What movies did you see last week? (10/21-10/27)

Rewatched two of my favorite horror movies - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Day of the Dead, the former being a ridiculously masterful, relentlessly hellish dive into human fear, probably the second greatest horror film ever made in my eyes, and the latter having, still to this day, the coolest looking zombies ever.

couldn't disagree more about Eyes Wide Shut. IMO one of Kubrick's most hypnotic films but I get why you didn't like it. I wasn't really a fan until my second viewing.

But I am glad you enjoyed Shirkers. Beautiful film about the artistic process intertwined with a bizarre and creepy personal history. Part biography, part ode to cinema itself. Loved it. I think 2019 was a fantastic year for docs but this one stood head and shoulders above the rest for me.

my week was slow but that's becoming the norm.

The Twilight Zone: The Movie - 4/10

Messiah of Evil - 7.5/10

Tenebre - 8/10

Basket Case - 6/10

Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (loved this one) - 8/10

The Outlaw Josey Wales - Real solid stuff from Clint Eastwood about a group of outcasts overcoming the harshness of Civil War and forming a family unit. Or you can just see it as an entertaining western adventure. It's pretty fascinating to watch these earlier Eastwood westerns after having seen "Unforgiven" - makes the experience richer and the thoughts of "Unforgiven" even more haunting.

The Laundromat - I thought this fit right into Soderbergh's usual quality scale. Which means it was fine and almost decidedly not amazing. I enjoyed its humor and its kinda sketch-like nature, the cast was appropriately hammy and a certain level of absurdity kept the movie interesting to me since I quite like when movies turn that aspect on. But it definitely could've been more impactful.

Anastasia - The 1956 one. A pretty compelling tale of a search for a person's own self. Ingrid Bergman had a tough task here since in many ways the movie is about acting except that the main character doesn't merely act when she's supposed to - she unconsciosly transforms into a whole other human being which subsequently makes her question her entire identity. I wish the entire film was as strong as this premise but it just isn't. The buildup is pretty long and there're plenty of average things about it. But that central inner conflict overcomes the flaws.

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off - REWATCH. So damn enjoyable. Jeffrey Jones, although disappointingly a creep in real life, gives a comedic performance for the ages. John Hughes smartly gets laughs not just out of dialogue and slapstick but out of shot choices and cutting too, and that's something that modern-day comedy wannabes should learn from. And I forgot the beauty of that little interlude in the museum - a strangely spiritual and enchanting highlight of a real fun film.

A Perfect World - Oh, so Eastwood wasn't being completely truthful when he put a stop to westerns after "Unforgiven"...'Cause this was most definitely a western, just set in the 60s and with cars instead of horses. A classic bandit with a heart as its main hero, a seasoned lawman as his pursuer and plenty of very western-y characters on their way. I think this makes for a great double-bill with "Unforgiven" since the two explore the genre in wonderful ways. The movie's quite terrific even if the story may be somewhat predictable. Thankfully John Lee Hancock finds moments of genuine beauty and even poetry in his script (he can be a great writer when he's on), and Eastwood's sturdy direction never faults the material. Costner is quite brilliant too.

Body of Lies - When Ridley Scott is at his best, the movies turn out terrific. When he's on autopilot, they can be truly bland. This fell into the latter category for me. On paper it all sounds cool - Scott, DiCaprio, Crowe, written by William Monahan just after "The Departed", espionage, etc. But the movie itself is just lifeless. And for all the talk about Scott's amazing abilities as a visual stylist, the film looks quite boring. I actually don't think that Scott is as great visually as he's always called - he's very inconsistent and for every visual masterwork in his oeuvre there's a dull-looking movie too. Tony Scott was the real true visual stylist of the family, even if his cinematic heights didn't match Ridley's. I have no reason to doubt that he would've made this movie better.

Open Range - REWATCH. A brilliant addition to the great western collection from Kevin Costner. Truly a film about its characters, about behavior, about little moments of honesty. And a film that knows that you don't need a shoot-out every ten minutes to make a proper impact - you need just one great one towards which the story builds. It's also one of Costner's best performances. Love it.

Dolemite Is My Name - Enjoyable but thoroughly vanilla fluff. The most basic biopic script from the Alexander/Karaszewski duo directed in a pedestrian fashion. Yet it's somewhat fun. Mainly because Murphy is a joy to watch even though I wish the movie was less surface-level and gave him some opportunities to stretch his dramatic muscles. But still, it's a wonderful comedic turn from a great comedic actor.

The Bishop’s Wife - A fine piece of Hollywood Christmas schmaltz which could've been fairly standard and forgettable if not for its angel character played by Cary Grant. He's a weird one - yes, he's spreading some warmth and miracles around the folks he encounters but he also seems to have a selfish streak and even though he's supposed to help the main married couple, he kinda ends up messing with their relationship. I guess this being a 1947 movie, they couldn't make him more dangerous and I wonder if this is something that the Denzel remake explores more thoroughly (guess I gotta watch it someday) but I'm kinda glad that this unusual aspect is in the movie at all.

The Hill - I liked the first half of this Sidney Lumet army prison movie a bit more than the second because the way it focuses on the sheer physical hardship that the prisoners have to endure is done in a highly compelling way. Lumet uses long takes which allows him to fully show how the physical ability of his characters is gradually drained and that stuff is quite powerful. The movie then shifts to a more play-like mode with some people taking a stand against the prison runners, and that half of the movie is also good but to me the less wordy bits were more interesting.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High - 8/10
Dolemite - 6 / 10
The Human Tornado - 7 / 10
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels - 8.5 out of 10
Dolemite is My Name - 8.5 / 10
Echo in the canyons - 7.5 / 10
The Gate - 7 / 10