The Constant Gardner was a little frustrating at times, and quite the downer, but I liked it overall. I was also going to watch Michael Clayton tonight but the copy that Netflix sent me was scratched to shit.
Decided I'm going to do a chronological watch of the Coen Brothers filmography (except ladykillers because life is too short). Just watched Blood Simple. I always hear people talk about how dark the film is that I'd forgotten how funny it is.
Watched 3 movies in The Falcon b-movie series from the 40s. Sometimes I love to watch these and imagine being young in the 40s and catching a double bill at a movie palace and it's easy to enjoy modest programmers like these. They got better as they went, with the third, The Falcon Takes Over, as a surprisingly solid Raymond Chandler adaptation. George Sanders is always charming, and Allen Jenkins and James Gleason are two of my favorite supporting actors of the era who get more to do here than in bigger budget movies they were in. Plus my dude Ward Bond gets one of his most memorable supporting parts in Takes Over playing Moose Malloy
Rewatched Kill Bill vols. 1-2. I don't know if I'd call it Tarantino's best, but it's certainly my favorite. I'm a sucker for samurai swords, and I feel like this, perhaps more than anything else he's done, is just oozing with style. I love the whole homage-y-ness of it all. I must have not been paying attention the first time I watched it because I caught a lot this time around that I hadn't before, especially when it came to the story. All those little contextual details along the way really add a lot that you don't get from rewatching just the fights on YouTube. Also, I didn't realize before how awesome the soundtrack is.
Kubo and the Two Strings was amazing. Favorite movie of the year thusfar, hands-down. I pledge allegiance to Laika. Will see all their movies in theaters from here on out.
Mommy, while although definitely a little too indulgent of its melodrama and floaty on plot in broader senses, was devastating and might make me like Lana Del Ray
No, this was a blind buy! It sounds like I will feel similarly about his other work (indulgent, a little holey, but powerful all the same) so I'll check it out.
Picnic on Hanging Rock - less happened than I thought would. i enjoyed the fever dream feelings and the themes of sexual awakening/suppression/exploitation
I totally buy people who count that as a horror movie. I have trouble explaining why I liked it so much, but I really did.
it's hard to argue from a very literal sense (going into, like, Noel Carroll's philosophy of horror) but i think that's an understandable position. i'd like to watch it again. i think it actually would have benefited from a more Akerman approach of lengthier, "emptier," more atmospheric shots, but iirc it was marketed more popularly than Akerman would be lmao
oof, admittedly i love most feminist art but Jeanne Dielman is transcendental imo. her final work, No Home Movie, was devastating and touching.
Oh I had no problem with the feminism. But the endless takes, the repetition, the stoicism all got old for me long before its eternal runtime ended.
yeah both as a philosophical work as well as an artistic one, i mean. it's not for everyone, but for those for whom it works, it's usually pretty next level.
Oh yeah. If you dig Satantango and such, it's gonna be one of your favorites. I am not one of those people. Haha
Dont Breathe - 6/10 that might sound a bit harsh but man, based on the reviews this was really REALLY average. At times it felt like a comedy with all of the head slapping 'holy shit what are you doing' horror moments. Too simple. Not done in a particularly interesting or new way. The scares weren't too great and just kinda meh the whole time. I've seen a ton of better horror movies in the past 5 years.