7/10
Pretty mildly enjoyable. Fun to take a trip to such a weird time when a movie like it could be made. I've always liked the Beatles' dry humor and there's a good deal of it too, but a lot of silly stuff too. Anyway it's all good fun. Only complaint was that some of the songs were repeated.
8/10
Hard to believe this giallo from Mario Bava dates all the way back to 1964! The first so-called "bodycount" movie, it's not real gruesome, just features a lot of what would become giallo staples - namely masked men killing women. The colors are gorgeous, the opening title sequence is fantastic, the soundtrack is good...the plot starts out pretty knotty but kind of dumbs itself down by the end, which was a bummer, but you can't expect too much from a movie like this. But it was really enjoyable and visually a treat, so I liked it.
6/10
I keep struggling to like Antonioni movies against every fibre of my being. I enjoyed the photography and direction of Red Desert, as well as the always watchable Monica Vitti. Although like L'Eclisse and L'Avventura, I find the getting-there to be the most annoying part. I like Antonioni's ideas and settings and photography far more than I've ever liked any of his characters and the inanities that often come out of their mouths. I'm starting to think his films would be great were it not for the people in them.
8/10
Pretty cool Japanese horror/family drama from 1964. Centers around an old woman and her daughter-in-law. Waiting for their husbands to return from the war and living in poverty they resort to luring samurai to their deaths and selling their armor and weapons for cash or food. The brash friend of both husbands returns with news of their deaths, and starts up a romance with the daughter in law, much to the old woman's (extreme) consternation. I wasn't as in love with it as I hoped to be but I still enjoyed it a lot. The final scene with the woman and daughter was particularly incredible.
9/10
Wow, this one knocked my socks off. It's always fun to see a movie that feels like it comes from another planet. This 1964 film from Sergei Paradjanov about a Ukranian Hutsul named Ivan is an absolute revelation. The camera work, incredible colors and costume, and unbelievable soundtrack are what puts this film over the top. The plot is linear enough (Ivan falls in love with the daughter of his father's murderer, she dies, his subsequent life is detailed) but the movie as a whole is so much more and I could never do it justice with a description so just go see it if you can.
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.
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.
