Recently Watched Films

Third time on this vampire masterpiece. Despite being in set in Iran and in Farsi, this is actually an American film that was shot in California, with a noted influence of the Spaghetti Western genre. Light on dialogue, and slow in plot development, which results in something really atmospheric that certainly also pays homage to genre roots like Nosferatu and German Expressionism of the 1920s. I could happily watch this one at least once every year. 

An overdue second viewing of this John Ford classic. I could do with a better version though, if one is out there. The transfer on my DVD copy has some instances of glaring film damage. 

So much better than I expected! More than a bit sexy in a trashy 80s way, low budget horror special effects, some great double entendres and one-liners, and just damn good smutty fun. Wish I'd managed to see it when I was a teenager.

Now here's one I must put on my own re-watch list. I have the boxset of these. Don't remember all the sequels being up to much but I'd certainly like to give the original trilogy a once over again. I think I've actually only seen even this first one the once. 

Now here's one I'd been meaning to watch again for so long that hardly any of the film was familiar to me. It's perhaps a typical 90's action flick, but it's fun as hell and Travolta and Cage, who both don't always appear in the best projects, are both good in it. 

Another long overdue second watch. I don't think it an unearned accolade to call Interstellar this generation's 2001. 

AKA Terribly Happy, to give it its English title. 

Good quirky Danish film that gets progressively darker. 

Typical Disney remake fare. It's a fine movie, but is so woke it basically turns it into an alternate history tale. If they wanted a diverse cast, why not set it in modern times instead of starting off in 1909? And in the American south no less. There's absolutely no way Lady's owners would be a married mixed race couple back then. I know things were pretty shitty back then for people of colour (to put it mildly), but I don't see how re-writing history to fit a modern narrative is helping anyone. Especially not in a family movie. What exactly is that teaching the kids? That it doesn't matter what shit you do because future generations will pretend it never happened? Fucked if I know. 

I actually quite liked the movie. But the setting is just weird. 

Third watch, at least. Might even be my fourth. Not a film that ever feels like it's over 2.5 hours long to me. 

This wasn't the only western that John Wayne famously hated. Another one is Eastwood's High Plains Drifter. Apparently he even wrote a letter to Eastwood denouncing the film. 

File under: So Bad, It's Good. 

It also has Vincent Price, which is always a bonus. 

Considered the first 'true' Brian De Palma film, Sisters really wears its influences on its sleeve, especially the Hitchcock ones. It's a pretty great film though and I don't know why this didn't strike me the first time around. 

This one also opened up a lot, but I do actually get why it took two goes to appreciate this one. It's not the easiest of films and I'm still not sure exactly which characters are real and which ones are all in the lead's head, especially when the same character can sometimes be flesh and blood and at other times, an hallucination. It's quite a mindfuck of a movie actually. It's a movie that really intrigues me though: I can see myself picking up a physical copy sometime. The director Robert Altman is also of great interest to me at the moment. While I don't have a film from him yet that has hit my top tier, I find myself greatly respecting his work even if it isn't always immediate, which is most of it save The Long Goodbye and the underrated Kansas City. 

Funny as fuck. Only in a Kevin Smith movie would a donkey sex show seem normal. And King Diamond's music keeps popping up for demonic interludes...