Last (x) movies you saw

Roxanne, Roxanne (2017) 2.5/5
Shanghai Express (1932; rewatch) 4/5
Annihilation (2018) 4/5
The Merchant of Four Seasons (1971) 3.5/5
The Road Movie (2016) 3.5/5
The Death of Stalin (2017) 3.5/5
The Connection (1961) 2/5
The Man in the White Suit (1951) 3/5
One of Us (2017) 3/5
The Florida Project (2017) 4/5
Beware of Mr. Baker (2012; rewatch) 3/5
Walk Hard (2007; rewatch) 3/5
A Quiet Passion (2016) 3.5/5
Icarus (2017) 4/5

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) 4
Annihilation (Alex Garland, 2018) 8
Tron (Lisberger, 1982) 4
Logan Lucky (Soderbergh, 2017) 7
*Almost Famous (Crowe, 2000) [Untitled version] 8

march at home:

Je Tu Il Elle - 9/10
Late Spring - 10/10
Eyes Without a Face - 8/10
Black Girl - 9/10
The Third Man - 8/10
The Wrong Man - 10/10
Every Man for Himself - 10/10
Sabotage - 9/10
Hotel Monterey - 9/10
Tokyo Story - 8/10
Smiles of a Summer Night - 8/10
Paris, Texas - 6/10
Katzelmacher - 7/10
Wobble Palace - 8/10
The Asphalt Jungle - 10/10
The King of Comedy - 10/10
Spellbound - 7/10
Punch-Drunk Love - 8/10
Young and Innocent - 5/10
The Best Years of Our Lives - 10/10
Nostalghia - 10/10
The Phantom Carriage - 9/10
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? - 9/10
Prozac Nation - 7/10
Blackmail - 6/10
Wag the Dog - 8/10
Baal - 8/10
Murmur of the Heart - 3/10
Westfront 1918 - 7/10
The Apartment - 10/10
Pursued - 7/10

pretty extraordinary run for me, i don't know where to begin... i couldn't be happier. these are all first watches except Punch-Drunk Love and Paris, Texas (both of which i liked a lot less now).

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Nichols, 1966) 6/10
In a Year With 13 Moons (Fassbinder, 1978) 8/10
Lady Bird (Gerwig, 2017) 8/10
The Shape of Water (del Toro, 2017) 6/10
Black Panther (Coogler, 2018) 6/10
The Round-Up (Jancso, 1966) 8/10
You Were Never Really Here (Ramsay, 2017) 7/10
All About My Mother (Almodovar, 1999) 8/10
Street of Shame (Mizoguchi, 1956) 9/10
The Third Murder (Kore-eda, 2017) 5/10
Unsane (Soderbergh, 2018) 8/10
The Best Years of Our Lives (Wyler, 1946) 8/10
The Headless Woman (Martel, 2008) 8/10

What about Bob (5/10)
Fire Walk with Me (9/10)
Death to Stalin (7/10)

march in theaters:

Red Sparrow - 4/10
The Party - 9/10
Thoroughbreds - 7/10
Submission - 6/10
Happy End - 8/10
Love, Simon - 8/10
The Death of Stalin - 6/10
Unsane - 8/10
Crisis (1946) - 8/10
Isle of Dogs - 4/10

compliance (2012) 6/10
black panther (2018) 7/10
the founder (2016) 7/10
wind river (2017) 7/10
the death of stalin (2017) 8/10
downsizing (2017) 4/10
deja vu (2006) 7/10
*team american world police (2004) 10/10
the shape of water (2017) 6/10
eraserhead (1977) 8/10
ivan's childhood (1962) 7/10
annihilation (2018) 8/10
the disaster artist (2017) 5/10
isle of dogs (2018) 7/10

*team american world police (2004) 10/10

yes

Murder in the Clouds (Lederman, 1934)
La Tête d’un Homme (Duvivier, 1933)
Felix in Hollywood (Messmer, 1923)
Too Many Women (French & McGowan, 1932)
Believe It or Not #3 (Roth, 1930)
All the Boys Are Called Patrick (Godard, 1959)
Close Relations (McCarey, 1933)
My Neighbor Totoro (Miyazaki, 1988)
Isle of Dogs (Anderson, 2018)
Their Big Moment (Cruze, 1934)
Old Shep (Bucquet, 1936)
Francesco d’Assisi (Cavani, 1966)
The Flowers of St. Francis (Rossellini, 1950)
Strange Cargo (Borzage, 1940)

Numbered ratings? https://letterboxd.com/pollyprecoder/films/diary/

Magic Mike XXL

Le Bonheur (1965, Varda) 9/10
*Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962, Varda) 10/10
Claire’s Camera (2017, Hong) 8/10
Pulp (1972, Hodges) 5/10
Eight Hours Don’t Make a Day (1972, Fassbinder, TV) 9/10
*Detective Story (1951, Wyler) 8/10
Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954, Siegel) 8/10
*The King of Comedy (1983, Scorsese) 10/10
*Summer with Monika (1953, Bergman) 7/10
…And Justice for All (1979, Jewison) 6/10
*Chelsea Girls (1966, Warhol, Morrissey) 10/10
Crisis (1946, Bergman) 5/10
short films by Walerian Borowczyk (1959-84, some rewatches)

Phantom Thread (Anderson, 2017) 9/10
Shame (Bergman, 1968) 9/10
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (McDonagh, 2017) 4/10
Lady Bird (Gerwig, 2017) 7/10
Ex Libris: The New York Public Library (Wiseman, 2018) 8/10
Wild at Heart (Lynch, 1990) 6/10
Lost Weekend (Wilder, 1945) 6/10
The Gleaners and I (Varda, 2000) 9/10
Annihilation (Garland, 2018) 6/10
Wings of Desire (Wenders, 1987) 5/10
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (Petri, 1970) 6/10
You Were Never Really Here (Ramsay, 2018) 7/10
Black Narcissus (Powell & Pressburger, 1947) 8/10

Annihilation - 4/10
A Cure For Wellness - 6/10

(both films fall frustratingly just-short of the mark)

*Les Biches (7/10)
La Peau de Torpedo (6/10)
Hatari! (8/10)
All The Money In The World (6/10) - hammy but enjoyable.

PS Rest In Peace Stéphane Audran

The Vigil - watched on youtube, knowing nothing about it and not remembering where I heard about it. Really liked it, a beautiful rural film, quite strange. Then I discover it's by Vincent Ward and it's getting a bluray release from Arrow soon! (I will buy).
I've heard Ward's Navigator is particularly good, I'll seek it out. Any thoughts on Ward?

Isle of Dogs (Anderson, 2018) 7/10
Man Is Not a Bird (Makavejev, 1965) 9/10
5 to 7 (Levin, 2014) 2/10
The Love Parade (Lubitsch, 1929) 9/10
*The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970, Wilder) 6/10
Ingrid Goes West (Spicer, 2017) 6/10
*Sullivan's Travels (Sturges, 1941) 9/10
The Death of Stalin (Iannucci, 2017) 7/10
It Comes at Night (Shults, 2017) 5/10
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (Lumet, 2007) 6/10
Casino (Scorsese, 1995) 6/10
The Lickerish Quartet (Metzger, 1970) 6/10
*Billy Liar (Schlesinger, 1963) 8/10
*Phantom Thread (Anderson, 2017) 9/10
The Shape of Water (del Toro, 2017) 7/10
Mildred Pierce (Curtiz, 1945) 8/10
The Piano Teacher (Haneke, 2010) 6/10

Pom Poko - 8/10
Vilmos Zsigmond Laszlo Kovacs Documentary -7/10
*The Hired Hand - 8/10
Prèparez vos mouchoirs - 6/10
Golden Exits - 3/10 - Alex Ross Perry: Auteur of the Insufferable White Folk film

*Fire Fighters (McGowan & McNamara, 1922)
*The Champeen (McGowan, 1923)
The Cobbler (McNamara, 1923)
A Pleasant Journey (McGowan, 1923)
Saturday Morning (McGowan & McNamara, 1922)
Poil de Carotte (Duvivier, 1932)
See Your Doctor (Wrangell, 1939)
Affinity (Linder, 1912)
The Student of Prague (Rye und Wegener, 1913)
*The Cowboy and the Girl (1928)
Vaudeville (Mack, 1934)
Eternal Love (Lubitsch, 1929)
Gemini (Katz, 2017)
Broken Lullaby (Lubitsch, 1932)

For numbered ratings: https://letterboxd.com/PollyPrecoder/films/diary/

Last seven, stalled for a few weeks. I no longer watch movies, just bootlegged TV shows.

Serpico (7.0)
Trust (5.5)
Suburbicon (6.0)
Red Sparrow (6.0)
Network (6.5)
Prince of the City (6.5)
Molly’s Game (6.0)

(I know that Red Sparrow is supposed to be irredeemable junk and the Lumet films are considered classics to one degree or another, but the Lumets fall short of their reputations--and I voted for him in the directors poll--while I think you'd have to have bizarrely high expectations for Red Sparrow to consider it a letdown, rather than mildly diverting junk.)

Which Trust did you watch: Hartley or Schwimmer? Given the rating, I'm hoping its the latter.

It was the David Schwimmer--should have clarified. Don't remember much a month later, other than I didn't find the girl very credible.

*Othello (Welles/1952 cut) 8/10
You Were Never Really Here 6/10
*Barry Lyndon 10/10
Man In The Shadows 6/10
*Touch Of Evil (Murch version) 8/10 - I'll say this again and stand by it: Heston is the weakest link. He seems completely lost. Saved by the beautifully orchestrated chaos and everyone acting their asses off around him.

"¡Dohn-day Ay-stah Mee Ay-Spoh-Sa!" indeed, Chuck.

Which one is the Murch version of Touch of Evil? I just watched the 'definitive cut' the other night (from 1998), totally lost me halfway through.

the blu ray I have has three cuts: 'definitive' put together in 1998 based on Orwell's notes to the studio, the theatrical version, and the preview version.

Yes, sorry - Definitive Cut ( which Murch put together ).

just stick with a 4:3 version.

Heston is alright, it's just not that interesting a role even if Ricardo Montalban had played it

A Story from Chikamatsu aka The Crucified Lovers (1954, Mizoguchi) 8/10
Ismael’s Ghosts (2017, Desplechin) 6/10
All the Cities of the North (2016, Komljen) 7/10
Salt of the Earth (1954, Biberman) 8/10
Notes on an Appearance (2018, d'Ambrose) 6/10
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017, Besson) 6/10
Personal Problems (1980, Gunn, TV) 8/10
Willy/Milly aka Something Special! (1986, Schneider) 5/10
*It Happens Every Spring (1949, Bacon) 6/10
Alex in Wonderland (1970, Mazursky) 5/10

The Yvonne Rainer season came to an end last night. Caught a couple more films from her.

KRISTINA TALKING PICTURES (1976)
MURDER AND MURDER (1996)

Both were really good on queer politics, HIV-era snapshots, on ageing and dying (of cancer and otherwise), public and private spaces and (of course, given her background in dance) choreography.

THE LITTLE FOXES (1941)... this movie is such a strange mess... but it has Teresa Wright in it... 7/10?

Lillian Hellman gonna getcha

A Story from Chikamatsu aka The Crucified Lovers (1954, Mizoguchi) 8/10

Baby Driver - 6/10
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies - 4/10
Sing Street - 7/10
They Live By Night - 9/10

well he is kind of a buffoon! buffoons need love too.

no, it was a theatrical showing of recent 4k digitization.

xxxxp to RAG - I saw Vigil ages ago and I should rewatch it; remarkable, eerie film. I've seen The Navigator, and liked it, though I don't remember it as well. As I recall Ward was one of the numerous proposed directors for Alien 3, and his concept involved setting the story on a wooden planet populated by monks.

I hope a Navigator bluray will follow The Vigil (it comes in June)

Such is Life (Goulding, 1924)
Black Oxfords (Lord, 1924)
His Trysting Place (Chaplin, 1914)
The Waiters' Ball (Arbuckle, 1916)
*Taris (Vigo, 1931)
*Design for Living (Lubitsch, 1933)
Down by Law (Jarmusch, 1986)
Blazing Away (Taurog, 1928)
Bring Home the Turkey (McGowan, 1927)
The Wild Party (Arzner, 1929)
Underworld (von Sternberg, 1927)
*Hell's Angels (Goulding & Hughes, 1930)

Numbered ratings? https://letterboxd.com/PollyPrecoder/films/diary/

Revenge (Shinarbaev, 1989)
A Married Woman (Godard, 1964)
*Down by Law (Jarmusch, 1986)
Tabloid (Morris, 2010)
*A Zed and Two Noughts (Greenaway, 1985)
*Two-Lane Blacktop (Hellman, 1971)
Wind River (Sheridan, 2017)
*There Will Be Blood (Anderson, 2007)
24-Hour Comic (Erceg, 2017)
*Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Wright, 2010)
some Painlevé and Brakhage shorts

I have some thoughts on Vincent Ward, RAG. His early documentary, In Spring One Plants Alone, is worth seeking out, as is its part documentary, part drama follow up Rain of the Children. Both are beautiful, eerie, emotional and moving, and while the earlier one is characteristic of Ward's general style, the latter is a very personal part autobiography, where you get a truer sense of his vision, artistry and thematic concerns. I found it quite cathartic to watch, possibly one of the best films made in NZ, imho. I also have time for River Queen, despite all the problems they had making it and the sense of unfinishedness. Ward lost directorial control and they ran out of time so it's not really the film it could have been. I really rate him as a filmmaker, but he's like Terrence Malick in that while the visuals can be captivating, sometimes I think his artistic licence is a bit too loose and he loses his way with the storytelling. I wouldn't say he's pretentious though, he's just more of an impressionistic director, very instinctive.

Thankyou.

Just watched The Commuter. Well worth the $5 Amazon rental fee.

(You know it takes place on a MetroNorth train 'cause it rockets around curves at terrifying speed, instead of sitting motionless for 90 minutes like a NJ Transit train.)

The most fun stupid movie I've seen in a minute. Really just levels of crazy action followed by dunderheaded dialogue and Neeson just getting pummelled by people AND a train! Amazing. Then that last act. I will say no more. 10/10 for existing // 3/10 as cinema.

Little Old New York (Olcott, 1923)
Caliente Love (Marshall, 1933)
The Big Flash (Gillstrom, 1932)
Beirut (Anderson, 2018)
*From Hand to Mouth (Goulding & Roach, 1919)
*Haunted Spooks (Goulding & Roach, 1920)

YI YI - 10/10

*Touch of Evil (1958/1998, Welles) 10/10
*One False Move (1992, Franklin) 9/10
*Younger Brother aka Her Brother (1960, Ichikawa) 6/10
Conflagration (1958, Ichikawa) 8/10
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017, McDonagh) 4/10
Hitler’s Hollywood (2017, Suchsland) 6/10
Possessed (1947, Bernhardt) 7/10
One Deadly Summer (1983, Becker) 7/10
*You Only Live Twice (1967, Gilbert) 7/10
The Dumb Girl of Portici (1916, Weber, Smalley) 7/10
The Rickshaw Man (1943, Inagaki) 7/10

Memoirs of an invisible man directed by john carpenter is a boring, unfun slog for the most part. The only thing that made much of an impact is the actor who plays "richard" the guy who tries to put the moves on Daryl Hannah at the beach house & who speaks with the exact voice that uk comedian Matt berry has based his entire career on

I had a surprisingly positive reaction to it when I watched it again 10 or so years ago. I’ll take another look at it one day and probably come to my senses (I thought it was pretty meh when I saw it upon release, when I was 14) but at the very least, I,lol maintain the rain sequence is quite beautiful.

(I don’t know what the “,lol” is doing in there)