Post by darksidebeadle on Sept 25, 2022 20:52:33 GMT
Hello again!
Yours:
Killer’s Kiss (1955, Stanley Kubrick)
I've never been truly able to get into this one. I love most of Kubrick's early work (The Killing, Paths of Glory and such) but this one is just alright to me. 6/10
Austin Powers: International Man of mystery (1997, Jay Roach)
I think it holds up surprisingly well and is still quite funny. 7/10
Austin Powers: the spy who shagged me (1999, Jay Roach)
I cannot say the same for this one. 5/10
Mine:
Party Girl (Nicholas Ray, 1958)
Another noir from Nicholas Ray, this time in color and interestingly with several musical numbers. While its focus is on a defense attorney who is tied with the mob, there are several well choreographed and extend scenes in a night club that show off the use of color. It's not the best noir, and honestly the plot is a touch generic, but it makes up for it with good performances and amazing use of color. 7/10
Un Flic (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1972)
Melville's last film and while it is not bad it is rather disappointing given how much I've liked the other Melville films I've seen. The heist scenes are excellent, but given that title translates in English to "A Cop" its rather surprising that the cop of the title isn't that interesting of a character. 6/10
Variety Lights (Federico Fellini and Alberto Lattuada, 1950)
The first film Fellini worked on as a director (though he had a co-director), the film follows a lot of the Italian Realism features of the 40s and 50s. It follows a third rate theater troupe and the manager who falls for his new hire. Aspects of it are wonderful, but it did not grab me like some of Fellini's later works. 7/10
The Witches of Eastwick (George Miller, 1987)
Eh, wasn't a fan of this. It has some nice special effects for 87, but honestly, other than Nicholson's performance, there just doesn't feel like much here. He gives it his all and keeps the movie watchable, but even with that, it's nothing I'd ever watch again. 5/10
Love and Leashes (Hyeon-jin Park, 2022)
The anti-Fifty Shades of Gray, in that it shows a sane relationship, and not the terrifyingly toxic horror show that the other presents. Very funny and surprisingly sweet. 8/10
Slender Man (Sylvain White, 2018)
Poor Slender Man. You were set up to become the next great boogyman. You were an internet legend, and then within the space of a year, you had a novel and a movie come out about you… well, the novel was a disappointment to say the least and the movie is one of the worst horror films to come out in a long time. Sorry Slendy, I guess it's just not meant to be. 1/10
Yakuza Law (Teruo Ishii, 1969)
Three yakuza stories all taking place in different eras with a focus on punishments. It's highly graphic material (some of the special effects are laughable, but others are realistic enough to cause me to cringe a few times. Of the stories I found the second, about a yakuza who gets out of prison only to find out that his group has abandoned him, to be the best. 6/10
3:10 to Yuma (Delmer Daves, 1957)
Classic western with a wonderful duel of wills amongst our two leads. I liked how empty and hopeless it feels at times. I honestly wasn't a big fan of the conclusion, but until that it's a nice darker classic western. 7/10
Contempt (Jean-Luc Godard, 1963)
An interesting film from Godard that's much more straight forward than most of his works I've seen. It follows a couple whose relationship is falling apart while the husband works with an American producer and Fritz Lang (playing himself) making an adaptation of the Odyssey. I love how the film delves into lack of communication, both from the husband and wife, and through the film (with the writer speaking French, the producer English and Lang altering between English and German frequently). 8/10
Drive My Car (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, 2021)
I blind bought this one when Barnes and Noble had their Criterion sale based entirely on the facts that it was the most recent winner at the Academy Awards for best foreign language film and it's Japanese (and I collect Japanese films). I knew nothing of the plot, have never seen the director's other works and all around went in blind… and totally did not realize the movie was three hours long. All that said, I loved this… a lot. Honestly it's currently my favorite film of 2021. I can certainly see where a lot of people would not like it (it's fairly slow moving and a movie where if you don't care for the beautiful shots and pay attention to how the actors perform, you likely won't care for it) but I found myself engrossed and did not feel the runtime at all. A rare 10/10
Soul (Pete Docter and Kemp Powers, 2020)
Get ready for another edition of Soggy has an unpopular opinion. I did not car for this Pixar movie. It's… alright, but I do not get the praise, and I prefer any of their other (other than the Cars movie) to it. It didn't have the emotional punch I expect from their work, and much of the humor did not work for me. Animation is great as usual, but found it rather unsatisfying. 5/10
Un Flic - I liked it more than you. 7.5
witches of eastwick - not a fan either 4.5
3:10 to Yuma - I’m a fan, love the black and white. In my top 20 westerns 7.5
contempt - not a fan of the director, didn’t like this one, not even sure I finished
drive my car - a bit overhyped, far better films from last year, it was fine. 6-6.5
Soul - popular opinion incoming. Great stuff and one of the better Pixar films of recent years 7/10