Dear summer: End. I am ready for autumn now. Thanks. Love, Shinmaru.
The Three Faces of Eve (1957): Pretty interesting movie because it's surprisingly feminist for 1957, although it's flawed in the way it delivers its message. The husband character in particular is pretty ridiculous; he's a raging asshole only when the script calls for it, and the movie kind of forgets that it set him up as a caring father in the beginning. Also, the ending is a bit too convenient for my tastes -- not just in how the title character's multiple personality disorder is cured, but also in how she stumbles into the perfect life out of nowhere. I can forgive a bit of bullshit, but not when it works itself into a pile. Still, it's a good movie, and the lead performance is a lot less corny and hammy than I expected.
Mardock Scramble: The First Compression (2010): Perfect example of the dark side of going with a pulpy feel in fiction: It's really easy for a pulp story to be stupid if the creators don't know what they are doing. Case in point: The miniboss squad whose themes are body parts and sexual fetishes, and they're all unbelievably retarded. The worst is the leader, Welldone the Pussyhand, and I don't think I need to finish that thought. Awful. The movie has these weird swings in animation quality, too; sometimes it looks good, and other times it's janky as hell, with terrible CGI. There are some decent ideas here and there, but overall it kind of sucks.
Clue (1985): Um, it's Clue. You should watch it if you haven't seen it.
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957): The first of David Lean's epics that I've watched. I liked it a lot, because it's paced a lot snappier than I expected, and many of the characters are really engaging. I think I like the parts with Alec Guinness a bit more than those with William Holden, but once the mission to blow up the bridge is on, everything steps up another level. The tension at the end is particularly fantastic. It's also interesting how the Japanese, British and Amercian officers are contrasted in their behavior and approach to the war. It initially seemed to me that there is a bit more sympathy thrown the American's way, but I think it's more that each group is trying to survive by employing what they know (and the American's point of view is what makes the most sense to me lol).
On the queue for this week: If.... (1968)
Total Movies: 136 (Blazing Saddles, The Descent, Gundam 00 the Movie: Awakening of the Trailblazer, Village of the Damned, Children of the Damned, Trigun: Badlands Rumble, The Night of the Hunter, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha the Movie 1st, Dawn of the Dead, Black Swan, Clue, Scarface, Dracula: Sovereign of the Damned, True Grit, Perfect Blue, The Quick and the Dead, High Sierra, Shutter Island, A Serious Man, Kite, The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Broken Blade 3, Kite Liberator, Machete, The Manchurian Candidate (2004), Heathers, The Prince of Tennis: The Two Samurai, The First Game, Notes on a Scandal, The American, King of Thorn), The Expendables, Sword of the Stranger, The Hangover, Welcome to the Space Show, Broken Blade 4, The Social Network, End of Evangelion, Neo Tokyo, Red, Dreamcatcher, Jason X, Wag the Dog, The Naked Gun, Dirty Work, 8mm, The Wicker Man (2006), Blood: The Last Vampire, Winter's Bone, The Road, Heartcatch Precure! Hana no To de Fashion Show ... Desu ka?!, Broadcast News, Bulletproof, Dead Leaves, Dirty Dancing, Hot Tub Time Machine, Eureka Seven: Pocketful of Rainbows, Cloverfield, Best in Show, Play Misty for Me, Paprika, The Cat Returns, Welcome to the Dollhouse, 12 Monkeys, The Killer, Metropolis, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, The Third Man, The King's Speech, Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus, The Abyss, The Fighter, Mega Piranha, Dumb and Dumber, The Rebirth of Buddha, 127 Hours, The Kids Are All Right, The Town, Willow, Akira, Morning Glory, The Verdict, I Love You Phillip Morris, Phantasm II, American Splendor, Broken Blade 5, Tangled, Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, The Rock, Wanted, Green Zone, Despicable Me, Waiting for Guffman, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, X-Men: First Class, X-Men, Hereafter, X2, Zatoichi, All About Eve, The Thing, Odin: Photon Space Sailer Starlight, City of God, Das Boot, Some Like it Hot, Downfall, X-Men: The Last Stand, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1, Winnie the Pooh, Bullitt, Hard Eight, Memories of Matsuko, Double Indemnity, Freaks, Break Blade 6, Key Largo, The Grand Illusion, The Seven Year Itch, Hermes: Winds of Love, To Catch a Thief, An American in Paris, Ninotchka, Interstella 5555, Hobo with a Shotgun, Dog Day Afternoon, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Steamboy, Little Norse Prince Valiant, Redline, Beat the Devil, Casablanca, The Girl Who Played with Fire, Easy Rider, Little Caesar, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, Band of Outsiders, The Three Faces of Eve, Mardock Scramble: The First Compression, Clue, The Bridge on the River Kwai)
