The Movies I Watched in February

Becoming Nawalny - Putins Staatsfeind Nr. 1 2024  6/10

The Boat 1921 7/10

Cops 1922 7/10

 

Dead Man's Shoes 2004  7/10

 Le dernier des injustes 2013  7/10

 

Eating Raoul 1982  7/10

Killers of the Flower Moon 2023  7/10

 The Lickerish Quartet 1970  7/10 

 

The Lodge 2019  7/10

 

 

Man Hunt 1941  7/10 

 

The Mark of Zorro 1940  8/10

 Moonfleet 1955 7/10 

My Wife's Relations 1922  7/10

 

On the Rocks 2020  7/10 

The Paleface 1922  7/10

 The Panic in Needle Park 1971 7/10 

Past Lives 2023  7/10

 The Play House 1921  7/10  

Les quatre soeurs 2018  7/10

 Le rapport Karski 2010  7/10

 

Shining Sex 1976  3/10

Shoah 1985  10/10

Slums of Beverly Hills 1998  7/10

 Sobibór, 14 octobre 1943, 16 heures 2001 7/10

Something's Got to Give 1962  6/10

They Shoot Horses, Don't They? 1969  7/10

 The Walk 2015  7/10

 You Only Live Once 1937 7/10

Hi, Mom! (1970)

 

A Vietnam vet moves into an apartment and views in other people's windows across the street, meets one of the women, and discovers black theater. 

Another early De Palma satire this time around has a more focused narrative with Robert De Niro as its main protagonist, better, if not always good humor and some imaginative sequences.

Halliwell*: "Busy comedy of the drop-out life, full of random satirical jabs and homages to other filmmakers."

 

The Wedding Party (1969)

 

Buddies try to talk a bridegroom out of it, after meeting the bride's stuffy parents.

Chatty, wildly meandering satire has its moments, but only occasionally shows much wit, and generally outstays its welcome.

Maltin*1/2: "Talky, corny, boring comic oddity...Self-consciously directed..." 

 

Greetings (1968)

 

3 friends in NYC discuss how to dodge the draft and Vietnam, JFK assassination, voyeurism, computer dating etc. 

Made with a good sense for cinematic images and sequences and with some wit (albeit not always in good taste), nicely photographed on location, this student film has a rather sprawling narrative and is mostly a hit-and-run affair.

Halliwell*: "Kaleidoscopic stringing together of fleeting satirical bits; talent undeniable but equally uncontrolled."

Maltin***: "Loose, informal, improvisational satire...Exudes a late '60s N.Y.C.-Greenwich Village ambience not to be found in any Hollywood feature." 

 

The King of Comedy (1982)

 

Rupert Pupkin is a passionate yet unsuccessful comic who craves nothing more than to be in the spotlight and to achieve this, he stalks and kidnaps his idol to take the spotlight for himself. 

A very dark satire that hits straight to home, although it's a hard and quite uncomfortable ride; De Niro can be seen at his best, and Jerry Lewis surprises by playing himself - and he's not a nice guy!

Halliwell****: "Amusing, underplayed farce with a tragic lining: a very convincing picture of the media today." 

Maltin***1/2: "Pungent black comedy...The denouement is a wow! Too mordant and"sick" for many viewers' taste, though it's all been done with a minimum of exaggeration...and a pair of knock-out performances by De Niro and Lewis"

 

Godsend (2004)

A couple agree to have their deceased son cloned, under the supervision of an enigmatic doctor, but bizarre things start to happen several years after his rebirth.

Good premise is rolled out into a cliche-ridden and unmemorable horror tale despite having a capable star cast.

Maltin**1/2: "Good performances and an interesting premise reel us in, but then the filmmakers string us along, teasing us about where the story is headed. It doesn't pay off."

Joker (2019)

In Gotham City, mentally troubled comedian Arthur Fleck is disregarded and mistreated by society. He then embarks on a downward spiral of revolution and bloody crime.

Dark and intense dive into a madman's mind is a fascinating as well as disturbing experience, largely due to Joaquin Phoenix's frenetic, mesmerizing performance.

The Irishman (2019)

A mob hitman recalls his possible involvement with the slaying of Jimmy Hoffa.

A return to form for Martin Scorsese (and for both Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci as well) once again intensely analyzing mob mentality, but with mature mastery and a more subtle and at times even humorous approach and, nonetheless, with great emotional power.

The Movies I Watched in December

8 Femmes 2002  5

The Aeronauts 2019  6 

Attack of the Giant Leeches 1959  4

The Autopsy of Jane Doe 2016  6 

Big Ass Spider!  2013  5

Le calde notti di Poppea 1969  4

Ceremony 2010  5 

The Cured 2017  6

Dead Men Walk 1943 5  

Design For Living 1933  7 

Destroyer 2018  7

 

Doctor Zhivago 2002  6

Genius 2016  6 

Gremlins 1984  6 

Gremlins 2: The New Batch 1990  7

Hell Is For Heroes 1962  6

The Homesman 2014  7

I Love you Phillip Morris 2009  6 

Ice Spiders 2007  4

The Irishman 2019  9

The Light Between Oceans 2016  6

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Season 3 2019  7

 

Momentum 2015  6

Pacific Rim: Uprising 2018  6 

Philomena 2013  7 

Repo Men 2010  6

The Scorpion King: Rise of a Warrior 2008  5 

The Secret Life of Pets 2016 7

 

Silent Night 2012 5
Tri orísky pro Popelku 1973  8

 
The Two Popes 2019  7

Weit. Die Geschichte von einem Weg um die Welt 2017  6

You, Season 2 (2019)