Science Fiction & Fantasy; 1930s Hollywood; animation (shorts and features); and a whole lot of criterion (and criterion esque films)
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An Autumn Afternoon 1962
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
Ozu’s final film looks again at the problem of the upper middle class marrying off daughters, with another variant in perspective. But like “Good Morning” and “ Kohayagawa Family” there is some shift back towards the comedy and nansensu stylings of the 1930s films that were once Ozu's bread and butter. And the opening credits seems to confirm this call back to 30s comedies, instead of the familiar cross hatched brown (tatami mats? Burlap?), of Ozu’s post-war films, this films…
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The Searchers 1956
John Ford Ranked and Reviewed
John Ford's most famous film is about an ex-confederate man's struggle with racism. That is kind of incredible at all levels, particularly as the film quite deliberately never gets explicit with the racism and hate and leaves his struggle unspoken but somehow constantly addressed.On the other hand, the man is John Wayne, and given his star power, the film cannot but help valorize him. So while he's an anti-hero struggling with his inner demons,…
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Midnight 1939
A flawless script from Wilder and Brackett that is truly as good as Shakespeare, every line sparkles and layers and cuts and woos as the love triangles fluctuate and intersect and reverse constantly, just an astonishingly great script in an astonishingly great picture. Colbert is superb anchoring the film and her trio of supporting men are each outstanding in turn. Charming, hilarious, beautifully paced and marvelously romantic, it’s a Cinderella story twisted into a modern setting and complicated beautifully with sex, money and desire.
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Eastern Condors 1987
Tony Rayns commentary on the criterion Blu-ray is superb and provides tons of information and context and even includes several anecdotes about how he first became aware of Hong Kong cinema and where this film fits within the pantheon of same.
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Seven Women of Different Ages 1979
Excellent short film that is sort of broadly about aging as it flits between women ballerinas of different ages, from children to teenagers to peak form, to post form, to too old, to instructors of the children. It’s got a bit of circle of life vibe to it and also manages to be both affirming and wistful and sad all at the same time.
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Le Petit Soldat 1963
A moderately competent intelligence assassin has a mediocre existential crisis and wants to fuck a pretty Russian girl, complete with excessively precious narration and a torrid climactic speech to camera.
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