What movies did you see last week? (8/29-9/4)

The Raid (2011) - Balls to the wall fun action film.  I was highly entertained the entire time. 8/10

Footlight Parade (1933) - I found it mostly middling, but Cagney's presence and that iconic waterfall sequence elevate this up a point. 7/10

Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island (1956) - Decent end to the trilogy, but it's probably my least favorite so far.  Some great fight scenes. 7/10

Performance (1970) - Some wild editing on display here and interesting themes, but it never really held me tight like I was hoping. 6/10

Spring in a Small Town (1948) - Really lovely slice of life film with a small but strong ensemble. 8/10

Elvis (2022) - Baz Luhrmann is really not for me. Butler was wonderful though, but like others have echoed, he felt like a supporting player in his own biopic until the midway point.  Hanks wasn't bad per say, but he wasn't exactly nuanced in any way.  A mustache twirling villain from start to finish, and with Butler's more realistic portrayal of Elvis, they didn't seem to mesh at all.  But I blame Luhrmann for that. His work is bombastic, so Hanks going for a heightened performance like that makes sense.  Best parts of the film were the comeback concert and Elvis's final days, but I really would've liked to have seen more on Elvis's career before and afterwards.  6/10

Sophie's Choice (1982) - Meryl is really wonderful here and Kline is pretty great too, but the film on a whole is a weird, boring film centered really on Peter MacNicol's character.  6/10

Goldfinger (1964) - Ok, this was a lot of fun (despite some era appropriate sexism here and there).  Never realized that a lot of classic Bond tropes come from this film.  Again, I'm not the biggest Bond fan but so far this is one of the best. 8/10

The Raid is a little too noticeably short on writing (which became more obvious on a second watch) but still it kicked ass. I hadn't seen anything like it before it came out at the time... 

Just first-seens.......

Me and My Gal (1932) Supremely charming pre-code from the genre-charting Raoul Walsh; Joan Bennett is heavenly funny and Spencer Tracy (not a fan am I) at his least dislikable. Again, Armond White’s review, which connects the movie to Altman, is on the level. 7.5

Kicking & Screaming (2005) Acerbic and very funny. Thorny themes, satirizing the taunt of the parent (the director’s father….is Bob Dylan), and the psychological transgressions of competition and coffee. (The hilarious rhyme of caffeine to Ferrell’s err forgives the negative portrayal of it.) 7.5

Gaslit (2022) “Ordinary cushions.” Finally finished, thanks to Tommen’s post. I’m stunned and fascinated by the amount of food focus in this; entire scenes are dedicated to rice bowls, cold pizza, hot sauce. Amusing and often well-written series of squirreled liability and DC types. Didn’t like the cheapie ending montage and title card business.

Funny Pages (2022) “Doormen have power. They have door power.” Here, the tri-state’s doors are jammed or cheaply locked, and the other sides behold only draggle and foul mentors. It has the cuticles of a 90s/00s künstlerroman; the Safdies (producers, script consultants) bring their 16mm style their dizzy kick to Owen Kline’s plewd debut. And having shot several years ago, it all sort of feels a little underground itself - undusted, film-school loose, balsamically funny. 7

The Trial of Vivienne Ware (1932) Only 55m. Whip pans galore. Lawn-sprinkling from a courtroom murder mystery, to the radio recaps and the hooked public… it has the pace of sportscasting! Inadvertently modern in its sped gratification and our rated intakes of scandal. 6

Can’t Hardly Wait (1998) Dumb teen-party fun somewhere between (thieving) American Graffiti and the Beers and Weirs ep of Freaks and Geeks. Absurd view on romantic fate and painfully awkward protagonist problem but enough of a jukebox high and Charlie Korsmo’s perf/arc which is the highlight (a mic drop role, he retired right after it). 6

The Yakuza (1974) Schrader-scripted for sure, it has his favorite motive thrust - better seen in Taxi Driver, Hardcore, etc. Pollack directs this like a man mid-yawn - there are bizarre montages and a general remove. Saved by an amazing climactic swordfight and a sudden depth between a soulful Mitchum and an intense Ken Takakura. 6 or so.

A Gambler’s Life: The Massacring Fudo (1969) Raizō Ishikawa’s last perf, ill while filming. The last shot is a beautiful send off with a very mattsby-style snowiness, but the movie before it is quite standard yakuza fare. 6

Hit and Run (1957) from Czech-born Hugo Haas, a rarely discussed figure of early American indies. He’s a little like Welles, self-financing, casting himself, etc. But that’s already too much praise. He mainly did noir retreads with sexed-up marketing. This is apparently one of his best but it’s badly dull all around. There’s an interesting twin twist but there’s no tension of it. 5