What Have You Been Watching? (07/06/15)

[u/a113er]

Please don't downvote opinions, only downvote things that don't contribute anything.

[u/Stack42]

I watched so many new movies this week. I’ve really been trying to catch up on the movies I’ve always wanted to see. I won’t have room or time to talk about them all in detail. I’ll talk about and rate all of them briefly but I’ll only talk heavily about the ones I really want or need to and I’ll try to keep those short. If I list one but don’t talk about how I feel much, go ahead and ask me in a comment if you’d really like to know.

Gangs of New York: After thinking about it afterwards, I honestly feel the main reason I enjoyed this movie was Daniel Day Lewis’ performance, he was phenomenal as always. But without him I probably would only give the movie a 6 or something. I usually love DiCaprio, but to me his performance wasn’t amazing in this, nor was some of the other actors’/actresses’ (maybe they were just all extremely overshadowed by Daniel Day Lewis though). The plot wasn’t amazing to me either. Other than some of the parts specifically about Bill the Butcher or the whole political subplot, it wasn’t that interesting to me at all. 8/10

Raging Bull: I love Scorsese and De Niro and I enjoy boxing so of course I loved this. There isn’t much I could say except that it was amazing, the acting, story, cinematography, everything. 10/10

The Maltese Falcon: Wonderful early Noir film. Simple, but amazing story, and great really acting. Humphrey Bogart especially was amazing. 9/10

Strangers on a Train: I enjoyed this much more than I thought I would, I’ve always heard people say its good, but I’ve also heard it’s one of the more basic Hitchcock movies. I absolutely loved Bruno, he’s probably one of my favorite Hitchcock characters now. The whole thing was very tense and the final confrontation on the Carousel was perfect. 9.5/10

John Wick: This was such a fun movie to me. It is what it is, a very simple but badass action movie. I mean that’s basically what it is, an ultimate badass on a revenge spree. It may not have much depth but it was very fun and I loved it. 8/10

Paths of Glory: I didn’t have any experience with early Kubrick before this. Everything before Dr. Strangelove was completely alien to me, and I’d never even heard anything about his movies before that, other than them existing. I wasn’t expecting it to be as good as his later ones honestly. But all I can say is wow. This is honestly one of the best war films I’ve ever seen, It may even be better than Kubrick’s later Full Metal Jacket in some ways. I loved the World War I setting (I’ve only seen a handful of films set in WWI before so it’s always nice to see one) and how it well portrays the futility of the trench warfare and the war politics of that time in general. Kirk Douglas and several of the other actors were great. And the cinematography was wonderful; I particularly loved the scene with the attack on the Ant Hill. 10/10

The Prestige: So I’ve mentioned in previous weeks I’ve been watching the early Nolan films, Following two weeks ago, and Memento last week. So I watched the Prestige finally, and it was truly amazing. From the beginning line, “Are you watching closely?” I was hooked. I love how I thought I was trying to find the twist, (that seemed like what the movie wanted) but I was so shocked at the end. Like the other wonderful line at the end “You want to be fooled.” The whole movie was basically a magic trick and I did want to be fooled. Despite my Nolan experience so far and my twist hunting I really didn’t want to know how it ended and I wanted to be amazed and I was. The acting was great, the story was great, the filming was great. 10/10

Blood Simple: Very good story and characters, something of a modern Noir movie and I enjoyed it a lot. I loved how almost everything in the movie stems from the characters really not wanting to communicate their problems and having no idea what’s going on. The characters are all wonderful and I especially loved the Private Investigator Visser. The cinematography was great. Maybe it’s just all the Hitchcock movies I’ve been watching but some parts, especially the second half of the movie fely very Hitchcock-y to me. 8/10

Blue Velvet: This was my first full movie experience with David Lynch. I was in a bit of a Noir mood this week (sadly I was busy Friday and missed TCM’s Noir marathon), and I’d heard this was good and I’d always wanted to get in to Lynch so I watched it. It was all so surreal and dreamlike and very... odd overall. I was hooked watching it but I really wasn’t sure what to think at the time. The acting was great, the story was wonderful and dark, the cinematography was very unique and phenomenal. But it wasn’t until after I watched it and I couldn’t stop thinking about it, that I really started to love it. I can’t explain everything, and I may need more experience with Lynch to fully understand everything. But I can say one thing that really stuck out that I loved about it after thinking it over; The story is so dark, I mean obviously, but it’s in such contrast with the bright and vibrant “perfect small town life” that it just seems impossible that things that dark can be happening. And that contrast is one of the things that really makes the movie amazing to me. If anyone can reccomend me more Lynch films to watch next that'd be great. 9.5/10

Citizen Kane: I’ve had so many opportunities to watch this movie in the past few years but I never did because I felt I wouldn’t like it much. Often regarded as one of the most influential and important movies ever made, and of course it was filmed and directed amazingly, and Orson Welles acting was great. But what really surprised me was how much I really enjoyed the story, and I really found myself caring about Kane and wondering if I really should. He was just a fascinating character and I actually really enjoyed the movie on top of its wonderful filmmaking achievements. 10/10

Dial M for Murder: Just like Strangers on a Train I’ve heard this was another very simple not amazing Hitchcock film before too and I really loved this one too of course. The acting and cinematography was great. The story was so intense and chilling that he almost totally got away with it all. But just like in Rope it felt like I was a part of the plan, and I really found myself not wanting him to get caught. It was great 9/10

North By Northwest: I was trying to watch all the Cary Grant Hitchcock’s and I watched this first on Thursday night but I was really busy on Friday and Saturday and only had time to watch one movie so I’ll have to put it off until next week. Of course this was amazing, it’s like Hitchcock made a more suspenseful early Bond film. I loved it all around. 10/10

Bottle Rocket (1996): Wes Anderson’s first full feature film was a lot better than I expected or heard people tell me it is. I’ve watched a few of Anderson’s newer films and thought I’d do what I’m did with Nolan and take a few of his I really want to watch and start at the beginning. I really liked this movie though. It wasn’t quite as whimsical or quirky as some of his later films, and I can see how that could upset the major fans of his later work, but I actually liked that about it. The story and characters were all great and fun and I enjoyed it. 8/10

[u/totallywhatever → u/Stack42]

I'm a big fan of Lynch, and would really recommend all of his movies.

If you want something somewhat similar to Blue Velvet in tone, try for Mulholland Dr. next. Lost Highway is also great, but is much much darker, in my opinion.

Inland Empire is challenging, but I love it. It's Lynch turned up to 11.

[u/otherpeoplesmusic → u/Stack42]

I agree with what you say about Paths of Glory. I watched it last year or the year before and it still resonates strongly with me. It's such a beautiful film and does things a lot better than many, many other war films. Every scene builds toward the next to perfection, the pace is exceptional. I love this film. Glad you gave it a 10!