Two-Lane Blacktop (Monte Hellman, 1971): 1/5

Oh, it ends with the film burning, eh? How artistic and meaningful!!!!!

I entered with great expectations and found myself unable to grasp anything significant in the film's narrative, finding much of what is depicted on screen to be hollow, essentially senseless, donning a quiet and contemplative spirit that provides nothing for audiences to chew on. Deeply unsatisfying.

Thieves' Highway (Jules Dassin, 1949): 2.5/5
Or: THE APPLES OF WRATH

Given how much of this film is focused upon fruit (Golden Delicious apples), them driving, and then bargaining over a price for the fruit, I can't say this is my favorite Dassin film.

Gabriel Over the White House (Gregory La Cava, 1933): 2/5

This is one of the WEIRDEST movies I've ever seen. Its politics are a little... confused. To say the least. It's decidedly leftist in parts but also seems to endorse fascism at the hands of an FDR-like president who is inspired by a religious vision to enact a series of sweeping social reforms akin to The New Deal programs but much larger and far-reaching in scale.

The U.S. Library of Congress' comment: "The good news: he reduces unemployment, lifts the country out of the Depression, battles gangsters and Congress, and brings about world peace. The bad news: he's Mussolini."

rewatched The Conformist (Bertolucci, 1970): 2.5/5

Yeah yeah it's really beautiful, but I still don't like it. It appears that I am not a Conformist.

Dogfight (Nancy Savoca, 1991): 3/5

"I'm going to have the fucking poached salmon, with the son-of-a-bitching rice, and a dirty bastard salad with a shitload of Roquefort dressing. Thank you."

River Phoenix was the most handsome boy that ever lived, i don’t make the rules

Transit (Christian Petzold, 2018): 2/5

Another one I'll be revisiting (99.99% probability), hoping to get it this time. I found it to be largely banal apart from the film's conceit (a fascist takeover of France by an invading German army that continually plays like a period piece even though it's pointedly not); a conventional period version might well have put me to sleep. But I'll try again before the year is out.

Out of Sight (Steven Soderbergh, 1998): 3/5

Consistently above average and fun, though patently not one of the best films of its decade, as it's regularly described.

The Scarlet Empress (Josef von Sternberg, 1934): 3/5

There is no better case that God hates us than Sam Jaffe's face in this film (below). It is the over-the-top, unbearable embodiment of all that is wicked and evil in humankind and, though it's never not humorous, it's also never not totally sinister and unsettling and just as gothic and wretched as Sternberg's warped fairytale Russia.

Mogambo (John Ford, 1953): 2.5/5

MGM's 1953 remake of their 1932 effort Red Dust, also starring Gable. Both stories involve an exotic location where the resident white power figure (Gable) mistreats the affections of a woman of the world who then becomes stranded on his doorstep just as he starts up an affair with one of his employees virtuous wives. Victor Fleming is replaced by John Ford. Jean Harlow by Ava Gardner. Mary Astor is Grace Kelly. A French Indochina rubber plantation is now an African safari. I had to rewind this like 10 times because I swear Ava Gardner says, "A month ago i was buying a bra at Macy's and now I'm studying gorilla shit."Red Dust did an amazing job of creating a vivid world on MGM's studio 6, this does far less while shooting on location.

rewatched 8 1/2 (Federico Fellini, 1963): 2/5

Still something of a trial for me, especially the first hour with its parade of collaborators and sycophants and oh god then there's the clown musicians at the end. Also does very little for me as a portrait of creative paralysis. STANDARD DISCLAIMER FOR ITALIAN FILMS FROM THIS PERIOD: The post-synced dialogue drove me up the wall (I hadn't realized that Fellini actually sometimes had the actors speak random words, planning to invent lines for them later; that explains a lot), and may have hindered my appreciation more than is warranted.

The Beach Bum (Harmony Korine, 2019): 1.5/5

Korine’s sense of humor still hasn’t evolved past that of a third-grade boy who recently stumbled upon a porno magazine in his dad’s dresser drawer last week and won’t shut the fuck up about it. The only saving grace is morbid curiosity of which recognizable celebrity will show up next, then cringing at how utterly ridiculously their role is (winner: Christian-rock Zac Efron with George Foreman-grill sideburns and JNCO jeans).

rewatched Punch-Drunk Love (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2002): 5/5

I hate Adam Sandler for being so good in this but not making more movies like this. My favorite PTA film.

Hostiles (Scott Cooper, 2017): 3/5

Timothée Chalamet fuckin showed up outta nowhere in this but then I realize the movie's from 2017 - the Year of Chalamet.

rewatched Repo Man (Alex Cox, 1984): 3/5

Strictly speaking- beyond a mess. But its unique brand of punk drollery still gets me, and many of its ideas, like the generic labels, seem way ahead of their time.

rewatched Koyaanisqatsi (Godfrey Reggio, 1982): 4/5

Wow, Man The Despoiler shows up way earlier than I'd remembered—only 18 minutes in. I'd thought the nature-to-civilization ratio was more or less 1:1. Honestly, though, I can't say I much care what environmental/ecological/Hopi-ass thesis this film is trying to push, as the footage is so mesmerizing that it renders ideology irrelevant. Not everything compels though—some of the early nature footage just looks like typical establishing shots for an outdoor adventure, and I'm not convinced there's any purpose to repeated portraits in which the subjects stare impassively at the camera for an uncomfortably long time. Overall, though, it's a singular experience, and a welcome reminder of how enormous our tiny home in the universe can seem.

Ash is Purest White (Jia Zhangke, 2018): 3.5/5

"I thought you would be waiting for me."

"Am I that important?"

"If not you, then what is?"

Rural Chinese wait for the economic miracle to reach them. A miracle which must feel a lot like seeing a UFO race by high overhead in the night sky, impressive, glowing in the distance, but impossible to catch a ride on. An epic film that shows the journey of two people that are connected on a deep level but struggle to make things work throughout their life.

rewatched Safe (Todd Haynes, 1995): 4.5/5

This is Todd Haynes' second best film about a woman named Carol.

The Purge (James DeManaco, 2013): 1/5

"That was a cool opening. The rest of the movie should be good then, right?"

WRONG. SO WRONG.

THE MOVIE SUCKED.

A curious concept with poor execution that uses world-building merely as window dressing for a dime-a-dozen home invasion thriller.

rewatched Detour (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1945): 5/5

Deliciously nasty, style on a shoestring. Two idiots just smart enough to be a danger to each other. Distilled rotgut.

After (Jenny Gage, 2019): 1/5

I watched this on purpose bc i wanted a big laugh, but I have never felt less joy in my life than I did while watching this.

An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn (Jim Kosking, 2018): 1/5

I should start a list of films titled "Just Because You Can Doesn't Mean You Should."

The bastard child of Lanthimos and Alan Resnick, only dogshit. Underground comedy trends from eight years ago dragged from their graves without the heart, delivered by bored tv comedy stars from five years ago, with a terrible and derivative synthwave score since the synthwave score revival started.

Prophecy (John Frankenheimer, 1979): 1/5

Frankenheimer seemed an odd fit for a trashy creature feature which formed part of the late 1970's post-Jaws nature amok cycle of films. Here they throw in a giant, mutant, melting bear, a chainsaw vs axe fight, racoon-mayhem, deformed animals, problematic Native American mythology, a flying dog, a fish eating a duck, an exploding sleeping bag. Surprisingly boring.

Escape Room (Adam Robitel, 2019): 1.5/5

"Hey, is that a clue?" -Everyone.

Once Upon A Time in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino, 2019): 3.5/5

For a film with a murderous cult looming in the corners, this is surprisingly Tarantino's most pleasant film. It's a love letter to film, to studios, to critics, but perhaps most importantly to America. Tarantino gave us something our collective soul has always wanted, for Sharon Tate to not have been murdered. Not only does he give us that, he gives us her living happily ever after. I think the choice to limit Sharon's character to physical grace and joy, with simple but sweet dialogue was a beautiful touch. Not forcing her to be the fulcrum of what inevitably is her story. Many will probably be disappointed by the lack of momentum, tension, narrative complexity, or sharp structure and pacing, but for me the performances are fantastic across the board, the production design is immersive, and we see get to see Tarantino operating in a relatively new mode. I see why many would walk away disappointed, but even though it's far from my favorite film of his, I was still captivated from start to finish.