A perfectly tolerable Tuesday night prison movie
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Raging Bull 1980
It’s much funnier than I’d remembered.
I think I know why I like boxing movies: the intimate violence, two men in each other’s stink, bludgeoning until their brains sag, hungrier than they’ve ever been outside the ring—and here is the crowd, whooping and whining like dogs, regarding the whole display less as sport than as tragic comedy. It’s grotesque, and it fascinates me. There’s something thrilling about the incorrectness. These men will die young and stupid, and we cheer.
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Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance 2002
Something possessed me to buy a German release of a 4k master without English subtitles but whatever. I’ve always loved it for its visuals and sound anyway. It holds up, mostly. It has that brash young visionary thing, he clearly was out to build momentum for himself while also creating something singularly weird, horrific, beautiful, and funny. Its humor doesn’t get much shrift but “Sympathy for Mr Vengeance” is purely absurdist and humor is its heart.
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Eastern Promises 2007
Don’t fuck with Russians. Don’t fuck with Ukrainians. Don’t fuck with Chechens. Don’t fuck with Serbians. Don’t fuck with Croatians. Don’t fu
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The Worst Person in the World 2021
Effervescent. I was weightless during the entirety of its centerpiece. One of the most breathtaking portrayals of new love I’ve ever seen.
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All That Jazz 1979
I saw this in the theater and I thought it sucked and I’m sticking to my guns. I was 6
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The Innocents 2021
The title and concept tell me that “Turn of the Screw” continues to influence filmmakers in droves, directly or no.
This is one of those films that I’m sure is deeply problematic, but I’m not willing to try and untie my pretzel of a brain figuring out how. Or at least until I try and tackle more pieces on disabled representation. There’s something here about the apparent transference of spectrum disorders, volleying them as narrative tennis balls. Reinforcing the poisonous…