Quick, Dirty, and Dismissive Movie Reviews for the New Year

Somehow I have watched a slew of movies that I actually loved (and some that I didn't) in the last month or so that I thought I'd talk about.



Pickpocket (1959) dir. Robert Bresson

Bresson in his trademark quiet minimalist style follows a depressed man become a pickpocket. I do not know if it is intentional (I have not read much about the film or know much about Bresson) but the character seems to be his attempt at putting Dostoevsky's Raskolnikov on the screen as an existential character like Camus' Meursault (and I think it succeeds). As one reviewer puts it "emotionally restrained or simply emotionally drained?" I don't know, but it's nicely filmed.

(6/10)

The Killers (1946) dir. Robert Siodmak 

One of my new favourite noir's. There's double-crossing, flashbacks, voice-overs, a femme-fatale, smoking, elaborate crimes, adapted from an Ernest Hemingway novel, barely able to keep up with the plot. Literally what else could you want? Great performances and riveting story. A must see noir.

(8/10)

The Manchurian Candidate (1962) dir. John Frankenheimer

Leeching off the fears of the time Frankenheimer immerses us into a world of proto-sci-fi commie brainwashing plots, paranoia, and political espionage. All of this was augmented by super interesting ahead of its time camera work that accentuates the paranoia; it's worth watching just for that. I initially thought this would be an unthinking patriotic exercise like some other films of this subject matter in this era, but it ends up being a surprisingly incisive and clever political satire without being heavy-handed or sacrificing entertainment value.

(8/10)

Seconds (1966) dir. John Frankenheimer

After enjoying the prior film so much I thought I ought to check out more of this guy's repertoire.  What is evident to me now is how sweaty this man likes his actors. This incredibly sweaty, trippy, paranoid, hand-held nightmare of film-making is an absolute delight to watch. It is a relentlessly claustrophobic and uncomfortable sci-fi, it doesn't even give us an answer, reprieve or triumph. Laying bare the nature of alienation and depression, or, not finding meaning, is probably better to do than not. I don't want to spoil this movie, check it out.

(8/10)

The Brood (1979) dir. David Cronenberg

As a longtime fan of A History of Violence (2005) I at some point figure this year I ought to dig into David Cronenberg some more. I enjoyed Eastern Promises (2007) in its similarity and loved Naked Lunch (1991) and its absurdity but then I got to some of his other movies. I found Dead Ringers (1988) terribly overrated - but it was okay. Then I got to The Dead Zone (1983) which I found so bad and hilarious that I thought was verging on parody - what was Christopher Walken doing? Crash (1996) I found similarly dis-interesting - it was just cheesy. Where was the master of body-horror that I read all about?

Well, I found it. This movie was great. A horror with an interesting and weird concept that keeps you gripped. A great experience. Watch this thing and don't read about it first.

(8/10)

Alphaville: A Strange Adventure of Lemmy Caution (1965) dir. Jean Luc Godard

Something-something facts and logic bad, something-something art and emotion good, something-something determinism, materialism, utilitarianism bad, something-something love, existentialism good, something-something 1984, fascism. Watching this reminded me of when celebrities weigh in on politics. It was funny sometimes.

(3/10)

A disclaimer: Due to the 60s sci-fi kick I had been on (as evidenced above), I thought I better give my old pal Godard another chance. I say another chance because I have a pretty poor relationship with him. My experience watching Breathless (1960) and Pierrot Le Fou (1965) was very restful. I definitely just do not get him. I hated these movies and there is something I'm missing. Perhaps my lack of knowledge about film history and techniques do not let me appreciate him, I don't know, but I thought maybe this will be different. It was. It was different in the sense that I understood him to be trying to say something here, this was nice because I felt like I actually understood what he was going for and wasn't missing something. This makes me more confident in saying it was terrible, so incredibly heavy-handed.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) dir. Jeffrey Jacob

I would sooner load up Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) than watch this movie again. The best part of the movie by far was C3PO's comedy. Whereas my favourite part was the much-needed LGBT representation in the tail end of the film that is just long enough to fail in appeasing fans that want that kind of appeasing and just short enough that Disney's Chinese stockholder overlords can easily cut it out.

The discussions around this film and the last in the series are some of the worst conversations I have ever witnessed. I used to feel sorry for the people that based a good chunk of their politics around a mediocre movie designed from its inception to maximize income, I do not anymore. I feel sorry mostly for the people who just care about the universe itself independent of the quality of the movies being presented. Thanks, Disney.

(3/10)