Last (x) movies you saw (II)

Got the Blu-Ray of THE ABYSS this weekend; finished watching it tonight. (I started it last night. It's long.) I saw it in theaters 35 years ago and was shocked how much I remembered. Maybe my favorite Cameron movie, and it looks amazing.

Caged (John Cromwell, 1950) 8/10 for a prison movie from 1950 it's excellent
Night Killer (the Troll 2 team, 1990) good bad
A Family Finds Entertainment (Ryan Trecartin, 2005) first time watching it the whole way through
Dream Scenario (Kristoffer Borgli, 2023) 8/10

The Tall Men (1955) 2.5/5
Perfect Days (2023) 4/5
The Beast (2023) 3.5/5
Rockers (1978) 4/5
Dreadnaught (1981) 4/5
Mississippi Masala (1991) 4/5
Comrades, Almost a Love Story (1996) 3.5/5
Streetwise (1984) 4.5/5
Yakuza Graveyard (1976) 4/5
High Hopes (1988) 4/5
* One Fine Morning (2022) 4/5
* Blood Simple (1984) 5/5
* I'm Not There (2007) 5/5

In-flight entertainment, yesterday/today:
American Fiction (3/5, seemed like two scripts smooshed together with only partial success)
Barbie (2/5, honestly I am not the target market)

Lined up for the return journey in a couple of weeks if the Aer Lingus menu hasn't changed:
Oppenheimer & Killers of the Flower Moon, well that is going to be one serious and important movie session, hopefully the passenger in front won't lean their seat back too far.

Repo Man (4.0)
Krush Groove (6.0)
Make Me Famous (6.0)
Prime Cut (5.0)
The Old Oak (7.5)
Wayne’s World (6.0)
Mr. Robot (S1 - 7.5)
Vanishing Point (5.5)
Hickey & Boggs (5.5)
Belly (5.0)

Seven of these I watched in connection to two books I'm reading: Charles Taylor's Opening Wednesday at a Theater Or Drive-In Near You: The Shadow Cinema of the American '70s and Nate Patrin's The Needle and the Lens.

I know people love Repo Man, so I made sure not to post on the relevant thread. I was a so-so on it when it came out; other than the occasional clever line (still remembered "ordinary fucking people"), got nothing 40 years later. Just in general, I don't think I like cult films...not sure if I've ever liked one, in the classic sense of the term. Which may or may not even have meaning anymore: originally, as in Hoberman and Rosenbaum's book, I think it was tied in with the idea of late-night rep screenings.

in cinemas, April:
* The Thin Man (1934 Van Dyke, Hackett, Goodrich, Hammett) 📽️
Lady Snowblood [修羅雪姫] (1973 Fujita, Osada, Koike, Kamimura)
Rashōmon [羅生門] (1950 Kurosawa, Hashimoto, Akutagawa) 📽️
Green Plums And A Bamboo Horse [青梅竹馬 / Taipei Story] (1985 Yang, Chu, Hou)
Riddle Of Fire (2024 / 2023 Razooli) 📽️
Hundreds Of Beavers (2024 / 2022 Cheslik, Tews)
Late Night With The Devil (2024 / 2023 Cairnes & Cairnes)
Do Not Expect Too Much From The End Of The World (2024 / 2023 Jude)
The Homicide Incident Of The Youth On Guling Street [牯嶺街少年殺人事件 / A Brighter Summer Day] (1991 Yang, Hung, Lai, Yang, Yan)
Tampopo [タンポポ] (1985 Itami)
Mahjong [麻將] (1996 Yang)
Civil War (2024 Garland)
A Confucian Confusion [獨立時代] (1994 Yang, Hung)
* Airplane! (1980 Zucker, Abrahams, Zucker, Proft, Jorgensen, Hailey, Bartlett, Champion)
Gas Food Lodging (1992 Anders, Peck)
* Civil War (2024 Garland )
* Spider-Man 2 (2004 Raimi, Sargent, Chabon, Gough, Millar, Koepp, Ditko)
The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024 Ritchie, Tamasy, Johnson, Amel, Lewis) 3/10
Sasquatch Sunset (2024 Zellner)
Inception (2010 Nolan)
Abigail (2024 Radio Silence, Shields)
The People's Joker (2024 Drew, LeRose)

home viewing:
The Thomas Crown Affair (1999 McTiernan, Dixon, Wimmer, Trustman) 📺
It's Not Just You, Murray! (1964 Scorsese, Martin) 📺 16 min
Batman & Robin (1997 Schumacher, Goldsman) 📺
Basic (2003 McTiernan, Vanderbilt) 📺

king fu rascals (1992) - 4 out of 5

Mars Express (2024) - French animation sci fi detective thriller that expertly mixes up elements from every human vs machine flick we've seen into a compelling, surprisingly original package. The entire thing was just great fun to watch and beautifully conceived.

This was really good! Exploring Blade Runner type themes but I much preferred this to the Blade Runner sequel. It did pack a lot in just under 90 minutes. It couldve done with another 10 minutes imo (I dont say that very often)

I agree it could have gone on longer. I was invested.

vampire's kiss, 1989
american psycho and also maybe vampire? bad script from the writer of after hours. saved by nic cage's insane performance.

Bought a 2008(?) Blu-Ray of Conquest of the Planet of the Apes on eBay; it showed up today. I own the original five movies on DVD, but the Blu-Ray of Conquest has the original ending, where Caesar leads the apes in violent revolution and they murder the humans. I was really struck, watching it tonight, just how violent it was; there are scenes of apes piling up the bodies of dead cops that are astonishing. And the original ending is dark as fuck. Had they released this version in the first place it would easily be regarded as the second-best movie in the series, after the original.