El Orfanato (The Orphanage). I really like stressful movies like this. Dread and anxiety make the best kind of horror.
Tag: movies
The Nightmare Before Christmas
The Nightmare Before Christmas. It’s a classic. Holds up well on my 10-millionth rewatch. Lots of lovely little details in music, scenery, etc.. (Previously.)
Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider. So fun! I love how you see our characters growth – a bike race in familiar neighborhoods, a foot chase from some teenage thugs, waterboarding with a showerhead? We get lower stakes, and mistakes, but similar thrills. Even when the difficulty ratchets up, we see a cycle of vulnerability, fear, panic… and then determination. Our hero is not invincible, not inevitable. (Reminds me of Die Hard that way.) I like seeing the increasing influence of MMA in recent action films – more grappling, jujitsu, throws, locks, holds.
The Lodger
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog. Preeeetty good. Theater screening with live accompaniment. So much more beautiful to look at than I expected for something created 90+ years ago. Sometimes it’s hard not to laugh at old-timey-ness (in plot, acting style) of old movies (or books, for that matter), but if you can be present and give yourself over, you’ll see why they’ve stuck around. Filed under: Hitchcock.
Green Room
Green Room. Dark. Having a harder time with irredeemably bad villains (outside of your comics types). Never quite hangs together. Tensions not high enough, light moments fall just a little short.
Hereditary
Hereditary. I liked it… and it’s completely draining. Just seeps in and grinds you down like the characters. Toni Collette is a master.
Lean On Pete
Lean on Pete. Tempted to call it my favorite of the year. So many characters that seem to live on outside the frame, defying the template you might expect of them, in “this kind of movie”. I was all-in from the first few seconds.
It Follows
It Follows. Loved this movie. Good theme, good creeps, good jumps, great soundtrack.
Chinatown
Chinatown. (Previously). I think my fourth or fifth viewing and worth every one. A perfect movie, pretty much. The pure evil of Noah Cross rings a little too true these days. :(
The Descent
The Descent. Gets to the point! Set the scene, give me foreboding hints about who’s up to what, then creep me out. Very efficient opening. I’m surprised we haven’t seen more movies set in caves.
Sullivan’s Travels
Sullivan’s Travels. Second viewing (the first), this time on a big screen. Holds up.
The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project. I missed it back in the day. Pretty fun! Refreshing to see how such good work can be made at such small scale, and still kick off a little revolution in the genre.
Support the Girls
Support the Girls. We need about 15 movies like this every year. Pretty great. Love the everydayness of the struggles, but still a huge and deserved catharsis. I’d like to see more movies about managers. Seems like a rich but neglected vein for material.
The Score
The Score. Decent cat-and-mousing. Shape-shifting characters seems like a whole thing back in the 90s/2000s. Fun to see actors that are just plain old now in their younger and more athletic days. I love when movies show all the gadgetry and tools that thieves put to use, borrowing from other realms to suit the need.
Ninja: Shadow of a Tear
Ninja: Shadow of a Tear. I think you see the title and know what you’re getting into. I still stand by the first Ninja. This one is longer, darker, angrier, but doesn’t quite rise to that level.
Kung Fu Killer
Kung Fu Killer. One of the small pleasures of international films is seeing the little differences in societal choices. For example, how the police uniforms and prisoner uniforms are different than what we see in the States. Nothing new here story-wise, but plenty of good fightin’, and the variety of weapons, styles, and freakish athleticism is always fun.
Starship Troopers
Starship Troopers. Not for me. Ditto Robocop:
I appreciate the intentional over-the-top-ness but eventually it became a bit tedious for me.
John Wick 2
John Wick 2. A+, I say. Expands the universe, crazifies the action. Just as fun as the original for me.
Alien 3
Alien 3. Interesting thematically, but more fun to read about than to watch. It’s a very very steep drop-off from Alien and Aliens to this (same is true for most movies, to be fair). Filed under: David Fincher.
Dressed to Kill
Dressed to Kill. This was excellent. Love the wordless moments, just guided by soundtrack to clue you in and shape the emotion. That museum scene! The tension! De Palman surveillance and paranoia in full force. And something about all those clocks? Nancy Allen is a hoot. And Dennis Franz! Perspectives on psychosis and the trans community haven’t aged well. It is of its time. Filed under: Brian De Palma.
Mark Larson 