i have not been watching very many movies lately as i have been getting caught up in burn notice, mad men, and true blood. also, im 1/3 of the way through masaki kobayashi's 9 1/2 hour human condition trilogy and im working on another entry on 1960s japanese films from the bold and daring nikkatsu studios. ive also been travelling. why am i apologizing? i watch too many freakin' movies as it is? btw, i was at ATP (all tomorrow's parties music festival ny) that had film showing and i saw jim jarmusch walking around. my jaw dropped and i just wanted to run up to him and make fishing with john and down by law references with a sprinkling, 'mothafuckin ghost bustin bill murray' thrown in. i didnt see any of the films (only 1 i hadn't seen, HAUSA, which will end up in here eventually). anyway, here is a quick summary of the movies i saw that arent going to get full entries
ive now seen both of lynne ramsay's feature films and think we are in desperate need of another film from her. while this one was simply ok, her style is unmistakably unique, daring, thoughtful and brilliant. she is the best filmmaker in the british isles.
i recommend renting the criterion release which features three of her short films, kill the day, gas man, and little deaths, the latter of which is superb!
a fine methodical cold war drama from the 60s with richard burton and claire boom, directed by martin ritt. at times a bit plodding but burton was pleasantly restrained and was quite good
i am grouping these fine superior 1950s film noirs by fritz lang and tay garnett (resp) because i DVR'd them thinking i hadnt seen them before. turns out i did and i enjoyed them so i watched them again. you should watch them
in this lil cin verite number from the 70s, steve mcqueen (the ultimate king of cool) plays a rodeo champ. sam peckinpah directed this and like most of his films, i thought it was dull and didnt care for it but every steve mcqueen is worth watching. so cool.
solid early work by sam fuller, one of the greatest directors of all time. this was about the newspaper industry around the turn of the last century. not a spectacular film but fuller's stye is remarkably unique. not sure how he made turn of the century new york noirish. great score as well
yeah, thats it...SERIOUSLY!
