none of yours for me again this week, but love and monsters is on my watchlist, and i'm kinda dying to see ww84, since everyone seems to agree that it's so terrible and that kinda fascinates me. familia looks interesting too. it's on tubitv, so i've added it to my watchlist.
my week:
UNKNOWN PLEASURES (2002) 2 i didn't understand this movie.
i get that it was shambolic and aimless. i'm ok with stuff like that. my problem with modern indie film is that there isn't enough mumblecore. more mumblecore is my rallying cry.
but i still wanna have some idea about who people are, what they do, who they're talking to, stuff like that.
i didn't understand who any of these people were. it was all lost on me.
i see i've watched and apparently really enjoyed this director's recent movies (i don't remember them, but i believe my ratings). so i obviously was able to connect with him in some way before.
not this time.
THIEF (1981) 4.5 i love the way this uncompromisingly moves at its own pace.
and the score is great.
just about perfect.
DETROIT ROCK CITY (1999) 3.5 chriqui #22.
they actually almost manage to make her look unappealing to me...bad wig and all that. i could still get lost in her eyes forever, though...
fun movie. it's no dazed and confused, but as a teen comedy it moves along very nicely and has solid laughs.
& you know who's in this that's really just great? melanie lynskey. she's terrific in everything. anything she touches, she makes it better.
UNTOLD: BREAKING POINT (2021) 3.5 good doc on american tennis player mardy fish. very conventional, but in the best sense.
SUPER DARK TIMES (2017) 3.5 very good movie.
though it kinda throws away the believable components the first half established.
kinda like if someone wanted to make river's edge, but added a few elements for the thriller/slasher crowd.
THE SALT OF THE EARTH (2014) 4 great, full of all kinds of stories and unforgettable images.
would have been better if it was shorter, though. brevity is a gift as they say.
CADILLAC RECORDS (2008) 3 chriqui #23!
she's barely in this, but it's cool to see her in a fairly atypical role. it's a thankless role, mind you, as the suffering, frustrated wife who smiles at her husband's friends and looks concerned at times.
this is fine. it's very much a middle of the road musical picture, with lots of singing and touching on the highs and lows of the various people who pass through the film. it's inch deep and probably has way too many characters, but it's still a perfectly decent watch. ok!
BECKY (2020) 3.5 i would never have watched this movie but for some very strong ratings from some people i follow on letterboxd.
i was skeptical - how good can a movie featuring a pair of sitcom actors be?
pretty good. and fantastically brutal. not to the point of being tedious, though, which was pleasant. whoever made this doled the gore out in just the right amount.
very fun, and a very pleasant surprise. touche, letterboxd users who like this movie. you are right.
LAYER CAKE (1968) 3 amusing if slightly too slap-stick in parts for my taste.
& also a little confusing. i had trouble following all the characters, who was who, what was going on. it's oddly over-stuffed for a short film.
KILLING JESUS (2015) 3 chriqui 24.
it actually makes me feel a bit better about myself that i'm still horny enough to watch a made for tv religious movie solely because i want to eye-hump an actress.
this is ok. not embarrassing. decent costumes and sets. not a huge budget, but it looks fairly sharp for a tv production.
DEATH TRIP (2021) 3 this would have made for a very great, cool little thriller if it had clocked in at 80m, i bet.
at 100m it feels a little too listless, drifting away at times.
still cool though.
THE CARD COUNTER (2021) 3.5 just out of the theatre, so this is subject to further review as this settles in, but my current state is mild disappointment. mild because there are absolutely great things in this, and there were times where i was thrilled and weirded out and completely on board.
and i'm the last person who's gonna complain when a film is inconsistent in tone and style. why complain about that? appreciate the unexpected, i say.
but every time that woman was on the screen, i swear this film became something kinda terrible to me. all of her scenes felt off and wrong. all of them.
and there was a point where tedium really did start to settle in here. it's so pokey and formless at times, at least to me.
so i'm calling this a let-down after what i thought was a genuine triumph in first reformed. honestly, the entire time i sat in the theatre, i was thinking 'i could be watching first reformed right now.'
there are absolutely good things in it, and i think it's still a recommendable movie, very much in schrader's troubled loner style, but a lesser entry.
reply
share
[deleted]
3 years ago
5 DAYS OF WAR (2011) 2.5 chriqui entry 25.
i appreciate that, even though her character endures multiple fights & skirmishes and is on the run through most of this film, her bangs always looked fantastic and she was never anything less than model beautiful. priorities and all that.
this is very direct to dvd generic in most ways. everything about it feels awfully rote. the action is bland. the characters and motivations are as cookie cutter as you can get.
at least it wasn't that long.
WOE (2020) 2.5 I didn't quite understand what this was about.
what i think i can say is that there wasn't a whole lot of story here, and this felt like a short film that was stretched out way past the running time this needed.
EXIT (2020) 4 good short. little girl lost, but with ugly russians instead of a cute kid.
if the words 'twilight zone inspired' still make you want to see something, this is worth your time.
THE MEND (2014) 4 it's too scripted and plotted to qualify as mumblecore, i guess, no?
i really dug it anyway. i like the way this arses about with no real direction.
A CHAMPION'S FIGHT (1998) 3 chriqui 26!
she's playing a teen again, but it's still ok for me to eyehump her cuz she would have been 22 or so when this was shot.
dying teen soap opera undercut by some pretty sub-soap acting from the leads, but adrienne barbeau gives the ending a good emotional kick.
TIL DEATH (2021) 3.5 good
FASCISM ON A THREAD: the strange story of nazisploitation cinema (2019) 3 passable doc. the most interesting stuff is in the first 20 or so minutes, where they discuss the history, the roots with reasonably knowledgeable fans & critics. drifts off into sameness after that.
fine, but definitely could have been trimmed down.
THE CROW: WICKED PRAYER (2005) 1.5 chriqui 27.
edward furlong got to make out with emmanuelle chriqui in this movie. there really is no justice in the world.
this is terrible. like...would be rejected by the syfy channel for being a bit too cheesy & cheap looking.
not that i expected anything else. but i was hoping for a bit of fun, at least. and not a lot of fun was had.
RED WOODS (2021) 2 weirdly complicated! i didn't understand all the stuff that happened, who these people were, what some of them were doing.
way too much stuff going on for a ff film, i'd say.
and way too many shots of people walking and walking or sitting around.
the cute red-head has a gloriously big butt and at least they gave us several very nice shots of it. by far the best part of this interminable business.
MOMMA'S MAN (2008) 4 middle aged man arses around while hiding from his wife at his parents' house. enjoyably aimless. good.
ANNETTE (2021) 3.5 i'm a simple man. i'll leave it to the smart people to evaluate the positives and negatives of this thing.
what i will say is that i appreciate swings for the fences. this doesn't go half way, and, even when i don't dig things personally, i think there's a lot to be said for ambition and lack of embarrassment and being willing to make yourself look silly.
i've heard it said, and absolutely believe, that great art and terrible art have far more in common than great art and average art, in that, to make something truly great, you have to be willing to make a fool of yourself.
anyway, i thought there were lots of great things in here. fun sequences that were dazzling, especially when adam driver was going all out.
but gosh it wore me down after a while, and i was so pining for it to be over in the last hour.
like i said, i'm a simple man, and my rules for what i like in a movie are basic: do i wanna watch this or would i rather be browsing through twitter or reading comics on the marvel unlimited app i signed up for a month ago.
if this hadn't been so blaring and over the top for so long, i would have really loved this i bet. i sure loved holy motors. i have no problem with excess. but it's gotta come in manageable doses.
still lots to admire in it though.
CUTTER'S WAY (1981) 4.5 loved.
can't say i completely understood all the plot twists and turns. i'm past the point of being able to follow all that stuff.
but as a shambolic 70s hangover, a spiritual cousin to the last goodbye maybe, i couldn't have enjoyed it any more.
it's disappearing from criterion at the end of the month i think.
i might watch it again before it leaves.
why don't more people talk about how great this is???
reply
share
[deleted]
3 years ago
TORTURED (2008) 3.5 chriqui entry 28.
i feel like i may be crossing some kind of creepy line, tbh. i hope this doesn't lead to me being served with court papers.
anyway, this isn't bad. it's very standard b-movie crime thriller, but it's fine. short and pacey. like a better than average extended episode of a generic police drama. weirdly packed with some fairly famous actors.
AFTER HOURS (1985) 5 best scorcese imo.
not to be crass, but for guys i believe there is a universal truth here: we'd all save ourselves a lot of trouble if we'd just stay home, beat off and get to bed early. think of how many horrible memories you wouldn't have if you'd just have done that.
HOSTAGE (2021) 3.5 definitely a mixed bag, but mostly fun.
the bad:
the teen girl is just awful imo.
it's a little drab to look at.
the so-so:
not enough gore and brutality, & too much talking.
the good:
the mom is great. and sexy too.
it has an ending i found satisfying.
& while it's not really imaginative, it does have some decent surprises and is paced very well.
by micro-budget canadian horror standards, that's almost a triumph.
BANSHEE CHAPTER (2013) 3 the first half or so of this is really good.
unfortunately it doesn't pay off in an interesting way.
it sets up all kinds of interesting ideas, has some great moments, but all that potential kinda drifts off into a confusing and sort of numbing series of shocks and muddled ideas.
it's still pretty cool, but every time i rewatch this, i'm a little more disappointed in it.
reply
share