Gridrunners: Virtual Combat (1995, dir. Andrew Stevens). Watched with
VCR Party. Seems to be a riff on (at least) Bladerunner and Terminator.
Strange dialog writing (and delivery). Low budget to the point of being
goofy. Made sincerely though, I think. That combination - sincere and
goofy - makes it good "MST3k" fodder. Has a pretty great helicopter
explosion. Michael Dorn dubs the villain. Don "The Dragon" Wilson seems
cool.
Executive Decision (1996, dir. Stuart Baird). Watched with VCR Party. Not
a first watch, I saw this in the '90s, not sure when or where. Stacked
cast of '90s guys. V. silly plot. Xenophobic if not islamophobic (as was
the style at the time). Was there a cycle of these airplane hijacking
political thriller / action movies in the '90s? I seem to remember it
being a common theme. A fun watch, though I now feel no need to revisit
it.
May
Dark Angel (AKA I Come In Peace, 1990, dir. Craig R. Baxley). Watched with
VCR Party. Enjoyable schlock. Drug dealers from outer space. Very nice
explosions (and a lot of them). I'd heard about this movie years ago -
an alien (of the outer space variety) visits earth to violently dose
people with heroin and then harvest the resulting endorphins from their
brains. (Strange correlation here with conspiracy theories surrounding
"adrenochrome"). Movie itself is pretty fun, low-budget, late '80s / early
'90s action fare. Some decent lines ("bring the space gun, we're outta
here"). Thumbs up for Al Leong.
Secret Defense (1998, dir. Jacques Rivette). First watch, first Rivette. A
mystery/thriller that develops in unexpected ways. Understated, tense,
slow, methodical, deliberate, controlled. Maybe a touch of Hitchcock?
Long (almost 3 hours). I very often felt like scenes/shots were a setup for
someone to jump out of the dark, or for a car to explode, or for a gun to
go off, and every time my expectation was incorrect. (That's a good thing,
in my opinion). Really enjoyed this. And, I know I say this a lot, but this
movie looked fantastic, everything meticulously arranged and beautifully
lit. (I lack the language to describe the... I think the word is "formal"
elements here). Will have to watch more Rivette (although according to
what I'm reading now this movie might be an outlier in his work).
Bladerunner 2049 (2017, dir. Denis Villeneuve). DVD, a copy picked up in
a thrift store. I'd put off watching this for years, expecting it to be
bad. And it's not. There are missteps, things I didn't like - Jared Leto's
technocrat mystic is no match for Joe Turkel's scientist/industrialist -
but on the whole 2049 was really good. I have thoughts that need to
reduce, form, coalesce before I express them. (Will probably need to watch
the movie a half dozen more times to get there). Until then I'll say,
as a first reaction, beautiful movie, loved the performances (Robin
Wright!), writing seemed fine (though a couple action movie one-liners
struck me as out of place). It felt somehow bigger than Bladerunner (1982),
larger in scope. (Also: long, nearly three hours). Will watch again soon.
April
District B13 (2004, dir. Pierre Morel). Rewatch. One of the marquee /
significant freerunning / parkour movies. First saw it around 2010,
didn't remember much. Watching now it makes a lot of sense that this
is directed by Morel who later went on to direct Taken (2008). It has
some of the same problems, particularly the editing, which somewhat
sabotages the action. Having said that this is still pretty fun (even
a bit cartoonish). A fine action movie that does a lot with a little.
And I still like seeing parkour on screen in 2025.
Constantine (2005, dir. Francis Lawrence). Rewatch; I'd seen this shortly
after it was released. It looks much better than I remembered, some dodgy
CGI aside. It felt a little overlong too me, like there was too much plot.
And some of the dialog felt clumsy, particularly Shia LaBeouf's character.
Having said that I thought the movie often looked amazing. And as a
lapsed catholic it was both amusing and scary. So: it was alright. Would
watch again (in another 10, 20 years).
The Limey (1999, dir. Steven Soderbergh). Rewatch; I'd seen this once
before, shortly after it was first released. This was great! Better
than I remembered. A simple but wandering pulp-crime story: an aging
career criminal travels from England to Los Angeles to investigate the
suspicious death of his daughter. A spare, gritty, and funny revenge
tale. Love the cast & performances, particularly Terence Stamp in the
lead and Peter Fonda as the faded oblivious antagonist. Really amazing
editing (though it seems to become less experimental towards the end of
the movie). Super glad I looked this up and watched it again (found it
on some site called pluto.tv; seems legit, adblock did its work). I
need to watch more Soderbergh.
March
The Kirlian Witness (1978, dir. Jonathan Sarno, AKA "The Plants Are
Watching"). Kirlian photography! Psychic communication! Intensely '70s.
Rilla's sister Laurie is murdered on a roof; a nearby houseplant
witnesses the crime. Rilla's husband Robert and the local handyman Dusty
are both suspects. The police are uninterested. Can Rilla learn to
communicate with the plant and solve the crime? I watched a copy of
this that had been uploaded to youtube, I'd like to see a better
version, see if the one from YT was a TV edit or something. (There
was some strange editing). I loved the last few lines from this:
"Now that I've finished here I'm ready to leave the city. I heard
about a group in northern Vermont that's involved in much the same
thing Laurie was. I want to know more."
Johnny Guitar (1954, dir. Nicholas Ray). Rewatch. Was inspired to watch
after talking about it on stream (and hearing the title song multiple
times in Fallout New Vegas). Movie is fantastic. Very... I don't know,
heightened or theatrical. Seems very progressive for its time (and
probably still is today). An anti mob-mentality anti witch-hunt movie
(and that's just one theme on offer). It looks amazing too. See it if
you haven't.
Personal Shopper (2016, dir. Olivier Assayas). Rewatch. Needed to see it
again after mentioning it on a video game stream. (It's still really
good).
February
Who Is Bozo Texino? (2006, dir. Bill Daniel). Rewatch. One-hour
documentary about trainhopping and train graffiti art. Really incredible.
If you haven't seen it you should. Title link will take you to the film
uploaded on youtube (for as long as that upload survives). If you're in
the United States and want to order a copy of the movie I believe it can
be found here: http://billdaniel.squarespace.com/who-is-bozo-texino
(your mileage may vary).
Ghost in the Shell (1995, dir. Mamoru Oshii). I've seen this many times
(of course). Rewatched to relax, idly think, brainstorm. "Your effort
to remain what you are is what limits you."
January
The Third Man (1949, dir. Carol Reed). Rewatch. This time I noticed how
cleverly written this is (shouldn't be surprised, it's Graham Greene).
Movie looks fantastic of course, terrific performances (Cotton, Valli,
Welles, everybody really), soundtrack is... unhinged in a way that adds
a lot of humor to the film. Somehow feels like both tragedy and farce.
Really good movie.
Hard Boiled (1992, dir. John Woo). Rewatch w/a film club. Still great a
dozen times later. I completely forgot the cool and very recognizable
descending melody/sequence in the soundtrack (played on some kind of
bell-like instrument? not sure). Also forgot (and somehow always forget)
that nearly the last half of the film is set in that hospital.
