have not seen any of yours, but science of sleep is one i want to catch at some point.
modern times (1936) 4.5/5 chaplin's tramp struggles to make a go in the industrializing 30s. ellen could have done a lot better for herself imo.
i did find some spots in the first third or so a bit of a slog to get through, but it's enormously entertaining in the final hour.
jaws (1975) 5 somehow i made it to 49 years of age without seeing jaws in full. i know i picked up bits & pieces here & there over the years - i have a very distinct memory of seeing richard dreyfuss pick that license plate out of that shark's stomach when i was a kid - but today was my first viewing.
pretty much a perfect film. interesting to see how spielberg was relatively lean here, with very little of the overblown emotional manipulation that i think really taints a lot of what he's done.
altar (2017) 3 surprisingly good no-budget found footage. a bit shakey in its ending, but by the standards of cut-rate horror i've found on tubi-tv, this is one of the more pleasant surprises i've stumbled upon. reasonably well acted, genuinely creepy at times, pretty well made, & (surprising for found footage film) does not go over-board on the jittery camera movements.
a bucket of blood (1959) 3.5 dick miller can't stop accidentally killing things. very fun. i felt sorry for miller's character. he was like a slightly more functional version of me, except i've never killed a cat or a human.
warm bodies (2013) 2 zombie rom com that's disappearing from netflix shortly. didn't make me laugh, didn't make me cry.
coffee and cigarettes (2003) 3.5 i found this slightly ponderous in the early going (at least they got benigni out of the way early) but it really improved after a fairly uninteresting first third.
nobody plays 'self-important silly-man' like steve coogan.
deadbeat at dawn (1988) 3.5 if one of your friends had a good-quality camcorder in the 80s, & you decided to make a film, in your dreams it would turn out looking like this.
ugly, grungy, & so, so great.
if you're finding yourself a touch bored by the first 1/2 or so, stick with it.
that ending is one for the ages.
don't go in the house (1979) 3 by the numbers psycho rip-off in some ways (not very imaginative, not very well acted), but it actually looks quite good, with some shots dare i say looking almost artistic.
not quite an unheralded jewel, but worth a look for horror fans.
patchwork (2015) 3.5 pleasantly enjoyable & surprisingly weird. is nasty at times, a little sleazy at others, and consistently fun from beginning to end. by the standards of b-horror, this is solid stuff.
same director as tragedy girls, which i didn't like quite as much as this, but has the same fun, quirky sensibility. i hope he gives us more of the same.
prince of darkness (1987) 3 i will admit that this is likely the weakest carpenter film of his 80s run (though i think you can make a case for the fog as well), but it's one that i always enjoy revisiting. it's certainly underwhelming in some ways (the devil is green slime), but it has some of his creepiest images.
in particular, the dream transmission sequences have stuck with me since i first watched this 30 years ago.
the trip to spain (2017) 2.5 perhaps one trip to the well too many. i really enjoyed the first two trip films, but had neglected to get around to #3. it has its moments of enjoyment, but what felt funny & casual before felt a bit tired & forced this go around.
sweet movie (1974) 3.5 gave sweet movie a re-watch after finding out director dušan makavejev died recently.
it's certainly chock full of unforgettable images - you'll probably wish you could forget some of them, i imagine. the most inventive and (in a way) enjoyable scenes are front-loaded in the first 1/2. the back end of the film is dominated by a commune dinner scene that i personally have always found to be as revolting as anything in salo.
it starts out as weird, absurd fun, and turns into a bit of a chore.
is this a condemnation of communism? parts of it felt like it could be.
if it's a condemnation of capitalism, which i think it might be as well, then my response is always the same: what is the alternative? what way do you have that will bring billions of people out of poverty in an equivalent way?
upstream color (2013) 4 cinematic equivalent of brian eno's music for airports. some of the soundtrack seems to be slightly pinched from that album, in fact.
is david lowery's editing the secret weapon that makes this film so hypnotic? i liked primer quite a bit, & still do, but i think this is much better.
the incredibles (2004) 4 government is a cancer on all of our lives.
the animation looks a bit dated already, doesn't it? it still works perfectly well, and the action is exciting, but there are sequences where this film almost looks a touch primitive at times.
great fun, regardless.
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[deleted]
6 years ago
dogtooth (2009) 5 this is probably my favourite movie of the century so far.
i don't know why, but when christina says her favourite meals are fish soup and cheese pie it makes me laugh uncontrollably.
the velvet vampire (1971) 4 just added to shoutfactorytv, so it's free for all the world to stream. i think it looks perhaps sightly better than the version that was on shudder last year, but it's still very fuzzy & indistinct at times.
regardless, this movie is 100% minty freshness. surely anna biller must have had this influence in her arsenal when she was putting the love witch together in her mind.
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StoneKeeper (28408)
6 years ago
I thought Warm bodies was great: 8-8.5/10
I’ll have to look for dogtooth.
I PVR’d Jaws 2 weeks ago, still never watched it too.
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Stratego (31085)
6 years ago
"with very little of the overblown emotional manipulation that i think really taints a lot of what he's done."
The Hooper character and his survival was typically Spielberg, though. He should've died.
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