Those look like MMA promotions that Iāve never heard of.
Followed shortly by 5 samurai featuring Awkafina, Lucy Liu, Gemma Chan, Maggie Q and Fan Bingbing
Iāve been on a roll with my movie watching on the Criterion Channel lately, thought Iād share:
The Valachi Papers idk how Iād never heard of this movie before, feels like it ought to be up there with the essential gangster movies, just jam-packed with mafia lore and gorgeous period detail. This came out about the same time as The Godfather so maybe that was a tough act to follow. Charles Bronson is w/e but the supporting cast is amazing. Maybe the biggest problem is that it crams a lot of storytelling into a 2hr movie, thereās something to be said for letting a movie breathe in the way that Scorsese does.
Violence at Noon is a Japanese movie from 1966 that deals with victims of sexual assault, their relationship with each other and with their rapist. Itās frank and raw and feels decades ahead of its time. Shot in a way that jumps back and forth in time like a Tarantino movie, very good watch.
Red Desert is pure arthouse bullshit, I love it. From Italy in 1964, something about industry and isolation. I was captivated by every minute of it, incredible composed shots of rusting factory equipment like bleak Edward Hopper paintings, it speaks to the Midwesterner in me. A+ if you just want to trip out and see some breathtaking shots.
I have a friend who is like Ghostbusters #1 Fan, not even an exaggeration. Itās his life. He made an internet web series years ago, he has made his own Ghostbusters costumes, proton packs (REALLY realistic), etc., and even has Ecto #1. Seriously, itās in his driveway. Heās shown it off at conventions.
On Facebook, he has been teasing something big he was going to do. Well, he flew to NYC today and from the pic he posted a few minutes ago, looks like heās at the movie premiere. Also got to visit the Ghostbusters firehouse. Pretty fucking cool.
Weird thing to be into. Did he have a lot of hot takes about the 2016 mccarthy movie?
No, not really. He was actually just talking about it on FB the other day. He didnāt think it was particularly good, but not because it was BAD or had women, but because a) it was itās own thing instead of linking to the originals (and used actors from the originals in new roles) and b) was never going to be able to replicate the humor of the originals.
I think he basically agreed with me that in a vacuum, it was an entertaining film, but because the originals exist, it looked way worse.
Was this Ghostbusters movie supposed to come out a while ago and then was delayed? Bc I swear I remember seeing previews for a Ghostbusters movie with Paul Rudd like a year ago. I was confused wondering if this was the sequel to that one or not.
I donāt know for sure, but obviously some movies were delayed in production because of COVID. Some were just pushed back because they wanted them in theaters. I think it was the latter for Ghostbusters, but I donāt really know.
I think the original plan was a 2020 release. They did release the first preview a while ago
I just checked Facebook. My Ghostbusters-is-life friend just left the premiere and said itās āincredible.ā
Iāve been avoiding theaters for obvious reasons, but I might have to do it for this.
And also Monica Vitti (most beautiful actress ever if you ask me) !
Not sure if this applies to Red Desert, but I rewatched ālāavventuraā last year by the same director, and was shocked at how pessimistic it was. Behind the beauty of the landscapes and the pretty Italian girl itās a very bleak vision of a world without moral values. Still highly recommend if youāre into that sort of film 
Michael Mannās āManhunterā has been discussed here before, and I agree with whatās been said about it suffering from the comparison with Silence of the labs, especially plot wise. But Mann is a great stylist so the visuals and atmosphere make it worth seeing and I feel itās not that far from being a very good film.
Maybe if the lead actor had been better (I like William Petersen but his delivery is borderline ridiculous at times here). The rest of the cast is good though, in particular for Succession fans this has a young Brian Cox /Logan Roy giving a terrific performance as Hannibal Lecter.
I also rewatched āHeatā which is perfection. I canāt believe it took me so long, given that I had only seen it on VHS on a small TV, and how amazing the film is visually, it might as well have been my first watch. Highly recommend if you havenāt seen it since the 90s.
Doing my āletās see what random shit YouTube recommends for meā session and watched part of a Dan Patrick interview with Sean Astin from a few years ago. Probably old news, but new to me, and I found it interesting: they filmed the football scenes of Rudy during halftime of actual Notre Dame games. The band gave them 15 minutes of their performance time. He made the sack in one take.
Heat is one of those films I loved as a 20-something that still holds up incredibly well. Whole cast of iconic actors right before they started phoning it in.
I think I mentioned I recently saw Mannās Thief, also brilliant.
Yeah this is a terrific movie. James Caan has been great in lots of stuff.
eg The Gambler (1974)
My āGhostbusters is lifeā friend (who is also an actor and has written, directed, and produced films) provided his spoiler-free review of the new film after he attended the world premiere in NYC. Iāll still put it in spoiler tags, but itās really just his feelings on it, not any plot details or anything:
If you grew up with Ghostbusters like I did, when the 2016 movie was announced, the only real issue most of us had with it was that it pretended the movies we grew up with didnāt exist. Thatās really all any of us ever wanted, was a continuation of the story and characters we knew and loved.
There will NEVER be a movie that will top the original Ghostbusters, not nowā¦ not ever. It was lightning in a bottle.
But, GHOSTBUSTERS Afterlife is basically the film we all were asking for when the 2016 movie came about.
Itās not perfect, it has flaws. But I was glued to the screen the entire time, and my inner childhood was glowing the entire running time. This is one of those movies that if you are a casual viewer of the originals and you know the basic plot, you can watch this and have a good time. But, this movie wasnāt really made for youā¦ it was made for me, and the people like me who have liked Ghostbusters since we were small children, when we were making proton packs out of cereal boxes and paper towel rolls, and pretending our dresser drawers were containment units, and losing our minds when we got the Kenner proton pack for Christmas, or renting Ghostbusters 2 on VHS for the 1000th time even though everyone else was tired of seeing it. People who watched the cartoon when everyone else was outside playing. This movie was made for you.
It is a love letter to those of us who have been fans of this franchise our entire lives, and now as we are adults, many who have kids of our own to share it with, it allows a new generation to not only share in that love with you, but continues the legacy of what Harold Ramis, Dan and Ivan started over 30 years ago.
I am probably going to watch it at least 30 more times, and I urge anyone who is on the fence about itā¦ just go see it. This is a movie that needs to be seen in a movie theater.
Iām watching Lāeclisse right now. Donāt like it as much as Red Desert, I think I miss the colors. It does feel weirdly relevant in the era of cryptocurrency.
Lāavventura is next up, I want to chill out and go through the Antonini Cinematic Universe in order.