Post by Martin Stett on Dec 10, 2018 22:38:59 GMT
Maidstone (1970) -- It had a fun kind of energy to it at first, but then it got insufferable once I realized that Mailer had no idea what the fuck he was doing. 3/10
The Old Dark House (1932) -- "Laughter and sin!"
It does a great job of sending up the horror movies of the day, but falls into some of the same pitfalls in that it juggles too many plotlines that come together to have no meaning on the final outcome. The movie is manic and silly enough for a fun night out, and that is certainly good enough for me. A strong 7/10
P.S. Oddly, this is my second J.B. Priestly event of the week (the movie is based on a novel of his) I watched a revival of Stephen Daldry's 1992 production of An Inspector Calls on Tuesday. This was... a lot better than that. Daldry can't save a crap script. I mention this because I had never heard of Priestley before this week, and it was a neat coincidence, being able to compare two pieces side-by-side.
One-Eyed Jacks (1961) -- Malden is really great, and there's a lot going on beneath the surface that would make a good psycho-drama. Unfortunately, it's a poorly structured mess, and the romance plot is depressingly surface level and severely drags the film down. Not a bad movie, but it needed someone to keep the movie's sprawling ideas in check. 6/10
The Shawshank Redemption (1994 rewatch) -- What a ride. This movie is an inspirational tearjerker done almost completely right. The one downside that keeps me from giving it 10 stars is that Andy is basically a wish fulfillment character. This would have been fine -- indeed, it worked perfectly for the majority of the movie -- but towards the end the plot manufactures a little bit of drama meant to show a sort of "darkest hour" for Andy and get inside of his tortured soul, and this rings just a tad hollow. It just wasn't as satisfying watching Andy struggle than it was watching Andy triumph. He's a symbol for Red and the other characters, and by trying to make him a man in his own right, it actually felt like a stumble. 9/10
The Rider (2017) -- This movie knows it's good, and expects you to meet it on its own terms. I like that kind of confidence. 8/10
The Old Dark House (1932) -- "Laughter and sin!"
It does a great job of sending up the horror movies of the day, but falls into some of the same pitfalls in that it juggles too many plotlines that come together to have no meaning on the final outcome. The movie is manic and silly enough for a fun night out, and that is certainly good enough for me. A strong 7/10P.S. Oddly, this is my second J.B. Priestly event of the week (the movie is based on a novel of his) I watched a revival of Stephen Daldry's 1992 production of An Inspector Calls on Tuesday. This was... a lot better than that. Daldry can't save a crap script. I mention this because I had never heard of Priestley before this week, and it was a neat coincidence, being able to compare two pieces side-by-side.
One-Eyed Jacks (1961) -- Malden is really great, and there's a lot going on beneath the surface that would make a good psycho-drama. Unfortunately, it's a poorly structured mess, and the romance plot is depressingly surface level and severely drags the film down. Not a bad movie, but it needed someone to keep the movie's sprawling ideas in check. 6/10
The Shawshank Redemption (1994 rewatch) -- What a ride. This movie is an inspirational tearjerker done almost completely right. The one downside that keeps me from giving it 10 stars is that Andy is basically a wish fulfillment character. This would have been fine -- indeed, it worked perfectly for the majority of the movie -- but towards the end the plot manufactures a little bit of drama meant to show a sort of "darkest hour" for Andy and get inside of his tortured soul, and this rings just a tad hollow. It just wasn't as satisfying watching Andy struggle than it was watching Andy triumph. He's a symbol for Red and the other characters, and by trying to make him a man in his own right, it actually felt like a stumble.
9/10The Rider (2017) -- This movie knows it's good, and expects you to meet it on its own terms. I like that kind of confidence. 8/10
