Recently Seen Movies

Contemporary:

Brick (Rian Johnson, 2005) (6/10)

An interesting mix of noir and high-school drama. Ultimately, a bit insubstantial.

Art School Confidential (Zwigoff, 2006) (5/10)

Mediocre satire with cheap shots at that all too easily satirized topic: abstract modern art

I am a Sex Addict (Zahedi, 2005) (7/10)

Caveh shows us the history of his long addiction to prostitutes. Very honest, even brutal

North Country (Niki Caro, 2005) (5/10)

Cliched issue drama, though Charlize proves again that she actually has acting ability

Underground Game (Roberto Gervitz, 2005) (7/10)

Decent thriller / romance taking place as a musician plays a game on Rio's subway system to find his true love

The Wayward Cloud (Ming-Liang Tsai, 2005) (8/10)

Porno-musical masterpiece - in Taiwan. Must See.

Tripping with Caveh (Zahedi, 2004) (2/10)

Uninteresting Caveh Zahedi short. Yes, Caveh, we already know you do drugs, you didn't have to make a movie showing yourself taking drugs and falling asleep

Princess Racoon (Suzuki, 2005) (7/10)

Suzuki's crazy weirdness makes the first 70 minutes of this movie great, the last 50 minutes drags

The Little Lieutenant (Xavier Beauvios, 2005) (5/10)

Far too cliched and predictable French police procedural. Lots of good actors and actresses wasted.

Betrayal (Philippe Faucon, 2005) (6/10)

Nicely done Algerian war / betrayal picture but doesn't dig deep enough

Classic Hollywood:

The Seven Year Itch (Wilder, 1955) (7/10)

Funny Wilder / George Axelrod sex farce, with good performances by Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell.

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (Tashlin, 1957) (9/10)

Bam! Now THIS is what satire should be!

The Ghost Ship (Robson, 1943) (6/10)

Decent horror movie, though of lower inventiveness than we expect from the Val Lewton unit.

The Body Snatcher (Wise, 1945) (7/10)

Another good product from the Val Lewton unit. Excellent performance by Boris Karloff, perhaps the best of his career. Not quite up to the standards of Cat People / The Seventh Victim / Return of the Cat People, but still good.

Dracula (Browning, 1931) (5/10)

I don't see why people are excited by this one.

Classic European:

Donkey Skin (Demy, 1970) (6/10)

Nowhere near the standards of Demy's previous work, but a cool fairy-tale pic all the same

The Pied Piper (Demy, 1972) (2/10)

Idiotic, cliched, non-funny satire on the Black Death........plus Donovan singing and singing .......and singing. Ninety minutes of horseshit.

The Passenger (Antonioni, 1975) (8/10)

Antonioni's stupendous exploration of modern identity, angst and existential despair

The Innocents (Clayton, 1961) (7/10)

Nice ghost story, based on James' Turn of the Screw. Good performances from the child actors, and nice sense of menace gradually developed.

Classic Asian:

Goyokin (Hideo Gosha, 1969) (7/10)

Black ironic samurai-noir.

I Promise To Do Better

Kids, Romans, Grecians, Ukranians, gentles and friends


I know I've been posting far too little. I suck. Expect immediate improvement in the future (no, seriously, I've written a whole bunch of stuff in my meatspace journal and I'll try to put it out more consistently now).