Recently Watched Films

One of the longest movies (though not the longest) I've seen at almost four hours, certainly one of the weirdest and perhaps the film that left me with the most mixed feelings of any film ever. Equal parts strangely compelling, awkward viewing & disturbing, perhaps with a dash of genius diluted by how appalled the movie often made me feel. I'm not sure any country other than Japan could put this out and get away with it, or maybe it's just changing times and attitudes even from 2009 to now, though if that's the case it's continual high regard seems like the biggest hypocritical acclaim ever, given how this basically glorifies voyeurism in the form of upskirt photography. Watching this in 2020 after the rise of things like the Me Too movement raising awareness of sexual abuse and mistreatment of women make this very hard to enjoy. I admit to being oddly transfixed by this in spite of the long running time, but I also spent most of it horrified by the content. That this is in the top 100 of all time on RYM really says something about that community. 

Felt a little like it wasn't quite sure what it wanted to be, but it was actually really good as a comedy focussed more on the banter between the two leads, rather than the actual story being followed (this is listed as horror online but it isn't really, though fantasy is appropriate). 

My first Polish film (I think?). I was a bit sceptical going into this one, but it turned out very compelling. A very complex film built up on stories within stories that are within more stories that are themselves in stories (you get the idea), so it's fucking difficult to remember on what layer you're on most of the time, especially in the second half. I really liked it though. Thought it would end up being more arty farty than it was, which was to its credit. Not sure why RYM thinks it's a comedy though. Maybe I lost something in translation but there were only a few times that felt the least bit humorous to me. 

RYM Satire time:

Captain Phillips, a biographical movie telling the tale of modern day pirates, who attack a cargo ship and subsequently kidnap the captain.

RYM Genre Police: This is not a biopic, or a crime movie!

Started promising, but this three hour film soon devolved into a complete snoozefest. Overrated as fuck. Looked at how long I had left at one point and saw that it still had over an hour on the clock. I really lost interest at that point. Saw it through due to how far in I was already, but this ended up one of those like watching paint dry experiences. No wonder RYM loves it. 

I've also seen Fellini's 8 1/2 and didn't mind it but wasn't blown away. I don't expect to be trying any more of his films in a hurry (if ever). 

Argento was just the right amount of crazy when he made this one 

For a film that so intentionally rehashes the first one to the point that the first one has been made into a film within the film, Scream 2 is pretty good and like the first one, better than I remember it. 

Citizen Kane is not a movie that blew me away when I saw it (though I may watch it again because of this); I watched this because I do like David Fincher as a director. This is his first feature film since Gone Girl in 2014. Doubtful that this will go down with Se7en and Fight Club (or even The Social Network) as an all time great, but it was pretty decent, though not the best movie to present a behind the scenes look at Golden Age Hollywood (that would probably have to be Trumbo).