Last (x) movies you saw (II)

YES

Berlinale-haul:

Dahomey (Mati Diop)
The Devil’s Bath (Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala)
L’Empire (Bruno Dumont)
My Favourite Cake (Maryam Foghaddam & Behtash Sanaeeha)
A Traveler’s Needs (Hong Sang-soo)
La Cocina (Alonso Ruizpalacios)
Pepe (Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias)
Who Do I Belong To (Meryam Jaabeur)
Shambhala (Min Bahadur Bham)
Vogter (Gustav Möller)
Langue Étrangère (Claire Burger)
A Different Man (Aaron Schimberg)
Small Things Like These (Tim Mielants)
Sterben (Matthias Glasner)
Gloria! (Margherita Vicario)
Architecton (Victor Kossakovsky)
Another End (Piero Messina)
From Hilde, With Love (Andreas Dresen)
Suspended Time (Olivier Assayas)
Black Tea (Abderrahmane Sissako)
Abiding Nowhere (Tsang Ming-liang)
Arcadia (Yorgos Zois)
Cidade; Campo (Juliana Rojas)
Demba (Mamadou Dia)
Favoriten (Ruth Beckermann)
Mãos no fogo (Margarida Gil)
Some Rain Must Fall (Qiu Yang)
Tú me abrasas (Matias Piñeiro)
Afterwar (Birgitte Stærmose)
Kottukkaali (PS Vinothraj)
All The Long Nights (Shô Miyake)
The Editorial Office (Roman Bondarchuk)
In The Belly Of A Tiger (Siddharta Jatla)
Shahid (Narges Kalhor)
La Hojarasca (Macu Machín)
What Did You Dream Last Night, Parajanov? (Faraz Fesharaki)

The keepers are the first eight or so + Kottukkaali, Tu me abrasas, Afterwar, Cidade; Campo and yeah, Abiding Nowhere, though it's once again just a monk walking slowly. This time in Washington DC, for 80 minutes.

How's the new Kossakovsky?

I'd like to see the new Ruizpalacios. I thought "A Cop Movie" was incredible.

The new Kossakovsky is like Aquarela but for concrete, so if you liked that, you'll like this. I didn't, so I don't.

I hope the new Ruizpalacios will be his breakthrough. It takes place in New York, and is a bit more mainstream than his earlier films. Reminded me quite a bit of a Spike Lee film.

Fargo (S5 – 6.5)
The Teachers’ Lounge (6.5)
One from the Heart (5.0)
Miss Americana (5.0)
Trans-Europ-Express (7.0)
New Waterford Girl (7.5)
Mid90s (7.5)
Let Them All Talk (6.5)
Who’s That Knocking at My Door? (6.0)
Midnight Cowboy (10.0)

Rep theatre three-quarters full today for the last one--felt good.

February:

Off Balance/Phantom of Death- decent giallo from Cannibal Holocaust's Ruggero Deodato starring Michael York
The Spider Labyrinth- long unavailable 80's Italian horror with some great paranoid/cult vibes, recommended
Freeway II: Confessions of a Trickbaby- almost as good as the first Freeway, somehow
Road House- I used to fuck movies like this in prison
The Boy and the Heron- perfect movie. no notes
Prague Nights- great Czech portmanteau folklore/horror
*Dredd- checking in periodically as I am wont to do. Still great
The Hourglass Sanatorium- Absolutely gorgeous but also incredibly difficult to parse compared with Has' Saragossa Manuscript; going to finally read Bruno Schulz and come back to this one later
*Possession- highly recommend seeing this one in a packed theater with a bunch of first-time viewers
The Wild Goose Lake- beautifully photographed, feels like a Chinese riff on a Coen brothers crime movie, reductive as that take is
Schizoid- Klaus Kinski is in it, it's directed by the guy who produced (iirc) Dallas, my memory of this movie is rapidly fading even as I type this
Tammy and the T-Rex- highly recommend seeing this one in a packed theater. I didn't do that, I streamed it at home, and it suffered for it
Leviathan (the dumb George Cosmatos monster movie one)- this and Deep Star Six were 1989's Volcano/Dante's Peak
Smile (the Michael Ritchie one)- unexpectedly great. "You've got to learn to expect a little less out of life"
The Tune- I like Bill Plympton in small doses but a feature-length musical is a big ask. Still technically astonishing as his work always is

pretty good February

The Zone of Interest
Anyone But You
*Blow Out (10)
Origin
Depeche Mode 101
Gidget
Out of Darkness
Bushman
Leila and the Wolves
*Modern Romance
*Turning Red
*Wonder Boys
Drylongso (10)
*Drop Dead Gorgeous
*Miss Congeniality
Lisa Frankenstein
Drive-Away Dolls
Gaza Ghetto: Portrait of a Palestinian Family

Birth (2004) 3/5
* The Conformist (1970) 4.5/5
The Book of Life (1998) 4/5
Dick (1999) 3.5/5
Loulou (1980) 4/5
Cane River (1982) 3/5
The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter (1984) 4/5
* Wanda (1970) 4/5
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) 4/5

Sexy Beast (Glazer, 2003)
Groundhog Day (Ramis, 1993)
A Thousand and One (Rockwell, 2023)
The Teachers' Lounge (Çatak, 2023)
Anaconda (Llosa, 1997)
Terms of Endearment (Brooks, 1983)
Deep Blue Sea (Harlin, 1999)
A Matter of Life and Death (Powell and Pressburger, 1946)
Priscilla (Coppola, 2023)
BlackBerry (Johnson, 2023)

Found BlackBerry a little disappointing; liked Air (they came out at the same time) better.

Sinais de Fogo, dir: Luís Filipe Rocha, 1995 - gripping
The Man In Search Of His Murderer, dir: Robert Siodmark, 1931 - exhiliarating
The Prince & The Pauper, dir: William Keighley, 1937 - meh
The Moon Has Risen, dir: Kinuyo Tanaka, 1955- intriguing
Young Soul Rebels, dir: Isaac Julien, 1991 - exciting
Forever A Woman, dir: Kinuyo Tanaka, 1955- notforme
You Laugh, dir: Paolo & Vittorio Taviani, 1998 - grim
P'Tang Yang Kipperbang, dir: Michael Apted, 1982 - cute
The Wandering Princess, dir: Kinuyo Tanaka, 1960 - epic
Article 20, dir: Zhang Yimou, 2024- dumb

February:

Dreamworld (Barnard, Tennant, Lowe, Scutt 2024)
Mean Girls! (Jayne, Perez Jr., Fey, Richmond, Benjamin, Wiseman 2024)
Space Is The Place (Coney, Ra, Smith 1972)
She Is Conann (Mandico 2023)
Batman Forever (Schumacher, Scott-Batchler, Scott-Batchler, Ling, MacGregor-Scott, Goldsman 1995) 📺
Rollerball (Jewison, Harrison 1975) 📺
American Fiction (Jefferson, Everett 2023)
* Die Hard With A Vengeance (McTiernan, Hensleigh 1995) 📀
Street Of Chance (Hiveley, Fort, Woolrich 1942) 📽️
Odd Man Out (Reed, Sheriff, Green 1947)
Cairo Station [Bāb al-Ḥadīd] (Chahine, Youssef, Adib 1958)
Ganja & Hess (Gunn 1973)
Ascenseur pour l'Échafaud [Elevator To The Gallows] (Malle, Nimier, Calef 1958)
Strongroom (Sewell, Harris, Marquis 1962)
Our Uniform (Moghaddam 2023) 7min
Pachyderme (Clément, Rius 2022) 11min
Ninety-Five Senses (Hess, Hess, Bowman, Palmer 2023) 13min -1/10
War Is Over! (Mullins, Ono, Lennon, Ono Lennon 2022) 11min -15/10
Symphonie pour un massacre (Deray, Giovanni, Sautet, Reynaud-Fourton 1963)
Black Tuesday (Fregonese, Boehm 1954) 📽️
Le trou (Becker, Giovanni, Becker, Aurel 1960)
The Zone Of Interest (Glazer, Burn 2023)
The Asphalt Jungle (Huston, Maddow, Burnett 1950)
Missing Out (ARP 2024) 4min 📺
The Godfather Part II (Coppola, Puzo 1974)
Winter Kills (Richert, Condon 1979) 📽️
Jennifer's Body (Kusama, Cody 2009)
*The Hunt For Red October (McTiernan, Ferguson, Stewart, Clancy 1990) 📀
Divorzio all'italiana (Germi, De Concini, Giannetti, Incrocci, Arpino 1961) 📽️
Your Fat Friend (Jeanie Finlay 2023)

this year so far

Theorem, Pasolini, 1968, 7/10
Under the Cherry Moon, Prince, 1986, 5/10 i guess? looks great but that script
Morbius, 2022, 2/10
The Greatest Night in Pop, Nguyen, 2024, 5/10
Oppenheimer, Nolan, 5/10
Poor Things, Lanthimos, 8/10
Anatomy of a Fall, Triet, 7/10

not in a movie mood this year

February:

Belly (Williams, 1998) 7/10
*New Jack City (Van Peebles, 1991) 8/10
The Sweet East (Price Williams, 2023) 8/10
Dune:Part 2 (Villeneuve, 2023) 8/10
Demons (Matsumoto, 1971) 8/10

The First Slam Dunk (2022) 4.5/5. One of the great sports movies.
Out of the Blue (1980) 4.5/5. Finally saw this for the first time and it's gotta be the best thing Dennis Hopper ever did.
* Youth of the Beast (1963) 3.5/5
* Side Street (1949) 4/5
The Upturned Glass (1947) 3.5/5
Love Lies Bleeding (2024) 3/5
* Saint Omer (2022) 4.5/5
Saturday Fiction (2019) 4/5
Dune: Part Two 3.5/5
Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You (2023) 3.5/5 Bonnie Prince Billy "visual album" on Criterion Channel.
Meanwhile (2011) 2.5/5

Latest 10:

Girls Of The Night, dir: Kinuyo Tanaka, 1961 - powerful
Love Under The Crucifix, dir: Kinuyo Tanaka, 1962- sad
Premalu, dir: Girish A D, 2024- corny
Hell Dogs, dir: Masato Harada, 2022- mid
The Case Is Closed, Forget It, dir: Damiano Damiani, 1971- savage
I Want Him Dead, dir: Paolo Bianchini, 1968 - serviceable
TMNT: Mutant Mayhem*, dir: Jeff Rowe, 2023 - tubular
El Puro, dir: Edoardo Mulargia, 1969- boring/interesting
Sword Of The Beast*, dir: Hideo Gosha, 1965- programmer
Merry Christmas*, dir: Sriram Raghavan, 2024- beguiling

* means rewatch

Out of the Blue (1980) 4.5/5. Finally saw this for the first time and it's gotta be the best thing Dennis Hopper ever did.

I agree. Pretty gut-wrenching but an outstanding film.

Where Are You Going (2016) dir. Yang Zhengfan. Reminds me a lot of a CharlieBo313 YouTube video, but with more depth.

The Today Show (S4 – 6.0)
Drive-Away Dolls (4.0)
L.I.E. (7.0)
To Die For (7.5)
American Fiction (7.0)
Feud: Capote vs. the Swans (7.0)
Ozark (S1-S4 – 7.0)
Natural Born Killers (4.0)
Modernism, Inc. (7.5)
Eileen (5.0)

Abraham’s Valley (de Oliveira, 1993)
NYAD (Vasarhelyi/Chin, 2023)
Surviving Desire(Hartley, 1992)
Ambition (Hartley, 1992)
Theory of Achievement (Hartley, 1991)
Seven Psychopaths (McDonagh, 2012)
Cop Land (Mangold, 1997)
Once Upon a Time in the West (Leone, 1968)
Back and Forth (Snow, 1969)
Breakfast (Table-Top Dolly) (Snow, 1976)
Standard Time (Snow, 1967)
The Strange Case of Angelica (de Oliveira, 2010
Working on the Douro River (de Oliveira, 1931)
Jungle Fever (Lee, 1991)
The Prisoner of Second Avenue (Frank, 1975)
Carlito’s Way (De Palma, 1993)
Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World (Jude, 2023)

The Today Show (S4 – 6.0)

The Morning Show that should be...

Orion and the Dark (Kaufman script, 2024) 6/10
Riki-Oh (1991) subbed 8/10
Je Tu Il Elle (Akerman) 4/10
*My Dinner With Andre (Malle, 1981) 7/10

in cinemas, March:
* The Iron Giant (1999 Bird, McCanlies after Hughes )
Trollhunter (2010 Øvredal)
Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2010 Craig, Jurgenson) 📽️
Hero [英雄] (2002 Zhang, Li, Wang)
Fresh (1994 Yakin)
Perfect Days (2023 Wenders, Takasaki)
The Pillow Book (1996 Greenaway )
Drive Away Dykes (2024 Coen & Cooke)
Kedi (2016 Torun)
Your Sister's Sister (2011 Shelton, Blunt, Duplass, DeWitt, Birbiglia)
the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn (2020 Yan, Hodson)
* Nope (2022 Peele)
* Matinee (1993 Dante, Jerico, Haas)
The Host (2006 Bong, Ha, Baek)
They Cloned Tyrone (2023 Taylor, Rettenmaier)
Tremors (1990 Underwood, Maddock, Wilson)
The Fly (1986 Cronenberg after Langelaan after Pogue)
The Creature From The Black Lagoon (2D) (1954 Arnold, Essex, Ross, Zimm)
I'm "George Lucas" (2024 Jacobi, Sofillas)
* Asteroid City (2023 Anderson, Coppola)
Godzilla [ゴジラ] (1954 Honda, Murata, Kayama)
Love Lies Bleeding (2024 Glass, Tofilska, Mansell)
Problemista (2024 Torres)
Wendell & Wild (2022 Selick, Peele, Chapman)

home viewing:
* The Terminator ( 1984 Cameron, Hurd, Wisher Jr. ) 📀
* Terminator 2: Judgment Day ( 1991 Cameron, Wisher Jr. ) 📀
* Last Action Hero ( 1993 McTiernan, Penn, Leff, Black, Arnott, Goldman, Fisher, Ferguson ) 📀
Dark ( 2024 ARP, Hawke ) 📺 4 min
A Swiss Trick ( 1931 Foster, Stallings ) 📺 7 min
* The Thomas Crown Affair ( 1968 Jewison, Trustman, Legrand, Ashby ) 📺

Ikarie XB1 (Polák 1963)
June (Vaurio 2024)
Safe in Hell (Wellman 1931)
The Raid 2 (Evans 2014)
24-Hour Party People (Winterbottom 2002)
The Munekata Sisters (Ozu 1950)
*The Red Shoes (Powell & Presburger, 1948)
*Barton Fink (Coen & Coen, 1991)
Beau Is Afraid (Aster 2023)
New Rose Hotel (Ferrara 1998)
Poor Things (Lanthimos 2023)
*Lone Star (Sayles 1996)
Dreadnaught (Yuen Woo-ping 1981)
The Zone of Interest (Glazer 2023)
True Romance (Scott 1993)
The Holdovers (Payne 2023)
The Marvels (DaCosta 2023)
Dune Pt. 1 (Villeneuve 2023)
Anatomy of a Fall (Triet 2023)
Road House (Liman 2024)
Dune Pt. 2 (Villeneuve 2024)
American Fiction (Jefferson 2023)
Ballerina (Lynch 2003)
Monkey Man (Patel 2024)
STEVE! (martin) (Neville 2024)

April

Ricochet (Mulcahy, 1991) 7/10
No Sudden Move (Soderbergh, 2021) 8/10
Page Eight (Hare, 2011) 6/10
*Uncut Gems (Safdie Brothers, 2019) 9/10
Black Narcissus (Powell/Pressburger, 1947) 6/10
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (Powell/Pressburger, 1943) 8/10
Reality (Satter, 2023) 6/10
All That Jazz (Fosse, 1979) 8/10
Mississippi Grind (Fleck/Biden, 2015) 7/10
Unhinged (Borte, 2020) 5/10
Hundreds of Beavers (Cheslik, 2022) 8/10
*Charlie and The Chocolate Factory (Burton, 2005) 6/10
Owning Mahowny (Kwietniowski, 2003) 7/10

always interested in your picks/ratings michael b but that black narcissus rating is WACK. i guess some people just don't appreciate exquisite yearning in a strange and beautiful land

Yeah, I knew someone would get pissed off at that rating and while it looks amazing, the movie splutters to this mad finale that just comes out of nowhere. It just didn't do it for me, soz

Got the Blu-Ray of THE ABYSS this weekend; finished watching it tonight. (I started it last night. It's long.) I saw it in theaters 35 years ago and was shocked how much I remembered. Maybe my favorite Cameron movie, and it looks amazing.

Caged (John Cromwell, 1950) 8/10 for a prison movie from 1950 it's excellent
Night Killer (the Troll 2 team, 1990) good bad
A Family Finds Entertainment (Ryan Trecartin, 2005) first time watching it the whole way through
Dream Scenario (Kristoffer Borgli, 2023) 8/10

The Tall Men (1955) 2.5/5
Perfect Days (2023) 4/5
The Beast (2023) 3.5/5
Rockers (1978) 4/5
Dreadnaught (1981) 4/5
Mississippi Masala (1991) 4/5
Comrades, Almost a Love Story (1996) 3.5/5
Streetwise (1984) 4.5/5
Yakuza Graveyard (1976) 4/5
High Hopes (1988) 4/5
* One Fine Morning (2022) 4/5
* Blood Simple (1984) 5/5
* I'm Not There (2007) 5/5

In-flight entertainment, yesterday/today:
American Fiction (3/5, seemed like two scripts smooshed together with only partial success)
Barbie (2/5, honestly I am not the target market)

Lined up for the return journey in a couple of weeks if the Aer Lingus menu hasn't changed:
Oppenheimer & Killers of the Flower Moon, well that is going to be one serious and important movie session, hopefully the passenger in front won't lean their seat back too far.

Repo Man (4.0)
Krush Groove (6.0)
Make Me Famous (6.0)
Prime Cut (5.0)
The Old Oak (7.5)
Wayne’s World (6.0)
Mr. Robot (S1 - 7.5)
Vanishing Point (5.5)
Hickey & Boggs (5.5)
Belly (5.0)

Seven of these I watched in connection to two books I'm reading: Charles Taylor's Opening Wednesday at a Theater Or Drive-In Near You: The Shadow Cinema of the American '70s and Nate Patrin's The Needle and the Lens.

I know people love Repo Man, so I made sure not to post on the relevant thread. I was a so-so on it when it came out; other than the occasional clever line (still remembered "ordinary fucking people"), got nothing 40 years later. Just in general, I don't think I like cult films...not sure if I've ever liked one, in the classic sense of the term. Which may or may not even have meaning anymore: originally, as in Hoberman and Rosenbaum's book, I think it was tied in with the idea of late-night rep screenings.

in cinemas, April:
* The Thin Man (1934 Van Dyke, Hackett, Goodrich, Hammett) 📽️
Lady Snowblood [修羅雪姫] (1973 Fujita, Osada, Koike, Kamimura)
Rashōmon [羅生門] (1950 Kurosawa, Hashimoto, Akutagawa) 📽️
Green Plums And A Bamboo Horse [青梅竹馬 / Taipei Story] (1985 Yang, Chu, Hou)
Riddle Of Fire (2024 / 2023 Razooli) 📽️
Hundreds Of Beavers (2024 / 2022 Cheslik, Tews)
Late Night With The Devil (2024 / 2023 Cairnes & Cairnes)
Do Not Expect Too Much From The End Of The World (2024 / 2023 Jude)
The Homicide Incident Of The Youth On Guling Street [牯嶺街少年殺人事件 / A Brighter Summer Day] (1991 Yang, Hung, Lai, Yang, Yan)
Tampopo [タンポポ] (1985 Itami)
Mahjong [麻將] (1996 Yang)
Civil War (2024 Garland)
A Confucian Confusion [獨立時代] (1994 Yang, Hung)
* Airplane! (1980 Zucker, Abrahams, Zucker, Proft, Jorgensen, Hailey, Bartlett, Champion)
Gas Food Lodging (1992 Anders, Peck)
* Civil War (2024 Garland )
* Spider-Man 2 (2004 Raimi, Sargent, Chabon, Gough, Millar, Koepp, Ditko)
The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024 Ritchie, Tamasy, Johnson, Amel, Lewis) 3/10
Sasquatch Sunset (2024 Zellner)
Inception (2010 Nolan)
Abigail (2024 Radio Silence, Shields)
The People's Joker (2024 Drew, LeRose)

home viewing:
The Thomas Crown Affair (1999 McTiernan, Dixon, Wimmer, Trustman) 📺
It's Not Just You, Murray! (1964 Scorsese, Martin) 📺 16 min
Batman & Robin (1997 Schumacher, Goldsman) 📺
Basic (2003 McTiernan, Vanderbilt) 📺