Movies: Last Movie You Watched and Rate it | {Insert Appropriate Seasonal Greeting Here}

[sr edler]

Kansas City Confidential (1952) by Phil Karlson – 7.5/10

I actually quite liked this film (from the premise of it I had thought that I perhaps wouldn't as much). I read somewhere it's a film noir, but it's really more of a heist film, or a crime film. And it's also not really taking place in Kansas City all that much, despite the title, most of it actually takes place somewhere in Mexico.

As per usual in these type of films I always get a little confused about the plot, because you always think it's more complex than it actually is, and one of the characters you don't see his face that much in the beginning, so I kinda had forgotten about his features when he showed up later on. Also the leading female actress is quite hot, which is always a plus in sr edler's book.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Got tickets to watch Chunking Express at the theater next wednesday! Lets gooo

 

[Pink Mist]

Got tickets to watch Chunking Express at the theater next wednesday! Lets gooo

Lucky, that would be a fun one to see in theatres

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Lucky, that would be a fun one to see in theatres

If you're ever in Montreal, check out Cinema Moderne. Friend of mine does the curating there and introduces the films to the audience before they start and he's a crazy cinephile so it's often really good flicks popping up! He tried to get Sonatine last year for a summer special but couldn't find make it work as apparently as old Japanese rights are some of the toughest to get.

 

[Pink Mist]

If you're ever in Montreal, check out Cinema Moderne. Friend of mine does the curating there and introduces the films to the audience before they start and he's a crazy cinephile so it's often really good flicks popping up! He tried to get Sonatine last year for a summer special but couldn't find make it work as apparently as old Japanese rights are some of the toughest to get.

Very cool! I'll keep it in mind next time I'm in Montréal

 

[Martinez]

X

I’m a little biased because I like newer horror movies and A24 movies. 8.5/10. I figured it would just be a normal slasher movie but nope, it’s A24 so of course it’s a bit weird. Overall I thought it was a fun movie. (My fiancée hated it lol)

 

[nameless1]

What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? (2021) Directed by Alexandre Koberidze 6B

In the verdantly green Kutaisi, Georgia (the country, not the state), two strangers, Lisa and Giorgi, keep bumping into one another. Eventually they decide to meet at a coffee shop to get to know one another better as each is secretly smitten by the other. However, an "evil eye" (he, she, it is never disclosed) puts a curse on them. When they wake up on the day they are supposed to meet, both have completely changed facial appearances. How will they ever find one another now? This is played not as a horror trope, more like a whimsical fairy tale story and the director just uses it as a starting point for his major message: which is: appreciate the world around you, look at your world with fresh eyes. There is scant dramatic detail in this nearly three hour movie. We spend a lot of time looking at scenery, watching children play, observing goings on in coffee shops and so on. I mean, it is a nice message full of good intentions, but I did not need so much of it. Every now and then there is a clever bit, the town's dogs having individual preferences for where they watch World Cup soccer games, for instance. But ultimately What Do We See When We See the Sky? is just too much of a good thing.

Sidenote: Great New Wave director Francois Truffaut would have handled the same material less obviously and in half the time. Of course he is long dead....but the reference is meant to gives you a feel for what the movie is trying to do.

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This one is just absolutely pointless for me. It is not exactly a chore to watch, because there are a lot of sweet moments in this modern day fairy tale, and the pace does not feel that slow, even though the camera barely moves, but there is definitely no need for it to be 150 minutes long. The story meanders not even half-way through, and by the end, I have no idea what the director even wanted to do.

I have it at around a 5/10, but 6/10 is not outrageous either. It is really sweet and sincere, and that childlike wonder makes it very hard to dislike.

 

[nameless1]

I got into other hobbies the last little while, so I barely watched any new movie releases. In fact, I could not comment on the Oscars, because I have not seen any of them.

I watched the latest Bond movie, and that one is a disappointment. Craig's tenure started so well with arguably the best Bond movie in the franchise, but it ended with a thump. The movie was fine for a big budget action flick, as it checked all the boxes for a typical Bond movie with good action, exciting exotic settings, and a half-decent plot, but the pace was rather uneven, as it got bogged down with dialogue from time to time, and the plot took a lot of suspension of disbelief in order to buy that one man can destroy an organization that had been positioned as a great threat. The main villain was also poorly casted, because while Malek did do a good job, he looked way too young to fit the movie's timeline for his courses of actions. As a result, it only added to that leap of faith, and it became too much for the audience to overcome.

It is all very unfortunate, because I thought Waller-Bridge, who was basically hired as a script doctor, would be more innovative. While she continued to make the Craig Bond the most emotionally rich and complete version, and I am pleasantly surprised that he was finally written off, as it allowed a chance for the franchise to truly get a fresh start, she also added nothing new to the character or mythology. Thus, the whole exercise felt like a wasted opportunity, and my high hopes for it was completely dashed, which only left me with a sense of deep disappointment. In fact, it even affected my opinion of Craig, because even though I really want to like Craig's best acted version more than his peers, he continues to be still stuck in a neck and neck race with Connery as the best Bond.

I can also finally rank all the Bond movies from Best to Worst now, which includes the non-Eon Connery vehicle.

1. Casino Royale
2. Thunderball
3. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
4. From Russia with Love
5. The Living Daylights
6. Goldfinger
7. License to Kill
8. Never Say Never Again* (non-Eon)
9. Quantum of Solace
10. Goldeneye
11. Dr. No
12. No Time to Die
13. For Your Eyes Only
14. The Spy Who Loves Me
15. The Man with the Golden Gun
16. Live and Let Die
17. Skyfall
18. The World is Not Enough
19. Spectre
20. Diamonds Are Forever
21. Octopussy
22. Tomorrow Never Dies
23. A View To Kill
24. Moonraker
25. You Only Live Twice
26. Die Another Day

I find the quality goes down really fast after the No. 8 on my list, and I am very reluctant to put Goldeneye at No. 10, since I have a deep dislike for the Brosnan era. It is not him personally, because I later warmed up to his portrayal, but rather, the quality of his movies, mainly due to a lack of direction. Unfortunately, from 10 to 17, they are all pretty interchangeable, and it really is the best of the bunch. Dr. No is the wildcard of the group, as I moved it a couple of times, and I even had it above Goldeneye at one point, but in the end, Goldeneye ekes out, mainly because the pace is really problematic in Dr. No. Bond takes almost 3/4 of the movie to finally find the eponymous villain, and then he makes very quick work of him, as the final fight between them is only about 5 minutes long, which just makes the whole thing felt very anti-climatic.

Based on my list, Connery might still be my favourite Bond. While he has my second least favourite movie in the entire franchise, along with one near the bottom, he also has 4 top 10 movies, along with a No. 11. Craig will fall second, because the majority of his movies are in the middle-of-the-road range. Moore is interesting, because even though I really hated his version of Bond, I also did not expect to see that I have 4 of his movies from 13 to 16. I really thought his movies would fall a lot lower, because I did not think highly of them, but that is probably an indication of how weak the overall quality of Bond movies, to be perfectly frank. That said, it does explain why Moore is able to put his own mark on the character, because at the very least, there is some consistency with the "quality" of his work, for a lack of a better word.

Dalton's place stands out the most to me though. I find him to be middle-of-the-road, at best, and while I know his two movies are in the top 10, I did not expect it to be 5 and 7. I might have to rethink my ranking of him once again.

Finally, the most disappointing movie from the franchise has to be Skyfall. I really want to like it more, because it is top 10 quality for the first 3/4 of the runtime, but then just completely falls apart in the end. I never understood why Mendes thought it would be a good idea to turn the franchise's signature open world setting into a single location sandbox, and I am rather miffed that he killed off Dench's M and replaced her with someone who more closely resembled Bernard Lee's version, because it seems to be an indication that the franchise was ready to revert the already limited importance of female characters and go back to the misogynistic style of the past. Spectre somewhat confirmed it, because the Bond Girl is a damsel in distress once again, and were it not for the #MeToo and other similar movements during the hiatus between Craig's last two outings, the trend will likely continue.

 

[Chili]

Don't know if this is well known but Timothy Dalton got the Bond role because the producers of Remington Steele would not release Pierce Brosnan from his contract. Eventually he was able to take the role.

I've been watching Danger Man (tv series) and Patrick McGoohan (who was offered the role before Sean Connery) would have made an interesting Bond.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? (2021) Directed by Alexandre Koberidze 6B

In the verdantly green Kutaisi, Georgia (the country, not the state), two strangers, Lisa and Giorgi, keep bumping into one another. Eventually they decide to meet at a coffee shop to get to know one another better as each is secretly smitten by the other. However, an "evil eye" (he, she, it is never disclosed) puts a curse on them. When they wake up on the day they are supposed to meet, both have completely changed facial appearances. How will they ever find one another now? This is played not as a horror trope, more like a whimsical fairy tale story and the director just uses it as a starting point for his major message: which is: appreciate the world around you, look at your world with fresh eyes. There is scant dramatic detail in this nearly three hour movie. We spend a lot of time looking at scenery, watching children play, observing goings on in coffee shops and so on. I mean, it is a nice message full of good intentions, but I did not need so much of it. Every now and then there is a clever bit, the town's dogs having individual preferences for where they watch World Cup soccer games, for instance. But ultimately What Do We See When We See the Sky? is just too much of a good thing.

Sidenote: Great New Wave director Francois Truffaut would have handled the same material less obviously and in half the time. Of course he is long dead....but the reference is meant to gives you a feel for what the movie is trying to do.

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This sounds awesome.

 

[kihei]

7 Boxes / 7 cajas (Juan Carlos Maneglia & Tana Schémbori, 2012)

Víctor is a 17-year-old courier in Asunción, Paraguay’s market who wants nothing more than to buy a cell phone with a camera. Struggling to get the money for the phone he receives a proposal to transport seven boxes with an unknown cargo for some shady butchers and to keep out of sight from the police with it. Sounds like an easy way to make some good money, right? Obviously it couldn’t be that easy, for one, he took the job from another local courier who is struggling to pay for insulin for his baby (which is one of the wildest reasons to make some one a villain), and the local police catch wind of the boxes and want to track down Víctor. 7 Boxes is a very stylish and fast paced thriller; the type of thriller that is often associated with South Korean and Hong Kong films but this one takes place in a South American setting (although it does actually feature some Koreans in the film). The plot is a little wild - although it is at least kind of plausible and has a logical consistency - and there is probably a few too many subplots and characters involved, but it is a fun way to spend 100 minutes. The maze-like market makes a really good setting for a film, as a claustrophobic and chaotic space full of shops, cops, and robbers, and the two protagonists, Victor and Liz have great chemistry together and are enjoyable to watch. Worth watching if you want a thriller off the beaten path. Really surprised there hasn’t been a bad Hollywood remake of this yet.

I reviewed this years and years ago. I enjoyed its off-beat nature and thought Victor and Liz had wonderful chemistry, too. Kind of surprised you found it as it seems like one of those good little movies that can slip beneath the waves very quickly.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

The Hunt 2020 (Netflix Exclusive) 5/10
A satirical film about the current political climate of the USA, I actually found a good bit of it to be pretty funny, particularly the first half. The film centers around a "Manor" where liberal elites hunt a group of designated Conservative 'victims' based on their various political stances and impacts. The movie starts out really strong, IMO, with a ton of over-the-top clichés aimed at both sides, many of the jokes actually hit for me (And I don't usually like cheesy comedy). The dialogue pokes fun at a lot of the ultra-woke PC cancel culture crowd, as well as the ultra-conservative conspiracy theorists.

It quickly loses steam though in the second half, as they tried to fit in an overly complex dramatic story, mixed in with a fight scene that's even too ridiculous for this level of satire. The overall message of the film is pretty good... Identity politics are bad and the Internet has intensified politics to an insane level. Don't be so quick to judge others and put them in a box because we're much more alike than we often think, and can learn a lot from each other. As well as the basic condemnation of cancel and outrage cultures.

Despite the solid political message the boring ending makes this film feel a waste of time at the end. Also as a side-note, I read that the director of this film didn't expect to cause any political controversy or unrest by this film, which was an absolute LOL moment.

 

[Pink Mist]

I reviewed this years and years ago. I enjoyed its off-beat nature and thought Victor and Liz had wonderful chemistry, too. Kind of surprised you found it as it seems like one of those good little movies that can slip beneath the waves very quickly.

I agree it is probably one of those films that slipped under the radar after getting released. I found it pretty randomly to be honest.

On Letterboxd I pay for a pro membership, which doesn't offer much in perks as it is basically just a way to support the site but as part of the membership they do provide you with statistics on all the films you've watched like most actors/directors watched, your most highly rated actor/director etc. Anyway one of the things the pro membership offers is a map which highlights all of the countries which have produced films you have seen, and every now and then I like to look at it and try to fill in that map with the missing countries from countries I've never watched.

Paraguay was one of those countries I had never seen a film from, and of the just over 100 films that are listed as being produced in Paraguay, 7 Boxes was one of the more popular ones.

 

[Pink Mist]

In the Name of the Italian People / In nome del popolo italiano (Dino Risi, 1971)

When a young prostitute is found dead, a noble leftist district attorney (Ugo Tognazzi) investigates the murder. His investigation leads him to a fascist and corrupt industrialist (Vittorio Gassman) who tries to bribe the incorruptible district attorney out of going down for the crime. In the Name of the Italian People is a quintessential Italian political comedy satirically looking at the history of fascism and corruption which plagues Italian society to this day. The industrialist is basically a precursor to Berlusconi, brash and openly corrupt and does not care who knows it – untouchable; while the district attorney fights an uphill battle against a crumbling legal system (quite literally in this case). The two actors, Tognazzi and Gassman, are at the top of their game as it basically is a two man show, and it is a great film about ideological prejudices (the leftist DA thinks he’s incorruptible despite being suspectable; the fascist immediately resorts to illegal means to prove his innocence despite being innocent all along). Great ending to the film and it is a solid underseen comedy about Italian society.

 

[kihei]

I agree it is probably one of those films that slipped under the radar after getting released. I found it pretty randomly to be honest.

On Letterboxd I pay for a pro membership, which doesn't offer much in perks as it is basically just a way to support the site but as part of the membership they do provide you with statistics on all the films you've watched like most actors/directors watched, your most highly rated actor/director etc. Anyway one of the things the pro membership offers is a map which highlights all of the countries which have produced films you have seen, and every now and then I like to look at it and try to fill in that map with the missing countries from countries I've never watched.

Paraguay was one of those countries I had never seen a film from, and of the just over 100 films that are listed as being produced in Paraguay, 7 Boxes was one of the more popular ones.

My book comes in handy again. I found my review:

7 Boxes (2012) Directed by Juan Carlos Maneglia and Tana Schembori 7B

In a vast outdoor market in dirt-poor Asuncion, Paraguay, 17-year-old Victor (Celso Franco), trying to get enough money to buy a cellphone, is hired to make seven large, mysterious boxes disappear for a short time. He piles them onto his makeshift pushcart and quickly melts into the many intricate passageways and cubbyholes that constitute the inner geography of the market. It isn't long before a whole host of villians and curious cops want to find him and/or kill him. However, with a little help from erstwhile girl friend/annoying pest Liz (Lali Gonzalez), he manages to stay one step ahead of his pursuers. Time is not necessarily on his side, though. Providing a fresh take in an often predictable genre, 7 Boxes has a lot going for it. Media-smitten Victor and feisty Liz are very sympathetic protagonists. Memorable minor characters exist in abundance. The bad guys are believable. The clever chase scenes are out of the ordinary and make good use of the film’s setting. Finally, most of the exciting complications are at least semi-plausible and only rarely do they insult the audience’s intelligence. All in all, 7 Boxes is a genuinely fun time at the movies.

 

[kihei]

Zero f***s Given (2021) Directed by Emmanuel Marre and Julie Lacoustre 7A

Zero f***s Given is one of the fresher character studies to come down the pike in a while. Cassandra is a flight attendant for an economy airline in Europe. The camera follows her around like a puppy. Other than being very pretty, she seems otherwise completely unexceptional. Though she is still very young, she is just beginning to get a feel for the continuing drudgery that her life is in danger of becoming. The movie expertly focuses on the soul-destroying nature of all the mindless repetition and compromise that someone working in the aviation service industry must endure in order to continue employment while pleasing her uncaring corporate bosses. Though there are brief glimpses of resentment, boredom and isolation, Cassandra wants to continue being a flight attendant because of its superficial glamour--she visits some wonderful places, though she doesn't really get a chance to see them. She's of average intelligence, so there are not a lot of options for her. During a drunken conversation with a friend, almost as a throwaway, she lets slip out a fact about her past. The movie hardly draws attention to it, but as the film progresses this information will come to take on more and more weight. As it does Cassandra transforms from a disposable type, corporate cannon fodder, in effect, to a believably scarred human being trying to make her way through life as best she can. There is a fair amount of hand-held camera in evidence, but it is never annoying. Rather the technique is used to build immediacy and intimacy. Adele Exarchopoulos (Blue Is the Warmest Colour) is excellent, particularizing Cassandra subtly while the movie suggests there are a whole lot more like her out there.

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[kihei]

For those who may be interested, here is a review in The Atlantic of Memoria worth reading:

An Existential Film About the Oddities of Modern Life

"Memoria" channels a universal experience: the feeling that something is cosmically out of whack.

www.theatlantic.com

 

[Osprey]

Suspicion (1941) - 6/10

A smooth-talking playboy (Cary Grant) marries a rich daughter (Joan Fontaine) who eventually suspects that he's lying to her and scheming behind her back. The whole thing is shown from her perspective and raises the question of how well you know the person that you married. It's one of Hitchcock's less suspenseful films and is more of a psychological drama. The entire first half plays like a typical Cary Grant romantic comedy, but then it gradually gets more serious and really starts to feel like Hitchcock only in the last 15 minutes or so. The ending was predictable and a little disappointing. Apparently, the studio meddled and Hitchcock later regretted agreeing to it. Grant is his usual smooth and flippant self and might be the only person who can get away with calling his love interest "Monkeyface" all picture long. Fontaine is excellent and won Best Actress for the role, apparently the only acting performance in a Hitchcock film to win an Oscar. The film is flawed and a little disappointing compared to Hitchcock's better films (he has probably 15 that are better), but even an "average" film for him tends to be pretty decent.

---

Shadow of a Doubt (1943) - 8/10

Pursued by two men, a single man (Joseph Cotten) hides out with his sister's family, but his teenage niece (Theresa Wright) eventually begins to suspect that he's hiding a secret. This psychological thriller is supposedly Hitchcock's personal favorite of all of his films and my guess is that part of the reason is that it allowed him to correct the shortcomings of Suspicion. Both are about women who suspect something bad about men who are close to them, but the tone here is more consistent (no romantic comedy in the first half), the suspense builds through the entire picture (not just in the final 15 minutes) and the ending is closer to how Hitchcock wanted Suspicion to end before the studio meddled. Wright is good, but Cotten is excellent as both a lovable uncle and a paranoid wanted man. His performance and character reminded me of Robert Mitchum's in The Night of the Hunter. In fact, the whole film did. I really enjoyed it. I get the feeling that I saw it once before, because a few things struck me as familiar, but it would've been so long ago that I can't say so without a shadow of a doubt.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Anthropoid - 2016

Based on the true story of the heroics of a team of Czech resistance fighters and their attempt to assassinate the Butcher of Prague, Reinhard Heydrich (Hitler’s third in command).

I can’t say I enjoyed this film as it was based on true events, and a key betrayal. However, it once again reinforced my admiration for all those who were fighting against Hitler’s murderous tyranny.

If you enjoyed Valkyrie, this film will be right up your alley.

 

[Chili]

Anthropoid - 2016

Base on the true story of the heroics of a team of Czech resistance fighters and their attempt to assassinate the Butcher of Prague, Reinhard Heydrich (Hitler’s third in command).

I can’t say I enjoyed this film as it was based on true events, and a key betrayal. However, it once again reinforced my admiration for all those who were fighting against Hitler’s murderous tyranny.

If you enjoyed Valkyrie, this film will be right up your alley.

If you haven`t seen it, there is a German film that may be of interest called 13 Minutes(2015), the story of Georg Elser. A pretty ingenious one man effort that might have changed the course of history.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

X. Ti West just has a great grasp of tone and pace. He knows his horror but still makes his own thing. Not slavishly devoted to references. Actually brings his own creations to life. So it is with his new slasher X. Clever without being too cute. I had some issues with Mia Goth and her inconsistent accent in the lead and I thought some of the prosthetics/makeup were bad. But the rest of the cast was memorably charismatic, which draws you in all the more. There's even a genuinely affecting moment in the middle of the movie set to the song Landslide that should be corny as hell but actually really worked on me.

 

[OzzyFan]

Night and the City (1950)
3.25 out of 4stars

"Londoner Harry Fabian is a second-rate con man looking for an angle. Fabian tries his hand as a big-time wrestling promoter when certain circumstances fall in his lap, but many complications arise."
A great corruption-style noir about a behaviorally self destructive hustler played by a nomination worthy Richard Widmark in this difficult role. Widmark's presence and believability as the charismatic conniving 'addict-esque' Fabian brings a lot of energy, filth, and unease that sets the tone for the entire movie. Fabian is a man that lives his life in constant chaos from his quick fixes, dreams of grandeur, and constant debt troubles. A completely cynical man of near universal despise that operates in and around a world of lies/deceit, manipulation, suspicion, obsession, jealousy, and greed. Some great twists and extended tension sequences, including an entertaining wrestling match. The central theme explored here is corruption, the world of those who live by it, and it's consequences.

The Lighthouse (2019)
3.10 out of 4stars

"Two lighthouse keepers try to maintain a lighthouse, their sanity, and survive while living on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s."
A masterfully and meticulously made psychological fantasy horror about 2 men experiencing cabin fever. That said, it's a bit expansive/deeper than that with Eggers attention to detail (and research apparently) in the screenwriting and filming that creates a bizarre and trippy movie, more specifically the latter half, that is excellently personified by Dafoe and Pattinson. Everything creates a feel of smothering claustrophobia, right down to the film's relational tension, black and white lighting-gray scale, and aspect ratio/screen size of filming. The 2nd half much more vastly is a descent into madness, that greatly mixes reality, hallucinations, a few 'possible' revelations, and rangy mood swings bringing the audience into a state of entertaining confusion as they question everyone and everything in the movie. While I say this, I want to warn this is not an easy movie to take in, I'd argue a C on the Kihei scale, because it's a bit tedious/repetitive early on and a bit mentally deranged later on, not including the obvious fact you are dealing with 2 people continuously in a small handful or so 'room' settings for nearly 2hours. That said, it's worth the more demanding experience if the plot or above intrigues you.

Nitram (2021)
2.85 out of 4stars

"The film revolves around the life and behaviors of an intellectually disabled young man called "Nitram" (based on Martin Bryant, portrayed by Caleb Landry-Jones), and the events leading to his involvement in the 1996 Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania, Australia."
A great 'literal' slow burn bio-psychological drama/character study about the 'mentally disabled' man behind the mass murder of 35 people (and 23 wounded) alongside his life circumstances and relationships prior to the event. The only reason I actually chose to see this movie was because Landry-Jones was the leading man and his Cannes best actor award winning performance. Landry-Jones for me has always been someone with memorable screen presence and quality turns in all his side character performances, and he does not disappoint in a complex leading role here. It's extraordinary how he makes the audience feel both sympathy of and fear for Nitram's character. The script and direction itself, imo at least, also succeeds on showing a non-persuading/non-guiding direct reason for the cause of Nitram's mass murder, even with the after movie screen text explaining about how the gun laws changed just 12days after the event's occurrence. It seems that it took a mixture of both internal and external conditions to lead to Nitram's massacre, how much weight any or all of those circumstances had is up to the audience. Without diving into or ruining of the movie on this, I think there is purposely lots of thought provocation here. The power of cruelty, the power of compassion and kindness, and the complexity, interaction/treatment, and struggles of mentally disabled peoples are all understated things one should consider when operating in their daily lives (the last being a person specific thing, but it's importance is vast). Healthy close friendships and familial relationships are a necessity 'for all', and sedative drugs likely aren't a true/long-term solution for resolving the root problems and quality of life issues for mentally ill human beings. Of importance, the gun violence is off screen for those squeamish, which is also a nod of respect to the lives and families lost in this tragedy.

Morbius (2022)
2.10 out of 4stars

"Biochemist Michael Morbius tries to cure himself of a rare fatal blood disease, but he inadvertently infects himself with a form of vampirism instead."
Wait till it's free/streaming to see it.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

If you haven`t seen it, there is a German film that may be of interest called 13 Minutes(2015), the story of Georg Elser. A pretty ingenious one man effort that might have changed the course of history.

Haven’t seen it, but being a WW2 history freak, I’m aware of Elser.

It amazes me how many horseshoes Hitler had up his ass.

He was even more Rasputin than the man himself.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

Arrebato. A trippy, unsettling Spanish art horror gem. A low-rent, heroin addicted director meets a young, aspiring filmmaker. They strike up a correspondence with the kid sending the director increasingly puzzling short films and cassette tapes of his rambling thoughts. If Godard has a favorite horror film, it could be this.

 

[Chili]

The Trial-1962

Quite a few years ago, I saw a film of Franz Kafka's The Castle (1968) and it left quite an impression (fascinating and frustrating). Thought that might prepare me for this film. There are similarities, it's like a long dream/nightmare of a man caught in a labyrinth trying to find a way out of a false accusation of an unknown crime. Takes alot of patience to sit through this film (probably helps to have previously read the novel). Some interesting visuals, will probably have another go at it at some point.

Blue Collar-1978

Three car assembly line workers are in need of cash. They plan and carry out a heist from their local union office safe. What they make off with is not what they had planned. Interesting to see Richard Pryor in a dramatic role (he still gets in some funny lines). Nice job of taking the viewer into the lives of the three leads, including their working enviroment. Roger Ebert was a fan of this film (saying 'it earned it's comparison to On the Waterfront'). Entertaining #&!~*%+ film.

I Was a Spy-1933

WWI espionage in Belgium. After their country is overrun, a young Belgian nurse is drafted into service to care for wounded soldiers. Because of her position, she is recruited into becoming a spy and relaying information and messages. Based on Marthe Cnockhaert's memoirs, film is well done, good cast. It's on YouTube.

Footnotes: Marthe Cnockhaert won several awards for her work during the war, including the French Légion d'honneur. Madeleine Carroll, who plays her in the film, would later win that same honour for her work with the Red Cross. Herbert Marshall was wounded in WWI and lost his leg and later helped amputees in WWII.