There's a lot here so I'm going to be brief about what I watched over the first 2 months of this year.
#1 - Model Shop - This was a title that I expected to see in the Criterion Jacques Demy boxset, but it wasn't, so I grabbed a copy during the December Twilight Time sale. And I liked it. I don't think that's as great as Umbrellas of Cherbourg or Young Girls of Rochefort, but it's still good. I
#2 - Django, Prepare a Coffin - I had intended to write this up for Western Wednesday, but I got busy and never did. I may still do it, but the short version was that I liked it, it was one of the better Django cash-ins, and Arrow Video put out a great looking disc.
#3 - The Apartment - Another great looking disc by Arrow. This is one that I wish that I been able to get the limited edition that Arrow released with the book and slipbox, but the standard release is still really good. The movie is great, and it's one that I seem to enjoy more as I get older.
#4 - Highlander - this is one of my "comfort food" movies. I can put this on and it always makes me happy and content. It's a movie that shouldn't work, but everything about it clicks. The thing that stuck me during this watch is how great the movie looks. A lot of movies from the 80s are kind of flat looking, and don't look good. Russel Mulcahy made a great movie that should of been one and done.
#5 - Dolemite - I wanted to watch this after seeing Dolemite is My Name at the end of last year, and Vinegar Syndrome's blu-ray of this looks great when you consider the kind of budget and constrants that Rudy Ray Moore was working with. Is it high art? No, but it's a fun movie.
#6 - Tampopo - this is another fun movie that I watched for the first time. Criterion did a great job on this disc, and the film is wonderful. This is a really happy movie. It made me hungry for some real ramen. It's called a "ramen western", but I really felt like it feels more like the subgenre of martial arts films where someone spends the film learning and training in a particular style of fighting, but with cooking in place of fighting.
#7 - The Cotton Club Encore - This was a Francis Ford Coppola movie that I had never bothered to seek out, but after hearing good things about this new cut of it I decided to finally check it out. I can't judge how the original version of the film played, but I really enjoyed this cut of the film.
#8 - Highlander 3 - I imported the region free disc from Germany since I figured that we will never get a stateside release here. It ended up being around $10 shipped, so it wasn't too bad for an import. It's probably the only good Highlander thing other than the first movie, but it's no where near as good as the first one.
#9 - Jay and Silent Bob Reboot - it was alright I guess. I kind of feel at this point that I have aged out of Kevin Smith and I'm watching his stuff out of obligation. It's one of those things that you know what you're getting walking into it.
#10 - Paradise Hills - I liked it, but I don't know if it's something that I will ever watch again. It's a great looking movie, but it kind of feels like they wanted to make something like The Prisoner for rebellious teenage girls. It wasn't bad but the visuals are the highlight.
#11 - Zoolander - I think that the last time I watched this was during the theatrical run. It holds up pretty well.
#12 - Heaven Can Wait - this was partly cause of Buck Henry's passing, but also cause I had never seen it before. I really liked the movie.
#13 - Knives Out - this was a film that I was disappointed that I wasn't able to see in the theaters. But I liked it a lot, and I am glad that Rian Johnson was able to make this after the crap he got after The Last Jedi, which is a better Star Wars movie than we deserve and better than what we got last year with Rise of Skywalker. But Knives Out was really fun and I am excited about another film with Benoit Blanc.
#14 - Parasite - I watched this the day that it ended up winning the Academy Award for Best Picture. I did not expect it to win. It's good.
#15 - The Man Who Would Be King - Watched digitally.I had been wanted to watch this since I read Michael Caine's autobiography "What's It All About". That's a great read, but in that book he calls this the film that he wanted to be remembered by. And it's a really good movie, but I wonder if he still feels that way. But now when he goes people will probably watch The Dark Knight instead.
#16 - Ford v Ferrari - This was a weird experience for me. I watched it and my immediate response was "it was good, but not best picture good". But it stuck with me, and I kept thinking about it for the next week. The more I thought about it, the more I liked it. That's when I realized that it had made an impact on me. It is definitely one of the best movies of last year, and one that I feel I will end up rewatching again soon.
#17 - Jexi - I liked this a lot. It's basically Her if the phone was an asshole. But it was a lot funnier than I thought it would be. I'd recommend it.
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - this is one of those things that I never expected to get a blu-ray release. It looks better than the dvd did, but really I was surprised that it ended up as a 3 disc set with 2 of the discs being just special features. But this is my favorite adaptation of HHGttG, as I felt that the theatrical version of lacking in a lot of ways. But this is what always what I think of when I think about the characters, so it's nice to have it in higher quality than before.
#18 - The Law - It was alright I guess. This was my first time seeing a film by Jules Dassin. I know it's not one that is usually brought up as being one of this best but I just thought that there wasn't much special about it other than an interesting crane shot at the beginning. Maybe I will like Rififi better.
#19 - Dune (1984) - Watched digitally. I rewatched this after finally reading the book for the first time. I will say that I always liked the movie, but at the same time I thought it was a flawed movie with beautiful production design. But watching it after reading the book leaves me feeling like the movie is not so great and that some of the changes are weird and changes the book it weird ways. But I am excited about the new adaptation coming out this year, but I am fearful that it will bomb and the not get a sequel adapting the last half of the book.
Doctor Who - The Complete Eleventh Series - I didn't bother to watch this season while it was airing, but finally checked it out when the new season was starting. And I liked it, and a Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor. I heard a lot of complaints about it being "too woke" and stuff, but other than the Rosa Parks episode I didn't think it was too bad and it made sense in that episode. An argument was made to me that some alien from the future being in Montgomery Alabama in the 1950s and being a racist didn't make sense, but 60 years later racism still exists and it makes sense for a show with the leads having 2 people of color to have to deal with it in that time period. But overall I think that the season was good, and I am looking forward to the twelfth series, which I guess I could purchase on Amazon right now.
#20 - The Fanatic - I liked it. This movie I have complicated feelings on. It's interesting, and kind of crazy, but the movie is autistic exploitation movie. John Travolta's character Moose is obviously on the spectrum, and as a parent of an autistic child it's interesting to see someone with autism that isn't presented like Sheldon on Big Bang Theory.
#21 - Color Our of Space - This is really good. My only experiences with Lovecraft comes from films based on his works, and I'd say that this is a good one and I hope that Richard Stanley will get to make another film soon. In terms of recent Nicolas Cage movies I think I liked Mandy from last year better, but this was still really good and visually impressive.
Tex Avery Screwball Classics Volume 1- this is an amazing disc by Warner Archive, and probably one of the most important animated blu-ray releases in a long time. The shorts are great, but the remastering of the shorts looks amazing, and hopefully this will lead to more Tex Avery releases. This set looks so good that it has me considering picking up the Popeye and Tom and Jerry releases that WA has also released.
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