I saw Frankenstein in a theater last night. I really haven’t been keeping up on new movies lately; in fact, I hadn’t even heard of this one until a friend mentioned it.
I loved it. Highly recommended. It’s a Netflix movie, so it’s also already on Netflix.
I watched a set of Marcello Mastroianni movies. He’s been in over 100 flicks and a lot of them are pretty bad, so I tried to pick from the top rated ones I’d not yet seen.
- The Friend (2024): Many women talk about the dead guy and the live dog. It does a good job of handling conflicting feelings during a time of loss. Recommended.
- Joyland (جوائے لینڈ) (2022): Quiet film of a patriarchal family whose youngest son joins a burlesque show and falls for a strong-willed transgender woman, further complicating family relations, especially with his wife.
- Green Book (2018): A bouncer drives African-American classical pianist Dr. Donald Shirley through the South. Great acting from Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen. Forgive it for being “remarkably conventional and shallow in its treatment of racism” as it is based off real-life stories the driver told his son, who has a writing credit for the movie. Their NYC-Italian POV is valid, if shallow.
- The Big Gay Musical (2009): While working on an off-broadway show, the lives of two men mirror the characters they are playing. Skip it.
- A Petal (1996) (꽃잎): A fictionalized tale of how a girl reacted to the trauma of the 1980 Gwangju massacre. This film spurred the Korean public to demand the truth behind the incident, and their government eventually opened previously classified files on the massacre. I have issues with the film, but felt the need to watch.
- A Taxi Driver (택시운전사) 2017 : Lighter than the previous. Based on a real-life story, the film follows a taxi driver from Seoul who unintentionally becomes involved in the events of the Gwangju Uprising in 1980. It draws on the experiences of German journalist Jürgen Hinzpeter and his interactions with driver Kim Man-seob. All of Man-seob’s details are fictional because no one could find him until his son saw the movie and realized it was about his dad.
- Chamber of Horrors (1966): I guess it is Halloween season. Meh.
- Manichitrathazhu (1993) (മണിച്ചിത്രത്താഴ്): Hailing from a family that follows tradition and superstitions, Thampi objects to his nephew’s idea of moving into a haunted mansion. The warning ignored, things get spooky. Recommended.
- I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997): skip.
- Stalker (1979) (Сталкер): THIS IS STILL THE BEST MOVIE! Filled with despair.
Mastroianni movies:
- The Organizer (1963) (I compagni): Former teacher-turned-unionist (Mastroianni) tries to organize workers laboring with inhuman conditions at a textile factory. Tense and true. Highly Recommended.
- Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958) (I soliti ignoti): fun heist flick
- Ginger and Fred (1986): Old dance partners rejoin for TV special and comment on aging, societal change, the entertainment industry and more.
- Le Notti Bianche (1957) (White Nights): A middle-aged man meets a young woman who is waiting on for her lover’s return after a year apart. Will he sway her? Will the lover return? Highly Recommended.
- 8½ (1963) : Not my favorite Fellini, but others rate it highly.
- Divorce Italian Style (1961) (Divorzio all’italiana) : Comedy about a husband who falls for sexy niece, but since Catholics can’t divorce, the only option is murder.
My God, I long to experience a fraction of your appetite for film. Call it poorly managed ADHD (I usually do) or whatever else you like, but I cap out at like 3 movies a week, maybe even less if one is particularly challenging.
I’m retired. I usually watch a movie around brunch-time and then another in the evening – and obviously sometimes I’ll watch a couple more, too.
If someone actually wanted to spend time watching movies, the trick is to watch stuff from other times and places because even the standard boy-meets-girl story has interesting details when set in, say, 1940s Italy versus 1970s Detroit.
Ip Man 2: great kung-fu flick with fantastic acting, as expected from Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung. Equally great action. I had already seen Ip Man 4, so it was interesting to see how the film differs in its depiction of racism. It was more subtle and insidious in 4, but the overt hatred in 2 was no less infuriating.
I watched the documentary movie “John Candy: I Like Me” and very much enjoyed it.
I watched that last week and it’s was great but so sad.
Chainsaw Man - the movie: Reze Arc 4.5/5: Man that’s a mouthful. Beautiful animation, I really appreciate how deliberate each shot was, and even when the animation is “still” it’s purposeful and has detailed changes so it doesn’t feel cheap. You also feel for Denji because even the people screwing him over can see how miserable and unfair his life has been. I’m not sure I’d go far enough to suggest this for non-anime fans but for anime fans it’s worth a watch, even if you don’t see the show
Sonic the Hedgehog 3/5: Sonic 1 walks so Sonic 2 can run, and Sonic 3 can go fast. They were obviously concerned with making their money back on this given the very on the nose product placement. I’m also a sucker for any speedster scene like the bar fight and obviously the apex version of that scene is Quicksilver in X-MEN apocalypse. It’s a good starting point to get us to the good stuff
Thunderball 3/5: I’m still slowly working through the Bond movies in release order. It’s funny how I saw this and immediately said “oh, that’s what Austin Powers was making fun of”. The SPECTRE stuff is cool and it actually is one of the more grounded Bond movies with a plot I think would work in the real 60s. They’re still slow by modern standards which is why I topped out at 3
The Rocky Horror Picture Show 4/5: I love this, I watch it annually. The music is fun, the story is campy, and it’s batshit crazy. I will say the last 30 minutes of the movie I don’t love the score as much and I don’t always feel compelled to finish it
Hoo boy, I generally enjoy early Bond, but I feel like you’re being too kind to Thunderball. As I understand it, the underwater photography was pretty astonishing at the time, and it certainly feels like the movie was structured around the idea of SCUBA being the new hotness. Unfortunately, now that those concepts are relatively quotidian, you’re left with a slow, clunky movie whose big action sequences are (by nature of being filmed underwater) slow and clunky.
Whenever I get the urge to go back and watch the early Bonds, Thunderball is always one I skip.
So far all of the movies are slow and the action is just so old school that I didn’t even really clock anything odd about the underwater stuff. It is interesting to know that it was cutting edge at the time. For what it’s worth I do think it’s the worst one I’ve seen so far, but I wouldn’t call it bad
That’s fair. For me, those first Bond movies are like a travelogue. Not only to a different place, but also a different time. So, I forgive the parts of From Russia with Love (for example) that drag, because I can still luxuriate in seeing Venice at that time. With Thunderball, the big “destination” is the Bahamas if I remember correctly. Coming so soon after Dr. No’s Jamaica set stuff, and the focus on filming the sea floor more than the scenery, just leaves me underwhelmed ultimately.
I’d be curious where you rack and stack it later.
As I noted, this isn’t a concerted effort. Most of the time I sit down to watch a movie I don’t want something longer than 2 hours which means most Bond movies are out. I’m only 4 films in by October so I’m probably not finishing this year and so I don’t judge it as closely to its contemporaries as much as I judge it for its era
I’m on a Terminator binge and working my may backwards from worst to best.
- Terminator Salvation
- Terminator Genisys
The only way is up after these two… Simply said both movies had no interesting/exciting characters or story. Some are downright awful.
Are you planning to watch Terminator Zero on your journey? I think it has a lot of potential but kinda squanders it. Which is pretty fitting for every Terminator after 2 imo
I watched it a while ago and thought it was a solid attempt and better than most of the movies.
Just watched The Thing. Great movie.
Great movie and soundtrack. I’ll listen to it while I’m reading sometimes
Greyhound.
I recently did a rewatch of this movie and man it is great.
Chainsaw Man. It was meh.
