Last (x) movies you saw (II)

Nomadland (7.5)
Eyes Wide Shut (7.0)
Manhunter (7.0)
A Taste of Honey (7.5)
Barry Lyndon (10.0)
Warning Shot (7.0)
The Woman in the Window (2021 - 5.5)
The Killing (8.5)
Twin Peaks (pilot/S1 – 8.5)
Twin Peaks (S2 – 7.0)
Once Is Not Enough (5.5)
Full Metal Jacket (7.0)
A Clockwork Orange (5.0)

last couple of months

CINEMA IS BACK, BABY:
Fast & Fourious (Lin, Morgan 2009)
Fast Five (Lin, Morgan 2011)
Fast & Furious 6 (Lin, Morgan 2013)
Furious 7 (Wan, Morgan 2015)
The Feight Of The Furious (Gray, Morgan 2017)
F9 (Lin, Casey 2021)

AIR-CONDITIONING IS BACK, BABY:
* Raiders Of The Lost Ark (Spiels B, Kas D, Ratliff, The Right Kauf 1981) 7.5.10
The Enfield Case (Wan, Hayes, Johnson 2016) 2/10
To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar (Kidron, Beane 1995) 1/10
The Sparks Brothers (Wright 2021) 8/10, would be ten at six hours long
* The Sparks Brothers (Wright 2021)
A Quiet Place Part II (Halpert 2021) 3/10
The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard (Hughes, O'Connor, Murphy, Murphy 2021) 1/10
* Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs (Lord & Miller 2009) 8/10
The House Next Door (Taylor, Harrell 2021) 2/10, one point just for Katt Williams as a vampire pimp, even if he shot out in three days
@Zola (Janicza Bravo, A'ziah "Zola" King, Jeremy O. Harris, David Kushner 2021) 6.5/10
* The Lego Batman Movie (McKay, Grahame-Smith, McKenna, Sommer, Stern, Whittington 2017) 7/10
on a TV:
The Tomorrow War (McKay, Dean 2021) 0.5 tines /10
Tenet (naloNolan 2020) 2/10, would pay up to $1 to watch in theatre just for the backwardsy action scenes
* The Great Muppet Caper (Henson, Patchett, Tarses, Juhl, Rose 1981) 9/10 ⚰️
Collateral (Mann, Beattie 2004) 8/10
* Notting Hill (Curtis, Mitchell 1999) 7/10 and I'm mad about it, did not expect this to work so well: liked it better than on release
The Personal History of David Copperfield (Ianucci, Blackwell, Finnemore, Schneider, Smith, Dickens 2020) 8/10 also surprised here but pleasantly so. Armando & crew managed to make a Dickens that crunches down the sprawl to a chewable multiplex size, but remains funny in exactly the say that Dickens is funny.
* Tomorrow Never Dies (Spottiswoode, Feirstein 1997) 2/10 surprised again: without remembering anything about this one bar The Melting Candle being the villain, discovered that it does absolutely nothing with the scope of his irl villainy, and is very dull besides.
Plan B (Natalie Morales, Prathi Srinivasan, Joshua Levy 2021) 8/10 a delight
Unpregnant (Rachel Lee Goldenberg, Ted Caplan, Jenni Hendriks, Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, William Parker 2020) 5/10 having so enjoyed the 2021 teen sex comedy about states that restrict access to the morning after pill, I went back to catch up on the 2020 one: this was the wrong order, and I would have enjoyed this one more in a stand-alone context
The To Do List (Maggie Carey 2013) 7/10 a restorative vote for low-stakes teen sex comedies by female filmmakers
The Go-Go's (Alison Ellwood 2020) 6/10 a basic rise / fall band narrative but a great visual sense
Shaft 2000 (Singleton, Salerno 2000) 2/10 feels like it should be ACABaganda but the movie is firmly on the side of the guy beating the shit out of random teenagers in the street in the hope they will give him information that they don't have
Hustlers (Lorene Scafaria, Jessica Pressler 2019) 6.5/10 less edifying than the print article but would pay up to $2 to watch a 90-minute supercut of just the music-based scenes in a theatre
Hulk (Lee, Schamus 2003) 4/10 the wipes are good
Identity Crisis (McGoohan, Driskill 1975) 6/10
The House Bunny (Fred Wolf, Kirsten Smith, Karen McCullah Lutz 2008) 6/10 totally being carried by the lead performance, but that lead is probably worth 7 points by itself
No Sudden Move (Soderbergh, Solomon 2021) 7/10
Summer Of Soul (?uestlove 2021) 7/10
The Nice Guys (Black, Bagarozzi 2016) 7.5/10 wish I'd seen this with an audience, probably plays like a 9
* Lethal Weapon (Black & Donner 1987) 4/10 ⚰️
The Monster Squad (Black & Dekker 1987) 5/10
SHORTS:

Dead On Time (Hobbs, Curtis, Atkinson 1983) 31 min (nb that we are further from Notting Hill than Notting Hill was from this. Is The Girl In The Cafe and 1/3 of a Dr Who episode the only decent thing Curtis has done this century?)
C'était un rendez-vous (Claude LeLouche 1976) 8 min
Gershwin's Trunk (Paul Bartel, John Meyer 1987) 25min

4:44 Last Day on Earth (2011) 2.5/5
What Happened Was... (1994) 4.5/5. Gotta admit I thought this was going to be an awkward indie comedy and was blown away by its build-up and emotional depth. Essential.
* Minnie and Moskowitz (1971) 4/5
Barb and Star Go to Visa Del Mar (2021) 3.5/5
* Bad Day at Black Rock 4/5
* Tombstone (1993) 4/5
Heaven's Gate (1980) 3.5/5
Son of the White Mare (1981) 3.5/5
Swimmer (2012) Lynne Ramsey short. I was really tired and I didn't get it.
* Force of Evil (1948) 4/5

The Empty Man, which is now streaming via HBO Max, is pretty good. It starts off one thing (hikers encounter a Malevolent Force while trekking through the Himalayas-I-think), becomes a different thing (James Badge Dale, one of my favorite low-key actors, plays a Retired Cop With A Dark Past investigating the disappearance of some local teens, which seems to be related to the titular urban legend) and then becomes a The Conspiracy Is Deeper Than You Think story. Stephen Root fans, take note: He’s only in one scene, but it’s great. It doesn’t totally make sense, and it’s too long (two and a quarter hours), but there’s enough creepy shit to make it worth your while.

Gojira (Honda, 1954)
The Law of the Wild (Eason & Schaefer, 1934)
Soup to Nuts (Stoloff, 1930)
I Was a Spy (Saville, 1933)
Crimson Romance (Howard, 1934)
Whirlpool of Fate (Renoir, 1925)
The Mummy (Fisher, 1959)
Pig (Sarnoski, 2021)

does pig have anything to recommend it?
just saw Truffle Hunters which was a lovely sort of tone poem

Cage gives possibly his most controlled, solid performance of the last decade. I didn't see Truffle Hunters because I normally find documentaries less entertaining than the same amount of footage of paint drying. Is it worth watching?

I forgot one and it was good:
The Clockmaker of St. Paul (1974) 4/5

xp probably not if that's the way you approach docs tbh. it's really not much of a documentary, more a series of vignettes of strange men, their dogs and their phenomenally expensive fungus. I found it deeply charming but you're not gonna learn much.

I lost my body . French cartoon about an immigrant boy from the middle east becoming smitten by a girl he was supposed to be delivering pizza to. & the effect on his life things are in consequence. Quite nice, touchiing in places.

Actually I Lost My Body is a fantastic little fillm showing a disembodied hand working its way across some part of France interspersed with some flashbacks to an immigrant youth. I thought it quite touching but it is a film where I'd like to know the end consequences not to give any more spoilers.

Raya & The LOast Dragon
Disney princess film where in some not fully specified imaginary Asian country that once had a plethora of dragons living in harmony with humans there has been some weird negative force unleashed that is turning things to stone.
The main Princess of the story has her dad turned to stone when he tries to make a peacekeeping effort to unite the various peoples living around him and she goes to find a cure. She accumulates a motley crew of misfits whose relatives have been turned to stone including a rather too gymnastic baby among others.
Looks quite good, I'm sure teh kids loved it.
One thing that stuck in my mind was the note halfway through the credits saying something about this film was made in 400 homes. i.e. the film was made while people were working at home during the pandemic. Interesting to see how professional a product one can get out of those circumstances.

Werewolves Within
Horror comedy which has its moments,
Hadn't realised it was based on a computer game until i saw the credits.
Just looked up a few titles of supposedly good films from Rottentoamtoes and got this. Enjoyed it but could have been better i guess.

Le San D'Un p[oet
Not sure if I've seen bits of thsi before it's like Cocteau's equivalent of L'Age D'or or something. A consciously surrealistic film very consciously arty . HHas its moments and some interesting images.

Mesfi or Repast
Very nice film about relationship between a young couple in 1950s Osaka. Yeah left with the feel goods though really not sure about the emancipation of the sexes involved and the depiction of gender etc. But It is 70 years old and showing a different culture trying to update. I don't know being more progressive might not have been realistic to the times.
very very nice film though.

Plein Soleil
French take on the first Ripley story . I saw the same source made as The talented Mr Ripley with Matt Damon , Ethan Hawke and Philip Seymour Hoffman. This is much more stylish I think.
Very tasty film though I think the French in the 60s may have a different moral standard tahn the Americans in the 90s. Probably inevitable.
Worth seeing, very much so.

a few Les Blank films. I think Channel 4 in the UK used to show a lot of these things on a Friday afternoon soon after they started cos I remember seeing very similar films from that time. I was looking for Tex Mex music a few weeks back and wound up finding the film Chulas Fronteras which is really really good. I think I need the s/trk.

Los Tallos Amargos (Ayala, 1956)
Beyond Bengal (Schenck, 1934)
The Walls of Malapaga (Clement, 1949)
House of Danger (Hutchison, 1934)
The Sun Down Limited (McGowan, 1924)
*Now or Never (Roach & Newmeyer, 1921)
A Successful Failure (Lubin, 1934)
Wild Oranges (Vidor, 1924)
Tomorrow at Seven (Enright, 1933)
Black Widow (Shortland, 2021)
*The Black Cat (Ulmer, 1934)
Up on the Farm (Seiler, 1925)
All in Fun (Martin, 1928)
Work (Chaplin, 1915)

A Nous La Liberte Renee Claire.
Hadn't seen this before. Weird but very enjoyable. I was thinking Henry Marchand might be a French Charlie Chaplin but just read that Clair sued Chaplin over Modern Times.
2 prisoners attempt escape one gets away and becomes a great success in the record business. I couldn't tell quite how fast time is weird in this. His one time escape partner turns up as a drifter. I couldn't tell if he was finally released or what.
A lot of satire on machination and regimentation goes on.
I found some of this pretty funny. A lot of it really.
Did wonder how far to the left Clair's politics were in some of this. Anyway great film.

Nobody
Recent Bob Odenkirk vehicle. I hadn't heard much about it so I thought it was about a regular joe getting brutalised.
Won't say what is going on cos may be somebody else who wasn't aware. Though wonder how well known it is.
I'm just really late getting to see this and was prompted by Odenkirk's recent collapse.
Pretty good anyway. Quite brutal and violent in a semi cartoon way though people die a lot.
Glad I've got a chance to see it.

Funeral parade of Roses.
Didn't look this up beforehand so wasn't aware of what the topics involved were. Was just going from a list of japanese films for recommendations a few weeks ago and not sure if I really read teh blurb at the time.
BUt this was interesting . A very experimental 1969 film about a transvestite bar in Tokyo and goings on around it. Including a film being made by a director with a stick on Che Guevara beard.
It was quite interesting, watch out for teh end if you are squeamish.

I would really like to know who the music being danced to was , is it fresh to the soundtrack and therefore something that composer Joji Yuasa wrote for the film. Or is it by an existing band. Would like to know who if so. Screaming semi raga-esque lead guitar over primitive semi r'n'b ish rhythm section Sounded like it was improvised. A bit Rallizes Denudesish possibly but a lot more gogo-ish and is '69 too early for it to be Rallizes Denudes anyway I can't remember the history. Not sure if it was quite as repetitive either.

Suspense. (Lois Weber & husband, 1913) i'm interested in seeing more of her movies
The Freshman (starring Harold Lloyd, 1925) 8/10 makes the connection between silent slapstick and jackie chan obvious
*Murder! (Hitchcock, 1930) 4/10 glad he gave up on whodunnits
Stromboli, terra di Dio (Rossellini, 1950) 9/10
The Big Shave (Scorsese, 1967)
Multiple Maniacs (Waters, 1970) 6/10
Mikey and Nicky (May, 1976) 8/10
Psycho Goreman (Astron-6, Kostanski, 2020) 7/10
Out (Disney co., Steven Clay Hunter, 2020)
The Boss Baby 2 (DreamWorks, 2021) 2/10 the magic formula that turns adults into babies was a step too far
Bo Burnham: Inside (2021) did not finish; unbearable

JULY:

*Rosemary's Baby (Polanski, 1968) DVD 9/10 ("He was in Luther, and Nobody Loves an Albatross")
The Fifth Cord (Bazoni, 1971) BLU-RAY 7/10
Blood of the Vampire (Cass, 1958) YOUTUBE 6/10
I Don't Want to be Born (Sasdy, 1975) DVD 5/10
No, the Case is Happily Resolved (Salerno, 1973) BLU-RAY (from Arrow's Years of Lead box set) 6/10
The Landlord (Ashby, 1970) DVD 7/10
Spider Baby (Hill, 1967) BLU-RAY 9/10 - always a joy when a 'cult' movie actually lives up to the hype - Jill Banner is incredible
Opening Night (Cassavetes, 1977) DVD 8/10 - the last film I had to watch in the Cassavetes box set I bought about 15 years ago!
Syndromes and a Century (Weerasethakul, 2006) DVD 8/10
Act of Violence (Zinnemann, 1948) DAILYMOTION 8/10
The Brigand of Kandahar (Gilling, 1965) BLU-RAY (from Indicator's Hammer Vol 5 box set) 6/10
Crescendo (Gibson, 1970) YOUTUBE 5/10 (another Hammer film, one of Jimmy Sangster's Diabolique knock-offs, and not one of his best)
For Your Eyes Only (Glen, 1981) DVD 6/10
My Name is Julia Ross (Lewis, 1945) BLU-RAY 8/10
Pulp (Hodges, 1972) BLU-RAY 6/10
Absurd aka Monster Hunter (D'Amato, 1981) BLU-RAY 5/10 (prosecuted as a video nasty in the UK back in the 1980s)

Just a Good Guy (del Ruth, 1924)
*Charley My Boy! (McCarey, 1926)
Long Pants (Guiol, 1926)
The Undie-World (Stevebs, 1934)
The Creation of the Humanoids (Barry, 1926)
Mandibles (Dupieux, 2020)

Paprika
2006 Japanese cartoon with a surreal bent which gets pretty trippy.
Not helped by the subtitles shifting way out of sync after I had them almost on. Worked out how to get them to sync up initially and had it very slightly out. Then it jumped another 30 seconds or more and the tv only allows a certain leeway. Must be a way of getting them to sync right surely.
Anyway good film which I'd love to see properly.

& I had just given up on Le Doulos by Jean Pierre Melville because I couldn't get that to sync right either. Had seen his Cercle Rouge last week so would have liked to see this.
Having a lot of trouble with subtitles. Also getting quite a few to work. Even when found separately to the film. So I don't know if there is a good reason for it. Drag .

Paprika is a stone cold classic.

Freaky — body-switching horror comedy from 2020. The "Blissville Butcher" (played by Vince Vaughn) stabs a teenage girl with an ancient Aztec dagger and they switch bodies; she's got 24 hours to stab him with it and get her body back. Vaughn-as-teenage-girl-inhabiting-his-body is surprisingly good; he does a lot with the body language without devolving into "Rob Schneider-is-The Hot Chick" grotesquerie. And the actress who plays the teenage girl takes on a Jason-esque personality very well, too, moving silently through rooms, constantly looking for weapons, etc.

Mädchen in Uniform (Sagan 1931)
The World of Gilbert and George (Prousch, Passmore, 1981)
Wander (Mullen 2020)
Film (Beckett, Schneider 1965)
No Sudden Move (Soderbergh 2021)
Stoker (Park 2013)
Destry Rides Again (Marshall 1939)
The Hot Rock (Yates 1972)
*Rushmore (Anderson 1998)
Black Widow (Shortland 2021)
The Furies (Mann 1950)
*Memories of Murder (Bong 2003)
The Gunfighter (King 1950)
Summer of Soul (Thompson 2021)
Gunpowder Milkshake (Papushado 2021)
Flowers of Shanghai (Hou 1998)
Farewell, My Lovely (Richards 1975)
The Wolf House (León, Cociña, 2018)
Swimmer (Ramsay 2012)
Homicide (Mamet 1991)
Slacker (Linklater 1990)
The Conformist (Bertolucci 1970)
Dance, Girl, Dance (Arzner 1940)
The Devil's Harmony (Williams 2019)
La Piscine (Deray 1969)

Le Regle Du Jeu
offbeat comedy about a bunch of toffs weekending at the country house of a well to do society host. THese include the famous aviator who is trying to get the host's wife to run away with him .
Weird atmosphere throughout, possibly way more knowing than films would be under things like the Hayes code. Charming film and quite funny in places.
Maybe there is a French feeling from the time that I just have not got used to yet. NOt sure how English films of the time compare. Are there more working class orientated ones that don't have the stiff upper lip? THis is 1939 I think so just before the war.
Anyway really enjoyed it.

Started watching a bit of Black Lizard which is a 60s Japanese thriller with a transvestite playing a female adventurer who is looking to gain money from a kidnap. WASn't in the mood for that last night so only got a bit into it. Like they just did the kidnap.

i am seeing an in-person screening of Annette with a packed house and Carax doing a talkback after. I have an aisle seat but its still masks off out here (though i will likely be mask on); pray for me.

Le Plaisir. Max Ophuls 1951
Portmanteau film of 3 tales by Maupaissant. Very nice.
Think I need to read more of the writer.
But film is gorgeous.
Did these films get shown on British TV in my youth. Like 70s & 80s. Just wondering if I had a chance to have seen them back then.
Lovely.

Peau d'Ane
1970 retelling of a Perrault fairy tale with Catherine deneuve as the title character. Quite nicely done with some semi trippy sets.
Wasn't deneuve a little old for a teenage princess I thought Belle de jour was like 5 years earlier. Beautiful though.

Deux Hommes Dans Manhattan Jean Pierre Melville 1959
Utterly cool investigation thing about a New York based French embassy sending out a seedy investigative journalist type played by the director to find out what happened to a French delegate to the UN who has suddenly vanished. A bit B and a bit short but. dashed cool as is the alcoholic photographer he does much of the night's investigation with but not exactly the most reliable of people.

*the queen of versailles (lauren greenfield, 2012) 9/10
mainstream (gia coppola, 2021) 2/10
let them all talk (soderbergh, 2020) 8/10
the empty man (david prior 2020) 6/10
lunatics: a love story (josh becker '91) 5/10
downhill (faxon/rash 2020) 6/10

Le Grade Vadrouile
Mid 60s French comedy about a British war plane shot down over Paris and the aircrews escape. Featuring Terry Thomas, Bourvil and others.
Enjoyed it but it does have some bits that seriously stretch credulity.
Quite funny though in places.
Last time I saw Bourvil was in a straight role which he was quite good at.played a cop in Cercle Rouge.

The Ghost Goes West Rene Clair 1935
English language film about a haunted rundown Scottish castle being sold to a nouveau ruche American family.
Stars Robert Don't as the laird who becomes a ghost and his then current day descendant.
A bit of its time but it is Renee Clair. Think the French films may be better though.

somehow managed to not include finally getting to see
Delicatessen
Which I really don't know how come it took me 30 years to get to see . At least in full. Really not sure how that happened.
Surreal post apocalyptic story about the lodgers in a rooming house and various delusions and misdirections.
Very good.

Le Doulos 1962 Jean Pierre Melville
Coolish crime drama with a few loose ends that suddenly get turned into something else towards the end. Feels like a few bits of this were nailed together. I was thinking is this the kind of thing the mods thought was cool at the time while expecting it all to make some kind of sense.
Bits of it look pretty cool though.
Is this the Melville style?
Ends that don't make sense of the film they cap etc. Is it intentional, like?

A Sunday in the Country (1984) 4/5
Tokyo Olympiad (1965) 5/5
Annette (2021) 4/5
The Green Knight (2021) 3/5
Crossfire (1947) 3.5/5
* Clifford (1994) 3.5/5
Death Takes a Holiday (1934) 3/5
* The Visitor (1979) 3/5
* Le Samouraï (1967) 5/5

The Phantom of the Convent (de Fuentes, 1934)
Lady in Danger (Walls, 1934)
The Galloping Ghost (Schaefer & Eason, 1931)
Episodes in the Life of a Gin Bottle (von Block, 1925)
Skyscraper (Higgin, 1928)
Boo (DeMond, mashing up Nosferatu, Frankenstein, and The Cat Creeps, 1932)
Black Friday (Lubin, 1940)
Barnyard Rivals (De Lay, 1928)
*The Electric House (Keaton & Cline, 1922)

Wooden Crosses 1932 Raymond Bernard
One of the best war films I've seen probably ever. Found this really amazing.
Missed that one of the platoon was played by Antonin Artaud too, though I think he is only in it very shortly.
Seems to be a heavy anti war feel and the story follows one platoon through from a young law student joining them as a reinforcement I think towards the beginning of the war. Haven't really been sure exactly when in the war this was though.
Very good images and sound, it was restored very well. It had me wondering if it actually looked this good when it was first released.

whereas started watching
Werther 1938 Max Ophuls
version I was watching is very badly reproduced. Seemed to have the sound doubled or something and scratchy image. So wonder if there is a better version of this around. I thought his version of the de Maupaissant material as Le Plaisir was really good so thought I would try some more of his work but this I couldn't stick with because of the sound problem.
I'm like semi aware of Werther as in Goethe's character as the young boy outsider model of the late 18th century. So thought it would be good to see this film of it. Shame really, will see if I can get another copy though at some point.

Mouchette 1967 Robert Bresson
story of an outsider girl getting estranged in small town France. She's struggling with her age and a dying mother and an alcoholic father among other things. Quite good film. I take it that it shifting in and out of colour to b+w is intentional.
Another director I think I will be checking out other films by since i enjoyed his A Man Escaped.

La Ronde 1950 Max Ophuls
Another beautiful; adaptation . This time about a chain of semi entwined love affairs going on in Vienna at teh turn of teh 20th century.
Really nicely done

Big Deal On Madonna St/i soliti ignoti 1958 Mario Monicelli
I thought I'd swap European countries so went to Italy last night and saw this.
Quite funny , trying to think if this was more overtly sex acknowledging than British films of the time. Not sure though.
Some later notable actors making early appearances as a bunch of bungling criminal misfits.
Quite fun

saw a bit of The French versiom of Lower Deopths but couldn't get subtitles to stay in time. May get another chance with another copy later which has subtitles hard stamped on the film.

also started Flesh of the Orchid but felt it was too late to sit through. will give it another look

So just got to see taht French LOwer Depths which was really nice. Som eodd bits and pieces and I couldn't quite work out which country it was supposed to be in. Seems like there area number of people talking about Rubles in it though.
Didn't seem like a Soviet set up though anyway. Is Gogol like mid 19th century? Anyway its a resetting of a work base din an earlier time which is about as distant to the world of the film as the world of the film is from the present day.
NIcely done anyway and i think I'll be watching more Jean Renoir

8 1/2
Somehow not seen this before taht I can remember.
Weird film about a director trying to come to terms with his past and hos own philandering nature.\
POuring loads of money into a sci fi project and taking a rest cure neither one seeming very successful.

would probably help if the living room cinema didn't have the kitchen/laundry in one continuous space. I didn't get to hear Nino Rota's music very well.
Great film though.

Zazie Dans Le Metro 1960 Louis Malle
Slapstick take on a novel by Raymond Queneau taht I need to finish. Seems to be referencing things like Wile E Coyote and teh Roadrunner and Bugs Bunny and whoever.
Not sure how well that works but may have been early in doing this, well outside of mack Sennett.
I spent the whole film trying to think where I knew a young Philippe Noiret's face from cos he looked a lot like a current or last couple of decades comedian, is it Chris O' Dowd?
Well, think I may check out some more films by Malle. THis did have some ok bits in.

Definitely want to read more Queneau anyuway.

Marriage Italian Style 1964 Vittorio di Sica
Beautiful film with Sophia Loren as an ex prostitute and Marcello Mastroianni as a local aristo falling in and out of love and stuff over a 22 year period.
Sophia Loren was quite radiant in 1964.
THis is quite funny in places.

It Happened TOmorrow 1944 Rene Clair
one of the English language Hollywood films. i think based on a LOrd Dunsany source.
A reporter at the turn of the 20th century gets given tomorrow's paper by the paper he works for's archivist.
Fun ensues, quite charming but I think I may prefer Clair's French films so far.

La Grande illusion 1937
1st World War Priosner of War drama. A working class lieutenant is trying to go and see his lover and has arranged a lift when he is called back to take an officer on a flight. The flight goes wrong they crash and are captured by a squadron lead by Eric Von Stroheim who is a career soldier with aristocratic leanings. They wind up in one POW camp then in a Colditz like castle.

Good film I thought. NOt sure how heavy the rumblings of forthcoming war would have been at the time.
I like Jean Gabin in the films I've seen so far. have been trying to think who he reminds me of in later years either contemporary or 2nd half of 20th century which is what I'm mnore familiar with. Definitely reminds me of somebody and definitely has a palpable screen presence.

THis is mainly in 2 languages French and German reflecting the nationality of teh characters portrayed. Fore some reason it keeps lapsing into English which is a little confusing since the characters taht do that are either French or German. Did this film get wider distribnution or have actors who had become more used to English in Hollywood or whatever careers. Or has this been partially reconstructed from an English language version. I don't get it.
Glad to see a black officer portrayed in the film. Do wonder how he would have been treated by the Germans at the time after r3eading David Olusoga's book The World's War.

L'Amore 1948 Roberto Rosselini
a film made up of 2 sections both starring Anna Magnini portraying different forms of mania. IN the first she does a monologue portraying one half of a phone conversation with an ex lover. Story written by Jean Cocteau or at least idea from him. The other is Magnini playing a marginalised homeless woman who gets seduced by a man who she is convinced is St Joseph portrayed by Federico Fellini.
This hs some awesome scenery as teh backdrop. & shows how uncaring her fellow population are.
BOth films are pretty intense.

Donzoko 1957 Akira Kurosawa
The Japanese take on Maxim Goprky's play the Lower Depths.
I watched teh 1936 French version Les Bas Fonds last week so thought I'd give this a shot. I think I may ahve seen it several years ago but not sure. It seems a lot darker and dourer than the French version, though it ends on a punchline. Won't give any further spoiler for that but really funny note to end on.
I'm not sure when this is set, if its the prefvious century to the film or what. Not sure i could fully tell with japanese culture anyway.
But great film again.

L'Atalante 1934 Jean Vigo
story about a young woman getting married into the crew of a cargo barge travelling French rivers. & how she deals with teh other crew members and her young husband's jealousy.
Nice film , have heard abou it for years but not seen it before . Or at least had heard about the existence of teh film. I wasn't sure what the story was.

Started watching La Beaute Du Diable but couldn't get the subtitles to stay in sync .
Also started watching Germinal but changed my mind , wanted to see if I could get a different set of subtitles to work on La Beaute Du Diable. May retuirn to it tomorrow.
Started watching Le Bete Humaine bt subtitles were skipping loads of things for some reason. Noticed on the opening blurb quote from Zola they translated teh first page tehn skipped teh 2nd and replaced everyuthing with the word drinking once. Odd way of subtitling. Noyt sure if what tehy were skipping was supposed to be technical or something but a bit weird.
Umberto D. just started watching the beginning but not feeling up to watching until about 1am so again will be back to it.

Satyricon 1970 Federico Fellini

Lavish production that starts out very homoerotic and camp and seems to relish in it.
A portrait of debauchery possibly.
I haven't seen that much Fellini but I think this is a style he is well known for though earlier work doesn't really go there as much.
Very spectacular.
THink I'll watch some more of his over teh next few weeks. Don't remember seeing this before .

I checked through some of the maaterial I mentioned above, downloaded another subtitles for Le Bete Humaine and that has the gaps corrected. Covers the 2nd part of the Zola quote for starteers and I thinnk it covered more of the coversation. Like taht wasa weird choice to skip it which I really don't get.

I like your first impressions. Reminds me of when I went to a video store that had a criterion wall, and I'd pick out a random movie from it every week.

La Beaute Du Diable 1950 Rene Clair
GOt a working version of thsi that had subtitles stay in sync . So watched it this evening. Quite fun. MIchel Simon starts off playing the aging Faust then becomes Mephistoles hosted in a replica body and acting a few years younger. Do like a bit of MIchel Simon so must get around to watch Boudu saved from drowning.
It's Rene Clair so you know it must be quality. & yeah did enjoy it.

Lola Montes 1955 Max Ophuls
THis appears to be Ophuls last film and it was cut up nastily by the studio on release., Then gradually reworked back to the original intended film which this most resembles.
Max Ophuls so pretty lavish.
This tells the story of the Irish dancer through the means of a lavish stage show that a travelling circus guy has devised which links back into various vignettes from lola's past. That circus guy is played by Peter Ustinov speaking fluent French which was one of several languages he spoke. Very interesting guy, must reread the memoirs.
I was reminded during watching this, is Lola Montez the first woman that Flashman seduces in the late 60s film of the George McDonald Fraser character or am I misremembering tha
Anyway, beautiful film and i think I am becoming a fan of Ophuls' films.

currently got Rififi underway will say more on taht later.

Rififi Jules Dassin
French crime caper of a dirty realist bent. Introduces a team of underworld figures lead by a recent excon who set up a caper then have to deal with the consequences.
I wonder if there were concessions needing to be made to morality of the time. Don't have square brackets on this phone so can't explain without spoilers.
Though always seems like Sex is less of an issue than in the US or UK or at least that is my understanding of films from those places.
Had thought a director called Jules Dassin would be French from looking at the name but he was a blacklisted yank. I should probably know the name already since I've seen a few of his films.
Didn't realise the same guy made Never On A Sunday which I grabbed last night so will watch before long. Also Topkapi which I enjoyed as a child.

Love Bound (Hill, 1932)
Sixteen Fathoms Deep (Schaefer, 1934)
Moscow Nights (Granowsky, 1934)

Capitolfest 18
Man Hunt (Lang, 1941)
"Blue Blazes" Rawden (Hart, 1918)
The Trial of Vivienne Ware (Howard, 1932)
Madame Spy (Neill, 1942)
Show Girl (Santell, 1928)
She Wanted a Millionaire (Blystone. 1932)
Rich People (E.H. Griffith, 1929)
*Topper (McLeod, 1937)
The Pursuit of Happiness (Hall, 1934)
The Last Card (Veiller, 1921)
So This Is Eden (Rothman & Sarg, 1927)
The River Pirate (Howard, 1928)
Her Wedding Night (Tuttle, 1930)
*Duck Soup (Guiol, 1927)
Wandering Fires (Campbell, 1925)
John Barrymore Technicolor Test for Hamlet (1933)
Artists and Models Abroad (Leisen, 1938)
Dad's Choice (Howe, 1928)
His Nibs (La Cava, 1921)
Week Ends Only (Crosland, 1932)
Four Days Wonder (Salkow, 1937)
Katharine Hepburn Technicolor Test for Joan of Arc (1934)
The Shield of Honor (Johnson, 1927)

Zero De Conduit Jean Vigo
I've heard teh name fopr years but wasn't sure what to expect.or taht it wasa short bieng like 40 minutes long.
It shows the goings on in a boarding school in themid 30s. Where kids are plotting open resistance for getting detention,. So I was reminded of If to some extent and wondered if it might be anything of an influence. I am tryingto think what context I've heard the name in.
It has some surreal bits and some unreal biits.
BUt did enjoy it. I keep seeing Jean Daste appear in films from thsi era. He is here as the new master who arrives just as the kids are returning to school. He appears to be a bit of a gymnast and stuff or at least can stand on his head and walk on his hands. Also amuses the boys by playing at being Charlot's little tramp and whoever taht is in the football game.
Interesting film

Boudu sauvé des eaux 1932 Jean Renoi
Story about a tramp portrayed by Michel Simon being saved from drowning in teh Seine by an aging lecherous bookseller who starts the film by carryong on with his maid. I think I must have dozed off for a bit cos i missed the bit where Boudu is brought into the house and given a new set of clothes. He proceeds to act in a bizarre way being absolutely crassly ill behaved in the house.
MIght rewatch this for that bit. I wasn't as into this as i thought I might be. Bits of it verge on the rapey if not doping more than that. & its seen as a good thing. So gosh attitudes may have changed in 90 years.
Not sure how well this conveys the message it is trying to . Cos I'm not sure what that message is or am being blind to it cos it's not something I want it to be. Seems to want to show that classes don't mix. So maybe it's just a satire on bourgeois attitudes?

A Propos De Nice 1930 Jena Vigo
THis starts with a bit of animation of a few toys then switches to some travelogue like footage of events among the hoi polloi in Nice.
The footage keeps switching from the hedonistic lifestyle of the rich to things taht contrast heavily. Animals in a zoo, the poor in teh town and a few things p-lu sit has some other images taht are obviously staged like a woman changing clothes rapidly and winding up naked anda guy getting really bad sunburn.
NOt sure if teh soundtrack was the original sound you would have heard or done more recently. Its an accordion among other stuff.
Anyway yeah this was a nice way to spend 24 minutes. I think i may have seen it appear somewhere before but not sure.
BIts of it reminded me of the How To series so wonder if that was a conscious thing for the director of that

Moi, UN NOir 1957 Jean Rouch
Late 50s film about migrant workers living in the Ivory coast town of Treichville. Actually not sure how much of thsi was supposed to be people playing characters and how much was them playing themselves. Apparently had no artificial set ups or costumes or anything or at least if it did they were so inconspicuous as such that it looked like somebody just filming every day activity.
JUst realised that the director was a white guy so wondering if that makes this less authentic.
But ok film , semi moving, nice atmosphere. Interesting to see what the living experience was of people at the time., Would have prefered to see what people would come up with if depicting themselves. & now thinking the gaze of a white guy getting a young black woman to strip for the camera may be questionable. I don't know.
Enjoyed it anyway.

Then tried to set up Never oN A Sunday but the subtitles were out of sync. Appeared way before teh lines being spoken which is the opposite direction than I've encountered before.
I have now managed to get a copy from another source. This seems to be harder to get hold of than I would have thought. Thought it was a very well known film. Just not sure if I have seen it before, may have it partially confused with Zorba the Greek.
Anyway, great soundtrack and i will get to watch the whole film later.

Tirez le Pianiste 1960 Francois truffaut
Noirish film about a bar room pianist who has moved away from his more illustrious past because of a serious event. Not sure how much is spoiler etc. Anyway film shows hs past through flashbacks as he is currently dealing with a situation his brothers have got him involved in concerning a heist.
Beautiful moving film . I think i need to catch up with my Truffaut since what I remember seeing by him has been so good. Really should be at a point where I've seen most of him. Ah well will rectify that if I have the time and actually manage to work through everything I've just found out about from various European, Japanese and African cinemas.

La Noire de..... 1966 Ousmane Sembene
story of a young black girl hired asa maid by a French couple in Dakar in the mid 60s and brought to the Antibes when they leave her home town and country. She feels totally isolated and is being a bit abused by a very white privileged white employer who has just doubled her workload without telling her and doesn't seem to be thinking about it. She reacts very badly to this. I won't give further spoilers.
Anyway beautiful film, pretty sad and do wonder what the actress playing the female employer's take on things would be. How deeply this would challenge her preconceptions etc. BUt then again reminded of teh Theatre for Change here's attitudes to how the ywere expanding people's consciousness without reflecting on their own inherent prejudice.
Oh well , it works good and it is an early outing for an African director so I think it served is purpose. Has some interesting uses of location etc.
Glad I saw it.

Watched a bit of Umberto D too but I think I was again thinking it was too late to start into another film.
Well will get back to that shortly.

I love Umberto D. YOU WILL CRY.

A Quiet Place II (2020) 6/10
Borg vs McEnrore (2017) 7/10
*Thats My Boy (2012) 7/10
Kajaki (2014) 7/10
Rambo (2008) 2/10
*Bulworth (1998) 7/10
Do I Not Like That - The Final Chapter (1997) 7/10
The Prostitutes of Lyon Speak (1975) 6/10
The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki (2016) 7/10
Woodstock 99: Peace, Rage and Love (2021) 6/10
Gaza (2019) 7/10
Belushi (2020) 5/10
Beat The Devil (1953) 7/10
Pig (2021) 8/10
Wanda (1970) 7/10
Sorry We Missed You (2019) 7/10
First Cow (2019) 6/10
WeWork: or The Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn (2021) 5/10
Pray Away (2021) 6/10
Welcome II The Terrordome (1995) 6/10
*Gimme Shelter (1970) 8/10
Black Bear (2020) 7/10
Greener Grass (2019) 7/10
Le Cercle Rouge (1970) 8/10

Soleo O 1967 Med Hondo
experimental film about a Mauritanina man arriving in France looking for work . It explores colonialism, racism etc in a way taht is still relevant 54 years later.
Really enjoyed it and want to see more by the director.

UMberto D 1952 Vittorio De Sica
Sad story of a pensioner struggling to survive on his pension in post war Italy. Fighting with his landlady who doesn't seem very sympathetic at all. UMberto D is the title character and his one real friend appears to be his dog Flike and the maid in the apartment he has a room in.
IT was pretty moving as you watch the protagonist facing an uncertain fate that is looming in an inevitable way.

started trying to watch Never on A Sunday again and the transfer didn't bring the subtitles I thought were hard coded onto it which si weird.