How's everyone doing, not been here for a while, lots to raise, here's 12 randoms.
It Follows - Just phenomenal, stands tall with Rec and Let the Right One In as one of the best horrors of the last 10 years - the soundtrack is incredible, it's well acted, compassionate, visually beatiful, above all it's actually scary - I'd forgotten what that's like.
Lemora A Child's Tale of the Supernatural - Classic oldie, the subconscious sexual id of a virginal choir girl made manifest in a dreamscape of vampires, zombies, leering paedos, gangsters and dead children - suffice to say would not be made today and we're all the worse for it.
The Gangster - Peak 1947 noir but not genre typical - more about soul searching than shooting. Barry Sullivan is a hood on the skids and his demise happens in ultra slow motion. Intriguing.
Ride In the Whirlwind/The Shooting - The Criterion double bill is a must get - 2 full on Westerns which deliver genre thrills but within a trippy existential framework, especially The Shooting which unravels in a bizarre fashion. Throw in the likes of Jack Nicholson, Harry Dean Stanton and Warren Oates and you're on a winner.
The Guest - plays like a nutty 1980s Cannon video tribute - must admit I found it a blast. Ending rips off Lady in Shanghai which I didn't expect.
Singapore Sling - I'd forgotten how beautiful this film is - it's stunning. Like a film noir playing inside the head of a sexually deranged lunatic. Next to Begotten it's the strangest movie I've ever seen and one Arrow should move heaven and earth to release.
Violent Saturday - solid if a little insubstantial heist flick that looks amazing in the recent blu ray.
The Leopard - wanted to see this for ages and it didn't let me down - Burt Lancaster gives great doomed majesty, every shot is a beauty - the 3 hours fly in.
The Man Without a Past - Aki Kaurismaki essentially makes the same 2 films again and again - the social realist tragi-comedy and the absurdist surreal comedy - this is a great example of the former - almost a parable in living a good life. If that sounds dull, trust me it isn't - you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll tap your toes.
End of Watch - pretty good cop show although I resented being hammered over the head about how great the LAPD is, some shades of grey would've been welcome. Music and glimpses of the Mexican cartels depravity are excellent.
Exotica - my first Atom Egoyan and once I got into his groove, I loved it - very idiosyncratic storytelling style, one that demands repeat viewings but it's not wilfully obtuse - the sensory and visual pleasures are also immense. Will check out more of this guys stuff.
Last edited by Handyman Joe; 2nd April 2015 at 08:52 PM.
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