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For some people solitude and isolation can of itself become a problem.

Fourth viewing tonight; this was a rewatch on the big screen at Palace Raine Square and this was the second time that I had seen the film as a retrospective cinema screening. Last time round, I inadvertently saw the shorter 113 minute version so I was excited when Palace d tonight’s screening as the 144 minute cut. As it so happens, the shorter version is what they screened, but it was still great revisiting the movie, if in abridged form, with an audience in a theatre filled to capacity. The sound design of the movie is so phenomenal, with audible racing heartbeats heard at times, that the film feels designed to be only viewed in a cinema with surround sound. It was also a lot fun revisiting the film with the Room 237 documentary fresh in mind.

Something that I really appreciated this time round is how Kubrick initially makes the movie seem like a supernatural horror film about telepathic communication, only for the titular shining to eventually have mere secondary significance in the overall tale of a man driven crazy by isolation and repetition. Sure, there is some supernatural stuff going on with the hotel that even after four viewings I am still unsure about, but the film works above and beyond that as a look at a tight-knit family falling apart when communication is cut off to the outside world. And coming out in 1980 in the wake of Alien and Halloween, it must have been incredible back then to watch a film like this in which the real terror comes from within, as opposed to an external threat.

Most anything in his films can't be regarded as arbitrary.

Did Stanley Kubrick deviate from Stephen King's novel when adapting The Shining to screen because he had a hidden agenda? Did he intend the film to be a parable for Nazism, a statement about Amerindian mistreatment or even a confession that he faked the moon landing? This stylish documentary smartly shies away from answering these questions, instead allowing us to make up our own minds as we are treated to interviews with various conspiracy theorists, played against movie clips and archive footage. In short, this was a perfect film to rewatch in the lead-up to a planned revisit of The Shining on the big screen tonight. Several observations at hand are intriguing - in particular, the "impossible window" and the paradoxical apparent layout of the Overlook Hotel.

Kubrick was a master of manipulating sense of space (every time we see Alex's home in A Clockwork Orange, it is from a different angle) so space manipulation in The Shining makes sense. Also interesting is the car from the King novel crashed in the snow, which the filmmakers hilariously cut against an irate King in his Creepshow cameo. The various continuity glitches are fascinating too, and of course A Clockwork Orange has that glass that keeps moving about. The majority of observations here feel like the result of apophenia though (the tendency to see unintended symbols and patterns); a claim that Kubrick's head can be seen in the clouds and a claim that Barry Nelson's paper tray makes him look aroused come off as particularly wild assertions.

Whatever the case, it is never less than fascinating to hear how much the film means to certain individuals. The documentary is also very well done from a technical point of view. The archive footage varies in effectiveness, but the way the film manipulates footage from Kubrick's other movies is masterful, such as the shots of an Eyes Wide Shut Cruise looking at posters for The Shining, and an amazing take in which '237' is changed to '217' on the ominous door. The tingling music score deserves full marks too. Some have criticised the film because the theories presented are wild and wacky, but that is every bit the point. Room 237 is a timely reminder about overanalysis in this current age in which everyone with a keyboard or a smartphone is film critic.

It is so easy to accuse someone.

Badly injured and bedridden after falling down the stairs, a middle aged woman becomes convinced that one of her two half-siblings pushed her to avoid a discussion about selling the family home in this weird thriller from Argentina that has been compared to Misery. Both of the fully grown half-siblings are obsessed with The Wizard of the Oz with the brother attempting to create a semi-animated remake of it with chromakey special effects no less, and the creepiness of the characters carries the film to some degree. The title is misleading though as this is not a film about childhood games played by adults. Instead, the vast majority of the movie is powered by the question of which of the siblings pushed her, or whether she just imagined it, since we never see any pushing - only her falling down the stairs.

Working out who pushed her is not, however, quite enough to drive a forty-minute film, let alone a movie twice as long as that. With only two possible culprits, the film eventually boils down to multiple intimate conversations with each sibling in which she tries to convince him/her that the other is insane for pushing her down the stairs. In short, the film grows quite repetitive in its middle stretch. There is some overt horror in the final ten minutes involving an electric knife and other strange stuff, but far too long is spent on her talking it out to work out who pushed her, while disappointingly little of the film is dedicated to the possibility of it being all in her head. Still, this remains interesting as a daringly different sort of thriller, as well as an unusual take on sibling rivalry and squabbling over inheritance.

What I do is my true calling.

Released with the intriguing tagline "you're safer in the water", this Australian horror thriller revolves around a serial killer who runs shark cage tours in which he occasionally feeds an overenthusiastic tourist to the predators circling around his boat. The film gets off to an excellent start with an intense scene that ends unexpectedly before the title card flashes on screen, and while the remainder of the first quarter of the film is weak with a poorly developed romance, the project takes off with bang as soon as the female lover is kidnapped and it seldom lets up afterwards. While there is some gnarly blood, gore and mutilation in the mix, Sean Byrne makes the film a real exercise in dread and suspense. Jai Courtney makes for a fantastic villain too, complete with an OCD style obsession with videorecording everything in order to create what he believes are 'great shows'.

Cast opposite Courtney, Hassie Harrison makes for an effective co-lead, bringing a real feistiness to a role that could have so easily been a helpless victim. The film becomes a bit less interesting as it begins to cut away to her boyfriend playing detective and heroically trying to save her on his own, however, this is still ultimately a film about Harrison fending for herself and proving that she can survive. That said, she makes very irrational choices in the final third of the film that still seem silly even if we assume that she is making poor decisions due to stress. Whatever the case, the film wraps up in a satisfying manner. It arguably outstays its welcome by a minute or two, but it is a nail-biting ride for the most part, and all the more so since the sharks are never played as monsters, but rather innocent animals manipulated by a serial killer into doing his dirty work.

It's no longer your film.

Fourth viewing tonight; this was a rewatch on the big screen at Luna Leederville - and the third time that I had seen the film on a cinema screen over the past twelve months. The movie received a round of applause and many stood around to discuss the specifics of the story and all of the weird bits and pieces afterwards, which exactly the sort of reception that a film like this deserves. While seeing Mulholland Drive so often on the big screen might sound like overkill, this is one of those movies that keeps drawing me back with its dreaminess and puzzle box nature in which all of the smallest things begin to make sense the more you think about it. Even the dancing at the start makes sense with Watts later reveals about her ascent to Hollywood. While I spent my last couple of viewings focusing on the puzzle aspect and trying to place all of the pieces together, this time round my mind drifted off to what Lynch had to say about the film industry and studio system and how it is perceived by others.

Does Watts miss out on all of her big breaks since directors are powerless with all of the big decisions made by men in wheelchairs in darkened sound-proof rooms? Clearly, that is how she feels, and the sound-proof room is additionally pretty intriguing along silencio lines. There is also something quite interesting in how the "this is the girl" audition (as she sees it) is all about singing for the camera rather than delivering lines as in the audition that she has with James Karen. Is acting talent even valued in the studio system when looks and pretty voices are valued so highly? And yet, while Mulholland Drive might seem incredibly pessimistic about the processes that go into getting a film made, there is certainly something to be said for the need to cater to those financing a film, which makes one wonder what Lynch had to go through himself to get his movie green-lit. Was he visited by a cowboy himself telling him to play by the rules in order to get his film made? I guess we will never know.

It's called suspension of disbelief.

Third viewing tonight; this was a rewatch on the big screen at Luna Leederville with an enthusiastic audience who applauded at the end of the film. While there was a lot of chatter beforehand, most of it was about Sharon Stone and that scene, which is a shame because there is a lot more to the movie than just the interrogation legs crossing scene. Jerry Goldsmith's music score does a lot of heavy lifting, while the camerawork and editing during the dangerous driving scenes are incredible, plus the whole thing is very meta. Stone's character is of course a writer and keeps referring to Nick as a character in her book while also talking about how writing fiction is very similar to lying; meanwhile other characters talk about suspending disbelief in stories. Of course, nobody turns around and starts talking about movies, but it is an easy comparison to draw between fiction in books and on film.

Something else that really stood out to me tonight is how similar the movie feels to Vertigo - and beyond just the San Francisco setting. There is a part with crashing waves against rocks that feels lifted from Vertigo, while the exteriors of the older lady's home look similar, and of course both films are about a lonely man tracking and falling in love with a blonde with a mysterious past. Made four decades, Basic Instinct has more graphic gore and ample sex and nudity, but is very much a neo-noir packed with noir tropes, while also a film smart enough to opt for an open ending, even if it is heavily implied what she will eventually do. The movie looks amazing too given how reliant it is on dimly lit and night time shots, and there are some incredible moments in which wet window reflections cast eerie shadows on the faces of the characters - very aptly so for the possibly two-faced Stone.

I do not believe in forgiveness, nor in rehabilitation.

Sympathetic to a local African American who shot dead two men who raped his daughter, a Mississippi lawyer conspires to get his client acquitted by pleading temporary insanity in this morally queasy courtroom drama. The film largely circles around whether Samuel L. Jackson as the murderer can get a fair trial in a deeply racist community, and the film's most potent scenes are dedicated to a KKK rebirth as the trial stirs up division. That said, the film does a poor job of making Jackson sympathetic, and his lawyer's attempts to get him acquitted feel like more of a manipulation of the system than a triumph over racism. The murders are, after all, premeditated, with Jackson coming to his lawyer for advice beforehand. Then there is the fact that Jackson shot the rapists simply because he thought that they would be acquitted and not because they actually were. And as the cherry on top, Jackson also shoots and severely injures two innocent policemen escorting the rapists. Sympathetic he is not.

While the story and screenplay are a mess, the film is never once boring over its massive 2.5 hour duration thanks to the dedicated performances from all concerned, including a young Matthew McConaughey as the idealistic lawyer who seems to believe that he is the next Atticus Finch. There are also quite a few anxiety-driven and paranoia-ridden scenes as McConaughey's family receives threatening phone calls and as KKK attempt to assassinate him. And even on second viewing, it remains fascinating to watch McConaughey pull all sorts of legal strings to rort the system, while facing off with an appropriately smarmy and arrogant Kevin Spacey. The movie is simply weirdly uncritical of McConaughey's unethical behaviour in trying to turn a premeditated murder into a temporary insanity case. The abovementioned quote also comes from his character and perfectly encapsulates the whole moral com of the film. Death Wish has nothing on this as far as pro-vigilantism movies go.

What my angle is is my business.

Fourth viewing today; this was a rewatch on the big screen at the Backlot with an audience who laughed at all of Marie Windsor’s snappy lines and applauded loudly at the end. The film was presented by Book to Film with John mentioning in his introduction how Tarantino modeled Reservoir Dogs on The Killing, which can definitely be felt. The voiceover narration still irked me on this watch, but as John mentioned in his discussion afterwards, it was imposed against Kubrick’s wishes. It was also interesting to hear John and Michael discuss the differences from the book, including turning the parking officer into a black man so that the sniper could insult him. The fate of the sniper was also apparently less ironic than in the finished film.

The presentation of the movie today left a bit to be desired with the 1080p print occasionally looking grainy, and grey (rather than black) bars on the side of the screen. In general though the movie looked as great as ever with lots of lethargic dissolves as in Kubrick’s latter works and many scenes shot without artificial lighting. There is a particularly great part in which Windsor and her lover are eerily lit from underneath by a lamp with dark shadows going across their faces. All of the tracking shots that move through multiple rooms are breathtaking too, while the fate of the money near the end leads to a gorgeous looking scene in pitch black night. The multiple replays of the crime are amazing too for a film in which everyone has their own angle.

Calm down. These things happen.

Six tales of stressed out human beings doing outrageous things while under pressure are strung together in this gripping anthology movie from Argentina. While some of the tales are slightly stronger than others, they all feel like part of one cohesive whole, with dark humour rife across all of the episodes and thought-provoking overlapping themes and issues. The individual tales also still work upon second glance when one enters the film knowing every outcome to come. The first tale is arguably the strongest and certainly the eeriest with a Twilight Zone aura as various engers on a plane fight gradually realise that they have something in common. The second tale is more down-to-earth but just as intense with a waitress and her colleague swinging back and forth over whether or not to poison a customer who wronged her years earlier. The third tale is the most comedic and memorable, and weirdly also the most stressful, as the road rage gets the better of two individuals on an isolated highway.

The fourth tale is less memorable than the third, but Ricardo Darín is so utterly human and relatable as a man undone by bureaucratic madness that it is possibly the best chapter. The conclusion to the tale certainly resonates strongest as anger and stress actually work in someone's favour, to be as vague as possible. The fifth tale is possibly the weakest since it has the least dark humour with a wealthy family conspiring to get their son off a hit-and-run charge, but it is memorable in its own right with a very grim ending. The sixth tale re-enters dark comedy territory, but it is the longest tale by far and never feels like it should be that long. Ending off with these last two tales, the film feels like it concludes on more a whimper than a bang, but the first four are all masterpiece-level mini-movies and the last two are still fine. As per as the opening credits over wild animals, the overall film really explores how we all have the capacity to release our inner animal under the right circumstances.

When you deal in blood, there must be rules.

While set in the same "rules and consequences" universe of the John Wick movies, this is a noticeably different spin-off that tries to do its own thing and avoid copycatting the series that spawned it. The title character here is an assassin who undergoes similar training to that which Wick had, and with several scenes of Ana de Armas learning how to fight, as well as an extended back-story with a cool labyrinthine castle, we get to know her more as an individual over the course of one film than Wick over the course of four. Her clumsiness during training and during her first assignment is a nice point of difference too. All that said and done, the basics of the film are very similar to the Wick movies with potential assassins constantly coming left, right and centre, while ing characters offer philosophical quips about fate, choices, and indeed rules and consequences, though with a lot less neon lighting.

The action scenes are very impressive but seldom seem realistic since the Ballerina's weapon where possible is the hand grenade, and while metal doors and tables might offer some protection from an explosion, it is doubtful that they would be as effective as portrayed here. The film occasionally seems self-aware of its ridiculousness. One of the best scenes has de Armas using a television remote control as a weapon, with the station constantly changing whenever she hits her assailant, flicking through various action films and ending up on Buster Keaton in Steamboat Bill, Jr.. More self-awareness though would have not gone astray because the film generally takes itself way too seriously, particularly when flamethrowers start to get used like light sabers. For all its arguable weaknesses though, this is a highly entertaining film while it lasts, providing a look from alternative perspective on the world that John Wick came from.

I'd imagined a different life for myself.

Having finally made a life for herself in Brooklyn, an Irish immigrant finds herself torn between returning to the US and staying in Ireland after circumstances cause her to revisit her former home in this 1950s-set melodrama starring Saiorse Ronan. The film has a handful of thoughtful things to say when the decision dilemma eventually arises; for the most part though, this is a highly formulaic romance movie with Ronan and her beau in America so easily and quickly falling head-over-heels in love. There are some occasional funny moments as Ronan's friends in Brooklyn teach her to eat spaghetti properly and help find her a modern swimsuit, but the film does not exactly have a lot to it beyond the basic notion of being torn between two countries and two possible futures.

Revisited after six years though, Brooklyn is less underwhelming the second time round. The first half of the movie is actually fairly strong, centred on Ronan's difficulties adjusting to life in America and a memorable gruelling sea journey over that has Ronan doing all sorts of things on camera as she becomes unwell. The whole film just becomes rather soap opera-like from the point at which she falls in love in America. The on/off voiceover narration as Ronan narrates various letters grows on the nerves too. Ronan certainly does her best with the thin material though, while a host of familiar faces deliver solid ing turns. The overall product feels more generic than anything else for a movie that was nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards in its day.

The Nazis are gone. We're fighting ghosts.

Set shortly after the end of World War II, this supernaturally slanted drama revolves around a group of war veterans who agree to help a friend conduct a séance to communicate with his deceased wife. The film is almost entirely set in a single room with the inherent claustrophobia adding to the experience as the veterans end up letting their innermost resentments and secrets seep out after the séance appears to work. On a thematic level, the whole thing feels a bit simplistic at times with some overt racism=bad messaging and far too much chatter about moving on and leaving the war in the past. It is absolutely fascinating though to watch everyone slowly unravel and become more and more unhinged as the successful séance challenges their preconceptions about the world.

The film is very dialogue-heavy, but this makes the more pronounced horror parts seem all the more grisly. There are some startling bits of gore and bloodletting, while the film also features an intense interrogation and torture scene that perfectly showcases just how horrific the non-fighting parts of warfare can be. The question also arises at several points about whether crimes committed during wartime can be excused with all concerned trying to move on with their lives with the war just behind them, only to find themselves trapped by how the war has affected them, both literally and metaphorically. In short, this is a pretty interesting concoction with an 'is she or isn't she' plot turn for good measure as the characters begin to question more than just their reality.

Grapefruit.

Two orphaned half-siblings are placed in foster care with an eccentric woman who is still grieving over the death of her daughter in this Australian horror movie starring Sally Hawkins. While the film does not make it ambiguous whether or not Hawkins is really off her rocker (she clearly is), the film interestingly does not become overtly horror-like until its second half. The movie is more of a psychological thriller at first with Hawkins clearly gaslighting the brother, while what exactly her true intentions for the siblings are is nicely vague and mysterious at first. Even the generic trope of a creepy mute child (who is also staying at her house) is intriguing. The film loses some of its power as the mythology becomes clearer and more complex, but the first half of the movie works as a tale of dread and worry with a few grief ideas thrown in.

And yet while less mysterious, the second half still works in its own right as the horror slant properly ignites with gruelling and hard-to-watch scenes full of blood and gore. The makeup effects are excellent for these parts too. The second half of the film of also pushes a see-no-evil agenda that feels a bit too blunt with one of the characters being legally blind. The distorted vision shots for her point-of-view are amazing throughout though, and to such a degree that the film feels like it may have been even more interesting with everything played out all distorted. Whatever the case, it is pretty cool that effective horror movies with decent budgets like this are being made in Australia today, and with an exclusively Australian collection of songs on the soundtrack, this feels very Australian even if a lot of themes come across as universal.

Why do you keep lying?

Based on the incredible but true story of a highly paid executive who turned whistleblower as part of an elaborate plan to have his bosses fired, The Informant! is just as interesting a film after three viewings. Watched back-to-back with King of the Hill, it is also notable as another Steven Soderbergh film about a pathological liar, though in the case of the informer here, the motivation is megalomania (wanting to be the boss) rather than necessity for survival. Matt Damon excels in the role either way, bringing a crazy amount of boyish energy to the part as he keeps ignoring everyone's advice in order to get his name in the spotlight. Particularly interesting upon rewatch is seeing how easily everyone is sucked in and falls for his lies, though the film shies over its more intriguing questions, such as just how much his wife knew.

Narrated on/off by Damon, the film really gets into his headspace too, full of amusing anecdotes, including polar bears covering their noses, all of which ultimately feel more significant than they initially seem to be. There is also a great scene at the end where we keep hearing planning what to say before changing his mind. Damon also ends up coming up as more calculating than blissfully ignorant, though what always remains the same is his defensiveness, constantly seeing himself as the man in the "white hat" throughout thick and thin. Filmed with well distributed yellow and blue filters, blessed by an amazing multi-tonal music score and populated with many absurd moments that nevertheless come off as believable, Soderbergh once again proves here that he works best with down-to-earth tales of human beings pushed to emotional extremes.

I knew you could take of yourselves.

Steven Soderbergh's classic drama about a teenage boy who has to survive by his wits when left alone by his parents during the Great Expression, King of the Hill is just as powerful upon revision after more than a decade. The story sounds fairly simple, but as he has to avoid eviction in addition to fending for himself, the whole situation gradually grows more complex. Jesse Bradford is mesmirising as the young protagonist for whom telling convincing lies has become a second nature as well as a means by which to survive. It is tempting to call King of the Hill grim because Bradford's world appears so bleak and helpless, however the film is simultaneously uplifting since his outlook on everything remains optimistic. Even after seeing the horrors that the Great Depression reduced so many to around him, his childhood innocence is not completely eroded, and he can see light at the end of the tunnel.

Soderbergh superbly captures what everything feels like for Bradford. The camerawork is excellent throughout, becoming angled for pivotal moments such as saying goodbye to his brother, while spinning madly at other points, like during a triumphant marble match. The music choices are flawless too. The biggest surprise about the film upon second glance is how relatively little time is spent on him evading eviction and surviving on food scraps, since this what lingers most in the mind rather than the movie's optimism otherwise. The film ends on an excessively positive too note with a few plot turns that could hardly be called realistic. Even if Soderbergh had chosen to cut to black on the penultimate shot of Bradford staring, it would have made for a much more potent ending than the warmness that he ultimately opts for. One cannot, however, really blame Soderbergh for wanting the characters to end up as they do.

Do you think she wanted to be killed?

Third viewing tonight; this was a rewatch on the big screen at Palace Raine Square and it was amazing experiencing the film under theatrical conditions with Pino Donaggio’s atmospheric score blaring louder than ever. The turnout was small, but the audience were very into the film, laughing at all of the comic relief, and there were some great discussions about the movie afterwards. As for the film itself, the trans content definitely has not dated well, the plot arguably has a few holes and the film could definitely do without all of the over-explaining towards the end. Brian De Palma nicely focuses on the hilarious reactions of those listening to the explanations though, particularly an easily offended old lady eating, which feels like a subversive way of pandering to the audience while acknowledging how silly pandering can be.

Whatever one makes of the trans content and unsubtle explanations though, there is no denying how massive an achievement the film is as an exercise in building up tension and suspense. There are several outstanding sequences with nail-biting tension, from the elevator kill and aftermath with everything reflected in the mirror, to the shower sequence towards the end that almost mirrors the opening scene. My favourite scene tonight was probably the subway sequence with all the choice cutaways, reaction shots and creepy lights going off in the train. The art gallery scene is breathtaking too - and all the more so because De Palma does it all without any audible dialogue. For a film that is often dismissed as imitation Hitchcock, there is a surprisingly large amount here that outclasses Hitchcock at his own game.

You might as well be a serial killer.

Divided into five episodes though narrated as a fluid stream of consciousness, this seminal Lars von Trier film about a serial killer confessing his deepest sins plays out better than ever a second time round. While the shock value is not quite the same upon revision, the sense of dread is palpable knowing where each chapter will head, especially the hunting incident with Matt Dillon acting so fatherly towards his girlfriend's sons, full of sagely advice, before things take a turn for the grisly. The most striking aspect of the film though remains how eerily relatable Dillon is with his obsessive compulsive tendencies and anxiety. There is also a lot of dark humour in Dillon repeatedly returning to the scenes of his crimes to check for blood splatter stains that he may have missed. This is a film tailor-made for those of us who need to check that every door is locked at least twice.

Knowing where Dillon is heading with the man listening to him additionally makes the film more dynamic upon revision, particularly as Dillon describes his amazement at never being caught or punished and as the other man questions him about his belief that he was always gentlemanly. The final fifteen or twenty minutes of the movie still feel like a bit of a mixed bag the second time round as the story veers off the deep end, but perhaps in a thematically appropriate way. Whatever the case, the film rarely feels too long despite the two and a half hour length. Dillon's philosophical justifications for his hobby are enticing to hear too, especially as he compares his killing to art, while von Trier splices a variety of archive footage and the occasional bit of animation into the proceedings in order to create a movie that feels like a lot more than one man describing his life's work to another.

Let's communicate.

Needing capital for his latest risky venture, a much-hated businessman travels around the Middle East with his estranged daughter while using his unconventional negotiation skills to secure investment in this typically chaotic Wes Anderson comedy starring Benicio Del Toro. The humour throughout varies from repetitive and deadpan to downright silly, with the businessman playing a basketball match at the film's most ridiculous in order to gain investment. The film succeeds far better when in drama mode with Del Toro constantly having near-death experiences, leading to gorgeous high contrast black and white nightmares in which he imagines himself on trial in Heaven. A stronger film, in fact, could have been all about this. Del Toro's gradual bonding his daughter is pretty neat too, though some of the other drama (his daughter being romanced) ittedly feels forced and lame.

Stylistically, the film feels very Anderson-like, from the symmetrical compositions and 4:3 ratio, to the chapter headings, race-against-time element and the crazy amount of big name actors making the smallest of cameos. In other words, your mileage will vary depending on how much you jive with Anderson's aesthetics. One unique element this time round is Del Toro having to fend off multiple attempts on his life with several assassins hired to get him, but it feels like this sort of thing has been done better before in the likes of Wild of Heart. Perhaps if it ever felt like Del Toro's life was ever in real danger, the angle might have really worked. As it is, he always seems invincible and the assassins never feel threatening (nor are they comically unthreatening). The stakes here also feel incredible low, but for all its woes the film is at least never once boring.

If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.

Third viewing tonight; this was a rewatch on the big screen at Luna Leederville and it was lovely seeing the film with a large audience who continued to talk about the film as they exited the theatre. This was the first time that I had seen the film in more than a decade, and I did not a whole lot from it aside from Burt Lancaster’s character and performance. I think that makes sense because he provides such a powerful and towering performance that the film sags a bit whenever he is off screen. While the other characters have important plot functions, the whole film is essentially about Lancaster reg himself to inevitable changes in life during a chapter in the history of Sicily with movements towards political change.

The film is also about Lancaster accepting the fact that he is getting older and seeing changes in his personal life as well as politically. The biggest change comes from him realising that his nephew is old enough to get married and Lancaster has some great speeches about death and accepting things to come. Luchino Visconti does a great job shooting Lancaster throughout his journey to acceptance. There are lots of low camera angles on Lancaster early on, most notably during the iconic fireworks scene, however, by the end of the film Visconti switches to high camera angle long distance shots as Lancaster starts to see himself as less important in the world. The ending shot is a particularly powerful way to wrap up his storyline.

Nothing ever happens in this country.

Hoping to oust his newly elected deputy, the mayor of a small town labels him a Communist and calls for his resignation, but when the deputy refuses to leave his office, a siege situation develops that escalates into a small-scale war in this Argentinean comedy. There is a bit more going on plot-wise with some politics that would probably make more sense to a local audience, but the basics here are easy to appreciate with mere political mudslinging quickly turning into something far more violent... and revolting, as a crop duster s in and drops certain things from the sky. There is also something to be said for the oblivious townspeople who dismiss it as nothing, as per the abovementioned quote, when the mayor starts ordering a driver with a megaphone to call for the deputy's resignation.

Something else interesting about the film is how paranoid and irrational the deputy mayor seems to be at first, handing out guns to everyone in his office and giving out promotions in order to get others on his side. As it so happens though, he had the foresight to see how thing would escalate, which is something that the mayor arguably did not see coming. The film is apparently inspired by actual events, and while it is questionable whether all of the comedy would have really occurred, the escalating drama is easy to imagine happening. In fact, as a comedy, the humour is rather hit-and-miss, but as a drama the whole thing ends up being a bit eerie and sobering with both sides of the dirty little war declaring that they doing what they are doing for the same cause: in the name of Péron.

It's impossible to explain to ant what is reality.

It sounds like some sort of precursor to Late Night with the Devil as a group of television journalists here interview a self-proclaimed warlock while a clock ticks down to midnight, but this Argentinean horror film takes things in a different direction. The film is more dialogue-based with far more talk of the supernatural than demonstrations of it, while the script largely revolves around linking politicians to such things. It is actually over half an hour in before the whole thing begins to feel horror-like as the journalists take some hallucinogens and begin to experience beams of red light. And with the vast majority of the film shot in black and white, the red beams are very neat as the only non-greyscale colour whenever they occur.

Stylistically, this film has a fair bit to offer, and beyond the red lights. The deep, shadowy black and white photography is great, while the ticking timer in the corner of the screen builds up ample tension, even if it what occurs when the timer gets to zero is disappointing. Made on a modest budget with limited funds for special effects, the film instead relies on its ideas, but also delivers its best ruminations early on. Despite the warlock droning on about "what is reality" near the end, the idea that politicians could be in league with the Devil is the most striking possibility suggested, but this is questioned early on with the majority of the film spent on the journalists repetitively trying to prove it by grilling the warlock on live television.

Let it end!

Not quite true to the title, this Australian outback horror movie revolves around the struggles of a young man to get help after fatally wounding another man who was beating him to death. The movie boosts some gnarly practical effects on a budget with gore galore, plus a very creepy moment in which something like a balloon is pierced right in front of the camera to represent the protagonist's eyes being gouged out. There is quite a bit of torture throughout, and the bleakness of the story, with no foreseeable happy end in sight, is hard to shake. The choice to shoot in the Tasmanian (rather than mainland Australia) outback additionally gives the film a very distinct flavour with less desert and more greenery but still a sense of help being way too far away.

For all that the film gets right though, it overshoots with a drawn out ending that leaves more questions than answers. The film also plays out of chronological order with the reason why he was beaten not revealed until the second half of the movie. This could have been really neat if the film suddenly revealed that the protagonist deserved to be beaten to death. As it turns out though, he is more stupid and naive than mean or nasty, and inasmuch as David Tracy has some great speeches about his "baby brother", the film seldom positions us to feel for the torturers as well. This feel likes a tailor-made film though for fans of the French Extremity horror wave, and there is a lot to like in how brutal the film is prepared to get over its hour and half duration.

I’m only a memory.

An unlikely high school romance blossoms between a well-spoken girl and a petty thief, but his rise in the crime world threatens their relationship in this stylish French drama. The film runs very long at close to three hours, however, the length is only felt towards the end with a large number of false endings. For the most part, the length is dedicated to developing the protagonist as three dimensional characters (though him more than her) to the point that the entire thing is very heartfelt, especially as he starts thinking back to the life he could have had with different decisions earlier on.

The film looks fantastic throughout too with lots of extreme low camera angles, some gorgeous sun eclipses and a stellar first person perspective scene bathed in neon red. The club interiors look magnificent too. An apt 80s and 90s song soundtrack also helps the film genuinely feel like it is set during that era. The project is arguably stronger when in revenge mode than when in love mode, but the overall film still really clicks. Both the teen and adult actors do a great job inhabiting their characters and believably come across respectively as slightly older and wiser versions of themselves.

Don't believe everything you see tonight.

Opening with a housewife complaining about hearing voices in her kitchen before experiencing a very horrific demise in her bathroom several minutes later, this horror effort from Argentina gets off to a very solid start. We subsequently see her husband being grilled by individuals who we think are police detectives; au contraire, they are actually paranormal investigators, and as the film plods along we are treated to more and more strange and unusual occurrences in other households in the same neighbourhood. It is an interesting idea on paper, but what it ultimately amounts to is a series of loosely connected, spooky vignettes. An intriguing explanation is offered in the second half of the film, but one that comes with a heap of unanswered questions (why so aggressive?), an ill-explained orange slices metaphor and a lame boo-moment ending.

True to its title though, the film is terrifying at its best, with a particularly eerie part in which one investigator works out that he can see a figure in a window, but only if he moves slightly to the left or right. There are also several other unsettling scenes, with weird beings inside cabinets and exhumed corpses at tables, and as a film about fear caught on film, the movie more than suffices. Taken as a narrative though, it is hard not to wish more from the story. While the paranormal investigators bring The X Files to mind, there are none of the sceptic/believer back-and-forth dynamics that made that show so great. In fact, the film is pretty light on characterisation throughout, resulting in a movie in which we can feel the terror that the characters are experiencing, but without any emotional investment in whether they survive or not.

Who's forcing you to stare at them?

As a young couple are arrested for kissing in public late one Saturday evening, this Serbian drama gets off to a strong start. The couple soon find themselves in a bind as they have to prove that they are married to avoid being charged - and they have kept their marriage a secret from their parents. There is lots of interest to the situation beyond their dilemma, with the onlookers mixed about whether to ignore or report the couple, and the couple insisting that they were only making out in the street because they cannot afford to live with one another. There is a fair bit of comedy too from the young's wife easily irate parents, and with this mountain out of a molehill situation at the forefront, it is easy to get on board with Saturday Night from early on.

As it so happens though, this is one of those omnibus films and the kissing couple is only the first of three stories. The second tale is a lot less engaging narrative-wise, involving the ins and outs of a boxing match. The camerawork and lighting effects in this chapter are breathtaking though, including a shot through an opponent's open legs of a boxer knocked to the ground in the ring. There are lots of artistic low camera angles and deep shadows too. The third tale on the other hand, it is less stylishly shot as well as less satisfying as a narrative, revolving around a group youths attending a dance and chatting about who they do and do not fancy. It feels like a weak chapter to have last, but for the first and second episodes, the overall film is worth a spin.

We're all strangers here.

Aiming to lie low after a messy bank robbery, a gang of criminals bury their loot in the desert and wander into a nearby town where the locals are less than inviting in this revisionist western comedy from Alex Cox. The film has a pretty decent set-up and given the increasingly bizarre behaviour of the locals, the film seems somewhat symbolic in a way; have they literally arrived in hell, as per the title, as a consequence for their criminal actions? The movie also features a recreation of the Last Supper with the entire cast singing "Danny Boy" as well as some neat stop motion animated skeleton, and yet for the most part the movie is devoid of religious connotations or explicit connections to hell, while the stop motion parts are few and far between. In short, Cox’s Walker from the same year is a more satisfying unusual western.

This is one of those films that feels like a series of loosely connected events strung together. Highlights include Dennis Hopper popping up to sell guns to everyone, and a man receiving a blow job managing to convince the girl's boyfriend that she is sucking out rattlesnake poison. There are not quite enough of these zany bits though for a ninety minute feature, and with few likeable characters, it becomes hard to grasp on the film. There is some sexual tension though and indeed coffee as per the promotional tagline, and there is something fun in the idea of everyone in town being highly caffeinated rather than drunk, but again ninety minutes feels like too much. The film does improve though in its shootout-heavy final twenty minutes with a nod to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, and the movie seems to appeal to spaghetti western fans.

It's just a nursery rhyme, Mother.

Released into her adult daughter's care after murdering her husband and his lover twenty years earlier, a middle aged woman is plagued by visions, voices and nightmares while various individuals begin meeting their demise via axe murder in this horror thriller from William Castle. The film is written by Robert Bloch, and as per Psycho, the project is letdown by very weak scene towards the end that spells out everything that occurred, including a twist that is easy to see coming a mile away. This is a pretty classy movie in general though and put together with finesse, from a pig squeal after a certain murder takes place, to the protagonist hearing things in the night, only to imagining waking up next to a severed head, to a glorious overhead shot of a room with striped walls that look like they are caging her in.

The film is better known as a late career Joan Crawford vehicle though rather than a Castle or Bloch movie, and Crawford fares pretty well, all things considered. While not terribly effective when she gets into shouting matches in the melodramatic final quarter of the movie, she does well for the most part as a character trying to remain calm and composed while noticeably unsettled by all of things she imagines hearing and seeing. Diane Baker is fine as her daughter too, but this is really much more of a visual feast than an acting showcase. An eerily silent in which we only see the raised axe in shadow as the unsuspecting victim to-be goes about his business (as per my selected Letterboxd backdrop) is particularly well done with Castle building up incredible suspense and tension for a director known for gimmick cinema.

You do it because you’re driven.

Second viewing tonight; this was a rewatch on the big screen at Luna Leederville with an introduction by Tristan and a representative from Perth Comic Arts Festival who described the film as uninterested in depicting any kind of reality. That is really quite an accurate description, with the Wachowskis playing so heavily into the hyperreal look of the film that it is easy to suspend disbelief at the physics-defying car stunts and over-elaborate plot with a scheming evil villain who talks too much. Particularly remarkable is what the Wachowskis do with blurry background lights, forming love heart shapes at a couple of key points.

The audience tonight were very into the film too, cheering and applauding throughout (as well at the end of the movie) - and at such a loud volume that dialogue was sometimes drowned out. There was lots of laughter too and I would agree that it is a pretty funny film, but I stand by my previous stance that the gluttonous younger brother and his chimp are more often lame than funny. Those two aside though, this is a pretty glorious cinematic achievement with phenomenal subtle scene changes at times as the camera tends to glide past a foreground head with the green screen background changing at the same time.

I always have someone to lie to me.

Investigating the murders of two cavalrymen who were guarding shipments of gold, an intelligence officer risks his life by posing as a transporter in order to drive in another gold shipment in this curious mesh of noir and classic western elements. The film boasts some crackling hard-boiled dialogue exchanges and lead players Dick Powell and Jane Greer do a good job letting the film's wittiest exchanges very naturally roll off their tongues. The romance that predictably develops between them is conversely quite dull, but the movie fortunately spends more time on the mystery of who is murdering everyone who attempts to safely transport gold from town to town, with several red herrings afoot.

All that said and done, the film only builds to a pretty typical shootout/climax and the novelty of having western and noir tropes together tires long before the film is over. The hard-boiled dialogue is also always more interesting than the mystery at hand, while the film does not do a lot with the fact that Greer has more authority than the average woman in a western. All concerned give it their all though, with the star-studded ing including Raymond Burr, Agnes Moorehead and Burl Ives. The film looks pretty good too, shot by Harry J. Wild who photographed Murder, My Sweet, also starring Powell, around half a decade earlier. Still, this mostly feels like a film for noir and western completists.

No doctor can help him; only a miracle.

Blaming herself for her father's paralysis after falling off the top of his building, a violinist quits her job to care for her father full time, however, his insistence in keeping his beloved pigeons in his bedroom gradually eats away at her sanity in this curious drama from Azerbaijan. As the daughter and father respectively, Ayan Mirgasimova and Aladdin Abbasov both deliver solid performances, but what really keeps the film chugging along are all the moments where she walks in on her father sitting completely still in his wheelchair, incorrectly assuming that he has died and the pigeons are pecking away at his remains. There is also a very cool bit in which she imagines what something will look like when she drops it before she actually drops it, though any such precognitive abilities do not otherwise factor into the film.

Appealing as the film might sound, everything becomes rather repetitive long before the end and many of the dialogue exchanges are hard to make out with fuzzy white-on-white subtitles on the only readily available copy of the film. And yet, while some of the ins and outs of the story might be lost on those who cannot speak Azerbaijani, the overarching themes and issues of the story resonate. Mirgasimova is much like one of her father's pigeons, forced to stay inside the apartment and unable to live her own life while still feeling responsible for her father's. With small smiles sneaking across his face at times, Abbasov also seems to enjoy being waited on hand and foot a little too much, and with a shorter runtime and easier-to-read subtitles, this may have been a very potent look at control, manipulation, guilt and coercion.

We don't terrorise them. We co-exist.

Strange and unexplained events plague the family of the lead detective on a kidnapping case in this twisty thriller that is best entered into with as little prior knowledge as possible. Suffice it to say, the film radically shifts perspective halfway in with a creepy reveal that shines a different light on several things that have played out up until that point, and it is hard not to get the chills as we see certain events replayed from this new perspective. The whole film though is unsettling, right from the slow-mo shot of the missing kid flying through the air off his bike early on, to the following eerie shots that track up and down the detective's house at night, zooming in on an empty couch before the title pops up on screen.

As a narrative the film has its fair share of weaknesses with some second-rate personal drama in the lives of the detective and his son. The identity of the kidnapper also feels rather random with no clear motive or raison d’être. Still, this is an easy film to appreciate for everything it gets right, from feeling uncomfortable while wandering around your own home at night, to two characters in the second half torn in opposite directions regarding their illegal activities. It feels like a whole film could be made about these two characters and their fear and anxiety driving activities. The film is also topped off with a phenomenal music score from William Arcane that perfectly heightens tension and creates a real sense of unease.

Ever feel like reality is more twisted than dreams?

Second viewing tonight; this was a rewatch on the big screen at Palace Raine Square and it was glorious seeing the film under theatrical conditions, even with the annoying blue line projection issue in Cinema 2. The turnout was small tonight but there was plenty of laughter throughout at all of the deliciously dark humour. I had also forgotten just how short the film was, but it packs quite a wallop in its brief runtime as three young adults become fugitives on the run after accidentally killing a convenience store proprietor. Weirdness abounds as they journey further and further with recurring 666s, hotel rooms with crazy interior decoration and a running gag in which various sociopaths mistake Rose McGowan for a previous lover. What it is all meant to be mean is left up in the air, but as per the above quoted dialogue exchange, perhaps none of it is real.

It was also interesting to see Gregg Araki describe the movie as a “heterosexual” film in the opening credits - a description that brought quite a bit of audience laughter. This is as gay a film as ever with constant homoerotic tension between the male leads who Araki constantly films in invasively close proximity. There are a lot of tight closeups too and the film looks fantastic in general with bright vibrant lights at night and an amazing strobe lighting attack scene towards the end. As a narrative, the film leaves some of its subplots frustratingly open and hanging, most notably some FBI agents who are briefly shown but then never later factor in. The whole thing though is arguably best interpreted as a tale of pure anxiety on screen, with the agents just as much a figment of the characters worrying as the absurd TV broadcast with poor green screening and a talking severed head.

Sometimes you're in a situation you can't explain to anyone.

Nervous about his wedding, a groom eventually becomes stuck in a time loop, re-experiencing the day before his wedding, in this Indian comedy. While the film might sound promising, the keyword in that sentence is "eventually" with over 45 minutes of the movie elapsing before the time loop begins. With bright musical numbers and music cues, spinning camerawork and an energetic lead performance from Rajkummar Rao, the first 45 minutes are not exactly boring, but Rao's difficulties trying to bribe his way into a government job are dull and his hardships only seem to exist for the film to slap on a very in-your-face message near the end. Indeed, this is a time loop movie that is less concerned with the fantastical possibilities of the premise and more concerned with its hero learning a lesson in the process.

Along these lines, the movie unfortunately does not improve a lot once the time loop begins. Precious few scenes are dedicated to him learning to predict what will happen and avoid accidents and adversities with finesse. Instead, far more time spent on him trying to work out how to end the time loop. The film does not really milk the potential humour of his attempts to close the loop either. So much, for instance, could have been made out of the idea he eventually has of finding a good deed to close the loop, but everything only tends to come as a series of montages and background incidents. This is possibly a film better approached with no expectations though as there is certainly something of interest in how the bulk of the movie subverts the romantic comedy expectations that the start of the film establish.

In society, a child must have discipline.

Abbas Kiarostami's classic drama about a young boy trying to return a classmate's notebook after school, despite not knowing where he lives, this still stacks up as one of the director's most impressive features upon revision. The premise might sound simple, but with the preteen protagonist genuinely fearing that his teacher will expel his classmate if he loses his notebook again, the whole thing comes with an uncanny sense of urgency and desperation. Particularly striking is how uncaring every adult seems as he is constantly scolded by his elders who believe that it is all an excuse and that he just wants to get out of his doing his homework and play. He is called lazy and ungrateful, and yet he is more motivated than any adult we meet. His grandfather just sits around, mulling over how disrespectful today's youths are, and even the schoolteacher comes off as an uncaring prude, showing up late for class and then wasting lesson time scolding his students.

The film looks incredible too, with Kiarostami often opting for long shots to depict the extreme distances that the young protagonist runs while trying to track down his friend's house. The low lighting night time shots towards the end of the film are also appropriately eerie as he becomes scared, and less by the darkness and more by the increasingly unlikely probability of finding the right house. There is also a redeemable adult character in this stretch of the film, but most of the movie is about adults ignoring kids and making foolish assumptions about them. Perhaps most striking along these lines is a part where a stranger requests that he let him tear out a sheet of a paper from his friend's notebook. As much he protests that it is not his notebook and cannot give permission, the burly adult keeps insisting under the assumption that he is lying. The film is additionally capped off by a fantastic sharp cut to black at the end. Good work indeed.

Maybe it is fate's demented sense of humour.

Widely regarded as the best Final Destination film to date with good reason, this sixth entry dials up the dark humour more than ever and succeeds largely because it does not take itself too seriously. From the predicted next victim slowly walking in formation with his family who wish to protect him, to an elongated discussion over taking a human life while staring at newborn babies, the filmmakers milk the comedy of the premise for all that it is worth. While this results in some of the deaths being more comical than horrifying, the film also goes a great job with grisly gore in ways best left unspoiled. The descendant angle introduced is very interesting too and pokes fun at how long it takes Death to get everyone in all of the previous films. After all, if Death spends months on end setting up elaborate revenge deaths, some of the survivors are bound to have children that were never meant to be born.

After recent rewatches of the first five films, it is also nicely startling when we see who is experiencing the opening premonition, while there are several suspenseful scenes that draw out potential dangers. Especially great is a shard of shattered glass that ends up in an icy glass of lemonade. The filmmakers avoid showing us just who has the drink with the glass shard, leading to sky high tension every time anyone takes a sip. The MRI scene and the parts leading up to it are crazily intense too with so much mystery regarding what will deliver the fatal blow. The film leaves some vexingly unanswered questions, most notably how the "fortified" cabin protects a certain individual, and some of the family drama with estranged relatives coming back reeks of melodrama. The characters are well drawn in general though, including Tony Todd, who gets a nice send-off as well as a welcome dose of back-story for once.

When it comes to making movies, dreams aren't enough.

Fourth viewing tonight; this was a rewatch on the big screen at Luna Leederville, and it was a treat seeing my favourite Godard film in a packed cinema. While it might not be as exciting and fast-paced as Breathless, this latter entry has always felt to me like Godard's ultimate ode to cinema and the moviemaking process, from the obnoxious producer who only cares if his movie makes money, to the André Bazin "gaze at a world" quote during the glorious opening credits in which Godard's camera stares directly into a camera on the set of the film within the film. The cinematic finesse at hand is absolutely breathtaking too, from the light filters changes during the first scene of Brigitte Bardot and Michel Piccoli in bed, to the way the camera keeps tracking left and right in key moments throughout the film, most notably when Bardot and Piccoli have a verbal spat with a table lamp blocking off all space in between them. The couple's unfinished apartment also seems to mirror the unfinished film that Piccoli is working on.

The basic plot of the film is incredibly dynamic too. There are parallels to Homer's The Odyssey (which Piccoli is adapting for screen) as Piccoli similarly keeps refusing to return home and as Bardot (like Penelope in the story) grows contemptuous of her husband while he is away. Most striking, however, is how the whole film is essentially a sexual assault tale, only without Godard explicitly stating it or needing to. Something definitely happened between Bardot and the obnoxious producer in the half-hour between them arriving at his villa and Piccoli following along after a transportation delay, and Piccoli's downfall comes from his inability to realise this and see his wife's discomfort around the Jack Palance character. Speaking of which, Palance is incredible in the role, though Fritz Lang as himself also steals his every scene. Having a real life great director in the cast also adds a real authenticity to the project as Godard explores how challenging it can be to make a film since, indeed, dreams alone are not enough.

Classics Seen on the Big Screen

Classics Showing on the Big Screen in Perth

It's too late to be scared.

Fifth viewing tonight; this was a rewatch on the big screen at Luna Leederville and it was incredible revisiting the film with an enthusiastic audience who laughed at all of the comic relief. This is also a film that I feel that I get more and more out of with every rewatch. The jump cuts still irk me since they interfere with narrative immersion. Then again, between the way Jean-Paul Belmondo talks to the camera and models himself on Humphrey Bogart, the jump cuts seem apt for a tale of a man living his life as if it were a film. Another gripe that I have always had with the film is the lack of urgency, paranoia and suspense with Belmondo lounging around forever in Jean Seberg's hotel room and wandering the streets with her while the police are after him - and the limited urgency still bugged me tonight.

Along similar lines to the jump cuts though, the non-urgent pacing could be chalked up to Belmondo's ego, falsely believing that he will never be caught just like the star of a movie, and it is very interesting how the film's one paranoia-ridden moment comes from Godard's awesome cameo as he recognises Belmondo from a newspaper article. I was also pleased by the amount of laughter that this scene generated as others in the audience clearly recognised a young Godard too. Probably my biggest takeaway from tonight's viewing though was how fun and experimental the movie's mix of music is, frequently varying in speed and tone, from mysterious, to romantic to exciting. The audio design of the film (including the gunshots Belmondo imagines firing) is almost as experimental as the frequently praised visuals are.

Classics Seen on the Big Screen

Classics Showing on the Big Screen in Perth

Religions are nothing but theatre.

Overseeing a production shoot in which a Quran is unintentionally burned on set, a young assistant director grows increased paranoid and anxious in this curious psychological thriller from . The burning incident angers most of the Muslim extras and crew on the film, and as the protagonist subsequently loses the spare key to her director's apartment (where she is staying), she soon begins to wonder whether there could be a link. Particularly unsettling is a subplot in which she gives out the director's address to an anonymous caller who claims to have the spare key, only for him to never show up, which puts her in a bind as the stranger could enter the apartment at any moment, and as she cannot even tell the director about the mishap since she is too scared of being fired for losing the house key.

The film is only partially a thriller though. It is also a drama about religion and politics, the representation on migrants on film and how Muslims and typically only cast as either terrorists or victims in cinema. While some of the points made are salient, the film feels at its weakest when the characters are discussing such issues at length. Where the film comes alive is when Devrim Lingnau is scared and anxious, whether it be nervously waiting for text message replies or seeing and hearing things at night. And on that note, the film has an exquisite sound design, from accentuated construction noises in nearby apartments that seem taunt her, to an ominous music score with loud strums that drum up a real sense of dread. The film also concludes on one hell of a note with eerie similarities to a key earlier scene.

I’ve never experienced anything quite so unpleasant as war.

British soldiers attempt to make the most of bunker life in this World War I drama from . There is a little bit more to the plot as a new officer arrives to the bunker and as there is a secret engagement to another soldier’s sister, but the film is mostly about the soldiers becoming bored, restless and anxious while waiting for the next battle to occur. They also have a pet dog named Kitty with some brief tension when the dog disappears. The majority of the film is confined to the bunker with a real sense of claustrophobia and a degree of eeriness despite lots of artificial lighting.

And yet while promising conceptually, it is very hard to get into the film with all of the characters talking in German with thick accents while using British phrases (translated into German) and idioms and all boasting traditionally English names. The film also tries a bit too hard to derive humour from the cook’s meals and the bug-eyed reactions of a certain uppity officer whenever he discovers that he has been eating something like rat meat. The film does have some intelligent dialogue as the characters discuss the loneliness of war and so on, but this is rarely at the forefront.

It can't be coincidence.

Several young adults once again discover that "death doesn't like to be cheated" after surviving a deadly bridge collapse accident in this final chapter in the Final Destination franchise. The bridge collapse might just be the scariest opener of all five films, though Part Five shares some of the weaknesses of the earlier entries - particularly the lack of any clear explanation of why the premonitions occur in certain individuals and why Death chooses to avenge in such complex and grisly ways. Some of the victims to-be in this sequel are also so obnoxious that we simply cannot wait for them to die; P.J. Byrne is especially unpleasant and a grumpy David Koechner is not far behind. The movie offers some very interesting suppositions though on how to continuously cheat death with the characters wrestling with their moral comes regarding whether they can go through the seemingly necessary steps to save themselves.

Part Five is also a lot more fun than the previous couple of chapters with large doses of dark humour (especially a blood-soaked Buddha statue) and multiple elaborate death sequences in which it is hard to predict what exactly will deliver the fatal blow. A gymnasium scene is particularly well done in this regard with lots of suspense built up regarding whether a loose screw will be stepped on. The film also manages to have quite a few things stick out towards the camera without making it excessively obvious that the whole thing was meant to be seen in 3D. The best aspect of the film though is the initially surprising ending that cleverly drums up incredible tension. It is an ending that also makes this a fitting intended concluding tale in the horror saga (at least before the series was resurrected a decade and a half later) and the whole film is more interesting upon second viewing, knowing the conclusion to come.

I was meant to see THIS movie!

The fourth film in the Final Destination franchise despite the inexplicable lack of a numeral in the title, The Final Destination once again circles around a group of young adults who come to believe that Death is out to get them after one of them has premonition that saves them from a grisly accident. The drawbacks of the movie are easy to pinpoint, from the poorly fleshed out and rather unlikeable characters (a down-to-earth security guard aside), to the overabundance of scenes with things flying out at the camera since the film was shot in and intended to be seen in 3D. The film also fails to build on the mythology of the previous movies or introduce any new lore of its own. And yet, a second viewing of the film with lowered expectations serves it well.

While most of the movie feels like cookie cutter horror, the project really takes off in its final third with a pronounced meta element as one of the young adults meets her demise in a theatre screening a 3D movie not unlike The Final Destination itself. This stretch of the film also features a truly unsettling death by escalator, which stands alongside the elevator death (earlier in the franchise) as one of the creepiest deaths since it feels like something that could happen in real life. The movie also avoids overstaying its welcome by clocking in at around 80 minutes, though it might have helped to dedicate more time instead to fleshing out the characters and mythology. Having more imaginative and elaborately constructed deaths would not have gone astray either.

You should be who you are.

Revolving around a young girl who suddenly finds herself able to see and hear everything that her parents do, this German drama has a fascinating premise that it sadly fails to make the most of. Despite being the title character, the film is barely about the daughter and how traumatic it must be for her to be able to see and hear everything, while the circumstances that led to her so-called telepathic powers are shied over. The film is rather about how her parents change their behaviour when they know they are being watched, with her father acting excessively assertive at work and her mother embracing her sexual fantasies in order to avoid being a hypocrite. The latter angle gives way to one of the most amusingly awkward sex scenes ever committed to film with the mother narrating the entire encounter for her daughter's benefit.

Given the audience laughs during the abovementioned scene, as well as whenever parents denied anything, it also feels like the movie would have benefited from dialling up the comedy. Perhaps playing more with the fantasy nature of the premise or given the daughter more agency, with her ability to blackmail her parents, could have been a plus. As it is, the movie often feels like a mere Nineteen Eighty-Four variant, only with just two subjects being careful about what they say or do. At less than ninety minutes though, the film never outstays its welcome and it is often amusing as the parents struggle to cope with their newfound reality. There are also some great tinted shots of young Marielle staring at the camera from a low camera angle in a most unsettling manner - though it is still hard not to wish that the film was about her.

People die. That’s just a part of life.

After a premonition allows her to save her friends from a fatal rollercoaster crash, a teenager becomes convinced that Death still has a plan to get them in this third franchise entry. With James Wong returning to the directing chair and a memorable tanning salon death (gloriously concluded with a graphic match to coffins side-by-side), this entry has a reputation as one of the stronger sequels in the series. Mary Elizabeth Winstead also brings a classiness to the film on the acting front. Viewed for a second time after around eight years though, this remains a slightly disappointing follow-up which still fails to resolve the unanswered questions of the earlier films.

Part of what made the second film so decent was the connections that it drew to the first film. By comparison, this feels like a standalone entry with an almost entirely new mythology involving photographs that show hints of death causes. Wong certainly derives quite a bit of fun from the characters overanalysing the photos, but it is not as thrilling as the characters finding connections to the first film in Part Two or Devon Sawa analysing seating plans. Taken as a collection of novelty death scenes though, the film is entertaining while it lasts with a gloriously constructed fast food drive-thru sequence midway in wherein an inconsiderate driver gets a comeuppance in spades.

You just don't seem real anymore.

Titled after an animal described in the film as being pretentious, this Austrian comedy circles around a man paid to be pretentious in the most literal sense of the term, posing as husbands, sons and friends as part of a companion-for-hire organisation. The movie initially seems like a mere skit-based quirky comedy with Albrecht Schuch (who is phenomenal in the lead role) hilariously under-reacting to everything in his real life in between pretending to be other people. As his girlfriend walks out on him though, he starts to experience an existential crisis, while stalked and harassed by the elderly husband of a client who blames him for his wife walking out on him. As such, the overall film is very anxiety driven, with a particularly unsettling scene as he follows someone who he suspects to be his stalker at a home-open event.

On that note, surprising large bouts of the film are scary and horror adjacent, particularly whenever he wanders through his eerily empty house at night. This is first and foremost a comedy though, and a pretty funny one at that. The humour does not always land, but most of the gags are nicely subtle and subdued, like a kid on a trampoline jumping in the background and spying on Schuch ringing a doorbell. The arguable best gags though involving not one but two very well-trained dogs who are also curiously come from a rental company. It could even be speculated that the film is set in a near-future where everything can be rented, however, the rental companion services seem eerily relevant to the world as it is, while there is much to dig in how Schuch forgets how to be himself after spending so long always being someone else.

It seems like a bit of a reach, don't you think?

Another premonition about a freak accident leads to a different group of 'death cheating' survivors fearing for their lives in this surprisingly decent sequel. While the crash/collision scenes are magnificently intense and very realistic, the film initially feels like more of a remake or rehash of the original, except with even more inventive and elaborate deaths. As the film progresses though, there are some chilling "outward ripple" connections made to the characters from the first movie, which makes the overall project more interesting as an extrapolation on the events of Part One. Some of the conclusions that the characters draw about how to permanently cheat death feel like overreaching, but the movie is at least smart enough to acknowledge this, as per the above-quoted dialogue exchange.

Rewatched with the original fresh in mind, the most obvious difference is how much more elaborate the death scenes are. Most of the death scenes are also mounted with a real sense of mystery regarding what will deliver the fatal blow - particularly a dental clinic visit where everything seems to be out to get the victim in one way or another. The initial freeway crash premonition is pretty wild and out-there too. The sequel does not, however, resolve the unanswered questions from the original regarding why Death takes so long to take revenge and why it goes to such elaborate extremes. It is also doubtful whether being crushed by a sheet of glass really works as the film depicts it, and Tony Todd feels shoehorned back into the narrative, but this is still a fun ride even knowing the gist of things to come.

We are lost forever in this world.

After mounting the craziest biographical film ever made about a Canadian president with The Twentieth Century half a decade earlier, Matthew Rankin turns attention to himself in this comedy where he essentially plays himself. This only a semi-autobiographical film though in the loosest sense of the term as the term as the movie takes place in an alternative universe in which everyone in Winnipeg speaks Farsi and in which buildings are completely barren with no advertising or logos. Several unanswered questions are hard to shake from the mind. Why Farsi? Why is everyone obsessed with turkeys? And why does the film keep chopping and changing between main characters? If one can push such issues to the back of the mind though, a curious film awaits with breathtaking sets and delightfully unconventional framing.

There are some magnificent intentional jump cuts too in a symmetrical office as Rankin resigns from his job in Quebec on decidedly neutral , plus there are several neat shots in which a kid or two will talk to an adult for minutes on end before Rankin shows us the adult’s face. The story additionally seems increasingly less linear as it progresses with a sense of something cyclic towards the end. The film is pretty damn funny too, from an elderly enger complaining about sitting next to a turkey on a bus when she could so easily just change seats, to a kid obsessed with Groucho Marx, to an old guy who met a turkey on a dating site (yes, there are a lot of turkeys in the film). On one hand, it is hard not to wish that the film made more sense, but this is a pretty cool movie that could have easily also been called My Winnipeg.

An Indian without land loses his soul - and his heart with it.

His land under threat by greedy homesteaders, an Amerindian war hero hires a lady lawyer but soon discovers that violence is necessary to settle the dispute in this grim western from Anthony Mann. While he is never once convincing as a Shoshone Indian, a moody Robert Taylor is otherwise solid in the lead role as he comes up against rampant racism from locals who believe that Amerindians are not entitled to land and who are envious of how much his family owns. While not particularly subtle, there are some effective lightning strikes in a key scene as he realises that a "no liquor allowed for Indians" sign has been hung up in the saloon he has always frequented, and the storming brewing outside during the scene is ominous.

If the film has one big weakness, it is the casting of Paula Raymond as the lady lawyer. While the script makes note of the fact that she is inexperienced and that Taylor is her first ever client, she never seems feisty enough to be a lawyer during a time in which women were not usually in the profession. For the most of the movie, she comes off as a cross between a damsel in distress and a love interest as opposed to a well-educated woman able to truly help or assist our hero. So much of the film works though, from how Taylor still observes traditional customs while aspiring to be a homesteader, to his disillusionment in being treated like scum rather than a hero after returning from the war as a decorated soldier.

Tell me more about this man Houdini.

Second viewing tonight; this was a rewatch on the big screen at Palace Raine Square with an enthusiastic audience who applauded at the end of the film. While the chroma key special effects looked worse than ever on a large screen with glowing blue edges whenever anyone is flying in the air, the live audience experience really added to the film. Much of the dialogue is goofy and the freeze frame as Flash jumps into the air is insane, but it was hard not to ire the sheer energy placed into the film with the positive vibe in the theatre tonight. I do not know if Mike Hodges intended to create a comedy, but the movie works far better if not taken seriously. Certainly Brian Blessed (who is best in show here) seems to be aiming for laughs.

Lots of about the film works too, goofiness aside. There are some remarkable melting face practical effects with one character’s eyeballs and tongue falling out in a gooey mess after perishing. The costumes are absolutely dynamite too with sparkling gold pieces and revealing outfits all round. And then there is the iconic Queen song that keeps getting replayed during the climax. The sets are breathtaking too and the spiked platform fight sequence offers a perfect combination of dark laughs, suspense, thrills… and humanity. And if there is one thing that the film could be said to be about, it is humans bringing humanity into the nether regions of the universe. Maybe not the most original message, but it is one that the filmmakers really have fun with.

It's all part of Death's sadistic design leading to the grave.

Having foreseen the impending explosion of a plane and saved his friends' lives, a teenager becomes convinced that they accidentally cheated death and that a grim fate still awaits them in this thriller. The film mounts a couple of impressive sequences in which the smallest of things (such a water leak) come together to bring about a highly elaborate death. Along these lines, a bathroom death feels incredibly Hitchcockian with the victim reaching out for a pair of scissors that are too far away, while a death by exploding microwave really revels in the sadism of the premise as more and more adversities come the victim's way. The other death sequences are less impressive with some only taking a couple of seconds to occur. Then again, if we assume that Death really wants the characters dead, the elaborate deaths (which could so easily go wrong) feel a bit silly. Surely everyone should just get hit by a bus?

Upon second viewing after around eight years, other unanswered questions still linger too. Why can Devon Sawa only sometimes foresee what will happen? Why Death takes so long to come after them again? And why did they think they were safe at the end? Although always a welcome presence, Tony Todd also feels awkwardly inserted in for mere exposition purposes here. While it might not make a whole lot of sense, Final Destination is nevertheless slickly filmed. The early moments of Sawa's hyper-awareness pre-flight are very well done as everything from the movements of the flight schedule billboard to the weather outside sets him on edge. The camera hardly also ever sits still throughout, often gliding and sweeping over the characters in a creepy manner. The film additionally deserves some credit for ending on a darkly comic laugh for what it is otherwise a rather grim take on fate and predestination.

Let's do some real snitching.

Following the experiences of a "professional snitch", this South Korean crime thriller depicts the ups and downs of the informant's chosen profession, working essentially as an undercover detective while making lifelong enemies in the process. The film has earned comparisons to the Ocean's trilogy, which is understandable with all of the split screen editing, a heist midway in of a truck with concealed contraband, and the way a certain corrupt character is taken down towards the end. For the most part though, the Ocean's comparison feels off. This is not a buddy comedy involving a large group of coordinated individuals, while the film consists of various events strung together without a key target or goal. At one point, the film seems to be all about taking revenge on a criminal who scarred his legs, but this ends up being yet another tangent among tangents.

Something also needs to be said for the very fast pacing of the film. The movie is extremely dialogue-heavy with characters frequently talking at such a speed that the subtitles cannot keep up, and as the story keeps flipping through an extensive variety of ing characters, it is hard at times to keep track of what is happening. The tone of the movie is all over the place too. The action sequences are fortunately well done enough that the film remains engaging throughout its murkier sections and there are several memorable sequences along the way, from a drug dealer holding broken glass to his neck at a bus station to evade capture, to the aforementioned truck heist which goes totally pear-shaped after one of the two participants forgets to take his walkie-talkie with him. The final scene is also pretty fun and cute, if a tad too telegraphed and predictable.

Drawing from my list of all classics showing on the big screen in Perth and all films showing at the Revival House, these are the sessions that I am planning to go along to, as well as any new release movie sessions that take my fancy.

Always happy to meet up with other Letterboxd s and have a chat. If you're ever interested in catching up, let me know what session you're planning to go to and I can tell you what I'm planning to wear for the day.

• Special Needs Revolt!

  Friday June 13 - 7:00pm @ The Backlot

• What We Wanted to Be

  Saturday June 14 - 1:45pm @ Luna

• Kill the Jockey

  Sunday June 15 - 3:30pm @ Luna

• Baby

  Sunday June 15 - 6:00pm @ Luna

• Whiplash

  Monday June 16 - 6:30pm @ Luna

• A Silent Death

  Tuesday June 17 - 6:30pm @ Luna

• No Guilt

  Wednesday June 18 - 1:20pm @ Raine Square 

• Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

  Wednesday June 18 - 6:00pm @ Raine Square

• Electrophilia

  Thursday June 19 - 8:40pm @ Luna

• Milonga

  Friday June 20 - 6:30pm @ Luna

  Or

  Sunday June 22 - 10:30am @ Luna

...plus 50 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

There is nothing quite like seeing all-time classic on the big screen with an engaged audience.

This is mainly a personal reference list for myself, but I'm glad that others are finding it useful. Please let me know if there are any other big screen showings that you are aware of in the Perth metro area.

Read notes for further details on when and where each film is playing.

I am not intending to see every single film on this list. In fact, I can't since some sessions clash with each other, but you can check out what I have already seen on the big screen since I started making a regular thing of it in October 2023.

Note: I am only including 20th century movies on this list since those are what I am most keen on seeing on the big screen.

• Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

  Monday June 23 - 8:30pm @ Luna

• Plan 9 from Outer Space

  Friday June 27 - 9:00pm @ Luna

• Blade Runner

  Monday June 30 - 6:30pm @ Luna

• The Matrix

  Monday June 30 - 8:30pm @ Luna

• Heat

  Wednesday July 2 - 6:00pm @ Raine Square

• BMX Bandits

  Wednesday July 2 - 6:00pm @ Old Midland Courthouse

• Nine Queens

  Wednesday July 2 - 6:30pm @ Luna on SX
  +
  Wednesday July 2 - 7:00pm @ Luna

• Hercules Returns

  Friday July 4 - 8:00 @ The Revival House Como
  +
  Sunday July 13 - 5:45pm @ The Revival House Como

• Amityville 3-D

  Saturday July 5 - 8:45pm @ The Revival House Como

• Girl, Interrupted

  Saturday July 5 - 6:10pm @ The Revival House Como

...plus 38 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

A list of pre-21st century films that I have watched or rewatched on the big screen. The majority of these have been at Luna Leederville, my wonderful local arthouse cinema that occasionally screens 'older' films.

Where relevant, I include audience reactions in my reviews of these big screen watches. For me, part of the fun of watching a classic on the big screen is seeing how a modern day audience will react.

Films seen twice on the big screen:
- Alien
- Chungking Express
- Dr. Strangelove
- Eyes Wide Shut
- Goodfellas
- The Shining

• The Fly
• The Omen
• The Shining
• Stop Making Sense
• Singin' in the Rain
• An American in Paris
• In the Mood for Love
• Happy Together
• Scarface
• A Nightmare on Elm Street

...plus 183 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I was encouraged by a few people last year to keep track of all of my cinema trips for 2025 in a Letterboxd list, so here it is.

• Spider-Man
• Nosferatu
• The Wild Robot
• A Greyhound of a Girl
• Spider-Man 2
• Conclave
• Stubbornly Here
• Parthenope
• Showgirls
• Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

...plus 123 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

As a companion piece to my list Classics Seen on the Big Screen list, this is a list of every twenty-first century movie that I have seen in cinemas as a retrospective screening - five or more years after its original release.

The majority of these have been screenings at the Revival House in Como - Perth's only cinema dedicated to showing films on 35mm.

Films seen multiple times on the big screen
- Mulholland Drive (three times)

• Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
• The Host
• Mulholland Drive
• Eight Legged Freaks
• Melancholia
• Shaun of the Dead
• Pan's Labyrinth
• 100 Bloody Acres
• The Cat Returns
• There Will Be Blood

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

This is a list of my top 100 favourite films that I have reviewed since ing Letterboxd in December 2019. It is a "filtered" list since I have several dozen all-time favourites that I have not yet gotten around to rewatching and logging on Letterboxd since ing the site. Hopefully having this list will give me the extra motivation to revisit some of those films that I have cherished for years. This is a ranked list, but only in very rough order of preference. In different moods and on certain days, I feel more connected to some movies than others.

This also seems to be a fitting place to talk a little about myself rather than squeeze it all into the Bio section on my Letterboxd main page.

I have been watching, reviewing and rating movies since 2001 - about the same time that I discovered IMDb and ed the message boards there (when that was still a thing). Most of my initial reviews from my first few years of cinephilia are now lost - and it's probably for the better considering how young and impressionable I was back then.

I do have an archived collection of all of my movie reviews since 2007, but I have resisted the temptation to add these all to Letterboxd. Why? Well, some of those reviews go back over a decade and a half now and I don't trust all of my opinions from way back then.

On the same , I haven't logged all of the movies that I have seen since 2001 on Letterboxd. According to my IMDb profile, I have seen over 12,000 films, and it seems amiss to add these all with old ratings from long ago. Besides, I like the extra incentive that rewatching films has now since it means posting a first Letterboxd review. I should be rewatching a lot more films than I do, so any incentive is a plus.

And finally, here are some questions that I have been asked (maybe not that frequently).

FAQ

Q: I followed you. Why haven't you followed me back?

A: I'm on Letterboxd to share, discuss and talk about my love of film. I find this really hard to do with who do not write in English and who only make one-line jokey comments on the movies that they watch. Please don't be offended if I don't follow you back. The easiest way to get follow-back from me is to comment on one of my reviews.

Q: I liked your review. Why didn't you like my review back?

A: I try to use the 'Like' function honestly. If I have liked one of your reviews, it generally means that I have properly read it and agree with the gist of what you have to say. If a review is well-written or makes a salient point, I might still like it though. All depends if you say something that I may want to refer back to.

Q: You watch a lot of unusual and hard-to-find films. How?

A: I have a VPN and use a lot of different streaming services; I also search for films online that have been ed to places like YouTube, ok.ru and archive.org. If you are ever interested in how to watch something that I have seen, drop me a comment on my review. I won't always be able to point you in the right direction, but if I can help, I will.

1. Vertigo
2. Videodrome
3. Fanny and Alexander
4. Scream
5. Solaris
6. Eyes Wide Shut
7. 2001: A Space Odyssey
8. Crimes and Misdemeanors
9. Woman in the Dunes
10. Don't Look Now

...plus 90 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I had been calling myself a film buff for a number of years before ing Letterboxd in December 2019. As such, there are several dozen films that I consider to be excellent, but which I have not yet gotten around to rewatching and logging on the site. This list features 100 films that I believe I would give 4.5 or 5 stars to were I to rewatch them today.

Feel free to comment on and/or query the films in the list. Suggestions also welcome of what to make a priority.

• Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
• The Crowd
• The Wind
• The Informer
• Day of Wrath
• I Know Where I'm Going!
• The Lost Weekend
• The Third Man
• Sunset Boulevard
• Ace in the Hole

...plus 90 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Best Picture Winners that I have watched or rewatched since ing Letterboxd in December 2019, ranked in rough order of preference.

I've seen most of the winners at some point in my cinematic journey. Amadeus is probably my favourite that I haven't rewatched since ing Letterboxd.

1. The Silence of the Lambs
2. Midnight Cowboy
3. Everything Everywhere All at Once
4. The Godfather
5. Chicago
6. Platoon
7. Annie Hall
8. All About Eve
9. No Country for Old Men
10. The Hurt Locker

...plus 27 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Responding to a challenge made by Christof, here are 100 films that I feel represent the best of Australian cinema.

List is in chronological order. Sort by "solh's Rating Highest First" to get an idea of which titles I like the most, but there are several great films here that I saw before ing Letterboxd.

Top 5 in rough order of preference
1. Alexandra's Project
2. Wake in Fright
3. The Inteview
4. The Piano
5. Dr. Plonk

• Wake in Fright
• Walkabout
• Picnic at Hanging Rock
• The Devil's Playground
• Don's Party
• End Play
• The Last Wave
• Summerfield
• The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith
• Long Weekend

...plus 90 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Inspired by Chuck Norton's nickname for his hidden gems list, these are 101 films with very few views on Letterboxd that I have seen and strongly liked.

I may be able to point you in the right direction if there is anything listed here that you haven't seen but want to, so feel free to ask.

1. Down on the Farm
2. The Nut
3. Through The Back Door
4. Kid Boots
5. The Show Off
6. Special Delivery
7. The Living Corpse
8. Mirages of Paris
9. Once Upon a Girl
10. Miss Robin Hood

...plus 91 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

A personal reference list for myself of all film festival movies being screened in Perth/Boorloo. Not adding in any session times since that's too much copying and pasting.

Just added:
Alliance Française French Film Festival www.affrenchfilmfestival.org/films/perth
(session times available through the link)

• All Stirred Up!
• Army of Shadows
• At The End Of The Day
• Beating Hearts
• The Last Breath

  Festival title: "Before What Comes After"

• Being Maria
• Boléro
• Elyas
• Emmanuelle
• Not Without My Shrink

  Festival title: "Family Therapy"

...plus 32 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Not on Letterboxd: Aphex Twin: Come to Daddy.

1. Birth Certificate
2. Rapture
3. A Wife Confesses
4. The Incident
5. Under the Bridges
6. The Parallel Street
7. The Grey Fox
8. Death of a Bureaucrat
9. I... For Icarus
10. The Pied Piper

...plus 989 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Responding to a challenge made by Marcel Dykiert, here are 100 films that I feel represent the best of the horror genre.

List is in chronological order. Sort by "solh's Rating Highest First" to get an idea of which titles I like the most.

To make things easier on myself, I have decided only to include movies that I have watched or rewatched since ing Letterboxd in December 2019. All films in this list were tagged as Horror on Letterboxd at the time that I made the list.

• Bride of Frankenstein
• Cat People
• The Curse of the Cat People
• The Body Snatcher
• Dead of Night
• The Spiral Staircase
• The Incredible Shrinking Man
• A Bucket of Blood
• Peeping Tom
• Psycho

...plus 90 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Of the 650+ films that I experienced for the first time in 2024, these are the ones that I liked the most.

Previous editions: 2023, 2022, 2021

1. High and Low
2. The Substance
3. Days of Heaven
4. Robot Dreams
5. The Chasers
6. Aniki-Bóbó
7. Elippathayam
8. The Teachers' Lounge
9. Why Don't You Just Die!
10. I Saw the TV Glow

...plus 90 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

The Revival House in Como is Perth's only cinema dedicated showing films in 35mm and 16mm - the way films were intended to be seen.

This is a master list of all scheduled films. Click 'Read notes' for session dates/times.

Disclaimer: I don't work for the Revival House, I'm just a fan who enjoys the welcoming atmosphere at the theatre and the experience of watching a classic (old or new) on the big screen with an engaged audience.

• The Polar Express

  Saturday December 21 - 11:45am

• Gremlins

  Saturday December 21 - 2:00pm

• Gremlins 2: The New Batch

  Saturday December 21 - 4:00pm

• Miracle on 34th Street

  Saturday December 21 - 6:00pm

• GoodFellas

  Saturday December 21 - 8:30pm

• Home Alone

  Sunday December 22 - 2:45pm

• Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

  Sunday December 22 - 4:45pm

• Elf

  Sunday December 22 - 7:00pm

• The Holiday

  Monday December 23 - 6:30pm

• Love Actually

  Monday December 23 - 8:30pm

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

• Daughters of Eve
• Red Psalm
• Rafiki
• The Heiresses
• Stick and Bone
• All Souls' Day
• Unman, Wittering and Zigo
• Tulpan
• Canoa: A Shameful Memory
• Happening

...plus 30 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

For most people, December 2019 stands out as the month when the first Covid-19 case was detected. For me, it stands out as the month when I finally opened a Letterboxd and began posting reviews after months of visiting the site as a non-member. Since this month marks my five year anniversary of being on the site, I thought I would share a few thoughts.

ing Letterboxd has massively changed my life as a film watcher. The site has allowed to me connect with and discuss films with a movie lovers from around the world, and the streaming service filters have helped me narrow down and select what to watch. Through Letterboxd Offers, I have attended advanced screenings, and the app has given me the power to access my reviews wherever I am.

The community aspect of Letterboxd is especially great. I have met more than fifteen other Letterboxd s at various cinema screenings and I hope to meet many more in the future. While I love writing a ionate review, nothing can quite replicate the experience of a good verbal conversation about a movie with another film buff. And I appreciate the positive I have received from those who I have met about my list of classics showing on the big screen in Perth/Boorloo.

As I enter the next five years of my film-going journey on Letterboxd, I hope to create more Perth/Boorloo relevant film lists. I also hope to connect with more s from all around the world. There are so many s out there with such varied tastes and film opinions, and it is always great when I can check out my friends' reviews of a given movie and get an entire spectrum of one to five star reviews.

I also hope to spend the next five years rewatching more movies that I saw before December 2019. After all, I was calling myself a film buff long before I ed on Letterboxd, and while 5,900 reviews over five years is no small feat, it is a few thousand less than what I have actually seen over my film-going journey.

If you are still reading this far, thanks for being part of my ongoing Letterboxd journey, and feel free to use this list to ask or tell me anything.

• Letterboxd

Wedged between Romania and Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova is a small East European country that is yet to make a significant dent in the international film market. For such a small nation, Moldova has produced some very interesting films over the years though, including two of the finest films out there about bureaucratic madness and corruption.

This is a roughly ranked list of my favourite films from Moldova, including Soviet Moldovan features seen.

1. What a Wonderful World
2. Beautiful Corruption
3. Eastern Business
4. Maria, Mirabella
5. To Love
6. The Unsaved
7. Jana
8. Anishoara

Tomorrow I will be undergoing a daunting medical procedure and rather post on Paint Drying, I thought that it might be more appropriate to let everyone know through a movie list of films to avoid watching before going to hospital.

The good news is that there is 98% chance that the procedure booked in for tomorrow will go ahead fine without any complications. There is that 2% risk factor though, which I'm trying not to think too much about.

• Unsane
• Take Care of Maya
• A Cure for Wellness
• The Verdict
• Variola Vera
• The Hospital
• Coma
• Help
• Contagion
• Scream

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

Along similar lines to my 100 Greatest Films - A Personal Canon list, this is a list of the best films that I have seen from Africa since ing Letterboxd. The list is roughly ranked in order of preference. View notes for country details.

Country breakdown:

South Africa - 6
Senegal - 5
Algeria - 4
Egypt - 4
Tunisia - 4
Burkina Faso - 3
Angola - 2
Nigeria - 2
Rwanda - 2
Sudan - 2
Cameroon - 1
Chad - 1
Congo - 1
Ethiopia - 1
Ghana - 1
Liberia - 1
Morocco - 1
Somalia - 1
Zambia - 1
Central African Republic - 1

1. Cairo Station

   Egypt

2. The Battle of Algiers

   Algeria

3. Camp de Thiaroye

   Senegal

4. Heritage Africa

   Ghana

5. Tsotsi

   South Africa

6. Xala

   Senegal

7. Life or Death

   Egypt

8. Mandabi

   Senegal

9. District 9

   South Africa

10. The Silence of the Forest

    Central African Republic

...plus 34 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Ranked list of every film in the three biggest slasher franchises (well, every film other than the new Halloween movies).

See also:

- Friday the 13th Ranked
- Halloween Series Ranked

As you can probably tell, I'm not a big Halloween fan.

• A Nightmare on Elm Street
• New Nightmare
• A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
• Halloween III: Season of the Witch
• Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives
• A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
• A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge
• Friday the 13th
• Halloween
• Freddy vs. Jason

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

Ranked list of the Friday the 13th films that I have rewatched since ing Letterboxd.

I have seen each of the films listed here three or more times over my cinematic journey, except for Jason X, which I have only seen twice (and that feels like enough).

My most controversial rankings are probably Takes Manhattan so high up and The Final Chapter so far down. Part 8 has always been a favourite of mine. Jason in New York is such a cool and refreshing change of things that I can easily forgive the sluggish cruise ship first hour. Meanwhile, I still don't get what everyone else sees in The Final Chapter, Corey Feldman's performance aside.

1. Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives
2. Friday the 13th
3. Freddy vs. Jason
4. Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
5. Friday the 13th Part 2
6. Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood
7. Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday
8. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
9. Friday the 13th: A New Beginning
10. Friday the 13th Part III

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

Ranked list of the Halloween films that I have rewatched since ing Letterboxd.

I have seen all of first eight films three or more times over my cinematic journey, except for Parts 5 and 6, which I have only seen twice. I also saw (and was disappointed by) the 2018 Halloween before ing Letterboxd. I haven't seen Kills or Ends and I am not in a hurry to watch them given how little the first eight movies do for me.

My most controversial rankings are probably Resurrection so high up and Halloween II so far down. I have always liked how refreshingly different Part 8 is from everything before it. Meanwhile, Part 2 plummets in my estimation with every rewatch, demystifying the Michael Myers character and giving a raving mad Donald Pleasence more screen time than Jamie Lee Curtis.

1. Halloween III: Season of the Witch
2. Halloween
3. Halloween: Resurrection
4. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers
5. Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
6. Halloween II
7. Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers
8. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers

Of the 850+ films that I experienced for the first time in 2023, these are the ones that I liked the most.

Previous editions: 2022, 2021

1. Paris Pick-Up
2. Poor Things
3. Babylon
4. Scream VI
5. Dreamchild
6. 3 Bad Men
7. Presents
8. The Middleman
9. The Hourglass Sanatorium
10. Case for a Rookie Hangman

...plus 90 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Note: I have only seen No Time to Die once and Spectre twice. I have seen every other entry three or more times now.

I am also very partial to the 1967 version of Casino Royale, but I am not including it since it is not a part of the official series.

1. GoldenEye
2. Goldfinger
3. Skyfall
4. From Russia with Love
5. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
6. Casino Royale
7. Licence to Kill
8. Tomorrow Never Dies
9. The Spy Who Loved Me
10. The Living Daylights

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

Of the 1000+ films that I experienced for the first time in 2022, these are the ones that I liked the most.

1. Travelling Circus
2. L'Inhumaine
3. The DMZ
4. Scream
5. Everything Everywhere All at Once
6. The Big City
7. Angst
8. The Innocents
9. Island of Lost Souls
10. Nightmare Alley

...plus 90 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Of the 1200+ films that I experienced for the first time in 2021, these are the ones that I liked the most.

1. Tetsuo: The Iron Man
2. The Father
3. My Grandmother
4. Go, Go Second Time Virgin
5. Promising Young Woman
6. A Cottage on Dartmoor
7. ‘Rameau’s Nephew’ by Diderot (Thanx to Dennis Young) by Wilma Schoen
8. Labyrinth of Dreams
9. Bye Bye Morons
10. Stray Dogs

...plus 90 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Few countries do crazy films as well as Japan, and given that I have been watching a bunch this month for the Japanese Challenge on the ICM Forum, I have been inspired to make a list of some of the wackiest stuff I have seen this month (as well in previous months and years).

• Symbol
• Scabbard Samurai
• Tag
• Greatful Dead
• Dead Sushi
• Love Exposure
• 2LDK
• Homunculus
• Egg
• Survive Style 5+

...plus 30 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.