I’ve never watched any James Bond movie and recently Netflix added all of them so I decided why not finally binge em all.
Just finished You Only Live Twice. They are…
Whew they really are old damnnn.I don’t really enjoy them that much, and I can’t wait to get to the more modern movies.
Old movies are really theatrical in their acting which I don’t really enjoy, and deaths function kinda on a tagging system (I.e. one stab or bullet instantly kills) which breaks my immersion quite a lot. I know that that was just the style at the time but omgg it just makes most deaths hilarious.
Blade Runner - Final Cut
Picked up the 4K HDR release as a “treat yourself” Christmas gift.
In my sea of geeky qualities, chief among them is the fact I let out an audible “Oh, wow…” after the opening cut to the LA skyline. Stunning is the only adjective I can think of to describe the visual feast the movie lays out, and this new transfer captures aspects of the sets, costuming, and overall texture which I’ve never noticed before. In fact, the degree of clarity is such that it belies the constructed nature of the world at times. You can see micro-inconsistencies in scale which reveal buildings to be miniatures, and the seams between said miniature cityscapes and matte paintings are easily detectable. Not that any of that matters. By the time the Tyrell Corporation headquarters is revealed, I had become fully immersed in the cyberpunk future of 2019.
However.
While this is undoubtedly the best the movie has ever looked, I’m also beginning to understand what Harrison Ford meant when he said (of the director’s cut version in 2000) “They haven’t put anything in, so it’s still an exercise in design.” Previously, it was easy to chalk that up to Harrison Ford being a grump, but, on this viewing, it became clear how little energy the film spends on developing Rachel’s character, which, in turn, makes Deckard’s whole arc fall flat. Granted, ambiguity is a big theme of the movie, so we were never going to get these characters to sit down and have a forthright conversation with one another about their wants and needs. I can sort of sketch in some details about why Rachel might latch onto Deckard, but it feels more like idle speculation than textual interpretation, and I have even less to go off of for Deckard’s interest in Rachel. Not to mention the slap-slap/kiss-kiss dynamic they have early on. I get that Scott is playing with film noir tropes and what not, but some things should stay in the 1940s.
So, as far as it goes as an “exercise in design”, its 5/5, top tier, awe-inspiring stuff. As a narrative feature, well, it’s got flaws, but they’re well-worth pushing past to enjoy everything else.
Final tidbit: Rutger Hauer is just amazing here. Some of the things he is asked to say are so navel-gazey and maudlin, but he manages to pull it off (with assistance from the movie’s elegiac tone, which helps the pretension go down).
I saw Amadeus (1984), which I never had watched before.
It was incredible; give it a watch if you haven’t seen it. Of course it’s largely Mozart fan fiction, but the sets, costumes, drama, acting, and (naturally) music are such a delight.
That’s a good one.
Anaconda (2025)
I don’t know why but tried to watch it yesterday while eating lunch and its not good. I did leave it on to finish so maybe it’s not bad but more like a 4/10 rating.
Agreed. I had a little bit of fun with it, just cause I’ll always find the premise of “a movie about idiots making movies” to be fun, but I don’t feel like they made good on it. Not that a comedy lega-sequel needs to be a serious metatextual analysis, but I hoped more of the humor would derive from low budget movie making. The whole thing was like a lukewarm TV dinner. I’m not above it…but I’m also not enthused about any portion of it other than the two tablespoons of overly sweet apple crumble for dessert (this would be the cameo at the end, which was pandering and ridiculous, but also kinda funny).
Also, “Buffalo Sober” got a real good laugh out of me.
I watched Marty Supreme.
Even though it was a busy movie with lots of crazy adventures, it just seemed too long.
I’d still recommend it.
Door Lock (2018) - didn’t know going in that this was a sort of rework of a (better) movie that i had already seen. it was watchable for my late nite trash purposes but i probably would not recommend it.
Within the Pines (2024) - cool premise & nicely shot & great sound design but not enough happening for the length.
The Hitch-Hiker (1953) - finally getting around to this one and it was quite a banger, the only one from this week that i actually do recommend.
Redux Redux (2025) - started out very strong but lost me once the pace slowed down & people started talking more. but i’m always happy to give some lo-fi scifi a go.
Documentary about a bunch of artists who got kicked out of their space when mall developers bought up the land they lived on. A few of them went back to the mall after it finished construction and found a hidden unused space inside the mall and created a living space there.
They had electricity, furniture, and a whole fake wall built to better hide it and everything. A really fascinating watch!
Rewatching some oldies: Fear with Marky Mark Thelma & Louise
