, 1930, Dir. Josef von Sternberg) - A college professor falls in love with a club singer, and loses himself in the process.

It's a notably similar premise to von Sternberg's later film Morocco (Marlene Dietrich is even playing very similar characters), though the ending and overall tone is a little different. I think I actually prefer Blue Angel, though its hard for me to tell how much of it is Blue Angel just being a better movie (If it is at all, though it at least didn't seem as lethargic as Morocco to me), how much of it is me just being more used t von Sternberg's style more now, and how much of it is just because I kind of like the sort of characters that Emil Jannings plays more than those of Gary Cooper (Not that Cooper is any sort of slouch, though I still think he doesn't make much sense as a French Foreign Legion soldier. Seriously wtf, he's so American).

21. BlacKkKlansman (2018, Dir. Spike Lee) - Spike is back, and while I haven't seen his most recent work this is a huge step up from the newest stuff of his that I have seen like Red Hook Summer and the Oldboy remake.

I think what really struck me about the film was how much of it was about the power of media- from The Birth of a Nation (1915) reviving the Klan and Gone With the Wind (1939), to 70's Blaxploitation and whether the images they provided of African Americans were harmful or not. Even Topher Grace being cast as David Duke seems to bring to my mind of a darker version of Eric Foreman, Grace's character from That 70's Show, and how that program primarily focused on a sanitized version of White America, but one that didn't represent ugliness like the Klan.

That much of BlacKkKlansman revolves around a black police officer passing as a white man to trick the Klan is an interesting irony with this in mind- the methods of blackface inverted and turned against the hateful. Not that I think the real Ron Stallworth likely thought about it this way, but how Spike is framing it in his film is interesting.

For those that have seen the movie- what did you think about the scene where O.J. Simpson was discussed? Sports celebrities come up several times throughout the movie (Such as Ron Stallworth being compared to Jackie Robinson), but O.J. seems like a particularly charged example to bring up considering, well, everything that has happened with him since when BlacKkKlansman is set. The movie makes a lot of obvious nods toward the “future" as well (Such as Stallworth not believing that Americans would ever elect a white supremacist as President, which the movie speaks very hardly against in its epilogue).

22. The Favourite (2018, Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos) - Tries to be Phantom Thread by way of Barry Lyndon (I.e. stuff British period piece about “fucked up" sexual relationships with macabre sense of humor. Poison even heavily features in the plots of both Phantom Thread and The Favourite!) and unfortunately I don't think it does much beyond the surface level drama (Something I wouldn't say of Barry Lyndon).

Well that's not completely fair, the costume design and set design were good and there was occasionally some nice looking shots. I think that was true in Phantom Thread as well, and like that movie like none of the black comedy lands at all for me here and again, similar to Phantom Thread without that there's really nothing interesting under the surface at all.

I'm not familiar with anything else this director has previously done though, its entirely possible something about his shtick or style I'm not seeing. Then again this screenplay wasn't his and I'm of similarly Greek origin (Well a quarter of my blood is anyways).

Man I want to watch Barry Lyndon again though.

23. Ravenous (2017, Dir. Robin Aubert) - A French/Canadian zombie film and “Netflix original". Not a whole lot to say about this one, it doesn't really cover any new ground, and leans a bit too hard into somewhat pointless nihilism for my tastes. Still, its quite well shot with the occasional striking bit of imagery (Throughout the film we see that the zombies are stacking chairs into huge piles, and later on a stack of children's toys is found. It's striking visually though the meaning is not entirely clear to me and that's basically the reason to watch this.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Some anime I've watched:

Magic Knight Rayearth (1994-1995) - One of Escaflowne's contemporaries in the “fantasy + mecha" genre, predating it by a few years. The setup is similar to Escaflowne, though in this show it involves three girls being transported to a fantasy land instead of just one. Also they actually become mecha pilots themselves, though they spend most of the first season actually finding their robots.

Anyways, the first season revolves around the trio of girls being transported to the land of Cephiro, and being told they are the legendary "Magic Knights" and need to rescue Princess Emeraude, the “Pillar of Cephiro", who has been kidnapped the former head of her knights Zagato. It's not just for her sake though, as part of being the Pillar involves praying for the safety and stability of the land.

Most of this first season is fairly episodic as the girls journey around helping the occasional people, learning how to fight, use magic, and then finding their mecha before ultimately going to confront Zagato. The girls kill him and only learn afterward that he had never even kidnapped Emeraude, he'd been trying to save her this whole time from her fate as being the Pillar without dying. Emeraude, it turns out, had summoned the Magic Knights herself to kill her in a kind of suicide by cop strategy, until she realizes they kill her lover Zagato and then turns on the Magic Knights who are then forced to kill her.

Season 2 expands on the ramifications on this as Cephiro, without a Pillar to support it, is now quite literally crumbling. In addition, with the newly created power vacuum in Cephiro several other nations are now invading the country in order to take control of the now vacant Pillar system for themselves.

There's also a little more of a romance focus in season 2 which wasn't there in season 1, which makes the Escaflowne comparisons a little stronger.

It's a fun show. I think Escaflowne is still stronger since it's a little more focused and has better aesthetics and music (And in Rayearth I'm not sure I completely buy a romance introduced in season 2) but its still pretty easily the second best of these fantasy plus mecha anime shows that I've seen.

King of the Braves GaoGaiGar (1997-1998) - I sometimes see this included among those “response to NGE" shows like Brain Powerd and RahXephon. Apparently the narrative goes something like this: after NGE supposedly destroyed the myth of the mecha anime, GaoGaiGar came along and revived it by playing all of the clichés that NGE tore apart completely straight.

I don't really see it. For starters GaoGaiGar was hardly the only post-NGE mecha anime of the time, and there were some that were as or more popular at the time, like Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz, Gundam: The 08th MS Team, and Martian Successor Nadesico. Secondly, the “Braves" franchise that GaoGaiGar is a part of had been going all through the 90's, and from what I can tell the stories they told were exactly in the mold that GaoGaiGar is.

Lastly, I just don't see anything that in GaoGaiGar that really addresses NGE at all. No characters seem particularly analogous to those in NGE, none of the psychosexual themes (It wouldn't make sense for them to be in GaoGaiGar anyways, since its for younger audiences), none of the fractured parent/child relationship stuff, nada.

The only real thing they have in common is GaoGaiGar vaguely using some Christian references, and the “Robots fight invading aliens" premise, which goes all the way back to 70's super robot anime like Mazinger Z anyways that GaoGaiGar is largely a love letter to and continuing the spirit of. It's a very much an episodic monster of the week “Turn your brain off and watch the hero beat up the bad guys kind of show". That's fine if that's what you want that kind of thing but I don't get the NGE comparisons at all.

King of the Braves GaoGaiGar Final (2000-2003) - Sequel/epilogue OVA to GaoGaiGar. I think I liked it a little better than the original show since its able to escape the monster of the week formula a little more (Of course that would natually be easier with the 8 episodes this has compared to the 49 episodes of the original show), but otherwise it seem very similar to me, just a little more violent and a little more bittersweet of an ending.

[Raxivace]

You are right. Throne of Blood seems to be his take on Macbeth, while Ran is his take on King Lear. Also, it was pretty silly of me to compare black and white film to one in color. My mistake.

I mean, the Shakespeare connection is definitely there but even with that and b/w vs. color I think the scopes of the movie are pretty different too, both in terms of the story itself (Throne of Blood seems way more focused in on just a few characters) and the nature of the conflict itself just seems wider in Ran to me.

I don't know, but user chaos-rampant on imdb probably has an opinion about that. If you are interested, I can find his review on imdb and post it here. Under spoilers of course.

Sure, I'll take a look at it.

[Lord_Lyndon]

Here is his review of The Killing of a Chinese Bookie. One thing is for sure. He certainly writes better than me. And he can voice his opinions better than me.

One of the most stimulating relaxations I know is simply floating on water. The good thing in living a short walk from the beach is that I get to do this every other day of nearly half the year. It's great at dusk, whereby the sea is not some abstract volume but the specific sensation of upfloat, and the early moon is that rock over there from me. Tangible moments of world, encompassing what the Chinese call the tao.

No film even compares to the feeling, certainly no piffle Koyannisqatsi. But a few filmmakers come close to this totality as something felt. Cinema is nothing in a large sense, that is until a certain point where it becomes a most powerful tool for enlightenment. Cassavetes is one of those guys, and knows just how to use it.

So I revisited this after many years as part of my Cassavetes series, this time watching the extended version. The shorter one may be tighter, more focused, but I'll always opt for a longer stay in his world.

The film is the perfect summer night movie, one to watch with the distant sound of motor noise flowing through open windows. Cassavetes loves the night, the neon signs, the sound of traffic, the hubbub of the nightclub, the brushing of people in close spaces. The film is full of extremely memorable spaces, years later I could recall Cosmo standing in the entrance of his club, the backalley where he's beaten up, the empty highway, the phonebooth in the middle of nowhere, running from the Chinaman's house.

Here, Cassavetes stretches two things. The existential noir where desire, not even so much for poker money, the desire it seems to look comfortable in front of people, summons the noir darkness. Usually in a noir, from that point we get some hallucinative fooling with the narration, here completely merged with the flow of things. The murky proposal for the kill in the cramped car, nothing telegraphed. The subtle menace and helplessness around the gangsters. The foreshadowing bang of the flat tire. The inescapable framing where he was the stooge of fate all along.

And a more gentle self-reference, where Cosmo, standing for Cassavetes, gambles with money-people and loses. These mafia executives want from him a straightforward movie that ends with a killing, the simplest stuff, which he grudgingly delivers. The starkest contrast from the fancy, lively improvisation going on in his club, that both reflects and ribs at Cassavetes' own stuff. He does it his way of course, with fumbling, confusion and uncertainty. And still succeeds. Only The Long Goodbye rivals it in the crime sweepstakes of the 70s, no doubt inspired by this.

Here, because of the adoption of genre with its clear horizon, the tethers are easier than previous Cassavetes films. Oh there is the anxiety, but that is part and parcel of the greater life. More than any of his films though, it achieves that sublime floating sense that encompasses a concrete totality.

His camera excites me like no one else's. Antonioni adopts the transcendent position. Tarkovsky the one of flowing mind. Cassavetes adopts the position of tentative coming-into-being, his visual space has a thick and viscous quality, it has time, it has a tangible and floating gravity, all things coming to be and vanishing again in a cosmic vitality.

Cosmo, a man of cosmic vitality. All through the gangster stuff, Cosmo keeps worrying about the show and the club. Because the show and the atmosphere around his club are of the soul of this man, the images and living space worth living for—dreamy and spontaneous, scented air, a little sloppy because it is re-discovered each night. But that is as much a role, the entrepreneur, as that of the killer, the gambler, the suave playboy, masks for the night. Not the original face.

Deep down I get the sense of a weary joy that runs deeper than happiness, a mono no aware.

Something to meditate upon.

[Lord_Lyndon]

Saw some films:

The Lincoln Lawyer (2011; Brad Furman) 10/10
Killer Joe (2011; William Friedkin) 10/10
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975; Milos Forman) 8/10
Point Break (1991; Kathryn Bigelow) 8/10
Robin Hood (2010; Ridley Scott) 7/10

Don't mind my ratings. They are not a measure of film's quality, but rather of my enjoyment of mentioned films. I saw two McConaughey films. I couldn't have enjoyed them more. They were a part of his renaissance as an actor. People called this McConaissance. Killer Joe is one of those rare films that has great acting, great plot and great cinematography. It is highly recommended. 'Flew Over' is a classic and everyone should see it. I never saw it before. Interestingly, it was the highest rated movie on imdb I've never seen before. Point Break is an action classic from the 90's. It should be seen if only because of Swayze playing a Zen surfer who robs banks. Robin Hood is solid, but it needed a better final act. I would say it is only for 'beautiful cinematography' buffs.

[Gendo]

I watched Lincoln Lawyer and Robin Hood somewhat recently. I liked Lincoln Lawyer; though maybe not as much as you. I really didn't like Robin Hood.

[Lord_Lyndon]

I really didn't like Robin Hood.

To be honest, I think most people didn't like it. Have you read this review though? It is quite funny; by a person who hated Crowe in the role:
Robin Hood was an Outlaw in England. The idea that Robin Hood followed King Richard in the Crusades is from the Sean Connery movie "Robin and Marion". Robin and Marion was made in the cynical 1970's. Robin and Marion is not a movie that gets watched a lot (I wouldn't sit through it again) and it's theme didn't need to get expanded in to a two hour epic. The traditional Robin Hood takes place in England for it is the story of the British People Saxon's vs the Norman occupiers. Green is the symbolic color of the native people of Briton (e.g. Gawain and the Green Knight). The traditional Robin Hood of legend wore green for he is part of the pagan history of Briton, not some cynical inner city trendy who wears black. There is this idea that people in the past wore depressing clothing and were dirty all the time. Yet if you look at the paintings from the time of King Richard the first you will find that people wore bright colors. Only bums dress badly in any age.

If Christian Bale, Cary Elwes, Jeremy Irons, Johnny Depp, Robert Downey Jr. or Kevin Kline had played the part of Robin Hood we could have expected a more extensive range of emotions and with a better English accent. But Crowe has a limited range of emotions. Emotionally Crowe only does the self-serving stuff very well, you know; angry, self pity, prolonged contempt etc. Crowe is also very good at being "intense" which accounts for his screen presents and is often mistaken for acting ability. But the emotions required to do "The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood" are way, way beyond him. Being jovial, generous, good natured, romantic or even nice are outside his ability.

In the Errol Flynn version, Robin Hood is bested by Little John and comes up laughing at himself at having been beaten by another man. This sort of self-demeaning humor and good will are way off the chart for Crowe. Crowe doesn't do humble. The character of Robin Hood had to be retooled to be more like the Gladiator so that Crowe could play the part. So Robin Hood the cunning fox had to be changed to become Robin Longstrides the bossy grumpy bear.

Crowe can't do love or Romance very well. In Gladiator they had to cut love scenes out of the script. Crowe can only really do 'intense needy love' or 'self-pity mercy love' but not Romantic Love. To make matters worse Crowe hasn't held onto his youthful good looks in the ten years he's been a star he's really aged badly. Tom Cruse has been a star for almost 30 years still has his looks. As does Brad Pitt. Kevin Beacon who has been in the business for almost 35 years still has his looks. But because Crowe has let himself go so badly the part of Maid Marion had to be drastically retooled as well. The first Maid Marion Sienna Miller was fired from the movie because she looked too young and thin next to the aging and hefty Crowe.

The movie was shut down for two months and the part of Maid Marion was changed and rewritten to that of an older woman. Maid Marion became the Widow Marion (Cate Blanchett) and the romance became a marriage of convenience. Crowe can't do romance. Gone are the scenes where Errol Flynn and Olivia De Havillandand flirted playfully on screen. The unromantic Crowe doesn't flirt well and can't woo. His on screen romances have always been rewritten around this so that the woman does most of the work while he looks angry, confused and full of self-pity. In this case Crowe's Robin Hood doesn't really like Marion (anger) he's just doing a friend a favor by sharing her bed. It's hard to believe that Robin Hood spent 10 years in the army with surrounded by men and isn't attacked to Marion. But Crowe can't play "attracted" there's no self pity in it.

[Faustus5]

I watched Lincoln Lawyer and Robin Hood somewhat recently. I liked Lincoln Lawyer; though maybe not as much as you. I really didn't like Robin Hood.

There was a record setting bidding war for the original screenplay of Robin Hood. Then Ridley "I don't know fuck all about writing" Scott got a hold of the project. He decided that the script was actually bad, forced a complete rework of the thing, and thus this masterpiece was born. Apparently it was originally written from the Sheriff's point of view.

[Raxivace]

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975; Milos Forman) 8/10

Haven't seen this in about 10 years- I remember liking it at the time though quite a bit. I wonder what I'd think of it now that I've seen like, all of those BBS Productions movies that Nicholson was a part of.

[Raxivace]

Here is his review of The Killing of a Chinese Bookie.

Yeah I dunno, the mood and atmosphere he's talking about didn't really reach me at all. He compares Bookie to The Long Goodbye, but that's another one that largely leaves me cold (Though partly for different reasons. There I think Altman's neonoir attempt at critiquing classic noir/Chandler kind of falls apart by the end).

I agree with his take about the movie being about the "desire it seems to look comfortable in front of people", I just question whether the Cosmo character is really interesting enough to explore that notion with.

[Lord_Lyndon]

He compares Bookie to The Long Goodbye, but that's another one that largely leaves me cold (Though partly for different reasons. There I think Altman's neonoir attempt at critiquing classic noir/Chandler kind of falls apart by the end).

I remember The Long Goodbye. I saw it multiple times. From what I managed to gather by people, it seems that the ending symbolizes Gould's return to his bubble; a bubble he was living in for most of the time; isolating himself from the world like a man out of his time and place. What's more interesting is why he decided to kill his friend. What I managed to gather by some other sources is that when your friend double-crosses you, no matter what, it suddenly ''is your business''.

[Raxivace]

He compares Bookie to The Long Goodbye, but that's another one that largely leaves me cold (Though partly for different reasons. There I think Altman's neonoir attempt at critiquing classic noir/Chandler kind of falls apart by the end).

I remember The Long Goodbye. I saw it multiple times. From what I managed to gather by people, it seems that the ending symbolizes Gould's return to his bubble; a bubble he was living in for most of the time; isolating himself from the world like a man out of his time and place. What's more interesting is why he decided to kill his friend. What I managed to gather by some other sources is that when your friend double-crosses you, no matter what, it suddenly ''is your business''.

I never really found him killing his friend that surprising, once it was revealed that the friend had betrayed him. Like the poster of the movie has Marlowe talking about murder while pointing a gun at someone/sosmething.


^Like I'm not surprised at all that the dude of this poster would kill a guy. It practically screams it.

In addition I never really bought the "Marlowe as Rip van Winkle" thing. His anti-authoritarian and goofy, eccentric theatrics seemed entirely in place with the 70's Hollywood setting to me, and very much not in line with the character than Chandler wrote, while very in line with like, Elliot Gould's character in MASH.

I think you very much needed someone other than Gould to make it work, someone that could have actually conceivably played Marlowe in a 40's adaptation. Too bad Bogart was dead.

[Lord_Lyndon]

Some really great arguments about The Long Goodbye, Rax. I like the film, but it is difficult to really argue with everything you said. Thanks for the detailed answer.
Anyway, I saw some films:
The Next Three Days (2010; Paul Haggis) 8/10
Les Misérables (2012; Tom Hooper) 9/10
The Handmaiden (2016; Chan-wook Park) 9/10
Red Cliff (2008; John Woo) 7/10
Red Cliff II (2009; John Woo) 8/10

They are all worth watching, but none of them are truly amazing. I would like to recommend two other films by Park which are, in my opinion, much more interesting than The Handmaiden. I am talking about Thirst (2009) and I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK (2006). Two really underrated films that are a must-see.

[Raxivace]

Haven't seen any of those. I thought The Handmaiden might be the remake of a movie I have seen called The Housemaid which was quite good, but nope they're two unrelated things.