| Movie | Rating | Review | Date | Your Rating | Match | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citizen Kane - PG | December 4, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Sanatorium pod Klepsydra (The Hour-Glass Sanatorium) (The Sandglass) - Unrated | December 3, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Fighter (Aicha) - Unrated |
A Danish film about a muslim girl and a christian guy studying kung-fu with a little bit of a generation conflict thrown in. What could've been a unique approach to the "world against her" story actually leaves no cliche unturned in this martial arts version of Bend It Like Beckham. Melodramatic and contrived, it's a bit difficult to really feel anything for the characters since this story has been told a countless number of times. However, there's a really decent performance from lead actress Semra Turan and I look forward to seeing her in future films.
Some of the fight scenes are done rather well, while other fights seem to be concerned with complimenting a flashy soundtrack (and a bad one at that) and come off as silly. Although Turan makes fights scenes that much more engaging, the story could've benefited by being darker, moodier, and less extravagant given its' subject matter. 
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December 2, 2009 | N/A | |||
| The Seven Samurai (Shichinin no Samurai) - Unrated | December 2, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Onibaba - Unrated |
A personal favorite of mine. It's dark, earthy, erotic, claustrophobic, eerie, but mostly a grim tale of a trio with little but the basics of human nature to keep them going. It's a harsh film shot with a minimalist set with survival as a key theme to the story, the look being the primary attraction. Dialogue is minimal, as is the percussive jazz soundtrack creating a Bushido-noir.
To judge the women in the film would be hypocritical since the impoverished world they live in has been created by the hierarchy of man and the aftermath of war. Then there's the sexual jealousy between mother and daughter stemmed from self-preservation; the mother may not survive without her and being reminded of her own unfulfilled sexual desires while only growing older. The pace is slow but time is never wasted. More psychological than spiritual horror, Onibaba is like no other film and has proven the test of time with other greats from Kurosawa, Ozu and Mizoguchi. 
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November 30, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Fighting Elegy - Unrated |
Fighting Elegy is one of Suzuki's most restrained films, considering the fact that it was released in 1966, a year before he was fired from the Nikkatsu studio for his increasingly outrageous films. He does use some of his better known signatures such as unusual camera angles, editing, and few visual split screens. There are also moments of beauty, particularly some of the final shots. A scenario in which fascism is bred and shared in the growing youth of Japan, Fighting Elegy is not the ideal introduction to director Suzuki's films. Better to start with films such as Tokyo Drifter, Branded To Kill or Youth of the Beast. However, if you're already among the director's fans, I think you'll find this story very engaging.
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November 27, 2009 | N/A | |||
| The Quiet Earth - R | November 27, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Noi the Albino (Nói albínói) - PG-13 | November 27, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| The Road - R |
Everything from the performances, the sets, Nick Cave's minimal score and even the smallest of props made this one of the more believable, sludgey, post-apocalyptic tales in my recent memory that will test morality and humanity between father and son along their journey. This is NOT a Hollywood film, such as I Am Legend or Terminator: Salvation, and the pacing is not for everyone. It certainly would have been so easy to dwell on huge scenes of devastation but instead we get to see the bleak human story going on amongst all the chaos. I have seen the future, and it is rotten.
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November 27, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Ghost Dog - The Way of the Samurai - R | November 24, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| ¿Quién puede matar a un niño? (Who Can Kill a Child?)(Death is Child's Play)(Island of the Damned) - R | November 24, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Requiem - Unrated |
Don't see this expecting something in the vein of The Exorcist. There aren't any spinning heads or projectile vomiting and no sign of the demon Pazuzu here. Instead, Requiem is a non-sensationalized, non-judgmental look at what happens when mental illness clashes with religion. Based on the same case that inspired The Exorcism of Emily Rose, but the two films are different. Emily Rose focused primarily on a lawyer involved in a court case involving the Priest who performed the exorcism, while Requiem focuses on the woman and is a drama about what can lead someone to believe they are possessed.
The topic of exorcism may be easy "go to" material for horror films, but Requiem is not a horror film and the director doesn't decide for us whether or not she is possessed, but instead lets us draw our own conclusions. Lead actress Sandra Huller is really great throughout the film and the handheld camerawork is a nice touch in making the viewer feel as if they are in the room alongside her family. 
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November 20, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Che: Part Two (Guerrilla) - R |
Second film begins with Argentine-born revolutionary Che Guevara having left Cuba on an ill-fated campaign in disguise, eventually smuggling himself over the Bolivian border, leaving behind a second wife and 5 children. Throughout, there is never any mention of what would happen to them, how they feel, or how he even feels about all this. Still, Steven Soderbergh seems a lot milder and more sentimental as a director with a slower pace. Although I knew the outcome, Soderbergh does his best in showing how frustrating the fight in Bolivia might have been with a fading echo of what was possible in Cuba.
I would've like some of Che's failed campaign in the Congo to have been showcased, but I'll take what I can get. Regardless of how you feel about it politically, Soderbergh makes nice use of dilemmas that characters are confronted with. In real life, these were moments in the struggle where people made important decisions based on ideas of strength and weakness. 
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November 20, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Engel & Joe - Unrated | November 20, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Lammbock - Unrated | November 20, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Anatomy (Anatomie) - R | November 20, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Vergiss Amerika (Forget America) - Unrated | November 20, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Im Juli. (In July) - Unrated | November 20, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| I Need Love (Mein liebster Feind - Klaus Kinski) - Unrated | November 20, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Bandits - R | November 20, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Stalingrad - Unrated | November 20, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Die Weiße Rose (The White Rose) - Unrated | November 20, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Der Blaue Engel (The Blue Angel) - Unrated | November 20, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Die Nibelungen: Kriemhilds Rache (Kriemhild's Revenge) - Unrated | November 20, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Romeo Is Bleeding - R | November 19, 2009 | N/A |
3563 ratings
342 reviews
