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A bad movie but there are aspects of it I really, really like.  The music, the theme of the person lacking inspiration.  I felt awful whenever Gene Kelly was on screen.

A well made movie I didn't really enjoy or understand.  I did like the ending, but what a slog to get there.

Some of the best animation I've seen, makes me excited, I was afraid popular animation had reached a sort of "end of history" plateau where a specific style would be gradually refined and have mild variations.  This shows a way forward.

That said I am so completely sick of the multi-verse concept!

Watched on Thursday May 25, 2023.

I loved the first 30-40 minutes so much, so stilted and dreamlike. Less after that but I stayed interested all the way through.

Kelly Reichardt makes movies completely empty of anything obnoxious to my feelings as a viewer. They're slow but they allow the viewer to go through the story with the character.

Watched on Saturday April 22, 2023.

Watched on Thursday April 20, 2023.

Watched on Saturday April 15, 2023.

Watched on Saturday April 15, 2023.

This is kind of like watching an entire game's worth of cut scenes.  But really well done cut scenes.  But still... cut scenes are the least interesting and least important aspect of any game.

Watched on Thursday April 13, 2023.

Sometimes a movie with modest ambition is just fine.

Watched on Wednesday April 5, 2023.

Watched on Tuesday April 4, 2023.

Watched on Sunday April 2, 2023.

Watched on Friday March 31, 2023.

Watched on Friday March 31, 2023.

Watched on Thursday March 30, 2023.

Seeing this so soon after the original, I'm disappointed how much weaker the anti-war message is. It's too specific here. The photography and sound is vastly superior, and doubtlessly more period-correct, but something died in the rearrangement of the parts.

Watched on Tuesday March 28, 2023.

1987 may be my "peak nostalgia" year. I was six years old for most of it and seeing movies from that time are sometimes shocking in the background detail, especially if shot on location.

Watched on Sunday March 26, 2023.

There is a moment of racism in this film where one of the characters suggests that Cleopatra (who they've only heard of) may be black.  The response is hearty laughter from everyone else in the scene, and it struck me as much more of a 1934 version of racism than a true 44 BC racism. I would be curious to learn what Romans and Egyptians thought of each other as well as the history of the concept of blackness... I know there's a great deal of scholarly work in both areas.

Watched on Friday March 24, 2023.

Watched on Wednesday March 22, 2023.

What Sylvia Sidney sees in Fredric March I do not know, but that is part of the mystery of "crazy stupid love." The story and performances felt 40 years ahead of their time, or maybe it was more like certain things were on pause for 40 years while code was being enforced.

Color photography on par with Jack Cardiff, amazing sets, a strikingly beautiful lead actor, this was way more glamorous than the title/year would suggest. The Video Archive podcast is worth a listen to hear Tarantino's nuances take on the Russian film industry, refreshing to hear when several times each week I spot the supposedly left-leaning NYT spinning stories about in a way that concerns me, like the newspaper is egging us on to go to war.  Anyway, sweet movie, utterly charming, on par with Forbidden Planet or Pandora and the Flying Dutchman.

So much conflicting information coming at the viewer in the form of lavish absurdly stylized sets and art direction, Prince's music and Danny Elfman's ornate orchestration compete for your attention, and it seems like the framing of shots is a haphazard afterthought.  "Shoot this one diagonal!"

This is the musical with Maurice Chevalier playing a tailor who in turn pretends to be a Baron while attempting to collect a debt owned by a broke and untrustworthy member of the ruling class. Along the way he meets cute and falls in love with Jeanette MacDonald. Song "Nothing but a Tailor" was my favorite part.

The runtime does feel a little padded-out: It may have worked better as an hour-long TV episode without the flashback structure, but I rank this up there with best of sci-fi/horror hybrids. I especially like that it is set in a very nice, well appointed, brightly lit suburban home rather than anything gothic. I also like having the 1950s housewife as the POV character.  She does a hell of a job turning what could easily be laughable into something genuinely horrific. The need to use the press a second time is such a randomly gruesome detail, an inspired touch.

Looking at modern art can be like being trapped in some rich dude's apartment. My experience of this was primarily endurance, waiting for it to end, but I can't say I hated it.

I my father once telling me that when he was young (he would have been around 14 when this came out), the term "skin flicks" was meant very literally. I think this is the first true example I've seen of what he was talking about, a movie of almost unthinkable innocence and a time capsule as well. It made me nostalgic for Florida and its weird permissiveness and elaborate out-of-fashion 1950s-style gardens.

This review may contain spoilers.

The earliest multiple-director anthology film I've seen.  Usually almost instantly forgotten, this one surprised me: Something about the concept of giving random people $1000000 during the great depression made for some enduring (still relevant) cinema.  I also enjoyed the part with WC Fields as an automobile vigilante, intentionally crashing into other drivers.

Better than I expected for a 6th installment, which I assure you is a low bar to clear. Some thrilling scenes, especially near the beginning and end.  Kind of frustrating the Scream movies can't go "all the way smart," instead moving erratically back and forth within the same movie.

This review may contain spoilers.

So much of the experience of this movie was in the first-time ignorance. It might be a whole different thing seeing it a second time. At certain points I wondered if it was specifically a parody of the over the top French erotic thriller Secret Things, then at another point I was making a mental note to read the same book Aubrey Plaza's character mentions.  It all feels so casual and haphazard in a way similar to other films of this director.  Again, not sure if that's the intention?  I did appreciate, as I have with previous films, some very specific awkward moments captured onscreen for maybe the first time.

I thought the ending sequence, back in California, was great, and in a way saved the movie.

The soldier who kills the other soldier feels awful about it, correctly seeing it as a form of what we call "murder". The living soldier goes to a different country to visit the family of the dead soldier. I was shocked by the novelty of this seemingly-obvious premise for a story that seems like it should be a well-worn eye-roller at this point but isn't because in our society we don't often tell each other stories about how hypocritical and immoral the act of war is, a truth of the most basic "a 6-year-old would understand it" sort. Because, you know, the military/industrial complex rules our lives and our history.

"All great scientific advancements come at the cost of human lives!"

They are sending people back and forth from Canada to the UK in a sort of glass display case that folds open on the top. There is no fly but there are people that look like melted wax. They keep them in little chambers. The gaslight is for the woman from the mental facility who like a gothic heroine marries into a large home with secrets.

This review may contain spoilers.

"You shouldn't have secrets in your house. A house with secrets is full of shame."

This review may contain spoilers.

I enjoyed this more than I expected. I was hoping they would have the audacity to slap on a "Hollywood" ending and they totally did.

Watched on Tuesday March 7, 2023.

This review may contain spoilers.

The one where the boss wants to have sex with his secretary and then fires her when she marries another man.  The other man has a big heel turn and the boss ends up with the secretary after all.

This movie got terrible reviews but I thought it was sweet, made it to the same place as s Ha without being nearly as perfect. There were a couple of jokes I would absolutely edit out but it radiates kindness and goodwill. I would watch a series of sequels about this character.

"Give half my money to these lovely nuns and spend the remaining half helping my murdered brother achieve posthumous fame for his musical compositions, wicked abusive womanizer though he was."

Watched on Friday March 3, 2023.

I felt a lot like I was watching Star Wars or the MCU. Same old bullshit about a handful of "special, elite" characters deserving the audience's attention and sympathy, not the poor people sweeping streets in the background. Maybe there was some deeper meaning that was over my head. Anxiety of the middle aged woman losing the man she loves to the young woman? Propaganda for Capitalism's individualism over Communism's collectivism? Was the sword meant to represent a dick? I felt so bored for so much of this movie, like it was too long and not a good enough story. You do get eight or nine mostly thrilling fight scenes, though. I perked right up for those!

It's too easy to say in words what this movie is. I think for it to mean anything you have to take the time to have the experience of watching it.

I don't like Burt Lancaster and his raging "realistic" emotional outbursts and ugly sarcasm. Aside from that, though, this is about as perfect as Noir gets, if in that perfection less charming (and a bit more predictable) than Siodmak's earlier Phantom Lady. Director trademark: Three of the four Siodmak films I just watched featured a line very close to this: "Everyone knows a wife can't be forced to testify against her husband!"

My favorite scene was the introduction of Ava Gardner, when she is seated at the piano and turns her face to the camera for just a moment, then turns back around.  It hooked me and I felt the need to see her face again.  Shortly after that there is a shot of four people, each looking at someone looking intently at the next person, ending up with Burt Lancaster staring at Ava, who seems to be staring off at some memory only she sees, some secret thing.

Watching an insurance investigator piece together out-of-sequence flashbacks, with the meaning changing with each uncovered double cross.

Honestly thrilling second half, really thoughtful storytelling, some utterly bizarre moments as well. Thanks to Criterion Channel for this Siodmak spotlight.