Films Jan-Feb

Some highlights of all the good first-time viewings from this year. All of these movies get a gold star

Parasite:
Yeah it's the new classic film everyone is raving about, CRITERION COLLECTION and everything. I think the first half is still better than the second because once the movie starts making Korean-centric critique I get a bit lost lol

Dolemite is My Name:
I saw a couple of Dolemite films before this released on Netflix, and I found myself pleased by how the story was pulled off. The movie really glossed over the themes of exploitation though >__>

The Grudge:
Easily a classic of J-Horror, but it's not something that screams out for a rewatch. The non-linear timeline thing adds greater depth to this than most horror films, even though it seems tough to execute. The ending wasn't as solid as I hoped it would turn out.

Event Horizon:
Sam Neill is a legend. I knew about the cuts made to this movie but I didn't figure it would end up being so obvious. The disturbing aspects of the movie should have been played up more instead of "The Shining" homage, honestly

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors
I wished this was 2-2.5 hours long, this felt like a film of epic proportions... teens teaming up to kill off the greatest evil... Kristen's power was fucking boring though, but maybe that's because every single action movie has somebody who can do gymnastics

My Best Fiend:
What did I learn from this Klaus Kinski documentary? Well, he's up there in the running for one of the top ten most evil professional actors. Like Orson Welles crossed with the Marquis de Sade. Dude was so wracked with insecurity that he managed to pull off some cerebral judo bullshit and transmute it to wrath and wickedness. Wasn't even the mastermind sort of sociopathy-- that's all Werner Herzog, who's just as much of a narcissist, but the only difference between him and most of hollywood's finest is that he's German.

The Kingdom (Riget) I & II [television series but screened in america via cinema]
My introduction to Von Trier, another controversial European director. This is one of the greatest horror-comedies, with some melodrama thrown in for good measure. The theme of "purification" and mismanagement down to the foundation of a single enterprise is executed so well that I'm surprised more people aren't discussing it. Those green-lit basement scenes in Season II are simply the best.