I can't think of a fancy intro, so whatever. lol
Spellbound (1945): I can safely say that this is the worst Alfred Hitchcock movie I have ever seen. It's not out and out bad, but it has aged quite poorly. The use of psychoanalysis is so lame and hokey (Indi would probably have fits xD), the ending is absurd and there is a skiing sequence that could not be more terrible had Ed Wood filmed it. Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck try their best; however, it's all just silly. The unintentional comedy of Peck doing the ol' "OMG MY UNCONSCIOUS MEMORIES ARE FLOATING TO THE SURFACE" acting is great, though.
Frenzy (1972): This is the second-to-the-last movie Hitchcock directed in his long career. Like a lot of his movies, this centers around mistaken identity (the main character is mistaken for a serial murderer), but interestingly enough, the protagonist isn't a completely good, innocent man (he's got a bad temper, and there are strong hints that his divorce from his first wife wasn't as amicable as he would like people to think). Frenzy is also much more direct than Hitchcock's other movies, because the production code had been abolished -- the movie has nudity, swearing and stronger violence than Hitchcock had ever been able to depict onscreen before. It kind of makes this a weird watch for me, haha. The best scene, though, involves some of Hitchcock's blackest comedy, when the real murderer has to retrieve an item he left with the woman he killed, only he has to deal with rigor mortis to get it back. It should not be funny, and yet it is.
Anatomy of a Murder (1959): This movie might be tame compared to what is released today, but if you watch it knowing what was allowed in 1959, then Anatomy of a Murder is actually shocking. The movie makes it starkly clear that a woman involved with the murder case is a rape victim (and that she also sleeps around a lot), that this same woman's husband beats his wife and there are loads of other little details that you would never expect to see in a movie at this time. I swear I almost gasped when a criminal who is being questioned on the stand calls the rape victim a "bitch." (I was really into the movie, if you can't tell. xD) What also makes this movie interesting is that it's not a black-and-white story -- the accused absolutely committed the murder for which he is on trial. The main argument is whether he was insane at the time of the murder. Jimmy Stewart's character uses tricks, emotion and obfuscating stupidity to gain an edge in court, and his opponents respond in kind (although, to be fair, both sides do a lot of work in preparing their cases, and the movie shows it). Anatomy of a Murder might be a bit long, but it's never boring, not even during the research and court scenes.
Clue (1985): Um, it's friggin' Clue. There's a reason I have seen it, like, 10 times -- the movie is awesome. If you ever want to drown in silly word puns, crazy dialogue and Tim Curry and Michael McKean pulling off Xanatos Gambits, then watch this right now. My siblings and I quote this movie just about every day. :D
On the queue for this week: The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) and Changeling (2008)
Total Movies: 68 (Gaslight, The Last King of Scotland, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Darjeeling Limited, This Film is Not Yet Rated, Diary of the Dead, Bullets Over Broadway, Interiors, Husbands and Wives, The Professional: Golgo 13, Lars and the Real Girl, Lolita, Quills, Hamlet, Iris, Manhattan Murder Mystery, The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, The Savages, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Stranger, Love and Death, Harold and Maude, Spartacus, Scarlet Street, Sabrina, Zelig, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask), Stardust Memories, Barry Lyndon, Be Kind Rewind, Radio Days, Deconstructing Harry, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Creating Rem Lazar, Undefeatable, Ninja Terminator, Ninja Dragon, Rumble Fish, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, In Bruges, The Bank Dick, Marathon Man, Clannad, Air, Tokyo Godfathers, Millennium Actress, MirrorMask, Slither, It's a Gift, Splendor in the Grass, Waitress, North by Northwest, Monkey Business, Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro, The Brave One, 3:10 to Yuma, Bringing Out the Dead, Gurren Lagann: Gurren-hen, There Will Be Blood, Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder, The Princess Bride, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Spellbound, Frenzy, Anatomy of a Murder, Clue)
