What movies did you see last week? (5/2-5/8)

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness x2

Winnie the Pooh (2011) - Cute and charming. Not much more to add. 7/10

Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993) - I'll acknowledge that it tries to deviate from the tired routine of the Friday the 13th films, but it's a pretty terrible film nonetheless. 3/10

The Gorgon (1964) - Decent Hammer horror. The twist is a little bizarre and felt a bit unnecessary but it was enjoyable enough. 7/10

Murders in the Zoo (1932) - Had a double creature feature with my Dad for my birthday, with this being the first.  I'm partial to these classic era horrors, especially when watching with my father, as they're the types of films that got me into movies in the first place and he's the guy that got me into them.  At 63 minutes this is a brisk and fairly basic film.  Doesn't reach the heights of the best Lionel Atwell horrors of the era, but he and the rest of the cast are entertaining. Charles Ruggles is fun as the goofball as well.  I subtracted a point for its ugly pre-Jesse James use of animals. 6/10

It Came From Outer Space (1953) - Part 2 of the creature feature.  This Ray Bradbury written '50s Sci-Fi flick is one of the better of its era, although it doesn't quite reach the definitive heights of say The Day the Earth Stood Still, Forbidden Planet, or Invasion of the Body Snatchers.  It has a memorable, almost ghostly alien design and its exactly the type of feature I'd like to re-watch at a drive-in with a burger and shake.  7/10

Saturday Night Fever (1977) - The definitive disco movie.  It's a fairly interesting story about lower class young adults struggling to find solace outside of their dead-end lives, but as we all know its the soundtrack and Travolta's dancing that send this into the stratosphere. 7/10

Halloween (2018) - After hearing such good things about this during my little Michael Myers marathon, I can't help but admit that this left me disappointed.  The opening scene with the true crime podcasters at the asylum was a thrilling start, but the film, as vicious as it may be in its kills, just sort've falls into too familiar territory with Michael coming back to Haddonfield.  This is mid-tier Myers. 6/10

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) - Did I have a lot of the big reveals spoiled for me?  Yes, it was unavoidable really, but maybe that gave me the opportunity to really look into the film's story without being apart of the "event" feel of the movie.  And, well? I thought it was a drag.  I haven't hid the fact that I'm not really in love with the MCU and that I find the banter in these new Spidey films to be so mind-numblingly grating.  The first half hour leading up to Spidey visiting Strange felt so bloated and I think it could've been boiled down to 1-2 scenes tops.  I had a lot of problems with the script throughout, with the entirety of the film being avoidable had a short conversation occurred between Strange and Spidey.  If anything, this further solidified for me that there's no beating the Maguire/Raimi films.  The mid-credits scene got a laugh out of me though. 5/10

Murder Ahoy (1964) - The final Marple film starring Margaret Rutherford.  It's maybe a bit too heavy with the comedy and light with the mystery. Agatha Christie was reportedly unhappy with the series' portrayal of her character, and I can see why, but the film series overall is a lot of fun and Rutherford is so charming in the role.  7/10

Miss Chic
Wolfwalkers
The Walking Target
The Big Caper
Barnacle Bill
The Speed Reporter
Andaz Apna Apna
Spider's Web
Thieves' Highway
Return to Paradise

Although it's regarded as a minor Ealing comedy, Barnacle Bill is so lovely and quirky that it makes for a far from unworthy end to one of the greatest runs in British cinema.

Pickpocket (1959) - what I've seen of Bresson's filmography has been mind-numbingly boring and this was no exception 4/10

Pickup on South Street (1953) - The sexual chemistry between Peters and Widmark is explosive 8.5/10

Anastasia (1956) - What keeps it watchable is the trio of perfs from Bergman, Brynner and Hayes and the beautiful costumes and sets, but it's such a weird story and weirder still its romantic melodrama framing - 6/10

The Glenn Miller Story (1954) - hokey musical biopic about Glenn Miller directed by Anthony Mann. Feels like Capra-lite. Very cursory and basic stuff. James Stewart is wallpaper. June Allyson is the only high-point, and some of the musical numbers 5/10

The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965 REWATCH) - not as enamored as I was in in 2019 but the costumes, sets and cinematography are still breathtaking. Definitely the kind of film that would never get made nowadays. Big budget Hollywood production not short on spectacle but is also incredibly wordy and basically plotless. Very unique even for its time 7.5/10

Sweet Smell of Success. This one had the knives out and sharped, nothing left to the imagination, pretty bold considering what's on screen is how studios acted at the time, but what really makes it interesting all the way is the dialogue and electric one-liners, and the incredible atmosphere,  jazzy/smokey nights, luxurious hotels and chic clubs, all cliche elements of the genre but here gives a vouyeristic feeling to the whole thing, the J.J. Hunsecker introduction is one of the all-timers, for 20 minutes people talk about him, we hear his voice, builds and builds and when he finally appears on screen is as fascinating as it was promised.

Fear and Desire. Maybe is the baggage that comes with the impressive catalog Kubrick made afterwards but I'm surprised by the pretty low ratings everywhere... I thought it was fine, a little too fragmented probably because of budget reasons, and pretentious but I take it.

Tarahumara (Further and Further).  Won Fipresci at cannes 1965 over The Collector, Moment of Truth, Shop on Main Street, etc... I can see why critics thought they were doing the right, socially conscious thing but imo this one aged really bad. A city guy goes to a mexican town and feels guilty about indians being exploited by their bosses and wants to help and denounce the atrocities, narrow minded, academic, badly casted, although mexican landscapes rarely were filmed so beautiful in this era.

Time to Die. saw it was one of Mattsby favs from last month. Nice discovery. The director was 21 at the time, already a Buñuel pupil. This caught me a bit off guard because the work the director is most famous for is far more provocative and baroque. The simplicity with which he handles the material of highly regarded authors is impressive (for a first movie!, reminded me of Kaurismaki choosing Dostoevsky for his debut), there's plenty to like thematically, but one thing in particular I liked was the cyclical nature of things, there's a whole story we're not aware of but as the present story unfolds creates at the same time a parallel narrative and cleverly avoids the use of flashbacks.

The Outfit. A civilized reservoir dogs, boring, safe, dull...

Miss Oyu/Sansho the Bailiff. I think Mizoguchi just became my favourite japanese director of the 50s by merging masterfully what his compatriots were doing separately

The Naked Spur. A traveling chamber piece. Robert Ryan is sort of awesome here.

The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice. Slightly confliced about it because I don't think I've seen a funnier Ozu movie yet and stands out in particular because basically all of the characters are assholes, and his direction, as subtle as can be is probably the most playful I've seen from him, patiently crafts each perspective and yet by the end some character transformations I feel contradic the actions that came before, they give in way too easily. Beautiful cooking scene though, just not in this context. 

A.I. better not be one of them.

Might I ask you to check it out again sometime? The ending may look like schmaltz, but the content of it is really bleak as fuck if you think about it. And that's not some revisionist reading, the whole movie plays on that line.