I watched a bunch of French films last, but some relate to a German director, so I’ll save those for next week. This week’s French films weren’t too too ‘French’. I must clarify that I notice a trend in French cinema for revealing characters through mundane activities or conversation, such as discussing dinner plans for 10-20 minutes and letting the viewer see one person enthralled by the wine while another is silently preoccupied with the events of the day. Do that a few times and you have a very ‘French’ movie, such as last week’s award winning Blue is the Warmest Color.

• Conclave (2024): The games played behind closed doors to elect a new Pope. Rather good, but the ending felt sus.
• Daliland (2022): An assistant’s view of Salvador Dali in his later years. I’m glad I saw it, but wish it was better.
• Yessongs (1975): concert footage. If you like Yes, you’ll like this, but not filmed that well.
• Night and Day (1946): Cole Porter biopic. Meh.
• De-Lovely (2004): Cole Porter biopic that admits he was gay. Meh.
• The Glass Bottom Boat (1966): Wacky Doris Day comedy with Paul Lynde. Hated it.
• Tengers (2007): Whimsical claymation story of brutality and crime in Johannesburg/South Africa. Maybe if you’re under the influence of something, this might be hilarious, but seeing it straight rubbed me the wrong way.
• L’enfant (2005): Cannes Palme d’Or winner about a street hood whose girl has a baby. I wanted to smack him upside the head repeatedly, so you know the film works. A bit french, but not too much.
• Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001): @[email protected] recommended this a little while ago, and I’m glad I listened. Action fans will probably wish there was more of that, but the action isn’t the point: we need to find the culprits. I’ve no idea how close to what legend this ranked, but it was an interesting somewhat french film, if a bit long.
• La Belle et la Bête (1946): I rewatched this famous Jean Cocteau take on Beauty and the Beast because I hadn’t seen it in a while. It still holds up.
• Orphée (1950): Since I was rewatching Cocteau, I had to rewatch his take on Orpheus, too. This was better than I remembered from my confused youth. Very French, but good if you can tolerate that.

have not watched it yet but picked up fantastic four because of some neighbors combined with recommendation here.

300 3/5: It’s still stupid Zack Snyder nonsense, but honestly just watching a bunch of hot dudes fight other hotter dudes is just a good time. I wonder if they used the same baby oil guy as Diddy? They had to order it in bulk I assume

Spider-Man (2002) 3/5: The Spider-Man mtg set dropped so I decided to watch all 3 Tobey Maguire ones. As far as origin stories go this is pretty decent, but origins are only so much fun to re-watch. These movies are very of their time, with music, themes, cgi, and casting

Spider-Man 2 3.5/5: The best of the 3. Spider-Man trying to balance his superhero life and personal life is where the character shines and this is almost exclusively about that. All of these movies could definitely have been shorter

Spider-Man 3 2.5/5: Venom is cool enough to warrant getting his own story, I think sharing the spotlight here didn’t really accomplish what they wanted it to do. It’s a little crazy that he puts almost zero effort into protecting his secret identity. Everyone figures out that he’s Peter so fast, except JJJ which is odd because he’s a journalist

Ne Zha 1.5/5: The sequel to this is supposed to be one of the best animated movies ever? Better question: they made a sequel to this? Maybe I’m too hung up on western 3 act structures but this was a mess, the kid sucks for way too long, I don’t find all of the gross humor funny, the animation looks like Madagascar which is bad for a 2019 movie but honestly my problem is with the character models. I just don’t understand what people were getting out of this, does anyone know if the 2nd is leagues better than the first?

This movie doesn’t bother with story or character development it all. It is all about dropping the viewer in the middle of the violence of combat.

The set up is a home invasion of an apartment complex done by the US Navy Seals, who then proceed to capture and imprison the families and lock them into a single bedroom.

The seals then destroy the various apartments, to set up what is called an OP. Very quickly one of the cartels/street gang that the US was fighting in Afghanistan attack.

The insanity and danger of combat is where this movie shines. The explosions are in your face, the guttural howls of pain by the SEALS who have their legs shattered by IED blasts are sickening. The force of the US jets as they do low level fly byes are unreal. You feel the high power weapons and what they do to a human body. You get an up close and personal view of what a land mine does to a human body.

The movie didn’t portray anyone as a hero or having a noble purpose… until the post credit scenes, and then it does just that.

True to form with many Alex Garland products this movie is great until the very end and then it just undermines itself.

Same thing he did with 28 Days Later, Sunshine and Annhilation.

Metropolis (2001)

It’s one of my favourite movies because of the music and animation. Once the music kicks in for the fire scene both my kids came and joined me and watch the rest together :)

I just watched Triangle (2009) tonight and loved it! It really surprised me because it looks like a not so good low budget horror. It ended up being such a solid story. I don’t wanna say more bc it will spoil, but it was great seeing all the small details come together and having everything wrapped up neatly at the end.

I watched Gattaca for the first time and I introduced my partner to the movie Upgrade. Gattaca was an interesting piece to watch. After seeing Upgrade, both of us had to recover from the psychological trauma it caused. I’ve seen the movie quite a few times by now, but the ending still punches me in the gut.