Last (x) movies you saw (II)

(Grammar in Touch of Zen blurb there due to switching "scenes" for "stuff").

Ashes and Diamonds (Wajda, 1958)
Bamboozled (Lee, 2000)
Invocation of My Demon Brother (Anger, 1969)
Next of Kin (Egoyan, 1984)
The Squid & the Whale *Baumbach, 2005)
Imagine the Sound (Mann, 1981)
a bunch of Bill Plympton shorts
The Widow Couderc (Graniere-Deferre, 1971)
*The Grand Budapest Hotel (Anderson, 2014)
Only Angels Have Wings (Hawks, 1939)
Phantom Lady (Siodmak, 1949)
Sissy-Boy Slap-Party (Maddin, 2004)
Rabbits (Lynch, 2002)
Criss Cross (Siodmak, 1949)
Certain Women (Reichardt, 2016)
The Gleaners and I: Two Years Later (Varda, 2002)
Plaisir d'amour en Iran (Varda, 1975)
7 p., cuis, s. de b. (à saisir) (Varda, 1975)
Réponse de femmes (Varda, 1975)
The Violent Men (Maté, 1955)
Devil's Doorway (Mann, 1950)
Thank You and Good Night (Oxenberg, 1991)
Home Movie (Oxenberg, 1973)
Man with the Gun (Wilson, 1955)
Ulysse (Varda, 1983)
Doodlebug (Nolan, 1997)

Freddy Got Fingered (2001) 2.5/5. I put this off for 19 years; RBG's death was announced while I was watching it.

surely just a coincidence though

can’t watch a movie with that title

Ronald Got Rimmed has less depth but is more enjoyable

lol

Dieter Got Diddled was the superior film

man i didn't watch much of anything in September, mostly teevee

Consistently Pretty Good to Very Very Good:
Watermelon Juice (2020, Moray, short)
Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037 (2007, Niles)

Almost Okay to Occasionally Pretty Good:
Biography: I Want My MTV (2020, Waldrop and Meason)
Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets (2020, Ross, Ross IV)
All In: The Fight for Democracy (2020, Cores and Garbus)
The Fandom (2020, Kries)
Salvage (2019, Elliott)
The Donut King (2020, Gu)

No:
My Octopus Teacher (2020, Ehrlich and Reed)
I’ve Got Issues (2020, Collins)

September:

The Big Clock (Farrow, 1948) 8/10
Lady in the Lake (Montgomery, 1946) 6/10
Border Incident (Mann, 1949) 7/10 - the John Alton cinematography is the real star here
Birds, Orphans and Fools (Jakubisko, 1969) 7/10
What Have They Done to Your Daughters? (Dallamano, 1974) 7/10
Almost Human (Lenzi, 1974) 8/10 - Tomas Milian!
The Mad Dog Killer (Grieco, Milloni, 1977) 7/10 - Helmut Berger!
Nothing but the Night (Sasdy, 1973) 5/10
Corridors of Blood (Day, 1958) 7/10
I'm Thinking of Ending Things (Kaufman, 2020) 7/10
House of Usher (Corman, 1960) 8/10
The Lady Vanishes (Page, 1979) 5/10
Doomwatch (Sasdy, 1972) 6/10
India Song (Duras, 1975) 8/10
The Most Dangerous Game (Schoedsack, Pichel, 1932) 7/10 - Leslie Banks!
Terror Train (Spottiswoode, 1980 7/10 - cinematography by John Alcott, fresh from shooting The Shining for Kubrick
Hysteria (Francis, 1965) - 5/10
Five Dolls for an August Moon (Bava, 1970) 7/10

The Trout (Losey, 1982)
The Mourning Forest (Kawase, 2007)
Lolita (Lyne, 1998)
Sicilia! (Straub, Huillet, 1999)
Tie me up! Tie me Down! (Almodovar, 1990)
A Couch in New York (Akerman, 1996)

Front Page Woman (Curtiz, 1935) - 7/10
The End of Summer (Ozu, 1961) - 10/10
*Sugar & Spice (McDougall, 2001) - 7/10
*We Won’t Grow Old Together (Pialat, 1972)
Hell Bent (Ford, 1918) - 7/10
A Girl in Every Port (Hawks, 1928) - 9/10
Nancy Drew… Reporter (Clemens, 1939) - 8/10
The Strawberry Blonde (Walsh, 1941) - 8/10
True Colors (Ross, 1991) - 5/10
The New York Ripper (Fulci, 1981) - 9/10
Prime Cut (Ritchie, 1972) - 8/10
…And the Pursuit of Happiness (Malle, 1986) - 9/10
*Half Nelson (Fleck, 2006) - 9/10
Land of the Pharaohs (Hawks, 1955) - 6/10
The Crowd Roars (Hawks, 1932) - 6/10
El Dorado (Hawks, 1966) - 5/10
Hondo (Farrow, 1953) - 6/10
The Last Performance (Fejos, 1929) - 8/10
Housekeeping (Forsyth, 1987) - 7/10
The Fire Within (Malle, 1963) - 9/10
The King of Marvin Gardens (Rafelson, 1972) - 6/10
Syndromes and a Century (Weerasethakul, 2006) - 7/10

The Darktown Revue (Michaeux, 1931)
The Girl in the Pullman (Kenton, 1927)
Morocco (von Sternberg, 1930)
The Bells (Young, 1926)
Crime Without Passion (Hecht et al, 1934)
Island of Terror (Fisher, 1966)
The Lost Laugh (Roberts, 1928)
Robinet Is Jealous (Perez, 1914)
The Pawnshop (Chaplin, 1916)

Introduced my child to Hitchcock by way of The Birds and she loved it. Followed it with Rear Window. She now loves discussing mise en scène in regard to these films. She was calling it layering. I was impressed she noticed that. So now we have ongoing discussions of both films. She’s only 8 so... that’s sort of it for now.

Sadie McKee (Brown, 1934) 7/10
Baby It's You (Sayles,1 983) 6/10
Matewan (Sayles, 1987) 6/10
Sunshine State (Sayles,2002) 6/10
Two Drifters (Rodrigues, 2005) 8/10
Beanpole ( Balagov,2020) 9/10

As you can see, Sayles is, with exceptions (Passion Fish), 6/10 director.

She now loves discussing mise en scène in regard to these films. She was calling it layering. I was impressed she noticed that. So now we have ongoing discussions of both films.

:D

Amazing.

Fixing typo up there:

*We Won’t Grow Old Together (Pialat, 1972) - 10/10
― flappy bird, Thursday, October 1, 2020 11:42 PM (four days ago) bookmarkflaglink

The Scoundrel (Hecht & MacArthur, 1935)
Mystery Liner (Nigh, 1934)
A Modern Cinderella (Dawley, 1911)
Felix Gets the Can (Messmer, 1925)
Japanicky (Messmer, 1928)
Forty Winks (Messmer, 1930)
6 Hours to Live (Dieterle, 1932)
The Drums of Jeopardy (Seitz, 1931)
The Vanishing Legion (Beebe & Eason, 1931)
A Daughter of Destiny (Galeen, 1928)
Tarantula (Arnold, 1955)
Out Bound (Edwards, 1924)
*Now or Never (Roach & Newmeyer, 1921)
The Skeleton Dance (Disney, 1929)
The Fall of the House of Usher (Watson & Webber, 1928)

Started "Satantango" the other night. I enjoyed the first hour and will get around to the rest of it in chunks, but so far its epic runtime seems like it may be an unnecessary (or at least arbitrary) hurdle. Though I suppose equally effective in its imposing impact.

Watched the original "Suspiria" with my older daughter last night. She liked it! It's so goofy and garish. When it was over she turned to me and said "I liked that, but it didn't really make a lot of sense. Now I want to know what the witches were doing there, what was their plan, etc." But she's smart and mature enough to simultaneous recognize that none of that really matters. Also to find the exposition dump about witches in the middle of the movie hilarious.

Da 5 Bloods (Lee, 2020)
The Invisible Man (Whannell, 2020)
Old Acquaintance (Sherman, 1943)
They Won't Believe Me (Pichel, 1947)
Wasp Netwrok (Assayas, 2019)
I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Kaufman, 2020)
Where the Sidewalk Ends (Preminger, 1950)
*Real Life (Brooks, 1979)
Häxan (Christensen, 1922)
The Racket (Cromwell, 1951)

Re-Animator (1985) 3/5
* Real Life (1979) 4.5/5
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) 4/5
The Witch Who Came From the Sea (1976) 2.5/5 Has a strong Manos: The Hands of Fate vibe.
Galaxy Quest (1999) 4/5
Blonde Crazy (1931) 3.5/5
Dick Johnson is Dead (2020) 2/5 I've liked the director's previous docs but I could not relate to what she was doing here.
Night of the Demon (1957) 3.5/5
Queen of Diamonds (1991) 3/5

Josh: keep plowing through Satantango and you'll be rewarded with a scene where a cat is abused for several minutes.

Real cat?

Yes.

Hmm. I guess that puts it in rare company. Well, I don't know how I feel about that. Just googling, Tarr does not sound terribly convincing in his defense(s) that the cat is real but the abuse is not:

ROSENBAUM: I know, but it’s still significant to me that many people who see Sátántangó get very upset about the cat, because they think this was really done to the cat. And it wasn’t. The point is that they are seduced into the narrative in a way that it feels very real.

TARR: But you know, this is my job. I just do that. 1 just wanted to make some tension. You know, the cat is still alive….

ROSENBAUM: And it’s your cat.

TARR: No, it’s not my cat. But I have a cat at home and I have two dogs, it is impossible for me to kill or destroy any animal.

ROSENBAUM: I thought you said it was one that actually you adopted after the film…

TARR: No, no. It was one cat of a friend of mine. She just slept a little. She just got an injection, and she slept. There was an animal doctor and it was very safe. When the girl is jumping with the cat, they also just played. And all of the sound that was used was artificial, it was from the sound archive.

So it's a real cat ... sedated and tormented, with sound effects? " She just slept a little. She just got an injection, and she slept" sounds like something Trump would tell his kid after he killed their cat.

Yeah, I've never believed Tarr on this (and Rosenbaum is content here to go along with it). The cat was obviously in distress as you watch the little girl wrestling it for a long time. If it came out of it ok I doubt it was because of any precautions they took.

Young Man with a Horn (Curtiz, 1950) - 8/10
*Fox and His Friends (Fassbinder, 1975) - 10/10
Bottle Rocket (Anderson, 1996) - 4/10
Bat Pussy (?, 197?) - 5/10
Robot Love Slaves (?, 1971) - 5/10
Claudine (Berry, 1974) - 8/10
The Whole Town’s Talking (Ford, 1935) - 7/10
Girl, Interrupted (Mangold, 1999) - 7/10
Bucking Broadway (Ford, 1917) - 9/10
Gold is Where You Find It (Curtiz, 1938) - 8/10
The Battle of Algiers (Pontecorvo, 1966) - 9/10
Napoli Napoli Napoli (Ferrara, 2009) - 7/10
The Breaking Point (Curtiz, 1950) - 9/10
Man of the World (Wallace, Goodman; 1931) - 6/10
True Grit (Hathaway, 1969) - 6/10
Man’s Favorite Sport? (Hawks, 1964) - 7/10
Arabian Nights (Pasolini, 1974) - 8/10
Rio Lobo (Hawks, 1970) - 6/10
Red Line 7000 (Hawks, 1965) - 4/10
The Long Voyage Home (Ford, 1940) - 8/10
*Night Moves (Penn, 1975) - 7/10
Score (Metzger, 1974) - 7/10
There’s Always Tomorrow (Sirk, 1956) - 7/10
City Hall (Becker, 1996) - 5/10
The Canterbury Tales (Pasolini, 1972) - 9/10
Nancy Drew: Detective (Clemens, 1938) - 6/10
Ms. Purple (Chon, 2019) - 5/10
The Decameron (Pasolini, 1971) - 8/10

The Breaking Point (Curtiz, 1950) - 9/10

Isn't this one great? Better than the Bogie and Bacall version, I say, and one the most heartbreaking closing shots in any film.

Bingo all the way. Knocked me out

Long Gone Summer (6.5)
Jazz on a Summer’s Day (7.5)
Festival (1967) (8.0)
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (5.5)
Girlhood (7.0)
Hairspray (7.0)
Help! (6.5)
On the Rocks (6.0)
Meeting the Beatles in India (6.5)
The Nest (7.0)

Plus a few others since I posted in August--I stopped keeping a running list. Long Gone Summer (the McGwire/Sosa 30 for 30) isn't a film, but I couldn't remember anything else for an even 10. Hadn't seen Help! in ages. "Ticket to Ride," "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away," and "I Need You" are incredible; when music isn't playing, a lot of the rest das dreary as people have been telling me for years.

"is as dreary" (Das Dreary was a band).

+ White Riot (6.5)

Ad Astra - first movie in a while that has really bummed me out to have seen on a 40" TV instead of a big screen.

Koko-di Koko-da (Nyholm) 7
Sonatine (Kitano) 7
Little Joe (Hausner) 5
Female Human Animal (Appignanesi) 5
Death In The Garden (Bunuel) 7
*Audition (Miike) 7
Garnet's Gold (Perkins) 8
A Scene At The Sea (Kitano) 9
Saint Maud (Glass) 9

I thought "Save Yourselves!" was a blast, most fun I've had in weeks.

Day of the Dead
Event Horizon
apparently piracy is the only option to see Dawn of the Dead

House of Mystery (Nigh, 1934)
The Devil (Young, 1921)
Ten Minutes to Live (Micheaux, 1932)
The Headless Horseman (Venturini, 1922)
The Bat (West, 1926)
*The Devil-Doll (Browning, 1936)
*Fire Fighters (McGowan & McNamara, 1922)
Dogs of War! (McGowan, 1923)
Danse Macabre (Murphy, 1922)

My daughter really liked the original Halloween. Dawn of the Dead, other hand, it's been a struggle to get her to even start, and I doubt I can get her to finish it. I think her biggest complaint is too '70s? She also thinks zombies are boring.

She might like the faster remake? Despite being a Zack Snyder joint it's actually pretty good.

I'm sure she would like the remake, but the traditionalist/snob in me couldn't let her watch it until she saw the original.

Remake is dope. Totally different movies. I saw the first one shortly after the remake, probably the only way to be able to appreciate the remake

The orig has my favorite lol70s line though: "What the hell is that?" "It looks like... one of those big indoor shopping malls!"

newly relevant for millenials

lol that's the only reason my kids wants to see more, just to get to the old fashioned mall.

i likely recommended it upthread but she should try Jasper Mall.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V7ytbs3y5U

We watched "Night of the Hunter" tonight. I hadn't seen it in ages, but I was happy to see that my daughter appreciated it for being such a special movie. Definitely made up for her dismissing "Dawn of the Dead."

it's the best

i have an mp3 of this song that i break out every once in a while
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMF0Wc_hm4A

Japanese Girls at the Harbor (Shimizu, 1933) - 8/10
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (Capra, 1936) - 9/10
King Creole (Curtiz, 1958) - 6/10
*Don’t Look Now (Roeg, 1973) - 9/10
*Three Colors: White (Kieślowski, 1994) - 10/10
*Three Colors: Red (Kieślowski, 1994) - 9/10
*Touch of Evil (Welles, 1958) - 8/10
*Blow Out (De Palma, 1981) - 10/10
Clueless (Heckerling, 1995) - 10/10
Kajillionaire (July, 2020) - 9/10
*I Married a Witch (Clair, 1942) - 9/10
All I Desire (Sirk, 1953) - 8/10
*The Lady from Shanghai (Welles, 1948) - 8/10
*They All Laughed (Bogdanovich, 1981) - 10/10

I made plans to watch They All Laughed tonight with a friend (simultaneously, on an opposite coast). I got the news about Morbs from Ray when I was on the phone with her. Before I hung up I told her what Morbs said about They All Laughed: "Watched the first 20 minutes of They All Laughed last night. I didn't."

I was planning on making this post to get him to harangue me for ranking Touch of Evil and Lady from Shanghai higher than They All Laughed, or giving Blow Out a 10. I miss him. I want to talk about Ford and Fassbinder again. I want to be harangued. I wanted to learn more from him.

i just discovered Yuri Ancarani and whoa. Here's a cam copy of his outrageous Da Vinci; seeing it on the big screen would be next level but the first five minutes of this even in diminished format had me screaming at my television.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cBoqgJfyXw

last few:
shock corridor - fuller 196? aggressively crass, not as brilliantly deranged as the naked kiss but amazing how relentlessly offensive it was

beyond the secret door (?) - lang 1948 - daft psychoanalysis plot that gets more and more ludicrous. Joan bennett is hilarious in this and I bet it was pretty fabulous to hang out on the set of this. I kept thinking 'what on earth is happening' but it all made its own sense

knives out - someone 2019 - toni colette is very funny and i barely recognised anyone else but sensed you were meant to enjoy them all mugging out of character. i was hungover and my bf suggested we watch something as dumb as like pitch perfect 2 or something and this fitted the bill

platform - jia zhangke 2000 - this was so deeply moving to me. weirdly reminded me of being a teenager more than almost any other film i know. The scene where he suddenly starts singing the rock song and then they run to watch the train. was worried about watching after seeing ash is purest which, in case it was a letdown but I loved this even more. keep thinking about it and its weeks now since i watched it. the last few scenes. my god.

bright eyes - stuart marshall 1984 - this was so boring. historical interest only

unknown pleasures - jia zhangke - this was harsher than the others i've seen by him, but had the best zhao tao performance.

ace in the hole - wilder - ???? - this film was not nearly as clever as it thought it was. was pretty bored by the end. the moralism the predicability. i read the wikipedia article about roy cohn on my phone during it

love is colder than death - fassbinder - was actually surprised at how this was literally him 'doing' breathless. hannah schuygulla was hot in it tho

weekend - godard - 196? my bf was very 'what was that?' and i think i said something about cinema destroying itself lol so i think it was pretty stupid.