"I can't leave you! You are the only human-like friend I've ever had!" - Stella Star
For a Star Wars: A New Hope rip-off, this makes some great choices. What if there was no Luke moping around? Great. What if the dashing smuggler was the lead but was also an incredibly hot woman and wore a bikini for most of the movie? Great. What if C3PO dual wielded laser pistols and spoke with a terrible Southern accent? Great. What if…
The first half of this movie is a magenta soaked slog as Cosmatos spends so long thinking about what color filters and aural synth assaults he can use he does not think about what he should use. Too long and too self-indulgent. The second half though is metal as fuck. I mean forging a battleaxe that looks like one of Slayer's guitars, knife fighting with cenobites, animation sequences that directly reference Heavy Metal, literal tiger howling at the moon, baptism…
I feel about that movie the way I feel about most Judy Garland songs - technically impeccable but ultimately not emotionally resonant. I know she is beloved but everything about her presentation is too pristine and sanitized. The technicolor pops, the costuming and production design is awe inspiring, and Minnelli adroitly swoops the camera through the Smith family home; however, I struggled to connect to the melodrama of this family ensconced in this idealized suburban McMansion. All of the virtuosity…
Breathtaking. I cannot remember the last time I immediately restarted a movie after finishing it. The panoramic shots of the Kansas plains contrasted with the smallness of Addie and the richness of the black and white is just stunning and combined with the crispness of the writing immediately shut down my brain's knowledge of the real life tragedy that befell the family on screen and allowed myself to just see the characters being brilliantly portrayed. Ryan O'Neal being a monster…
Takes all of the paranoia of the 70s and the growing egoism of the 80s and distills it down to a claustrophobic space where everyone needs each other to survive and anyone could be a monster concerned only with its own survival. Somehow manages the magic trick of being relentlessly tense without forgetting to also be fun. Great Morricone/Carpenter score. Thrilling and brilliantly made.
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This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
A neo-noir as perfect as the line of Jef's hat brim. A relentless chase movie in which the nobility of the assassin is pitted against the ruthless efficiency of the police state and against the craven selfishness of his employers. The moment when Jef checks in his hat at the club and leaves behind his claim check is so simple and yet so emotionally devastating, as is the shot of his disheveled songbird left behind in its cage. I love…
