Shirin (Abbas Kiarostami, 2008)

7.5/10
Abbas Kiarostami's film of voyeurism, role-reversal, redefining and questioning the definition of an "audience", what have you - for 90 minutes we watch a hundred or so Iranian woman watch a film, from a head-on point of view. Which is to say the movie is projected "behind" us, the viewers. We never see the movie and only hear the soundtrack, and the all-female audience's (there are some men in the audience but always seated behind the women and never focused on directly) reactions help us piece the narrative together, though voice-overs and dialogue make it easy enough to follow. The other caveat is that the audience we're watching isn't really watching a film - they're merely looking at a point of light occasionally obscured by cardboard cutouts to create the appropriate reflections and shadows, are told how to act by Kiarostami, and the entire "Shirin" soundtrack to the movie they're watching has been added after. I've read from people who got equally caught up in the narrative and the reactions and found themselves crying along with the audience, but I was too intrigued by the technical aspects of the movie to get very caught up in the (highly melodramatic) "non-film". An endlessly interesting movie, but not always while you're watching it.

Vampyr (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1932)

8.5/10
Carl Theodor Dreyer's 1932 vampire tale and his first talkie, although it's practically silent and that only adds to its incredible atmosphere. Beautiful, haunting, and genuinely creepy, it's so easy to get caught up in Dreyer's masterful direction and camera tricks that it's easy to forgive the rather mundane plot.

Invictus (Clint Eastwood, 2009)

5/10
Has to go down as one of the least subtle films of recent memory. Eastwood makes everything as plain as day as possible and leaves literally nothing for the viewer to think about for him/herself. The movie is well photographed (especially the rugby scenes) and the performances are fine across the board (although neither Freeman nor Damon are really exerting themselves here) but it lurches forward with such rigidity that it's hard to feel any emotion about it at all. Painfully average and all the more disappointing for it.

I Am Not Your Friend (Gyorgy Palfi, 2009)

3/10
"I am not your friend is a film of improvisations – not only from the part of the nine amateur actors, but from the D.O.P, the director and the scriptwriters as well. The story unfolded itself instantly by the reactions and ideas of actors during the 20 days of shooting and developed into what is presented to the audience."
Yeah, but that doesn't make it a good or even interesting movie. A concept that probably had a lot more potential on paper.

Paranormal Activity (Oren Peli, 2007)

4/10
Cobbling together a series of creepy albeit repetitive vignettes (film some weird happening at night, watch it the next day, talk about how scary it is, repeat) does not a good movie make. The two main characters embody so many horror character clichés (the impotent female and the skeptical male at their most basic) you find yourself cheering for the ghost or demon, or whatever it may be. I'll give the film credit for originality and not relying on gore or ever truly answering the question of what's haunting the two, but I was hoping for a lot better after all the hype.

Precious (Lee Daniels, 2009)

7/10
For the first half I wasn't feeling it but credit to the filmmakers because it's almost impossible to be not won over, if only in part, by the end of the movie. There's things I liked (namely the acting, especially by Mo'nique) and things I didn't like: the movie at times feels like a large-scale (no pun intended) after school special, and there are definitely some mawkish moments, not least the insipid dedication at the end. If the acting wasn't as good as it is, its flaws and inconsistencies would not be so easily overlooked, I think.

A Colt is My Passport (Takashi Nomura, 1967)

10/10
Last Nikkatsu movie, and hands down the best one. Combines all the over-the-top humor, romance, double-crossing, and violence from the previous four. The story isn't new territory but the story is told very well, the film is directed with flair, the soundtrack is exceptional, and Joe Shishido's moody main character seems to be both inspired by and sowing the seeds for the Spaghetti Western anti-heroes of the era. In fact it's hard to believe this movie was never remade as a Western because it's certainly ripe for it. If you want all the best of the Nikkatsu movies in one 84-minute chunk, start here.

A Serious Man (Ethan Coen & Joel Coen, 2009)

8/10
The first half is fantastic, funnier than any comedy I've seen all year, and does a great job evoking (well I assume, I was never there) a Midwestern Jewish community in the late 60's. The second half is a bit of a downshift and things get almost too stereotypically "Coens" for me (this coming from a huge Coens Bros fan) - the existential questions, the abrupt ending, the jarring character turns...they've been done before and with greater effect in Barton Fink, Fargo and NCFOM and it feels like the brothers are going through the motions to a degree here. That said, A Serious Man is still a very good, enjoyable, and incredibly well-acted film, but it's a notch below their "A" material.

Beefcake (Thom Fitzgerald, 1998)

3/10
Part-movie, part-documentary about the nude male modelling scene and Bob Mizer's Athletic Modelling Guild in the 50's...the content is interesting and there's definitely a good story to be told here but this movie fails spectacularly. The interviews with the models (including Jack LaLanne), now mostly in their 60's, are revealing and at turns heart-warming and heartbreaking...but they're too few in between as most of the movie is made up of dramatic recreations of events that occured with terrible actors and laughably cheap looking sets. The movie messily splices actual footage shot by Mizer in the 50's with black-and-white recreations (sometimes featuring actors bearing very little resemblance to their real-life counterparts) which occasionally turn to full-color for no apparent reason. The film also makes the grave mistake of talking down to the viewer and pleading for acceptance at the end instead of letting the audience come to its own conclusions. It seems way too geared to people who already had an interest in this sort of thing, and makes a pretty lousy attempt to engage outsiders (like myself).

Fatal Attraction (Adrian Lyne, 1987)

7/10 Good, taut, suspenseful thriller. The cast is all very good, and of course Glenn Close especially. My only gripe is the sheer number of dumb/illogical decisions made by Michael Douglas' character and his family during the course of his harassment.

Cruel Gun Story (Takumi Furukawa, 1964)

8.5/10
Penultimate entry in my Nikkatsu Noir set and the best one yet. The plot centres around four disparate criminals who have been brought together to hold up and rob an armored car and the plot follows all the ensuing shootouts, double/triple-crossings, escapes, and what not. Stars the chipmunk-faced Joe Shishido, the film is a taut 82 minutes and is always entertaining. Highly recommended. Next up to close out the Nikkatsu set is the brilliantly titled A Colt is My Passport.

Moon (Duncan Jones, 2009)

7.5/10
I don't really have much to say about this one, other than I liked it more and more as it went on and it's just a nice, simple little movie like a much more scaled down Solaris or 2001. Sam Rockwell does a great job essentially carrying the movie and really makes, er, the character of Sam come alive. The "twist" isn't really so much a twist as it is a mere plot point so I could understand why people may be left expecting more, and maybe I was too, but once I accepted what it was I was able to enjoy it much more.

The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (Werner Herzog, 2009)

6.5/10
Werner Herzog's strangest film...and coming from the guy that did Even Dwarves Started Small and Heart of Glass that's saying something. I'm not really sure what the point is here - there are some incredibly funny moments but they're too few and far in between. It's mostly a lampooning of the "bad cop" movie genre but it just doesn't seem like a lot of effort with it and Herzog flips between playing it straight and going overboard. There are some incredible scenes though but I'm not sure most people will get the overt references to his other movies (namely Stroszek and Aguirre). I can see anyone who doesn't know Werner Herzog or his sense of humor hating this; I'm a huge Herzog fan and I still don't really know what to think. Nicolas Cage was very good though, and really seemed to be having a lot of fun with the role. I'll have to think about this some more...

An Education (Lone Scherfig, 2009)

9/10
I'm a sap for a good coming-of-age tale an An Education, while imperfect, is up there with the best of them. Carey Mulligan is wonderful in the lead role of Jenny and the actor playing her father, Alfred Molina, is tremendous. Peter Sarsgaard is also great in the role of Jenny's much older love interest and never once crosses over into creepiness, although his character does leave you on edge and guessing at his motives for most of the film. The movie is very well-told and interesting throughout and has a couple of completely arresting and shattering scenes I won't mention because you should see them yourself.
As far as its imperfections, read kihei's review on page 1 for a good summary of where the film falters (a friend and I raised the question "what would the lesson have been if things hadn't worked out the way they did for Jenny?" and were similarly left without an answer), and I also found the end of the film terribly rushed. It literally felt while watching it that I was seeing a hack editing job to get the movie down to an "acceptable" length and that there's a director's cut or extended edition just waiting for a DVD release. But that said, if this isn't nominated for Best Picture (and Carey Mulligan should get a nod for Best Actress too) I'll eat my hat.

Minnesota Clay (Sergio Corbucci, 1964)

6.5/10
Sergio Corbucci's first Spaghetti Western still has one foot planted firmly in the "older" Western traditions (and bears almost none of Corbucci's signature violence and grit) but despite a brutal start, the movie picks up steam as it goes, and it culminates in a pretty good shootout between the titular hero and his nemesis Fox (who looks like an 'if they mated' between Lee Van Cleef and Revolver Ocelot). Alex Cox gave this a pretty merciless review in his book 10,000 Ways to Die and it deserves it sometimes but overall the movie turned out better than I expected.

M (Fritz Lang, 1931)

7/10
Fritz Lang's noir from 1931 ('33? I don't remember). It's safe to say the story hasn't aged terribly well (the notion of a child murderer luring school children into dark alleys with candy and balloons was surely terrifying to see on the big screen back in the 30's but now...well we're jaded), but Peter Lorre's acting and Lang's direction are still impeccable. The shrieking speech Lorre's character gives at the end of the movie is harrowing and disturbing. J. Hoberman's reviews says it conjures up feelings of both horror and pity, which is entirely true and somewhat horrific in itself.

Vanilla Sky (Cameron Crowe, 2001)

2/10
I'll give it two points for Penelope Cruz who alone manages to not make the entire film a waste of 2 hours. This is the kind of movie where the longer it goes and as more is revealed, the less interested and more frustrated you become with where things are going. For director Cameron Crowe, this is the kind of career misfire on par with Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain - the difference is Aronofsky seems to have recovered with The Wrestler while Crowe (according to dismal reviews for Elizabethtown) has not and even though this is a remake, he deserves his share of blame. Every single "twist" is telegraphed well before it happens, and the amount of pop culture references combined with the over-bearing, all-too-hip soundtrack is sickening. The scene with Tom Cruise shouting "TECH SUPPOOOOORRRT!!!" while "Good Vibrations" blares in the background was probably seen by somebody involved as some sort of ironic zenith of surrealism - it is embarassing and hilarious in equal turns. And lines like "but I'm blowing your mind, aren't I" and "your panel of observers is waiting for you to choose" smack of pure pretention. What a waste.

A Barrel Full of Dollars (Demofilo Fidani, 1971)

4/10
Title aside, this Spaghetti Western borrows liberally from Leone (a chiming pocketwatch, a green poncho) but does feature a couple of neat if ultimately useless subversions (the good guy, the Nevada Kid, wears all black; the bad guy wears the Eastwood-esque poncho). Jeff Cameron is bland and uninteresting as the Nevada Kid and Klaus Kinski is great but criminally underused as the bad guy Hagen (most of the film is spent chasing Hagen's number two, Tamayo). There are a couple of good shoot-outs but the problem is that it's all too easy for the heroes. In the final battle, after all of Hagen's henchmen have been mowed down, Hagen fires a multitude of shots at the Nevada Kid, which all miss. Hagen steps out from his cover for a second and he's instantly shot dead. We all know the good guys are going to win but come on, at least make it interesting.

Take Aim at the Police Van (Seijun Suzuki, 1960)

8/10
The third movie of my Nikkatsu Noir set from Criterion, and this is more what I had in mind when I bought the set - guns, sex, action, intrigue, double-crosses, the whole nine yards (I Am Waiting and Rusty Knife were both considerably tamer and focused more on the whodunnit/investigative aspect). There's a lot of fun to be had here even though the plot is unnecessarily convoluted...and ever since I read about Nikkatsu films subverting the family values of Ozu films prior, well it hasn't been real hard to figure out who in fact did it in the last two movies. That hasn't decreased the enjoyment of watching em however.

Rising Tones Cross (Ebba Jahn, 1985)

6/10
An enjoyable enough documentary/concert film from 1985 focusing on mostly the New York avant-garde jazz scene. Charles Gayle and Peter Kowald are the central figures but Kowald's interviews are too brief and Gayle is never reeled in - he's sometimes interesting, mostly rambling. I also felt a bit cheated that the movie was more focused on talking and long handheld cam shots of urban New York (which are admittedly well-done and visually appealing) than on performance footage but there's some worthwhile stuff from Peter Brotzmann, John Zorn, Wayne Horvitz, Don Cherry, Charles Tyler and others. If some of those names are of interest to you you'd probably enjoy the movie but I wouldn't fret if you can't track it down either.

I Love You, Man (John Hamburg, 2009)

7/10
Some pretty funny moments and Jason Segel and Paul Rudd have good chemistry but the story was really weak and never once felt believable. I thought it'd be a bit funnier overall but Segel's Andre the Giant impression almost made me piss my pants.

Rusty Knife (Toshio Masuda, 1958)

5.5/10
2nd of the 5 movies in my Nikkatsu Noir set, this one starts pretty slow but eventually picks up steam culminating in a great truck vs. truck chase scene. Overall it's not terribly interesting but there is a pretty neat twist towards the end.

Vanishing Point (Richard C. Sarafian, 1971)

8.5/10
This movie was everything I hoped it would be and more. I'm a sucker for a good road movie, especially ones with vague existential flirtations (Two-Lane Blacktop, Easy Rider) and this one had that plus lots of action, a great soundtrack, and a totally nihilist ending. Really underrated movie and I think Tarantino did a great job evoking its spirit with Death Proof (also terribly underrated..but like I said, I'm a sucker)

Antichrist (Lars von Trier, 2009)

7/10
Kind of ironic that on a day like Thanksgiving (in Canadaland) when every other channel has some kind of family movie on, the FNC decided to show Lars Von Trier's Antichrist at 1 in the afternoon. I dig it.
The movie ended about 8 hours ago and it hasn't been far from my thoughts since. I still don't know what to make of it, and my rating has changed wildly until I settled on a tentative 7 that could still go up or down depending on my mood. There are a lot of things to like and a lot of things to hate, and that's not even counting the graphic scenes of genital mutilation. On a whole, the movie seems to be spread thin, with LVT make half-hearted arguments and statements that you're not sure he ever believes and which dissipate as quickly as they're introduced. There is a heavy air of misogyny throughout and Von Trier seems content to approve and condemn it almost from scene to scene. But the acting is spectacular and the story is so gripping it almost seems not to matter...or it makes the discrepancies easier to overlook.
I still don't know what to think, honestly. It's definitely one of the most affecting movies I've ever seen...I felt like I was in a daze for hours after it was over. The opening sequence is one of the most tragic, compelling, arresting, best-shot pieces of cinema I've ever seen in my life and I'd contend it's worth the price of admission alone.

Vampyros Lesbos (Jesus Franco, 1971)

3/10
Probably one of the more infamous entries in trash director Jess Franco's vast repertoire. But aside from the famously awesome soundtrack, and the mere notion of lesbian vampires, there isn't a lot to enjoy here. It's surprisingly tame on all levels, be it as a schlocky occult thriller or an erotic soft porn flick. Little more than a curio of 70's psudo-occultist/psychedelia filmmaking, really.

Gesualdo: Death for Five Voices (Werner Herzog, 1995)

5/10
Made-for-TV pseudo-documentary by Werner Herzog about the Italian composer Gesualdo, famed not only for composing music far ahead of his time but for his life as a prince, a masochist, a murderer (his wife and her lover), an eccentric, and a loner...so right up Herzog's alley then. A lot of the stuff in here is scripted or simply made up by Herzog which is not uncommon in his "documentaries" but I don't think it really works as a means to explore the "ecstatic truths" of Gesualdo as it does in his other documentaries (I'm thinking mainly of Fata Morgana and Little Dieter Needs to Fly). The stuff that's made up doesn't illuminate Gesualdo's life any more for us, it's just distracting as we try to decipher what's real and what's fabricated. At an hour-long, the movie feels too compact to really explore anything in detail, and interviews with scholars and historians slam uncomfortably against rehearsal performances by the Gesualdo company. Gesualdo is an interesting character and I'm glad I got to know a bit more about him but as far as Herzog's documentaries usually go, this one is disappointingly tame.

Inside (Alexandre Bustillo & Julien Maury, 2007)

3/10
I can't think of a reason for Inside to exist other than to break - obliterate, really - a bunch of taboos relating to pregnancy and abortion (spoiling as little as possible). As an actual film, it's laughably flimsy. The "twist" of who the mysterious stranger is should be figured out half an hour into the movie and although it starts out with a promisingly creepy atmosphere, it rapidly devolves into a lunkheaded gross-out fest riddled with plotholes and ludicrous occurences. Aside from some neat special effects, there's nothing worth seeing here.

Bad Lieutenant (Abel Ferrara, 1992)

7/10
Took me a while to get around to this one...pretty good movie, and Harvey Keitel is indeed a powerhouse (well if he wasn't, there wouldn't be much of a movie to speak of) and I enjoyed the parallells between the Mets/Dodgers series and Keitel's character's plight, I thought that was clever. Aside from that there isn't a whole lot here to blow you away and things unfold as you expect them to.

I Am Waiting (Koreyoshi Kurahara, 1957)

6.5/10
First film in the recently-purchased Nikkatsu Noir boxset from Criterion's Eclipse series, this one from 1957 being one of the first hits for the studio. It centres around an ex-boxer searching for his brother and his relationship with a mysterious singer with a Yakuza-related past, and the inevitable ties between the two. The movie jumps through a lot of hoops to set up the predicted final showdown between the main character and the Yakuza boss and the payoff suffers because of it. Unfortunately, the movie reveals its simplicity the more the plot unwinds, but it's well directed, competently acted, and an interesting watch.

Public Enemies (Michael Mann, 2009)

8.5/10
Depp was great as always, Bale was pretty good too with considerably less to do, the shootouts were extraordinary, to say nothing of the explosive, sharp cinematography (ironic that of the two movies I saw, one taking place in the 60's and the other in the 30's, the latter's colour and photography would be the more impressive). The movie plays to Mann's strengths as a writer when focused on the action, and to his weaknesses whenever it centres on Dillinger's romance with Billie. Aside from Mann telling us that these two people must be in love with the use of an almost comically overblown string swell in the soundtrack, the movie doesn't do much to convey to us why the two were ever together. Kind of a small nitpick though; once you get past that there's plenty to enjoy.

Taking Woodstock (Ang Lee, 2009)

5/10
It was...ehhh..just kind of there. The story was good sometimes, less interesting at other turns. I don't know, it must be some kind of feat to base an entire movie around something as daunting and monumental as organizing freaking Woodstock and still have it come off as milquetoast and generally forgettable. Demitri Martin is wholly uninteresting as any kind of main character, and the soundtrack was like bland white noise - this, in a movie about Woodstock. I'm not sure exactly what Ang Lee was really going for here but I can't help but thinking he missed it.

Signs of Life (Werner Herzog, 1968)

6/10
Werner Herzog's first feature film...not very Herzogian stylistically but definitely as much in terms of content and plot devices (namely, the man on the brink of insanity). Peter Brogle does well as Stroszek (not to be confused with Herzog's other Stroszek) but watching the film with the benefit of hindsight, you can't help but feeling he's merely a placeholder for the kind of role Klaus Kinski would soon become synonymous with.

In Bruges (Martin McDonagh, 2008)

8/10
Slow beginning but eventually it picks up steam and actually makes you care about the two main characters, and throws in some good laughs along the way. The script is simple and effective and even though the ending is, again, a bit predictable, it's well-executed (and there's a couple of great lines that follow it). I'd recommend it.

The Petrified Forest (Archie Mayo, 1936)

7/10
Bogart's breakthrough role, and he's very impressive here...the movie is a strange one, virtually devoid of action, revolving around a lonely diner in the desert, and the movie is about 97% dialogue. I could see Jim Jarmusch remaking this in the future.

Ride the High Country (Sam Peckinpah, 1962)

6.5/10
Enjoyable enough early Peckinpah Western, though pretty tame compared to what a Peckinpah Western typically entails. The betrayal was telegraphed a mile away (intentionally I'd have to assume, but why?) and the parallels between the old cowboys/Old West are beaten into the viewer's skull enough.

District 9 (Neill Blomkamp, Peter Robert Gerber & Simon Hansen, 2009)

9/10
Really, really great...subverted my expectations at just about every turn. The lead actor was great in a complex role, the movie made you feel empathy for the alien characters without relying on worn-out tropes (especially in the case of the infant alien), the half-documentary/half-action aspect is handled very smoothly and never feels like a gimmick (same for the occasional snippets from news outlets, security cameras, etc), and the movie's messages about intolerance, apartheid, etc are made intelligently and without bludgeoning the viewer over the head. And it was probably one of the most aggressively pessimistic portrayals of humanity that I've seen from a "blockbuster" type picture in forever. Neill Blomkamp is definitely going to be a name to watch (and hopefully he'll handle the alluded-to sequel, which seems inevitable at this point...could be disastrous in the hands of anyone else).

The Big Gundown (Sergio Sollima, 1966)

7/10
Very good Spaghetti Western starring Lee Van Cleef and Tomas Milian, often hyped as one of the best SW's outside Leone's Man With No Name Triology. I don't know if I believe that so much but it is very entertaining and very well directed, but a little lacking in "oomph" at the end. I just felt a bit underwhelmed when it was said and done.
Strangely this is still unavailable as a Region 1 DVD, despite the high profile names involved (Cleef, Milian, Sollima, Morricone). I watched it on the Region 2 Koch (Germany) DVD and the picture quality was, for the most part, crystal clear. There were only two audio tracks though, German and Italian, with English subtitles, so I watched it in Italian despite the fact that most of the actors are clearly speaking English which might have taken away from the experience somewhat.
Unfortunately it seems like some of the scenes were never dubbed into English which may explain why it's taken so long for someone to do a R1 release. That or maybe because the viliain is accused of raping and murdering a 13 year old girl.

Boogie Nights (Paul Thomas Anderson, 1997)

7/10
Happened to catch this one on TV and I'd always wanted to see it. Pretty unbelievable cast, all things considered. The plot is interesting and based on a compilation of real-life porn figures, but the scenario is pretty predictable (everybody's riding high in the 70's, big crash upon entering the 80's) and the ending was a bit too "shiny happy people" for me, all things considered. It was enjoyable though and there were a couple of poignant moments.

Planet Terror (Robert Rodriguez, 2007)

7/10
A pretty good movie in its own right but unlike Death Proof, I didn't think it was very much the "grindhouse" movies of old. It started out that way but then with the whole biochemical stuff and the massive explosions it started feeling a bit too over-the-top and CGI'd out, which I felt took away from the experience a bit. In any event, it had some really funny scenes and some cool action, so I can't dislike it too much.

Death Proof (Quentin Tarantino, 2007)

8/10
I liked it a lot and thought Tarantino held true to the kinds of movies he and Rodriguez were paying homage too. It was a bit too talky at times, but was never too uninteresting for too long. The final car chase was pretty amazing, as was the crash that ends the first half. I also wish there was more Kurt Russell but I guess the less you know about him, the scarier the character.

Kill Bill Vol. 2 (Quentin Tarantino, 2004)

8/10
Most of the excitement and eye-popping visuals take place in the first one rather than spread out evenly between the two volumes so Vol. 2 moves a bit slower (despite being longer) than its predecessor. Nevertheless the movie is still very enjoyable, and David Carradine steals every scene he's in (Michael Madsen is also excellent). The ending is surprisingly touching although like in the first one, the movie's final showdown is an abrupt one. I also thought some of the stuff at the end was kind of cheesy but I'd spoil the ending if I went into greater detail so I'll leave it at that. Very satisfying end to a story that's far more inventive than it first appears.

Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009)

4/10
I'm really surprised so many people liked it. I saw it last night and thought it was incredibly boring, almost astonishingly self-indulgent, overlong, and just an all-around waste of time. The dialogue (Tarantino's forte) is generally uninteresting and too many scenes drag on for no real reason other than, from what I can tell, pure self-indulgence. The only interesting character (and the only one Tarantino bothered to develop) was Christoph Waltz's...and while he was good, I was underwhelmed considering he took Best Actor at Cannes and has been getting Best Supporting Actor Oscar buzz.
Brad Pitt was good when he was given something to do (the whole Italian-speaking scene was great) but he was criminally underused in the movie. We only really got to know a handful of the other Basterds and even then it was only in passing. You could have chopped at least an hour out of the movie and you wouldn't have lost any of the emotional impact (of which there was none, but nevertheless). Really disappointing.

Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960)

8/10
Yep, took me this long to get around to this classic...great, fun movie but I can't help but think that anyone watching a Godard movie in 2009 will, for the most part, miss out on what made them so special back in 1960. Godard seems very much "of his time" and while it's possible to still appreciate and enjoy them now, you can't help but feeling you're missing out on something.
As an aside, this was a copy of one I rented a long time ago and it wasn't the Criterion version. Annoyed at myself for getting an inferior version, I did some reading and found that the Criterion release of Breathless is actually illegal in Quebec because it's a French movie being sold under an English title. Come ot think of it, that may explain why it's so hard to find Godard's movies for sale here...

Night and Fog (Alain Resnais, 1955)

8/10
I haven't watched many Holocaust documentaries (and this one isn't really a documentary) but the images in this one have to be as harrowing as any other out there. It was shot in 1956 so it's one of the first post-WWII movies to touch on the subject and the current footage of the now-inert concentration camps still sitting there overgrown with green grass is just...disorienting. Too bad the movie is so short (30 mins) because I would have liked to have seen more.

Step Brothers (Adam McKay, 2008)

2/10
I thought comedies were supposed to make the viewer laugh. Was I missing something? The script was lousy and both Ferrell and Reilly seemed to be sleepwalking (not a reference to their painfully unfunny sleepwalking habits in the movie). The jokes all sound like they're crafted to become campus quotables ala Anchorman but Anchorman was naturally funny, this one was just stupid.

Stroszek (Werner Herzog, 1977)

7/10
Pretty good, surprisingly conventional fare from Werner Herzog. I chose to think of the movie as more a story about a man who has trouble fitting in anywhere outside of institutions rather than a metaphor for the cruel reality of the "American dream" but I guess either works. The famous chicken scene at the end was hyped so much it didn't really register with me, but I'm sure it would've back in '76.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno (Kevin Smith, 2008)

6/10
Enjoyable enough, not nearly as good as Chasing Amy, the other Kevin Smith movie with which it shares many similarities. I thought the relationship between Zack and Miri felt too forced to really have any sort of emotional impact and there wasn't a whole lot to laugh at on the comedy side. Unlike Chasing Amy, the plot/romance was way too predictable.

Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950)

9/10
Amazing and ahead of its time...watching it now it's still hard to believe it got away with some of the stuff it did. Gloria Swanson is incredible.

The Public Enemy (William A. Wellman, 1931)

7/10
Pretty good. Goes into a bit more character depth than the last 30's gangster movie I saw (Little Caesar) but retains the basic 'childhood friends (brothers in this instance) take divergent career paths' premise with more than a bit of preaching. James Cagney is very good in his first starring role, and the ending is pretty unforgettable.

The Eclipse (Conor McPherson, 2009)

7/10
Irish horror/love story release sometime last year...I really hated this movie at the outset, it seemed to take itself so bloody seriously and the music was incredibly overwraught. I warmed up to the movie which does have nice touches of humor and horror but not the music, which was over the top throughout. Anybody looking for a horror movie per se will be disappointed and bored as there's only a handful of jump scares throughout the movie (and they do kind of seem thrown-in, as if the horror aspect was an afterthought) but the photography in the movie is constantly arresting and the acting thoroughly believable. An interesting if flawed film.