Reviews (11/7 - 11/10)

11/7

Ball of Fire (1941, Howard Hawks, dvd) - 8
A group of old guys and Gary Cooper are working on encyclopedias, and Gary Cooper is trying to write about slang, but his research is not up-to-date, so he goes out and meets Barbara Stanwyck and she helps him while hiding from the law. It's really great. Stanwyck is typically awesome.
Poster: Good. - 7

11/8

L'Arrivée (short, 1998, Peter Tscherkassky, download) - 6
There's film onscreen and a train arriving, and some editing. It's ok.

Outer Space (short, rewatch, 1999, Peter Tscherkassky, download) - 8
A woman is tormented in a house by an editor who doesn't know how to splice properly. There's something I really like about it. It's not quite suspenseful, but it's kinda close to it, and it acheives this in a pretty interesting way. I've seen it before, and I don't know if watching it alone this time was more or less enjoyable than watching it with a very frustrated audience at the Castro before The Thing.

Dream Work (short, 2001, Peter Tscherkassky, download) - 7
Similarly hectic editing with exposed film strip everywhere. It's about dreaming, I guess. I liked it, but it didn't have as much of an effect on me as Outer Space.

The Ruins (2008, Carter Smith, blu-ray) - 8.5
Some people on vacation in Mexico go to the ruins of a Mayan temple, and they get attacked by evil plants. It's pretty awesome.
Poster: I like it alright. Not too into the joblo.com subliminal there, though. - 7

11/9

Mikey & Nicky (1976, Elaine May, dvd) - 8
The mob wants to kill John Cassavetes, so he calls his old friend Peter Falk to help him out, but Falk may not be trustworthy. It was really good.
Poster: It's great. But why is Cassavetes the only one who gets to have his name all big on top? - 8

11/10

Giants & Toys (1958, Yasuzo Masumura, dvd) - 6
A guy works for a caramel advertising company, and he hires a girl with fucked up teeth to be their mascot. It was alright. I thought the girl was pretty good.
Poster: It's good. Simple, but I like it, and it fits the movie well. - 7