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The Barkleys of Broadway (1949)
Delightful in every sense of the word.
Well I personally prefer most of the musical offerings from the 1930's, The Barkleys of Broadway trumps them all. Ginger and Fred are delivered in full blown technicolor (for the first time!) and what a treat it is to see them move. Some films will never become dated despite centuries passing. This will be one of those movies. A true testament to how cinema used to deliver legitimate magic into small playhouses around the country. I can't think of a better movie to watch on a rainy Sunday afternoon. I smile just thinking about it.
Shock Corridor (1963)
Aged like fine wine.
One of the grave injustices of through the history of cinema was the dismissal of Sam Fuller as nothing more than a hack creator of B pictures. Shock Corridor may be his greatest achievement, yet similarly to Fuller it was dismissed as tripe when it first opened in theaters decades ago. Seeing the current 7.4 imdb rating brigs a smile to my face. When I was a grad student I would explain the brilliance of this (and his other pictures) to my peers but was generally mocked for having poor taste. They say history is written by the winners and I'm glad in this case they were wrong. The 'loser' movie has won and finally found it's audience. A true triumph.
The Revenant (2015)
Easier to admire than enjoy.
I'm still torn on The Revenant. On one hand the production is an amazing accomplishment in a way few movie have been before. It's mixture of Tarkovsky-like visuals and rarely photographed backdrops are easy to admire as well. On the other hand I was left feeling the characters and story weren't created with the same majesty. The core story could have easily been transplanted into a B western from the 1950's. Maybe that was the intention but if so I don't understand why. This had the skeleton of a transcendental work-of-art but the body laid over that skeleton was nothing but stale hokum. I will probably return to watch it again in 5 or so years and see if my opinion has changed for better or worse. As it stands, I'm torn on it's quality.
The Set-Up (1949)
The Birth of the Authentic Boxing Movie
Boxing movies have been staples in genre cinema long before The Set-up and remained so long after. While Killer's Kiss, Raging Bull and yes Rocky touched on the subject with incredible grace, none of them came close to the perfection of Robert Ryan's aging boxer Bill 'Stoker' Thompson. The story is brief but it's created in real time, so the sparse 70 or so minutes we follow Ryan are 70 actual minutes in the characters life. Just enough time to leave his apartment, dress for his match, and finally box. It's a transformative hour in our hero's life. We can see how much his chances for a future in the ring are diminishing by the second. A masterpiece of restraint. The boxing match itself is beautifully shot and was clearly an inspiration for Raging Bull's fight sequences. This is the type of movie they just don't make anymore.
Reel 2 (2020)
Brilliant...that may take decades for the world to catch up to.
To be upfront I've never seen Reel but was told from a friend I respect that it wasn't required to see Reel 2. I took her advice and was glad I did. At first I wasn't sure what to expect but as the story progressed I was left gobsmacked in ways few movies have left me before. I have a hard time categorizing it as a straight horror film as there were just as many elements included from the avant-garde, comedy and drama. I'm not surprised this hasn't been reviewed more. This is not a movie for the average movie goer. Nothing is spoon-fed. At times I was reminded of the feeling I had watching Eraserhead for the first time back in the early 80's. I'm not saying it's anything like a David Lynch film but the way it seemed to create a new language out of nothing was definitely comparable. Erotic, shocking, hilarious, and yes extremely, extremely horrific. My only fear is that it may take the world a few years to catch up to the style presented here. This may be a movie destined for future generations to enjoy.
Candyman (1992)
The Creation of a Modern Monster
While Freddy and Jason did what they could to push horror into new boundaries in the 80's IMO no one pushed it further than the Candyman. This was as much of a homage to the really old movie monsters as it was to slasher films. The score, the look, everything about this movie is just classic. Virginia Madsen pushes the idea of a survivor girl to new heights. She's authentic. Which is something protagonists from horror movies always have a time struggling with. Any time someone tells me to watch a scary movie this is barometer I'm comparing it with.
The War of the Roses (1989)
Beautiful Portrayal of a Disintegration of Marriage
Ever since Kramer vs Kramer, and probably even before that, we have been watching the disintegration of marriages portrayed on the big screen. The recent Marriage Story proves there is still gas left in the tank on these movies. While all those other movies are good I'm not sure there is a better, more bitter, demonstration than War of the Roses. By the end of the movie you are praying for the credits to roll just so you don't have to see these two get pushed any further. It doesn't get much better than this for stuff from the 80's.