What movies did you see last week? (2/19-2/25)

It's remarkable how Joe Wright, who is usually very visually compelling even if I think he's kinda shitty at coaxing good performances out of his actors, managed to stifle Delbonnel here. There were some pretty inspired moments, but as someone who is a pretty big fan of Bruno, it's one of his weaker servings and I almost entirely lay the blame on Wright.

Both Oldman and Delbonnel did their best, but I feel both of them were hamstrung at every opportunity. Oldman's makeup was far too distracting/unrealistic at times for me to buy him as Churchill, and he had to work with one of the weakest scripts in recent memory. Fuck Anthony "I'll Make Abi Morgan Look Like Mamet" McCarten.

Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)- 7/10
Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)- 7.5/10
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)- 8/10
Wonder Wheel (2017)- 5.5/10
The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)- 7.5/10

The Post - sooo boring 3/10

Annihilation - I liked it quite a bit. The last 20 minutes were especially great. 7.5/10

Castle in the Sky - It's hard to describe exactly what didn't work for me here. It just lacked the "magic" of some of Miyazaki's other work (and I've still seen very few). Maybe I'll like it more on a rewatch some day, but for now 5/10

Escape from New York (1981)- Excellent Carpenter actionier. Edited and paced to perfection, and Kurt Russell plays one of the most iconic cinematic badasses of all time in Snake Plissken. Character actor maestros Donald Pleasance and Harry Dean Stanton also provide top-notch supporting performances. Lean, terrific popcorn entertainment, but also politically sound and relevant, working as a biting satire of the prison-industrial complex. 8/10

Frontier(s) (2007)- Out of the handful of New French Extremity films I've seen thus far, this is definitely the weakest and most unremarkable. Very muddled and poorly filmed, and the story is derivative of many other slasher films/torture porns out there. Didn't know it was possible to make cannibalistic Nazi farmers a boring concept in horror, but this movie pulled it off. 4/10

Chungking Express (1994)- Wong Kar Wai's masterpiece. A beguiling and enchanting rumination on the beautifully confusing- and fleeting -nature of love. I love the way Wai (heh) handles his characters- they're all very unique and quirky, yet they feel entirely believable and lived-in. The film isn't very subtle, but frankly it wouldn't operate as well if it were. This is joyous, exuberant, dynamite filmmaking that I fell head-over-heels for. 9/10

Fallen Angels (1995)- My love for Chungking Express motivated me to immediately check out Wai's follow-up to it, which was originally written to be a segment within that film. As a result of this, Fallen Angels does feel stretched-out and a bit ponderous, but is nonetheless another bold piece of cinema from Wai. This might just be the most stylistic movie I've ever seen- quick-pans, dutch angles, zooms, slo-mo, time lapses, and numerous uses of fish-eye lenses all make up the presentation of this wild thing- there's hardly a static shot to be found here. And while I was impressed by it's seemingly unending dynamism and camera tricks it had up its sleeve, I wasn't nearly as invested with the story or characters in this film as I was with Chungking. Lightning in a bottle is near-impossible to capture twice, I suppose. Still plenty to like here. 7.5/10

Black Christmas (1974)- A foundational horror film which paved the way for the likes of Halloween and Friday the 13th, this early-70s slasher holds up very well on its own. Loved the way director Bob Clark and cinematographer Reginald Morris shot this, turning the usually boisterous setting of a sorority house around the holidays into a deceptively claustrophobic and nightmarish maze with danger lurking within its shadows and corridors. It's legitimately tense and frightening, with POV shots smartly utilized to bring the faceless killer to life. The only major problem I have with the movie is that the main character is a pretty bland and two-dimensional "final girl" trope (though this was admittedly long before that trope became overused). You definitely don't feel the same level of concern for her that you do, say, Laurie Strode. 7.5-8/10

Game Night (2018)- My feelings towards this are kinda weird. On one hand, it's one of the most remarkably well-made major-studio comedies to come along in quite some time, with surprisingly impressive cinematography and a story that's, a least for a good chunk of the runtime, legitimately investing. The problem is I didn't find much of it funny. LOTS of the dialogue feels like the typical light-improv that has become all too common in star-studded Hollywood comedies these days. The only actor who's truly given a chance to shine is Jesse Plemons, who continues to prove he's one of the best and most versatile of his generation. Bateman and McAdams are fine but unremarkable, and most of the supporting cast is tossed by the wayside and given such poor material to work with. HOWEVER, the end credits are hilarious and inspired as fuck. Think The Hangover but better. 6-6.5/10

Hot Shots Part Deux!
Crazy, Stupid, Love
Jackie Brown
Doubt
Ocean's 11
Detroit (re-watch)