I admit it’s another I don’t remember well. I saw it in the theater as a kid and found it very boring. Since it caters primarily to a younger audience and it didn’t work for me when I was that, I don’t know how I could expect to have any real shot of reclaiming it during middle age.
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All those 80’s movies are also damned by their idea of normal. Back then you could just keep pestering a woman until she went out with you, that was “romantic.” Today it is a little creepy. I think Real Genius avoids that a little bit although the romance between our under age hero and one of the first manic pixy dream girls I remember seeing is still a bit creepy if you worry about their ages. The bad guys get what’s coming to them and the good guys prevail.
I also remember The Big Chill being a huge deal when I was in high school in the 80’s, and wonder how it holds up. It strikes me as an attempt at a young adult, post college version of a teen film, but I haven’t seen it in ages.
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Braid (2018)
A psychological horror-thriller about two girlfriend drug dealers, Petula and Tilda, who flee to their wealthy, mentally unstable childhood friend Daphne’s isolated mansion to rob her, but are forced to play a twisted, violent game of make-believe from their past to get the money, descending into a hallucinatory and deadly role-playing scenario.
Exquisitely shot. An arthouse thriller has never been so accessible. Or disturbing.
I’ve honestly never seen anything like it. You should be prepared to yell “OH WHAT THE F–” several times.
Ending leaves a lot to interpretation.
4/5
lol same, fk the 80s
ah, glad you took the rec, bracing myself for when you log it on letterboxd to a lower score than Cocktail 
Border (2018)
8/10
A ordinary world with a hidden layer movie, but this layer is ugly looking
Neanderthal looking people who can smell human emotions. Tina, adopted from birth, puts this to good use as a Swedish border guard catching smugglers by literally smelling their contraband and their guilt. It’s a solitary but good life until a man just as ugly in the same way as her appears.
Interesting movie, shot very vanilla. Hidden layer of society being presented by extremely ugly people was interesting because usually the secret society is super sexy people like vampires or werewolfs.
It eventually falls into your standard genre story but it’s unique enough that it doesn’t feel well trod.
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That’s probably happening, yes.
(taps the sign)
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Nice to meet a Border fan!!
Folks, if you’re on the fence about this one, it’s written by John Lindqvist, the author of Let the Right One In.
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Left Nerds off the list, though I loved the movie, it’s got a scene that just becomes more and more problematic over time.
nerd “hero” pretends to be boyfriend of his crush at a costume party and takes it all the way. Of course as soon as she finds out she’s happy it’s him and realizes she loves a nerd, but boy that’s a tough re-watch.
I’ve posted this before, but in case you’ve never seen it:
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By the way, I find it much more distressing to shit-talk Ikiru. That movie should NOT miss for me. I love the concept on paper, I love Kurosawa, and…through two different viewings, splat.
I wish it were otherwise, but if I just outsourced my grades to the film intelligentsia then there would be no point in expressing them at all.
(I did for sure like The Fire Within better than Ikiru.)
I haven’t seen hook in a long time but I can’t imagine not liking it still, but it was a childhood fav so I’m biased and I love Robin Williams
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Revenge of the nerds aged very badly. A central plot point is a fun loving planned rape!
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I like it a lot. Definitely has an of-its-time feel though.
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The parts with him as an adult who has forgotten his true self are magical. Idk how it would play if the audience didn’t know from the premise that he’s actually Peter Pan, but being in that knowledge superior position, it was delightfully subversive to see that obnoxious little asshole grew up to continue to terrorize people as a lawyer.
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most of them, yeah. but, like, revenge of the nerds is really, really bad. Like active rape being normalized bad. It’s considerably worse than the john huges stuff.
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John Hughes probably wasn’t trying to be offensive, he was probably just a dope. I think many of the comedic moments that are crazy cringe were probably things he did in real life and he thought it would be funny to make fun of himself in this way.
Sixteen Candles did offer up a rape, though he didn’t indulge in the offer.
Jake was a d***.
Okay, plot twist: I rated them the same (3.5/5). After the Twisters thing, I thought you had dug in for more weird oppo research against me and that I had given Cocktail four stars or something. Which feels clearly too high for that movie, yet it didn’t seem totally beyond what I could believe I might have done.
These Malle films do wear well when I give them more time to digest before snap-reacting with a grade. After Elevator to the Gallows grew for me in the days after logging it, I figured I’d let this one breathe a little bit too.
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The Girl with a Bracelet (2019)
In this gripping French film, a teenager stands trial for murdering her best friend.
Courtroom drama fans, please step to the front.
A masterpiece on the level of Anatomy of a Fall. Most of the story takes place in a courtroom. The rest is its own intense story. Not a single emotionally false moment.
You will know from the opening sequence that you are in the hands of a master storyteller. Excellent cast, well-crafted script, subtle direction.
No notes. 5/5.
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Diabolique (1955)
This was like a 3.5 for most of the first hour, I’m into it. I’m enjoying it. Then it becomes a solid 4 all the way up until the end where it becomes a 5, retroactively the whole movie came together to become a 5 bagger.
Laura Dern very strenuously recommended this in the criterion closet and I put it off because it’s all in french. But I finally bought some deluxe prerolled infused joints and I super fell for every trick and trap the filmmaker laid out for me. It was like home alone (1990) but I’m a burglar and Henri-Georges Clouzot is Kevin McCallister. I had lots of fun. Blessings and peace be upon Laura Dern.
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