What are you watching.....RIGHT NOW!!!

[mliddell]

Good Times season 4 is on tv. Rather 1, 2, or 3.

[Irishman12]

SISTERS

Vintage De Palma with his beautifully created split screen shots. A great score by Bernard Herrmann with hints of the CAPE FEAR theme in it and a strong performance by Margot Kidder. I haven't seen much of her work outside of BLACK CHRISTMAS, THE AMITYVILLE HORROR and SUPERMAN franchise, so this was a welcome change. Unfortunately, the story was predictable but still a somewhat enjoyable ride. 6.5/10

ALEXANDER NEVSKY

Director Sergei Eisenstein and lead actor Nikolay Cherkasov create another wonder Russian masterpiece. Released at the outset of World War II, this is another nationalistic picture for Russia about a prince, who leads an army against German foreign invaders. These two collaborated on IVAN THE TERRIBLE PARTS 1 & 2 and while this was released earlier, is still in the same vein in terms of outstanding cinematography, costumes and splendor. 7.5/10

[Irishman12]

LE SAMOURAI

This film is described as the "epitome of cool" with Alain Delon staring as Jef Costello, a hitman who needs an alibi after he's seen leaving the scene of the crime after his most recent hit. Honestly, I'm not much for french films and I'd much rather take Chow Yun-Fat 22 years later in the Hong Kong adaptation of THE KILLER. 6/10

JIGOKU

A visually stunning and at times, gory and graphic Japanese horror film. The film was made in 1960 and prior to that, this type of film wasn't released as Japanese horror cinema prior to this was mostly physiological and not physical. I truly tip my hat to director Nobuo Nakagawa for having the conviction of putting this film out as it was during the period it was released. 7/10

THE MAGICIAN

What I love most about this film is it's basically a big F U to all the critics of Ingmar Bergman's work prior to this point. This is now my fifth Bergman film that I've seen recently and I think I prefer his work prior to 1960 as opposed to later than. Prior to 1960, he did a lot of period pieces while his work post 1960 was more modern. This has the usual ensemble of Bergman actors such as Max von Sydown, Ingrid Thulin, Bibi Andersson and Birgitta Pettersson. 6.5/10

[mfaith]

I really enjoyed this!

[Irishman12]

Yesterday I watched SHAFT, DOLEMITE and SUPER FLY. These were all part of a Blaxploitation collection via Filmstruck. They'll be removed from the service Thursday so I needed to watch them before they did. I had only seen SHAFT before and while the theme is legendary, I wasn't a fan of the movie. The same could be said for SUPER FLY (I actually saw the remake before this and prefer it to the original). DOLEMITE was a nice surprise that was cheesy bad but in a good, 70's kind of way.

Next up will be my first viewings of CLEOPATRA JONES and SWEET SWEETBACK'S BAADASSSSS SONG to finish out the collection.

[Irishman12]

THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (1940)

This is the type of "old school Hollywood" that I miss. The grand epics with their majestic pageantry. A wonderful and engaging fantasy tale that featured both eye popping technicolor and wonderful special effects. Solid acting all around, especially from Conrad Veidt who I feel stood out the most with his scary and intimidating performance as Jaffar. Would love to see Criterion rerelease this on Bluray and see what that transfer would look like.

[Irishman12]

MATA HARI (1931)

I watched this because there was a throwaway line from the original SUSPIRIA, describing a fellow student as, "Mata Hari is filing her report." I saw this available in the Filmstruck library, read the description and added it to my watchlist. I finally made the time to sit down and watch it this morning and I was rather impressed. For those who have never seen or heard of the film, it follows Mata Hari (played by Greta Garbo) an exotic dancer who was accused of spying for Germany during World War I. Garbo gives a mesmerizing performance, as like many of the men in the film, I seemed to have been hypnotized and infatuated by her. She only went on to star in 9 additional films and before the end of World War II, she had retired from acting (she felt the world had changed perhaps forever). Like the Mata Hari character, Garbo craved her privacy and for the rest of her life, perpetuated the Garbo mystique. 6.5/10

[jamel-d]

Just finished watching The Eugenics Crusade on PBS. Chilling, a must see. Lotsa similarities to today’s current events.

[Irishman12]

VALERIE AND HER WEEK OF WONDERS

I'm desperately trying to go through my watchlist on Filmstruck before the service shuts down completely later this month. I came across this film, which I had never heard of before. I watched the trailer to see if it was worth investing the time in and afterwards, decided it was and gave it a go. What I can say is the experience was wonderful and more than I expected! This is a coming of age story about a 13-year-old Valerie who is on the verge of womanhood. The visuals are incredibly satisfying with their combination of makeup and costumes. In a way the film reminded me of the original SUSPIRIA with how it was able to blend in goth, fairytale and horror elments. The cuts of the film keep the viewer guessing throughout what is real and what is fantasy. Definitely a hidden gem that I'm not sure many people know about. 7/10

[FrankBooth]

Over the past weekend I was treated to a Coen triple feature at MOMI.

Blood Simple, Raising Arizona and NCFOM. It had been some time since I watched Raising Arizona and holy hell, it's such a fun flick.

[SPAC04]

Over the past weekend I was treated to a Coen triple feature at MOMI.

Blood Simple, Raising Arizona and NCFOM. It had been some time since I watched Raising Arizona and holy hell, it's such a fun flick.

I feel that Raising Arizona is Nick Cage's best performance. Love that movie, one of their bes, very underrated. To me "No Country" is one of the finest films ever made, renewed my interest in movies when it came out. That's a pretty awesome triple.

I'm watching "Darkest Hour" RIGHT NOW!