Goliath wrote:Lazario, your explanation about horror makes a lot of sense. Ironically, I have seen very few horror movies myself. It's the only genre of films that I don't really like. Still, I think you should check out more genres to broaden your horizon --because I think you would enjoy it.

Well, in a way, I have been. And I have seen Citizen Kane and loved it. I think I killed my little IMDb review of it. But I did one back in... 06? Something like that. And I liked The Graduate, within reason. And when my computer died back in November, I saw All About Eve and Imitation of Life. And a Hitchcock film. I keep meaning to dip into the Fellini, Bergman, Cocteau pool since Criterion have been putting their films up on Netflix but 8½ was a bit of a snooze. But I stopped watching it. Not even Barbara Steele could save it.
jpanimation wrote:Nicolas Roeg:
Who the fuck is this guy? I've never heard of him or seen any of his movies.
He's one of those directors who has several films in the Criterion Collection and if they could get Don't Look Now away from Paramount, that film would be there too. If you've never heard of Don't Look Now, it's world-renowned for having one of the most famous love-making scenes in the history of cinema. Walkabout is legend in the U.K. And The Man Who Fell to Earth is of course a very famous David Bowie movie (just checked: Performance stars Mick Jagger too). Almost all of the directors I've chosen because they've made a name of themselves with critics and/or (for many of the same reasons) their films have been seriously studied. Would you have had this same reaction if I'd listed: Pasolini, Herzog, Preminger, Fellini, etc.? Was kind hoping Goliath could come to my aid here since he watches a lot of European films if I'm not mistaken. Several of his films are in Netflix: Watch Instantly, so you might want to check them out. Especially Don't Look Now, which many critics famously count as the best adaptation of a Daphne du Maurier story (I mention that because of course Hitchcock adapted her too).
Nicolas Roeg:
The Witches (1990) - 7
This movie was the most intimidating thing as a kid. I thought it was probably this really deep masterpiece with a bunch of implications (because of all the weird camera angles, most likely psychological) of this and that. Now I just think it was a bit of fun they were having. As a kids' movie, I think they might have been taking things out that kids wouldn't understand. Not sure, but it certainly created a wonderful monster. Anjelica Huston's Grand High Witch belongs in the horror hall of fame.
Don't Look Now (1973) - 7
A horror film that isn't scary. So, no I didn't like it but it is remarkably well-made on all counts. I just don't see the point. Which of course means it's a must-see for every classy movie fan here.
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David Lynch:
Lost Highway (1997) - 5.5
I need to see this in widescreen but I've seen it several times in full (oh, shut up: it was the 90's). Angelo Badalamenti's music score is one of the best I've ever heard. Robert Blake, Patricia Arquette, and the insufferably beautiful Balthazar Getty are amazing- but nearly everyone else is either hamming it up or overacting so badly, the movie becomes a joke. In fact, even the famous "I'm there right now, at your house" moment is laughable (one of my favorite lines in movie history is actually: "give me back my phone"). And of course: Marilyn Manson's part is way too short! (A
porn star? Really?) Bill Pullman was a better victim in both Serpent and the Rainbow and The Last Seduction.
Wild at Heart (1990) - 5
Need to re-watch but I enjoyed so little about it that I probably won't.
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Clint Eastwood:
Play Misty for Me (1971) - 8.5
Fatal Attraction wishes it were this complex. A rewatch could raise that rating but I really liked the movie.
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Jonathan Demme:
Philadelphia (1993) - 3
Keith Uhlich in his review said everything I felt watching the movie. Just because Demme's heart was in the right place doesn't mean this is gripping stuff. The details of these men's real lives matter and yet, couldn't be more sweetened and Hollywood'd up, made too easy to swallow / P.C. Etc. And I honestly hate to think this was in any way born from misunderstandings people had in their reactions / interpretations of the killer's sexuality in Silence of the Lambs.
Here's what Uhlich said that really nails this movie: "The working title of Philadelphia—People Like Us—hints at Demme's failure to dramatize this situation beyond the superficial: the very specific use of "us" posits a false majority rule, a presumptive and prejudiced declaration that assumes gays and AIDS-sufferers want nothing more than to be absorbed into the pigskin-throwing purview of John Q. Hetero." "For Demme, a filmmaker whose raison d'être is the celebration of diversity, Philadelphia is an unfortunate misstep."
The Silence of the Lambs (1991) - 10
I admit I am attracted to incredibly dark subject matter and I defend the approach of using graphic violence in films that don't seem to be making a statement somehow. When it seems the most gratuitous and lacking in substance are usually the most fascinating cases. Some people seem to think it's really just an attempt to create a new cinematic monster rather than be an extraordinarily intriguing psychological film (be it horror, drama, suspense, mystery, etc) which also includes scenes of people being partially eaten and their bodies left skinned in gruesome, over-the-top shots. Lecter's dialogue alone really elevates this above a standard crime or detective film, even though the facts of the case and the emotional appeal is all very much standard. He just has a way of playing with it that creates a depth in what might otherwise seem mundane. There was a minor discussion in my Horror Digest threads about is this film horror or not. It's very much a horror film, and also one of the few in the 90's to bring back classical music scores that feel classical (add this to Misery and Candyman and you have a perfect bid for a return to the Universal classics). If it were judged as a drama, you'd notice it lacks details. We never really learn about Clarice's father- all the details she tells us are in one scene in which she's staring right into the eyes of probably the most diabolical killer in the history of cinema. Horror is about experience and this could even comfortably sit next to some of Mario Bava's work.
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Peter Weir:
The Truman Show (1998) - 6.5
I still like this movie a lot. Don't get me wrong. But certain critical views of the film (by people I really admire) have made me re-think it. For example, for a film about egregious violation of another human being's rights - could this be avoiding the issue any more? Instead, it cuts to harmless shots of a bunch of losers (are these people really at all realistic?) watching this guy's life in their homes. This is actually what I like about it. But I would never defend it, other than to say Laura Linney is funny and perfectly stretched tight. And, if they're not going to really nail the film on the characters' wrongdoings, it could have been a lot creepier, ala - the real masterpiece in reference - The Stepford Wives. Where the whole place has a truly dark side to it. Instead, it's just goofy. Which I don't like, but what brings it back around to what I do like is the production values and music. This is a very fun movie to watch. Until, to bring it back around to the problems, Jim Carrey does something annoying. Which he does: especially the scene in the car with Linney where he's trying to show her something's wrong with their world. That scene could have been amazing but it's entirely disposable.
Dead Poets Society (1989) and Witness (1985) - n/a
I remember liking it a bit, but I haven't seen it since maybe '99. Witness...same.
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) - 8.5
Since no one else here seems to have seen it, I just want to recommend it to anyone who disliked The Virgin Suicides. It's a beautifully creepy, elegant, and insane mystery. I have no idea what's going on. But I enjoyed it thoroughly.
The Cars That Ate Paris (1974) - 7.5
Horror film or dark comedy? You decide. (Just noticed, I have the same rating as Escapay.) Anyway, it's a trip. Like Hanging Rock, I had no idea what the heck was going on. But it seems to be about a kind of old-fashioned adult committee that was running a town and suddenly, chaos strikes in several scenes where people are crashing or being killed in strange auto accidents. The ending alone makes this a must-see, as well as really justifies the poster image of the car with very intimidating looking spikes covering it.