Le Doulos
Posted: January 8, 2012 Filed under: Crime, Film, Old Leave a comment »
Film, 1962
I don’t really get the allure of the cool criminal movie. Sometimes when I read about one like this it turns out that the director based it on people he actually knew. So that seems legit, but having been raised in a culture soaked in Tarantino and his derivatives, that aspect of these films is kind of wasted on me. But that’s okay, because these things are usually so well done and absorbing, like slipping into a bubble bath, that by the end of it you don’t know if it lasted an hour or four. This one’s got some canny storytelling tricks, but occasionally jostles you awake with its overabundance of style. Unless there really is a time and place where women who look like that spend hours getting their hair and makeup to look like that and then wear those nylons just to lay around reading before tucking in for the night, because if that’s case sign me the fuck up. The only thing not to like here is that this movie, at its core, is about bro love, which is kind of annoying.
Bob Le Flambeur
Posted: November 13, 2011 Filed under: Crime, Film, Old Leave a comment »
The Naked Kiss
Posted: October 23, 2011 Filed under: Film, Old, Thriller Leave a comment »
The Man Who Laughs
Posted: October 21, 2011 Filed under: Film, Old, Romance Leave a comment »
Onibaba
Posted: February 15, 2010 Filed under: Drama, Film, Old Leave a comment »
Film, 1964
Boy, they do not make horror movies like this any more. In fact, most modern viewers would probably not categorize this calm and infrequently chilling film as a horror movie, but that is what it winds up being (even if it takes a while to get there). Onibaba, despite it’s simple plot about three characters doing their best to make a living in the hauntingly lonely, war torn fourteenth century Japanese countryside, is a actually a fairly complex morality play exploring what depths people will sink to in order to survive, first turning on strangers, then on their own loved ones. I was told ahead of time that Onibaba was “atmospheric”. In my experience this usually means one of two things: the film is either going to be completely absorbing or unbearably boring. Onibaba falls into the absorbing camp, using the starkness of it’s setting and cast, along with some fun camera and sound work, to draw you further and further into their world. Even with these great elements I found myself a little disappointed by the lack of otherworldly thrills I was looking forward to. Although in the end, despite being a ghost story that lacks any truly fantastic elements, Onibaba makes up for it by delivering one heck of an unsettling ending. 3.5
Le Samouraï
Posted: March 21, 2009 Filed under: Crime, Film, Old Leave a comment »
Film, 1967
Le Samurai doesn’t have much to offer beyond beautiful colors and a mesmerizing pace, but it’s more than enough to get satisfyingly lost in for it’s running length. 3.5
The Tingler
Posted: October 12, 2008 Filed under: Film, Old, Schlock Leave a comment »The Tingler is everything you want out of a B Movie. Weird, awkward, inept and possibly psychologically disturbed, it exudes just the right levels of wtf-ness. Most times when you decide to watch a bad old movie you end up regretting it, losing an hour and a half of your life to boring nonsense, but The Tingler is entertaining all the way through. Plus, there is something kind of flat-out, non-ironically brilliant about Castle’s movie gimmicks. 3.5/5
Dead of Night
Posted: October 10, 2008 Filed under: Film, Horror, Old, Science-Fiction Leave a comment »I was really excited about seeing this movie, and wasn’t let down. It’s kind of like a more horror oriented Twilight Zone, made a couple of decades before that show came out. It’s really well written and fun to watch, and genuinely creepy in a couple of places. 4/5
The Wages of Fear
Posted: February 24, 2008 Filed under: Action, Drama, Film, Old Leave a comment »
Film, 1953
I’m having trouble coming up with another movie that comes close to this one on terms of sheer intensity. The definition of “edge of your seat thriller”, masterfully composed. Great, great movie. 4.5
The 400 Blows
Posted: February 4, 2008 Filed under: Drama, Film, Old Leave a comment »
Film, 1959
An alarmingly sophisticated, while remaining very human, portrait of a juvenile delinquent in 1950s France. The camerawork, editing and especially the performance on the part of the child portraying the protagonist, are all used to full effect, absorbing and bonding with the viewer. 4.5
