What classics did you see last week? (10/26-11/1)
Please tell us what classics you saw last week. Modern films are welcome, as well.
If I die, I'm gonna die historic on the Fury Road.
Oct. 26
76. Kalifnornia (Dominic Sena, 1993) (second viewing) - I remember this being an excellent thriller but haven't seen it since around the time it was released. For a while, I was a little anxious that I had massively misjudged it - I was only 14 or 15, after all, when I last saw it. Brad Pitt and Juliette Lewis feel a little over-the-top, and David Duchovny and Michelle Forbes feel a little bland. Duchovny's voice-over readings are particularly weak, especially at the start. But when it gets going, it is really a fine thriller. The story is about two snobbish artists (Duchovny and Forbes) who carpool across the country with two rednecks (Pitt and Lewis). Duchovny and Forbes are working on a book about serial killers. Pitt is one. Lewis in particular is fantastic. This might be her best performance. This was really the first movie where Pitt showed what he could do. He is truly chilling. 8/10 (from 9/10).
Oct. 27
77. Trick 'r Treat (Michael Doughtery, 2007) (fourth viewing) - This one has become a seasonal classic, and I tend to like it more every time I see it. The script is quite clever, and there are actually some scary moments. But, most of all, it's just a ton of fun. 9/10 (from 8/10).
78. Hellbound: Hellraiser II (Tony Randel, 1988) - Eh, why the Hell not? I found the first (of many, many) sequels to Hellraiser to be about as good as the original. You get to spend more time in Hell, so that was fun. Much like the first one, the script here is almost completely nonsensical. What makes it worthwhile is the images. Lots of cool stuff to see, with plenty of good practical effects. 7/10.
Oct. 28
79. Planet of the Vampires (Mario Bava, 1965) - Groovy '60s sci-fi that kind of made me wish Bava had tackled the genre more often. This is far from perfect and maybe a little slow moving, but it's so damn cool to look at, with sets and costumes that rival Barbarella. Barry Sullivan plays the captain of a spaceship that is responding to a distress signal on an uncharted planet. When they arrive, they are pulled down toward the surface by a great burst of gravity. There they face grave dangers at every turn. No, there are no vampires, exactly (that's just the English title), but something quite terrifying. 7/10.
Oct. 29
80. King Kong vs. Godzilla (Ishiro Honda, 1962) - A fairly typicaly kaiju flick: it's fun when the monsters are fighting, but it's boring when the people are talking. The inclusion of American monster King Kong makes it more interesting than many in the genre, and I love the nods to the original film, but, man, does Kong look like crap. Kong is actually kind of a wuss here - luckily electricity makes him strong (for some reason)! 6/10.
81. Gojira (Ishiro Honda, 1954) (second viewing) - It's always shocking how deadly serious the original Gojira is compared to what followed. It's hard to believe Ishiro Honda directed King Kong vs. Godzilla a mere eight years later. I personally don't think the original is any kind of masterpiece, but it's definitely a good film. This is probably the only kaiju movie where the human characters trump the monster (Pacific Rim may come close). Godzilla looks a little silly up close, but he's a great force of nature, and his destruction is palpable. Takashi Shimura adds a nice bit of gravitas to the proceedings, but Momoko Kochi and Akihiko Hirata are both very good, too. The movie could really use a bit of adrenaline, or at least one more destruction sequence. 7/10 (from 6/10).
82. The Creature from the Black Lagoon (Jack Arnold, 1954) (second viewing) - I didn't particularly like this the first time I saw it, and, unfortunately, a second viewing led me to much the same conclusion: great monster, mediocre movie. The underwater photography is, of course, great (though I'm guessing the Amazon would not be nearly so clear as we see here), and Julie Adams is pretty. The story is just too straightforward, though, and the loud musical score bugs me as much as any modern day horror sting-heavy score does. 6/10.
Oct. 30
83. The Nanny (Seth Holt, 1965) - Kind of follows in the footsteps of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte, though perhaps it isn't as much a horror movie as those two. It does feature a good, unhinged Bette Davis performance, though. It's a neat little thriller that has a wonderful build to the reveal. Davis plays a nanny (named Nanny, I think?) who cares for a little boy (William Dix) who may be a psycho. He supposedly caused his little sister's death, and he's now home from a stay at a mental hospital. He claims Davis was responsible, but no one would believe him. Davis is very good in the movie, but Dix is the star here. He's perfect: he IS a brat, and it's totally believable that he's a burgeoning pyschopath. Wendy Craig and Jill Bennett are both very good as Dix's mother and aunt respectively, and Pamela Franklin (of The Innocents and The Legend of Hell House) has an awesome '60s hairdo as the teenage girl who lives upstairs. There are a few weaknesses in the script, but overall it's an excellent little thriller. 8/10.
84. The Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935) (second viewing) - Often thought of as the best Universal horror movie. I don't agree, but it's a lot of fun. It walks a weird line between horror and horror comedy. The biggest comic element, Una O'Connor, grows more than a little tiresome as the film goes on. The funniest sequence is the intro with Lord Byron, Percy and Mary Shelley (Elsa Lanchester, of course, plays both Mary Shelley and the Bride). The best thing about this one is the production design. It looks so great, even better than the original Frankenstein. The cinematography is also beautiful. A keeper, for sure. 8/10.
85. Witching and Bitching (Alex de Iglesia, 2013) - A group of bank robbers stop in a town full of witches while trying to flee the police. What a cinematic headache-inducer. Oh, how I hated this. It is somewhat original, I have to admit (though the plot reminds me of From Dusk to Dawn), but the obnoxious editing and flashy visual style remind me nothing so much as a Michael Bay flick. I'm pretty sure it's super sexist, as well, but after ten minutes of getting my mind raped by the constant cutting, my brain is too scrambled to delve into the politics too deeply. It has a couple of worthy elements, notably Carolina Bang, who is very beautiful, and Macarena Gomez, whose eyes are awesome (you may remember her from Stuart Gordon's underrated Dagon). Carmen Maura, who starred in many of Pedro Almodovar's films, also co-stars. The actual protagonist, Hugo Silva, is so unlikable I stopped caring about him the instant he appeared on screen. I'm definitely crossing Alex de Iglesia off the list of directors whose films I'll ever watch again. This is too much of a disaster to ever bother. 3/10.
86. Kotoko (Shinya Tsukamoto, 2011) - Okinawan folk singer Cocco stars as Kotoko, a young, single mother who is losing her mind. Every thing and person she sees feels like a threat to her and to her infant son. At times, she imagines that, for example, she has dropped her son off a balcony, and her imagination becomes, for her, real. In no way is she fit to take care of her son. This becomes evident to the authorities, who eventually give custody of him to her sister. This leads her into an even deeper depression. This is briefly mitigated by a stranger she meets on the bus (director Shinya Tsukamoto himself), but their relationship isn't especially healthy, either. Tsukamoto throws the audience deep into the central character's mind: we are never sure if what we are seeing is real or a hallucination. Just like Kotoko. It is horrifying, and the film is deeply moving as a result. Cocco and Tsukamoto, who were involved at the time, created this film together, and it has an intimate, handmade feeling (the digital photography, captured on a cheap camera, enhances that). A near great film. Too bad it never got released in the US. I'd love to own it. 8/10.
87. Tremors II: Aftershocks (S.S. Wilson, 1996) - Every October, I try to let my movie watching buddy choose at least one or two horror movies. It's only fair, seeing as I choose a good 90% of the movies we watch together. I need to start being even more selfish than usual, since his choices always tend to be among the worst films I see each October. His previous choice this year was The Coffin of the Vampire. He wanted to watch Tremors V. After Coffin of the Vampire, I thought maybe Tremors V would have been the right choice. His second choice was Tremors II, since he downloaded the entire series. I was pushing for Tremors I, since it's quality is known. It is a very good horror movie indeed, but, honestly, was there any reason I ever would want to see the Graboids again? They are fun monsters, but kind of limited. Well, they attempt to add something to them this time by giving them offspring which walk above ground. These baby Graboids aren't too bad, but they're not very interesting either. As for the rest of the film, like most DTV horror movies, it's more of the same with less money. Kevin Bacon is gone, leaving Fred Ward in charge. Poor Fred Ward. He's an actor who deserves so much more than to star in DTV Tremors sequels. Michael Gross is the only other returning character (the fans loved the gun nuts, but Reba's gotta tour!). Ward and Gross are joined by Kirk Cameron lookalike Chris Gartin and Helen Shaver. The movie's boring as all Hell and completely forgettable. 3/10.
88. Cat People (Jacques Tourneur, 1942) (multiple viewings) - What would October be without Val Lewton? Cat people remains wonderful: beautiful, smart, and deeply tragic. Simone Simon is so lovely and touching in it. A masterpiece. 10/10.
Oct. 31
89. The Tomb of Ligeia (Roger Corman, 1964) - The last of Roger Corman's 8 Edgar Allen Poe movies, and one of the best. Vincent Price mourns the death of his young wife Ligeia, even into his second marriage. Elizabeth Shepherd plays both Ligeia and Rowena, the second wife. She loves Price, but she's not too fond of sharing him with a dead woman. Eventually, Ligeia starts haunting the couple more literally. The production is beautiful, and the film is quite eerie throughout. Both Price and Shepherd are excellent. 8/10.
90. The Invisible Ray (Lamber Hillyer, 1936) (third viewing) - The third pairing of Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. Karloff is the star as a scientist who discovers a new element from space, Radium-X, which is powerful enough to cure blindness. It also carries a powerful radiation which drives its discoverer insane and makes him glow in the dark. Lugosi plays Karloff's colleague. When Lugosi and some other colleagues return to society before Karloff to use Radium-X for good, Karloff feels jilted and comes after them to get his revenge. Frances Drake is very pretty as Karloff's wife. A lot of fun. 8/10.
91. Seven Footprints to Satan (Benjamin Christensen, 1929) - Creighton Hale (The Cat and the Canary) and Thelma Todd (Horse Feathers) star is this silent old dark house movie. This one is utterly bizarre, just tons of weird stuff going on. It's silly, but a lot of fun. Hale plays a young millionaire and Todd his girlfriend. Both are kidnapped from a benefit gala and taken to a weird house full of weird people. It's a cult dedicated to a man in an executioner mask called Satan, and the heroes must fight for their survival. Dwarf Angelo Rossitto, whom you might remember as the cup-bearer during the infamous "Gooba Gobba" sequence in Freaks, pops out of the walls every once in a while. This can be watched on Youtube. 7/10.
92. Häxan (Benjamin Christensen, 1922) (multiple viewings) - This is probably my favorite silent horror film. Every minute brings around a new, remarkable image. It's creepy, delighting in its depictions of crazy witchcraft rituals, but it's also well aware that all of that stuff was bullcrap and does a good job, as a documentary, explaining the atmosphere of the times and how those attitudes have descended into modern times (modern times for this film being when my great grandfather was a child). I could probably do without the first chapter, which shows a host of Medieval depictions of Hell and witchcraft, as well as tangents on depictions of how they viewed the universe, but they are definitely of historical interest. 10/10.
93. Mimic (Guillermo del Toro, 1997) - Surprisingly good, given its reputation. Sure, it's obviously a knock-off of Alien and, among Guillermo del Toro's films, it doesn't feel very distinctive. Still, it's actually kind of scary and it has good monsters. Mira Sorvino stars as an insect expert who helps breed a race of cockroaches meant to wipe out a disease-spreading species. They were supposed to die out after the work was done, but they survived and evolved at an alarming rate, and now they're gigantic and have the ability to mimic human beings. Alexander Goodwin, Charles S. Dutton and Giancarlo Giannini are among the actors who accompany her down into the subways of New York City to discover what's up with these super bugs. I love the setting of this film. Very creepy! Personally, if I were del Toro I would have ditched the whole autistic kid plotline. He along with his grandfather (Giannini) are too much a pathetic attempt to recreate the magic of Cronos, and it doesn't work. It's never believable the kid would survive for several days alone with the bugs. 7/10.
94. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Ana Lily Amirpour, 2014) - A gorgeous bore. Way too bad, because I was totally rooting for it: a foreign language film shot in black and white, directed by a non-white woman, made in the United States. It's exactly the kind of diversity American cinema is sorely lacking. I do think Ana Lily Amirpour shows talent, but this is an extremely substanceless film. Part of me thinks Amirpour is more suited for music videos or perfume commercials, but I'm still interested in seeing her next movie. The very thin story concerns a vampire girl (Sheila Vand) who has a semi-romantic relationship with a handsome drug dealer (Arash Marandi). The cinematography is truly a treat (certainly top 5 of the year), but it only sustained my interest for so long. 6/10.
95. Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary (Guy Maddin, 2002) (second viewing) - A version of Bram Stoker's novel that is both a silent film and a ballet. You probably couldn't follow the story if you don't know it already, but, then, who doesn't know this story? The film is beautiful. Maddin's editing techniques aren't great for ballet, but ballet is great for Maddin, heightening his trademark melodrama nicely. 8/10 (from 9/10).
96. The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973) - Let's call it an October with one of the few truly scary movies ever made. Haven't seen it in eight or nine years. I had forgotten how much stuff there is outside of the Regan scenes, but almost all of it works (I might have excised the opening sequence and perhaps the Lee J. Cobb character, but neither of those elements really harms the film). I like the first few possession bits best, but I also think it manages to stay just this side of overblowing it (thank God they removed the crabwalk - I watched the original cut, of course). One great bit I had forgotten: when Burstyn goes into the attic, there's a shot of Regan's face that's just marvelous - at this point she doesn't want to let on to her mother just how afraid she is, but, when her mother isn't looking, her eyes say it all. Really justifies the praise for Linda Blair's outstanding performance (though credit should certainly be given to Mercedes McCambridge, who provides the voice of possessed Regan). 10/10.
The Martian (Ridley Scott, 2015) - Tremendous! It's nice to see a sci-fi movie about smart people using their wits to solve seemingly insurmountable problems. While it doesn't get super deep into the science and math (I hear the novel goes far deeper), it celebrates it in such a way that it may inspire its younger viewers to learn. There haven't been many other movies made about which you can say that! It's not much of an actors' movie, but Matt Damon is excellent in the lead, an American astronaut stranded on Mars. Many other recognizable actors provide ample support: Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kate Mara, Michael Pena, Donald Glover and Kristen Wiig among them. 9/10. YES.
If I die, I'm gonna die historic on the Fury Road.