What ,movies did you see last week? (4/18-4/25)

Five Easy Pieces
Cop Land
Se7en
Black Mass
The Northman
Fargo
S.W.A.T.
Men at Work
The Bad Guys

X - If it's meant to be a commentary on porn/slashers/aging, it doesn't say anything of interest. If it's meant to be amusing, it's not. If it's meant to be genuine genre fun, it's not that entertaining. A big mediocrity. But I really enjoyed the makeup effects.

The Killing - REWATCH. The boil is so hard you can just taste it. I liked it when I first saw it a long time ago but now? I just adored it. From the immensely exciting non-linear structure to the wonderfully memorable characters - it's a total blast.

Paris, 13th District - Not the greatest Audiard flick but quite a good one anyway. Great to see him do such a youthful and sexually free film at a ripe age of 69. Now that's what I call being truly French!

The Terminator - REWATCH. A notch below "T2" for me but still a highly entertaining, very well-told story. There's a certain swiftness and relentlessness to it that'll always be quite appealing.

Full Metal Jacket - REWATCH. A masterwork. And yes, both halves.

A Clockwork Orange - REWATCH. As you can see I'm on a bit of a Kubrick kick. Quelle surprise - another great movie. And what a perfect performance by McDowell.

Air Doll - Starts off feeling like Koreeda's "Amelie" but then turns into something more bizarre and even veers into some dark directions. A very uneven but strangely compelling piece of work. Not a fully successful and yet a worthy experiment.

We Need to Do Something - Had to watch it for work, never heard about it before. Horror is probably my least favorite genre so absorbing really low-grade examples of it is a big drag. Although for work I don't mind.

Killer’s Kiss - Wish I could be the person who goes 'Great underrated early masterpiece' but unfortunately I can't. At all. I found it very lame - a really boring (even if it's under 70 minutes) noir flick which keeps parroting the genre cliches without doing anything with them beyond some rather unconvincing and try-hard attempts to feel 'artistic'. It's astonishing to me that Kubrick made the stratospheric leap from this to "The Killing" and "Paths of Glory". But thank god he did!

The Vikings - Since I won't be seeing "The Northman" in theatres I decided to substitute it with a viking flick from the 50s. It's fine - decently entertaining, fairly well-made and overall enjoyable. Nothing too remarkable though.

The Glenn Miller Story - A bit surprised by how much I loved it. I don't like modern music biopics but this 1954 one has a certain level of class to it that made it immensely engaging. It may be a sanitized, Hollywoodized and overly reverent take on the legendary artist but I feel that it also has a great amount of genuine respect for Miller which happens to radiate off the screen. Plus it pulsates with a true love for music. I dunno, I was very moved by it all. Very old-fashioned, clean, nice moviemaking.

Paths of Glory - REWATCH. Yet another Kubrick masterpiece. What a filmography.

Sudden Fear - Terrific entertainment. Joan Crawford and Jack Palance do an amazing job at drawing us into the story with their great performances, and thankfully the story itself is also very much worth it. Lots of fun.

Odds Against Tomorrow (1959): 7/10

Cool noir. Bellafonte is great here, shame he didn’t get to sink his teeth into noir earlier. Film’s got a nice jazzy score. The last 20mins were a total roller coaster ride. The filmmakers did a great job with the robbery scene but the character of Burke was just such a total dunce, acting suspicious and shit the whole fucking time before they get into the bank and then he tries to crawl to the other 2 to get them the car keys after being shot instead of just…tossing them the keys. But then they hunt each other down in the fuel storage depot and its so brilliantly shot. Absolutely stunning expressionist cinematography during this sequence. Then when the whole thing exploded I was thinking “yea it’s a fuel storage depot but this explosive finale is still kinda excessive tho” but that last line when the two guys are trying to identify the bodies was the ultimate cherry on top for this film. Fucking great closing line


Trapped (1949): 5/10

Not much to say about this one, it’s just not good. I know it’s B noir but so many B noirs transcend being a B movie to still be something good or even special. This ain’t it and funny that the movie was made in cooperation with the real counterfeiters

What's Up, Doc? (1972) - 7/10 - Basically a live-action cartoon, dialogue seems forced at times, funnier when it focuses more on the slapstick.

Rewatches:

All the President´s Men (1976) - 10/10 - Riveting from start to finish. This film will always have a special place among my favorites because it's about research and analysis (which has been a big part of my life for the last decade), the process of discovery, and the excitement and awe that comes with discovering what you don't expect. Some great visual cues, like driving in the dark, running in the dark towards the light, driving against traffic, great split diopter shots, etc. The Post’s offices are white, acting as a haven of safety in a world of darkness, shadows, and danger. I also love the shot of Redford at dawn in the middle of an empty parking lot, looking hopelessly small and dwarfed by everything around him. The sound design is fantastic as well - the blending of typewriter keys and gunshots. I always forget just how tight this movie is too, flying by despite its 138-minute length. Hoffman is quite good here with his nervous excitement, fearful, but also full of resolve. The ending is simultaneously triumphant and dispiriting.

Heart of Glass (1976) - 10/10 - Bizarre, mysterious, haunting, profound, and utterly singular. I love the line about people acting like "sleepwalkers walking to their doom." The ruby glass is such a poetic metaphor for humanity - fragile and beautiful, but temporary. A lot of the film's images thematize death, how it coexists with life, and its arbitrariness in the face of nature. All-time great ending too.

Paris, Texas (1984) - 9/10 - The middle section isn't quite as strong as the beginning and ending, but overall a beautifully tender film with wonderful performances that say more through what isn't spoken. I'll never get over the way Kinski's face seamlessly transitions from playful to confused to emotionally shattered during that long stretch at the end. I appreciate the way the kid feels like an authentic kid, his dialogue is specific in a way that feels ad libbed. About confronting the past, taking responsibility, and mending things in the best way possible - repentance through selfless love - which may not be the easiest way because you can’t completely heal what is broken.

all of them rewitches:

Heat (1995) 9
Donnie Brasco (1997) 8 but a 9 in my heart
Memories of Murder (2003) 9
The School of Rock (2003) 8
Vampire’s Kiss (1987) 7.5
Gone in 60 Seconds (2000)
Mom and Dad (2018)
Righteous Kill (2008)

Oop, almost forgot a first timer:

Follow Me Quietly (1949) written by Anthony Mann, directed by Richard Fleischer a little before Armored Car Robbery and the taut Narrow Margin, and a lot before 10 Rillington Place and The New Centurions - looking at police obsession and an elusive serial killer here, a killer who only kills when it rains (an apt watch after Memories of Murder). Not on the level of RKO's other 60min pics like my fav The Devil Thumbs A Ride.  6/10, but the dummy does give the movie a spookiness.... and this deep dive, one of the deepest I can recall, especially for an old b-procedural, made me appreciate the movie more. mubi.com/notebook/posts/deadpan-in-nulltown

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