list/discuss/rate - your recently watched movies

The Beguiled

A surprisingly tonic spell is still cast by this third partnership of Don Siegel and Clint Eastwood about a wounded Northern soldier recovering at a girl's boarding school in the South during the Civil War.   The contrast between the sympathy we feel for Eastwood's vulnerable predicament and the resentment rightly felt by the women he takes advantage of keeps the tension going as the film gradually becomes a house of horrors that's effectiveness has rarely been equaled in cinema.   Makes Misery look like a holiday.

the early 70s was a very weird time in movies, human perversion, rape, incest were no longer hinted at, and a growing drug culture made it even weirder

I'd agree with that, a dark but honest period, actually I think it was one of the greatest times for movies;  Straight Time, Panic in Needle Park, French Connection just to name a few.

The Good the Bad and the Weird -  absurd Honk Kong era John Woo, meets Sergio Leone, meets Big Trouble in Little China,  this was pretty much nonstop fun and each of the 3 main characters were interesting, especially "the weird"  8/10, maybe even higher the more I think about it

Guardians of the Galaxy - yeah, it was pretty fun, liked the raccoon and tree best, lot of eye candy,  I don't think I like it as much as others, but I'll have to think about this one more 6.5/10 sort of...?

^ well yes I might not call it a 'classic', but it is a spectacular film in its realism.   Not to mention that cast; Harry Dean Stanton, Gary Busey, etc.

Concerning the 1970s being a great decade for bleak films, a week ago I saw...


I very much appreciate the social realism Martin Scorcese brings to the film while keeping the visual style interesting and having the characterization take centre place. Gotta say I prefer his down-to-earth depiction of organized crime in a very businesslike manner to the half-romanticized stereotype you usually see in the movies. Indeed, the main conflict of the story comes from the much more universal themes of people being forced by their community's social structures into expected roles they don't really fit into.

Having read about the somewhat troubled production (a result of the very low budget) first, it was somewhat interesting looking for signs of having to cut around corners. The soundtrack consisting entirely of contemporary pop songs was apparently done because they couldn't afford recording an original score, but I prefer it that way because it adds to the realism.


Edited by Toaster Mantis - February 04 2015 at 11:28

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

Quite atmospheric but sometimes is just so over-the-top it starts to lack any realism. Not a fan of a 'dumbhead teenager' collective character as well, which is unfortunately quite typical for horror flicks.

Since he's writing "chain saw" in 2 words I guess that is the case.

Atavachron wrote: ^ the '74 original ?

Yes.

^ Haven't seen it but I caught some of the series Earthflight where they spent four years capturing POV footage of birds, pretty amazing stuff.