I decided to start posting reviews on Friday/Thursday night, because that's when movies start their week.
9/4
Ouch Television My Brain Hurts (tv carnage, download) - 8
Animal Crackers (1930, Victor Heerman, dvd) - 3
Groucho Marx is one of the most unlikable characters I've ever seen in a movie.
9/5
The Exorcist (rewatch, 1973, William Friedkin, 35mm) - 8
Watched it alone, which kinda sucked, because I can't get scared when I'm alone. So I mostly just liked it for the swayze dialogue, and awesome masturbation scene.
Sorcerer (1977, William Friedkin, 35mm) - 6
It took over an hour to start getting really good, which also happened to be around the time I was finally starting to come to terms with the movie's cruelly misleading title, and finally accepting that there wasn't going to be any sorcery in it.
9/6
The French Connection (1971, William Friedkin, 35mm) - 7.5
To Live and Die in L.A. (1985, William Friedkin, 35mm) - 9
I missed Cruising this week (I've seen it before, but don't remember much), and there's still some others I need to watch, but after being not quite as in love with The Exorcist on this viewing as I have been other times, I'm pretty positive that this sleazy crime drama is Friedkin's greatest film. Even the car chase scene is quite a bit better than the much more famous one in French Connection. Willem Dafoe is as awesome as ever, and William Petersen gives a fucking tour-de-force performance as the psychotic good guy (has he ever played any other kind of character? I sincerely fucking hope not.)
3:10 to Yuma (2007, James Mangold, 35mm) - 8
Russell Crowe is really great in this. I've seen him in very little, so wasn't aware of how charming he could be. Not at all great, however, is the person playing Christian Bale's son. I'm sure the actor is fine, it was just a fucking obnoxious character. It makes up for it, though, with everyone in the movie being totally gay for each other.
9/8
Halloween (2007, Rob Zombie, 35mm) - 9
If I have any complaint about it, it's that Laurie Strode should've been more a lot more likable. But otherwise, it's fucking great. The body count is really high, and all the kills are cold and awesome, and the kid who plays the young Michael Myers was perfect.
9/9
Passion Pit (1985, Duck Dumont, download) - 8
Porn movie that takes place in a drive-in, and all the characters are constantly saying random lines from old movies, like "You wanna fuck me? Here's lookin' at you, kid." The porn is pretty fantastic (it stars Traci Lords), but I wanted more story.
9/10
Lucas (1986, David Seltzer, dvd) - 7
Corey Haim's character is great, but I wasn't all that compelled by his story. The applauding scene at the end was incredible.
9/11
From Beyond (1986, Stuart Gordon, dvd) - 8.5
My expectations were set a little too high. Especially with all the talk of the newly discovered gore scenes, what I had imagined in my head was (not too surprisingly) far more elaborate and bloody than what it actually turned out to be. The performances were exceptional, though. Barbara Crampton was particularly impressive in the equivalent of the Herbert West role, managing to steal the show from such heavyweights as Jeffrey Combs and Ken Foree. I won't wait long before revisiting this, and I'm sure I'll love it even more the second time around.
Now Playing movies I need 2 see (too fucking many!)
Balls of Fury
The Brave One
The Brothers Solomon
Death at a Funeral
Death Sentence
Dragon Wars
Eastern Promises
Paris Je T'aime (we just got it at Balboa)
Rush Hour 3
Shoot 'Em Up
Vanishing Point (Castro)
War
Wet Hot American Summer (Clay)
Comments