[CLOSED] Which films did you see last week? (063024-070624)

None of yours this week. Need to check out The Mission at some point.

Mine:

First time views:

Jack Frost (Michael Cooney, 1997)

I remember seeing this movie in video stores all the time as a kid. I know realistically I only saw the box a few times, but frankly in my child mind it was always there. It made that much of an impact on me. It was a VHS holographic cover, with a snowman that when you moved he grew teeth and looked ready to attack. I remember playing with the cover, knowing it was forbidden to actually watch it and wondering the entire time what horrors that snowman was going to cause. Now over 20 years later I’ve finally found out... The snowman moves more on the cover of the movie than he does in the entire film. It's clear this was extremely low budget and they work with what the can. It fortunately does not take itself seriously at all. It's never "scary" but often extremely goofy... and yes, we do get snowman puns, which is very important. Is it good by any "proper" standards? No. Did I enjoy it? Oh hell yes. I cannot honestly say that I love this one, but there was a sense of nostalgia for me, despite never having seen it, finally watching a movie that lived rent free in childhood SOG's brain. 6/10

Light Sleeper (Paul Schrader, 1992)

Oh, look, it's a guy feeling guilt, writing in a journal and wondering if he's going to have redemption or a downward spiral... that's right, it's week fifteen in my Paul Schrader examination! Light Sleeper follows many of Schrader's favorite tropes (as mentioned above) and feels like it sits nicely with Taxi Driver his other "New York" films. This time our character is a drug dealer though who would like to get out, but can't seem to quite save up enough. He seems to be hoping that his main contact who claims she is going straight will invite him into the new business, but can't quite bring himself to ask. While this is all familiar territory, Schrader is frankly good with these types of stories. What makes in one of the better ones is the lead performance by Willem Dafoe who manages to bring a heightened sense of hopelessness that Schrader seems to always want from his leads but does not always get across. Every time Dafoe looks towards the light, it seemingly hurts his eyes. It's a wonderful performance and makes a good film much better. 8/10

The Hustler (Robert Rossen, 1961)

Classic film with good reason. I don’t love it as much as some do, but I did enjoy it and think it has some great performances. 8/10

Abashiri Prison 2 (Teruo Ishii, 1965)

You may notice if you look at Ishii’s first Abashiri Prison film and this one that they both came out the same year. To say this was a rushed production would one of the biggest understatements I could make about the film. Apparently Ishii somehow managed to write the script for this one in just seven days and then shoot the film in two weeks so that they could get it out as fast as possible after the massive success of the first film. As impressive of a feat as that sounds, it no doubt was made easier by throwing out pretty much everything that made the first film unique and just doing something completely different. Gone is the entire prison element and the black and white gritty atmosphere. Instead, we have a diamond heist and comedic moments. Disappointing. 4/10

The Playgirls and the Vampire (Piero Regnoli, 1960)

Five showgirls are trapped by a storm and find refuge in your standard creepy old castle in this Italian horror movie. There’s some fun to be had here, with some nice gothic atmosphere, but it’s a bit too goofy and doesn’t really work that well. 5/10

Love's Labour's Lost (Kenneth Branagh, 2000)

Kenneth Branagh’s less than Stellar take on one of Shakespeare’s funnier (in my opinion) plays in which he decides to remove about 2/3s of the dialogue in favorite of turning it into a musical. The play is still funny, but the movie is a mess. 4/10

Bottle Rocket (Wes Anderson, 1996)

Anderson's first film is very much a Wes Anderson-lite. He had not yet found his trademark visual style and his pacing here definitely feels a bit off. It feels like he's very much in the learning process; that said we do get his trademark music choices and characters certainly dress like they are in a Wes Anderson movie. His deadpan sense of humor is also there. Overall I liked the movie. It's more interesting to see the director's start than an actual "good" movie, but I confess I did laugh several times during it. Honestly, Its a funnier movie than some of his later films, just not as skillfully made. After watching this, I'd like to see him do another crime comedy with his current abilities. 7/10

Shanghai Triad (Yimou Zhang, 1995)

I’m not as enamored with it as some people are (I know a lot of my friends think this is Zhang’s best, and I have to strongly disagree) but I liked it. It was actually a movie I like better though after I finished it than I enjoyed actually watching it. It’s an interesting film to think about and appreciate details of, but there were moments that are better I think in concept than execution. 7/10

Babylon (Damien Chazelle, 2022)

I love movies about Hollywood. I truly love seeing fictional behind the scenes. I delight seeing the excess... and man this movie pretty much gave me everything I could have asked for and more. I get why some people have issues with the runtime and some of the humor, but frankly it could have been longer and I still would have been all about it. I confess that the humor was hit or miss (when we started the movie with elephant crap I really figured I was not in for a good time) but much to my delight it did hit more often for me than not. Also, never thought I would say this, but Tobey Maguire can be genuinely terrifying. 9/10

Cry-Baby (John Waters, 1990)

Been a while since I’ve seen a John Waters movie. This is probably his biggest attempt at making a mainstream film, made by a large studio and keeping his trademark weird characters and shocking moments down, though still not removing them because, well, it’s a John Waters film damn it. He pretty much does a Grease style film here, but with tongue firmly in cheek, knowing full well how ridiculous the nostalgia he’s presenting here is. It’s a film he clearly is having a lot of fun with and is exactly the sort of thing would expect from a “toned down” John Waters. It has some amusing moments, but it’s a bit too cartoony in its humor. Frankly I find Waters works better when he’s allowed to not only go crazy on screen, but is making it guerrilla style. 6/10

The Whole Town's Talking (John Ford, 1935)

An okay comedy, though it really only has one joke. Edward G. Robinson plays an accountant who is mistaken for a gangster. Given Robinson’s reputation, it’s a pretty good joke, but the film just keeps repeating it as that’s all it really has. Interesting to see John Ford of all people direct a comedy though. 5/10

Notorious (Alfred Hitchcock, 1946)

Not one of my favorite Hitchcock films. Felt very by the book for him without as many truly memorable scenes. Wasn’t bad at all, and the final few minutes really are spectacular, but I expect more standout moments from him and was a bit disappointed in the regard. Still a solid film. 7/10

Abashiri Prison 3 (Teruo Ishii, 1965)

Other than the continuity issue that they seemed to forget that our lead had a sister, and the rather uncomfortable kid in black face because apparently there were no black kid actors they could locate, I enjoyed this film. It’s not as good as the first, but it is way better than the second. While the prison is again left behind, this one feels more like the story of a man who just got out, thus making it feel more like a proper sequel than the second (it also has flashbacks to his time there as well). 7/10

The Last Wave (Peter Weir, 1977)

I know some people really like this one, but I found it a tedious slog. I “get” the film, I just don’t care for it in execution. 3/10

Endless Desire (Shôhei Imamura, 1958)

Five people meet up at a train station. They know each other in theory, but they are not exactly who each one is expecting. Years ago during the war, they stashed something and know they can make a huge profit now, but times have changed and the landscape with it. Their loot is under a butcher's shop. They rent another building to make a tunnel. The film operates as an extremely dark comedy about what happens when these criminals with very different perspectives are stuck working together. Each has their own methods and each is looking out only for themselves. It is a pretty good little movie and shows Imamura's skill during his early career with some claustrophobic sets. Worth a look. 7/10

Rewatch:

X (Ti West, 2022)
Pearl (Ti West, 2022)

Watched this both in preparation of seeing Maxxxine Sunday. I enjoyed both a great deal the first time and just as much on a rewatch. Of the two I prefer Pearl with its more serious tone, whereas X's grindhouse aesthetic and plot make it more of a "fun" film, but not quite as good. Both still get an 8/10

Lady In Cement (1968) - 5/10
Hello Again (1987) - 5/10

Of yours;
From the Hip - 8/10
Brenda Starr - 5/10

Previous Week;
Ghost Fever (1987) - 4/10 Repeat
Destry Rides Again (1939) - 7/10
Romancing the Stone (1984) - 7/10

Of yours;
Just Before Dawn - 8/10
This film has really grown on me over the years. I think I built up my expectations a little too high when I first saw it. But now, after a few repeat viewings. It just clicks. While it doesn’t break the standard slasher mould of those backwoods horror. Well, possibly the final girl transformation being the exception. Still it’s very well-made, and acted. Great use of locations, and alienating atmospherics. And Brad Fiedel’s understated, yet unsettling music score is so on key.

I did type reviews (for the first four titles) but for some reason the screen refreshed on me, and everything was wiped. And I wasn’t in mood to do it all again

Django Unchained (2012, Quentin Tarantino) - 8/10
The last QT movie that I really enjoyed. The shootout scene towards the end is one of my favourite shootouts in all of cinema.

As you can see from my ratings, the original trilogy are all pretty much even for me, but Return of the Jedi has actually always been my favorite. I love the whole thing obviously, but the stuff with Luke, Vader, and the Emperor are what pushes it past the first two for me.

Just curious, do you not rate anything 10/10? You said Titanic and Revenge of the Sith are both in your top 10, but rate them 9.5/10

Haven't watched any of those.