Peter Greenaway is the kind of filmmaker that you admire without every really liking in most cases. He's made acclaimed films like The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, but they are all very heavy endeavours that you wouldn't want to watch on a regular basis. I haven't seen 8 1/2 Women but it was cheap, so why not give it a try?
I'm not a Kurosawa lover the way say Univarn is, but there's no denying that Rashomon is one of the most important films ever made and did more to advance popular storytelling than any other film I can think of. It was one of the contenders for my list of The Best Movies That Made Going to the Movies Suck list (maybe it deserves an honorary entry) but no one wanted to write about it. Regardless, no film lover has not seen this movie.
Aki Kaurismaki is a strange, offbeat, deadpan filmmaker whose films have never really found an audience in North America. If there is one contemporary director who can compare to him it would be Jim Jarmusch, which, in a sense, doesn't do Kaurismaki justice because, if anything, Jarmusch just pays tribute to him as opposed to making the same kinds of films. Although the dry, deadpan comedic style has been copied countless times, especially in European films, Kaurismaki remains a true original and Man Without a Past is both heartwarming and hilarious in the truly oddest of ways.
As a collector I`ve gotten passed the point where I need the best, most up-to-date versions of everything I buy (with the exception of Criterion Collection movies, which are worth the extra coin). Therefore, because of both money and space concerns, I was happy to find four out of the five Dirty Harry movies all in one convenient, low-price case. I never thought these movies were quite good enough to own until I was reading David Gilmor`s The Film Club in which he talks about that infamous ``Are you feeling lucky`` scene, which made me want to see the movies again. The only downside is that this doesn`t contain The Dead Pool, which, contrary to popular opinion, I think is the best Dirty Harry movie besides the original.
I haven`t seen this but it got good reviews at the time, was only $1.99 and I really like Ben Stiller`s early movies like Your Friends and Neighbours when he actually acted as opposed to the annoying goofball persona he assumed for good after Zoolander and Meet the Parents (up until Greenberg that is)
Ah, what can you write in a few mild sentences to do justice to Pier Pablo Passolini when whole essays fail to do this man`s work justice. This is, after all, the artist, poet, filmmaker who unapologetically spun film around on its head, turned it inside out and back around again by questioning God, religion, politics, sexuality, everything he could get his hands on and then ultimately ended up murdered for being a homosexual, that is, if he didn`t just fake his death. Momma Roma came early in Passolini`s storied, fascinating and wildly enigmatic career when Italy was still in, or maybe just getting out, of the Italian Neo-Realism faze. It was Salo however, based on The Marquis de Sade`s 120 Days of Sodom which would forever cement Passolini as being one of history`s most shocking filmmakers. The movie is vile, disgusting, violent, and profane. It is, even by today's standards, one of the most shocking, unpleasant and unnerving films ever made. And it`s also, in the eyes of most, a masterpiece. I think it`s something that any mature, intelligent viewer should seek out. Just don`t say you weren`t warned.
Godard again. I don`t think this is a major Godard work, although when I watched it I wrongly selected it for casual viewing and no Godard movie is anything that should be considered causal, so I wasn`t prepared for it. I think this must be one of the last few movies of Godard`s that I wanted to own and one of the last few he made before he lost his mind and started making nearly unwatchable ``anti``-movies.
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