Monday, May 21, 2007

More

Crossfire (1947):
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039286/
Solid film noir that tried to stand out by using an anti-semitist bent (bumped down from a homophobic bent) and half succeeds, but other than that one snare, a pretty ordinary film; C+

Lili (1953):
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046000/
A strange little romance with a lot to analyze but not a lot to the film, Leslie Caron gives an adequate, airy performance as the titular character, and Mel Ferrer as the puppeteer who loves her but can only speak through puppets...everybody lives happily ever after, but only after a completely surreal finale; C

Slaughtered Vomit Dolls (2006):
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0811073/
A horrendous film, not "shocking" as much as just gross (the title is severely literal); the film has absolutely no plot, and thinks backwards audio looped over and over mixed with staggering amounts of vomit make a successful horror film; one bizarre little scene (featuring a girl losing a limb but gaining the SPOTLIGHT!) and some quality direction seem to exhibit the fact that, given a real editor (he was writer/director/editor) and a real story, director Lucifer Valentine could pull off something of quality; F

Last Days of Left Eye (2007):
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0945357/
A fascinating piece of filmmaking, and this is before the horrendous coincidence (or was it? (and I'm speaking spiritually)) of TLC's Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes dying in a car crash during her 30-days cleansing routine (and filming a documentary about life and about herself). It's hard to get in the frame of mind to speak of it, but it's an amazing film; A

The Holy Mountain (1973):
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071615/
Quite possibly the greatest film I've seen (at least a tie with 2001), this film has a whole ton of things I love: surrealism, completely nonsensical scenes, satire, commentary, nudity, sexual surrealism, bald heads, and people turning sh-t into gold...DOES IT GET MUCH BETTER? I submit that it does not. (Although, I hope it does, just to blow my mind further); A++++

The Butcher (1970)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064106/
Reading the reviews, quite possibly one of the most misunderstood films of all time (they take it at face value as a generic thriller, when there's definitely lower levels to get at), a fascinating twist on that old "killer is evil, woman is victim" philosophy; B+

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