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September watches (that weren't detailed in the Rate That Movie thread):
Get Duked! 7.5/10
Like a Boss 4/10
Train to Busan 8/10
Irresistible 7.5/10
The Babysitter: Killer Queen 7.5/10
Gretel & Hansel 2/10 (biggest snoozefest of the year so far)
Narc 7.5/10
Felon 7.5/10
Color Out of Space 7/10
Donnie Brasco 7.5/10
We Summon the Darkness 7/10

Last weekend in rep cinema:

Face/Off - sure, the plot is ridiculous but it's a well-made and enjoyable combination of thriller and sci-fi where John Travolta becomes Nicolas Cage to catch Nicolas Cage who becomes John Travolta.

The Last Dragon - I'm disappointed no one else in my area can appreciate camp martial arts cinema. You can't hate a movie where people call the main character Bruce Leroy.

My Halloween viewing


Deep Red
This is considered to be Argento's best film. I'm not a huge fan of his work, but I did quite enjoy this slightly overlong mystery thriller about a pianist investigating the death of a psychic. There's some great visuals (making me realise very few modern film-makers are influenced by Hitchcock) and there's humour to ensure it's not too serious and thus ridiculous. It's even slightly woke for an Italian film! And I failed to guess the ending, which was an added bonus.

The Taking of Deborah Logan
Effective found footage horror that works because it plays with the idea of senility, as a camera crew film a woman experiencing early onset dementia, but realise something more sinister is happening. The scares are predictable and not that innovative, save for a very good scene towards the end.

Martyrs
Whew. I was not expecting this. I had known this French film was notorious, but felt I've seen enough video nasties to be able to stomach this. But the film isn't just nasty, it's really really horrible and that's its thematic point. The film starts off with a girl running from her captors, jumps forward in time, and keeps throwing in reveals and surprises, until the last act turns into something almost unwatchable. It's a film about what people will do to others for the sake of a philosophical knowledge. Disturbing. I kinda wish it was less visceral.

The Innocents
While elements of performance and atmosphere are dated, this is still an intelligent adaptation of The Turn of The Screw (way more than The Haunting of Bly Manor) and allows both a psychological and a supernatural reading of the film, in which a nanny moves to a new home to find the two children she's caring for are acting very strange. I get why it's considered a classic.

I actually watched Deep Red a couple weeks back in an Argento triple bill (the other two were Trauma, which is basically an Americanized remake of Deep Red, and Inferno). I wouldn't call it his masterpiece but it's one of his best. I will agree that it's not as misogynistic as other gialli.

And did you watch the Italian cut? I read that Argento prefers the shorter, English language version and therefore watched that one.

Wasn't a fan of The Taking of Deborah Logan and felt Relic did the Alzheimer's premise better.

I watched the 2 hour version. I'm surprised Argento preferred the shorter one, as I believe that one cut out a lot of the humour and the building relationship between the pianist and the journalist, all of which make it more interesting and distinct.

And yeah, Relic is a much better horror about Alzeimhers

Recent theatrical viewings:

Marnie - Hitchcock does neo-noir. Mainly of interest for an early non-Bond role for Sean Connery and a young Bruce Dern. It was also amusing for me in that later in the week, I watched Strait-Jacket from the same year and both had Diane Baker in major roles. So in the same year, Baker worked with both Hitchcock (the master of suspense) and William Castle (the master of showmanship, who dabbled in aping Hitchcock).

The Shining - what hasn't been said about this one? A strong contender for the best horror film ever.

V for Vendetta - 2006 had two societal collapse films that would become cult classics. This is the better one, as Anonymous is more tolerable than Libertarians that never read Collapse insisting that the other is a documentary despite a number of plot holes in the story. But also, it's chilling considering how this one relates to current events. Continuing with the V/Anonymous connections, I'm convinced that much of that group related more to the "Anarchy in the UK" robber character than V, who actually seems to be more about just making himself famous. Kind of like how you have people who worship Tyler Durden (people who love violence but miss that the Fight Club are pathetic people with dead end lives) or The Plastics (people who peaked in high school but miss that The Plastics are awful people) but ignore why they are villains. But enough about the socio-politcs.

October viewings:
Man of Tai Chi 7/10
Deathgasm 8/10
Kajillionaire 7.5/10
All I Wish 3/10
Dark Waters 7.5/10
Hubie Halloween 5/10
Save Yourselves! 4/10
Vampires vs. the Bronx 7.5/10
The Ugly Truth 5/10
Idle Hands 7/10
The Trial of the Chicago 7 9/10
Traffik 5/10
Black Box (2020) 6/10
Nocturne 3/10
Stripes 3/10
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm 8.5/10
Love & Basketball 7/10
The Binge 7.5/10
#Alive 5/10
First Love (2019) 7.5/10
Anabelle Comes Home 7/10
Holidate 7.5/10
Charm City Kings 8.5/10

Ahhhh, the old couch. Hmm, whats that sticking up me left bum, ugh, the remote!? Whats on today- clicks and points to the center of screen

So, been watching ALOT for the last few months. But what makes me chime in here and now is that bloody movie half of all you guys love to bits:

Donnie Darko

So- let me start off by saying i gave this a 3/10 on imdb- whenever- yes i know boosh, letterbox'd is better and im gonna re-open that soon, mail must be falling out the front by now.

It came on TV the other night, only watched from about 5min-25min at the time, but then re-watched bits and pieces 3 times since and putting it on again now. One of my fav bits is the head over heels song when Donnie enters school- slow mo stuff in 80s school, with 80s song. Also, speaking of tunes, now i know who Echo and the Bunnymen are, for those of you already hooked.

Strangely weird and good cast too- some actors/actresses must have read the script or something, surely no agent would say- do this! Drew Barrymore and Paddy Swayze, then Seth Rogen and both Gyllenhaals!?

Im now re-watching the 2nd half again to make sure i actually dont like it
Credit goes to Richard Kelly and those peeps who had it in their top 100

commenting on page:

Tranny:
You gave Trail of chicago 7 a 9? I thought it started off as a 9- then quickly went to a 7 for me.
Idle Hands - Really want to rewatch this
Stripes - 3/10? Bill Murray has finally aged
Borat- i kinda hated it- it did next to nothing for me
Nice that you watched Donnie Brasco and Narc

Boosh:
The Shining is very....actually you're right. I love this movie
Im not even scratching the surface on Socio-politics after watching a bunch of Adam Curtis docos
Bruce Leroy, not even funny. Face/off - 90s classic
I also saw The Land Before Time recently, not over rated but some real budget animation

Six:
Think i need to see Martyrs

A little light on the rep scene lately, as it's mostly been things that I've seen in the theatre in the past.

Rushmore - I wish Wes Anderson would make another film like this one. There's something about his smaller, intimate pieces that makes you realize that he has a strong ability to create these character pieces when he chooses to focus on the characters. At times, he might be at his best when he's not interested in quirk. If I made a top three of Anderson, it would be The Life Aquatic, Rushmore, and Fantastic Mr. Fox.

The Royal Tenenbaums - kind of overrated, as this or Moonrise Kingdom are the only Anderson films the mainstream public have seen and therefore, nearly every Anderson reference tends to be this one or Moonrise Kingdom. But I can see why many love it. Gene Hackman is great as Royal, who is up there as one of the biggest asshole father figures in film history. But he's a funny asshole and it's his performance that makes the film work. Too bad Anderson has become more interested in copying it more than anything.

A Christmas Story - I kind of had to warm up to this one. The first few times I saw it, I developed a hate for Ralphie Parker and his smug face. But eventually, I grew to appreciate its humor and old-timey homeyness. It's old fashioned and there's a warm feeling to it. Kind of like growing up. Oh, and those hounds are hilarious.

And a little anecdote: the AMC showing this initially started the wrong movie. At first, they put on Almost Christmas, a forgotten Christmas movie from a few years back. Only after I pointed it out did they put on the right movie three minutes later. That's a positive about digital. Had it been 35mm, it would have taken much longer.

I dunno, I'd say Life Aquatic is the most guilty of forced quirk and hollow characters. It put me off Anderson a little until Moonrise Kingdom's innocence got me back into him.

As for A christmas Story, it's funny because no one over here has ever heard of it. It's a distinctly American film. I watched it a few year back (I think it was one of NSPan's movies of all time) and I found it sweet. In fact, I think it's approach would suit a really important Irish novel that would make a great movie.

November viewings that weren't detailed in the Rate That Movie thread:
The Man from Nowhere 7.5/10
Enola Holmes 7/10
Deerskin 7.5/10
Money Plane 5/10 (its ineptitude alternated between being funny and annoying)
Julie & Julia 5/10
Seberg 7.5/10
The Limey 7/10
Wild Things 7.5/10
Class Action Park 8/10
Miss Pettigrew Lives for A Day 7.5/10
High Flying Bird 5/10
Yes, God, Yes 7.5/10
Chaos 7/10
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead 8/10

Went and saw The Virgin Suicides last night. When exactly did Sofia Coppola go from saying that rich people were assholes to rich people are amazing and should be treated like gods? Was it after she won her Oscar?

The director's cut of That Thing You Do! might be the most unnecessary director's cut ever. The extra 40 minutes add nothing to what was already an overrated film and now I wish that I never have to hear the theme song again.

But I wish the bellhop had gotten his own movie.

Continuing with bad movies with Ethan Embry, I found that Can't Hardly Wait did not age well at all. A lot of the characters are jerks, there are more famous faces than actual story, the relationships are unbelievable, and it's awfully homophobic. I'm beginning to realize the teen comedies of the late 90's were just as bad as the 2000's ones.

Maybe Clueless wasn't as bad as I thought. Next time the restoration plays near me, I should go to see if I like it.