About to watch Hitchcock's Frenzy for the first time.
Random Hitchcock thought - I always forget how extensive his filmography is. Everyone knows him for 10 or so classic titles, but he made a LOT of movies.
About to watch Hitchcock's Frenzy for the first time.
Random Hitchcock thought - I always forget how extensive his filmography is. Everyone knows him for 10 or so classic titles, but he made a LOT of movies.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
I watched most of My Blue Heaven last night with Steve Martin and Rick Moranis. What a misfire that was. Steve Martin as an Italian mobster just doesn't work, he was sorely miscast in that role. It needed a DeNiro or Pacino type. It also felt like nobody was really giving it much effort. Everything was so flat and safe. All the scenes that I think were supposed to be the "big laughs" just did not deliver. Honestly, I think if they had gotten DeNiro and Charles Grodin together again, filmed it with more dramatic lighting, and aimed for a more grounded tone they might have had something here. This should have been big hearted, not big humored. 4/10
Last edited by Spun Lepton; 01-13-2021 at 01:07 AM.
My YouTube Channel: Grim Street Grindhouse
My Top 100 Horror Movies OF ALL TIME.
Thoughts? I've been meaning to see Frenzy but never have for whatever reason.Quoting megladon8 (view post)
I liked that one a lot, feel like him adapting to the era with some seedier variation of his usual suspense mode, but with a lot of dark humor throughout. I still remember potato truck scene.
Midnight Run (1988) - 9
The Smiling Lieutenant (1931) - 8.5
The Adventures of Robinhood (1938) - 8
Sisters (1973) - 6.5
Shin Godzilla (2016) - 7.5
Yeah Spun, My Blue Heaven is a miss. Never comes together and feels off- definitely agree it needed a true Mobster type in Martin’s role.
Got my 2020 Letterboxd results yesterday.
Found it funny that Mathieu Amalric was my most watched actor last year. There can't be many that have the same.
I watched too much MCU in 2020 for my Letterboxd data to matter.
Mine was Mihashi Tatsuya (8 films), who's probably best know for playing Phil Moscowitz in What's Up, Tiger Lily?.Quoting Ezee E (view post)
Just because...
The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg, 2022) mild
Petite maman (Céline Sciamma, 2021) mild
The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh, 2022) mild
The last book I read was...
The Complete Short Stories by Mark Twain
The (New) World
Lots...Quoting Idioteque Stalker (view post)
It's a very icky movie. Where most all (that I have seen) of Hitchcock's films felt fairly classy by comparison, this feels a short step away from a grind house or exploitation film. The major rape/murder scene is gross and uncomfortable even by modern standards, and on top of that Hitchcock seems to go out of his way to show nearly every key female character topless at some point. A far cry from the "less is more" sensibilities that I associate with Hitchcock's work.
I'm not saying any of this as a negative, though. It was just shocking and unexpected, to see such a crass and unfiltered film from him.
Performances were great all around, particularly Barry Foster.
I have to admit I was a little put off by some of the humor, especially when it was adjacent to the more brutal scenes of violence and assault. And what was with the inspector's wife and her cooking? It was a weird bit, that kind of worked the first time but when it became a recurring gag, I didn't know what Hitchcock was trying to do with it aside from provide levity amidst some very gross subject matter.
It also just kind of...ends? With all the drama drama that is caused with its "they've got the wrong man!" storyline, when we finally reach what seems like the beginning of the climax it is actually just...the end of the movie. Roll credits. It's done.
For a movie that spent quite a bit of time on strange sight gags (the potato truck) and the aforementioned "wife can't cook" joke, I was a bit disappointed by how it felt like it ended 15 minutes too soon.
As with anything Hitchcock it is beautifully filmed, and on location to boot. Some beautiful looks at London, and I enjoyed the dichotomy of the beautiful aerial shots compared to the seedy, grimy street level images.
Not Hitchcock's best, but still miles above most. Look forward to revisiting it in time.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Yeah, it's very different Hitchcock for sure. Even if you don't end up liking it, it's worth seeing for the novelty if a Hitchcock film with very frank talk of sex, and a large amount of nudity.Quoting Idioteque Stalker (view post)
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Okay, now you're making it sound like my new favorite movie.Quoting megladon8 (view post)
Two more animes:
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time's sci-fi premise is explained just enough so that we understand the rules but don't get bogged down in the details. Similar to his most recent film Mirai (which is a bit more clumsy in presenting its fantastical elements), Mamoru Hosoda's greatest strength lies in the lucid detailing of profound individual growth -- in Mirai's case, a four-year-old's journey from resenting a newborn baby sister to proudly embracing his role as a big brother; and in this case, a young woman's gradual realization that fixing (or worse, avoiding) life's uncomfortable perplexities is far less preferable to working through them openly with her loved ones. It moves at a brisk pace, prioritizing wonderful character moments instead of sci-fi gobbledygook, resulting in what one letterboxd user called "The optimism of Miyazaki with the energy of Shinkai," and I totally agree: add the kindness of Kiki's Delivery Service to the exhilarating rush of Your Name and you get The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, which by my account is superior to both.
Belladonna of Sadness is not for the faint of heart. If you can stomach it, however, prepare for something special. Rarely have I seen such a concentrated mass of boldly drawn, indelible imagery. Eiichi Yamamoto must've prepared by subjecting himself to numerous bad trips. Power, sex, and spirituality co-mingle in a manner fitting only the most hidden parts of our subconscious, where the line between normalcy and taboo becomes blurred. The prog-psych music fits perfectly, with exceptional bass work and even a couple of honest-to-goddess songs. If there is a coherent feminist message (and I'm not sure there is), it's undermined by a hilariously brazen final thirty seconds that attempts to connect real-life women revolutionaries to this parable about a young girl who sold her soul and body to satan. I'm eager to seek out the other two entries in this erotic Animerama series -- Cleopatra and A Thousand and One Nights -- but they seem a bit more hard to find.
Last edited by Idioteque Stalker; 01-14-2021 at 12:34 AM.
I watched that years ago because everyone said it was one of the best anime's ever made. And I can't recall a single second of it now.Quoting Idioteque Stalker (view post)
Yeah, it's a downside the film doesn't have many big memorable moments. Despite that, I pretty much loved it. Doubt I'll ever proclaim it one of the best animes ever made, but I won't argue against the notion.Quoting Dukefrukem (view post)
"You know what they're looking at? US."
I looooove Heat. Saw it a few times in the theater.
“What we are dealing with here is a perfect engine, er... an eating machine. It's really a miracle of evolution. All this machine does is swim and eat and make little sharks and that's all.”
Never seen it.Quoting Scar (view post)
My YouTube Channel: Grim Street Grindhouse
My Top 100 Horror Movies OF ALL TIME.
You need to get on that.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
I’ll prioritize his viewing when quarantines are done.
The sound system in the basement is choice.
“What we are dealing with here is a perfect engine, er... an eating machine. It's really a miracle of evolution. All this machine does is swim and eat and make little sharks and that's all.”
If the actual windows of your home don't vibrate and crack during the street level shootout, you don't have the proper sound system for viewing Heat.Quoting Scar (view post)
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
When I watched Mad Max, the former roommate said she heard it in the driveway.
This is the sub paired with Wharfedale towers, center, and rears.
https://www.musicdirect.com/speakers...-s12-subwoofer
“What we are dealing with here is a perfect engine, er... an eating machine. It's really a miracle of evolution. All this machine does is swim and eat and make little sharks and that's all.”
My 7.1 sound system with massive Wharfdale sub is in storage