Double Indemnity

1944 b&w film with Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, and Edward G. Robinson. An insurance salesman thinks he has crafted the perfect plan to help a married woman kill her husband for insurance money. All goes well until the salesman's boss, an ace claims investigator, gets involved. Really enjoyed this- not quite Hitchcock but still very weil put together movie- compact, and with a lot of tension even with the ending revealed at the beginning. The quick commentary at the beginning was fascinating- apparently the script was so scandalous at the time that it took years for the film to be made, and also required Robinson to put up with a (substantial but) supporting role.

We clearly have very different taste in films, Herr Booth.

I haven't seen any of von Trier's work, but I was amused to find many similarities between the Antichrist plot and the plot of my senior thesis script. No talking animals in mine.

Logic Hat Online- logichat.org

Rififi (Dassin, 1955)

Jules Dassin made this his first film after moving to France because of the Hollywood blacklisting. Apparently Dassin did not care for the novel too much but out of it he made what is probably the greatest heist film. If you enjoy that genre, you must see this. The centerpiece of the film is the ~30 minute heist scene that takes place in the middle of the film. This scene is masterful. No dialouge, no music, just a few sound effects create the tension. Amazing.

 90/100

I haven't seen it in many years, but I remember adoring Women In Love. Glenda Jackson was amazing, as well as Oliver Reed and Alan Bates.  I'm a D. H. Lawrence reader, and the movie did a fine job of achieving the feeling of the novel.  I need to watch it again.  

I also liked Altered States.  William Hurt has always been a favorite. Good screenplay by Paddy Chayefsky.  A bit silly when Hurt regresses into an ape...but otherwise a fun ride.

Tokyo Story

A 1953 movie by Japan's Yasujiro Ozu.  An amazing piece of cinema.  Ozu uses the journey of an aging couple from their rural village to visit their children in Tokyo as a backdrop for examining generational conflicts.  Beautiful to look at, every detail is important, and though the story is quintessentially Japanese, everyone will recognize themselves and their families in this film.

I've seen all those you've mentioned, as well as The Music Lovers.  I guess after Women In Love I made it a point to always see what he was up to.  WIL was definitely the least campy, if campy at all...Russell was even nominated for  a directing Oscar, and Glenda Jackson won best actress that year.  (She must be in her seventies now...sigh, she was my favorite actress in the 70's/80's...loved Elizabeth R...when she stopped making movies, was she doing theater in England?)  Somewhere along the line , Russell lost my interest.  He started strong, then it was mostly downhill.

I liked Adaptation as well.  But I am a Charlie Kaufman admirer.  I love the way he writes, I enjoy getting lost in someone's intellectual, mental mazes.  I enjoy the weird, fantastic scenarios he plays with.  And I agree Cage is great when he's got something to work with.  Chris Cooper knocked me out as well. 
 

I think I have a copy in my as of yet unread book stack.

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

Haha, and I know you are fully capable of utilizing that index, my boy!

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

The General

Classic Buster Keaton movie, now available streaming through Netflix.  I saw this ages ago (probably in junior high), was interested to see how I liked it many years later. Freakin' brilliant movie! While the film shows its age in some ways, i think it would stand up pretty well to most physical comedies these days. I wonder if the music was redone?  My memories were of all the big dynamic comedic action, but had forgotten about the little subtle things Keaton did (like slyly comparing the size of his sword to that of an officer).

 No- this is the only one I've seen.  I'll have to look for them. Any particular recommendations?

Took one for the team here:

New Moon- the twilight sequel.  If the main character Bella was at all likeable, this movie would have been better.  As it was, be prepared for a teenage girl who is really messed up but not in any particularly interesting way.  It basically is a sad girl's fantasy- self destructive behavior to get attention from her ex boyfriend, and a best platonic friend totally in love with her no matter how much she mopes for the ex-boyfriend. Everybody is into her.  I thought the werewolves were pretty cool, the cgi was fine, the camraderie of the wolves in human form was fun (and if you like muscular men with no shirts there's plenty to look at).  The italiian vampire nobles hinted at lots of interesting politics and back-story but only were featured in a small portion of the film.

It wasn't horrible, but nothing worth paying $10 for or seeing on the big screen.

I got to catch up on some movie watching over the holiday weekend:

Cache: Michael Haneke's investigation of guilt, secrets and other things "hidden". The story revolves around a series of tapes left on a family's doorstep which force the man of the house to confront an episode from his childhood. Shades of Lost Highway, and this film is not as good, but some striking imagery, and well-maintained ambiguity, worth watching.

Funny Games (US): Also Haneke, I was provoked to check out his work by the fabulously Bergman-esque trailer to his forthcoming The White Ribbon, which should be amazing. Noami Watts and Tim Roth are a couple with a young son going to their vacation house, who are visited by two creepily well-mannered men and some brutal stuff follows. Won't say too much about it, but this film is punishing to watch, but in a great way.

On the Waterfront: An iconic Marlon Brando performance with Rod Steiger (one of my personal favorite "old-timey" actors) as his brother. It feels dates in some ways, but watch it for the interaction between the brothers, the "I could'a been a contender" scene, and some great B&W production in the nighttime and dark interior scenes. Pay attention to the lighting, shadows, the use of fog to set off the background, all great stuff. One complaint is the overbearing score, too melodramatic and too loud in several scenes, almost drowning out the dialogue.

Last winter I was dating a swell gal who made me go out and do things, so as part of the annual "Walk Around from Place to Place in the Cold to See Art" festival, I got to see Cops in a coffee bar among a packed audience (meaning around 60), with live fake piano accompaniment.  That was pretty special.

the bad lieutenant:port of call, new orleans

really good. the most humorous herzog ive seen in awhile. very black, dark humor and plenty of his brand of weirdness, and cage's best "crazy" part in a long long time. it might even help you forget wicker man, if thats possible. it manages to transcend the genre of police/detective mystery/drug film, while still using it as a framework to scramble around. also, i dont know if its him getting older, or the productions getting easier(or just the weight of his output, most of which are ambivalent in their endings, at best), but this is in keeping with late-period herzog, a (mostly) redeeming story. more muted than rescue dawn, less triumph in failure than fitzcarraldo, more complex than invincible. but true and appropriate.
very recommended, even for non-herzog fans.