One of my favorite classics 
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Saw the new Yorgos film today, Kinds of Kindness. I personally loved it, but I was the only one out of my friend group too. If you enjoyed the weirder parts of Poor Things you’ll likely enjoy this, otherwise it might not be up your alley.
Saw it on 35mm which was cool, got a souvenir film strip from it too!
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Fantastic movie.
Couple more from Hollywood films from 1948.
Rope (Hitchcock / 6/10)
Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House (Potter / 6/10)
Both enjoyable, neither earth shattering. Rope has a nice central conceit of the shooting process (no cuts between reels) and Blandings has some laughs still after all these years but there were better films made this year for sure.
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But there are a few real cuts, 4 or 5, next to the ones which they tried to hide.
Apparently, yes. Still a pretty easy day at the office for the editor though. 
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The wife made a sojourn to a local thrift store without me the other day but found this little gem for 25 cents.
While the episodes of Groucho Marx’s You Bet Your Life are typically fun to watch, I was particularly excited that this collection contained three W. C. Fields shorts and six from Laurel and Hardy. The best part of all though is that it contains Buster Keaton’s The General, a film I’ve always wanted to see but never actually took the time to track down a copy and watch it.
Before diving in, I went to Tubi to revisit Peter Bogdanovich’s excellent documentary The Great Buster: A Celebration as I remembered that it covered the making of The General quite extensively.
What struck me most is how upset people were with this “dark comedy” when it was released in 1926 because it intermingled both violent death and comedy in the same scenes. I couldn’t help but ponder how these same people from 100 years ago would react to the aftermath of Marvin getting shot in the face in Pulp Fiction or a hundred other examples from modern filmmaking. The times have definitely changed.
I then sat down to The General itself and was completely blown away.
This film is a classic in every sense of the word and a true epic on a grand scale, especially for that period in cinema. It is not only a masterclass in slapstick but a phenomenal action film as well. I enjoyed it thoroughly from start to finish and really had a wonderful time. The General is now undoubtedly my personal favorite silent film and I am truly embarrassed that it took me this long to experience it.
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Seeing it as a young fella, I always thought it was the closest thing one could get cinematically to experiencing the time period in which it’s set, as clothes and decor hadn’t changed that much since the end of the civil war … It’s fascinating to look at and very entertaining too. Glad you enjoyed it.
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A couple of Japanese films from 1948.
A Hen in the Wind (Ozu / 7/10)
Drunken Angel (Kurosawa / 7/10)
Both very good and if I could be arsed doing half points would probably be 7.5s. Such different styles but so typical of both directors even this early on. Ozu’s film quiet and contemplative, Kurasawa’s more heightened and physical. But both dealing different issues facing a damaged post-war Japan and the human spirit required to survive in it. Really enjoyed both.
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Did not watch any westerns lately. Finished finally season 4 of Justified. Not the best season and therewith this one took me long to start again (I think I did that twice with a pause of several months.
Re-watch of the Big Lebowski.
And Golden Kamuy. Entertaining but as I found out at the end a part of a Manga series so hopefully there will be a follow-up.
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Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (Molloy/2024)
Watched this on Netflix with the wife and I must say we both thoroughly enjoyed it. Lots of nods to the original of course including a constant use of “The Heat is On” in the soundtrack which was perfect and made the whole thing feel like an 80s action movie. If you liked the original I think you get a kick out of this one too.
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Same here - we watched it last night - it was as expected.
Yes, almost forgotten that I watched this one. Good to see a lot of the old cast back in a new and entertaining part of the franchise.
Last 10
- Carpenter: They Live 7/10
- Kasanoff: Food Fight 1/10
- Palumbo: Police are Blundering in the Dark 4/10
- Cortes: Little Richard -I am Everything (Doc) 8/10
- Aguirre: Killer is one of the Thirteen 5/10
- Klimovsky: Trauma 6/10
- Härö: Elämää kuoleman jälkeen 7/10
- Franco: Girl from Rio 4/10
- Sharman: Rocky Horror Picture Show 10/10
- Brass: Voyeur 9/10
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Just saw Showgirls (1995) in 35mm. Fucking awesome. Hooray for tits.
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this is how masterpieces are supposed to be enjoyed. well done
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Wicked Little Letters (2023, Thea Sharrock)
A British movie, presented as a comedy-mystery. It’s set in the aftermath of World War I and is based on historic events. Sounds alluring? Well, at least it did to me. I like British comedies and I like mystery stories. Basically this is the story of two women, neighbours who first become friends, then foes: Edith, a deeply conservative Christian woman, and Rose, a foul-mouthed Irish immigrant. When Edith (and a few others) start receiving wicked letters full of profanity and defamation, Rose becomes the prime suspect.
We immediately sense that Rose can’t be the culprit, but if she isn’t the one, who is? The film was well-received but criticized for the fact that the identity of the perpetrator is revealed near the halfway point, too soon, according to many. But surprisingly the film gets better once we know who’s behind those evil letters. The first half is mainly played for laughs but is not as funny as it thinks it is; after this surprise revelation (I only saw it coming minutes before it was made) things get a bit more serious (without becoming too ponderous) and the comedy works better in this slightly more dramatic context. And the final scene is hilarious.
The film suffers a little from what is called ‘blind casting’ (a black judge in 1919 and so forth) but benefits from a couple of strong performances. Olivia Colman is normally not my favourite actress but she’s very good here and Jessie Buckley is a delight as the foul-mouthed but good-hearted Rose. Don’t watch it if you have any problems with profane language!
***½ out of 5
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