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(Reseña en español al final.) A group of Mexican high school students deal with a tragedy that stems from toxic masculinity, compounded by political corruption. The film is very well acted and directed.

Un grupo de adolescentes mexicanos lidia con una tragedia derivada de la masculinidad tóxica, agravada por la corrupción política. La película cuenta con excelentes actuaciones y dirección.

(Reseña en español al final.) This Bolivian film has a dry humor that reminded me of Napoleon Dynamite (a movie I don't really like, but I enjoyed this one). It has a lot of humorous situations, but a serious side also. Life in La Paz seems very different from life where I am the U.S.

Esta película boliviana tiene un humor seco que me recordó a Napoleon Dynamite (una película que no me gusta mucho, pero esta sí que disfruté). Tiene muchas situaciones humorísticas, pero también un lado serio. La vida en La Paz parece muy diferente a la que vivo en Estados Unidos.

(Reseña en español al final.) Applies the Rashomon method to the of a Tijuana family affected by the father's long-ago move to the U.S. The left-behind wife and two sons each face challenges and tragedies. It's fascinating to see the same scene several times from different perspective, each time adding a new layer of meaning.

Al igual que Rashomon, esta película muestra las diferentes experiencias de tres de una familia tijuanense afectados por la mudanza del padre a Estados Unidos hace mucho tiempo. La esposa abandonada y sus dos hijos enfrentan desafíos y tragedias. Es fascinante ver la misma escena varias veces desde diferentes perspectivas, y cada visionado añade un nuevo significado.

"Snap out of it!"

Overacting Nicholas Cage is fun to watch, and Nicholas Cage is always overacting.

Bonus points for prominently featuring my favorite opera, La Bohème.

5 stars for the stellar jazz soundtrack, 5 stars for the atmospheric Thames-side warehouse jazz club, but 1/2 star deduction for the sometimes wooden line readings. This version of Othello features cameos by Charles Mingus, Dave Brubeck, and Johnny Dankworth (composer of music for Honor Blackman era of The Avengers).

As with all of Cronenberg's film that I've seen, this one is creepy but not really scary. I loved the music, cinematography, and lighting. The story has many fascinating ideas, but ultimately I found the plot to be somewhat confusing. The screenplay at times violates the guideline to "Show, don't tell." I usually prefer underacting (e.g. Keanu Reeves) to overacting (e.g. Cate Blanchett). Vince Cassell sure does a lot of underacting here.

Short biopic of obscure '70s funk singer Betty Davis. It has very cool and imaginative graphic images. I love her weird music and sleazy psychedelic looks, but would have preferred more information about what she's been up to since disappearing from the music industry decades ago. "Funky like a donkey" indeed!

This review may contain spoilers.

(Revue en français ci-dessous.)

This French mystery thriller/black comedy has beautiful cinematography. I've read all five of Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley novels, and this film conveys the mood of those books much better than the Matt Damon and John Malcovich movies. Unlike Ripley, the protagonist here, Jérémie, actually has a moral conscience.

Ce thriller français, aussi une comédie noire, bénéficie d'une magnifique photographie. J'ai lu les cinq romans de Patricia Highsmith sur Tom Ripley, et ce film exprime bien mieux l'atmosphère de ces livres que les films de Ripley de Matt Damon et de John Malcovich. Contrairement à Ripley, le protagoniste ici, Jérémie, a une conscience morale.

There are over 70 movies on Letterboxd named Night Shift or Nightshift! This one is very slow moving but atmospheric - it depicts an overnight shift of a desk clerk at a trendy London hotel. My favorite part was at the end, where she (spoiler alert!) gives a Mona Lisa smile.

Wow! That was really good. Not just an engaging story and excellent in all technical aspects, but it has everything I want from a documentary - a clear story line and timetable, narration explaining what we're seeing, and titles naming each character. It was about so much more than a secret apartment, but also consumerism, gentrification, what constitutes performance and site art, and people who live selfless lives to enrich others through their creative talents (inspiring in today's world where we're governed by people with no motivation other than greed).

I was totally unfamiliar with Q Lazarus or the song "Goodbye Horses" prior to this documentary's release, despite have seen all four Johnathan Demme films that feature her music. Overall the movie is very entertaining and moving, despite having occasional slow moments.

Bladerunner-esque Japanese manga film, full of beautiful images and haunting, atmospheric music. I occasionally had trouble following the details of the plot. If I rewatch it sometime I think I'll understand it better.

I had been avoiding this one, expecting a downer after seeing several other of Trier's films. However I have tickets to this opera next month, and thought I should watch the movie first. I appreciated it more than I enjoyed it, as is always the case with Trier. The acting is excellent, and I really liked the epilogue. The story confirms my belief that religion causes far more harm than benefit to the world.

This Zambian film has interesting dreamlike images and and compelling intense music. The topic is sexual abuse of minors, that can be hidden within families. Sometimes I got a little confused about what was really happening and what was a dream sequence, but that didn't affect my enjoyment of the film's artistry.

Fascinating and hilarious chronicle of the multi-year frenemy relationship between neo-psychedelic rock bands the Brian Jonestown Massacre and the Dandy Warhols. I wasn't very familiar with either bands' music going into the film, but that didn't affect my enjoyment of it. I love that each band had a member who seemed to do nothing but play the tambourine.

A college literature professor falls in love with one of his students, a pixieish young woman who works in a bookstore. This short film is filled with Hartley's usual deadpan humor and absurd situations.

Excellent silent movie of the classic horror story, which I watched with live music score composed by Matthew Lyons. Lon Chaney did his own very creepy makeup as the Phantom. The colorization of the images makes this more interesting than the typical black and white movie. I was able to visit the Paris Opera House last year, so it was interesting to see a movie filmed there 100 years ago.

Enjoyable comedy about two handsome brothers trying to find their missing anarchist father, flirting with women along the way. The actors' deadpan line readings seem to be typical for Hal Hartley films. Unlike in Trust, that sometimes comes across here as bad acting, especially for the actress playing Elina. A lot of funny situations make this worth watching.

Although this movie is entertaining and at times silly, I can't give any stars to a movie that shows a live turtle being killed with a knife.

My first time seeing a Hal Hartley film, and I enjoyed it very much. The director got great performances out of the actors, especially Adrienne Shelly and Martin Donovan.

Of all David Lynch's films, this one most explicitly references The Wizard of Oz. It's aged fairly well, but not perfectly, after 25 years. At times cartoonishly violent and at other times fairly sexually explicit, it's not for the timid viewer. Maybe it's just my taste, but I really loved all the diegetic music heard in the film. (The nondiegetic music is typical Lynchian noirish synths by Badalamenti.)

I had gotten this film mixed up in my mind with Something Wild, which I also rewatched recently. The Demme film has aged better than this one by Lynch.

First film by New Queer Cinema director Greg Araki - shot in grainy B&W on very low budget. This low key relationship drama concerns a love triangle between young bisexual artists in LA - a consistent theme for Araki. The restored version I saw looked and sounded great, despite the primitive camera and voice dubbing. I seeing this at Dobie Theater in the '80s or '90s, but I don't the circumstances - possibly a screening at AGLIFF?

A women's prison comic melodrama, starring Barbara Stanwyk. It's pretty silly, but entertaining. As a pre-code film it has a few mildly suggestive jokes and situations, but nothing too racy. Love interest Preston Foster plays a real drip; bank robber Lyle Talbot is super hot.

Naomi Watts is so brilliant in this. It must be the best acting performance of the 21st century so far.

I respect and ire this film for its creativity and influence. However, twice in one lifetime is enough times for me to see it.

Tony Randall stars as Hercule Poirot in this funny and campy Agatha Christie mystery. Margaret Rutherford shows up in a humorous cameo as Miss Marple. Director Frank Tashlin previously worked in Looney Tunes animation, and it shows, with all the unusual and creative camera angles. Fun cast with Anita Eckberg, Robert Morley, and Patrick Newell! I was a little confused at the end trying to figure out the relations between the characters and the rationalizations for the murders, but it was enjoyable nevertheless.

A trio of horror short films directed by Mario Bava. They're campy on the level of Vincent Price and Hammer movies of the 1960s. Each film is introduced by Boris Karloff, who stars in one about vampires. There is much overacting, and the dialogue is at times ludicrous. The creepy sets, lighting, and cinematography make this anthology film worth watching.

(Crítica en español a continuación/Critique en français ci-dessous) Well, that was weird. I didn't entirely love this, although I respect its artistic achievement and acting. It's a crime that this won Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film over All We Imagine As Light.

¡Qué extraño! No me gustó del todo, pero aprecio su logro artístico y las actuaciones. Es un crimen que esta película haya vencido a All We Imagine As Light como Mejor Película Extranjera en los premios Globo de Oro.

C'était étrange ! Je n'ai pas aimé, mais j'ai apprécié la réussite artistique et les performances des acteurs. C'est un crime que ce film ait battu All We Imagine As Light pour le prix du meilleur film étranger aux Golden Globe Awards.

Silly but entertaining pre-code film starring Carole Lombard and Randolph Scott. The plot involves ghosts and a fake psychic medium.

Entertaining documentary about quirky New York City tour guide Timothy "Speed" Levitch. I enjoyed the scenes of late '90s NYC, captured in grainy black and white.

(Critique en français ci-dessous.) Beautifully filmed and very well cast adaptation of the Dumas novel. Some details have been changed, and many minor characters and subplots left out. That is inevitable when making a 1200 page novel into a three hour film.

Une adaptation magnifiquement filmée du roman de Dumas, avec un casting très bien choisi. Certains détails ont été modifiés et de nombreux personnages et intrigues secondaires ont été laissés de côté. Cela doit être inévitable lorsqu'on transforme un roman de 1200 pages en un film de trois heures.

This Japanese classic has beautiful image framing and dark/light contrasts. As in Seven Samurai, Toshiro Mifune steals the scenes he is in with his magnetic acting talents. It's a film which gives much food for thought; you'll want to ponder and discuss its meaning and events afterwards.

Guadagnino gives further evidence that he's currently our most visually and sonically adept and imaginative director. Daniel Craig shows that he's our most fearless and versatile leading man. Jason Schwartzman and Lesley Manville once again are character actors who can totally disappear into diverse roles. Newcomer Drew Starkey is very handsome. One complaint: the blue on black ending credits are almost impossible to read.

The apogee of Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Westerns, with superb music, sound design, and cinematography. The excellent screenplay was written by Leone with two other outstanding Italian directors of that era: Argento and Bertolucci. Henry Fonda plays against type as a villain. I kept thinking that Bronson's part seems like it had been written for Eastwood, and when I read Wikipedia I found out that was the case. However Bronson is excellent in the role.

There could be a queer interpretation that Bronson and Robards characters had a gay relationship - neither seemed sexually interested in Cardinale's character, and the two rode off together at the end. (I deducted 1/2 ⭐ for the sometimes unnatural sounding voice dubbing.)

Like the previous Deadpool films, this one is funny and entertaining. However the plot is at times nonsensical. I give Disney slight credit for allowing the existence of a presumably bisexual superhero, although I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at some of the queer-adjacent jokes. Hugh Jackman looks very good for being in his mid '50s - I'd like to know his workout plan.

Typical of Hong Sang-soo's films, A Traveler's Needs is strange and at times slow moving. Isabelle Huppert plays against type - her character reminded me of my quirky, hippyish friend, if my friend had been French and moved to S. Korea to teach French, with no experience of doing so. For some reason five characters play various musical instruments badly - I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean.

Modern Christmas movies are inevitably cheesy, and White Christmas shows that Christmas movies were cheesy 70 years ago. Bing Crosby as expected provides mellifluous yet sappy singing. Danny Kaye displays his comic genius as well as impressive singing and dancing. George Clooney's aunt Rosemary sings well, and Vera-Ellen's dancing is spectacular, aided by dancing partner John Brascia. I added 1/2 star to my rating for Vera-Ellen's dance performances. (Side note: from a modern perspective, I kept reading Danny Kaye's character as closeted gay.)

Yes it's sappy, but it's perfect.

In a post-apocalyptic world where all humans have mysteriously vanished, a cat s together with a capybara, a lemur, a dog, and a giant crane-like bird to survive a catastrophic flood. The events culminate in a mystical scene which will give viewers something to ponder afterwards. The animation is beautiful, and the music is also very nice.

Three women working at a hospital in Mumbai are friends, and are each dealing with dramas in their lives. One has developers trying to evict her, one has been essentially abandoned by her husband who moved to , and the third is a Hindu in love with a Muslim.

The film is more interesting than the simple premise would suggest. The cinematography, sound, and music are superb, and the city of Mumbai seems like a fourth main character. I was momentarily confused by one conversation near the end, but I think it must have taken place within the character's imagination. I loved the ending image, with the teenaged snack bar worker dancing around the restaurant.

Update: l rewatched this, and it was ever better the second time. I really enjoyed the beautiful images, and the wonderful music and sound design.

When it was over my friend turned to me and said: "I didn't know it would have so much singing"! The movie is excellent and I enjoyed it more than I did the stage version. The sets and special effects are spectacular, and reminiscent of the original Wizard of Oz film. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are superb in their acting and singing. Many of the plot elements are relevant to our current political situation, with the Wizard being similar in character to a certain politician who's been in the news lately.

Just two small complaints: 1. Although Erivo's makeup was flawless, her colored lenses did not look entirely natural. 2. As is often a problem with movies made from musicals, some of the actors were cast for their star power and not their singing voices, particularly Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum. I'd rather hear good singers even if they're not big names in Hollywood.

Robert Altman is excellent at casting, and he gets fantastic performances from his actors. All of his films are so different, maybe this one most of all. The cinematography and image composition are superb. I suspect this film was an influence on David Lynch as he created Mulholland Drive - there are some similar themes.

Basically it's the Boys in the Band set at a rural New York vacation home during the era of AIDS. It's interesting as a time capsule, but a mixed bag with good acting, bad acting, overacting, touching situations, absurd situations, and sappy music. Jason Alexander gives an offensively stereotypical portrayal of a gay character by a straight actor, reminiscent of James Cordon in The Prom.

If you're watching a Christmas rom com, you probably have justifiably low expectations as to its subtlety. Although it's filled with tropes of the genre, Our Little Secret also has quite a few surprising moments. Lindsay Lohan has a good sense of comic timing, which has made her recent string of Netflix films very entertaining.

Excellent documentary about the life and career of extraordinary soul singer Luther Vandross. I had no idea that he had been background singer and arranger for so many popular songs of the late '7Os and '80s.

The last of four Miss Marple mysteries starting Margaret Rutherford. Unlike the others, it's not directly based on an Agatha Christie novel. Like the others, it's more funny and silly than scary or suspenseful. Lionel Jeffries's overacting as the ship captain is entertaining. I found both the actors playing the police detectives to be somewhat attractive (Charles Tingwell and Terence Edmond).

Extremely stylishly-filmed love triangle between professional tennis players; it's sexy and suspenseful. I took an online quiz ""Which Challengers character are you?" and got Patrick, which seems appropriate.

BTW, we never found out which one is "fire" and which is "ice". 🤔

French musical featuring Josephine Baker, reminiscent of the Busby Berkeley musicals of the same era (but being French, this is more risque). Baker was immensely talented, and is always fun to watch. The plot is at times absurd, and the acting exaggerated, but that's to be expected. I was able to visit Baker's tomb this past May - she must be highly revered by the French to be buried in the company of Voltaire and Dumas.

The perfect '80s movie with the perfect '80s soundtrack. It's funny and surprising and at times suspenseful. RIP Ray Liotta and Johnathan Demme - your talents are missed. I get this movie mixed up with Wild at Heart, but it's been a while since I've seen that one, so I need to rewatch it.

Update: I've rewatched Wild at Heart. They're both black comedies featuring a white couple on the road having sometimes harrowing adventures, including a robbery. Other than those aspects, the plots are different. Something Wild has held up better over time, and I stick with 5 ⭐s for this one and 4 ⭐s for Wild at Heart.

Black comedy about a narcissist totally lacking in empathy, who marries and begins having second thoughts on his honeymoon. I kept thinking: "This is how Donald Trump would be if he had been born poor and Jewish." Cybille Shepard is breathtakingly beautiful, as she was in The Last Picture Show and Taxi Driver, from the same time period.