Powaqqatsi (Godfrey Reggio, 1988)

6/10
Koyaanisqatsi was one of the first experimental films I ever saw. It was a blind buy at HMV actually, and I bought it more because it was scored by Philip Glass (I was also just getting into experimental music at the time and minimalism was very appealing) than any other reason. It's remained one of my favorites, and I still return to it every now and again.
Criterion recently released the Qatsi film trilogy which I bought despite not having seen the other two before. I watched Powaqqatsi last night and frankly it was kind of a let down. The score (again by Glass) is not nearly as powerful and the images too, focusing mainly on people in third world countries going about their business, are less captivating than they were in the first installment. Powaqqatsi as a whole just feels less "composed". Koyaanisqatsi really was more than the sum of its parts but Powaqqatsi feels like what it is - a series of sometimes-beautiful shots with music laid on top of them. Nothing more nothing less.
I started the final film, Naqoyqatsi, before falling asleep and from what I saw, I'm even less enthusiastic about that one.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (Robert Zemeckis & Richard Williams, 1988)

6/10
I'd actually never seen this before, at least not recently and in full. Its achievement in blending live-action and animation is still impressive and pretty seamlessly done, especially considering it was 1988. It's also far riskier than anything that would be allowed in a similar film made today, especially one that has Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse making appearances. But it's not a particularly good movie per se - Roger Rabbit is an overwhelmingly irritating main character to be saddled with for 90 minutes and Bob Hoskins, for most of the movie, displays the charisma of a brick. Considering those two dominate the screen time, I was left desperately searching for something likeable (Jessica Rabbit, anyone?) The plot is more muddled than it has to be, but the set pieces entertain well enough.

Ashik Kerib (Sergei Parajanov, 1988)

7/10
Paradjanov's final completed film, more conventional still but with enough gorgeous costumes to keep one interested. Dedicated to his good friend Andrei Tarkovsky, too.

The Vanishing (George Sluizer, 1988)

6/10
I guess I got my hopes up too high after hearing about how terrifying (in a psychological sense) this movie was and how the ending was this huge mind-blower that'll leave you a gibbering wreck for days...it reminded me a lot of Funny Games. Neither are bad movies, but I guess all the baggage they carry led me to expecting more. Maybe that's partly my own fault. Taken on its own merit, it's a good, tight thriller, but I was left going "huh...is that it?". I guess I'm just too desensitized.