In the last three weeks, outside of films sent to me for review purposes, I've only had time to watch only three movies. Here they are. A- Wanda (1970), Criterion Channel This extremely low-budget, independent crime thriller turns cheap production values and ugly, poverty-wrecked locations into virtues. Writer/director Barbara Loden plays the title character, a drifter … Continue reading Movies I’ve Recently Seen: Wanda, Kung-Fu Master & Race
Category: Recently Seen
Movies I’ve Recently Seen: The Magnificent Ambersons, Waking Life, The Newton Boys, Hot Water
Orson Welles' ruined masterpiece, Harold Lloyd at his worst, and good and bad movies by Richard Linklater. A- The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), Newly purchased Blu-ray Orson Well's follow-up to Citizen Kane just might have been a masterpiece. RKO took the film away from Welles, cut out about a third, and added a horribly happy ending. But … Continue reading Movies I’ve Recently Seen: The Magnificent Ambersons, Waking Life, The Newton Boys, Hot Water
Movies I’ve Recently Seen: Bohemian Rhapsody, Hangmen Also Die, & School Ties
Three more movies that I saw just because I wanted to see them. A- Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), New Parkway, Theater 1 The Freddie Mercury Story (as this film would have been called in the 1950s) plays out as a relatively conventional rock star biopic. The protagonist (played by Rami Malek) finds and joins an existing band, … Continue reading Movies I’ve Recently Seen: Bohemian Rhapsody, Hangmen Also Die, & School Ties
Movies I’ve Recently Seen: Repulsion, The Woman in the Moon, Hello I Must Be Going, & Out of Africa
Four more movies I've seen for the first time, and only one of them was made before I was born. A Repulsion (1965), Netflix Blu-ray Talk about psychological horror! Catherine Deneuve plays a young woman losing her mind. At first we think she's suffering from depression, but as this early Polanski film unwinds, we realize that … Continue reading Movies I’ve Recently Seen: Repulsion, The Woman in the Moon, Hello I Must Be Going, & Out of Africa
Movies I’ve Recently Seen: They Shall Not Grow Old, The Tin Drum, Cold War, & Howards End
I had great luck watching movies lately. All of these are very much worth catching. A They Shall Not Grow Old (2018), Grand Lake I generally disapprove of colorizing and other technologies that make old movies look new, but this is different. The British cameramen who, more than 100 years ago, shot what would become Peter … Continue reading Movies I’ve Recently Seen: They Shall Not Grow Old, The Tin Drum, Cold War, & Howards End
Movies I’ve Recently Seen: Logan, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, The Great Ziegfeld, Cavalcade
A few months ago, I realized that I'd seen all but five Best Picture Oscar winners - three of them from the 1930s. So I set out to see all five. I saw Mrs. Miniver and Cimarron in FilmStruck's last weeks. Thanks to Netflix DVD, I recently saw the last two Oscar winners of the … Continue reading Movies I’ve Recently Seen: Logan, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, The Great Ziegfeld, Cavalcade
Movies I’ve Recently Seen: Ben is Back, Stalag 17, Vox Lux, The World Is Not Enough, Ready Player One
Another five movies I've seen since my last list, in order of quality: A Ben is Back (2018), Shattuck, one of their tiny, lousy theaters This excellent drama about drug addiction turns into a crime thriller, and amazingly, despite the change in tone, it works. A nice, small-town family has its Christmas plans blown when the … Continue reading Movies I’ve Recently Seen: Ben is Back, Stalag 17, Vox Lux, The World Is Not Enough, Ready Player One
