... Yeah. Way too much to write about at the moment, so I will make this pretty abbreviated, but I need to catch up on this, haha.
A Woman Under the Influence (1974): Really good movie, and an incredibly intense experience. Don't know if I could watch it again, though, because it reaches in so deep and rattles you around so much.
Casablanca (1942): Don't need me to tell you this is a classic -- watch it if you never have. Just so exciting, cool, funny and wonderful in every way.
Frost/Nixon (2008): Love the way the Nixon interview is set up like a heavyweight championship boxing match. The little verbal jabs Nixon takes at Frost, and the way Frost recovers at the end, are awesome.
Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures (2001): I wish it went just a bit deeper into Kubrick's life and his movies, but there is a lot of ground to cover, especially with Kubrick's movies being as complex as they are. Pretty good overview of his life and career overall.
Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993): Holds up better than I thought it would, although the raps that open and close the movie are just terrible. But then we get kung fu!Cary Elwes and Dave Chappelle, so that about balances it out.
Le Samouraï (1967): About as minimalist a crime thriller as you will ever see. There are only three scenes where guns are actually used, but the style behind the movie is so true to film noir, and yet so unique in its own right, that Le Samouraï does not really have much trouble holding tension. Aside from being a good movie, Le Samouraï is just a strong tribute to film noir in general. (Side note: Wouldn't it be awesome if everyone dressed the way they did in film noir? The worlds depicted may have been hell, but damn it, they dressed with style and class.)
Inland Empire (2006): This is weird, even for David Lynch, which is saying something. Lynch filmed this entirely on a semi-high quality digital camera, and it gives the movie a weird sort of look that I am not sure I like. And the rest of the movie ... well, Lynch is mainly concerned with insane imagery, blurring the line between reality and fiction and making his movies seem like a literal dream. You either like the guy, or you hate his guts. But I wouldn't start someone off with this, even though I suppose I liked it overall. You'd be better off going with Mulholland Dr. or Blue Velvet.
The Reader (2008): Like it a lot and don't really get the complaints about it being "another Holocaust movie." (Which, interestingly enough, is the sort of attitude the movie explores to an extent -- how people view the Holocaust now, two or three generations down the line, as opposed to the people who were directly affected by it.) There's a fair bit of sex in the movie, though, so, er, don't watch it with other people if you are prone to feeling awkward about that sort of thing.
Doubt (2008): The way Doubt tightens the tension scene after scene, and flips the morality of the characters again and again (and that's before Viola Davis' character throws a monkey wrench into how people view what is happening), is damn impressive. My heart was pounding from the moment the initial doubts started creeping in. Maybe the best movie I have seen from last year -- I still have a fair number to watch, though, haha.
Arachnophobia (1990): Hadn't seen this in years, so I decided to watch it again when it appeared on TV. This is actually a relatively smart horror movie. It doesn't go completely for gross-out horror as one might expect. Kind of a modern old-school horror movie in a way; the type where you're not really scared, but you're still shouting at the characters like, "OMG YOU IDIOT DON'T DO THAT YOU ARE GOING TO DIE." Fun watch.
Manhunter (1986): Man, it is so weird not seeing Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lector. Also, Manhunter's title sequence is absurdly '80s. Good thriller, but man, that is some unintentional comedy right there.
Wild At Heart (1990): Didn't really like this that much. There are entertaining parts, but there are also parts where it really drags and rambles on without any sense of purpose, and not in an entertaining way, either. Probably my least favorite David Lynch movie, along with Eraserhead (which is well made but also a horribly unpleasant viewing experience).
On the queue for this week: Leaving Las Vegas (1995), Hitman (2007) and The Omega Man (1971)
Total Movies: 96 (Gaslight, The Last King of Scotland, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Darjeeling Limited, This Film is Not Yet Rated, Diary of the Dead, Bullets Over Broadway, Interiors, Husbands and Wives, The Professional: Golgo 13, Lars and the Real Girl, Lolita, Quills, Hamlet, Iris, Manhattan Murder Mystery, The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, The Savages, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Stranger, Love and Death, Harold and Maude, Spartacus, Scarlet Street, Sabrina, Zelig, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask), Stardust Memories, Barry Lyndon, Be Kind Rewind, Radio Days, Deconstructing Harry, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Creating Rem Lazar, Undefeatable, Ninja Terminator, Ninja Dragon, Rumble Fish, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, In Bruges, The Bank Dick, Marathon Man, Clannad, Air, Tokyo Godfathers, Millennium Actress, MirrorMask, Slither, It's a Gift, Splendor in the Grass, Waitress, North by Northwest, Monkey Business, Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro, The Brave One, 3:10 to Yuma, Bringing Out the Dead, Gurren Lagann: Gurren-hen, There Will Be Blood, Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder, The Princess Bride, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Spellbound, Frenzy, Anatomy of a Murder, Clue, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Changeling, Shadows and Fog, Into the Wild, Rosencratz and Guildenstern Are Dead, The Man Who Fell to Earth, Synecdoche, New York, Carlito's Way, Shoot 'Em Up, Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Up, Yor: Hunter from the Future, Tropic Thunder, True Romance, Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie, A Woman Under the Influence, Casablanca, Frost/Nixon, Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Le Samouraï, Inland Empire, The Reader, Doubt, Arachnophobia, Manhunter, Wild At Heart)
