Well, so much for the plan to get back on track with my write-ups. Maybe this time it will work. Here's what, other than old Doctor Who serials, I've been watching over the past (yikes) almost a month:
30. Green Zone
Paul Greengrass, 2010
5.5/10
31. L'Atalante
Jean Vigo, 1934
7/10
32. M. Hulot's Holiday
Jacques Tati, 1953
4/10
To be fair, I feel a little more positively toward this one looking back at it, and I may like it more on a second viewing. But for now, I reacted to it about the same way I felt about Modern Times.
33. Kick-Ass
Matthew Vaughn, 2010
7.5/10
34. Belle de Jour
Luis Bunuel, 1968
8/10
35. Vivre Sa Vie
Jean-Luc Godard, 1963
7.5/10
36. Steamboat Bill, Jr.
Charles Reisner and Buster Keaton, 1928
8/10
37. The Room
Tommy Wiseau, 2003
1/10
And just to be clear, this isn't "1 out of 10 for being so bad it's good." This is for just being bad, without providing me that expected degree of sick enjoyment. Although there were moments.
Now, let's see if this time I actually do get back on track. The next movie I'm likely to watch is the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street - and I can only assume I'll have a little something to say about that.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
29. Caddyshack
Caddyshack
Harold Ramis, 1980
Shenanigans at a golf club. Er, country club.
There are some things I think you just have to have been there for. I was not there when Caddyshack came out.
But Chevy Chase was pretty good. That's something I've never said before, and likely won't again.
3/10
Harold Ramis, 1980
Shenanigans at a golf club. Er, country club.There are some things I think you just have to have been there for. I was not there when Caddyshack came out.
But Chevy Chase was pretty good. That's something I've never said before, and likely won't again.
3/10
28. The African Queen
The African Queen
John Huston, 1951
After Germans burn down the village where she lives and indirectly kill her brother, missionary Rose Sayer (Katharine Hepburn) convinces scruffy riverboat captain Charlie Allnutt (Humphrey Bogart) to take her on a suicide mission down a dangerous river to destroy a German warship.
Certainly not the great classic it is made out to be, The African Queen is still a solid adventure movie, filled with beautiful photography (despite some dodgy process work) and exciting setpieces and hamstrung by a clunky romance that just kind of happens. Bogart is terrific - it's not the most naturalistic performance I've ever seen, but extremely watchable and fun. Hepburn has more trouble trying to display the humanity hidden behind her fairly obnoxious and unsympathetic character, but pulls it off in the end, which was quite a bit more clever and satisfying than I expected, even though it leaned heavily on that generally ineffective romance.
7/10
John Huston, 1951
After Germans burn down the village where she lives and indirectly kill her brother, missionary Rose Sayer (Katharine Hepburn) convinces scruffy riverboat captain Charlie Allnutt (Humphrey Bogart) to take her on a suicide mission down a dangerous river to destroy a German warship.Certainly not the great classic it is made out to be, The African Queen is still a solid adventure movie, filled with beautiful photography (despite some dodgy process work) and exciting setpieces and hamstrung by a clunky romance that just kind of happens. Bogart is terrific - it's not the most naturalistic performance I've ever seen, but extremely watchable and fun. Hepburn has more trouble trying to display the humanity hidden behind her fairly obnoxious and unsympathetic character, but pulls it off in the end, which was quite a bit more clever and satisfying than I expected, even though it leaned heavily on that generally ineffective romance.
7/10
27. The King of Comedy
The King of Comedy
Martin Scorsese, 1983
Rupert Pupkin (Robert DeNiro) wants to be a comedian on TV, like his hero, Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis). He'd do anything to achieve his dream, including kidnapping and extortion.
The King of Comedy is kind of like a comedic version of Taxi Driver, revolving around a pathetic DeNiro character who just doesn't see the world the way everyone else does - perhaps dangerously so. That it fails to reach the heights of Taxi Driver is less a function of the change in genres (which is less extreme than you might think) and more a lack of focus - right when we should be sinking deeper into Pupkin's madness, Scorsese cuts away to awkward interludes featuring the staggeringly unfunny Sandra Bernhard, which feel more like standard comedian mugging and less like anything organic. Still, there's a lot to like, with the tense and awkward confrontation at Jerry's vacation home as a highlight. Speaking of Jerry (Lewis this time, not Langford), he gives a very interesting performance, unlike anything I'd ever expect from him. If nothing else, it's worth watching just to see that other side of him.
7/10
Martin Scorsese, 1983
Rupert Pupkin (Robert DeNiro) wants to be a comedian on TV, like his hero, Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis). He'd do anything to achieve his dream, including kidnapping and extortion.The King of Comedy is kind of like a comedic version of Taxi Driver, revolving around a pathetic DeNiro character who just doesn't see the world the way everyone else does - perhaps dangerously so. That it fails to reach the heights of Taxi Driver is less a function of the change in genres (which is less extreme than you might think) and more a lack of focus - right when we should be sinking deeper into Pupkin's madness, Scorsese cuts away to awkward interludes featuring the staggeringly unfunny Sandra Bernhard, which feel more like standard comedian mugging and less like anything organic. Still, there's a lot to like, with the tense and awkward confrontation at Jerry's vacation home as a highlight. Speaking of Jerry (Lewis this time, not Langford), he gives a very interesting performance, unlike anything I'd ever expect from him. If nothing else, it's worth watching just to see that other side of him.
7/10
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