Watched in 2009

Mr. Hulot's Holiday

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:04:45 GMT

(Dir. Jacques Tati) Probably my favorite Jacques Tati film. The film has some unbelievably funny moments. There's no plot, but who cares when it's this much fun?

Dead of Night

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:05:02 GMT

(Dir. Alberto Cavalcanti; Charles Crichton; Basil Dearden; Robert Hamer) An uneven film with moments of brilliance. I remember "The Ventriloquist's Dummy" being the only segment in which I felt I was totally inside the film.

The Dark Hours

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:05:12 GMT

(Dir. Paul Fox) Yet another horror film completely ruined by a crappy twist ending. Stay away from this one.

Charley Varrick

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:31:23 GMT

(Dir. Don Siegel) WOW! I'm just completely in awe about this mind-blowing masterpiece. Without a doubt Don Siegel's best film. Do see it!

The African Queen

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:57:47 GMT

(Dir. John Huston) Not nearly as great as its reputation suggests. I thought Katherine Hepburn was annoying and I've never been a big fan of her acting style, even though she was great in Sidney Lumet's Long Day's Journey Into Night.

The Big Combo

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:19:11 GMT

(Dir. Joseph H. Lewis) Worthwhile seeing for John Alton's cinematography, but not much else here.

Dog Soldiers

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:21:45 GMT

(Dir. Neil Marshall) Pretty decent horror film with cheesy dialogue and acting. I don't understand why Neil Marshall along with so many other film directors always feel the need to pay tribute to their favorite movies in their own work. It's a bad tendency, I think.

The Descent

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:21:57 GMT

(Dir. Neil Marshall) One of the few great horror films of this decade, though it could have worked better without the monsters, because clearly the best thing about this movie is the sense of claustrophobia achieved so well in some of the scenes where the monsters had not showed up yet.

Rescue Dawn

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:24:11 GMT

(Dir. Werner Herzog) Rescue Dawn is a great movie with beautiful cinematography and great central performances. Steve Zahn should have won an Oscar, dammit. He is mesmerizing in his role.

Panic in the Streets

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 13:02:03 GMT

(Dir. Elia Kazan) What a moody noir! The action scenes have a very true-to-life feel to them, thanks to Kazan's fantastic use of location.

Man of the West

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 07:25:29 GMT

(Dir. Anthony Mann) What starts out as a traditionally romantic look at the American old west ends up being one of the most brutal and intelligent films of the genre. An outstanding western, one of the best I've seen.

Look Back in Anger

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 12:08:54 GMT

(Dir. Tony Richardson) Based on the famous play by John Osborne, Look Back in Anger is one of the very first films of the British New Wave, but it is not amongst the best. The film drags a bit, but the main reason I didn't enjoy it that much was because of Richard Burton's theatrical acting style, which in my opinion didn't fit in the film at all.

Room at the Top

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 16:28:01 GMT

(Dir. Jack Clayton) This was a very controversial film at the time, but since then it has become one of the most loved films of the British New Wave. I liked it very much. Simone Sigornet got an Oscar for her performance, deservedly so.

A Taste of Honey

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 08:26:29 GMT

(Dir. Tony Richardson) A Taste of Honey is certainly not a waste of money. This tragic yet funny film is among my favorites of the British New Wave.

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 10:36:41 GMT

(Dir. Tony Richardson) Along with 'Saturday Night and Sunday Morning' this is probably the greatest film to come out of the British New Wave. What is captured here is nothing less than the essence of the British youth of the 60's. A masterpiece.

This Happy Breed

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 15:39:03 GMT

(Dir. David Lean) My God, what on earth was this? Now, David Lean has made some of the greatest films in history, but I assure you this isn't one of them. I guess he wanted to make a simple movie about ordinary people, but watching ordinary people going about their ordinary business isn't my idea of good entertainment.

Blithe Spirit

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 17:24:54 GMT

(Dir. David Lean) A delightful improvement over the last one. A witty little film which doesn't take itself too seriously. I had fun time watching this comedy, but it's still one of Lean's lesser films.

Jules and Jim

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 16:29:10 GMT

(Dir. François Truffaut) This film means almost nothing to me. I usually like the playful films of Nouvelle Vague and some of them are among my top favorites, but this one just bored the hell out of me. It's a film of high historical importance, though, and one can clearly see the influence it had on many American filmmakers such as Arthur Penn and William Friedkin.

Shaun of the Dead

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 11:17:46 GMT

(Dir. Edgar Wright) I think there is a lesson to be learned here. One should be very careful when mixing comedy and horror, because the results can be disasterous. Shaun of the Dead is neither funny nor scary. There were some amusing moments, but most of the jokes were incredibly bad.

North by Northwest

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 16:18:27 GMT

(Dir. Alfred Hitchcock) This is grand entertainment and one of Hitchcock's best. I had a hard time watching some of the scenes (especially the bit where Grant's character is drunk driving, which reminded me of the ridiculous downhill skiing scene in Spellbound) but when the film starts truly rolling there's nothing to stop it. Hitchcock's odd sense of humour can be seen in the airport scene where the guy says something crucial to our hero and we can't hear it because of the loud noise of the planes... James Mason is worth mentioning here, because he is such a marvel.

Total Recall

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 06:41:33 GMT

(Dir. Paul Verhoeven) I don't like this movie as much as I used to, but it's still a good movie. The image of Arnold running around with a wet towel wrapped around his head always gives me a laugh.

The Endless Summer

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:00:16 GMT

(Dir. Bruce Brown) This is definitely one of my top favorite documentaries. It's like a time capsule to the 60's. A great summer film, too.

The Wanderers

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 04:20:39 GMT

(Dir. Philip Kaufman) The Wanderers is one of the better films about the adolescent life in the 60's. A tough, energetic and playful film with lots of fighting and some surreal elements. A cult favorite.

The Indian Runner

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 13:55:56 GMT

(Dir. Sean Penn) With a better ending this movie would have been a masterpiece. Still, it's a stunning movie with great atmosphere and incredible acting. A film nobody should miss.

Trust

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 15:29:16 GMT

(Dir. Hal Hartley) I have few positive words to say about this film. Hal Hartley is an interesting director, but there's something about his literary style that I find extremely irritating. I can recommend Henry Fool to some extent, but this one was barely watchable.

Wolf Creek

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 05:52:18 GMT

(Dir. Greg Mclean) Wolf Creek is surprisingly good, but you always know something isn't quite right when you find yourself rooting for the bad guy. I didn't care for the protagonists at all, which is always a bad thing in a horror movie.

Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 04:22:00 GMT

(Dir. Jim Jarmusch) I like Ghost Dog very much. Robby Müller's cinematography is simple but very stylistic and amplifying at the same time. This may not be Jarmusch's most original work but it is, without a doubt, one of his best.

Stroszek

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:09:49 GMT

(Dir. Werner Herzog) This movie has that deeper truth to it, at times it's almost unbearable to watch. Stroszek is unlike anything I've ever seen, it's a movie which at some point becomes so real that it almost becomes a documentary.

The Tenant

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:10:38 GMT

(Dir. Roman Polanski) What Polanski has achieved with this haunting horror film is beyond me. The movie is so rich in detail that it manages to surprise me time after time. To me, this is not only the greatest achievement in the history of film in which the director plays the leading role, but it's also one of the best on any standards. I couldn't imagine anyone else playing Trelkovsky, Roman does it perfectly.

Targets

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 13:15:10 GMT

(Dir. Peter Bogdanovich) Not as good as I remembered, but still, it's pretty darn good. The scene where the killer is shooting random people off the highway is remarkably structured and the movie is worth watching for that sequence alone.

Suspiria

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 07:27:31 GMT

(Dir. Dario Argento) For some reason I don't like this movie as much as I used to. I can definitely recommend it for the fans of the horror genre as it has some truly horrifying moments, but but for me the movie doesn't do much anymore.

Inferno

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 07:27:56 GMT

(Dir. Dario Argento) The story doesn't amount to much, but the atmosphere is dense, which makes this Argento's best film. Argento says that this is in many ways his purest film, and I can see that. He does his thing and doesn't let the cardboard characters get in the way of the visuals.

My Best Fiend - Klaus Kinski

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 03:35:05 GMT

(Dir. Werner Herzog) Beautiful, passionate and an in-depth documentary of a mind that will always remain a mystery. If there ever was a right person to make a movie about Kinski, Herzog is the one.

Wild at Heart

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 03:35:35 GMT

(Dir. David Lynch) Wild, sexy, dirty and traumatizing film about love between two people in a sick world. Love it.

The Wrestler

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 14:08:50 GMT

(Dir. Darren Aronofsky) The Wrestler is one of the few movies where Rourke really gets to bring his own spirit into his character. One of the best movies of the year, for sure.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 03:45:18 GMT

(Dir. Philip Kaufman) Along with The Thing and The Fly, Invasion of the Body Snatchers is the best of horror movie remakes. The movie flows naturally and the pace is right. The sense of paranoia is also one of the reasons why I like this movie so much.

Cabin Fever

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 03:45:44 GMT

(Dir. Eli Roth) I don't like Cabin Fever very much, I think it is a turd for a film that should be buried and forever forgotten.

Zodiac

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 08:56:44 GMT

(Dir. David Fincher) I'm not a big fan of Fincher's, but this movie I love. It reminds me of Pakula's All the President's Men. Zodiac is definitely Fincher's best movie since Seven, if not his best.

Heat

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 15:09:47 GMT

(Dir. Michael Mann) What Lawrence of Arabia is to the adventure genre, Heat is to the crime genre. An epic film. I think Michael Mann, in his prime, had the rare talent of making his movies stylish without stylising them like Scorsese always does, for example. One of the key films of the 90's.

Lust, Caution

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 11:07:59 GMT

(Dir. Ang Lee) Some nice sex scenes here, lots of tits and ass.

To Die For

Sun, 08 Feb 2009 14:23:55 GMT

(Dir. Gus Van Sant) This is actually a good film, very close to four stars but not quite. Nicole Kidman proves that she is not only a piece of ass but can act, too! Joaquin Phoenix also shows that he is one to watch by giving a memorable supporting performance.

Brief Encounter

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 03:00:33 GMT

(Dir. David Lean) I can see why this is a big favorite among the movie romantics, but honestly Brief Encounter isn't that great of a film. It has no real emotions in it.

Harakiri

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 04:00:27 GMT

(Dir. Masaki Kobayashi) A great film which is right up there with Seven Samurai and Rashomon. There is nothing quite like the deep and thundering voice of Tatsuya Nakadai and the way he controls his space.

Viva Zapata!

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 07:37:44 GMT

(Dir. Elia Kazan) An electrifying performance by Brando as the man of the people, Emiliano Zapata. One of Kazan's best.

The Hit

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 09:53:24 GMT

(Dir. Stephen Frears) A disjointed film with lots of randomness and other forgettable stuff.

Milk

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:04:53 GMT

(Dir. Gus Van Sant) The best movie of the year and the best performance of the year by Sean Penn. Milk I think is a mixture of Van Sant's Hollywood sell out style and his more experimental style he employed with his earlier work such as My Own Private Idaho and Drugstore Cowboy. Beautifully done.

East of Eden

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 16:18:50 GMT

(Dir. Elia Kazan) A solid film in all aspects, but also not a personal favorite of mine. Nothing bad to say about it, though.

Rebel Without a Cause

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 17:27:36 GMT

(Dir. Nicholas Ray) Definitely Ray's best and most important film. A daring movie that's all about the angst and frustration of the 50's teens. The image of James Dean in his white shirt, blue jeans and that cool red coat is one of the most simplistic yet the most brilliant examples of costume design as you'll ever see.

Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 04:08:53 GMT

(Dir. Paul Crowder, Murray Lerner & Parris Patton) It's always nice to see a well made documentary about one of your favorite bands, even if nothing new is revealed, like in this case. The Kids Are Alright is still the definitive Who-movie.

O Lucky Man!

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 04:56:57 GMT

(Dir. Lindsay Anderson) For me Malcolm McDowell will always have that little bit of Alex in him, no matter who he's playing. O Lucky Man is one of Malcolm's personal favorites among his movies, which must have something to do with how 'overlooked' this was back in the day. I think it's and overly long, occasionally very funny but also very incoherent and disjointed movie.