Letterboxd 4v3r4n MarculescuToo

I Like Movies 2w5s1d 2022 - ★★★½

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 16:02:08 +1200

6u532b

I cannot relate to this in any way

]]>

Crime Wave 6k6f10 1953 - ★★★½

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 00:25:39 +1200

1st viewing; it’s good, and looks different. Charles Buchinsky is really young. Sterling Hayden’s volume goes to 11. At the end, he does this bit of business with a crumpled cigarette that’s hard to describe or replicate. There are cheesy process shots, but also unusual outdoor and indoor location shoots that remind me of the heist sequence in the contemporaneous Gun Crazy. I’ll rewatch this if it’s on.

]]>

Red Rooms l155p 2023 - ★★★½

Sun, 8 Jun 2025 19:09:34 +1200

Disturbing, maybe horror adjacent, than straight out horror. Well-made but the streaming on AMC+ has a ton of artifacting and noise. Well-acted, but remote (but that may be the point). I know it’s good, but struggling to explain why.
Feel entirely unclear as to the motivations of the lead character (also may be the point). Would like to watch physical media or a superior streaming transfer so I can really see what they were going for.

Watched for the 2025 Podcast Macabre Horror Challenge
16. Letterboxd Top 250 unseen (List HERE)

]]>

Charley Varrick 5f1i4p 1973 - ★★★★

Sat, 7 Jun 2025 15:43:46 +1200

Never realized all the similarities this has to No Country For Old Men; there’s the Southwest setting, mob money, a frightening assassin hunting down the protagonist, corporate offices, mobile homes and their parks. I’m slow sometimes.
The early 70s were a little twisted sexually; foreplay was smacking across the face, and Matthau could go in for thirds or fourths. Never been much for Eastwood vigilante stuff, but I think I should watch some more Siegel.

Watched the Powerhouse UK Blu-ray

]]>

Fury 7181y 1936 - ★★★★

Mon, 2 Jun 2025 12:26:33 +1200

It’s imperfect, and a product of Hollywood, a highly imperfect messenger for the lessons Fritz Lang, and the disempowered of Europe were learning at the hands of mobs in 1936. It takes too long to cook, almost 25 minutes of setup. There’s fire here, but you do have to sit through some crap to get there. Once Tracy is arrested it starts to sizzle. Even then, parts of the third act are slow and talky, but the scenes of the gossips, the townspeople, and the lynch mob are electric. Nobody shows the injustice of groupthink like Lang. Tracy was never better than when he wants revenge on the mob. The end is a cop out, because there is no justice for anyone, but implies love may be our only salvation. But I think the main character will always smell his flesh burning. This movie is touching on things the world was NOT ready to look at in 1936 or in 2025. The complexity of truth, how seductive lies are, and how much we are encouraged to prefer those lies to the truth, as long as those with real power get to keep it or increase it.

]]>

Kill 245ik Baby... Kill!, 1966 - ★★★½

Sun, 1 Jun 2025 18:46:44 +1200

This is about 88% vibes, organ, and early Italian electronic music. How much can we achieve with colored lights, a smoke machine, and fake cobwebs? Quite a bit

Watched for The 2025 Podcast Macabre Horror Challenge

]]>

Final Destination 3s1k1r 2000 - ★★★

Sun, 1 Jun 2025 16:56:21 +1200

Divertingly stupid and great malevolent puddle performances

Also watched as part of The Podcast Macabre 2025 Horror Challenge
42. 2000s not seen

]]>

Friendship 6xc3c 2024 - ★★★½

Sun, 1 Jun 2025 12:52:17 +1200

Funny AND Fucked up. Sad too.

Watched at the Tower Theater in Sacramento, local temp 100 F

]]>

The Big Combo 4w5p3l 1955 - ★★★½

Sat, 31 May 2025 19:04:01 +1200

It’s not Gun Crazy, but it’s good.

]]>

Mission 71384a Impossible – The Final Reckoning, 2025 - ★★★

Mon, 26 May 2025 17:57:15 +1200

Felt like the first 90 minutes were people talking in rooms and really not good. Just very very well executed preposterousness. 2025 fleshy helmeted Tom Cruise looks like Bruno Kirby…I can’t unsee it. If they had one (1) Reckoning film with the Fiat in Rome, the train, the submarine (with some script doctoring to increase plausibility), and the biplanes, it would have been the best of the franchise. But with all the quasi-mystical Tom Cruise is Jesus and the entity is Satan garbage, and character death/peril schmaltz, what a slog for 60% of the running time. When Tom says “Lord of Lies”’with a straight face, that guy is getting high on his own supply. Somebody lost the ability to differentiate their shit from gold. If this takes in enough money, there will be another one of these with him telling the team what to do from his nursing home. Very high quality running as usual.

The 16 year old review: the biplane sequence 10/10; the rest…meh.

(Ranking: 6, 5, 7, 1, 3, 4, 8, then I assume 2 [haven’t seen it])

]]>

The Fall Guy 2d4q4i 2024 - ★★★

Mon, 26 May 2025 01:38:29 +1200

Someone’s very well-crafted jam but not mine

]]>

Night Moves 1cg6l 1975 - ★★★★

Thu, 22 May 2025 16:38:39 +1200

Watched on Wednesday May 21, 2025.

]]>

Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person 4j3r47 2023 - ★★★½

Sat, 17 May 2025 18:19:34 +1200

In NO way to minimize the accomplishments of the director but: the couple are so cute!

Also watched as part of The Podcast Macabre 2025 Horror Challenge
43. Written/directed by a woman

]]>

Forty Guns 2k5i64 1957 - ★★★ (contains spoilers)

Sun, 11 May 2025 03:38:47 +1200

This review may contain spoilers.

Ok, did I miss something here? For me the big draw is the CinemaScope compositions as framed pictures by Joseph Biroc. Not that they are so scintillating, but interesting to look at. Barry Sullivan’s in some great shit, but so wooden here. Typical high-key Stanwyck, but for me not among her best. The diagetic songs are fucking annoying. The original ending (Sullivan kills Stanwyck so he can kill Jagger) could have salvaged a lot, while the studio-imposed ending (Stanwyck wounded so Jagger can die) is just not as badass. Hey Sam, I thought the mythos around this movie was that you were independent in the 50s but you still took the note? So why be independent? (Ok, probably don’t have full context) Kind of want a full movie about the girl gunsmith and the brother, the performances and scenes are just livelier. To me, a LONG 80 minutes….the 3 stars is for Biroc and CinemaScope but the rest is 2.5. If I got this wrong, can someone explain this to me?

]]>

28 Days Later 4b464u 2002 - ★★★★

Thu, 8 May 2025 16:31:28 +1200

Gearing up; the almost 16year old said it was the most suspenseful films he had seen. Recency bias but it’s pretty good…

Watched the very out-of-print Blu-ray

]]>

Copycat 4k1d11 1995 - ★★★ (contains spoilers)

Sun, 4 May 2025 20:06:49 +1200

This review may contain spoilers.

This should have been my jam: take a little Vertigo and Rear Window, a gender swap, San Francisco setting, 90’s thriller…throw it in a blender and:
An overlong, takes-itself-too-seriously, kind of dull meh-fest where Sigourney overacts repetitively and Hunter does what she can with an underwritten part. Pretty sure Weaver thought it was gonna be an Oscar part. It wasn’t. I can just imagine the pitch meeting: “…and the set piece will be in the women’s restroom…where the agoraphobic serial killer profiler gets hung over a water pipe on the bathroom stall…twice, but doesn’t die….” Not all bad. Just meh.

Watched for The 2025 Podcast Macabre Horror Challenge

]]>

Film Geek 592g3c 2023 - ★★★

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 23:38:16 +1200

If you watch that many movies, AND make movies, you are going to put your own mythology up there too. This is well done, and will hit best with viewers who came of age watching movies in the 80s.

Watched on TCM

]]>

Sinners 585y6o 2025 - ★★★½

Mon, 28 Apr 2025 12:25:37 +1200

Well, it got some great moments. Without a doubt the best horror musical I’ve seen this year.

Sacramentans, don’t see this thing at Country Club Cinemas; the projection is shit, they need to replace their bulbs or something, all the detail in these fantastic black actors faces is lost and you are really missing out. Spring for the IMAX.

I enjoyed it. Some parts more than others. I thought the music performance where the blues musician rips open the spacetime continuum and is performing with griots, of Funkadelic, rappers, shamans, etc. was rad. I thought the sequence where one of the Michael B. Jordans machine guns down the local KKK chapter did nothing for the film. AND the whole thing would have had way more punch if it was 25 minutes shorter.

If you like horror, there may not be enough horror for you. I liked it and really wished my theatrical experience was better for my viewing, because I don’t like it enough to go back and watch it again with better projection. I think the LB community may have oversold it to me a bit, but it’s good. I’ll stream it when available

Also watched as part of The Podcast Macabre 2025 Horror Challenge

]]>

Michael Clayton 2k5r6g 2007 - ★★★★

Sat, 26 Apr 2025 18:24:59 +1200

Insanely stacked cast and crew. Clooney’s best serious role, and an end credits for the ages. I could watch the last 15 minutes on loop for at least an hour. 2007 was a pretty bitchin year…

]]>

This Land Is Mine 2p2a4d 1943 - ★★★½

Tue, 22 Apr 2025 14:21:37 +1200

This movie is not subtle. It’s preachy and talky. And yet…it has something.

“I see now that sabotage is the only weapon left to a defeated people. And so long as we have saboteurs, the other free nations who are still fighting on the battlefronts will know that we are not defeated.
Oh, I know that for every German killed many of our innocent citizens are executed, but the example of their heroism is contagious and our resistance grows. Oh, it's very easy to talk about heroism in the free countries. But it's hard to talk about it here where our people are starving. The hard truth is, the hungrier we get the more we need our heroes. We must stop saying that sabotage is wrong, that it doesn't pay. It does pay. It makes us suffer, starve, and die. But though it increases our misery, it will shorten our slavery. That's our hard choice, I know. But even now they are bringing more troops into town because of the trouble that has started. And the more German soldiers there are here, the less they have on the fighting fronts. Even an occupied town like this can be a fighting front, too. And the fighting is harder. We not only have to fight hunger and a tyrant -- first, we have to fight ourselves.The occupation -- any occupation, in any land -- is only possible because we are corrupt. And I accuse myself first. For my own comfort and security I made no protest against the mutilation of truth in our school books. My mother got me extra food and milk, and I accepted it without facing the fact that I was depriving children and people poorer than we were of their portion. Now, you're the butcher, Mr. Noble. Naturally, you wanted to survive and the black market was your answer. You keep your business going by selling meat out the back door at ten times its price -- some to my mother, who is equally guilty as I was in eating it. Now you, Mr. Millett, are doing very well in your hotel even though it's filled with Germans. You've never sold so much champagne -- and at such a good price. Of course, they print the money for nothing. But with this money, you are buying property.Just as the mayor is. I could say the same about many of you. If the occupation lasts long enough, the men who are taking advantage of it will own the town. I don't blame you for making money, but you should blame yourselves for making the occupation possible. Because you cannot do these things without playing into the hands of the real rulers of the town -- the Germans!”

Just sub out the word “oligarchs” for “Germans,” and the relevance becomes more obvious.

]]>

Sixteen Candles 493744 1984 - ★★★

Fri, 18 Apr 2025 17:15:25 +1200

Holy shit this movie has not aged well. The actual performances are fine, but goddamn the racial and sexual politics do not the smell test. Great to see the Cusacks, Paul Dooley, Ringwald totally committing to the bit, but the actual person who added the music cues for the Gedde Watanabe part needs to have their fingers chopped off. The affection this movie has for people who came of age makes no sense until you you realize how much racism and sexual coercion were just the water we were all
swimming in.

]]>

Night of the Living Dead 3idg 1990 - ★★★½

Sat, 5 Apr 2025 19:51:58 +1300

This should not work at all, and it actually does.

The biggest plus is probably Patricia Tallman in the Barbara part. In the original, she’s shocked into catatonia early in the film, and pretty much a zombie unto herself. This time around, she picks up a gun, wears pants, and is pretty much the strongest person in the movie.

There are enough role reversals to keep it interesting. The zombie-killing sheriff posse descends into a much more caricatured mob than the original. I like the stronger message, I wish some of them were wearing red baseball hats.

Tony Todd really dials it up to 11.

Surprisingly enjoyable and of good quality for what ought to be a total piece of crap.

]]>

Adolescence 3i185p 2025 - ★★★★

Mon, 24 Mar 2025 17:27:47 +1300

The Kids are NOT alright (and neither is anybody else): I strongly recommend Kleenex and Lorazepam if you do this. It's top quality, but I'm not sure you will thank me if you watch it. I'm truly wrecked; not a recommendation; more of a trigger warning/proceed at your own risk PSA. It's top quality; probably one of the best things I've ever seen done on tv; but now i need therapy

]]>

I Never Sang for My Father 3q4n5 1970 - ★★★½

Sun, 23 Mar 2025 19:42:18 +1300

People love this film, and so did Hackman. It’s stagy, reflecting the Robert Anderson play it adapts. Dated in many ways, it will still have power for men with ambivalence towards their sons or parents. Hackman is good, and at moments electric. Some of it is a bit on the nose, but worth your time.

]]>

The Evil Clergyman 4dk3f 1988 - ★★★

Sun, 16 Mar 2025 16:12:32 +1300

Combs, Crampton, and Gale prove lightning cannot strike twice the same thing twice. Everyone is game, but this is a little thin. Hard meh.

]]>

Black Bag 4n555y 2025 - ★★★★

Sun, 16 Mar 2025 15:31:40 +1300

Smart, cerebral, thinking-person’s spy thriller; well-acted, expertly-made. A movie of this caliber was released several times a month in the seventies; now a rare sighting. Steven Soderbergh is already conceiving and working on his fourth movie to come out after this one. He’s a badass.

Century Arden 14 in Sacramento

]]>

Mickey 17 2q27c 2025 - ★★★★ (contains spoilers)

Mon, 10 Mar 2025 15:57:36 +1300

This review may contain spoilers.

This is not a coherent and unified thought-out review of this movie.

But I have thoughts:

1) whether or not filmmaker Bong meant it to be so, Marshall is Trump, right down to the assassination attempt flesh wound, the constant pursuit of self-aggrandizement, messianic glory, and deep insecurity; I’m paraphrasing but at one point he even says we need a pure white planet.
2) shout out to Colette and Ruffalo for committing to the bit, and pursuing late career not-giving-two-fucks let-do-something-truly-weird acting choices over the last few years. I think Ruffalo may have had a jowl and fake teeth wrangler on set; whatever is going on with the lower half of his face is super unsettling.
3) the fact that the alien “vermin” species will all attack the humans if even one child is in distress, while all of human society is only interested in who is expendable, and how can I secure my own power, dominance, or drugs has absolutely no resemblance to any human dynamic taking place in the real world at this time. Really struggling to think of precedents for satire of this nature, maybe Brazil?
4) I’m so glad I got to see this in IMAX; no idea how it’s doing financially, but if the seat occupancy on a Sunday afternoon is any indication, it may not be there long.
Fucking great stuff.
Empire IMAX in downtown Sacramento.

]]>

Crimson Tide 2m4t36 1995 - ★★★★

Sun, 9 Mar 2025 18:46:55 +1300

Here’s the problems with this movie:
Not enough dudes.
Not sweaty enough.
Not enough stakes.
Not enough craft on display.
The two leads are not compelling enough.
Tony Scott apparently had no idea how to create an entertaining movie.
The over-the-top horseshit nonsense about military honor and personal fortitude in the face of armageddon is in no way convincing if you have Washington and Hackman sell it.
I had never even seen it, and one might legitimately ask what am I even doing with my life?

Part of my own personal HackFest where in honor of the great man’s ing I try to fill in some gaps of his career I missed. “He tried,” and deserved a better death. I salute you, sir.

]]>

The Package 1f5t1n 1989 - ★★★

Fri, 7 Mar 2025 17:59:03 +1300

Patently ridiculous movie held together with scotch tape and cliché. But Hackman, and to a lesser extent Jones lend enough gravitas to make it watchable. These two could read Adam-12 dialogue and make it compelling. There’s 80s big hair, and Dennis Franz making it feel like the NYPD Blue episode where they foil a plot to assassinate the Soviet premier. It’s not real good, Hackman and Jones could do it in their sleep, and there are better movies. But this is why Hackman was so good: he could make a bucket full of plot holes hold water.

Watched in clearly the wrong aspect ratio on Tubi.

Part of my own personal HackFest where in honor of the great man’s ing I try to fill in some gaps of his career I missed. “He tried,” and deserved a better death. I salute you, sir.

]]>

The Brutalist 5413v 2024 - ★★★½

Sun, 2 Mar 2025 17:54:50 +1300

“That movie was really fucked up, dude. Too much sexytime. I really don’t see the point of it being 3 hours long.” - my son on the Brutalist

My take: “wait…what?” I’m still trying to figure out what was going on there.

Given the length, I’m not sure a rewatch is happening real soon.

]]>

Snatch 1a1p5o 2000 - ★★★½

Sat, 1 Mar 2025 19:28:58 +1300

Well I've got style
Miles and miles
So much style that it's wasted

A silly film that still makes me smile

]]>

Cisco Pike a23n 1971 - ★★★★

Fri, 28 Feb 2025 17:53:55 +1300

Super downbeat turn of the 70’s LA snapshot. A terrific movie I had never seen. Immediately gives me my favorite Kristofferson and Karen Black performances. Harry Dean is in it for 12 minutes, and steals the movie while he’s on screen. Bill Norton made mostly garbage BUT he also made this. Hackman is only in it for a quarter of the movie, but he’s ready to burst through the screen and grab you by the throat. He was really something, and he’s gone now.

Watched the day they found Gene Hackman’s body

Part of my own personal HackFest where in honor of the great man’s ing I try to fill in some gaps of his career I missed. “He tried,” and deserved a better death. I salute you, sir.

]]>

Flow 386g1z 2024 - ★★★½

Mon, 24 Feb 2025 17:08:16 +1300

The water’s going to rise, and the water’s going to recede, and then rise again, and we’re going to have to adapt, or we’ll go under. And then we better learn to swim real good, until we can find some higher ground. We’ll take a breather, until the ground gives way, and we’re back in the flow, and hopefully we’ll sty afloat.

This was good.

]]>

Civil War 4c3142 2024 - ★★★★

Sun, 16 Feb 2025 18:45:04 +1300

Ouch

High degree of difficulty

]]>

The Devil's Rain 3v4i40 1975 - ★★★

Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:39 +1300

I perfectly understand why the narrator in Fight Club wants to fight Shatner. He is pompous, his acting is mannered, and damn if the movie isn’t way more entertaining when he’s onscreen than when he’s off.

Clearly made to capitalize on popular Satanic Panic horror like Rosemary’s and Exorcist, this must have looked good on paper. Shot by Álex Phillips, the cinematographer of Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, and uh…other stuff not as good as that, the widescreen compositions are intermittently interesting.

The film had a disted feel, with some scenes inexplicably going long to fill time, and other sequences at max velocity. The script didn’t make much sense, and it seemed like Shatner, Borgnine, and Lupino clearly had different shooting schedules than Skerritt, Eddie Albert, and Keenan Wynn, and the script had to be altered to work around it.

Filled with garbage latex work and slime effects, the last 15 minutes has more melting faces than Raiders of the Lost Ark and Incredible Melting Man put together. The Durango, Mexico set must have been sticky. The 85 minutes felt like 140, and Fuest took a long time making not much happen.

Baby Travolta is in this, yelling “Blasphemer” twice. The Skerritt girlfriend who is sacrificed at the end gave a copy of Dianetics to Travolta, and the rest is history.

Watched for The Podcast Macabre 2025 Horror Challenge
34. From 1975

]]>

Becoming Led Zeppelin 3511m 2025 - ★★★

Mon, 10 Feb 2025 18:50:42 +1300

Watching this movie, apparently:
-Nothing bad ever happened to them.
-They always got along.
-Page and Plant really believe in their own rock god status, and do not appear to be able to make fun of themselves at all. The dudes should really be taking the piss out of their own mythology.
-shocking now how visually static I find them as a band , and I only really enjoy them with my eyes shut.
Things NOT covered: money, sex, Peter Grant’s business practices, Jimmy Page’s complete nincompoopery regarding Aleister Crowley and Satanism, alcohol, other drugs, concert tour as new economic engine and ecosystem, groupies, the effect of fame and money on marriages and families, Led Zeppelin II vinyl pressing defects, the correlation between excessive cocaine consumption and cost overruns in studio time. In short: anything fun.
What was good: the music really loud through a theater sound system.
At least 30 minutes too long, and often repeating the same visuals with a different filter or video effect.
Fine but meh.

Watched in IMAX at the Esquire IMAX in downtown Sacramento with a whole bunch of old people just like me.

]]>

Dinner in America 256s4s 2020 - ★★★★

Sun, 9 Feb 2025 18:02:31 +1300

I’m sure I’m not the first one to say this:
THIS MOVIE WAS THE TITS
(and that’s good)

]]>

Dìdi (弟弟) 464e21 2024 - ★★★★

Thu, 6 Feb 2025 17:52:10 +1300

I’m 56, and the pain of being 12 and 13 is still right there.

Sean Wang gets it

]]>

Nickel Boys 314f4e 2024 - ★★★★½

Sun, 26 Jan 2025 18:29:11 +1300

Rarely does the Academy reward any filmmaker for doing anything that feels truly new. Ross utilizes every department in the service of the vision. Props to editor Nicholas Monsour and cinematographer Jomo Fray. I hope we see Ross’ films for a long time to come. This is staying with me.

]]>

Butcher 373t59 Baker, Nightmare Maker, 1981 - ★★★★

Sat, 25 Jan 2025 21:52:32 +1300

The fag theory: “The victim was a fag, the coach is a fag, and the kid is a fag. He grew up without a father, with only women around. Classic case.”

Police work in the 1980s. Must find the fag.

Tyrell needs some kind of special achievement award in so-bad-it’s-good acting. Holy fuck, she is going for it in the final act. Early Paxton sighting: achieves the full Chet in one scene. Bo Svensson WTF? That’s not method acting. He’s invested.

How the fuck does William Asher make this AND every Annette Funnicello/Frankie Avalon beach movie? The mind boggles. This is not a classic of fine art cinema, but this is one fucked-up good movie.

It’s clearly some kind of independent production: was this a tax shelter or money laundering or what? I need to know.

The first 50 min is 3 stars, but DAMN the last 40 minutes is 🔥 and 4 stars.

Watched for The Podcast Macabre 2025 Horror Challenge

]]>

His Girl Friday 6k2p5y 1940 - ★★★★★

Sun, 19 Jan 2025 19:17:09 +1300

From the Letterboxd IG feed:
“His Girl Friday was released in theaters on this day 85 years ago (and it’s also Cary Grant’s birthday today!)”

Still maybe the greatest film comedy ever. Looks like we may need a few laughs in the next few years. If you’ve never seen this film, what are you even doing with your life?

]]>

A Real Pain o2x57 2024 - ★★★★

Sat, 18 Jan 2025 17:01:06 +1300

We’re just going to show everyone how it’s done and make it look easy

]]>

Blue Velvet 56b1l 1986 - ★★★★

Fri, 17 Jan 2025 18:12:38 +1300

Saw this in the theater on a date in 1986, and my first name is Jeffrey. Needless to say, I was forever changed.

This world is considerably more boring and sterile because there will never be another new David Lynch film.

We are entering a dark age

]]>

The New Kids 2t1u1l 1985 - ★★★

Thu, 16 Jan 2025 17:17:34 +1300

Friday the 13th director appears to be going toward an after-school special, until he goes full repellent in the third act. This is not without its pleasures: early Spader intensity with no brakes, super-early Stoltz, the lead is clearly a decade older than everyone else and must have been included in the financing because they look weird and can’t act, short shorts, and truly terrible songs that sound like bad 80s eighth-rate AOR. An only-in-the-eighties script. Some truly odd and entertaining acting choices. 10 minutes too long even though there was plenty that could have been cut. This is NOT a lost classic. This is entertaining 80s cheese. Bring crackers.

Watched for The Podcast Macabre 2025 Horror Challenge

]]>

The Seventh Victim 5dd4l 1943 - ★★★

Sat, 11 Jan 2025 21:00:06 +1300

Atmosphere for miles. Hugh Beaumont sounding exactly like he did on Leave It To Beaver. Proto-goth Jean Brooks, with a completely different performance style than everybody else, rescues the movie by fulfilling some kind of Satanic ritual/pact in the final moments, and the script somehow widens it into an existentialist statement. Not entirely good, but one heck of a vibe. The 71 minutes felt long.

Watched a kind of fuzzy washed-out print on TCM for The Podcast Macabre 2025 Horror Challenge. There is a Criterion 4K available now, and I’d like to try it again with a clearer print.

]]>

The Children 2q1d5n 1980 - ★★★

Thu, 9 Jan 2025 17:56:12 +1300

Three Mile Island exploitation fare. A fucked-up fever dream of a bad movie. Everything is just a little off. Needlessly long takes to add running time, stilted dialogue delivery, really bizarre acting choices, somehow the bad special effects add to the effect. It’s not creepy or scary, but by the end, I was slightly unsettled. This movie’s badness made me feel weird.

Watched on Tubi for The Podcast Macabre 2025 Horror Challenge

]]>

Se7en 692q4d 1995 - ★★★★½

Sun, 5 Jan 2025 18:58:33 +1300

IMAX in Sacramento. Still rips. 30 yr old movie kicking the shit out of 98% of everything that came after it. Fucking treat to see this movie in a theater, which I never thought I would

Watched for The Podcast Macabre 2025 Horror Challenge

]]>

Thelma 6c3q56 2024 - ★★★½

Sat, 4 Jan 2025 21:43:27 +1300

There are just a couple of moments that could not exist in any other movie, and I was not emotionally affected in any way [sniff], and I absolutely did not tear up.

Richard Roundtree and June Squibb need to do some crimes.

]]>

It's What's Inside 6r1857 2024 - ★★★★

Sat, 4 Jan 2025 20:22:35 +1300

Four stars for sheer complexity and degree of difficulty. WTF! I could watch 5-6 more times and still have significant difficulty grasping who is who when. This is every body swap comedy on lots of meth.

]]>

Zodiac 65593z 2007 - ★★★★½

Thu, 2 Jan 2025 18:41:19 +1300

Winning the father-of-the-year award in showing the 15-1/2-year-old one of my favorite films; helps it might be one of the best crime films ever made. Yes, I’m sick.

]]>

The Podcast Macabre 2025 Horror Challenge 52t3l

Mon, 23 Dec 2024 02:46:34 +1300

== RULES ==- Challenge runs from January 1st through December 31st.- Write a review with each film you watch. It can be short and sweet or a manifesto. Your choice.- Tag your reviews and lists with PM2025 for easy searching.- One film for each category. No double dipping to cover multiple categories with a single film.- Have fun!!
1. From 2025
2. From the 1920s you have not seen
3. Jeffrey Combs
4. 5th in a franchise
5. Written/directed by BIPOC
6. From 2015
7. From 1930s not seen
8. Animated Scooby-Doo movie
9. Tony Todd
10. Highest rated on watchlist
11. A Troma film
12. 1940s not seen
13. Starring a musician
14. Japanese
15. From 2005
16. Letterboxd Top 250 unseen (List HERE)
17. 1950s not seen
18. A.J. Bowen
19. Dystopian future
20. From 1995
21. Dee Wallace
22. 1960s not seen
23. Southeast Asia
24. Remake/reboot
25. From 1985
26. Oscar nom/winner involved
27. 1970s not seen
28. Italian
29. Classic Universal Horror film (1920-1960)
30. Lowest rated watchlist
31. Debra Hill
32. 1980s not seen
33. Video Nasty (select from HERE)
34. From 1975
35. Year you turned 13
36. Irish
37. 1990s not seen
38. French
39. From 1965
40. Set in a school
41. Hammer films unseen
42. 2000s not seen
43. Written/directed by a woman
44. Spanish language
45. Short film (under 45)
46. Films from the "Bleeding Skull" books (pick from 1980s or from 1990s)
47. 2010 not seen
48. From 1955
49. Set in NYC
50. Original version of #24
51. Starring a Pro Wrestler
52. We pick from your watchlist
**BONUS FILMS: We each picked a gem we wanted to recommend**
Demons (1971)
Milk & Serial (2024)
Triangle (2009)

Sinners
The Man Who Laughs
2. From the 1920s you have not seen 
The Evil Clergyman
3. Jeffrey Combs
Scream
4. 5th in a franchise

Alt: The Raven
Ganja & Hess
5. Written/directed by BIPOC
The Blackcoat's Daughter
6. From 2015
Alt: The Lure
The Black Room
7. From 1930s not seen
Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island
8. Animated Scooby-Doo movie
Night of the Living Dead
9. Tony Todd
Diabolique
10. Highest rated on watchlist

...plus 42 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

]]>

List of interesting Lists I want to be able to find later 6n183x

Thu, 8 Aug 2024 23:34:57 +1200

strange and interesting audio commentary tracks for home video

Scorsese's favorite 10 widescreen

showdown: illuminated aka best films about jewish life

Larry Karazewski's Marlene Dietrich ranked

all movies under 85 minutes for when you have a life outside of letterboxd but still want to watch something

Alex Ross Perry's Movies That Time Forgot aka “The Ones to See”

Community Favourites: Every Feature Film on Letterboxd with a 4.0 Rating or Higher (Min. 15k views) [Updated for 2023]

They Only Directed One Film, But It Was A Banger

Guide to Film Movements (History of Art Cinema)

Top 100 Narrative Feature Films of the 2020s

Fangoria Magazine’s 101 Best Horror Movies You’ve Never Seen

Steven Jay Schneider’s 1001 Movies you have to see, before your life is over

Got 15 Minutes to Spare? (short films)

Letterboxd’s Top 250 Highest Rated Narrative TV Miniseries Of All Time

Rue Morgue’s 200 Alternative Horror Films You Need To See (Plus All Sidebar Suggestions In The Book)

Good Films, 90 Minutes or Less

Edgar Wright’s 100 Favorite Comedies

Edgar Wright’s 1,000 Favorite Movies)

50 best movies of the 21st Century

Letterboxd Top 250 highest rated short films

Guillermo Del Toro’s Twitter film recommendations

Letterboxd Top 100 Western films

Martin Scorsese's Film School (The 85 Films You Must See to Know Anything About Film + 39 Foreign Films Every Young Film Maker Must See)

Quentin Tarantino's 199 Favorite Films

Disillusionment in Sun-drenched 1970s American New Wave Cinema

Exploitation films that live up to their posters

Mike's Likes: Favorite Horror Movies

Mike's Likes: Independent Horror Movies

TCM Spotlight: Short & Sweet - 100 Terrific Movies Less Than 75 Minutes Long

IndieWire’s 100 Greatest Westerns of All Time

Letterboxd’s Top 50 Horror Films Under 5,000 Ratings

Pure Cinema Recommends 101 Films

Sean Fennessey’s Serial Killers

Socially Distant Cinema: Introverts, Isolation and Just Generally Staying Away From Others Even If Not By Choice

Quentin Tarantino: The Ultimate Watchlist (incl. Podcast-Links)

Once Upon a Time in the West

HIDDEN GEMS™

Film as Oneiric Portal

Community Favourites: Every Film on Letterboxd with a 4.0 Rating or Higher (Min. 1k views)

mcsil’s The History of Silent Horror

mcsil's Silent Faves and Hidden Gems Watchlist

Every film mentioned on the Anything Goes: 70s! episode of the Pure Cinema Podcast with Larry Karaszewski

Hype!

]]>

2025 releases 3c1h every one I saw, what I liked the best, and the rest

Tue, 27 May 2025 02:57:40 +1200

Sinners

Becoming Led Zeppelin

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning

]]>

2024 releases 86f62 every one I saw, what I liked the best, and the rest

Fri, 14 Feb 2025 16:05:25 +1300

First 10 are in ranked order, and then it’s whatevs

...plus 14 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

]]>

Hackfest 6j4f61

Fri, 28 Feb 2025 01:33:57 +1300

Gene Hackman RIP “He Tried”
From the New York Times obituary, 02/27/2025:“When young Gene was 13, his father abandoned the family, driving away while his son was out playing in the street. As his father ed by, Mr. Hackman recalled years later, he gave him a wave of the hand.“I hadn’t realized how much one small gesture can mean,” he once said. “Maybe that’s why I became an actor.”
9 hopefully worthy blind spots and two old faves
Part of my own personal HackFest where in honor of the great man’s ing I try to fill in some gaps of his career I missed. “He tried,” and deserved a better death. I salute you, sir.

...plus 3 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

]]>

Not My Thanksgiving 3b4e6e

Mon, 28 Aug 2023 14:13:17 +1200

I won’t reiterate the categories here; if you know, you know.

September and October are my busiest months, and sometimes require longer hours. Sorry, Hooptober community, I’m not losing my job for a Letterboxd challenge, so if I don’t finish on time…that’s too bad. I missed doing Hooptober last year, so I’m back the best I can be.

All first time watches except Strangers On A Train, even the original Friday the 13th. (There’s a story there.) It’s a little heavy on the folk horror due to the purchase of the All The Haunts Be Ours box set. If it’s Hooptober X, there should be two Tobe Hooper films.

Thank you, Cinemonster. You kick ass, and so does Hooptober and the Hooptoberers.

A Ghost Story
2010s
A Field in England
6 countries
Mad Love
1930s
Death Becomes Her
1990s
Demons
6 countries
1970s
The Seventh Victim
3 Satan/Devil centered films
1940s
Phantom of the Paradise
5 Films from De Palma, Wes Craven, Ken Russell, Hitchcock and/or Morehead & Benson.
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
6 countries
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
6 countries
The Whip and the Body
Mario Bava
1960s

...plus 23 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

]]>

MarculescuToo’s Podcast Macabre 2023 Horror Challenge 6fk6d the third one’s a killer.

Mon, 2 Jan 2023 13:00:18 +1300

First I was out…then tower of bears, lesfetes, M PJ, ZombAid, Geoffrey Broomer, MichaelEternity, splatty, braden, Alicja, night_shift, 𝐏𝐚𝐨𝐥𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐜𝐆𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐧, Alfie Amaya, kynky, Michael501, Chris, Robert Berlin, Gary Kline, Shadowg, and Chris Duck
pulled me back in…
Thanks for giving a fuck, and bothering to read something I thought about the movies.

Astonishingly, only Evil Dead II is a rewatch.

Does NOT include #45 - short film until I get a chance to go back and listen to the Podcast Macabre Episode # 311 and Colours of the Dark Episode #47 so I can get some recommendations.

From the rules:

“This challenge will be a year long challenge with the leisurely pace of one film a week, 52 films for the year. First time viewings are highly encouraged but not required unless the category says so. Make your own list of 52 films based on the criteria below, and please give us the link so we all can see!

1. From Rue Morgue's 200 Alternative Horror Films You Should See list (Link to list here.)
2. From the 1920s you have not seen before
3. A Brea Grant film
4. 3rd film in a franchise
5. Written and/or directed by IPOC
6. From 2013
7. From the 1930s you have not seen before
8. Wes Craven film that's not part of the Scream or A Nightmare on Elm St. franchises.
9. Film with an Oscar nomination or win (any category)
10. Highest rated horror film on your watchlist you can access
11. 10 or less characters with named or speaking roles
12. From the 1940s you have not seen before
13. A Graham Skipper film
14. Set on a plane
15. From 2003
16. From the Letterboxd's Top 250 Horror Films list you haven't seen. (Link to list here)
17. From the 1950s you have not seen before
18. Featuring "Twisty" Troy James
19. Set on a train
20. From 1993
21. From Edgar Wright's 100 Favorite Horror Films of All Time list (Link to list here.)
22. From the 1960s you have not seen before
23. An A24 production
24. A remake or reboot
25. From 1983
26. Film with at least one Oscar winner involved (director, writer, cast, etc.)
27. From the 1970s you have not seen before
28. Featuring Javier Botet
29. Classic Universal Horror film (1920-1960)
30. Lowest rated film on your watchlist you can access
31. A Maika Monroe film
32. From the 1980s you have not seen before
33. Cults
34. Woodland or forest setting
35. From the year you graduated prep/secondary/high school
36. An animated film
37. From the 1990s you have not seen before
38. Summer camp setting
39. From 1973
40. Set in an automobile
41. A Hammer Films production
42. From the 2000s you have not seen before
43. Written and/or directed by a woman
44. If it's on the internet, it has to be real! (Internet centric horror)
45. A short film (less than 45 minutes)
46. Pick a holiday and celebrate it with a film
47. From the 2010s you have not seen before
48. From 1963
49. Set in a funhouse or haunted attraction
50. The original version of #24
51. Sports related
52. ** We Pick For You From Your Watchlist! **

(For #52, after you share your list in the comments, we will peek at your watchlist and pick a film for you to complete your list.)”

Cemetery Man
1. From Rue Morgue's 200 Alternative Horror Films You Should See list (Link to list here.)
Alt: Living Dead Manchester; The Devil’s Backbone, Taste of Fear, Diabolique
The Unknown
2. From the 1920s you have not seen before
Alt: orlac’s Hands; a Page of Madness, The Telltale Heart; the man who laughs
A Ghost Story
3. A Brea Grant film
Alt: Lucky, The Stylist
Quatermass and the Pit
4. 3rd film in a franchise
Huesera: The Bone Woman
5. Written and/or directed by IPOC
A Field in England
6. From 2013
Mad Love
7. From the 1930s you have not seen before
Alt: Son of Frankenstein; Hound of the Baskervilles; Dracula’s Daughter
The People Under the Stairs
8. Wes Craven film that's not part of the Scream or A Nightmare on Elm St. franchises.
Alt: Invitation to Hell, Shocker, Red Eye
Death Becomes Her
9. Film with an Oscar nomination or win
Alt: silence of the lambs, alien, aliens, bad seed
Demons
10. Highest rated horror film on your watchlist you can access
Alt Diabolique; Georgia; The Cremator;

...plus 42 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

]]>

Best viewing in 2022 ap2b

Wed, 4 Jan 2023 19:31:56 +1300

Not the best films or best new films to me, but the best viewing experiences. Sometimes you write to understand what you think and feel.

Ranking is NOT by quality, but by date.

Deep Red
New Year’s Day
The Hitcher
The Birds
Meshes of the Afternoon
Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror
Station Eleven
The Empty Man
X
Matewan
West Side Story

...plus 16 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

]]>

52 Years 155y3t in 52 Weeks: 2022 Edition

Sun, 12 Dec 2021 07:16:05 +1300

COMPLETE

Maestra Kynky’s original list

“52 first time watches from 52 different years. All films have to be first time watches. That's it.”

This will obviously expand as plans solidify. I predict much Criterion and horror.

...plus 42 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

]]>

The Podcast Macabre 2022 Horror Challenge 2a4u25 Better Than a Poke in the Eye in a Fulci Film

Sat, 1 Jan 2022 20:36:12 +1300

COMPLETE

Thanks to Chris Duck and the PM crew for doing this challenge. A return engagement for me doing multiple horror viewing challenges in 2022, but sticking to three this year not four. I the first-time viewing thing, but have to say: I’m responsible for my child’s horror movie education, and I have limited time. So there are shared films between the challenges, and some repeat viewings of beloved classics.

X
1. Film from 2022
The Phantom Carriage
2. From the 1920s you have not seen before
The Dark Half
3. Written and/or directed by George A. Romero
Pearl
4. 2nd film in a franchise
Chopping Mall
5. Featuring Barbara Crampton
Resolution
6. From 2012
Vampyr
7. From the 1930s you have not seen before
City of the Living Dead
8. Written and/or directed by Lucio Fulci
The Birds
9. Film with an Oscar nomination or win (any category)
The Wolf House
10. Highest rated horror film on your watchlist

...plus 42 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

]]>

HORRORx52 (2022 Edition) 1e1t5j But I Can’t Look Away

Sat, 1 Jan 2022 20:45:01 +1300

COMPLETE

Thanks to Kynky for this wonderful challenge. A return engagement for me doing multiple horror viewing challenges in 2022, but sticking to three this year not four. I the first-time viewing thing, but have to say: I’m responsible for my child’s horror movie education, and I have limited time. So there are shared films between the challenges, and some repeat viewings of beloved classics.

"Horror is for life, not just October!"

Challenge starts 01/01/22

“HORRORx52 is a year long movie watching challenge, anyone wishing to take part should make a list that matches the below criteria and link it in the comments. Use #horror522 when reviewing and don't forget to check out what everyone else is watching.

Please use #horrorx522 when reviewing.”

Barbarian
1. Most popular horror film on your watchlist.
Don't Fuck in the Woods
2. Lowest rated horror film on your watchlist.
alts: Forget Everything and Run, Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated
The Scapular
3. BLINDSPOT: Highest rated horror film you haven't seen that's not on your watchlist
X
4. Released in 2022
Last Night in Soho
5. Made in the UK
Session 9
6. Number In the Title.
The Slumber Party Massacre
7. Directed by Women #1
alts: Ravenous, Pet Sematary, Candyman remake, Saint Maud, Relic
Yokai Monsters: 100 Monsters
8. A film released in the year you were born.
alts: The Devil’s Rideout, Rosemary’s Baby, Night of the Living Dead
The Vigil
9. 2010s
City of the Living Dead
10. Made in Italy
alts: Suspiria, Antichrist, the Bird with the Crystal Plumage

...plus 42 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

]]>

Spooky Summer Scavenger Hunt 2022 w245k

Sun, 26 Jun 2022 03:59:54 +1200

#SpookySummer22
10—20—30
Thanks to Jack and Matt for making the summer spooky again. I’m enlisting in the Spooky Summer army.

Criteria:

1) Film with a SKULL on the poster!
It’s simple. Skulls are spooky! Find a great-looking poster with a skull on it, and hope the film is also good. [1-5]

2) Film with someone screaming on the poster!
Edvard Munch may have brought The Scream to the forefront of visual art, but these posters take it to the next level! Watch a film with at least one person SCREAMING on the poster. [6-10]

3) Hammer Horror!
A cornerstone of the horror genre are the films that came out of Britain in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Hammer Horror had their own spin on the classic Universal monsters as well as some of their own spine-tinglingly spooky ideas! So much Christopher Lee! You can’t go wrong. [11-15]

4) Horror film from the Shaw Brothers studio.
The legendary Shaw Brothers made some of the wildest horror films to come out of Hong Kong! Check out some weirdo horror from a moviemaking empire at the top of their game. [16-20]

5) A movie produced by Full Moon Entertainment
Ah Charles Band, the Roger Corman of his day! Charlie B loved to produce cheap and cheerful schlock, and I love to watch it! Watch Evil Bong at your own risk. [21-25]

6) Poverty Row horror
We all know about the classic Universal monsters and that era of American horror filmmaking, but 'Poverty Row’ refers to smaller, independent studios that were producing horror and genre cinema at the same time. Unearth more gems! [26-30]

7) A horror film by Lucio Fulci
Dario Argento’s sleazier, grittier brother. Fulci has a thing for gruesome eye gouges and devilishly sinister 90-minute masterpieces. [31-35]

8) Horror Stars - A film starring at least 2 of [Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr, Vincent Price, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee]
These titans of horror are fantastic on their own, but put a few of them together and you get something magnificent. [36-40]

9) Ozploitation horror
From the stark Australian outback, come gnarly and gritty horror movies you’re bound to . [41-45]

10) Japanese horror
Japan has a rich history of horror classics, you’re bound to find something you adore. [46-50]

11) Indonesian Horror
From local ghost stories and folklore to guts, gore, and blood, Indonesia has it all! [51-55]

12)Canadian Horror
Terror from the tundra! Get ready, it’s time for a dose of Canuxploitation. [56-60]

13) Indian Horror
This is a bit of a blind spot for me, and I’m excited to dig further. From goofy visuals to straight-up terrifying plots, we need to look deeper into horror movies from India! [61-65]

14) Regional Horror
A regional horror film is one that was 1) produced independently; 2) was filmed outside of the immediate vicinity of Los Angeles; and 3) was made with a cast and crew consisting primarily of residents of the state in which the film was shot. Find something homegrown, weird, and fun! [66-70]

15) European Gothic Cinema
European Gothic is a genre that places strong emphasis on intense emotion, pairing terror with pleasure, death with romance. [71-75]

16) Folk Horror
Folk Horror thrives in liminal spaces, the gaps between worlds, and landscapes of rough earth and gnarled, old trees with humming pylons stretching overhead. In the half-imagined things glimpsed in wooded shadows out of the corners of eyes making hiking visitors quicken their step. In the feeling that no matter how alone one feels sitting by a lake or on a moor, one can’t shake the feeling of being watched, of being followed. [76-80]

17) Benevolent Horror
It's not all scary! Watch something that has a spooky charm to it, but is more about having fun with the seasonal atmosphere than it is about traumatising yourself. [81-85]

18) Knock Off of Popular Horror
Sweet, cheap, rip-offs! Why let the big wigs in Hollywood have all the fun? Check out a cheap knockoff of a popular horror film. [86-90]

19) Into the woods!
If you go down in the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise
If you go down in the woods today, you'd better go in disguise.
Watch a movie that features cabins, camping, or the general forest/woodland! [91-95]

20) In the city!
The only thing scarier than rent prices in the big city is all the slashings, murders, monsters, and madness that goes on in the streets! Grab a cab and head to the city of lights to find your fame and fortune! [96-100]

21) Horror in spaaaace
In space, no one can hear you scream. Get your ass to mars! [101-105]

22) Animals gone wild!
Insects, bears, cats, slugs, anything! As long as they’re terrorising humans in spooky ways. [106-110]

23) Killer Kids
We all know children can be mean, but these kids are REALLY MEAN. [111-115]

24) Yeti/Bigfoot/Sasquatch movie
This one is pretty straightforward. I WANT YOU TO FIND CINEMATIC BIGFOOT. Bigfeet? Sasquatches! Yetis! Abominable beings! [116-120]

25) 50s Sci Fi Horror
Science-fiction movies in the 1950s were preoccupied with two main concepts: aliens and radioactive monsters. Bonus points for watching a 50s movie with both. [121-125]

26) New voice from the New Decade
None of this ‘horror is a dying genre’ nonsense, check out what today's horror directors are making, try a horror film from the 2020s! [126-130]

27) Animated Horror
There are truly no boundaries within animation, let’s see some gnarly colourful horror! [131-135]

28) A horror sequel
How do you one-up that first horror film in a franchise/series? It’s time to dive deep into sequel territory to find something great. Check out a part 2, check out the 6th film in a franchise. Go wild! [136-140]

29) A film with under 5K views on Letterboxd
Let’s unearth some gems! Go out there and bring me back an undiscovered nugget of gold. [141-145]

30) A horror anthology
What is better than one director telling one scary story? LOTS OF DIRECTORS TELLING LOTS OF SCARY STORIES! [146-150]

Tales of Halloween
1) Film with a SKULL on the poster!
Prince of Darkness
2) Film with someone screaming on the poster!
Dr. Jekyll & Sister Hyde
3) Hammer Horror!
Human Lanterns
4) Horror film from the Shaw Brothers studio.
Puppet Master
5) A movie produced by Full Moon Entertainment
The Death Kiss
6) Poverty Row horror
City of the Living Dead
7) A horror film by Lucio Fulci
Madhouse
8) Horror Stars - A film starring at least 2 of [Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr, Vincent Price, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee]
Turkey Shoot
9) Ozploitation horror
Pulse
10) Japanese horror

...plus 20 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

]]>

The Criterion Challenge 2022 38432x

Thu, 4 Aug 2022 02:49:58 +1200

NOT ranked

Runner-ups/honorable mentions:
A Hard Days Night: Liverpudlian train
The Incident: 60’s grime on a train
Snowpiercer: future dystopia train
The Lady Vanishes: more Hitch train
Silver Streak: blackface train
The French Connection: car chasing a train
Strangers on a Train: more Hitch training

Shanghai Express
Desire on a train
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
Early 70’s NYC on a train
The Tall Target
Kill the president cat-and-mouse train
The Wrong Tros
Looney Tune train
Train to Busan
Zombie train
Unstoppable
Action train
North by Northwest
Sex train
The General
Epic train
Double Indemnity
Murder train
Runaway Train
Brutal fucking train

]]>

MarculescuToo’s Letterboxd Season Challenge 311tq 2021-22

Tue, 24 Aug 2021 17:25:55 +1200

COMPLETE

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
Week 1: September 6th-12th
Lucky Seven Week
This week's challenge is to watch a previously unseen film about gambling.
The Green Fog
Week 2: September 13th-19th
Northern Exposure: Guy Maddin Week
This week's challenge is to watch a previously unseen film directed by Guy Maddin.
Weekly tag: "lsc7 week2"
The Brood
Week 3: September 20th-26th
Two Old Queens Week
This week's challenge is to watch a previously unseen film discussed on the podcast Two Old Queens.
Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn
Week 4: September 27th-October 3rd
Romanian New Wave
From Wikipedia:
This week's challenge is to watch a previously unseen Romanian New Wave film.
Weekly tag: "lsc7 week4"
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein
Week 5: October 4th-10th
Universal Monster Week
This week's challenge is to watch a previously unseen Universal Monster movie.
Cannibal Holocaust
alt: The House by the Cemetary, Inferno
Week 6: October 11th-17th
Video Nasty Week
Let's get nasty. From Wikipedia:
This week's challenge is to watch a previously unseen Video Nasty movie.
Weekly tag: "lsc7 week6"
Carnival of Sinners
Week 7: October 18th-24th
Hades' Choice Week
What the Hell?!
Alt. take: Beelze-busted!
This week's challenge is to watch a previously unseen film prominently featuring the Devil.
Kuroneko
Week 8: October 25th-31st
J-Horror Week
From Wikipedia:
This week's challenge is to watch a previously unseen J-Horror film.
The Red Shoes
Week 9: November 1st-7th
Leftover Candy Week
This week's challenge is to watch a previously unseen Candy Cinema film from Cole Thompson's list.
The Harder They Fall
alt: The Photograph (or mult Netflix titles)
Week 10: November 8th-14th
Contemporary Performers: LaKeith Stanfield Week
This week's challenge is to watch a previously unseen film starring LaKeith Stanfield.
Weekly tag: "lsc7 week10"

...plus 23 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

]]>

Showdown r731a Eyes Wide Shut

Sat, 23 Oct 2021 01:48:45 +1300

Shit fucked me up - see details in poster view; hope someone made a list with Salo, Bloodsucking Freaks, Faces of Death, Come and See on it

Yellow Submarine
1972 or 1973 (age 4 or 5) on Thanksgiving, broadcast tv, the people being turned to stone freaked me out
Godzilla vs. Hedorah
Watched on Creature Features in 1976 or so. Apparently grooved some apocalyptic neural pathways for a young budding environmentalist
Friday the 13th
The rowboat scene, without context, on cable, right before bed, age 12? 👀😬
Videodrome
Way too stoned as a sophomore in high school on VHS
Fort Apache, the Bronx
Pam Grier’s razor blade fellatio, WTF?
Testament
FUCK
Annie Hall
all kinds of toxic
Meatballs
Too much too soon for a regular summer camp attendee, but it’s ok cause it just doesn’t matter
Swept Away
Programmed by an early girlfriend’s mom (!?) at age 15, I don’t know what was going on there
The Company of Wolves
Had an early sexual experience after watching this, and it set up some weird shit I had deconstruct later

...plus 4 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

]]>

Hooptober 2020 1v1mf

Fri, 2 Oct 2020 15:03:16 +1300

Note: The s of the Letterboxd community would like to inform you that Mr. Marculescu is now in federal custody. While his is not suspended, Letterboxd, LLC does not endorse any of the views expressed anywhere in his profile, reviews, lists, or any -generated content on the site. The editors of the site have elected to post press coverage of recent events below. The mental decline of the is fully evident in the writing below. Letterbox’d LLC is meeting with it’s legal team in order to determine if the Hooptober challenge may need to be suspended for the immediate future given the negative press coverage.

First time, started late.

Haven't seen any of the list except:
The Invisible Man (2020), saw last week
and #Alive (2020), saw last night. Using this opportunity to eliminate some blind spots.

Roster:
6 countries:
Godzilla (Japan)
Atlantics (Senegal)
Knife + Heart ()
#Alive (South Korea)
Under the Shadow (UK, in Persian)
Blood and Black Lace (Italy)

6 decades:
House On Haunted Hill (1959)
Eyes Without A Face (1960)
Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972)
Society (1989)
Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)
The Love Witch (2016)

7 2nd films of franchises:
Gremlins 2: The New Batch
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
The Conjuring 2
Seoul Station
Maniac Cop 2
Bride of Re-Animator
Dr. Phibes Rises Again

4 body horror films:
Raw
Society
Eyes Without A Face
The Incredible Melting Man

2 films from this year:
#Alive
The Invisible Man

3 disease based films
Contagion
#Alive
Seoul Station

The highest rated horror film from the 50s that you haven't seen and can access.
Godzilla (1954)

1 film that is set entirely inside one location
House on Haunted Hill

1 Invisible Person film
The Invisible Man

1 Non Dracula Hammer Film
Twins of Evil

2 films with a black director or predominantly black cast or lead.
Slice
Atlantics

1 film with a movie theater in it.
Gremlins 2: The New Batch

1 Tobe Hooper Films (There must ALWAYS be a Hooper film)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2

Mid-month update: only 40% in. The pandemic rages on, and in the US, it’s an election year, and Trump is everywhere. I am full of horror. In between Hooptober sessions, I should watch old episodes of the Waltons or CHiPs, to get away from the dark, but instead I’m watching episodes of Flanagan’s Bly Manor on Netflix. When this is over, I’m going to read for a week. Something warm and cuddly.

Late in the month update: counting the days. I’ve swallowed too much horror. I’m bleeding internally, and vomiting blood. 7 more days. The first thing I will do is read “The Velveteen Rabbit.” The second thing I will do is watch a bad Disney sitcom with my child. The third thing I will do is watch an episode of anything on HGTV.

from the Sacramento Bee, November 1st, 2020

Armed Man Attempts to Hijack Plane in Act of Domestic Terrorism Against Pennsylvania Biden rally

Sacramento, California
A man attempted to hijack a domestic plane at the Sacramento International Airport early Sunday morning. The man has been identified as J.Marculescu of Sacramento, California.

Mr. Marculescu attempted to go through Sacramento International Airport security lines to board a red-eye flight to Philadelphia, PA while carrying an AR-15 assault rifle early Sunday morning. Mr. Marculescu had intended to commandeer the plane, and to intentionally crash the plane into a Biden campaign rally being planned for Sunday, which former President Barack Obama was to have attended. The airport was put on lockdown, tactical teams responded, and Mr. Marculescu surprised everyone by laying down his assault weapon, and surrendering peacefully to authorities. While being taken away, Mr. Marculescu continued to scream full volume about “the China Virus,” that Joe Biden was a “sleeper agent”, and that “Antifa…[was coming to take guns away.]” On several occasions, he was heard to scream unintelligibly, in what was thought to be a foreign language. The FBI stated there was no evidence to show the gunman had any foreign loyalties, or was planning to disrupt the 2020 election as a result of foreign election interference. The gunman is being held on psychiatric hold, in federal custody, while his fitness to stand trial is being determined.

His wife blamed a overabundance of political journalism during the election, media consumption during something called the “Hooptober Challenge” (a self-imposed marathon of high violence and gory films), and the isolation from friends and family during the COVID-19 panic. Apparently the film, Midsommar, a 2019 by director Ari Aster, was the last thing the gunman watched prior to purchasing the assault rifle on October 31st in a private, and possibly illegal sale. Mrs. Marculescu stated, “He finished that damn movie, and began gibbering incoherently almost immediately.” Mrs. Marculescu further described her husband as fleeing their home taking a large amount of cash. She further stated, “I hope that everyone votes out the kind of reprehensible and disgusting political opportunists like our president, who’s inflammatory rhetoric eats away at the sanity of vulnerable individuals like my husband. Maybe Fox News should tone it down a bit.” A federal air marshall, quoted on condition of anonymity, stated this event was “a close call, but should be a sentinel event for everyone in the country, and should convince us to strengthen our gun laws.”

...plus 22 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

]]>

The "I've Already Got 50 Challenges Going 323p2j But I'm Gonna Do Another One Anyway" Challenge.

Sun, 2 May 2021 15:34:12 +1200

COMPLETE
All 2021 new watches.

Stolen Kisses
1. A movie filmed in a location you've visited
Mandabi
2. A movie in a language you've never heard before: Wolof
Capricious Summer
3. Something to make you laugh
It Chapter Two
4. A remake you said you wouldn't watch (I didn’t care for Chapter One)
The Red Shoes
5. Something recommended by someone on Twitter: From Guillermo Del Toro’s Twitter Recommendations
Hiroshima Mon Amour
6. A black & white classic
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
7. A movie with an unnecessarily long title
Vagabond
8. Something you've been meaning to watch for a long time: since it was in US theaters in 1985.
The Murderer Lives at Number 21
9. A film from the year your mum/dad was born
Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One
10. Something non-fiction

...plus 11 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

]]>

Marculescu’s Horse 4w2868 Opera Roundup (Wild West Summer Challenge 2021)

Thu, 27 May 2021 13:59:31 +1200

COMPLETE
First roundup for me, pardners. All new watches for 2021. Special gratitudes to timonist for hosting this cool challenge. Much obliged.

THE TASKS

1 - Watch a Western discussed in Edward Buscombe's 100 Westerns (BFI Screen Guides)
2 - Watch a Ford Western (any Ford you can think of is allowed, e.g. John Ford, Francis Ford, Glenn Ford, Wallace Ford...)
3 - Watch a Western by a director born in 19th century America
4 - Watch a Western made in Hollywood by a director not born in the United States
5 - Watch a Western with a title in red letters on the poster
6 - Watch a Western starring a favorite actor/actress of yours
7 - Watch a Western with an Australian connection (e.g. Australian-produced, set/filmed in Australia, Australian director/actor...) (examples, more examples)
8 - Watch a Western with a strong female character
9 - Watch a Western you wouldn't believe was a Western if you only heard the title
10 - Watch a Western starring an Academy Award Winner for Best Actress or Best ing Actress
11 - Watch a Western that depicts or is inspired by a historical event or person
12 - Watch a Western from a year you haven't seen any at all
13 - Watch a Western starring Dan Duryea (if Dan Duryea frightens you, you may watch a Western starring another actor with an alliterative name)
14 - Watch a Weird or otherwise bizarre Western (examples, further examples)
15 - Watch a widescreen Western released before 1960
16 - Watch a Western by a director you are unfamiliar with
17 - Watch a Western not filmed in North America
18 - Watch a Western that played in competition at Cannes, Venice or Berlin
19 - Watch a Western with a positive or nuanced portrayal of Native Americans
20 - Watch a Western that isn't a fictional feature-length live-action film
21 - Watch a B Western
22 - Watch a musical Western or singing cowboy Western (if you feel too grumpy for such gaiety, you may watch a Western nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song)
23 - Watch a Western with a particularly beautiful poster
24 - Watch a Western you haven't been aware of until you started looking for Westerns to watch for this challenge
25 - Watch a Western you have been aware of forever, but somehow never seen, although you really should have

The Tall T
1 - Watch a Western discussed in Edward Buscombe's 100 Westerns (BFI Screen Guides)
Judge Priest
2 - Watch a Ford Western
El Dorado
3 - Watch a Western by a director born in 19th century America: Howard Hawks, born 1896
The Proud Rebel
4 - Watch a Western made in Hollywood by a director not born in the United States: Michael Curtiz,
The Ruthless Four
5 - Watch a Western with a title in red letters on the poster
5 Card Stud
6 - Watch a Western starring a favorite actor/actress of yours: Mitchum
Wake in Fright
7 - Watch a Western with an Australian connection: Not strictly a Western but if you read the wiki, the film is concerned with common Western tropes (civilization vs an untamed community; newcomer’s individual toughness compared to the locals, etc.) If not kosher, I’ll pick something else
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLUIi02FMK0
The Wind
8 - Watch a Western with a strong female character
The Mercenary
9 - Watch a Western you wouldn't believe was a Western if you only heard the title
The Scalphunters
10 - Watch a Western starring an Academy Award Winner for Best Actress or Best ing Actress: Shelley Winters

...plus 15 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

]]>

Junesploitation 2021 t2i55 Escape from the Valley of High Art to the Planet of Cheapnis

Fri, 21 May 2021 07:37:45 +1200

COMPLETE

Cheapnis if you need clarity. All first time watches. (A little stilted to satisfy some other challenges, but still a pretty thick slice of cheese that smells funny.)

June schedule as per Patrick Bromley over at fthismovie.net.

1. ‘80s Action!
2. Slashers!
3. Henry Silva!
4. Westerns!
5. Revenge!
6. Free Space!
7. Sword and Sorcery!
8. Blaxploitation!
9. Italian Horror!
10. Scott Adkins!
11.Vigilantes!
12. Sci Fi!
13. '80s Comedy!
14. Kung Fu!
15. Sequels!
16. Cannon!
17. Fulci!
18. Free Space!
19. Jackie Chan!
20. Musicals!
21. Julie Strain!
22. Zombies!
23. ‘90s Action!
24. Free Space!
25. Cars!
26. ‘80s Horror!
27. Cops!
28. Free Space!
29. Gangsters!
30. Vampires!

Ninja III: The Domination
1. ‘80s Action!
Angst
2. Slashers!
The Secret Invasion
3. Henry Silva!
The Mercenary
4. Westerns!
Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II
5. Revenge!
Living Skeleton
6. Free Space!
A Chinese Ghost Story
7. Sword and Sorcery!
The Liberation of L.B. Jones
8. Blaxploitation!
Tenebre
9. Italian Horror!
Triple Threat
10. Scott Adkins!

...plus 20 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

]]>

ONTD Monthly Movie Challenge – May 2021 1p6j5y

Sat, 1 May 2021 05:45:39 +1200

COMPLETE
All first time watches. Somehow came out dour and severe, mostly because I’m also satisfying requirements for Criterion Challenge and my Birth Year Challenge. Doesn’t really reflect my taste, but hey, WTF.

END OF MAY REFLECTIONS:
So in trying to hyperlink my reviews out of the list view, I was reflecting on the way I watch films, and write about them on Letterboxd. The reviews are essentially hot takes, immediate, and often my reactions to the film are undigested. I find I don’t really have a complete grok-ing of the film until days or even weeks later.

Most impressive:
1. Come and See
2. Hiroshima Mon Amour
3. Once Upon A Time In America

The most fun I had watching:
1. Barbarella
2. Once Upon A Time In America

Would like an eventual rewatch (or at least selected scenes from)
1. At Eternity’s Gate
2. Beau Travail

Impressed but may never revisit (might be too effective, or too sad, or just good, and life is short)
1. Vagabond
2. The White Tiger
3. Night Moves

Most revised opinion by the end of the month:
1. Come and See
2. Hiroshima Mon Amour

COMPLETE

Barbarella
1. Watch a movie that a couple (past or present) worked on together (actor/actor, director/actor, etc.).
Roger Vadim and Jane Fonda
Thoughts
Vagabond
2. watch any mystery movie.
Thoughts
The Comfort of Strangers
3. Watch any movie that features an actor that has voiced a character in the Shrek franchise: Rupert Everett from Shrek 2
Thoughts
The White Tiger
4. Watch any streaming original movie.
Thoughts
Hiroshima Mon Amour
5. Watch any movie where the city is a character.
Thoughts
Beau Travail
6. Watch any movie where the cinematography was done by a woman (some ideas).
Thoughts
At Eternity's Gate
7. Watch any movies involving an obsessed artist
Thoughts
Come and See
8. Watch any psychedelic movie.
Thoughts
Once Upon a Time in the West
9. Watch any movie from a director that is known to have a distinct look in their movies
Thoughts
Night Moves
10. Watch any movie about the climate crisis
Thoughts

]]>

HoopTo8er (31 Days that Impaled the Letterboxd) 6q514y

Fri, 6 Aug 2021 01:57:04 +1200

(With apologies to Sergei Eisenstein)

COMPLETE

All first-time watches for 2021, maybe seen sections on cable, but never start-to-finish.

QUICK EASY RULES:

8 decades:
Haxan (‘22)
La Main du Diable (‘43)
The Curse of Frankenstein (‘57)
Kuroneko (‘68)
The Brood (‘79)
The House By the Cemetary (‘81)
Event Horizon (‘97)
Tigers Are Not Afraid ('17)

6 countries:
Haxan (Sweden)
La Main du Diable ()
The Curse of Frankenstein (UK)
Kuroneko (Japan)
The Brood (Canada)
The House By the Cemetary (Italy)

2 folk horror:
Witchfinder General
Kuroneko

4 films from 1981:
Kisapmata
Possession (can anyone please help me see this?)
The House By the Cemetary
Roadgames

2 films from your birth year:
Witchfinder General (’68)
Kuroneko (‘68)

2 haunted house films:
The House By the Cemetary
Demons 2

The worst Part 2 that you haven't seen and can access:
Jurassic Shark

1 film set in the woods:
Kuroneko

1 Kaiju or Kong film:
Destroy All Monsters

2 Hammer films:
The Curse of Frankenstein
Dracula Has Risen From The Grave

3 films with a person of color as director or lead (excluding Asian):
Tigers Are Not Afraid
Event Horizon
Good Manners

3 Asian horror films:
Kuroneko
Kisapmata
Destroy All Monsters

And 1 Tobe Hooper Films (There must ALWAYS be a Hooper film):
Body Bags

Currently have satisfied the criteria of the challenge with 18 titles. Here are 13 more to make 31 days of horror! See below

***FOR THOSE THAT LIKE TO DO EXTRA WORK:
JD's Revenge, The Skull and The Scooby Doo Project

If I have my way, if at all possible, I will see TITANE in Hoopto8er even if I have to drive 2 hours to do it.

Body Bags
Hooptober Ocho Film #1
There must always be a Tobe Hooper film
Jurassic Shark
Hooptober Ocho Film #2
The worst Part 2 that you haven't seen and can access: I hate you, Cinemonster, I really hate you
Perfect Blue
Hooptober Ocho Film #3
Tigers Are Not Afraid
Hooptober Ocho Film #4
8 decades: 2010s
3 films with a person of color as director or lead
Jakob's Wife
Hooptober Ocho Film #5
Witchfinder General
Hooptober Ocho Film #6
2 Folk Horror
2 films from your birth year: 1968
Destroy All Monsters
Hooptober Ocho Film #7
Kaiju or Kong
3 Asian Horror Fims
The Brood
Hooptober Ocho Film #8
8 decades: 1970s
6 countries: Canada
The Scooby-Doo Project
Hooptober Ocho Film #9
Extra Credit
Demons
Hooptober Ocho Film #10

...plus 26 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

]]>

HORRORx52 (2021 EDITION) 4d2l31 (52) Pickup yr guts off the floor...

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 02:18:11 +1200

COMPLETE

Yeah, that title is lame. If yr doing 3 horror challenges, why not do 4?

One rewatch only: Night of the Hunter with my 11-year-old. Otherwise all new-to-me 2021 watches.

The Witch
1. Most popular horror on your watchlist.
Jurassic Shark
2. Lowest rated horror on your watchlist
Kuroneko
3. A film released in the year you were born.
The Dark and the Wicked
4. 2020's
The Platform
5. 2010's
The Gift
6. 2000’s
Cure
7. 1990’s
The Vanishing
8. 1980’s
Dead of Night
9. 1970’s
Living Skeleton
10. 1960’s

...plus 42 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

]]>

Podcast Macabre 2021 Horror Challenge 5c4n2j

Mon, 15 Mar 2021 14:44:23 +1300

COMPLETE
Alright, most of this won't be reviewed until Hooptober starts, so I can do double-duty where possible. But things that are leaving my services shortly, or I've seen in 2021 already will be watched and reviewed for the Podcast Macabre 2021 Horror Challenge! I will be trying to combine for other challenges as well. There are some pithy comments if you "read notes" below. Hope you enjoy.

Original list:
boxd.it/94YJU

Kill List
1. From Rue Morgue's 200 Alternative Horror Films You Should See
Criterion's got it.
Häxan
2. From the 1920s
Just to say I have
Assault on Precinct 13
3. Written and/or directed by John Carpenter
Horror-ish.
AM1200
4. Takes place partially in a radio station
Destroy All Monsters
5. Featuring Godzilla
Not my thing, but you have to pick one...
The Howling
6. Werewolves
Never seen start to finish. Only a few minutes here and there on pirate HBO in the early 80s'. And I love Joe Dante!
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
7. From the 1930s
Fritz Lang.
The Hills Have Eyes
8. Written and/or directed by Wes Craven
Because I'm too scared to watch Last House on the Left.
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
9. Film with an Oscar nomination or win
Nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one for Best Costume Design, Black and White as per Wikipedia, anyway
Kisapmata
10. Highest rated horror film on your watchlist
Looks like there's a YouTube version readily available.

...plus 42 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

]]>

History of Horror 2021 5y6y51 because I’m sick, and I need to be punished.

Tue, 13 Apr 2021 12:04:22 +1200

COMPLETE
Apparently, I want MORE.
ALL 52 are 1st time complete watches in 2021. Won’t be a ton of new action on this list until Hoop-Tober 8 gets going in August or September.

Lots of overlap with:

Criterion Challenge 2021
Birth Year Challenge Part 1
Podcast Macabre 2021 Horror Challenge
Hoop-Tober 8 (when it starts)

Häxan
Week 1: Silent Horror
Crimes at the Dark House
Week 2: Tod Slaughter
Bluebeard
Week 3: Poverty Row 1940-1949
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbsoyW7XJKY
Carnival of Sinners
Week 4:
The Blob
Week 5: 1950s Monsters
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
Week 6:
Spirits of the Dead
Week 7: Vincent Price
Vinnie narrates.
Hour of the Wolf
Week 8: Sweden
Bergman horror.
Frailty
Week 9: Devil
Cure
Week 10: Japan

...plus 42 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

]]>

52 Years In 52 Weeks y2i2t 2021 Edition.

Thu, 13 May 2021 09:49:23 +1200

COMPLETE

1967-2020 (except 1996, 2005, 2009)

52 films, all first time watches from 52 different years.

...plus 42 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

]]>

Birth Year Challenge Part 1 272a5o

Wed, 31 Mar 2021 10:01:13 +1300

COMPLETE

1968: Super tough year. Lots of productions and distributions of film projects halted due to student/labor unrest worldwide. Hollywood was still trying to figure out how to market to the hippies. A lot of creative hesitancy, and a permeation of politics into everything. Less films, lots of the old masters (Hitch, Hawks, Ford, Kurosawa) either winding down, or in-between projects. Godard and Truffaut were busy, although a lot of it is hard to see. I’m still fucked up, came out kicking and screaming into the middle of the America ripping itself apart.

...plus 43 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

]]>

Criterion Challenge 2021 4k471o

Mon, 8 Mar 2021 06:07:58 +1300

COMPLETE

Mostly to the letter of the challenge. Horror-heavy to cross-pollinate with my Podcast Macabre and Hooptober watchlists. Couple rewatches to facilitate my 11 year old seeing good movies. If there's time later in the year, I'll swap them out for other unseen films.

The Hit
1. 1984 - watch a film released the year of Criterion's inception.
Drunken Angel
2. Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Criterion #413
Pierrot le Fou
3. Directed by Jean-Luc Godard
Criterion #421
Kill List
4. Horror
On the Criterion Channel
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
5. Released on Laserdisc (Criterion Collection Laserdisc Titles)
Criterion Laserdisc, Spine #008
Repeat watch for the benefit of my son's first viewing
Death of a Cyclist
6. Made in Spain
Naked Childhood
7. Wes Anderson's Top 10
Morocco
8. Romance
Criterion #931
Häxan
9. A silent film
Criterion #134
The Crowd
10. 1920’s

...plus 42 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

]]>

Guillermo del Toro's twitter film recommendations 1h494f

Tue, 31 May 2022 02:56:31 +1200

Complete list of the films Guillermo del Toro has recommended on twitter. Click the 'Read notes' button to see his comments. Also be sure to check out his twitter for recommendations of visual artists, books, tv shows, film composers, etc.

I've seen 59%, how about you?

GDT quotes:

"Lost films only stay lost if no one looks for them. Be curious. Be peculiar. What you watch is what you are."

"Your taste in film is a quest. You have a palate and you must refine it to match your essence. Never settle and never follow blindly."

"Film is a religious call. No one is right or wrong- During the very same mass some look at the clock while others find their Damascus road"

"Wittgenstein said:'The limits of your language are the limits of your world'. The same is true of your visual language. Be curious. Want more"

"Favorite movies don't have to be perfect movies. Like in any relationship, Love is what makes them stick around."

"Great films- like diamonds- sometimes require mining. Some are hard work but their yield is precious. These films seldom get us at first viewing. But when repeated they become permanent loves."

"If we don't defend what we love- if we let it fade- then our lives loose meaning. We must declare ourselves of what we are... What we love."

Throne of Blood
Criterion top ten thematic/authorial pairings:
Kurosawa’s being one of the essential masters is best represented by these, his most operatic, pessimistic, and visually spectacular films. Try and guess which is which. How he managed to be both exuberant and elegant at the same time will be one of life’s great mysteries.
High and Low
A painful, gripping kidnapping drama. The final revelation is heartbreaking.
Criterion top ten thematic/authorial pairings:
Kurosawa’s being one of the essential masters is best represented by these, his most operatic, pessimistic, and visually spectacular films. Try and guess which is which. How he managed to be both exuberant and elegant at the same time will be one of life’s great mysteries.
Ran
My favorite "color" Kurosawa. Its pictorial beauty and tragic, violent spirit never fail to move me.
Criterion top ten thematic/authorial pairings:
Kurosawa’s being one of the essential masters is best represented by these, his most operatic, pessimistic, and visually spectacular films. Try and guess which is which. How he managed to be both exuberant and elegant at the same time will be one of life’s great mysteries.
The Seventh Seal
Criterion top ten thematic/authorial pairings:
Bergman as a fabulist—my favorite—is absolutely mesmerizing. These two films have the primal pulse of a children’s fable told by an impossibly old and wise narrator. Fanny and Alexander is Dickens, Hans Christian Andersen, and John Calvin rolled into one. Both tales are ripe with fantastical imagery and a sharp sense of the uncanny. Also, I am often surprised at how the humor and comedic elements in The Seventh Seal seem to be overlooked in favor of its reputation as a quintessential “serious” art film.
Fanny and Alexander
Criterion top ten thematic/authorial pairings:
Bergman as a fabulist—my favorite—is absolutely mesmerizing. These two films have the primal pulse of a children’s fable told by an impossibly old and wise narrator. Fanny and Alexander is Dickens, Hans Christian Andersen, and John Calvin rolled into one. Both tales are ripe with fantastical imagery and a sharp sense of the uncanny. Also, I am often surprised at how the humor and comedic elements in The Seventh Seal seem to be overlooked in favor of its reputation as a quintessential “serious” art film.
Beauty and the Beast
A film about the magic of film. A Goldsmith's most delicate confection. One of the most beautiful ever.
Criterion top ten thematic/authorial pairings: Beauty and the Beast may be tenuous and delicate where Eyes Without a Face is overripe and pulpish, but these films are gorgeous, dark poems about fragility and horror. Both fables depend on sublime, almost ethereal, imagery to convey a sense of doom and loss: mad, fragile love clinging for dear life in a maelstrom of darkness. The clash of haunting and enchanting imagery has seldom been more powerful. Eyes Without a Face boasts an extraordinary soundtrack too!
Sight and Sound top 10:
La Belle et la Bête is the most perfect cinematic fable ever told. After Méliès, only Cocteau has understood that perfect simplicity is required to tell a fairytale – and that nothing but the power of pure cinema is needed to create awe and wonder.
Eyes Without a Face
Visual poetry. Delicate horror. Tragic and emotional.
Criterion top ten thematic/authorial pairings:
Beauty and the Beast may be tenuous and delicate where Eyes Without a Face is overripe and pulpish, but these films are gorgeous, dark poems about fragility and horror. Both fables depend on sublime, almost ethereal, imagery to convey a sense of doom and loss: mad, fragile love clinging for dear life in a maelstrom of darkness. The clash of haunting and enchanting imagery has seldom been more powerful. Eyes Without a Face boasts an extraordinary soundtrack too!
'84 I see EYES WITHOUT A FACE for the first time and I realize that European horror may be my favorite.
Great Expectations
Criterion top ten thematic/authorial pairings:
Most people David Lean for his big-scale epics, like Doctor Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia, or The Bridge on the River Kwai. But here he is at his most precise and poetic. Both movies are epics of the spirit, and both are plagued by grand, utterly magical moments and settings; whether showing Oliver’s mother straining and in pain, by intercutting with a flexing branch of thorns, or by lovingly lingering on Miss Havisham’s decaying splendor, Lean understand the need for hyperbole in order to manage the larger-than-life Dickensian archetypes. Some of the ages in both films skate the fine line between poetry and horror.
Oliver Twist
Criterion top ten thematic/authorial pairings:
Most people David Lean for his big-scale epics, like Doctor Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia, or The Bridge on the River Kwai. But here he is at his most precise and poetic. Both movies are epics of the spirit, and both are plagued by grand, utterly magical moments and settings; whether showing Oliver’s mother straining and in pain, by intercutting with a flexing branch of thorns, or by lovingly lingering on Miss Havisham’s decaying splendor, Lean understand the need for hyperbole in order to manage the larger-than-life Dickensian archetypes. Some of the ages in both films skate the fine line between poetry and horror.
Time Bandits
Perhaps one of the very best "children's story" films ever made. Dazzling imagination and poignant humanism.
Criterion top ten thematic/authorial pairings:
Terry Gilliam is a living treasure, and we are squandering him foolishly with every film of his that remains unmade. Proof that our world is the poorer for this can be found in two of his masterpieces. Gilliam is a fabulist pregnant with images—exploding with them, actually—and fierce, untamed imagination. He understands that “bad taste” is the ultimate declaration of independence from the discreet charm of the bourgeoisie. He jumps with no safety net and drags us with him into a world made coherent only by his undying faith in the tale he is telling. Brazil remains one of the most important films of my life, and Time Bandits is a Roald Dahl–ian landmark to all fantasy films. Seeing Time Bandits with my youngest daughter just two weeks ago, I was delighted when she laughed and rejoiced at the moment when Kevin’s parents explode into a cloud of smoke.

...plus 437 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

]]>

The Best New 6a76n to-Me Films I Saw in 2021

Thu, 30 Dec 2021 06:24:20 +1300

The amount of meh I had to watch to cull this many > or = 4 star films makes me feel like a waste of space, BUT if you look at these films…it was a very good year.

Pandemic-era 2020-2021 releases NOT included; those are here.

There are reviews for most of these

...plus 33 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

]]>

My Best Released 3a2h24 During-the-Pandemic-Era Watches

Thu, 30 Dec 2021 06:33:24 +1300

I don’t even know what year it is…2020 pandemic starts, viewing goes way up, 2020 Oscar season avidly followed…recency bias and living room bubble alters ability to discern shit from great…2021 things let up a bit…I get injured and accelerate viewing even more…end of 2021 re-enter the work force, viewing goes down, and now…Omicron. This is the Pandemic times list; Not the best of this time, just the best I saw

Click the sunglasses for reviews

The best prepandemic-created viewing experiences I saw in 2021 are here.

...plus 6 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

]]>

My San Francisco films c615q

Mon, 15 Nov 2021 15:25:52 +1300

The ones that feel the most like San Francisco to me.

]]>

Zombies (aren’t we all?) 15r4x

Sat, 27 Jun 2020 15:44:51 +1200

Most zombie films suck. More fun to make than watch. Very competitive field. When the films connect, I still find this idea compelling. It’s like all of society, and some of your family and friends are trying to kill you and eat you. And you will fuck over anyone you need to, to survive. Is there a better metaphor for feeling alienated in a competitive capitalist society? (concentration camps, ethnic cleansing, and genocide, anyone?) Only my favorite jams are here. What can’t I list here? The best of all of these: The Max Brooks-penned oral history of the Zombie Apocalypse, World War Z. The book, dammit. (Maybe if Fincher had taken it on, we’d be talking about the movie.) Also, the first few seasons of Walking Dead before they totally shit the bed.

Update: Adam Nayman just referred to zombie movies as providing the opportunity for “calorie-free murder” on The Big Picture podcast. I’m paraphrasing: the zombie movie puts the viewer in a position to have deal with gore, and what they want to see happen to people. People are killed in gory ways, and then are re-killed as zombies. Sean Fennessey calls zombie movies “the ultimate bummer cinema.” Fuck yeah.

Night of the Living Dead
Not The Last Man on Earth, not Carnival of Souls, not Invasion of the Body Snatchers. THIS. The Big Bang.
Dawn of the Dead
It’s just so delightfully mean and sociopathic. Glorious.
Train to Busan
Very inventive. Reworks the architecture of the zombie siege. I’m just a sap, but the dad becoming a zombie, trying to hold on to the memory of his child’s birth just gets me every time.
Ravenous
Points for being radically different in tone and pace than any other zombie film.
Shaun of the Dead
Just so fucking funny.
28 Days Later
Especially the first 10 minutes. Whole thing is really good, but the deserted London when he doesn’t know what happened is so powerful.
28 Weeks Later
Really the first 10 minutes. Robert Carlyle getting away on the boat. Holy fuck. The rest is kind of meh, but a decent watch.
The Night Eats the World
Zombie Flesh Eaters
The brutality and visuals won me over.

]]>

How I Learned Not to Give a Fuck about the Oscars (again) 1u810

Mon, 17 May 2021 05:57:05 +1200

So when I was younger, I thought the Oscars were bullshit. Lived through Do the Right Thing vs Driving Miss Daisy, Dances with Wolves vs Goodfellas, etc. Just figured the commercial imperative tools the prize, but the award was no indicator of quality.

Then, in the late 90s, I changed a bit. I tracked it a little closer, started to watch with friends at parties, participate in pools. I’d try to see the big ones, and root for my favorites.

Fast-forward to the late 2010’s, the streaming age. Often you can see most nominees streaming before the ceremony. There are demographic and political shifts in the Academy voting body that seem to encourage a primacy of quality film, say Moonlight and Parasite, but there’s still horrid shit like Green Book.

For me, personally, the Oscars had become the Super Bowl for film nerds. I would try to see everything, make lists, think about it, listen to podcasts. Like The Big Picture on The Ringer Podcast Network.

This year the Oscars were god-awful, and many of the films weren’t great, with a couple exceptions. The production itself had issues, but the slate of films were…well, let’s just say that even Steven Soderbergh couldn’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. But there was a feeling for me that I was trying to summon enthusiasm, and I feel like it definitely contributed to some early overzealous hot takes on some of those films. Weird fucking pandemic year which profoundly impacted film production, and many presumably Oscar-worthy films were held.

So I’m listening to Sam Esmail talk to Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins on the Big Picture podcast, the Best Director Match Game episode. (I’ve been listening to this show for a couple years, and it’s my primary source to handicap the Oscars. They have a LB presence, check em out.) They are going to play a game where they try to match the Best Picture winner for a year where it actually WAS the Best Picture for that year. Doesn’t happen very often actually. It’s a cool exercise, and worth a listen.

Esmail goes off before the game, and points out that THE FOLLOWING DIRECTORS NEVER WON A BEST DIRECTOR OSCAR:

Stanley Kubrick
Alfred Hitchcock
Sidney Lumet
David Lynch
Robert Altman
Federico Fellini
Howard Hawks
Ridley Scott
Sergio Leone
Ingmar Bergman
Orson Welles
Sofia Coppola
David Fucking Fincher
Quentin Tarantino
Paul Thomas Anderson
Wes Anderson
Spike Lee

“These are people who are masters, and the fact that they don’t have Oscars…does that make you think less of them?…There’s a weird badge of honor I give to them that they haven’t won, and yet…they are the best ever. That’s why, historically I don’t know if it means that much.” - Sam Esmail

The guy can make a fucking point, right?

Life is too short to sit through The Trial of the Chicago Seven, Hillbilly Elegy, Pieces of a Woman, Greyhound, The Mole Agent, My Octopus Teacher, Two Distant Strangers, etc. I’ll miss it, but I think I just need to cherry pick, and STOP. Not sure of the exact solution, maybe just watch a selection of post-mortem should-have-wons after the fact?

I’m getting older, so many great films, so little time.

Check out The Big Picture, they do a great job, and they always make me think.

The List: I just thought of films by directors that Sam mentioned, I should have rewatched instead of Oscar nominees that sucked. What’s not here that I would rather watch than shitty Oscar nominees? Horror, Gialli, hundreds of classics of world cinema I’ve never seen, everything on the Criterion Channel. Again, enough.

...plus 60 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

]]>

Showdown r731a Unforgiven

Mon, 16 Nov 2020 04:25:22 +1300

Notes after each film: the why for me.

Highly personal. Have major blind spots in this area, NOT meant to be comprehensive or a survey. Just the ones where I really internalized the rage, and when I think about it: I FEEL THE WRATH.

(No entry here for Bloodline, a Netflix TV thing, and there ought to be, for the first season when Mendelsohn is in it. Don’t watch the other two seasons, shoulda been a one-and-done, and a mic drop.)

The Searchers
You will believe John Wayne can act.
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
Just. So. Brutal.
Oates. Peckinpah. Gig Young. There may have been drinking on the set.
The Limey
An all-time fav anyway.
“TELL HIM I’M FUCKING COMING!!”
The way his desire for revenge changes as the truth becomes known.
Unforgiven
So empty and hollow after he gets his revenge.
Gone Girl
Angry women are the best. Saw this only recently, it’s very fresh. Brutal precision from Fincher. The mid-movie montage with her voiceover.
Oldboy
Such a mindfuck. It’s like Park Chan-wook wanted revenge on me.
The hallway scene. The hook-up. Ugh.
Blue Ruin
The bathroom scene. The intense dread. The diner scene, watching him try to live with consequences of the revenge he’s set in motion, and the slow dawning of the understanding that he can’t.
The Godfather
This is really about settling scores, the revenge act, while G2 is really about not being able to forgive, and the need to maintain power above everything else, your own soul, family, whatever.
The Last Seduction
Don’t forget, she destroys everybody because Bill Pullman fucking hit her. Delicious.
Freaks
Don’t fuck with carnies. How great is what they do to her? More angry women driving the revenge, as well.

...plus 5 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

]]>

Showdown r731a Sin City

Tue, 3 Nov 2020 03:17:38 +1300

Love the Showdown description for this one.

I'm no expert, and in compiling these ten I realize how much I still need to see. But I kept butting against the same problem: What makes it a “noir” for me? (A genre that has no agreed-upon definition; to paraphrase, “I don’t know what it is, but I know it when I see it.”)

How do you differentiate a "crime thriller" or a police procedural (which could include films as disparate as Rififi, M, Pulp Fiction, and The Big Lebowski) from a "noir?" Too general a definition, and you include everything from Hitchcock's first “The Wrong Man,” to Scorsese's The Irishman. I'm not sure either of those two feel like Noirs to me. Pulp Fiction as well, a fantastic crime picture, but doesn't feel noir. Reservoir Dogs feels more so, but doesn't exactly feel like a true noir to me either. Why?

Does it have to be black and white? How exclusive is the criteria? When do Neo-Noirs start? Is it with Altman's Long Goodbye, as I first thought, or could you go back further? Say Jean-Pierre Melville's films in the 50s and 60s (often in color), or Point Blank?

I don't have great answers to any of this. I made a list of Neo-Noirs, everything that I thought could be classified as that, and realized how limited the term was, and how few of them felt like noir to me.

What does?

Films that have:

1) an inciting event that causes dIsorientation (loss of balance) or overwhelming distress for the protagonist, and the subsequent need to resolve the problem. The struggle is to get the object of their desire (loot, sexual partner, status, an answer to a question.) The viewer and protagonist feel confused as to what the fuck is happening or going to happen. The mystery or puzzle is sufficiently important that it's overwhelming their life, and the film. The film is the unraveling of the conundrum, and the attempts (not always fulfilled) to find out the TRUTH or resolve the conflict.

2) Fatalism: Even though the protagonist/viewer has found out the TRUTH, it doesn't matter, or it doesn't make them happy, or allows them to overcome their conflict. They wish they never tried to begin with. They get the prize, but it turns out have been worthless the whole time. They die anyway, the bad guys get away with it, or the hero is still fucked in some manner.

3) The cinematography/editing/direction/writing should be working to achieve numbers 1 & 2 above, in a stylish and evocative manner to emphasize the disorientation and fatalism, even if it's by contrast...e.g. sun-blasted noir or content contrast, say a killer just hanging out in a children's amusement park. There's also nothing wrong with Venetian-blinds shadows on lipstick either.

Just what I'm thinking about, not intended to be a comprehensive formula or a review of all film noir. It just makes the films work for me.

These criteria are problematic as well: Is No Country For Old Men a Noir? How about Zodiac? What about Goodfellas? (Three of my favorites ever.) I would say respectively Maybe (there's a clear resolution to the confusion), Yes/sort of (a weird Meta-Noir where there is no answer, the killer is not caught, but the wreckage is everywhere), and No. (One of the greatest films ever, but just isn’t noir.) What about Seven? Fits the structure, and yet doesn't feel like a noir to me. Not sure why.

Lots of films look like noir, but just aren’t for me. Fritz Lang’s M is amazing. Got the look, all the crime and corruption elements, but has no central character except the child-murderer played by Peter Lorre. The film also makes us complicit in his subjectivity as he stalks little girls to kill. He comes to a bad end, it has the fatalism piece, but we don’t identify with someone who has the let down. It’s astonishing, completely ahead of it’s time, but not noir.

Other questions: Where are the dames? Almost all the films are male centered, with few female protagonists. (The Last Seduction comes to mind, but isn’t she just the villian (or the conflict itself?) In the age of Me Too, Time's Up, etc.; is it even possible to have a truly villainous femme-fatale or homme-fatale? Is it too entangled with our identity-politics narratives?

My apologies to the countless academics and thinkers who have grappled with these questions in more succinct and perceptive ways than I have managed to by just thinking about this for a few hours. Oh yeah....books! I should read one.

Yes, I'm aware not all my 10 exactly fit criteria. Big Sleep is not really fatalistic, but the plot is so confusing it works for me. Vertigo is certainly not classic noir, but really fits the disorientation/fatalism structure, it ends up feeling like noir to me. Your mileage may vary.

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

]]>