The Wandering Image: June 2022

Wednesday, June 29, 2022

Viewing Journal: 6/30 - 6/29/2022

408) LIGHTYEAR

(2022 dir. Angus MacLane) Date Seen: June 30 2022

quality space opera.

I always enjoyed the video game sequence that kickstarts TOY STORY 2 & this believably felt like the event movie that game could've derived from.. Purist haters need to clam up & just be happy we got this instead of something aggravatingly generic like ABC's Buzz Lightyear of Star Command.

407) HATCHING

(2022 dir. Hanna Bergholm) Date Seen: June 30 2022

please give a warm welcome to this slick & thematically rich newest member of the Symbiotic Killer horror family (e.g. MONKEY SHINES, De Palma's SISTERS, BAD MILO, BRAIN DAMAGE, SPUTNIK, etc.) Did anyone else think the creature's earliest stage in this movie was oddly cute?? In a goblin-ish Smeagol way? Anyway, thing's not half as gross as the materialistic "influencer" mum & her draconian standards of perfection. I guess that's sort of the crux of the thing.

406) CYST

(2022 dir. Tyler Russell) Date Seen: June 29 2022

There's a body horror visual early on in this that's almost as gross as the nastiest part of Junji Ito's "Glyceride".

Lots of fun intentionally goofy acting and rubber monster effects going on at all times, but halfway through I sort of found myself wishing it was either funnier or scarier. Just something of lasting significance.

405) THE PASSENGER

[LA PASAJERA]

(2022 dir. F.González Gómez / Cerezo) Date Seen: June 29 2022

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Viewing Journal: 6/27/2022

402) DOWNPOUR رگبار

(1972 dir. Bahram Beyzai) Date Seen: June 27 2022

This is the debut of the guy that later did BASHU, THE LITTLE STRANGER! And one of the only Iranian films I've seen that takes place pre-"Islamic Revolution" (aka before they became a brutal theocracy), so it's always fascinating to get a glimpse of what life was like in the ol' Persian lands back then. Had some pacing issues but overall I mostly loved it.

#CriterionBluray #ScorseseWorldCinemaProject3

401) LUCÍA

(1968 dir. Humberto Solás) Date Seen: June 27 2022

In terms of greatest looking black & white movies ever made; this is a photographic paragon up there with ANDREI RUBLEV and NIGHT OF THE HUNTER. And each segment's dramatic weight coupled with all the different aesthetic flourishes brought me to tears more than once.

#CriterionBluray #ScorseseWorldCinemaProject3

Viewing Journal: 6/26/2022

400)

THE F13TH FAN FILM MIXTAPE

(2019 dir. lots of people) Date Seen: June 26 2022

I prefer this type of arbitrary highlight reel to the more straightforward fan remakes I've seen - ex. RAIDERS: THE ADAPTATION (1989), A NEW HOPE UNCUT (2009), OUR ROBOCOP REMAKE (2014), etc. (although I did like those too!). I think mostly due to the more unfocused nature of the former; It's a bit funnier & more surprising just to witness random clips from all the different home movie interpretations. Like a mini-anthology full of crazy micro shorts.

399) SOLEIL Ô [OH, SUN]

(1970 dir. Med Hundo) Date Seen: June 26 2022

this whole experiment seemed to have an air of therapeutic catharsis. Like the filmmaker was trying to exorcise a mammoth amount of anger & pain from his soul.. Deeply inspiring filmmaking & a masterclass in editing.

#CriterionBluray #ScorseseWorldCinemaProject3

398) GAPPA,

THE TRIPHIBIAN MONSTER

大巨獣ガッパ

(1967 dir. Haruyasu Noguchi) Date Seen: June 26 2022

There's no way Gamera hasn't boned Gappa.

Viewing Journal: 6/25/2022

397) MONSTROUS

(2022 dir. Chris Sivertson) Date Seen: June 25 2022

Wife and I really dug the first two acts of this, which felt like a slightly tongue-in-cheek horror take on old Hollywood weepies (or think Todd Haynes shooting a James Wan/Leigh Whannell story). Unfortunately a far-fetched & hammy 3rd act reveal poops all over everything that came before, & afterwards it was kinda difficult to wash out the stink. It almost felt like the writer was trying to shoehorn the disparate endings of SHUTTER ISLAND (2010) and THE VILLAGE (2004) into a story they're awkwardly out of place with. + those big reveals worked due to the way they synched within their own thematic continuity, & that's hardly the case with MONSTROUS.. But at least it was an intriguing & well composed ride for a stretch. & Ricci is wonderful as always 💖

Viewing Journal: 6/28/2022

404) HIT THE ROAD

(2022 dir. Panah Panahi) Date Seen: June 28 2022

hey, whad'ya know! the young Panahi is almost as good as the old one 💗. Also, why do I feel like 50% of the Iranian films I've seen take place in cars?

403) AFTER THE CURFEW

[LEWAT DJAM MALAM]

(1954 dir. Usmar Ismail) Date Seen: June 28 2022

It has to be so disappointing for Indonesian freedom fighters from this era to see what became of their country. You think the poor dude in this movie was disillusioned; just wait until the death squads 11 years later

#CriterionBluRay #ScorseseWorldCinemaProject3

Viewing Journal: 6/24/2022

396) BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD

DO THE UNIVERSE

(2022 dir. John Rice / Albert Calleros) Date Seen: June 24 2022

I wish this was more cinematic looking like DO AMERICA (1996). So much flat framing with that overly clean streamlined animation we've all come to expect from feature straight-to-video toons (at least since STEWIE GRIFFIN: THE UNTOLD STORY '05). It's a testament to Mike Judge's characters & voicing that the movie is as funny as it is.

Thursday, June 23, 2022

Viewing Journal: 6/22/2022

394) THE FUNERAL お葬式

(1984 dir. Juzo Itami) Date Seen: June 22 2022

This felt like an Ozu movie got hijacked by a bunch of absurdist characters.

#CriterionBluRay

Viewing Journal: 6/23/2022

395) UNHUMAN

(2022 dir. Marcus Dunstan) Date Seen: June 23 2022

Viewing Journal: 6/21/2022

393) DASHCAM

(2022 dir. Rob Savage) Date Seen: June 21 2022

Monday, June 20, 2022

Viewing Journal: 6/20/2022

392) 'ROUND MIDNIGHT

(1986 dir. Bertrand Tavernier) Date Seen: June 20 2022

pleasantly surprised this was more of a buddy film than an addiction drama. I was expecting something more like Eastwood's Charlie Parker biopic BIRD.. Even more surprising is the way 'ROUND MIDNIGHT side steps conventional dramatic structure in favor of a more lax hangout movie form (think Jarmusch). Where we get to know the characters merely by observing them chill, talk, & riff on instruments. I'm talkin' "Rollin' on dubs & smokin' on blunts", big daddy! As for the title of Jazziest Movie Ever Made this is about neck-&-neck with the JAZZ ON A SUMMER'S DAY (1959) documentary.

#CriterionBluRay

Viewing Journal: 6/18/2022

389) TORN HEARTS

(2022 dir. Brea Grant) Date Seen: June 18 2022

Viewing Journal: 6/19/2022

391) CHA CHA REAL SMOOTH

(2022 dir. Cooper Raiff) Date Seen: June 19 2022

Remember in the late 2000s/early 2010s the Duplass brothers made all these just okay micro-budget dramadies? This was like a subnominal overly twee version of one of those; Only this took 10 million Bezos bucks to produce. & the main guy in this isn't half as charming as the least charming Duplass.