1st: The Third Man – Carol Reed (1949)
Watched at home with Gioia. It’s a towering achievement. A true classic. An actual masterpiece. Almost every aspect of the film is striking. It’s that dynamic. The visuals, to start with, are incredibly cool and hyper-stylized. Most shots are set askew. The film literally knocks the viewer off balance. Moreover, Reed makes extensive use of light and shadow, angles, and locations. There are several shots in this film that have been done over and over to the point that it’s beyond homage or ripping off. The most famous shot being the enlarged shadow on the wall. I think one of the things that really sets this film apart is the choice of locations. Aside from its thematic significance, post-war Vienna looks great. It’s not a city that I’ve seen in many films. On top of that, Reed chooses to shoot at places that will look incredible. We have scenes at the Ferris Wheel and in the sewers. Even though it’d be impossible, I felt I had a sense of geography and how one moves about the zones. What else? The score is so good! It’s light and bouncy. A perfect contrast to the action of the film. I’m so glad they didn’t use any hyper-dramatic orchestral pieces as the theme. The acting is arguably the most acclaimed part of the film. All the actors give great performances. Particularly the woman who plays Anna. Orson Welles has to come in the third act to deliver a performance of pure evil. And he does it. My favorite aspect of the film is its thematic structure. The movie is centered on Holly arriving in post-war Vienna and chasing a ghost. Moreover, this ghost turns out to be death himself. A bringer of pure evil. He steals penicillin for profit. Meanwhile, the other characters occupy various roles. Some try to live in this fractured city. Some turn a blind eye. Others futilely pursue him. Throughout the film, you have characters poking fun at Holly’s profession. He’s a writer of cheap novels, cowboy stories. A character asks him what he thinks of stream of consciousness writing. Another asks him about James Joyce. These are Europeans who scoff at Holly’s earnestness. The idea that you can simply write a book about good guys and bad guys. Yet, here is Holly trying to do just that. The last scenes of the film return to Harry’s funeral. Reed takes the same shots used at the opening of the film. While we trust Holly and are led to believe that Harry is dead, the film doesn’t show us a body. Based on what we just watched, that should make us suspicious. As the viewer, you have to reckon with the information you’ve been given and decide if you trust it. You’re put to the same test as Holly. To see if this city has broken your belief system.
Grade: A
The Third Man – Carol Reed (1949)
2nd: Ponyo – Hayao Miyazaki (2008)
Watched at home with Gioia. Along the way, I knew one of these Miyazaki films would disappoint me. Not in any major way, but just be a notch below their reputation. Ponyo was that film for me. Ironically, there are aspects of this film that are the best that Miyazaki has done. I think visually, this is an incredible achievement. It’s maybe his most immersive film. There are so many shots, especially of the water, in which you take for granted how stunning and detailed everything is. It’s definitely his cutest film. The ten-minute stretch in which Ponyo first becomes human is beyond delightful. It’s up there with any portion of his work. I also love the eccentricities of the characters. Ponyo’s dad is so weird and androgynous. Sōsuke’s mom is a maniac. These decisions elevate the characters beyond what their stock traits would normally allow. Okay. So that’s obviously a lot of praise for a film that disappointed me. To be clear, I still enjoyed it. I just felt that the story was a bit thin. I think the character of Ponyo could have been developed more. You don’t really learn why she’s so desperate to become human. Once she is human, she seems just to live for food. I think Sōsuke is really charming. But he isn’t given much of a reason to love Ponyo besides the fact that she does magic. There’s a part when Ponyo and Sōsuke sail off and I realized that they don’t have anything to say to each other. The film kind of acknowledges this too. They literally don’t say anything to each other. I guess that’s what I feel the issue with Ponyo is. It’s cute, funny, and everything on the margins is really well done. I just don’t think it has much to say.
Grade: C+ / B-
Ponyo – Hayao Miyazaki (2008)
3rd: Ad Astra – James Gray (2019)
Watched at the Logan with Gioia and Wills. This was maybe my most anticipated film of the year. The trailers looked incredible. It really felt to me like it would become a new classic. That is decidedly not the case. For better or for worse, Ad Astra doesn’t have much interest in being a classic or ultra-popular movie. Instead, it is a painstaking exploration of what a journey to Neptune to find one’s father would actually be like. For some aspects of the film, I think this works really well. I loved Gray’s imagining of Moon travel and of the colonization and political turmoil that future space exploration could become. These elements felt really clever and thought out. I don’t doubt that this is what the future could look and feel like. My issues with this film are that they are so rooted in these details, it feels like there is little life. Brad Pitt, by design, doesn’t have tangible emotion. He is a one-note character. A calm, cool astronaut who’s life has been fucked up from the absence of his father, but who refuses to acknowledge this pain. I don’t think it’s an uninteresting theme. In fact, I think where the film lands is a worthwhile thought. The film doesn’t feel like it has any other way of exploring these issues. It’s just layers of narration, psych evals, and thoughts while Brad Pitt travels alone to space. In between, there are some really amazing set pieces and action sequences. The opening disaster, the baboon, the moon rover fight, and the death of the astronauts is great. Between these moments, I think the film suffers. I’m starting to think that maybe James Gray makes a different type of film than what I would like. Between this and Lost City of Z something just isn’t clicking. I almost appreciate and admire his work than I actually like it.
Grade: C+ / B-
Ad Astra – James Gray (2019)
4th: Joker – Todd Phillips (2019)
Watched at the Logan with Gioia, Wills, Beronica, and a couple of their friends. Any type of discussion around this film feels fraught and overly-complicated. As just a movie, I thought it was well-made, featured great performances, and had a pretty cohesive story. I thought the themes and messages of the movie (intentional or not) were complete garbage. The most concisely I can sum this up is at the end of the 2nd Act when Arthur has fully become Joker. We get a scene in which he dances on top of a staircase to Gary Glitter’s “Rock and Roll Pt 2.” It’s awesome. It is also complete trash. There’s no need for the scene except as an injection of excitement into the movie. Phillips could have chosen any song he wanted for the moment. It’s literally a moment that is outside what is happening within the film. Yet, he chooses a song that most people have stopped using because it was made by a pedophile. I reject the idea that art is responsible for putting dangerous or violent notions into society. Any type of argument about whether Phillips or Phoenix are responsible for the proliferation of “dangerous ideas” is stupid. It’s the same arguments that were made about Do the Right Thing. But I do think, that as art, films are responsible for having a cohesive message. Some sort of meaning or ethos behind their work. If the Joker has one, it doesn’t seem coherent to me. It seems Phillips is lashing out at the general public’s undirected anger and making a case for where it could lead. If that’s the movie’s message, perhaps it’s a relief that I don’t think Joker is problematic. I do think that it’s bad.
Grade: D
Joker – Todd Phillips (2019)
6th: Castle in the Sky – Hayao Miyazaki (1986)
My second to last Miyazaki film. With the assumption that Totoro will be good, this is Miyazaki’s worst movie. The fact that this is still, at worst, an average film is quite impressive. And it does feel interesting as an early work. Castle in the Sky has many of the traits you would expect from an early work. It’s overly complicated, long, and uneven. The characters don’t pop as well as they do in later films. While the idea, story, and theme are all certainly there, it’s unpolished. It’s unrefined. I think aside from the animation, it’s hard to praise this film above any other Miyazaki work. All of the film’s other traits are done better in later works. The animation here is worthwhile just for how ambitious it is. Lupita, in particular, is stunning to behold. The imagination and execution behind it reveal that Miyazaki is a master.
Grade: C / C+
Castle in the Sky – Hayao Miyazaki (1986)
7th: American Gigolo – Paul Schrader (1980)
Watched at home with Gioia. I thought the look and feel of the movie were the best things about it. The film feels like a total embrace of the 80s even if it is just the beginning of the decade. Every location has strong, vibrant colors. It is hyper-stylized. Schrader does a really good job using Richard Gere’s looks in this setting. He’s dressed impeccably. We get montages of him buying expensive suits. We see him drive in a convertible around LA. It’s great. Ironically, where I think the movie falls short is the writing. A strange circumstance for Schrader. The film revolves around a murder. One that we learn Gere’s character is being framed for. But these details feel implicit and buried beneath the themes of the film. You get the sense that Schrader is more interested in what it means to be a sex worker in society, the price you have to pay for luxury, and the cost of intimacy. These are worthwhile explorations for sure, but they come at the cost of the actual story. I think this is most evident in Gere’s portrayal of his character. He is intentionally blank. He is shown not to be an exciting lover but a tender one. Schrader wants him to be a baby. To be naive even in his line of work. In theory, it’s an intriguing idea. But Gere comes off as boring and unsympathetic. As the film winds down, it’s all a bit anti-climactic. The full effect of the story, and therefore the film, is somewhat muted by Schrader’s interest in other questions.
Grade: C+
American Gigolo – Paul Schrader (1980)
8th: Eyes Without a Face – Georges Franju (1960)
Watched at home with Gioia. The physical horror in the film is outstanding. The reveal of Christiane’s faceless head is terrifying. What is scarier, which she even says, is when she wears her mask. There is something so totally unsettling about it. I thought whoever was cast in the role was terrific. She is so skinny. She also moves in an unusual way. She glides about the room. It seems more spirit-like than human. I noticed that she’s always wearing long dresses or gowns and the camera doesn’t show her feet. The gliding is intentional. She’s meant to look like a ghost. Likewise, I think some of the questions that the film hints at are really interesting. What does it mean to not have a face? What would the psychological toll be of seeing someone else in the mirror? In fact, I think these questions are more interesting than a lot of the film. There are some unusual decisions that are made just for the sake of the movie. For instance, the fact that the doctor is only interested in blonde, blue-eyed girls. Not being a face transplant expert, I would assume these are the two details that wouldn’t matter. I understand that it’s probably to gauge if it would be appropriate for his daughter. But at this point, she doesn’t even have a face. It just feels like a device so the cops can have something to latch on. Likewise, the cops and their plan are completely idiotic. They just leave that girl behind! It leads to the best scare of the movie. Of her waking up to see the faceless daughter. But it’s so silly. And then, the cops plan just fails. They’re total pushovers. It’s left up to the daughter to free the patient and unleash the dogs. Still, I thought it was pretty fun and truly haunting at parts. Glad to see this classic.
Grade: C+ / B-
Eyes Without a Face – Georges Farnju (1960)
9th: Persepolis – Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud (2007)
Watched at home with Gioia. I really liked it. I found it incredibly moving and informative. Not just in the sense of learning facts and data. Though I did learn a lot about the Iranian revolution. But it gave me perspective on a country and a conflict I had never really thought about. Watching the film, I gained a new level of perspective on subjects like immigration or life in Iran. More than anything, I think this film thrives in its humanity. One of the things that delighted me most was the characterization and eccentricities shown in Marjane’s family. That Marjane’s grandmother could be so funny and profane was surprising to me. I thought the scenes where her family goes to parties are really humanizing. It’s easy as an American to think of people from Iran as a stereotype, even if you don’t mean to. I certainly had a bias of thinking of them as being very formal and pious. But this movie shows that despite whatever the government is, people are individuals. Humanity exists everywhere. Even if Marjane’s family had been ultra-conservative, or buttoned up, they’re still individual people with independent thoughts and feelings. There’s a really powerful scene in which a neighbor puts on her veil when Marjane’s father comes home. The neighbor explains that’s just how she was raised. I think Marjane’s rebellious streak and individuality serve the movie well. She’s an incredibly charming protagonist. But the movie notes that her life would still have equal value even if she had been raised like her neighbor. As much as this is a film about Iran, I thought the most powerful parts were when Marjane goes to Vienna. It’s really jarring to see how she is treated by Western culture. I was confronted with the fact that the people in Vienna don’t even see her. It’s a lesson to take to heart in everyday life. I think living in Chicago I get so accustomed to being in a crowd and just ignoring everyone. This film does a great job of exploring how privileged it is to even be able to do that. Persepolis works in the way great art does. It tells one story perfectly and in doing so, it’s able to extend its scope way beyond. It’s a film about Iran that is universal.
Grade: A
Persepolis – Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Parounnaud (2007)
13th: El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie – Vince Gilligan (2019)
Watched at home, partially with Gioia. In many ways, it’s the ultimate TV movie. I think your enjoyment of the film will be a 1:1 correlation with your enjoyment of Breaking Bad. This film does not work if you have no knowledge of Breaking Bad. The film also operates in the way the show did much more than the way a typical movie does. We follow Jesse through what feels like three compressed episodes of Breaking Bad. In the show, Gilligan would meticulously show what his characters were doing before unveiling the central dilemma. It works in a tv show because these instances are short and contained. We are compelled to the mystery, get a deeper level of the story with a reveal, and return for the solution. This is not how movies are typically set up. Here, for instance, the first act essentially starts with Jesse arriving at Todd’s house. In a normal movie, we would know why he’s there and what he needs. We don’t have that information in El Camino. We follow Jesse simply because we’re already watching the movie. Over the course of the second act, Gilligan explains what Jesse is doing and the stakes and significance of why. All of that is to say, I think it works. Breaking Bad is my favorite TV show of all time. This movie is on par with its good episodes, though maybe not its great ones. Gilligan remains the best filmmaker at presenting an unsolvable problem and having his character figure their way out of it. The way the fridge and the shootout unfold are both masterfully done. I did enjoy the cameos and flashbacks. Often, I felt like they provided a deeper level of reason and pathos for the events of the movie. Some of them were certainly more “fan-service-y” than anything else. But hey, I’m a fan. This film was extremely well done and continued my favorite show of all time. To knock it for not being masterful feels unfair.
Grade: B / B+
El Camino- Vince Gilligan (2019)
13th: Mean Streets – Martin Scorsese (1973)
Watched at home. I had previously seen Mean Streets in an undergrad film class. It was fun to revisit it after dedicating so much of my free time since then to studying film. It’s really, really exciting to watch. Goodfellas is a better version of this movie in almost every way. But there is something about Mean Streets that makes me want to like it more. It’s certainly more emotionally based. A lot of the logic of the film is really deeply buried. Scorsese doesn’t translate this world for us as much as present it. The film has a narrative and makes sense. We still understand that Uncle Giovanni is the Mafia boss, Michael is a loan shark, Johnny Boy is a fuck-up, and Charlie is trying to navigate these worlds. But it’s really refreshing to watch it and realize these things are shown and not explained. We don’t get a sense of what happens at the pool hall. What is important to know is the volatile nature of all the people involved. It’s violent, exciting, and funny. A perfect Scorsese moment. De Niro is obviously incredible in this movie but I was blown away by Keitel. He’s able to navigate through all these worlds so seamlessly. You understand both his love for this sinful life and the guilt he feels for enjoying it. I am really interested in some of the homoerotic tones within the film. There’s a series of quick cuts in which Charlie and Johnny Boy share a bed. I think narratively, they do so just as close Italian “brothers.” But, you get these scenes interspersed with Charlie fantasizing about Teresa and then having sex with her. At the end of the film, Johnny Boy hurls anger at Charlie for being above him, for having a higher uncle who can pull him out of the low life. It feels like being gay or repressing those urges, could stand-in for any of this. That’s the beauty of Mean Streets. It’s so emotive and open to interpretation. Even if it’s not the best Scorsese film, its the one you could probably sink into the deepest.
Grade: A
Mean Streets – Martin Scorsese (1973)
14th: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night – Ana Lily Amirpour (2014)
Watched at home with Gioia. It is extraordinarily well done. Especially how everything is set up. Halfway through, I told Gioia I thought it was one of the best films I had seen in a while. I loved how starkly everything in the movie was set up. There’s Anash who begins by telling the audience that he worked 2,100 some odd days to buy his car. Later, while at his employer’s house, he tells her it’s inappropriate for them to be in the same room together. He is almost comically pious and chaste. A true moral beacon. Then we meet Anash’s father, a heroin addict who owes money everywhere. He can’t even react as Saeed, a cartoonishly evil pimp demands his money. As payment, Saeed takes Anash’s car. When the girl appears and kills Saeed we get the foundation for the tension of the film. She watches the night and kills the immoral. We worry for Anash as he stumbles into Saeed’s money and drugs. It’s his first trip into bad behavior. Will she punish him? It makes it that much more compelling that he approaches her in an ecstasy-drunken stupor. You fear what he might do. You fear what she has done. It’s riddled with tension. All the while, you have aspects in the background that speak to these themes. The scenery of “Bad City” are oil drills. Literal mechanics of evil that suck life from the earth. The costume design works incredibly well too. The Girl’s chador is her vampire costume. It plays on these notions of morality. It asks what would happen if roles were reversed. If women were the ones who terrorized men at night. At least this Girl has a moral code. I think the ending of the film is less successful than the setup. It’s usually how horror movies go. The film tries to humanize aspects of Anash and the Girl. Their interest in sad music. I just don’t think this middle ground is as interesting as the stark contrast of the setup.
Grade: B+
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night – Ana Lily Amirpour (2014)
17th: My Neighbor Totoro – Hayao Miyazaki (1988)
Watched at home with Gioia. I may have saved the best for last! Totoro is so heartfelt and wonderful. It really feels like a blueprint for all the best parts of Miyazaki’s later films. It also plays into the style of his films I like the best. The world here is mostly normal, and the trials the characters face are completely natural. The magical flourishes make this world dynamic but don’t really uproot anything. One can make a pretty compelling argument that there is no “real” magic in the film. Our introduction to it is the soot sprites which is really just a magical version of dust. Then, over the course of the film, the other creatures only appear to the children and only at trying times in their lives. This tension is wholly intentional. Miyazaki is trying to make a point about the beauty and wonder of life, childhood, imagination, and how these things can be used to overcome the worst aspects of life. Aside from the premise and magic, I love all the characters on the margins. One of my main takeaways from Miyazaki is how he utilizes secondary characters in his films. The father, here, for instance, is so full of life. I feel in a typical movie they would have the father be run-down and busy because of his job, the kids, and his sick wife. Miyazaki doesn’t show us this. Instead, he has the father be really present, energetic, and full of life. He’s weird and funny. We see that he is working at night and that he comes home late from work. We can assume that all these things are weighing on him. But he never shows it to his kids, which makes him even more sympathetic and likable. Similarly, the neighbor boy is so weird, shy, and funny. In any other film, he would just be a stock character. In this one, I’m genuinely curious about his life and his perspective on the girls. The most impressive part of Totoro to me is the tone. Throughout the whole movie, I was simultaneously choked up and laughing. I think it does the best job of conveying the complexities of life. That it can be both beautiful and tinged with sadness. A theme and a tone that’s prevalent in most of Miyazaki’s movies.
Grade: A
My Neighbor Totoro – Hayao Miyazaki (1988)
20th: Parasite – Bong Joon-Ho (2019)
Watched at the Arclight with Gioia, Adam, and Alice. I need some more time to think about it, but this may be a “masterpiece.” At the very least, it’s great. The film starts as a perfect version of one kind of movie. We meet an impoverished family. They live in a “semi-basement.” They navigate every corner of their small home in search of a free wifi signal. We see the street being fumigated. Whether it’s a private or municipal service the statement is clear. They have no thought about the fact that people live here. To them, these aren’t even people. What’s more, the family plays into this. They leave their windows open for a “free” extermination. To an alarming extent, they’ve already subjugated themselves below human rights. An interesting commentary the film makes is the intersection of human rights and technology. Internet access is a UN human right. So while the family’s lack of wifi is maybe not as pressing as being fumigated, each is an establishment of their sub-human treatment. As we meet this family we also gain key insights into their individual world views. Ki-woo is a hustler, but is also modest. It takes a huge push for him to take over Min’s tutoring job even if it is something that Ki-woo and his family desperately need. He doesn’t believe he can fake the college credentials that he doesn’t have. He thinks there is something distinctly lower-class about himself. At the end, he vows not to portray a rich person but to actually become one. His sister, Ki-jeong, on the other hand, is a natural. She not only infiltrates this family but takes it a step farther. Instead of being a mere art teacher she becomes an “art therapist.” One who conveniently charges at a higher rate. She is the most comfortable slipping into this upper-class world. Her family even comments on it. She bosses around the other characters she’s commanding, she lavishes in the bathtub watching television. The father is so thankful for everything the family does have. He’s unrelentingly optimistic. He also embodies the lower class the most out of any of these characters. When his wife makes a joke about it, he flashes into a violent temper. One that for the first half of the film is played off to be fake. In the second half, it is tragically real. The mother is the glue that keeps them all together. We also see that she is ruthless. In multiple instances she violently attacks the former housekeeper. She makes these efforts to protect her family, but does so with little hesitation. She understands the world they live in. So for the first half of the film, the family works this ruse. As they celebrate a weekend off in the house, the audience waits for the real family to return. It’s here that we learn the former housekeeper has been hiding her husband in a secret basement. The movie completely turns. We realize that not only does this family have to survive scrutiny from the upper class, but they also have to fend off each other. At the beginning of the film, the family convinces a pizza company to fire one of its employees to hire them. Here, it’s the same thing but with more dire circumstances. The movie unwinds with every bit of development and foreshadowing paid off. Ki-woo’s worst fears come true. He realizes that he and his family can’t masquerade as the upper class. He stares out onto the party and realizes how effortless it is for everyone else. Ki-jeong’s arrogance gets the best of her. She’s the one that has successfully shadowed this family and she is attacked and killed along with them. And the father’s violent temper explodes. He can’t control the contempt he feels for being lower class. He lashes out and kills his employer. It’s absolutely incredible storytelling. It’s laden with themes of class, division, and ethics. The film moves from satire to horror effortlessly. It’s really a staggering movie. It’s the most anxiety-riddled viewing experience I can remember. Yeah, I think this is a masterpiece.
Grade: A
Parasite – Bong Joon-Ho (2019)
21st: Carrie – Brian De Palma (1976)
Watched at home with Gioia. It was not what I was expecting! I mean, I knew the bucket of pig’s blood was coming but I didn’t realize how sexually charged the film is. I’d be really curious to read some pieces on what De Palma is doing with this sexuality and whether it exists in the Stephen King novel. The movie is pretty extraordinarily well-made. There are so many shots that have been totally ripped off or re-used in other films. I’m thinking of the shot overlooking the prom, the pig’s blood scene, and the way Carrie and her mother are staged. A lot of Stephen King’s horror doesn’t work especially well in film because it’s so supernaturally charged. I think it’s the reason that Pet Semetary or It struggles to always frame and capture the horror in those novel. It really works here for a couple of reasons. The pacing is excellent. De Palma holds off as long as possible before having the attack on Carrie and her turn. There’s so much tension, hope, and sadness as we watch her at prom. Likewise, I think the high school aspect is a great angle. As I already mentioned, De Palma is leaning heavily into sexually charged themes. The over the top, exploitative nature fits really well into a high school setting. When Carrie does fully attack it’s enormous. I think in so many other movies it would look terrible. But it’s totally justified and terrifying here. It feels like her rage and sorrow can’t be contained. If I had to hold anything against Carrie, I think the last 10ish minutes are slow. The lead up to prom is so tense, it’s hard to recapture that energy once we have the turn. Still, this is a classic and certainly one of the best King adaptations.
Grade: B+ / A-
Carrie – Brian De Palma (1976)
25: Black Swan – Darren Aronofsky (2010)
Watched at home. I’m not quite sure where I land on this one. Let’s figure it out. Here’s some things I liked. I thought it was pretty terrifying. It does psychological horror really well. I think some of the scariest parts are moments that aren’t conventionally that scary. The prime example being when Nina is masturbating and her mom is in the room. The whole dynamic between Nina and her mom is unsettling. The way Nina has to race into her room at points is really tense. I think some of the viscera was exceptionally done. The scratching and especially the picking of her fingers is frightening. It’s truly disgusting. The concentration on the physical toll of dancing was really interesting. It’s compounded by the mental component for sure. But something like Nina’s anorexia straddles the line. It’s a physical manifestation of a psychological problem. What didn’t I like about this movie? I do think the sex scene and infatuation between Nina and Lily was a little undeserved. It felt more like an excuse to have a sex scene in the movie. Moreover, one of my least favorite movie tropes is when what is presented to us is not actually reality. I think Black Swan does this about as well as any movie I’ve seen. Still, it’s not my favorite device. The ending is the main thing that doesn’t really work for me. On the one hand, the movie is extremely black and white (or black and pink shall we say). It’s literally about as starkly laid out as can be. Can Nina change in accordance to what the world is demanding of her? Aside from these sharp contrasts, I think most of the film actually lives in a grey zone. I think if there is an ethos to the movie, it’s that the toll of art and whether or not these sacrifices are worthwhile is complicated. I think then to have Nina kill herself is tough. I really don’t know. The more I write this out, the less I’m convinced of my argument. Maybe the whole movie does live in stark contrast? There’s certainly nothing subtle about Aronofsky’s filmmaking. In that case, I think the ending probably hammers home Aronofsky’s message. In which case…I don’t know. This movie looks great, has great performances, is scary and disturbing. I think it’s about as much as you can ask for from a horror movie.
Grade: B / B+
Black Swan – Darren Aronofsky (2010)
25: The Lost Boys – Joel Schumacher (1987)
Watched at home, the second half with Gioia. It’s a fun movie. I can see why it’s a favorite. I think the design is really cool. I like the idea of a “Santa Carla.” I love how quickly the movie gets in and out. It truly feels like an 80s movie in that way. In the contemporary version of this we would spend ten more minutes with David and the vampires, ten more minutes with Star and that little half-vampire boy, ten more minutes with the Frog brothers, and ten more minutes with the mom and Max. In other words, I think because there is such a strong supernatural / fantasy element, a current film would feel compelled to explore it to death. I’m glad Schumacher doesn’t do this. I think he realizes that the fun of this world is in the unknown. It reminds me of how something like Raiders of the Lost Arc or even Star Wars are like 2 hours. Less is more. I do think this movie is exceptionally silly. The unintentional comedy award goes to David and his minions for saying “Michael” about 200 times in the movie. That’s about all I’ve got. I liked it, I thought it was funny, and I fell asleep during it. Don’t tell anyone.
Grade: B-
The Lost Boys – Joel Schumacher (1987)
31st: The Invitation – Karyn Kusama (2015)
Watched at home with Gioia. I was really skeptical of this movie for the first hour. The dinner party is so awkward and staged. Not even in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable. More in the way of, I wonder if this director has ever had a dinner party and/or friends. It’s just hard to believe why any of the characters are here or why / how they interact with each other. I think the big conceit you have to make is that this isn’t a normal dinner party. That it’s awkward because all of these people haven’t seen each other, it’s a reunion between ex-husband and wife, and it’s all taking place at the house where their kid accidentally died. Does that get you to believe that everybody wouldn’t peace out when a character admits he beat his wife to death? Does it get you to believe the other characters would all single out Will for being too skeptical amidst all this free wine? I doubt it. What’s weird is that the movie works in the opposite way of most horror movies. While I didn’t really buy the first hour, I thought the third act was great. For whatever reason, I didn’t suspect that what was afoot was a mass suicide. I just thought it’d be a creepy murder thing. It makes so much sense and is right in front of us the whole time. We also see that Eden is really, really doped up. That also makes sense. I loved the reveal that this is happening everywhere. I don’t know? I’m pretty impressed. It’s a good script. One where you have to suspend your disbelief, but one that works nonetheless.
Grade: B / B+
The Invitation – Karyn Kusama (2015)
Sam Writes Shit 
2 thoughts on “2019 Movie Log: October”