It’s on my all time top 5 list.
Chungking Express is my generation’s Casablanca, it’s actually better than original Casablanca and no one is talking about it much.
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I saw it for the first time only recently (along with a few other WKW’s) and yeah it’s great…
“Fallen angels” is another excellent one. It seems hard to believe that a film shot entirely in fisheye type angles could even be watchable but somehow they made it work and it looks and feels amazing. Perfect “big city by night” movie.
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Anybody else seen The Humans (available on Showtime)? Although it wasn’t quite what I was expecting, I enjoyed it, and I think the themes are topical for this forum.
I saw that Mean Streets was leaving HBO Max and I have never seen it, so I watched it last night. It’s a Scorsese movie with De Niro and Harvey Keitel - how could it miss? I don’t know, but it missed. Fairly plotless (intentionally?) - like a poorly-motivated documentary about the day-to-day life of a low-level mob guy in New York. (That makes it sound too good, because it could almost be the description of The Sopranos.) Keitel is basically a mannequin and De Niro is a cross between Christopher Moltisanti and Bozo the Clown.
I was stunned to see that Roger Ebert gave it 4 stars. I’d love to see the reviews of this movie by people who weren’t aware that this was Scorsese.
I have it on my watchlist for the same reason, but not pulling the trigger. I did see After Hours was leaving Criterion this month so I did watch that Scorcese for the first time this month and had a blast. It’s a contender for one of my Favs of his.
Went and watched House of Gucci with the wife tonight. I knew absolutely nothing going in but really enjoyed it. Lady Gaga and Adam Driver killed it. Story was good but it absolutely should have been a tv show. They crammed in way too much across a long timing in 3 hours.
More random shit from Criterion:
The Bad Sleep Well is a Kurosawa joint very loosely based on Hamlet, and man, no one punches up a film title like Kurosawa. “Spider Web Castle” is so much better than “Macbeth.” “Hamlet” is a stupid name for a revenge thriller, I don’t care if Shakespeare is supposed to be a genius or whatever, “The Bad Sleep Well” is a title that whips ass. Toshiro Mifune, almost unrecognizable in glasses and a business suit, brings a level of moral ambiguity that does the source material justice. How far will he go in pusuit of revenge?
I have a huge soft spot for classic noir, so Nightmare Alley hit me in all the feels. Carnies, hobos, tarot readings, what’s not to love? Some genuinely shocking moments, glad I saw it.
Chan Is Missing has stuck with me. It’s a super indie movie from 1982 with a budget of $22,000 that explores the identity of Chinese-Americans in Chinatown, San Francisco. Ostensibly this is a mystery noir whatever but really it’s just two extremely likeable dudes going around Chinatown talking to people about their experiences. The politics of this movie are maybe a bit corny by 2021 standards, but I love a movie that wears its heart on its sleeve; there’s an earnestness to this film that you just can’t buy.
Criterion has released a holiday Hitchcock collection, can I recommend Rope? I feel like it gets overlooked among the other Hitchcock films because it’s sort of gimmicky, but also Jimmy Stewart is absolutely incredible in this. I would 100% rather rewatch this over Rear Window any day, I will die on this hill, this is a criminally underrated Hitchcock movie.
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All I’ve heard is how bad it is
Yeah I love Rope. All anyone talks about is the editing to make it seem like a single uninterrupted shot, so I think a lot of people think of it as a “gimmick” film because of that.
Is this the one with the two giys at a dinner party? My wife and I watched it randomly without knowing about the gimmick or that it was Hitchcock and we really liked it.
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Yeah that’s it.
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Hopefully it’s as good as the first one
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I love Spider-Man 2099!
Ok thats what I thought that was but wasnt sure
Dune (2021)
Aesthetics 9/10
Narrative 2/10
Constant whispering 0/10
Legitimately bad.
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Think you’re the first of ~12 ppl itt to dislike it.
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I love Villeneuve. He is probably top 3 director right now. As usual Dune was stunning to look at but I hated the story a lot and I hated the sound mix and whispering even more. Together, it made it mostly incomprehensible. I havnt read the book or seen first movie so I was seeing it cold. I think it assume way to much prior knowledge. The whole thing wasn’t helped by Chalemet who is a legitimately bad actor. His rise to fame is baffling to me. Everything he has been in has be worse for his casting. The fact that he has the same stupid haircut no matter if he is playing a 19th century or far in the future character is so distracting.
I’ll admit this kind of Star Wars overblown space opera thing is very much not my bag.
I hope Villneuve gets this silly crap over soon and goes back to original works.
P.S. the only thing anyone knows about Dune is the worms and they are wholly and completely irrelevant to the plot!
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