Last (x) movies you saw

idk none of the jokes landed and I was expecting it to be messy but not incoherent.

The Secret Trials of Henry Kissinger (7.0)
The Unknown Known (7.0)
Long Strange Trip (6.5)
Shadowman (7.0)
The Fog of War (7.5)
Nobody Speak: Hulk Hogan, Gawker and Trials of a Free Press (6.5)
Freeway (5.5)
City by the Sea (5.5)
Stoszek (8.0)
Hick (6.0)
The Executioner's Song (6.5)
O.J. Simpson: Made in America (8.5)

The version of The Executioner's Song I watched ran 2:15--supposedly the director's cut, but I know there are longer versions out there.

Chungking Express (Wong Kar-Wai, 1994)
*Man With a Movie Camera (Vertov, 1929)
Butter Lamp (short - Hu Wei, 2013)
Carol (Haynes, 2015)
*Taste of Cherry (Kiarostami, 1997)
Next Floor (short - Villeneuve, 2008)
Borom Sarret (short - Sembene, 1963)
Lone Wolf & Cub: Baby Cart in the Land of Demons (Misumi, 1973)
Lone Wolf & Cub: White Heaven in Hell (Kuroda, 1974)
All These Women (Bergman, 1964)
Lola (Fassbinder, 1981)

Not as much as I'd like in the job-hunting post-graduation lull.

N. Took the Dice (Robbe-Grillet, 1971)- the reworked (well, kind of) version of his Eden and After; a close watch to finish off a long-overdue seminar paper

The Tales of Hoffmann (Powell and Pressburger)- LOVED THIS CRAZY SHIT. I've wanted to watch it since I was a teenager and saw it in a Criterion catalog, but since then it's been hard to find, all while Angela Carter and Freud/Jentsch fired up my interest in actually seeing it. The lead was massively unappealing (especially with his horrible little beard in the Venice section) but everything else was brilliant. And it's super-obvious but I had such a fun little spark of recognition seeing how much the Olympia section influenced Blade Runner- aside from the whole artificial-human thing, the Chew character in the film has no real function other than as a tribute to Hoffmann's Coppelius, the all-gold Tyrell pyramid is like Spalanzani's parlor, and J.F. Sebastian's little toy soldiers are so obviously modeled on the miniature Kleinzach from the wraparound tavern segment.

*Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (Lynch, 1992)- rewatched this for the first time in years, and the first time since sitting down to do a full run through of Season 2 rather than ancient memories of seeing the last few episodes on VHS and quitting subsequent rewatches as soon as James starts to have his unwatchable subplot. Tremendously upsetting & brilliant.

*Alien (Scott, 1979)- It's Alien, it's good

*Stalker (Tarkovsky, 1979)- The new theatrical restoration prior to Criterion's rerelease. I have to confess I started to drift off in the opening pre-Zone segment of the film and had to literally slap myself awake; it's a failing of mine with slow/meditative movies (others have included Nostalghia, the opening sections of Vertigo, In the Mood for Love and Hard to Be a God) if I'm at all sleep-deprived. I haven't seen Stalker since 2002 in Chicago's Siskel Center, and it's just as wondrous as I remembered. I can't compare with its previous state, obviously, but the restoration is gorgeous, especially the first transition from the sepia/amber-tinted outside world to full natural color in the Zone.

*Aliens (Cameron, 1986)- It's Aliens, it's not as good. Though googling "Arcturian poontang" led to the disappointing discovery that comic writers and the like have decided Arcturians are a sentient alien species, which seems massively out of place in this setting, and the happy discovery that someone- Dan O'Bannon, Scott, Cameron, Walter Hill, who knows- intended the original's Dallas and Lambert to be trans, and Lambert's mtf status is visible in the boardroom scene of Aliens if you're quick with the pause button.

*Alien 3 (Fincher, 1992)- I will still stick up for this, logical lapses, poor puppet work and compositing and all. I'm going to watch the alternate versions of the older films after I head out to see Covenant- partly as a cooldown from what I'm sure will make me angry in some way, even if I enjoy the visual design or the Fassbender camp or the gore or whatever- but partly because I can't wait to watch the workprint version.

Hopefully today I'll be able to grit my teeth and push through Alien Resurrection and then something I haven't seen and might actually enjoy

Finished with the Fassbinder season at the BFI:

Lola (1981)
Lili Marleen (1981)
In a Year of Thirteen Moons (1978)
Statiomaster's Wife (1977)
Fear of Fear (1975)

Lady MacBeth (William Oldroyd, 2017) - Had a great look to it. I don't think anything was added by adaptation.
Suntan (Papadimitropoulos, 2017) - a ruthless film and very well put together. Top 10 easy.

OJ: Made in America (2016) 8/10
*the three amigos (1986) 7/10
fresh (1994) 7/10
olive kitteridge (2014) 8/10
the red pill (2016) 6/10
diane (1975) 7/10

Watched Logan last night. It would have been better if it was 45 minutes shorter, if there were some actual villains instead of a squad of Keystone Kops mercenaries, and if the little girl had never spoken at all, or had spoken exclusively in un-subtitled Spanish. Other than that, it mostly just reminded me that I'm better off avoiding superhero culture entirely.

The Ten Commandments (1956) - a masterpiece. lots of low key humor and big performances.
Pirates of the Carribean Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017) - saw this at the drive in last night. decent fun. unfortunately 1/5th of the movie was too dark to see.
Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (2017) - also at the drive in last night. fucking awesome. this is how you make a movie with characters with motivations you can actually comprehend.
The Masque of the Red Death (1964) - looks wonderful, mid-60s mod lighting and colorful goth psychedelia wrapped in satanic panic nonsense. vincent price and jane asher.
Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971) - promising proto-horror that goes overboard with the twists to the point where nothing makes sense and not in a wow-this-is-crazy way but the boring way.
Solarbabies (1986) - laughable title, low budget mad max rip off with some cool effects sequences. amazed this was shot in location in Spain and not in a deserted tire factory outside LA but maybe it was cheaper.
Mac and Me (1988) - reminded me a lot of The Man Who Fell to Earth. weird aliens that look like nightmarish living Sea Monkeys. the product placement surprisingly only really in one scene (in which a McDonalds turns into an impromptu 80s dance party) that is so OTT its kind of interesting

Not a very good list:

Cage of Gold (1950) Saw this after my boyfriend requested a film "like the scene in Rebecca where they go to the doctor in Shephards Bush." Full of amazing photography, shots of Albert Bridge by night. Annoying protagonist and by-numbers plot, but interestingly about the post-war consensus, the NHS, community v individuality.

Mildred Pierce (1945) Hadn't seen this since I was a child. Deeply odd for such a classic, a mix of noir and woman's picture. Incredible Joan Crawford double-slap. Lovely interiors, I kept wanting to pause it to have a good look at the beach house.

Carrie (1976) Obviously seen a million times before. Really struck me how slim the plot is on this occasion. Like half of the film is the prom scene, but in my memory that is right at the end. The soundtrack going "they're all gonna laugh at you" makes me ill

Polyester (1981) Much better than Far From Heaven.

Frauen in New York (1977) Kept falling asleep and felt like I was having an insane nightmare. Most striking example of that Fassbinder thing where you can hear all the costumes rustling and the sets squeaking. Each scene was filmed on the same set, dressed slightly differently, so that although the scene locations kept changing, you could hear the same floorboard creak whenever someone walked on it.

The Gay Divorcee (1934) I prefer Swing Time. I was amazed at how risque this was. That English Guy who shows up in a few Fred and Ginger films is most annoying in this one. Still better than most other films on the list.

Serial Mom (1994) Very funny, I watched it again the next day.

32 Short Films about Glenn Gould (1993) Interesting enough biopic. Very good central performance. You spend a lot of mental energy trying to recall specific passages of music.

La Vraie Nature de Bernadette (1972) Amazing French-Canadian Fellini film about agricultural subsidies. Hypnotically ugly clothes.

The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) My boyfriend had never seen this. Impossible to say anything new about this film, but how horribly beautiful. Afterwards I was completely depressed for days. It's practically a snuff film.

Just finished watching "Get Out". I really enjoyed it as a dark comedy. But as a horror-qua-horror movie it's just aight. Was expecting a more intense experience. Big fan of Jordan Peel, looking forward to what he does next.

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
PG 1988

this was incredible. amazing cast. lots of Pythons and folks from Time Bandits and the like. the deification of Uma Thurman. the effects were utterly beautiful and proto-Tonight Tonight steampunk. also a superhero team origin story! very wonderful and dreamlike.

Robin Williams as a the King of the Moon (with detachable flying head, natch) was a riot. i love the scenes where they are climbing down from the crescent moon and navigating neon vector renderings of Enlightenment-era cosmological charts and maps.

Without giving anything away about "Get Out" the one thing I loved about the movie is it didn't end as I thought it would.

*Paper Moon (Bogdanovich, 1973) 9/10
Detour (Ulmer, 1945) 5/10
*Bonnie and Clyde (Penn, 1967) 8/10
Little Men (Sachs, 2016) 8/10
*True Grit (Coens, 2010) 10/10
Moana (Clemens and Musker, 2016) 7/10

5/10 for "Detour"?! 0_o

I suppose I knew this was coming, but yeah, I don't really get it. I understand that its shabbiness is precisely what so many people love about it, but I've literally seen a hundred movies that vaguely resemble this one that are better acted, written, more stylish, you name it.

May:

The Girl Who Knew Too Much (Bava, 1963) 8/10
Rotten to the Core (Boulting, 1965) 4/10
The Sorcerers (Reeves, 1967) 8/10
The Unknown Girl (Dardenne Bros, 2016) 7/10
Fat City (Huston, 1972) 9/10
Fedora (Wilder, 1978) 5/10
Alien: Covenant (Scott, 2017) 6/10
Fear of Fear (Fassbinder, 1975) 8/10
Burden (Marrinan/Dewey,2016) 7/10

O.J.: Made in America (2016, Edelman) (TV) 6/10
Hermia & Helena (2016, Pineiro) 8/10
Leap Year (1921, Cruze, Arbuckle) 7/10
The Stranger (1967, Visconti) 7/10
*La Grande Bouffe (1973, Ferreri) 8/10
*North by Northwest (1959, Hitchcock) 10/10
The Killer Elite (1975, Peckinpah) 6/10
Il bell’Antonio (1960, Bolognini) 7/10
Belfast, Maine (1999, Wiseman) 9/10
*Look Back in Anger (1959, Richardson) 7/10
The Savage Is Loose (1974, Scott) 5/10
*Choose Me (1984, Rudolph) 8/10
*Stop Making Sense (1984, Demme) 10/10

Really enjoyed Catfight. What are the directors other films like?

Watched Cutter's Way and Who'll Stop the Rain over the weekend. Jeff Bridges' character in Cutter's Way is named Dick Bone and not one other character made a joke about it. My suspension of disbelief was sorely tested.

Last week's crop.

finally saw T2 and Batman Lego Movie over the last couple of days. Both were pretty good.

a great month at the movies, extreme lows & highs

Eyes Wide Shut (1999) - 10/10
Female Trouble (1974) - 7/10
Snatched - 2/10
Norman - 3/10
Mulholland Drive (2001) - 10/10
The Lovers - 1/10
This is Spinal Tap (1984) - 8/10
9 to 5 (1980) - 5/10
Caddyshack (1980) - 5/10
Long Strange Trip - 9/10
The Player (1992) - 8/10
Friday the 13th (1980) - 6/10
Paris Can Wait - 4/10
Wonder Woman - 7/10

Boogieman: The Lee Atwater Story (7.0)
Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary (7.0)
The Deep (6.0)
Mansfield 66/67 (6.5)
Certain Women (7.0)
Ode to Billie Joe (6.0)
The Fabulous Allan Carr (7.0)
The Bling Ring (6.5)
Time Zero: The Last Year of Polaroid Film (6.5)
Drinking Buddies (7.0)

The Polaroid documentary was really good for the first half, comprised mostly of interviews with Polaroid obsessives and their work. My dad was a Polaroid guy; he ended up giving his camera, a very early model, to the company for their archives. The second half documents the project to re-launch a substitute version of Polaroid after they close shop, and I didn't find that all that interesting.

Blue Is the Warmest Color (Kechiche, 2013)
In a Lonely Place (Ray, 1950)
*Louie Bluie (Zwigoff, 1985, with director commentary)
A Woman's Face (Molander, 1938)
Life Is Sweet (Leigh, 1990)
Cailleach (short - Hillman, 2014)
Happy Together (Wong Kar-Wai, 1997)
The Entertainer (Richardson, 1960)
*Masculin Féminin (Godard, 1966)
Mystery (short - Ibarra, 2013)
45 Years (Haigh, 2015)

Some interesting/controversial choices here, some pleasant surprises as well:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/09/movies/the-25-best-films-of-the-21st-century.html

The 25 Best Films of the 21st Century So Far.

There Will Be Blood
Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007
Spirited Away
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki, 2002
Million Dollar Baby
Directed by Clint Eastwood, 2004
A Touch of Sin
Directed by Jia Zhangke, 2013
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
Directed by Cristi Puiu, 2006
Yi Yi
Directed by Edward Yang, 2000
Inside Out
Directed by Pete Docter and Ronnie del Carmen, 2015
Boyhood
Directed by Richard Linklater, 2014
Summer Hours
Directed by Olivier Assayas, 2009
The Hurt Locker
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, 2009
Inside Llewyn Davis
Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, 2013
Timbuktu
Directed by Abderrahmane Sissako, 2015
In Jackson Heights
Directed by Frederick Wiseman, 2015
L’Enfant
Directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, 2006
White Material
Directed by Claire Denis, 2010
Munich
Directed by Steven Spielberg, 2005
Three Times
Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien, 2006
The Gleaners and I
Directed by Agnès Varda, 2000
Mad Max: Fury Road
Directed by George Miller, 2015
Moonlight
Directed by Barry Jenkins, 2016
Wendy and Lucy
Directed by Kelly Reichardt, 2008
I’m Not There
Directed by Todd Haynes, 2007
Silent Light
Directed by Carlos Reygadas, 2008
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Directed by Michel Gondry, 2004
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
Directed by Judd Apatow, 2005

smh at not picking Step Brothers as the comedy

Trash, art and the movies

The art picks are absolute boys for the most part but the trash picks and the the movies picks are like wow these list makers are just terrible at navigating these particular brows

"Inside Llewyn Davis" seems like an odd Coen bros to pick from this century.

Like seeing In Jackson Heights; would rather have Carlos there than Summer Hours.

v strange to not see mulholland drive in a best-of-21st-century list

clem, it's hard for me to choose between Carlos and Summer Hours, as Assayas is my favorite living filmmaker. SH makes more sense the older I get.

The art picks are absolute boys for the most part but the trash picks and the the movies picks are like wow these list makers are just terrible at navigating these particular brows

― K-hole MacLachlan (wins)

idk any list that introduces White Material, Three Times, Silent Light, and A Touch of Sin to NYT readers is on the right track. No?

They also picked the wrong Spielberg. It should have been "Catch Me If You Can", the kind of deceptively breezy epic that Scorsese has been straining to make this century. Shutting him out was one thing they got right.

I haven't seen it so I shouldn't say this but having some slow movie about Mennonites as the only movie from a Mexican director on this list seems typical of their hatred of fun.

shutting him out was one thing they got right.

Very much agree. Will have to see Summer Hours again--don't remember it that well (I've seen Carlos three or four times).

If I balance what I love myself with something approaching general consensus (based solely on the latter, J.D.'s right about Mulholland Drive), I'd want to see either Zodiac or The Social Network on there.

lists are terrible

idk any list that introduces White Material, Three Times, Silent Light, and A Touch of Sin to NYT readers is on the right track. No?

That's what I meant (and I love Timbuktu & gleaners too), the highbrow picks are good but the "films u plebs will have seen" bit is a state

Morbs otm tho nobody needs my opinion on a list, as you were

Danish film people did this recently as well, and There Will Be Blood won that one too. Kinda weird.

"Children of men" is am odd omission too

Wake me up when there's a list with Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning on it.

have you a pillow?

Actually, I'd love to read your take on it. It's the only direct-to-video action sequel I've ever seen that blatantly steals from both Lynch and Noé, while still remaining entirely its own amazing thing, with some of the most holy-shit-how-is-that-guy-not-dead? fight choreography I've ever seen. Check it out if you can. (I'm not sure if it's on Netflix or not.)

Gimme Danger (2016) 3/5
Misterio (2013) 2.5/5
Escape from New York (1983) 3.5/5
The Silent Partner (1978) 2.5/5
A Poem is a Naked Person (1974; rewatch) 4/5
Dangerous Men (2005) 0.5/5
Verboten! (1959) 3.5/5
The Big Red One (expanded edition; 1980) 4/5
David Lynch: The Art Life (2016) 3/5
Duelle (rewatch; 1976) 4/5
Nuts! (2016) 3/5
Le Joli Mai (1963) 4/5
Viva (2007) 3/5

lists are terrible

Generally interested in these things, but something about this one struck me as particularly insufferable. Like too obviously constructed to hit certain notes and be ~controversial~. Morbs maybe ultimately OTM.

Dear Diary (Moretti, 1993) 5/10
True Stories (Byrne, 1986) 6/10
La La Land (Chazelle, 2016) 7/10
Nightfall (Tourneur, 1956) 7/10
Metro Manila (Ellis, 2013) 8/10
Hacksaw Ridge (Gibson, 2016) 7/10
Manchester by the Sea (Lonergan, 2016) 8/10
Vera Drake (Leigh, 2004) 9/10
Spotlight on a Murderer (Franju, 1961) 7/10
The Reckless Moment (Ophuls, 1949) 6/10

The Reckless Moment (Ophuls, 1949) 6/10

really

the Gibson war porn film and LLL are better at what they attempt than The Reckless Moment?

I saw the latest kaurismäki and liked it

This is the 5000th post itt btw

*The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927, Lubitsch) 8/10
Cisco Pike (1972, Norton) 8/10
Torch Song (1953, Walters) 6/10
*The Knack… and How to Get It (1965, Lester) 6/10
Loving (2016, Nichols) 5/10
Eternal Love (1929, Lubitsch) 6/10
Broken Lullaby aka The Man I Killed (1932, Lubitsch) 7/10
*Last Summer (1969, Perry) 8/10
Doc (1971, Perry) 6/10
Série noire (1979, Corneau) 8/10

The Salesman: Wake up to a horrible noise from construction or demolition project, apparently one with no prior announcement, and you don't complain to the city, you just move, that's all, to the first place your connection tips you to, even though you have to sell your car to make the deposit because you're a high school teacher, ha-ha. (Oh, and your colleague is sending back those books; too politically controversial for his innocent students.) One who's playing demolition project Willy Loman in a little theater production; your wife is playing his wife (the government rep likes it, just wants you to make three little cuts). What the heck, lots of times and places when it seems better not to bother the cops, to take personal responsibility---so this was filmed and also released in Iran, I take it (any little cuts seem to have done absolutely no harm), even won an Oscar, even though the director didn't take the bait, what with Trump's initial travel ban chaos.
Psychological suspense, kinda makes me think of 50s Kurosawa (or Hitchcock?) adapting non-Maigret Simenon.
Personal Shopper: Promising, but last third down the tubes, jittery and sluggish