Last (x) movies you saw (II)

Thieves Like Us (Altman, Tewkesbury, Willingham, after Anderson 1974)
† John Wick (Stahelski, Leitch, Kolstad 2014)
Here (Zemeckis & Roth 2024 after McGuire 2014 after McGuire 1989) 2/10
Know Your Place (Mohajerjasbi 2024)
* All About Eve (Mankiewicz after Mary Orr 1950)
The Substance (Forgeat 2024)
Anora (Baker 2024)
Heretic (Beck and Woods 2024)
* Alien (Scott, O'Bannon, Shusett, Hill, Giler, Giger, Giraud, Foss, Cobb 1979)
* North By Northwest (Hitchcock, Lehmann 1959)


Vice (McKay 2018)
Late Bloomers (Steen, Greenfield 2024)
* Irma La Douce (Wilder, Diamond and Previn after Breffort and Monnot 1963)

emojis fell off on the last three:
📺
📺
💿

Tenebre (Argento, 1982) 8/10
Anora (Baker, 2024) 8/10
Such A Pretty Little Beach (Allegret, 1949) 6/10
The Stranger (Welles, 1946) 5/10
The Crimson Kimono (Fuller, 1959) 7/10
Kansas City Confidential (Karlson, 1952) 7/10
Running Scared (Hyams, 1986) 6/10
Gun Crazy (Lewis, 1950) 8/10
Enter The Void (Noe, 2009) 8/10
Experiment in Terror (Edwards, 1962) 6/10
*Crash (Cronenberg, 1996) 8/10
Hit Man (Linklater, 2023) 7/10
*Drugstore Cowboy (Van Sant, 1989) 8/10
*Barry Lyndon (Kubrick, 1975) 10/10
Cemetery Man (Soavi, 1994) 8/10
Juror #2 (Eastwood, 2024) 5/10

Conclave is so much fucking fun

The Brutalist (2024) 5/5. If you can't tell from the rating, I thought this was phenomenal.
* Female Trouble (1974) 4/5
* Raising Arizona (1987) 5/5
* Desperate Living (1977) 4/5
Working Girls (1986) 4/5
* Ride in the Whirlwind (1966) Jack Nicholson rides off at the end to have the biggest film career of the cast.
* The Shooting (1966) 4/5
Cold Water (1994) 4.5/5
D.O.A. (1949) 3.5/5
My Heart is That Eternal Rose (1989) 3.5/5
* Affliction (1997) 4.5/5
Suzhou River (2000) 4/5
* Next of Kin (1982) 4/5
The Linguini Incident (1991) 3/5
Santa Claus Has Blue Eyes (1966) 3/5
Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger (2024) 4/5
Evil Does Not Exist (2023) 4/5

* Affliction

Finishing out 2024

Argentina, 1985 (Santiago Mitre, 2022)
Brats (Andrew McCarthy, 2024)
In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon (Alex Gibney, 2023)
Dune: Part Two (Denis Villeneuve, 2024)
Late Night with the Devil (Cameron Cairnes, Colin Cairnes, 2023)
Christmas Holiday (Robert Siodmak, 1944)
Riotsville, U.S.A. (Sierra Pettengill, 2022)
Who's That Girl (James Foley, 1987)
Kim's Video (David Redmon, Ashley Sabin, 2023)
The Last of the Mohicans (Michael Mann, 1992)
Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg (Alexis Bloom, Svetlana Zill, 2023)
Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, 1948)
*A Scanner Darkly (Richard Linklater, 2006)
Cyndi Lauper: Let the Canary Sing (Alison Ellwood, 2023)
A Leg (Yaosheng Chang, 2020)
Ali (Michael Mann, 2001)
Eno (Gary Hustwit, 2024)
Out of Sync (Juanjo Giménez Peña, 2021)
*Diabolique (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1955)
Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara (Erin Lee Carr, 2024)
*The Grand Illusion (Jean Renoir, 1937)
The Apprentice (Ali Abbasi, 2024)
The Savages (Tamara Jenkins, 2007)
The Dentist (Leslie Pearce, 1932)
The Day of the Beast (Álex de la Iglesia, 1995)
Owning Mahowny (Richard Kwietniowski, 2003)
Omar and Cedric: If This Ever Gets Weird (Nicolas Jack Davies, 2023)
Cemetery Without Crosses (Robert Hossein, 1969)
Neither Confirm Nor Deny (Philip Carter, 2020)
*Good Night, and Good Luck. (George Clooney, 2005)
*Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey (Steven M. Martin, 1993)
Clear History (Greg Mottola, 2013)
The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1970)
*The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene, 1920)
L'Atalante (Jean Vigo, 1934)
White Noise (Noah Baumbach, 2022)
The Second Civil War (Joe Dante, 1997)
Decision to Leave (Park Chan-wook, 2022)
The Shape of Night (Noboru Nakamura, 1964)
*Desk Set (Walter Lang, 1957)
The Strange Woman (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1946)

*bad lieutenant: pocno (herzog 09) 10/10
*its a wonderful life (Capra 46) 10/10
the fisher king (Gilliam 91) 4/10
nightbitch (heller '24) 3/10
bram stoker's Dracula (Coppola '92) 5/10
mary shelleys frankenstein (branagh 94) 6/10
born to be blue (robert budreau 2015) 5/10
love story (Erich segal 1970) 5/10
the curious case of benjamin button (fincher 2008) 7/10
jules (turtletaub 2023) 5/10
blink twice (kravitz 2024) 2/10
the movie man (matt finlin 2024) 8/10

What I watched last year:

La Bete / The Beast (Bonello, 2023) *****
Nosferatu (Murnau, 1922) ***1/2
Nosferatu (Eggers, 2025) ****
Ethel & Ernest (Rewatch) *****
The Holdovers *****
Time Masters ***1/2
Glengarry Glen Ross ****
Eyes of Fire ****
The Florida Project ****1/2
Hundreds Of Beavers ** (DNF)
Babe: Pig In The City *****
Wasp (Arnold, 2003) ****
American Movie **1/2
Anora *****
The Substance *****
It Follows (Rewatch) ***
The VVitch (Rewatch) *****
Late Night With The Devil ***
Mad God **
Lords of Chaos ***1/2
The Zone Of Interest ****
The Night Of The Hunter *****
The Hypnosis ***
Alien: Romulus **1/2
Azor **
The Childhood Of A Leader ****1/2
Saw II ***
Saw X ****
Saw ****
First Cow ****1/2
Civil War ***1/2
American Fiction ***1/2
RRR *****
Pig (Rewatch) ****
Barbarian ***
Poor Things *****
The Boy And The Heron ***1/2
The Green Knight ****1/2

† Casablanca (Curtiz, Epstein, Epstein, Koch, Robinson, Burnett, Alison 1942)
Lisa Frankenstein (Williams, Cody 2024) 📺
Y2K (Mooney, Winter 2024)
Conclave (Berger, Straughan, Harris 2024)
† Interstella 5555 (Matsumoto, Takenouchi, Bangalter, Hervet, de Homem-Christo 2003)*
Interstellar (Nolan, Nolan, Thorne, Obst 2014)
Tokyo Godfathers (Kon, Nobumoto 2003)
Flow (Zilbalodis, Kaža 2024)
Nightbitch (Heller after Yoder 2024)
Oh Canada (Schrader after Banks 2024)
Queer (Guadagnino, Kuritzkes, Burroughs 2024)
⸸ Dial M For Murder (3-D) (Hitchcock, Knott 1954) 💿
I, The Jury (3-D) (Essex after Spillane 1953) 💿 2/10, tapped out maybe an hour into this 87-minute film but some nice photography and the Christmas cards were good
⸸ Piranha 3D (Aja, Levasseur, Stolberg, Goldfinger, Russell, Sayles, Dante 2010) 💿
Duel [OG TV version] (Spielberg, Matheson 1971) 📺
Babygirl (Reijn 2024)
For The Birds (Reijn 2021) 📺 3min short
The Sugarland Express (Spielberg, Barwood, Robbins 1974) 📺
Something Evil (Spielberg, Clouse 1972) 📺
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (Park, Crossingham, Burton, Walsh, O'Shaughnessy 2024) 📺

* have to admire the immersive commitment to a modern ~activated experience~ by taking a musical about replacing committed passionate musicians with soulless facsimilies, and rendering it in blurry AI upscaling & playing the sound at half-volume

Chinese Odyssey 2002 (2002) 3/5
* Cry-Baby (1990) 3.5/5
Kiru/Destiny's Son (1962) 3.5/5
Sweet Charity (1969) 3.5/5
* Blood Simple (1984) 5/5
Nosferatu (2024) 3.5/5
Juror #2 (2024) 2.5/5. Really dumb script.
Dahomey (2024) 4/5
Vox Lux (2018) 3/5
Conclave (2024) 3/5
* No Country for Old Men (2007) 5/5
* Serial Mom (1994) 4/5

Juror #2 is pretty dumb

holiday movies i watched this year

Time Without Pity (Losey, 1957)
Dear Santa (Farrelly, 2024)
*Elf (Favreau 2003) only watched the first half
Carry-On (Collet-Serra, 2024) it's die hard in an airport. it's die hard 2. 6/10
The Holdovers (Payne, 2023) 6/10
*Home Alone 2 (Columbus did this?, 1992) 2/10
*It's a Wonderful Life (Capra, 1946) 8/10
Kate Bush Christmas Special (1979)
Hundreds of Beavers (Cheslik, 2024) 10/10 it counts because it has a guy who looks like santa
Jingle All the Way (Levant, 1996) 4/10

Gilda (Vidor, 1946)
My Old Ass (Park, 2024)
Hale County This Morning, This Evening (Ross, 2018)
A Real Pain (Eisenberg, 2024)
The Holiday (Meyers, 2006)
High Hopes (Leigh, 1988)
Deja Vu (T. Scott, 2006)
Bodies Bodies Bodies (Reijn, 2022)
Queer (Guadagnino, 2024)
Strangers on a Train (Hitchcock, 1951)
Suspiria (Argento, 1977)
The White Ribbon (Haneke, 2009)
Scarface (Hawks, 1932)
Juror #2 (Eastwood, 2024)
A Complete Unknown (Mangold, 2024)
Nosferatu (Eggers, 2024)
Dont Look Back (Pennebaker, 1967)
Problemista (Torres, 2023)
Gladiator (R. Scott, 2000)

What'd you think of Gilda ?

I didn't really like it, tbh. Hayworth is great, of course, but the plot felt overwrought.

Saturday Night (5.0)
True Detective: North Country (6.0)
A Complete Unknown (8.0)
Anora (5.5)
Twin Peaks (S1 – 8.0)
Twin Peaks (S2 – 7.0)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (6.5)
Twin Peaks: The Return (7.0)
Nosferatu (6.0)
Real Pain (7.0)

A Real Pain that should read...the ambiguity of which I loved.

Rated on a 7 scale because why not

Cinema:
Conclave (2024) 5/7
Queer (2024) 4/7
A Bloodthirsty Killer (aka A Devilish Homicide) (1965) 5/7
Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000) 5/7
The Girl With the Needle (2024) 4/7

In-flight entertainment:
Tenet (2020) 2/7
Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) 4/7
Janet Planet (2023) 5/7

YouTube:
Ugetsu Monogatari (1953) 7/7
Slade in Flame (1975) 5/7
Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt (2004) 5/7
Dolemite (1975) 4/7
His Girl Friday (1940) 6/7
The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974) 4/7
The Rutles: All You Need is Cash (1978) 5/7
Shack Out on 101 (1955) 5/7
Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980) 5/7

I love Slade in Flame. Solid document of crap 70s Britain imo

Scripted by Jane Birkin's brother!

Dunno if it's been discussed, but I just saw and really enjoyed "Good One." Reminded me of a couple of things, like Kelly Reichardt movies and "Leave No Trace." Everyone is good but especially Lily Collias.

Amblin' (Spielberg 1968) 📺 30 min
* Paprika [パプリカ] (Kon, Minakami after TsuTsui 2006)
* To Live And Die In L.A. (Friedkin, Petievich 1985) 💿
Eyes (Spielberg, Serling 1969) 📺 30 min
Better Man (Gracey, Gleeson, Cole, Chambers 2024)
The Howling (Dante, Sayles 1981) 📺
* Murder By The Book (Spielberg, Bochco, Fischer 1971) 💿
Tales Of Hoffman (Powell, Pressburger, Offenbach, Arundell, Barbier, Hoffmann 1951)
* Twin Peaks: The Return episode 1 (Lynch, Frost 2017) 💿
Make Me Laugh (Spielberg, Serling 1970) 📺 30 min
* Twin Peaks: The Return episode 2 (Lynch, Frost 2017) 💿
Wolf Man (Whannell, Tuck 2025) 3/10
The Last Showgirl (Coppola, Gersten 2025)
Peeping Tom (Powell, Marks 1960)
Presence (Soderbergh, Koepp 2025)
* Twin Peaks: The Return episode 3 (Lynch, Frost 2017) 💿
* Twin Peaks: The Return episode 4 (Lynch, Frost 2017) 💿
Mysterious Skin (Araki, Heim 2004)
The Gold Rush [90-minute version, w/ rearr. of the 1942 score played live] (Chaplin 1925)
Hard Truths (Leigh 2025)
* Flow (Zilbalodis, Kaža 2024)
Gone To Earth (Powell and Pressburger after Webb 1950)

are the early spielbergs worth watching? I've only seen the columbo episode.

Eyes is good, from the Night Gallery pilot movie. Make Me Laugh is okay, from a Night Gallery series episode, but twice as long as it needs to be. Savage is a competently done procedural pilot that does not make you wish it had gone to series. Something Evil is a pretty weak haunted house story with a few good camera moves.

Duel absolutely rips, and there’s a good copy of the TV version on archive dot org — the disc version is horrifyingly AI “upscaled,,” with waxy melting faces, shape-changing teeth and depth of field turned random.

Amblin’ is kind of interesting for pointing up that its auteur was absolutely right to pursue purely commercial audience-driven work; he simply does not have anything to say in a formally playful work about counter-culture individuals. (I watched a dire rip on youtube, though— it might be more sensually enjoyable projected in good quality.)

Still have LA 2017 to get to from the TV years, but hadn’t seen Sugarland Express before, and that is a total delight. (And unlike Amblin’, does manage to combine a little movie brat / new hollywood tone with his core theme of “an American nuclear family disrupted is the most foreboding thing that can be depicted”)

We should be able to get a few years out of this one before it gets unwieldy.
― 16, 35, DCP, Go! (sic), Friday, August 10, 2018

We got our few years--time for part III.

3382 is significantly fewer than 5982 iirc