The Perfection (Richard Shepard, 2018): 2.5/5
More like THE FUN AND SUPER UNEXPECTED FIRST ACT THAT GIVES WAY TO AN HOUR OF PURE NONSENSE AND A NICE FINAL SHOT.
Shoplifters (Hirokazu Koreeda, 2018): 3.5/5
Koreeda’s films are like hugs until they punch you in the heart.
Medium Cool (Haskell Wexler, 1969): 2.5/5
Technically brilliant, though Wexler's lefty politics and a scattershot approach ensure incoherence. Probably the closest we've ever gotten to an American Godard film.
rewatched Lola Montes (Max Ophuls, 1955): 3.5/5
Lola Montes, Who Can Recall Her Past Lays.
One-Eyed Jacks (Marlon Brando, 1961): 3.5/5
Brando's one and only film as a director is as interesting as its troubled production. A fascinating blend of traditional movie production values and the more emotive, revisionist efficacy of the New Hollywood movement that began spurring into action around this time. The last ever film shot in VistaVision, it marks an intriguing crossover period between the two eras. And Brando's eye for detail and framing is superb, some of the shots look like something John Ford could have done and the gorgeous coastal California landscape is captured in all its rugged glory. The film's pungent overall, with enough signs of a controlling intelligence to make you wish that he'd directed more than one film.
The Changeling (Peter Medak, 1980): 2/5
Now I can finally stop mistaking this movie for Angelina Jolie's child abduction flick!
I, Daniel Blake (Ken Loach, 2016): 2.5/5
Good until that pronounced third-act nosedive. It's like someone accidentally pressed a button that switched on Shameless Hack Mode.
Trilogy of Terror (Dan Curtis, 1975): 2/5
Karen Black aside and her different wigs, the stories aren't all that interesting, except for the Zuni fetish doll segment of course.
Greta (Neil Jordan, 2018): 3/5
You've seen at least 95% of what follows Act One like, 195 times. Extra star for Isabelle Huppert. She can spit gum in my hair anytime.
Downhill Racer (Michael Ritchie, 1969): 1/5
This is maybe the thinnest New Hollywood anti-hero character study I've ever seen.
Darling (Micky Keating, 2015): 1.5/5
New Rule: if a young filmmaker wants to make a Polanski or Lynch riff, they should be required to submit a 2,000 word minimum essay explaining that they understand what makes those movies work.
Replicas (Jeffrey Nachmanoff, 2019): 1/5
“Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures” is what you call your distribution company when you want to launder money.
Destroyer (Karyn Kusama, 2018): 2.5/5
Nicole Kidman broods in THEY LIVE ghoul makeup and drives around sunburnt LA, trading contemptuous handjobs for intel and viciously pistol-whipping fools. Familiar pulp noir junk, but with a female antihero; it doesn't reinvent the wheel, but the novelty does add some interest.
The Happy Prince (Rupert Everett, 2018): 1/5
Oscar Wilde would have hated this.
The Children Are Watching Us (Vittorio De Sica, 1944): 2.5/5
The children are watching Kramer vs. Kramer only 35 years earlier. Early De Sica film is very domestic, middle-class, and not terribly involving. Made in the summer of 1942 months before the Americans invaded. You'd hardly know there was a war going on anywhere.
The Night Porter (Liliana Cavani, 1974): 2/5
Somehow got the impression many years ago that this is offensively salacious, but its provocation begins and ends at the logline. Mostly it's tastefully dull.
rewatched Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994): 5/5
You'd think having this memorized would rob it of its spontaneity.
Aladdin (Guy Ritchie, 2019): 2/5
Weird that Guy Ritchie watched the beloved 1992 Disney animated classic Aladdin and thought “you know what this needs?? A breakdancing scene, a love interest for the genie, and a really awful princess jasmine solo song”
My Winnipeg (Guy Maddin, 2007): 2.5/5
Absurd and wry. Takes about 20 minutes to kick in, or at least for the viewer to adjust to its unique presentation. I like the concept and certain individual plot points, but something about the film just didn't click or resonate with me. IDK maybe I'd like it more if I was Canadian.
