THE DANMAN CAN

I've never read the book(s), though I'd like to someday, but I've come to appreciate the film, in all its strangeness and despite its flaws, more and more with each viewing.

I know it's a "classic", but I've always found it a bit clunky, boring, and cheesy. It's just as melodramatic as anything by Kurosawa   (whom I don't necessarily love every film by), Kobayashi , and other legendary Japanese directors, but with inferior technique, ham-fisted, heavy-handed "message movie" dialogue (delivered poorly often times), and distractingly dated effects. I recognize its cultural impact, but I can't pretend to think it's an excellent film because it's expected of me. Also, I'm just not really into kaiju ,  KING KONG being an exception (and it doesn't technically count), which, in my opinion has better effects and was released 21 years before GOJIRA .

What a frustrating film. So much about it is good or has/had potential. Parts of the score are excellent. But its schizophrenic nature, occasional poor sound mixing and dodgy FX work against it. I'm still giving it *** because it was well-made overall. But they hype surrounding this film is a bit much and not entirely deserved in my opinion.

The Strange Color Of Your Body's Tears  (2013) may well have beaten out The Grand Budapest Hotel  (2014) as my favorite film of the year. I need a second viewing of both though. Even stranger, gorier (some scenes were incredibly intense and uncomfortable) and more Lynch ian than Amer  (2009) (my review here ). Amazingly, I think Amer   actually makes more sense. I can't pretend to have followed the "plot" (which involves a man looking for his missing wife, among lots of other bizarre shit) exactly, but as long as you can buy into art for art's sake, you will love this film. Need I say visually stunning? And just look at the gorgeous poster (which I'm dying to get a print of)!

GREMLINS 2  is to GREMLINS as THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 is to THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE  and in this case, in my opinion, a better sequel to its original.

Focus On Film   Episode 15  is up! Download the MP3  HERE . In this episode: June 2014 Criterion Collection  Titles Announcement Best/Worst Of The Month  – AN AMERICAN HIPPIE IN ISRAEL (1972), ME AND ORSON WELLES (2008), KING OF THE HILL (1993), BUFFALO '66  (1998) "Criterion Most Wanted" "Focus On Film Theme"  & other music:  Daniel Sardella

Without doubt, some of the best car chase sequences I've ever seen, amidst a cool, calm, and collected slow burner.

One of the most faithful adaptations of a novel  ( review ) I've ever seen.

The Killer Inside Me  (1952) is my third and favorite Jim Thompson  book so far. To steal the cover quote by Stanley Kubrick : "probably the most chilling and believable first-person story of a criminally warped mind I have ever encountered." Thompson wrote the dialogue for Kubrick's The Killing and the screenplay for the director's Paths Of Glory . I have not seen the 1976 film version of Killer , but I think the 2010 version   ( review )   is excellent and it is an incredibly faithful adaptation of the novel (literally every page is translated).

Recommended if you enjoy hypersensitivity, minimal dialogue, extreme close-ups, over-accentuated sound design,  Mario Bava , close-ups of eyes, absence of narrative,  Gialli , beautiful brunettes, creepy dudes,  Alejandro Jodorowsky , "artsy-fartsy" films, fetishistic close-ups of female anatomy in sundresses,  David Lynch .

After I (finally) finished watching all of the AFI Top 100 Films recently, I decided to take it upon myself to attempt the seemingly impossible task of creating my own top 100 films. Picking out the 100 films was tough, but I set some criteria for myself: 1. I had to currently own the film. Naturally, this means that there are absolutely films that are missing from the list that would have been included ( Double Indemnity   (1944), Die Hard   (1988) and  Predator   (1987) spring to mind, just off the top of my head), so substitutions were made. My reasons for not owning some of the films at the moment are varied and may include availability on Blu-ray. 2. I tried to limit the number of titles I chose by the same director. This was more difficult. Initially I thought that I should only include 1 title per director but that proved impossible (I mean, Kubrick , PTA , Wes Anderson , the Coen Bros. , Spielberg - c'mon!). A sub-criteria I made for ...

I was wavering between a 4-star a 4 1/2-star rating for The Grand Budapest Hotel  (2014) in my mind for some time, but decided to settle on ****1/2 because I think a repeat viewing will make me appreciate it even more. Because the first time I see a Wes Anderson film I'm usually just along for the ride and grinning almost throughout and the second (and subsequent) viewings are when I'm catching more dialog and nuances. And, unfortunately, there was a problem with the DCP  for this film, so the audience I was with had to wait over an hour to restart the film where it had left off when it had issues (it was worth it). It can be said that I am firmly in Wes Anderson 's camp and have been since his second feature Rushmore   (1998)   (still my favorite of his) was released on home video. I think his style is all his own and I'm OK with him making very similarly-styled films. Only a couple of his films ( The Darjeeling Limited   (2007)   and Moonrise Kin...

I was really impressed with this one. John Sturges directed 2 straight-up classics (that I've seen) - THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960) &  THE GREAT ESCAPE (1963), but also a film, NEVER SO FEW (1959), that felt too much like propaganda for me. Additionally, I need to see JOE KIDD  (1972) one of these days because Elmore Leonard wrote the screenplay. Getting back to BAD DAY , this is a gritty western/noir with a "man's man" cast and excellent dialog.

Intolerable Cruelty   (2003), along with Barton Fink   (1991) ( review ),  The Hudsucker Proxy  (1994) ( review ), The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), and A Serious Man  (2009) are all underrated Coen Bros. films, in my opinion. The dialog is sharp as a tack (watch the video below). George Clooney is perfect. The character names are ridiculous and fun (as in   Hudsucker) . Picture a modern version of His Girl Friday  (1940) ( review ) and other screwball comedies of the '30s and '40s. Don't be fooled by the lame poster and the way the film was marketed. This is pure Coens.