Krystal is a strange film about a strange family. The plot is twisted and unbelievable, and makes me think that this is what it is like to be inside William H. Macy's mind all the time. Nevertheless, there is lots of witty family banter and there is something sweet about the story overall. I'm not sure why I liked it, but I did.
Paddleton is about as simple as movies can get. Aside from a few store and hotel clerks, there are two characters in this movie. They are an oddball pair of friends whose relationship takes a touching turn when one of them is diagnosed with cancer. It's uncomplicated, and lovely. Viewer's tip: keep an eye out for the great t-shirts seen throughout.
We stumbled onto the Spanish film
1898: Our Last Men in the Philippines on Netflix one night. It's the tale of the last outpost of the Spanish empire in its last colony. The men there do not know, then do not believe, that Spain has ceded the Philippines to the U.S., and continue the fight despite all the tragedies that befall them. It's a bit gory to the point of cringeworthy in a few spots, but a pretty good tale about a forgotten piece of history. It was also kind of nice to see a movie with a bunch of unknown faces filling the main roles.
S was in the mood for something good in the old-fashioned story-telling sense, and I had never seen
The Last Samurai, so we settled in one night to watch. It definitely met his criteria -- it's not a reimagining of a movie that came out 5 years prior, and it's not trying to make some metaphysical point (at least I don't think it is). It's just a story about a guy. And that guy was Tom Cruise a couple of years before he lost his mind on Oprah's couch, so it was back when he was still doing decent stuff.
Enemy was weird.
Jake Gyllenhaal plays both lead characters, Adam and his doppelganger Anthony, who seems to have been sprung, literally but unbeknownst to either of them, from Adam's rib. When Adam sees Anthony in a movie, he becomes obsessed with him. Through the stalking portion, I'm with this movie. But then there's this whole weird thing with spiders, which was beyond me.
This Vulture article tries to explain it, but even having read it, that's just not what I want in a movie.
When we began
On My Skin: The Last Seven Days of Stefano Cucchi, I didn't realize that it is a true story. That makes it all the more awful. The title character is taken into Italian police custody, where he is beaten badly. He refuses medical treatment as a protest against not having access to his attorney, and (I don't think it's a spoiler to say), dies as a consequence.
I expected to like
Howard's End. It has
Emma Thompson, who is simply wonderful in everything (including this). Add
Anthony Hopkins,
Vanessa Redgrave, a very British setting, and a musty old work of classic literature, and it doesn't get much more Merchant-Ivory. Having said all that, I don't have much background in the musty works, or in Merchant-Ivory films. I loved the setting, scenery, costumes, actors, but I hated the last 1/3 of the film. Will they all be like that?
Krystal is a strange film about a strange family. The plot is twisted and unbelievable, and makes me think that this is what it is like to be inside William H. Macy's mind all the time. Nevertheless, there is lots of witty family banter and there is something sweet about the story overall. I'm not sure why I liked it, but I did.
Paddleton is about as simple as movies can get. Aside from a few store and hotel clerks, there are two characters in this movie. They are an oddball pair of friends whose relationship takes a touching turn when one of them is diagnosed with cancer. It's uncomplicated, and lovely. Viewer's tip: keep an eye out for the great t-shirts seen throughout.
We stumbled onto the Spanish film 1898: Our Last Men in the Philippines on Netflix one night. It's the tale of the last outpost of the Spanish empire in its last colony. The men there do not know, then do not believe, that Spain has ceded the Philippines to the U.S., and continue the fight despite all the tragedies that befall them. It's a bit gory to the point of cringeworthy in a few spots, but a pretty good tale about a forgotten piece of history. It was also kind of nice to see a movie with a bunch of unknown faces filling the main roles.
S was in the mood for something good in the old-fashioned story-telling sense, and I had never seen The Last Samurai, so we settled in one night to watch. It definitely met his criteria -- it's not a reimagining of a movie that came out 5 years prior, and it's not trying to make some metaphysical point (at least I don't think it is). It's just a story about a guy. And that guy was Tom Cruise a couple of years before he lost his mind on Oprah's couch, so it was back when he was still doing decent stuff.
Enemy was weird. Jake Gyllenhaal plays both lead characters, Adam and his doppelganger Anthony, who seems to have been sprung, literally but unbeknownst to either of them, from Adam's rib. When Adam sees Anthony in a movie, he becomes obsessed with him. Through the stalking portion, I'm with this movie. But then there's this whole weird thing with spiders, which was beyond me. This Vulture article tries to explain it, but even having read it, that's just not what I want in a movie.
When we began On My Skin: The Last Seven Days of Stefano Cucchi, I didn't realize that it is a true story. That makes it all the more awful. The title character is taken into Italian police custody, where he is beaten badly. He refuses medical treatment as a protest against not having access to his attorney, and (I don't think it's a spoiler to say), dies as a consequence.
I expected to like Howard's End. It has Emma Thompson, who is simply wonderful in everything (including this). Add Anthony Hopkins, Vanessa Redgrave, a very British setting, and a musty old work of classic literature, and it doesn't get much more Merchant-Ivory. Having said all that, I don't have much background in the musty works, or in Merchant-Ivory films. I loved the setting, scenery, costumes, actors, but I hated the last 1/3 of the film. Will they all be like that?
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