PARADISE LOST: Yeon Sang-ho’s crime thriller has an intriguing premise/set up. Unfortunately, it settles into banal lurid cliches & ends with a ludicrous melodramatic wrap up. Went in blind, only knowing Yeon directed. Maybe he should stick to zombie movies, where he thrives
2
110
The final car chase cross cut with the bicycle race from the beginning is a tad silly, but the very final sequence where Waise Lee’s character starts yelling at the skull redeems it. The cut I first saw ended with Tony Leung just shooting him in the board room, which worked well
1
119
The violence in Bullet in the Head is never fun - it’s always shown as ugly, destructive & soul destroying no matter who commits it. In general, Woo’s violence is never realistic but meant to express emotion. It can be slightly cartoonish but ultimately feel genuine
1
103
When I first saw it, Tony Leung impressed me the most & he remains the MVP. But actually everyone is terrific - Jackie Cheung, Simon Yam & Waise Lee, whom I didn’t really credit originally because I hated his character so much.
1
124
BULLET IN THE HEAD: 1st theatrical viewing in decades doesn’t pack quite the same punch but still probably Woo’s best film: effectively expressing all of his pet themes of friendship/betrayal set in a ugly, violent world. Politically muddled but its core emotions still hit hard
2
102
One thing that stood out blatantly is how much better the lighting/color schemes/use of both practical & cgi fx is in this 25 year old film than anything today (including Spielberg’s own Disclosure Day, which I liked). Why is that? Is it the great care/planning that went into it?
1
45
People forget that it takes place in an apocalyptic (but unfortunately very credible) post climate disaster scenario & was conceived pre smart phone around internet 1.0 - so the uses of AI/tech still feel benign as opposed to what we are facing today
1
80
I wonder if it’s because the movie doesn’t comfortably conform to any single genre trope & consistently presents an unflattering view of humanity (all the human characters are deeply flawed & often completely unlikeable). Yet despite this skepticism, I found it oddly optimistic
1
61
I loved AI upon its original release but not only did the movie receive mostly a mixed to negative critical reception, most audiences (including many friends) were downright hostile to the point they’d get angry at me for suggesting it had merit.
2
80
AI ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: 1st theatrical viewing in 25 years confirms this is Spielberg’s finest (w/ a heavy posthumous assist from Kubrick). Remains a provocative, unsettling & profoundly sad fairy tale for humanity. Osment gives one of the greatest child performances.
1
44
One aspect of Godzilla Minus Zero that really hampered it was the bad child performance by the little girl. Her forced crying undermined any potential emotional impact. Tbf, the whole war orphan angle didn’t really work in this installment as a whole.
5
218
My Apple Watch warned me several times that the decibel level was too loud. I did like the custom Godzilla IMAX numbers count down
1
4
251
During the scenes between DeNiro & Foster (which are exceptional), I kept thinking about Foster’s stories of how DeNiro would prepare by picking her up to go to a diner & then just sit there silent until she was bored as hell. After a while, he started interjecting improvisations
2
245
Scorsese’s subjective camera work has probably never been put to better use than in Taxi Driver. It’s interesting that this wasn’t edited by Thelma, but Scorsese’s editing rhythms are still present (assisted by Marcia Lucas). The performances are extraordinary across the board
1
194
I kept thinking about the originally scripted ending for Taxi Driver & how Tarantino slightly took Scorsese & company for changing the races of Sport & company. But that would have extremely irresponsible & the voyeuristic/subjectively imposed racism is already repellent
5
316
I remember when I first saw Taxi Driver as an impressionable teen, I mistook it as a realistic portrait of NYC & it absolutely terrified me. Years later, I’d walk those same streets, which had long since been gentrified. This viewing I mainly noticed how cheap the prices were
1
205
I saw at a packed screening at a rep house filled with youngsters who had either never seen it or never seen it theatrically & they were completely engrossed without reacting in snide ways, which was refreshing
1
5
590