SCFZ

in the mood for a western, i picked the top film i hadn't seen in our scfz western poll from a few years ago: last train from gun hill

it's anthony quinn vs kirk douglas as it turns out quinn's son has killed kirk's wife, thinking she was just another indian squaw?? wtf. quinn and kirk are old friends but that just complicates things. i watched this in a chat with papa jerry on twitter. he declared it a bad movie. it is def too 3:10 to yuma and kirk is annoying af but quinn is always beautiful to watch and carolyn jones has some good scenes too. next highest is fort apache at #58

I remember being pleasantly surprised by Last Train from Gun Hill, with relatively progressive representations of sexual violence and anti-Indigenous racism and the failure of the justice system to right these wrongs, all of which Kirk Douglas (and later Carolyn Jones) are on a moral crusade to fight against. Lovely closing message, if memory serves, about raising boys well being a central plank in restoring justice to the community: "Raise him good." Haven't seen it in about three years, though; would be interested to watch it again and see how I feel.

sturges just isn't a very good director i think. and well, kirk usually rubs me the wrong way. i got a george sherman directed story of crazy horse told from native viewpoint. crazy horse is played by victor mature. i'm a little afraid to watch tbh but i'm somehow always at least interested in these kind of pictures.

Yeah, from what I've seen, Sturges is competent with a camera and good with a cast, but nothing much more than that most of the time, though that's occasionally good enough like in The Great Escape or Bad Day at Black Rock. It seems like his actors enjoyed working with him as they seem a bit loose onscreen in a good way, but there's not much sense that Sturges has any deep feeling for the material he gets beyond the surface elements and some occasional visual flair that mostly seems to be window dressing to keep things lively rather than anything more meaningful, or maybe just allows his cinematographers some latitude to go for a nice look, which seems like it might be the case in something like Old Man and the Sea.

THE BITTER TEA OF GENERAL YEN -- such a strange film, and from Capra yet. All the delicious 1930s black and white cinematography and art direction. I'm not quite sure what to make of it. The film's straight up attack on racism and Christian stupidity feels good, of course, and it's to the film's credit that the Asian characters aren't cardboard saints.

yeah Last Train definitely caught me by surprise, because I'm not a big fan of John Sturges and very much not a fan of Kirk Douglas. Give me George Sherman and Victor Mature any day !

Baby Face (Alfred E. Green, 1933)

First time watch but I guess I've read enough about it over the years that it felt oddly familiar. Very iconic Stanwyck performance, as expected.

at least from my experience Kirk is more liked by men than women, which is strange. My dad and I both like him a lot, but I know for sure that my mother and grandmother can't stand him.

kirk douglas, one of my favs

such a nice jaw and nose. real great, stern, wise, broad, intelligent, sturdy face IMO

Yeah, I love Kirk, but I guess it might be that he often appears as a narcissistic sleazeball, what doesn't appeal to women.

I Know Where I'm Going (Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell, 1947)

Felt like revisiting an Archers film this morning. A quietly affective pairing of Wendy Hiller's crescendoing performance and exquisite black-and-white cinematography. I thought Raymond Durgnat had some interesting thoughts on the film here

before i delete the stills i watched a couple of masumuras: black test car (1962) and nakano spy school (1966) black test car is the better of the two

it's an industrial spy movie about cut throat young men trying to build a sports car, photographed in often spectacular configurations.







part of masumura's critique of rabid capitalism in post war japan and it's remarkably gripping! nakano spy school is also nasty fun; just more ordinary

Guantanamera (Y si ella volviera) - Vicente Oroná, 1956, Mexico/Cuba

My God, the colors! Nothing particularly gripping happening in the narrative, but it looks like Douglas Sirk's Tropical Hot-dog Night Of The Soul.

No subs available, but if anybody wants it they know where to look.

Parasite (Bong, 2019).

I loved it! A black comedy about a family of South Korean have-nots that infiltrates a filthy rich family and takes advantage of them. Really well directed and acted, it just flew by and I enjoyed every anarchic second of it.

Now I'm keen to see Bong's Snowpiercer.

7.5/10

MADELEINE -- 6/10

David Lean's little period noir about Madeleine Smith, accused poisoner of her pesky lover. Some good stuff, handsomely mounted on all counts, with some tasty sexual goings on, all rather heavily coded. Madeleine's boyfriend has a blatantly symbolic walking stick, that kind of thing. The film's enjoyable enough when it sticks to Madeleine juggling her relationships and the sudden death of one of her suitors -- but it deflates during an extended trial scene that just takes way too long. From what I've read, Lean himself thought it was his worst film, and if I can't agree, it's certainly in the bottom tier of his works.

Point Break (1991)

Didn't like it some years ago when I first watched it. This time around I thought it was a cheesy, beautiful disaster of a film and I was utterly entranced. Some of the coolest vibes ever. Everything about it is just amazing.

I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING! - a revisit to one of those Classics That Left Me Cold. I feel about the way I felt about it before. As long as Powell/Pressburger keep the camera on the sublime Wendy Hiller and that rascal Roger Livesey, the movie sings. Yeah, there's lovely landscape cinematography, and all that. Can't say I worked up more than occasional interest.

The Beach Bum (Korine, 2019).

Loved Moondog and enjoyed his every crazy antic. This thing's littered with a gazillion wonderful, whacky quotes. I'm going to have to watch it again at least once a year.
I hope it gets a cinematic release here someday - it deserves one. The mise en scène and just the colours alone are gorgeous.

7/10

THE HORSE'S MOUTH -- good fun as far as it goes, mainly, and there's a definite I.Q. to Guinness's screenplay, way too much of what makes Joyce Cary's novel such a magical astonishment get lost in the ruthless trimming to get it all into a mere 90 minutes.

6.5/10

STALKER, for free at Lincoln Center, and there's nothing better than Big Screen Andrei T. The restoration's yellow opening has started to nag at me a bit -- I miss the warmer sepia of the old prints.

three rewatches in one day:
WAGES OF FEAR (1953), PREDATOR 2 (1990) and LOST HIGHWAY (1997)
all were outstanding, and the first two way better than I remembered (but I had seen them for the last time some 15+ years ago)....
all get a solid 8/10 from me.

I also started watching THE BELOVE ROGUE (1927) by Alan Crosland, which might be even better than the three above-mentioned films (we'll see, I still have 45 minutes to go).
It was truly a wonderful day at home in front of my laptop.

I'd come across her name everywhere a million times, but the only thing I knew about her was that she was a NYC intellectual and writer, and that's about it. Thanks to this Scorsese documentary called Public Speaking (2010), I know a bit about Fran Lebowitz. What an amazing talker she is!

This documentary was a marvellous introduction to her. Now I want to read everything she's ever written.



7.5/10

TO DIE FOR -- Gus Van Sant's poisonous little black comedy, based on a novel that was based on true events, with Nicole Kidman delivering one of her finest performances, along with a splendid cast all doing very fine work. I like this one a lot.

^^
My ballot for this year's top 100:

somehow completely missed that herman yau’s first film from this year, a home with a view, is up on netflix. middle class hk family has their cherished sea view blocked when louis koo (in full slimy asshole mode, always a joy to watch) erects a giant, hideous billboard on his roof.

kind of think this might be divisive - yau is working in abrasive, stylized mode, just extremely complicated scenes with actors performing at high, odd pitch. but it’s extraordinarily mean, truly funny, and has some of the best directing I’ve seen in a long long time. highly recommended for anyone with even slightest interest.

edit - and to die for is great. probably van sant most underrated from his early period.

I simply adore To Die For. It took me about 10 mins to fall in love with its style and manner. Great work by Van Sant and Kidman was in total command of her character. Need to watch it again!

TO DIE FOR has really held up well, much to my surprise and delight. And little Joaquin Phoenix is a heartbreaker, seldom is a character of such limited intelligence presented with so little condescension.

THE PHANTOM OF LIBERTY turned out to be good tasty irreverence from Bunuel -- when that soldier starts chomping on communion wafers like potato chips you know what's in store. Or do you. Handsomely done, and that vignette about the vanished little girl is one of the more remarkable things I've come across in a while.

well i watched minnelli MGM noir undercurrent (1946) and kate hepburn and robert taylor have a really weird vibe. kate has fooled herself into thinking she loves this guy in spite of multiple red flags and a charles boyer level of gaslighting. taylor imo simply isn't up to the part. his lone scene with robert mitchum doesn't help in that regard. distinctly odd dynamic, with kate showing uncharacteristic vulnerability and taylor trying to project menace (and failing in spite of dramatic lighting at something mitchum can do in his sleep)





hepburn with the nice sartorial choices as always. a few flashes of minnelli's style as well. and mitchum, terribly underused

good news so far i love the cobweb. THE COLORS





seriously this looks like comic books

this whole sequence. all those lamps in lil g's office. there's a lot to take in





yes i should be watching something from '65 but i couldn't resist a brief minnelli spree in the dog days of summer



drunken charles boyer. this movie has it all