Se7en (1995, dir. David Fincher). Rewatch; been many years since I've seen
it. It's as dark as I remember. Nasty & borderline hopeless past the point
where it's enjoyable to watch I'd say. Very well designed & shot (literal
lack of lighting notwithstanding). The one part where this falls down IMO
is Brad Pitt's performance. I believe him as charming, I don't believe him
as anguished or vengeful. Particularly the final sequence, the famous
"what's in the box" scene, doesn't work for me. I somehow keep forgetting
that Se7en was released before Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Cure (1997). Cure is
way more my speed, my vibe.
The Equalizer 2 (2018, dir. Antoine Fuqua). First watch. Community service,
righting wrongs, a bunch of fun spy business. I think I like this one more
than the first. The ending fight sequence is very dramatic, silly,
video-game-y, and also real fun to watch. Denzel continues to sell the
hell out of this character, I love watching him play Robert McCall. Will
check out Equalizer 3 when/if it becomes available on a streaming service
I have access to.
The Equalizer (2014, dir. Antoine Fuqua). First watch. 100% dad cinema.
Denzel Washington as a man with a certain set of skills, retired, who
wants to do the right thing but ends up letting his past catch up with
him. Properly nasty violence. Denzel stabs a lot of Russian mobsters in
the neck. Pretty silly too. Like watching a perfect run of Dishonored
lethal low chaos. Denzel really sells it. Will have to watch the sequels
sometime.
May
Light Sleeper (1992, dir. Paul Schrader). First watch. Willem Dafoe as
an insomniac drug dealer selling coke to affluent New Yorkers. Susan
Sarandon as his emploer, his dispatcher. A lonely man working a shady
job he doesn't like & is ready to walk away from. Takes after Taxi Driver
(1976) of course (it's Schrader after all). I'll need to see American
Gigolo sometime as it's apparently another Schrader work with the same
pattern. Sleeper looks & sounds amazing and manages to feel sleepless,
tired, soulful. I love both Dafoe and Sarandon in their roles. Hard to say
much more on a first reaction without thinking about it a lot, other than:
I like this a lot more than Taxi Driver.
Jack Reacher (2012, dir. Christopher McQuarrie). First watch. Slick.
Somewhere between the heroic Tom Cruise and the assassin from Collateral
Tom Cruise. I'd heard of the Reacher novels before but not read any of them.
Has a very dudebro-into-stoicism feeling. Hard to buy Cruise as an action
hero taking on five guys half his age. Absolute jumpscare when I realized
who was playing the villain. A fine action movie / thriller but not one
I'll be thinking about much in the future. If I were to see it again in
10 years I'd say to myself "oh yeah, I remember that being OK".
Messiah of Evil (1974, dir. Willard Huyck & Gloria Katz). First watch.
Famous cult film, been meaning to see it for ages. It's amazing; What do
I even say about it? Feels like an older, 1950s or 1960s mode of horror
film. Way closer to Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Carnival of Souls
(1962) in tone than it is to, say, Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974).
Dreamlike, nightmarish. Some unbelievable art direction & cinematography.
Must have been influential on David Lynch, definitely influenced Rob
Zombie (see Lords of Salem), no doubt influenced many others as well. The
movie definitely feels unfinished but in a strange way I think that might
be to its benefit. If you haven't seen it & you like slow dreamlike
almost nonsensical horror then give it a go. Run don't walk.
The Gladiator (1986, dir. Abel Ferrara). Made-for-TV movie about a
vigilante pursuing drunk (and otherwise unsafe) drivers. First watch.
Relatively restrained / subdued Ferrara. Has a cool dreamy driving
sequence set to '80s rock ("Screaming in the Night" by Krokus). Battle
truck complete with harpoon gun. Seemingly occurs in a world without
road rage (or firearms). A healthy amount of cars smashing into each
other. The ending, the final showdown, reminds me of Fear City's ending
(which would be the last Ferrara I saw). I'll admit I was a little
distracted while watching this when it wasn't going full speed.
Solaris (2002, dir. Steven Soderbergh). Rewatch on a whim. I've seen the
Tarkovsky version & read the book, and I think I saw this 2002 version
on release in theaters. Struck me as really immediate, personal, and
tragic on this viewing. I love the art direction and soundtrack, sound
design (the Cliff Martinez score is pretty famous). Something about the
way George Clooney looks & acts onscreen reminds me a lot of the earlier
portrayal of Kelvin by Donatas Banionis. I don't know if it's the angles
or wardrobe or the performance or what. Great movie. Such an unusual thing
too, a science-fiction romantic tragedy I guess I'd call it. The one other
I can think of is maybe "Code 46" which, weirdly, was released the year
after this Solaris.
April
Red Sonja: Queen of Plagues (2016, dir. Brian Ward). First watch. A
"motion comic", a film comprised of voice acting, music, sound effects,
and comic panels with little paper-doll like animation. The visual style
and obviously low budget reminded me a bit of the '90s Berserk anime -
detailed images with limited animation sliding around on-screen. The story
(credited to Gail Simone) was engaging but the delivery left a lot to be
desired. The pacing in particular felt really off. I can't recall a single
image with no voiceover, like an establishing shot or a panel intended
solely to set mood. The whole thing felt rushed, as though compressed for
time. The voice acting was mixed - I liked Misty Lee as Red Sonja, and
some of the other performances were fine (in a tabletop D&D sort of way),
but some definitely took me out of the film. I'd never seen a
"motion comic" before; I think there's something here, that the
limitations of this form could yield something great. Red Sonja (2016)
unfortunately fell a little short for me today. Having said that I would
def. watch it again. And I should probably watch La Jetée again sometime
soon too.
One Missed Call (2003, dir. Takashi Miike). First watch. The easy thing to
say here is that this is of a piece with Ringu and Kairo (Pulse).
Technology, ghosts, curses, trauma. This seems to follow many of the beats
of Ringu in particular. It does go past that, though, and has something
unique to offer when it gets there. One Missed Call was much more
restrained than what I expect from Takashi Miike (whose films I've avoided
a long time on the assumption that he's nastier than I want to be around).
There's a weird juggling of tone going on, parts feel serious, others feel
schlocky (in a good scary-ghost monster-movie way). The middle segment of
the film, where a young woman's foretold death is televised for profit,
was a highlight for me & felt particularly ghoulish. Great setup, good
performances, liked the sound & look of it (camera movement! visual
distortion!), good movie. Watched a pretty low-quality copy with sketchy
english subtitling; would like to see the proper official release sometime.
Daughters of Darkness (1971, dir. Harry Kümel). First watch. "review"
forthcoming.
Payback (1999, dir. Brian Helgeland). Theatrical version. Rewatch, though
it's been many (many!) years since I last saw it. A homage to '30s / '40s
hardboiled crime fiction and '70s crime film. Also, I think, reads as a
parody of the same. Sometimes the music choices, the staging, and the
dialog felt like a joke to me, like winking. The whole thing felt kind of
disjointed to me as a result. One moment Porter (Parker) is being
uncomfortably sociopathic, the next there's a goofy action gag or one-liner
that reminds me of Hudsown Hawk or Bugs Bunny. I should read the book at
some point ("The Hunter" by Richard Stark AKA Donald Westlake). Should
also watch the director's cut of Payback too, see how different it is.
Overlord (1975, dir. Stuart Cooper). Rewatch, second time seeing this.
Wrote a little about the movie in this toot here.
February
Johnny Mnemonic (1995, dir. Robert Longo). Rewatch; first time seeing the
black & white version. Watched with a group; missed the first 20 minutes.
I'm pretty sure I first saw this in the theater when it was released in
'95. I have mixed feelings on it. I think the main problem with it I have
now is that it's just overstuffed. There's too much going on, nothing has
space to breathe. A more straightforward adaptation of the short story
would have been better in my opinion. I'd like to read the script at some
point, see how close the film is to it. It's better in black & white, more
textured, even reminds me of Tetsuo the Iron Man in a couple of places
with the locations and background set dressing. Not a movie I'm interested
in revisitng often but I'm glad to have caught a group viewing of it today.
