Recently watched movies 2021.03.15

Random thoughts on another batch of movies

The Magnificent Seven (1960) - rewatch
Love Actually (2003) - new to me
The Shawshank Redemption (1994) - rewatch
The Usual Suspects (1995) - rewatch
On the Waterfront (1954) - rewatch*
The King of Staten Island (2020) - new to me
Les Misérables (2012) - rewatch
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) - new to me
Your Name (2016) - new to me
Red Sparrow (2018) - new to me
The Rock (1996) - rewatch

The Magnificent Seven (1960)
directed by John Sturges

(rewatch)

This has long been one of my favourite movies since I saw it some 35 years ago, and maybe top 5 in the genre. As everyone knows, it's based on the 1954 Akira Kurosawa movie SEVEN SAMURAI, adapting it to the 19th century US/Mexico border area.

Not much I can add to 60 years of praise the movie had earned. This time around I especially enjoyed Eli Wallach as the bandit leader Calvera. Just pitch perfect in every scene. Instead of pointless sequels and remakes for the titular seven, they should done a prequel movie about Calvera (spoiler alert, he dies).

Love Actually (2003)
directed by Richard Curtis
(new to me)

Wow, this was... disappointing, I guess. Started to hear a lot about this movie a few years back, several people whose opinions I (used to) respect citing it as one of their favourites in whatever field was being discussed (romantic comedy, Christmas movies, ensemble casts).

I think this might be one of the least enjoyable well-made movies I've ever seen. Cast is full of talented people, all doing what they were hired for. Everything looks and sounds good. There are nearly a dozen interlocking stories, and I don't think I liked one of them. It just all seemed to be filled with repulsive beings doing repulsive things, and somehow with the charm of the actors trying to convince me that they weren't so bad. But they were. I get more upset about how much I dislike at least one person in almost every relationship in this movie the more I think about it (the only possible exceptions being the old rock singer and the film stand-ins, and even those are borderline). Not sure if I would have liked any of them better if there was more than a sitcom episode of screen time for any one story ("...and such small portions"). If any of these were the side plot in a conventional romantic comedy I'd just regard it as a misstep, but for each of them to effectively share the lead spot in a movie... well, hate actually is all around. 

This makes those holiday ensemble movies that Garry Marshall sadly ended his career with look much better in retrospect.

Is the praise I've heard for this movie some sort of long con? Or an elaborate prank? Do people really like this thing unironically?

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
directed by Frank Darabont
(rewatch)

Well, here's a movie that's always an antidote to any other cinematic poison you may have found yourself ingesting. I can still remember going to see this back in 1994 when it was new, not knowing anything about it, and just being stunned by how good it was. Might be my fondest movie theatre memory. Went back and watched it again the next day, which is the only time that ever happened. For quite a while after that I'd be as likely as not to name this as my favourite movie ever, before that became too much of a cliché. Still probably makes the cut every now and then, especially if I've just seen it. Which I probably have maybe close to two dozen times, not counting the hundreds of times I'll put it on just to watch a few scenes. 

This time around I especially enjoyed the supporting cast, in particular Brooks and Heywood.

The Usual Suspects (1995)
directed by Bryan Singer

(rewatch)

Similar to SHAWSHANK, I watched this in the theatre without any prior knowledge. Feel sorry for anyone who wasn't able to do that based on how many of the surprises are in the general lexicon. Also went back to see it on the big screen, though that was a few weeks later.

I think this might have been the first movie I re-watched with the commentary track all the way through when the DVD came out. Which made it the third time I watched it that week.

And yeah, I know, problematic creators on multiple levels. Still can't help but love it.  Gabriel Byrne and Kevin Pollak are still okay, right?  

On the Waterfront (1954)
directed by Elia Kazan

(rewatch*)

Technically a re-watch, but we're talking maybe 1988 since I've seen it (I know I was in high school, since I drove my French teacher crazy doing an awful Brando impression. Yes, in French. "J'aurais pu etre un candidat"?), so most of it felt new to me. Pretty much everything but that old "I coulda been a contender" scene I loved so much.  

Overall it still works about 90% of the time. The ending kind of lets it down, and knowing about Kazan drops it another notch. Have to say, I wouldn't hate it if someone good did a remake of it (except maybe not Aaron Sorkin, please. I know that would be Hollywood's first instinct), as a period piece, not updated to the modern day, with an improved script.

The King of Staten Island (2020)
directed by Judd Apatow
(new to me)

I think this might cure me of watching Apatow directed movies, which have been on a pretty consistent downward trend since THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN. Well, maybe TRAINWRECK was a little better than THIS IS 40.

Most of the first hour of the movie is pointless, unless you find Pete Davidson and his friends unbelievable charming, and if you do, I don't want to know you. That whole mess should have been condensed to ten minutes, which (if you added a real ending) would have brought the whole film down closer to the 100-minute ideal for a comedy. Overlength has been a consistent problem with Apatow, unfortunately.

After all of that set-up it picks up a bit for a while, but it's still repetitive. Maybe pick one scenario that makes your point and develop it, fully rather than half-bake all three concepts you have. And then it all just... sort... of... stops. Shoot me if they ever announce KING OF STATEN ISLAND 2 to provide the closure this one lacked.

Did want to note Marisa Tomei's performance as the mother, which really saves the movie. I was ready to stop watching at least three times, deciding to continue only when she came back on screen, seemingly wandering in from another far more interesting movie, and made me keep going. Give me an hour of set-up with her and I won't complain about a two hour comedy.

Les Misérables (2012)
directed by Tom Hooper

(rewatch)

I watched this one theatrically when it came out, not being familiar with the stage show, except for the song "I Dreamed a Dream" (and not knowing the context of that), knowing the general story Victor Hugo's The Wreched mostly from cultural osmosis. And I loved it, maybe my favourite movie of that year.

So oddly, this is the first time I've watched it all the way through since then, and it took Hooper's CATS being retroactively my favourite movie of 2019 (okay, not really, but top 5) to get me to do it. I have watched a few individual scenes a number of times, one in particular dozens of times, but never all of it. Since then I've also listened to the soundtrack many times, and various original cast recordings from assorted stage productions, at least one version of each song (except the new one from the movie) is on my regular random car playlist, so there probably hasn't been a week in the last eight years I haven't heard at least one song from this. Still haven't seen a proper stage production, although I did watch parts of the anniversary concert version, which gives some idea of the costuming and staging.

So, finally watching the whole movie again, I still like it. Maybe not quite as much. ZERO DARK THIRTY might beat it for best of 2012 now. I'd say that, with maybe two exceptions, the versions of the songs in the movie aren't my top choice of the available versions, and in some cases are dead last. One of those exceptions is "On My Own" by Samantha Barks, which I've watched many times, and listened to many more times. Other than that, it's not as good as the movie in my head, which edits out a lot of little jokes and asides (a problem even more pronounced in CATS), explains some things clearer now that I know the story better and substitutes other versions of the songs. Still, the movie that's actually there is still one I'm fond of. Don't think I'll wait as long to watch it again. And maybe I'll watch the full anniversary concert sometime soon. I wish there was a full filmed version of the proper stage show, similar to the 1998 CATS version or HAMILTON from last year.

Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
directed by Tommy Lee Wallace
(new to me)

This is the only HALLOWEEN movie not to be a slasher movie with Michael Myers, back when the intention seemed to be to make it an anthology horror franchise.  Obviously that didn't work. I plan to eventually re-watch the whole series, and this is the only one of the early ones I'd never seen.

This one involves a mask company with an irritating commercial jingle being used to distribute electronic devices with pieces of Stonehenge that will turn your head to bugs and snakes... and something about robots... and a lot of other things. It's all okay for what it's trying to be, but nothing special. And I'm going to have that damn commercial jingle in my head for a while.

Your Name (2016)
directed by Makoto Shinkai
(new to me)

Started watching this with subtitles and the original Japanese audio, which is my usual option for non-English movies where there's a choice, but it wasn't working for me. So I restarted with the dubbed version, which I found much easier. Not sure if that's because it was animation (I haven't watched too much feature length animation from Japan for quite a while), or because the dubbed translation seems to be a bit better than the captions.

Anyway, this is a weird sort of fantasy romance which starts off with two teenagers switching minds at random intervals, with the revelation that much more is going on as the story develops. I have to admit I found a lot of it confusing, not sure how much of that is my cultural ignorance, or the translation, or just a confusing story. Had to resort to searching for a plot summary on the internet to explain a few things that eluded me.

That said, gorgeous looking, and I'll probably watch it again in a few months to see how it works when you know what's going on. And I look forward to being disappointed by the eventual American re-make.

Red Sparrow (2018)
directed by Francis Lawrence

(new to me)

This is a fairly recent movie about Russian and American spy games. Overall it's just okay, not really adding too much to the genre, except maybe being more explicit with the sex and violence than most of the famous earlier examples, where that stuff was more often implied or off-screen.

Jennifer Lawrence is the lead, playing a young ballet dancer who gets injured, and in order to keep the privileged life she's used to for her mother gets dragged further and deeper into the world of espionage, where she's expected to use sex to her advantage. As you'd expect, the usual double and triple crosses occur, maybe to slightly ridiculous degree. Add five minutes to the end of the movie and there could have been yet another cross which turned everything on its head.

All a bit by the numbers. A little bit ridiculous in how good Lawrence's character gets with very little training compared to the other agents. Very stylish and well made, but nothing new. It also seems to be temporally displaced, Parts of it feel like it should be in the 1980s, other parts feel like it's taking place when it was produced, or some random time between those two.

The Rock (1996)
directed by Michael Bay
(rewatch)

This is probably the peak of big dumb action movies of its era. Certainly it's the peak of Michael Bay's career. There are probably a lot of flaws in this if you make the mistake of thinking about it for too long, but avoid that trap and it's a lot of fun, Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage are ridiculous in the best sense of that word, Ed Harris is dropped in from another movie and somehow that works. I end up watching this every few years, usually after I watch an action movie that doesn't work (this time it was pure letting my computer pick a random movie of those available).

normalman #4 [1984] (Random Comics Theatre)

Random Comics Theatre

normalman #4 [1984]

This is part of the 13 chapter series (1-12 and a concluding Annual) created by Jim Valentino and published from 1984 to 1986. Valentino made a few returns to the character in later years, and it's been collected a few times (most recently in THE COMPLETE NORMALMAN [2007] with all the various later stories), but never in the original colour version, which really takes away from the work.

As you can probably tell, this is a parody series very much of its time, rooted in the comic market of the mid-1980s. Each issue has a logo and cover treatment based on a particular other comic that is a part of the parody in that issue, in this case ElfQuest, the fantasy comic by Wendy Pini. The story inside contains some mockery of that series (mostly how often it's dismissed by its cute surface elements), as well as other aspects of comics of the era while advancing the series overarching plotline of normalman, a man without powers who finds himself trapped in a world (and now other worlds) full of fantastical beings.

This is a pretty fun series overall. I'm not sure how it would read to someone not as versed in the trivia and minutiae of that era of comics as I unfortunately am (it even took me a bit to realize what "Hairy Sloth" was meant to be). There are even creator-approved guest appearances by E-Man, Fred Hembeck, Cutey Bunny and The Wraith in here.

There's probably enough general humour that will apply to everyone, and the overall story hangs together with stuff you can figure out from what's in the series itself.  So pick it up, ideally the original comics if you can find them, and also the 2007 collection which has all sorts of extras (including the original preview short stories from CEREBUS, the JOURNEY crossover issue and more).

Startling Stories - The Thing - Night Falls On Yancy Street #2 [2003] (Random Comics Theatre)

Random Comics Theatre

Startling Stories: The Thing - Night Falls On Yancy Street #2 [2003]

The "Startling Stories" banner was a shortlived early 21st century line at Marvel mostly of independent comics creators working on non-continuity classic Marvel characters, including James Sturm on Fantastic Four, Richard Corben on the Hulk, and Peter Bagge on Spider-Man.

So this one is part of a four issue series written by Evan Dorkin and drawn by Dean Haspiel featuring the Jack Kirby created character Ben Grimm, the Thing. I was interested in it when it came out, but that was around the time almost everything started to be collected in superior editions soon after finishing. Turns out it wasn't the case for this series, which has to date never been collected, so eventually I picked up the individual issues. I see it is available digitally as of a few years ago.

It's a pretty interesting series. Dorkin and Haspiel do a great job of capturing both the look and tone of the original 1960s comics while telling a much darker story than you'd ever have seen in those page.

So in this issue, Ben is thinking of the young woman, Hazel, who he met on Yancy Street the previous issue, and decides to go and see her again. Taking, of course, the classic bathtub Fantasticar. Of course he has some misgivings because of his relationship with Alicia. He has more when he finds out Hazel's ex-boyfriend is the Spider-Man villain Sandman (created by Steve Ditko). Cue obligatory fight scene of rock vs. sand, and we also find out what those water towers that populate the top of Marvel NYC buildings are good for.

Fun stuff, overall. There's a slight problem that the colouring and lettering are a bit of their time, professional enough but a bit incongruous with the silver age feel of the art and story.

Recently watched movies 2021.03.08

Another batch of movies

Apollo 13 (1995) - rewatch
The Brood (1979) - new to me
Cats (1998) - new to me
Cats (2019) - new to me
Dark Waters (2019) - new to me
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966) - new to me
Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) - rewatch
The Hunt for Red October (1990) - rewatch
The Invisible Man (2020) - new to me
The Meg (2018) - new to me
Rio Bravo (1959) - new to me

Apollo 13 (1995)
directed by Ron Howard
(rewatch)

Being, of course, the dramatization of the 1970 NASA flight intended to be the third manned landing on the Moon which had to be aborted half-way there and became a rescue operation.

Loved this movie from the first time I saw it theatrically. Pretty near flawless production, from the sets to the acting. Every time I watch it I think there's something that must have been made up for dramatic effect, only to look it up and find that it was true, and in fact there were other interesting things which didn't make it in.

Never regret watching it, which I do every couple of years since it came out, and probably will continue to do forever.

The Brood (1979)
directed by David Cronenberg

An early horror movie from Cronenberg, featuring a man whose estranged wife is in the clutches of a cult which preaches "psychoplasmics", which he fears may be affecting their daughter.

Very nicely done suspenseful movie with moments of intense violence and horror. You can really see the flashes of certain filmmaking tendencies which would show up in later more well known Cronenberg work. It's not very long at only 92 minutes, a rare case where I'd actually like to see a movie be longer so it can flesh out a few things.

Cats (1998)
directed by David Mallet
Cats (2019)
directed by Tom Hooper

I always pretty much assumed I wouldn't like CATS, the stage musical, and in any case wasn't likely to go see the live version of it or any other musical (I think maybe 9th grade was the last live musical I've seen). Didn't even know about the 1998 filmed version, which is a modified version of the stage production.

Then the 2019 film version came out, and seemed to be much reviled from all corners, from those who loved the stage production and those who hated it. Not something I'd rush to see on the big screen, but eventually, a year later, I was in the mood to try something I could laugh at rather than with...

Expectations then sufficiently lowered, I watched. And about five minutes in I realize I might like it (I can identify the exact line, "Jellicle cats are queens of the night"). As it turns out, I loved it. I mean, really, I recognize all complaints about it as valid, it's completely strange, it's deeply flawed, but I was completely in the world within minutes, loved the music, the dancing, forgave numerous clunky bits, did not understand the hate for it.

Upon finishing, I did something I infrequently do and went back and rewatched a few scenes I especially enjoyed ("Mr. Mistoffelees" and "Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer", plus the first five minutes or so to watch it in the mood of "I like this" rather than "I'm going to love hating this"). Then the next day I did something I almost never do, and rewatched the whole thing. Then I added various versions (original London, original Broadway, film soundtrack) of it to a playlist on Spotify to listen to, found out about the 1998 version and watched that a week later, watched the full film again with the director's commentary, watched the 1998 version again with the Andrew Lloyd Webber commentary done last year in the early days of the current pandemic, read the original T. S. Eliot book of poems, listened to Eliot's reading of the poems and read way too many websites about the play. There has not been a day since I watched the film, about six weeks ago, that I haven't at least watched a scene from one of the movies or listened to one of the songs (as I type this I'm listening to a German stage production).

I guess I should be grateful that this happened now. If I found out how much I liked CATS a few years ago I might have spent way too much money going to see it live, while we now live in a world where I don't see myself going to a live stage show for a while, maybe ever. I am sorry that I missed the experience of seeing either film with an audience, although based on general commentary I'd have been unlikely to be in a crowd enjoying themselves as much as I was. I also wonder if the oft-complained about CGI effects in the 2019 film would have worked as well on the big screen.

I might have to get back this, as I have a lot of thoughts about all these versions. Like I said, there were missteps, in every version, and I don't see stopping watching it in the near future.

Dark Waters (2019)
directed by Todd Haynes

This is one of the most recent of the subset of legal dramas dealing with dramatizations of real-life lawyers going against corporate malfeasance, in particular environmental pollution. In the tradition of SILKWOOD and ERIN BROCKOVICH and the like. In this case the corporation is DuPont and their poisoning of the water in West Virginia with an unregulated chemical used in the production of teflon. Mark Ruffalo plays Robert Bilott, the main lawyer on what became a class action case against the company.

Overall this is okay. The accents are a bit much, and Mark Ruffalo is kind of weird in the whole thing. He seems to be trying to channel 1950s Marlon Brando, which is an odd choice, and he's also way too old to be the character he's playing in most of the movie (just checking, and Bilott would have been about 32 when the case started, about 20 years younger than Ruffalo when the movie was made). Of course, since these cases tend to drag out, by the end Ruffalo is the right age.

Most amazing is what these companies are able to get away with, and how little they pay even in the cases they lose compared to their overall profits. And how they can continue to do business even under the same name despite all the findings against them.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966)
directed by Richard Lester

This is a film adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim stage musical set in ancient Rome. This one turned out to be a bit of a slog, unfortunately. There were random funny scenes spread throughout, but I didn't care for most of the songs (pretty much just "Comedy Tonight" even stuck with me) and various things just go on too long. Especially the chariot chase scene at the end.

And I was somewhat distracted by The Doctor showing up out of nowhere in the middle...

Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)
directed by George Armitage

(rewatch)

This one I've seen at least a dozen times since it came out. For those unfamiliar, John Cusack plays a hired killer having a mid-life crisis that comes just as his 10-year high school reunion does, and reconnects with the girl he stood up on prom night, played by Minnie Driver. Wonderful movie, great cast, all sorts of little details to pick up on with each viewing.  I think I wrote about it on a previous viewing. Ah, over here.

The Hunt for Red October (1990)
directed by John McTiernan

(rewatch)

The first of many screen versions of Tom Clancy's CIA analyst Jack Ryan character, played here by Alec Baldwin. His mission this time involves a Russian submarine that goes silent under the command of Sean Connery.

I've seen this before, but it's been a while. It's pretty good as such things go, moves along nicely, lot of good action scenes. The Jack Ryan stuff is kind of superfluous, though, and maybe the whole movie would have been more interesting without the superspy who makes all sorts of improbable guesses based on little evidence that turn out to be right.

The Invisible Man (2020)
directed by Leigh Whannell

Elizabeth Moss stars in this movie very loosely based on the old H. G. Wells novel. In this version it's staged as a sort of stalker thriller with science fiction elements, as Moss escapes from a dominating relationship with an optics scientist who then proceeds to use an invisibility suit to stalk her, attack her and her friends and to generally make her appear to be crazy.

This is a solid but unspectacular film. The acting elevates some of the weaker bits of the writing. Sometimes the directing tends to lean on standard thriller ticks, with the occasional inventive bit based on the invisibility gimmick.

The Meg (2018)
directed by Jon Turteltaub

A big budget giant shark movie, this one about a giant supposedly extinct megalodon rising up from the depths of the Marianas Trench after some scientists provide a path out with their exploration vessel.

Worth watching if you keep your expectations low. It looks good, you can see where a lot of the budget went on the screen. Maybe a few million could have been shaken from that for a pass on a script which isn't as full of clichés.

Rio Bravo (1959)
directed by Howard Hawks

A cowboy movie starring John Wayne, Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson. The latter two mean we get some singing stuck in there before the big finale, but that's one of the few flaws in this story about a sheriff who has to hold off the hired guns of a wealthy rancher after arresting the rancher's brother. I like westerns, I'm not sure why I never got around to watching this one before, one of the most acclaimed ones of that era. Especially liked watching it so soon after re-watching BLAZING SADDLES, since you can tell where a lot of those bits came from. The drunken gunslinger with unsteady hands, the "authentic frontier gibberish" that Walter Brennen delivers as deputy Stumpy.

Glad I watched it, will definitely watch again, and maybe I'll check out a few more westerns from that era.

The Spirit #65 [1990] (Random Comics Theatre)

Random Comics Theatre

The Spirit #65 [1990]

This series of Will Eisner's creation lasted for 87 issues from 1983 to 1992 and reprinted all of the syndicated comic stories from Eisner's post-WWII return in 1945 to its ending in 1952 in slightly less than real time. The first year is reprinted in colour, and then the rest in black and white.

This issue reprints stories 552 to 555, covering the end of 1950 and start of 1951. By this time Jules Feiffer was deeply involved in the creation of the strip, as well as doing his own "Clifford" strip for the Spirit Section.

552 is "The Christmas Spirit", December 24, 1950. As per tradition, the Spirit doesn't fight crime on Christmas, so he and the other regulars only appears in a brief cameo on the final panel greeting. The story this time is about a rich girl, Darling O'Shea, trying to get a gift from Santa, and learning the meaning of Christmas, in a way.

553, from December 31, is "Happy New Year", and is one of the most atypical Spirit comics of all (as previewed on the new Eisner cover).  Jules Feiffer gets fed up and murders Eisner in the first two pages, and then draws a recap of the events of the year in his own style, similar to the "Clifford" strip. Very funny, one of the most memorable later strips.

553 is from January 7, 1951, and is the closest to a standard strip in this particular stretch, and even it is unusual. "A Time-Stop" features a meteor freezing time right at the stroke of midnight for everyone but one criminal, Marc Tymely, who's just about to be killed. The Spirit only appears as one of the frozen figures Tymely encounters and then at the end. An interesting experiment, but a little bit confusing.

554, January 14, closes off the issue, with another story that required a little less Eisner effort, as he was really starting to be busy with other assignments. This is "Rife Magazine", a parody of Life Magazine, with a brief look at some of the characters in the Spirit's world.

As is typical for this series, there are extensive notes on each story, written by Tom Heintjes. There's also an ad for a VHS copy of the live-action short "Ten Minutes" based on the classic 1949 Spirit story.

Recently watched movies 2021.03.01

Short comments on a bunch of movies I watched in the last week or so.
Specifically:

Harakiri (1962) - new to me

How to Murder Your Wife (1965) - new to me

Blazing Saddles (1974) - rewatch

Gremlins (1984) - rewatch

Groundhog Day (1993) - rewatch

Broken Arrow (1996) - rewatch

The Big Lebowski (1998) - rewatch

The Sixth Sense (1999) - rewatch

Heist (2001) - new to me

What We Do in the Shadows (2014) - new to me

Vivarium (2019) - new to me

Harakiri (1962)
directed by Masaki Kobayashi
[aka Seppuku (1962),  切腹 (1962)]

Set in early 17th century Japan, a masterless samurai requests the use of a lord's courtyard to commit ritual suicide so he can die with honour. Flashbacks show what happened to a previous samurai who made that request and the connection between them.

Just an excellent film, one of the best I've seen in a while. I only became aware of it recently, when I did an update to my spreadsheet of movies I've seen and want to see, and it came up as the highest ranking movie on the IMDB Top 250 that I'd never seen (currently #32 and the only one in the top 50 I hadn't seen except for one I won't watch because of the director). That kind of surprised me, since I don't recall ever hearing of the movie before that, and I have at least some awareness of every other American or Japanese movie on that chart (not so much some of the Indian and European work. And of course the Japanese movies on that chart are mostly Kurosawa and Miyazaki). Looking into it, it appears it only got enough votes to qualify for that chart in the last year and a half.

Just about a perfect movie, with a gradual unveiling of all the secrets, some good action scenes that actually advance the plot and a thoughtful conclusion. Seeing this now I can see where a lot of the more interesting aspects of some samurai comics I like, from Lone Wolf to Usagi, come from.

How to Murder Your Wife (1965)
directed by Richard Quine

It's kind of hard to figure out this movie. If it had come out in the last decade, I'd assume all the sexist stuff in it was a parody of the sexism of the 1960s, it's all so over the top in ways even beyond what you might see in Mad Men. But of course it's from the 1960s, so you have to allow for the idea that it might all just be sincere, no matter how ridiculous. Hard to say.

Anyway, it's the story of an absurdly successful comic strip artist (the comics shown being drawn by actual comic strip artist Mel Keefer), enjoying a carefree bachelor life, complete with a doting butler and carrying out elaborate roleplay scenarios on the streets of New York in order to get accurate photo references for his strips. Then he makes the mistake of getting married at a drunken party, and his carefree life is threatened (and his action/adventure comic strip becomes an even more successful domestic comedy strip). 

It's all very silly, and very well made, especially with Jack Lemmon being very charming in the lead role. You have to either be willing to either ignore the sexism or be prepared to give it the benefit of the doubt that it was a parody. Not sure I'd really recommend it to anyone not also interested in the comic strip stuff (which I assume was why it ended up on my list of things to watch).

Also, had to check, and the score is indeed by the guy who did the Odd Couple, which is very distracting as the main recurring theme is about 90% of the Odd Couple theme, to the point you keep expecting Walter Matthau to pop in.

Blazing Saddles (1974)
directed by Mel Brooks

If I'd kept track, this might be a contender for the movie I've seen most in my life. Been a few years since the last time, but it still holds up. Even knowing every line to the point I'm saying every punchline just ahead of the actors (because my timing sucks).

And yes, all the criticisms of the language are valid, I'm not sure what someone who never saw it before would make of it today. Fortunately, not my concern at this point.

This time around I was especially amused by Gabby Johnson and his display of "authentic frontier gibberish".

Gremlins (1984)
directed by Joe Dante

I know I saw this in the theatre first run, I think I've only seen commercial TV showings of it ever since, which I'm sure are cut to pieces (this film apparently being a leading reason the PG-13 rating was created). And even that would have been decades ago.

It's a strange movie, that's for sure. A few really funny scenes, a few really scary bits, but a lot of the scenes really go on far too long (the Gremlins in the bar, for example). And that absolutely weird scene where Phoebe Cates talks about the death of her father? What movie was that dropped in from? Maybe commercial TV has a point and it does need to be cut to pieces. Not so much for violence, but just for storytelling. There's a really good 70 minute movie in these 106 minutes.

Groundhog Day (1993)
directed by Harold Ramis

Another contender for most watched movie in my life. Don't think I've gone more than two years without seeing it since it came out (but, of course, never actually on February 2nd. I'm not a cliché). 

I'm pretty sure there's nothing I could add to all the "hot takes" on the movie you can find with a casual web search for the movie. And where should you do that search? Where do you think?

Broken Arrow (1996)
directed by John Woo

Haven't seen this since it came out when I was hearing a lot about Woo, but his original Chinese movies weren't readily available to me. 

It's about John Travolta as a fighter pilot who goes rogue and steals some nuclear bombs, and Christian Slater as his betrayed friend who has to stop him with the help of a park ranger played by Samantha Mathis.

I remember thinking it was okay, a little slight, but much more stylish than the average action movie of the era. Everything about it is better realized in Woo's next movie, FACE/OFF, also with Travolta. I'd still say this is worth watching. I was surprised by how clearly I remembered a few bits of it even after a quarter century.

The Big Lebowski (1998)
directed by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

I mean, for comparison, I know it hasn't been that long since I last saw this one, maybe five years, and I seem to have forgotten vast chunks of it. I mean like most scenes where John Goodman isn't on the screen. The Goodman scenes all feel like I saw them last week, while everything else just seems like a half-remembered dream I had once.

Not to say it's not all enjoyable. But I look forward to seeing it all for the first time again in a few years.

The Sixth Sense (1999)
directed by M. Night Shyamalan

Saw this a lot back around the turn of the century. Twice in the theatre, twice again when it was released on home video (for the kids reading, it used to take at least 6 months, sometimes over a year, for a movie to be released for home viewing. Now it's more like weeks, if there's any delay at all. Or if there's even a theatrical release. Also, kids? Reading a weblog? In 2021? What's wrong with you?). And then again when I actually bought a copy maybe a year later (again, for the kids, we used to buy movies on physical discs). But all that was about 20 years ago, and this is the first I've seen it since.

For the most part, still works, not quite as well as I clearly thought back then, but still a good construction. There are a few places where it could have been tightened up, and the kid's story kind of ends in a weird place so they could jump to the big end scene with Bruce Willis. Which was a lot less elaborate that I remembered it being.

Still good enough to make you wonder what happened to Shyamalan. Easily twice as good as his next best movie, and way better than his average.

Heist (2001)
directed by David Mamet

Somehow never watched this before. Anyway, it does what it says on the tin, it's a heist movie and it's by Mamet, with all the twists and dialogue ticks that you'd expect from that. Gene Hackman is the aging con-man looking to get out with one last score, great cast of characters around him to either help or get in the way or be used. 

Nothing revolutionary, but a decent example of the form. The big set-piece plane heist was well constructed, completely implausible and audacious. 

The Mamet dialogue sometimes gets a bad rap, with so many trying to replicate the surface elements without doing as good a job, but in the right circumstances and with the right actors it can be a joy.

What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
directed by Jemaine Clement & Taika Waititi

Been hearing some good things about the on-going TV show based on this movie, plus I loved Waititi's JOJO RABBIT and enjoyed his THOR: RAGNAROK. So figured it was worth checking out.

The movie is a mocking documentary (there's got to be a better name for that) about vampires living in modern day New Zealand, in particular four vampires from different eras (and different cinematic influences in their portrayal of vampires) who share a flat. Various hi-jinks ensue, mixing in standard sitcom situations with various horror tropes.

Pretty fun stuff overall. Kind of drags in the middle, even with the short 85 minute runtime. Might check out the TV show (which relocates the action to America).

Vivarium (2019)
directed by Lorcan Finnegan

A recent movie about Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg as a young couple who go house-hunting, ending up in a suburban nightmare world of identical houses where they are unable to leave. 

And I'm sure I'm not the first to note that this is basically a Twilight Zone episode blown up to feature length. Which is never a good idea. Even Twilight Zone episodes (any iteration) are better in the half-hour format, always feeling bloated and self-indulgent the closer they get to one hour, with commercials. Double that length, and take away the sweet release of a cartoon rabbit trying to sell you insurance, not a good idea. So some good bits, some striking visuals, but not enough story by half. Also, Eisenberg? Always a little annoying. Usually it fits the characters he's playing.