Munich is directed by SS and Syriana has Damon/Clooney. It’s just odd that they have been lost to time. Munich should be relative just based on current events.
Yeah we’ve been skipping it because we assumed it was some dumb shit, and I guess to an extent it was, but it was a good popcorn flick I thought. Also even with the word “violet” right in the title it still somehow kind of undersells the violence!
I felt kind of meh about VN. I found it pretty boring when it became basically one dimly lit fight scene after another.
yeah we were asking ourselves if they borrowed the GoT director of photography, lighting was trash in a lot of scenes and at times it felt like it was on a tight budget. But I’m a Leguizamo stan from way back and Beverly D’Angelo is immortal so those two alone were worth the watch for me heh
Leave the World Behind was good until the ending
Actually it fell apart in what I’ll call the “screaming at the deer in the woods” scene, all downhill from there
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Mission Impossible was somehow boring.
Anatomy of a Fall was excellent.
John Wick was awful.
watching this now
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No Country For Old Men is so fucking timeless.
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Time for the year-end recap.
My favorites from this year (only seen about 25 so short list) :
Showing up
The boy and the heron
Killers of the flower moon
The fabelmans
(could also add the M:I movie which I’m sure I’ll have fun rewatching)
Short write-ups on some of my favourite (out of ~140) older movies I've seen this year
Adieu Philippine (Rozier 62). Had never heard of this director before he passed last summer, this movie instantly became one of my favourites. It follows 3 young people fooling around in Paris then Corsica before the guy gets shipped to the Algeria war. Not much story but mostly capturing the vibe of French youth in those days. Always amazing to see in early French New Wave films, the contrast between the fact that they are very old (filming a country that no longer exists) but made in a very fresh and modern way. Must-see if you have any interest in this period of cinema (@jhall23 maybe).
Moonlighting (Skolimovski 82). No relation to the Willis/Sheperd thread, this is about a group of Polish workers who come to London to clandestinely renovate their rich boss’ apartment. More precisely this focuses on their leader who has to balance between the very short budget, keeping the crew motivated, and slowly losing his mind. Ironically maybe, watchability/identifiability is hugely helped by the fact that the main actor isn’t a Polish unknown but British superstar Jeremy Irons (giving a great performance).
House of tolerance (L’Appolonide) (Bonello 2011). Set in a Parisian brothel around 1900, showing the daily lives of prostitutes. Made in a very stylish way (beautifully shot, cool modern music, nonlinear narration) but built around showing the sadness and hopelessness of their situation (the fact that the movie is almost entirely restricted spatially to inside the brothel also helps in highlighting the oppressive character). Good ensemble cast of actresses (incl. the now retired from acting Adèle Haenel).
A touch of sin (Jia Zhangke 2013). Set in modern day China, this is divided into 4 independent stories, having in common the fact that they end badly/violently. When seeing recent Chinese movies (whether they’re arthouse films like this one or more conventional crime stories), I’m always struck by how much they seem to show their society as a horrible/inhumane place to live in, almost like a Sci-fi dystopia, and this is no exception. Beautifully shot as well.
Realizing that (except the first), these are all pretty depressing movies, in that vein would also add “feel bad” thrillers like Green room (which most here would have already seen) and Brawl on cell block 99 (Zahler 2017), with Vince Vaughn as a recently unemployed man going into crime, with things going from bad to worse to pure nightmare (and from the same director I’ll re-recommend Dragged across concrete in a similar vein).
Favorite scene in a movie seen this year : the sky-diving scene in Point break. Doesn’t really serve a narrative purpose (or even make much sense in that regard if we’re honest), but just the movie taking a moment out of its plot to serve us with pure movie magic. More Hollywood movies should have scenes like these ! (The ending to that movie was also pretty great. Definitely one I should have seen at least 20 years earlier)
Favourite rewatch : Halloween (1978), one of my favourite movies of all time. I’m planning to rewatch Godfather 2 (last seen about 15 years ago) in the next couple days, this might take the spot.
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Point Break an all time action movie. It’s on my top 5 for sure.
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I honestly struggle to come up with a criticism against it even if I try. Something I can say of very, very few movies.
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May December
I was pretty excited to watch this, but it was pretty dull. It didn’t bore me nearly as much as Phantom Thread, but the fact that I even thought of that as a possible comparison is not good. I’m not someone who needs murders and explosions and high drama to enjoy movies; I love a lot of movies without that.
This one just didn’t do it for me. I will say that the performances of the 3 leads were great, especially Natalie Portman.
Maybe I’ll get something out of it on a rewatch, but don’t intend to do that any time soon.
I’ll give it a 4/10, maybe a 5/10 because of the acting, but certainly no higher.
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Yes I have same feelings for this one
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LOL at Don Rickles.
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It’s without equal even among other Coen brothers movie. I’d love for them to do another Cormac McCarthy book someday. But seems the closest we will get again is True Grit, which was excellent but hasn’t demanded repeat viewings from me like No Country.
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Watched The Holdovers on Peacock last night. A really well made film.
Also saw Boy and the Heron on the big screen today. Is Miyazaki OK?
I’m very glad we’re getting another Coen film soon. Drive-Away Dolls in February. As early 2024 releases go: looking forward to Mean Girls, but even more looking forward to Drive-Away Dolls.
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Just one Coen though 
Wilkinson did some great work. I fear that one of his finest performances, In the Bedroom, was underseen even though it got Oscar love. Definitely recommended, including a recommendation to know as little as possible about it going in. It’s on Paramount Plus right now.
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