Halloween – John Carpenter (1978)
1st: Halloween – John Carpenter (1978)
I don’t think I’d seen this as an adult. It’s great! The score is iconic. Jamie Lee Curtis is incredible. To be honest, I think she carries the movie in a way that few others could. I don’t think this movie works without her. The scares are great. I love how Carpenter frequently shoots the movie from Michael Myers’ perspective. I don’t know what else to say? It’s a tight, low-budget, perfectly executed horror movie.
Grade: A-
Halloween – John Carpenter (1978)
2nd: Host – Rob Savage (2020)
I was excited for this movie! It sounded like an inventive idea. It’s only 50 minutes. Man. What a let down. First, the movie easily could (or should) have been 40 minutes. The opening 10 minutes is excruciatingly boring. It feels like you’re on a real zoom call with people you don’t know. Aside from that, I don’t know? I didn’t think the scares or the plot were that inventive or fun. I came away thinking I could probably make a better Zoom movie if I set my mind to it.
Grade: D
3rd: Cameraperson – Kirsten Johnson (2016)
This film had been on my list for a while. I finally watched it in anticipation of Johnson’s follow-up, Dick Johnson is Dead. Cameraperson is pretty remarkable. It consists almost entirely of footage Johnson has shot for other projects. In other words, any thread or plot in this film only comes from the way these scenes are stitched together. But not only are theses scenes mostly fascinating, they really do give the film strong themes and ideas. The most prominent is just the fragility of life. Many of Johnson’s projects deal with death, genocide, and human rights violations. One of the most striking vignettes is a scene in which a midwife struggles to deliver a baby that desperately needs oxygen. As the film progresses, Johnson weaves in a personal narrative too. We see scenes with her young family, as well as of her late mother who (when we see her) is suffering from Alzheimer’s. I wondered if the fractured nature of the film is meant to reflect Johnson’s mother’s disease. That even though most scenes in the film are devoid of context, it doesn’t render them meaningless.
Grade: B+
3rd: Sinister – Scott Derrickson (2012)
I feel like I could frame this review in two ways. The first is that for a pretty typical, low-budget horror movie, Sinister is surprisingly good. Ethan Hawke is, as always, fantastic. He brings life and substance to a character and movie that maybe doesn’t deserve that much. On top of that, this movie is pretty scary! And all for only $3 million. The second take would be that despite Hawke’s acting prowess, this movie is dumb as hell. There are so many things to nitpick. That Hawke has to write out his trains of thought is laughable. That he refuses to turn on any lights in his house is really something else. How convenient! Either way, I thought the movie was okay. Not the best, not the worst.
Grade: C
Sinister – Scott Derrickson (2012)
6th: Invasion of the Body Snatchers – Philip Kaufman (1978)
I can’t believe how loaded this cast is. Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum. This movie is a re-make, so maybe they were able to get these stars to sign on. I think the best part of this movie, by far, are the practical effects. They’re gnarly. Truly grotesque. Besides that, this film was alright. The actors are obviously compelling. I guess my biggest gripe is that the movie goes on forever. It could have been 45 minutes shorter. And while I really like the ending, it’s pretty easy to see coming. Not to mention, that it’s preceded by like two other moments that feel like endings. Who knows? I guess I’ll have to watch the 50s version.
Grade: B-
Invasion of the Body Snatchers – Philip Kaufman (1978)
7th: The Host – Bong Joon-ho (2006)
Bong Joon-ho rules. This is a movie that in other hands could be pretty awful. I shudder to think of the proposed American re-make. But because of Bong Joon-ho, this movie is good and maybe even great in some parts. The Host is really a pretty standard genre movie. Its plot and tropes are not different from dozens of other monster movies. But Bong Joon-ho is so smart in his ability to work within the genre. In fact, unlike say, Parasite, I don’t think there’s anything radical or particularly surprising in this movie. But every decision is so well-executed it elevates the whole film. Take the characters! Like most monster movies, they’re each limited to just one or two central traits. Gang-du is so lazy he has a sleeping disorder. Nam-joo is a brilliant archer but just can’t release that arrow in time. Nam-il is a disillusioned intellectual. But somehow, these characters feel alive. I love the interplay between them. Their traits and quirks are so unusual and often charming, it’s disarming. Which speaks to the tone of this movie. On its surface, The Host is bleak. Spoiler alert: the family’s mission fails. In fact, half of their family dies. But Bong Joon-ho knows exactly when to inject the film with humor and eccentricity. It never feels like a slog.
Grade: B+
The Host – Bong Joon-ho (2006)
8th: The Neon Demon – Nicolas Winding Refn (2016)
I spent the first half of this movie thinking about how I would pan it for being offensively bad. I couldn’t even make it through the second half. Not because I found it particularly disturbing or challenging, but because I found myself so utterly un-moved by any of it. I wanted to hate it and couldn’t even work up the energy to do so. I’d love for somebody to explain the appeal of Refn to me. I can’t think of two movies that have left me feeling as empty as Only God Forgives and now this.
Grade: F
10th: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari – Robert Wiene (1920)
This barely counts as an entry. Gioia watched this movie. I half-watched it between doom-scrolling through the news. The look of the movie is incredible. The expressionist style in which it was shot is obviously iconic. But it was still pretty amazing to actually see it. I’d be more interested in reading about this film than necessarily watching it. I find the ways that critics and historians have connected this artistic movement to Hitler’s rise and Nazism to be fascinating. It makes you wonder what 2000s films were anticipating our current situation.
13th: Certain Women – Kelly Reichardt (2016)
Someday, Reichardt is going to make my favorite film of all time. Who knows? Maybe she already has with Night Moves or First Cow. On paper, I love everything that she is doing in this film. It’s comprised of three beautiful, impeccably crafted, small short stories in which nothing happens. Sure, I suppose the first vignette features a hostage situation. But it has to be the most anti-climatic one in cinema history. The second vignette centers on a negotiation for sandstone. The third one, which I think really pulls everything together, is about an unrequited crush between a ranch hand and a lawyer. In a lot of ways I struggle to see the difference between this and a Richard Linklater or Mike Leigh film. Which makes me question why I don’t like this film just a bit more than I do. I think perhaps those movies, even if they’re devoid of plot, focus on a tangible quality of life. They’re centered on class, love, friendship, or time. This movie, by contrast, seems comprised of absences. These vignettes take place in rural Montana. At their core, they’re stories of isolation. I keep coming back to how brilliant Kristen Stewart is in this third vignette. And yet she really doesn’t do anything! She’s not even the protagonist of the story. But she feels so absolutely real, it’s uncanny. I kind of can’t shake it. In some sense, I think this is what the movie is: a portrait of life in the absence of everything else.
Grade: B
14th: Dick Johnson is Dead – Kirsten Johnson (2020)
I’m not sure how much I can say about this movie. It’s a lovely idea and a lovely film. Most of it is deeply moving. A lot of it is quite funny. I really liked how much of the documentary was specifically about making this documentary. Making this film is clearly a bonding / mourning / grieving exercise for Johnson. I love that she’s smart enough to center those aspects in the film.
Grade: B+
15th: The Exorcist – William Friedkin (1973)
This movie is fucked up! I can see why it elicited such an enormous response. Overall, I thought the movie was pretty good. I liked how many layers and stories there are within the film. For a movie with its central tension implied in the title, The Exorcist takes its time getting to the actual exorcism. That’s a good thing. I really liked the amount of time dedicated to Father Damien. I especially liked his friendship, and implied romance, with the other priest. The best part of the film is the exorcism. The stunts, the make-up, the head-spinning. It’s so gnarly! I have to say that I am a tad disappointed that I didn’t find the movie scarier. Based on its legacy, I really thought this was one of the scariest movies of all time. I think it’s certainly one of the most disturbing movies ever. Especially for the time it was made. But maybe not the scariest. Oh well.
Grade: B
Exorcist, The – William Friedkin (1973)
17th: Topsy-Turvy – Mike Leigh (1999)
This was the big one! The first film that Mike Leigh really took significant studio money for ($20,000,000!). And the first film, I presume, in which he deviated from his rehearsal / development style of filmmaking. Topsy-Turvy is, after all, a biopic. Even so, this is still very much a Mike Leigh film. There’s probably no place in which that’s more apparent than the leisurely pace this film takes. Leigh spends almost a full hour meandering through the lives of his protagonists before the stakes of the film take hold. Eventually, we realize that this movie will be the story of Gilbert & Sullivan’s opera, The Mikado. But that’s only apparent well into the film. It feels almost identical to the way that a narrative of one’s life is only apparent when looking back at it. I think the real achievement of this film, as in most of Leigh’s work, is in the performances. This film allows for more than a few prominent parts, and the actors in them all shine. Jim Broadbent and Shirley Henderson really stood out to me. I could see this film being compared with some of Altman’s more sprawling films: Nashville, The Player, or Short Cuts. While I largely enjoyed the film, I do have to say that I miss some of the focus and charm of Leigh’s smaller features. There are class issues and politics in this film, but they’re largely on the periphery. Likewise, I think Leigh does an okay job at portraying the complicated racial politics of an opera like The Mikado. He largely accomplishes this point by making fun of the ignorance of his protagonists. Still, I would have liked to see a more scathing or narrowed assessment of these issues. Especially since it is Leigh who chooses the development and staging of The Mikado as his period of focus.
Grade: B+
19th: Night Moves – Kelly Reichardt (2013)
Out of the Reichardt films I’ve seen (all of them except First Cow), I think this one appealed to me the most. Which is strange. It’s certainly the least like any of her other films. It’s the most straightforward. It’s the one that relies most heavily on plot. Really, it separates itself by relying on plot at all. But the best qualities of Reichardt’s other films are all still here too. The setting is the rural American West. The filmmaking is slow, beautiful, often hypnotic. You know, I really wouldn’t think that a thriller would be in Reichardt’s wheelhouse, but this film mostly works. I love her focused approach. I love the performances she gets. Jesse Eisenberg continues to be one of my favorite actors. I thought Dakota Fanning was really good. She even gets Alia Shawkat and Katherine Waterston to show up in minor roles. It’s no surprise to me either that this was written with Jonathan Raymond. Reichardt is the best at short story adaptations. If I had a complaint, I think the film teeters a bit in the third act. I almost wonder if this should have been an 80-90 minute film and ended in the aftermath of the bombing. Still, it never gets bad. It just started to lose its hold on me ever so slightly.
Grade: B+
Night Moves – Kelly Reichardt (2013)
22nd: Night of the Living Dead – George Romero (1968)
It’s hard to know what to say about some of these classics. Night of the Living Dead is undoubtedly one of the most important films in cinema history. And for the most part I liked it! It’s terrifying at parts. I was kind of stunned by how far Romero pushes the gore. The zombies eating the remains of Tom and Judy is gnarly. There are some things that I would probably tweak. The acting often leaves something to be desired. And I’d love to read more about any social commentary (or lack thereof) in the film. I really don’t know. I find the characterizations of Barbara and Ben to be challenging. Barbara is someone who’s incapable of thought or action throughout the entire film. She’s literally in some type of shock and never wakes up. Ben, on the other hand, is defined by the lengths he goes to to survive. For instance, he punches and knocks out Barbara after being annoyed with her and he shoots Harry for cowardice. I’d imagine Romero is trying to say something with these characters and instances of violence, but I can’t make it out.
Grade: B
Night of the Living Dead – George Romero (1968)
23rd: A Tale of Two Sisters – Kim Jee-woon (2003)
My least favorite mini-genre of movie is the “it’s all in their heads” films. Films like Black Swan, Fight Club, or Paprika. Which is not to say that I think those movies are bad. In fact, I think they’re all pretty good. Just, that it’s a trope or genre that I find extremely tiresome. I guess my major issue with it is just that it necessitates that director withholding information from the audience. To some extent it prioritizes the plot (or how we receive the story) over the story itself. Having said all that, I realize this is probably a limiting way to view a movie like A Tale of Two Sisters. Every aspect of this movie is done extraordinarily well. The direction is striking, the horror is thrilling, and even the story is handled extremely well. I don’t think that any of the plot devices Kim Jee-woon uses, detract from the movie. However, it’s still just not my favorite way to tell a story.
Grade: B
Tale of Two Sisters, A – Kim Jee-woon (2003)
29th: On the Rocks – Sofia Coppola (2020)
This movie reminds me a bit of The Laundromat or Where’d You Go Bernadette?. To be fair, it is probably better than both of those films. What I mean though is that while this movie doesn’t totally work, it’s so well-made that I can’t help but like it. There are scenes and images in On the Rocks that are so freaking good. The prologue of Laura and Dean’s wedding, for example, is magnificent. The same goes for any of the comedy set-pieces. Felix and Laura’s ride in the Alfa Romeo, or the conclusion of the Mexico trip. I think these sequences are some of the funniest moments in any of Sofia Coppola’s movies. That being said, the ending really bums me out. Coppola sets up this whole movie by making it inevitable that Laura’s husband is cheating. It’s the central tension of the movie. So for her then to wrap everything up by implying that he wasn’t cheating just feels like the easy-out. I think it makes the film so much less interesting.
Grade: B
On the Rocks – Sofia Coppola (2020)
31st: Idle Hands – Rodman Flender (1999)
I’ve never really understood having an ironic love of bad movies. Usually, those types of movies just seem bad to me. I have to say though, I had a pretty good time watching Idle Hands and it is objectively terrible.
Grade: D-
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