Hi. I’ve been watching a lot of movies lately, and so decided to write about a few of them, since I haven’t done anything like this since, well, January, I guess?
MANHUNTER (1986) – Confession:  I’m don’t care much for the Anthony Hopkins Hannibal movies. They’re not bad, they’re just not my thing? I’ve never read the books, so how accurate the movies are doesn’t mean too much to me, and I guess that’s why I enjoy the TV show so much more than other people do. I LOVED Manhunter, oh so much more than Red Dragon. The movie feels like a dream, and that soundtrack is incredible. Ralph Fiennes is a better actor, sure, but he isn’t nearly as creepy as Tom Noonan in this movie. And I’ve never cared for Edward Norton either. This movie just aligns more with my interests, I guess. Cinematography is gorgeous and sparse too.
MERANTAU (2010)- The first film by Gareth Edwards, who brought us the bone-crunching greatness that is the Raid and its even more remarkable sequel (one of my favorite movies of this year), it was interesting to see him figuring things out here. Also interesting was seeing Iko Uwais looking so young and Yayan Ruhian clean shaven with short hair. This one doesn’t deliver the way the Raid films do. It seems like it’s trying to be a more traditional martial arts movie, a picturesque, brightly colored coming of age film, and it’s dreadfully dull for at least the first half. If Iko isn’t trading blows with someone, the movie just stops cold and drags. Once nonsense like story and character development get thrown out the window and we’re treated to Iko’s character plowing through goons, we start to see the roots of what would eventually lead to the Raid. Having those two white guys as the final boss fight though? That was weird and out of nowhere, especially since they didn’t show any signs of being skilled fighters prior to the end of the movie.
UNDER THE SKIN (2014)- I’m hesitant to write about this. I know there’s no way to do it justice. This is the best movie I’ve seen this year, and I want to save my thoughts on it for when I do my end of the year round-up thing. This movie is body horror in a way I’ve never seen before, and in so many ways it feels a lot like some of my own comics work, dealing with similar ideas. It’s gorgeous and unsettling and just…utterly alien. Seek it out. Read what Sarah Horrocks wrote about it too.
FRANKENSTEIN’S ARMY (2013)- The trailers for this movie, silent, black and white footage like old newsreels, of Nazis digging up bodies and things, are incredible. The movie itself? Not so much, sadly. It never captures the same sense of horror as those trailers. And something I realized about found footage movies: they always feel like you’re just going through a haunted house or something. Especially this movie, lots of moving through open rooms and tight corridors with the monsters popping out and waving their arms at the camera. It was also way too obviously influenced by BioShock. The monster designs are fantastic and imaginative though. More like a tokusatsu thing than horrific, really. One of my favorites was the bulky one with a propeller for a head. Wish it had more of a budget, and more dramatic lighting would have helped. 
THE MASTER (2012)- Never seen any Paul Thomas Anderson films before. Are they all this majestic? Everything about this movie is so engrossing, especially the rich cinematography and the powerhouse performances by Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman. I keep thinking about all these moments in the movie, these long takes where you’re just watching uncut performances, Freddie Quell’s unpredictable behavior, and did I mention how gorgeous this movie looks? The repeated images of the ocean especially. And the music. Wow. 

THE LONG GOODBYE (1973)- Robert Altman adapts a hard-boiled detective novel written by the king of hard-boiled detective novels, but makes it look and feel NOTHING like what you expect from noir, not really hard-boiled at all. It’s kind of exceptional because of that. Elliott Gould is so enjoyable as Philip Marlowe, a guy who’s kind of fed up with the world around him, but hangs on and keeps a laid back disposition anyway, just rolling with shit as it happens. His frequent interactions with animals, especially his cat, are the best, as is his constant talking to himself, which is a great way of taking the first person narration of the novel and tackling it without resorting to cliché voiceover narration. Just a great screen presence in that guy. There are plenty of other great, unusual characters for him to interact with and bounce around, the story itself hardly even matters. Again, I really love just how laid back and anti-noir this movie is. Not to say there isn’t any tension or anything, there most certainly is, but Marlowe’s attitude through the whole thing keeps things from spiraling out of control like they do in other detective movies.

Other movies watched that I decided not to write about: Judex (French pulp serial tribute), Mad Max (MAD MAX), At the Earth’s Core (Peter Cushing is really weird in this as a comedic protagonist), Special ID (DONNIE YEN FUCKS GUYS UP, plus the BEST car fight I’ve seen), Journey to the West (the opening is a pretty good Jaws parody), Side Effects (beautifully shot lesbian corporate espionage), 48 Hours (Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy!), and Mad Detective (not at all related to Mad Max).