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Information Exchange => Movie Reviews => Topic started by: Rev. Powell on May 17, 2013, 05:06:56 PM



Title: May @ 366 Weird Movies: HOLY MOTORS, James Whale, EXTERMINATING ANGEL, more!
Post by: Rev. Powell on May 17, 2013, 05:06:56 PM
I've been putting these updates off. May I catch you up on this month?

TOKYO GORE POLICE (2008) (http://366weirdmovies.com/tokyo-gore-police-2008/): Certified Weird! "With its bordello of freaks, fountains of blood spurting from decapitated heads, and sick jokes at the expense of our fragile human anatomy, Tokyo Gore Police ticks off all the splatterpunk boxes; heck, it helped draw the boxes."

AT MIDNIGHT I'LL TAKE YOUR SOUL (1964) (http://366weirdmovies.com/capsule-at-midnight-ill-take-your-soul-1964/): "A leather gloved hand bloodies a woman’s face, the same hands strangle a man in a bathtub, and a tarantula crawls over a bound victim, all while the wind howls and screams, moans and cackles echo in the background like a soundtrack for a Halloween haunted house. The opening impression is of a cross between a Universal horror and a grindhouse roughie; throw in a bit of Anton LaVey posturing, and that’s a fairly accurate description."

NIGHT OF THE HUNTED (1980) (http://366weirdmovies.com/capsule-night-of-the-hunted-1980/): "In the opening, the beautiful amnesiac heroine, Elisabeth (Lahaie), has temporarily escaped captivity, together with a soon-forgotten companion—who is (inexplicably) naked. Robert (Gardère), a kindly motorist, picks her up and takes her—not to a hospital, or the police station—but to his bachelor pad."

THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE (1972) (http://366weirdmovies.com/list-candidate-the-discreet-charm-of-the-bourgeoisie-1972/): "...there are no pianos full of dead donkeys, but we do get an electrified piano used as an instrument of torture, from which cockroaches stream as the convulsions of the screaming victim create impromptu musique concréte-–an act for which the policeman responsible is first murdered by outraged student radicals (offscreen), and then condemned to return as a gory apparition (onscreen) every Bloody Sergeant’s Day (June 14th, if you’re thinking of throwing a party)."-OB

THE PHANTOM OF LIBERTY (1974) (http://366weirdmovies.com/list-candidate-the-phantom-of-liberty-1974/): "Buñuel gives us glimpses into situations that have no rational explanation whatsoever, and abandons them because any punchline he could possibly provide would be an anticlimax."-OB

LOSING LULU (Louise Brooks tribute) (http://366weirdmovies.com/losing-lulu/): "Cinematically, Lulu was lost, but she returned, in advanced age, to write one of the most charming, erudite, and incisively brilliant of Hollywood memoirs: 'Lulu in Hollywood.' Her autobiography was a series of essays, written with Kenneth Tynan, revealing the actress’ shrewd assessment of herself and her image as an embodiment of sex and death."-AE

SEVEN CHANCES (1925) (http://366weirdmovies.com/seven-chances-1925/): "News of our shy protagonist's inheritance leads to an epic deluge of wannabe brides pursuing him in a chase of mind-boggling comic inventiveness... Keaton literally seems to be a live action, stone-faced Speedy Gonzalez, fleeing foolish virgins and an avalanche of boulders (a justifiably famous scene that was improvised)."-AE

THE CAMERAMAN (1928) AND FILM (1965) (http://366weirdmovies.com/the-cameraman-1928-and-film-1965/): " Keaton and a monkey sidekick (!) manage a daring escape. Naturally, the pretty girl winds up on our hero’s arm, even if she’s not much more than a mannequin. Still, The Cameraman is a near masterpiece, and it is the last Keaton film worth watching with one strange exception…"-AE

FREE RADICALS: A HISTORY OF EXPERIMENTAL FILM (2012) (http://366weirdmovies.com/capsule-free-radicals-a-history-of-experimental-film-2012/): "The doc begins with footage of the Chodorovs’ home movies: Super 8 footage of a normal looking kid climbing a tree and hugging his mom, except that the celluloid is folded and discolored in random patterns (a result, we are told, of a happy accident—the dog peed on the film). That personal history informs the rest of Free Radicals, and Chodorov’s preferences prevail: at times, he seems to be mainly interviewing his buddies (or his dad’s buddies), sometimes literally over a beer."

SAVAGE WITCHES (2012) (http://366weirdmovies.com/366-underground-savage-witches-2012/): "For a 70 minute experimental feature film, Savage Witches is highly entertaining, which may come as a surprise to audiences in the U.S., whose exposure to experimental film is usually in short form and viewed as something to be endured, like a visit to the dentist."-LRH


Title: Re: May @ 366 Weird Movies: THE TRIAL, Fervid Filmmaking, L'AGE D'OR, SPARROWS
Post by: Rev. Powell on May 24, 2013, 02:34:23 PM
May we continue...

THE TRIAL (1962) (http://366weirdmovies.com/143-the-trial-1962/): Certified Weird! " Orson Welles, the great grayscale poet, proves the perfect adapter of Kafka, imprisoning the beleaguered Josef K. in bars of light and shadow."

"Fervid Filmmaking: 66 Cult Pictures of Vision, Verve and No Self-Restraint" (http://366weirdmovies.com/book-review-fervid-filmmaking-66-cult-pictures-of-vision-verve-and-no-self-restraint/): 'I think that Cult Film is Dead—personally, I blame the Internet."-LRH

L'AGE D'OR (1930) (http://366weirdmovies.com/list-candidate-lage-dor-1930/): "There are standout moments—a man cold-bloodedly killing his son for the most trivial of reasons, a suicide falling not to the floor but the ceiling, Lya Lys passionately sucking the toe of a statue—but not enough of them."-OB

SPARROWS (1926) (http://366weirdmovies.com/sparrows-1926/): "There is an early casualty amongst the children and none other than Jesus Christ Himself appears to escort the poor lad’s corpse into heaven!"-AE


Title: Re: May @ 366 Weird Movies: HOLY MOTORS, James Whale, EXTERMINATING ANGEL, more!
Post by: Rev. Powell on May 31, 2013, 06:21:41 PM
May we finish up?

HOLY MOTORS (2012) (http://366weirdmovies.com/holy-motors-2012/): Certified Weird! "For a single snapshot that captures Merde’s hard-to-define charm, we select the moment when he bites off a woman’s finger, then licks supermodel Eva Mendes, leaving a trail of blood on her armpit. Ever the professional, she never breaks her expression of sultry indifference."

DIRECTOR RETROSPECTIVE: JAMES WHALE, PART 1 (http://366weirdmovies.com/director-retrospective-james-whale-part-one/): "Whale never enjoyed himself more while sliding everything but the kitchen sink under the censor’s radar. With its latent themes of same-sex relationships and necrophilia, Bride is one of the most delightfully eccentric productions in the entirety of cinema."-AE

THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL (1962) (http://366weirdmovies.com/list-candidate-the-exterminating-angel-1962/): "This is basically 'Lord of the Flies' with adults. Trapped in one room for no reason at all, they suffer hunger, thirst, stench—a man who dies early on is stuffed into a cupboard and remains there for many days in warm weather—and sanitary facilities consisting of a closet full of antique vases..."-OB

IVAN'S CHILDHOOD (1962) (http://366weirdmovies.com/capsule-ivans-childhood-1962/): "Anchored by a gritty performance by young Nikolay Burlyaev, who straggles into a base camp half-starved and starts ordering a lieutenant around with the arrogance only a kid can muster but has the right touches of tearful vulnerability at key moments, the story has an easy-to-locate moral and emotional center."