What movies did you see last week? (5/21-5/27)

Tale of Tales - 6.5 / 10

Key Largo - 8.5 / 10

Hangmen - Quite frankly pretty poor. Not sure it's Pacino's worst, but it's pretty much up there for me. Urban was solid, however. - 4 / 10

A Night in Casablanca - Average Marx Brothers film, but pretty entertaining nonethless. - 7 / 10

Phantom Thread (rewatch) - 9.5 / 10

Rogue One - (Rewatch) - 8 / 10

Baby Driver (Rewatch) - 7.5 / 10

RBG - Great documentary about an amazing indiviual who fought originally for women's rights, and then basically fought for human deceny. I learned a lot more about Ginsberg after watching this film - 8 / 10

Women He Undressed - Interesting. Wasn't a fan of how they tried to ring around a lot of the film based on Cary Grant though (Okay, we get it). Otherwise it's a good celebration of a great costume designer. - 7 / 10

Greenfingers - 7 / 10

Lots of his film and TV work. I would say easily more than enough to come to the conclusion, prior to Cargo, that he was a pretty limited actor.  I would never have disliked him, just been merely meh on him.  He definitely showed me I was wrong (at least this once)

Martha Marcy May Marlene - Low profile drama.  Nothing too special though.  But it did make me interested in Elizabeth Olsen, and while she deserved a nomination over Davis and Williams, I don't think she's close to my win.  There were a lot of good performances in that category that year.  7/10 

King of Hearts (1966) - Meh..... it was just littered with 60isms, and made you glad the 70s were about to replace this average stuff.  6/10

Frankenstein (1931) - Very interesting look into early filmmaking.  Not great, or among James Whale's best films.  (maybe not even top 3), but it's a good glimpse of early genre elements.  And there are some things I can definitely see laid the groundworks for later, more expensive productions.  7.5/10

A Man for All Seasons - Pretty...... biopic-y major Hollywood production.  Not much more to say..... it's pretty... typical of films of that era, and it was in the middle of a long string of decent-to-mediocre BP winners.  60s in Hollywood just sucked.  All of my favorite films from 1960-1966 were films that typically go against the Hollywood grain, or they were the European stuff.  7/10  

Dracula (1931) - Mediocre.  I love Bela.  But this is just fucking lame.  It started out actually ok, but there was just nothing more to build from and it becomes generity defined, and I'm surprised this actually has a reputation of any kind.  It should be buried in the faded old movies vault as much as Coppola's merely decent adaptation should.  6/10

Freaks (1932) - It's better than Dracula, but I didn't connect too well with it.  Maybe standards of good filmmaking was different in 1932, but I just didn't have a whole lot of interest.  It's a bit beige and flavorless, but I'm sure some people have another eye.  7/10

The Room (2003) - Yeah.... stupid.  It's essentially a relationship triangle with cheap aesthetic.  Where's the complexity here?  I'm a total believer in staunch contrarianism, and there's nothing worse than grumpy people who get upset over people going against the grain, but.... dude... fuck come on, there's nothing remotely cutting edge about this.  There are a lot of stuff on premium late-night Cinemax with soap relationship triangles and boob barings, this doesn't stand out to me.  5/10

Castaway (1986) - Apart from a naked Amanda Donohoe, it's a total non-entity of a film.  5/10

The Masque of the Red Death (1964) - Best film I've seen in a long time.  This whole "land of satan" sphere it works within, bringing up a backdrop of famine, plague, and disease.  The peasantry has been portrayed more vividly, I admit, but everything else about it I think it can lay claim to besting many other similar "great" films.  Maybe it ended up having a simplistic presentation, but there is so much more going on here than in a common Bergman film, imo.  This is where I can say it can truly kick Bergman's ass, because Bergman's backdrops feels tame compared to this, and his simple "face-to-face with death" conflict is one-upped heavy by the heavy overtones of satanic dread and thick allusion here.  The Seventh Seal is baby food compared to this.  Ok sure, The Seventh Seal looks more "intellectual," but I feel like that's irrelevant.  The type of thinking behind a film is not as important as how a film can eventually be seen as.   Sure there are some universal Poe-isms in this, but that's a good thing, and it can keep the film entertaining with the usual Poe macabre tone, and his bouts between two antagonists are often the source of entertainment.  Also, the imagery use can lay claim to rivaling Bunuel and what he did with The Phantom of Liberty, which is psychedelic absurdism at its best.  I always enjoy Poe stories and I like most Corman I've seen, but this seems to be the most passionate I have talked about either people.... ever.  What a movie.  9/10, (my new #56th film of all time)

Even Fargo S1?

Interesting, to each their own.

Saint Frankenstein (McCrae, 2015): a cool horror short that has the same shit his 90s features did in terms of eroticism and sex and smart screenplays investigating scifi tropes, but this is ultimately something that should have been fleshed out into feature length. 7

Sixteen Tongues (McCrae, 1999): great stuff from him - on the level of Shatter Dead but not quite as good. it's a tech noir, cyberpunk erotic dream of a film, intensely claustrophobic. i wish this man was able to make more films as the stuff that's available is incredible forward thinking genre films. 8

Tea and Sympathy (Minnelli, 1956): a director i'm not really that big on, but this is... some of the best work i have seen in ages. probably my #2 film i have seen all year behind Francisca which won't be topped for at least a couple more i imagine. super touching portrait of masculinity, closeted fears, lust. reminds me of a james dean picture or something. 9

La vie nouvelle (Grandrieux, 2002): has one incredible sequence that the film builds towards, the rest of it is good but not great lynchian stuff with too little to cling onto. this feels like satan himself made it. an evil film. 7

Event Horizon (Anderson, 1997): i was talking about films that feel evil to some people and this one came up so i thought i would see it. it's never like, idk, extremely good but it's a very consistent film and i'm glad i finally got to see it. pwsa is a groovy director. 7.5

Hero (Yimou, 2002): i like how dense the topic at hand is, and the eastern stuff is understandably handled well and interestingly. beautiful colors too, used sparingly. 8

8 1/2 Cars (Brown, 2018): iconic. 7

Bambi (Hand, 1942): all that old disney has going for it are the backgrounds, colors, and aesthetics, and that stuff isn't nearly as interesting in animation as it is in live action. at least it's short. 5.5

Baxter, Vera Baxter (Duras, 1977): i don't think i understand duras very well, though i can appreciate how singular her films feel. 6

My most productive week in a while... 10 features + 5 shorts.

Deadpool 2 - noticeably less funny than its predecessor, but it has its moments. 6/10.

Byt - fun, creative surrealism. 7.5/10.

Student Bodies - I admire it for being ahead of its time... but yeah not a fan. There were a few funny moments, but most of it is just... stupid. 5.5/10.

Tommy - I loved it. A lot of fun imagery, great music, very memorable. Had a great time watching it. 8/10.

Day of the Fight - one of Kubricks early shorts that I thought i had already seen a few years back... but I’m not so sure anymore. Anyway, it’s solid... enjoyable, nothing special. 6.5/10.

Out of the Past - good stuff. I need to see more film noirs. 7.5/10.

American Hustle - I mean, I can see why people like it... but it felt so lifeless and superficial. 4/10.

The African Queen - Hepburn and bogart are both terrific. That’s about it. 7/10.

The Man Who Fell to Earth - a reserved, deliberate and frustrating piece of filmmaking. Visually interesting and very subtly affecting - I’m sure it needs a few rewatches to fully appreciate, but I really, really liked this. 8.5/10.

The Happiness of the Katakuris - extraordinarily weird, fun, and unique. 8/10. I have yet to see a Miike film short of great. (although I’m aware there’s like a hundred of em, so...)

Black Sunday - wonderfully gothic atmosphere with a masterpiece of an opening scene. Not perfect, though. I liked it a lot, but I can’t help but be slightly disappointed considering how much I adored Black Sabbath - which has the impeccable atmosphere of Black Sunday while being extremely fun and creative. Again, I really liked the film... I just think it took itself a bit too seriously. 7.5/10.

Reds - very well made and well acted with an interesting subject matter, but it gets tedious after a while. 7/10.

Statues Also Die - I wasn’t very interested in the subject matter to begin with, and the straightforward (and kinda dull) execution did nothing to change that. 5/10.

Being Flat - entertaining bit of absurdism from Dupieux. 7/10.

All the Boys are Called Patrick - amusing pre-Breathless Godard Short. 7/10.

And from everyone else... cuz why not


Martin- I agree, Lucky is such a relaxed and likable movie. Stanton gives the best performance of 2017 (not counting TV). 8/10.

Blade Runner 2049 - idk... I just failed to connect with it. I certainly admire it on a technical level, but it left me emotionally indifferent. 6/10.


mhynson- I remember liking the beginning of Up- even after the first ten minutes, I really liked the entire first act. After that, though... completely forgettable. 6/10.


comicman - Unfortunately, after reflecting on Phantom Thread for a while, I like it even less than I initially did (which was only moderately). I honestly think I'm not seeing what everyone else's seeing. I still need to rewatch it in its entirety, but for now it's my least favorite from PTA. 6/10.

Rogue One was just... boring. The Vader scene was cool tho. 4/10.

Baby Driver is a fun ride. The characters and story were... forgettable (I honestly don't even remember what the story was come to think of it)... but the action is aces. 7/10.


Tommen- I saw Stalker recently and loved it. Everything about it works perfectly. I'd consider it among my favorites with a 9.5/10... but I should rewatch it to make sure... I should rewatch more shit in general.

At one point I ranked Santa Sangre in my top 20 of all time. And I still really love it, but I think Jodorowsky's other stuff is better (particularly El Topo and The Holy Mountain). I agree, though: it's an absolute treat for the senses. 8.5/10.

Very hyped to see Le Samouraï... which I think I'll love if it's anything like Army of Shadows.


urbanpatrician - I agree with both you and redhawk: Dracula is nothing special. 5/10.

But I also don't really love Frankenstein. I think it's solid... and the source material is pretty incredible... but the execution of it was kinda underwhelming. 6.5/10.

Freaks, though, is a masterpiece imo. 9/10.

I don't care what anyone says... I will always adore The Room. I think it's one of the most entertaining movies ever made. 9/10.


Mattsby- Five Easy Pieces is very enjoyable w/ a great Nicholson performance... but nothing too phenomenal imo. 7.5/10.


And that's all I've seen.

Yeah I agree on Black Sunday. So far, I quite like Bava. Black Sabbath is the only film of his I'd call great, but the rest of the stuff I've seen (Blood and Black Lace, The Girl Who Knew Too Much, and A Bay of Blood) have all been pretty damn good. Need to see more, tho. 

I liked Out of the Past a good deal, but I wouldn't call it an all-timer or anything, like some people do. I can't really comment on film noirs in general as I've seen laughably few. 

Interesting take on Statues Also Die. Can you elaborate? 

Whiplash - JK Simmons was really good, but overall it was pretty overpraised. I didn't particularly care for the music and Miles Teller was dull as a cardboard. 7/10

Z - Excellent. The ending was especially chilling. 8.5/10

Magnolia - Up to PTA's standard. The cast was great across the board and the screenplay was great. Tom Cruise is the MVP. 8/10

Take Shelter - Incredible. Jeff Nichols is quickly becoming one of my favorite working directors. Chastain should've been nominated for this instead of The Help, and Shannon was nothing short of brilliant. I loved the open ending. 9/10

Memento - The first Nolan film I thoroughly enjoyed. Carrie Anne Moss was such a goddess in it. 8/10

True Grit - Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld were brilliant, Matt Damon was tolerable. Overall solid. 7.5/10

The Straight Story - A gem of a film. It was incredible how the cast collectively could fill one with emotion by doing so little. Richard Farsworth's performance is one of the GOAT. Special shout out to Harry Dean Stanton. If anyone deserved a nom by one single scene it was him in this movie. 8.5/10

Paprika - Thrilling, disturbing, masterful, innovative. The forced romance wasn't my cup of tea but it was a minor flaw. #inceptionwho 10/10

Perfect Blue - Thrilling, disturbing, masterful, innovative. The artwork wasn't the best but the story is just too smart. #blackswanwho 10/10