Movies

[Rusty]

121 - Triangle of Sadness (2022) - 7.5/10 - A male model and his controlling social media influencer girlfriend get invited to take a trip on a yacht with a group of very rich (and not necessarily well behaved) people. Things go well at first, but take a turn for the worse. I didn't really enjoy the opening section of the movie, but started liking it quite a bit more once they got on the yacht.


122 - Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (2022) - 7.5/10 - A cleaning woman (and war widow) in 1950s London becomes infatuated with owning a Christian Dior dress and travels to Paris to buy one, making a number of friends along the way. Leslie Manville does a nice job as Mrs. Harris. The movie is old-fashioned and doesn't really add anything new, but it's pleasant to watch and a good way to spend a couple of hours. The costumes are also very nice.


123 - Elvis (2022) - 6.5/10 - I think that Austin Butler did a nice job as Elvis, but I didn't like Tom Hanks as Colonel Parker. The early part of the film worked best for me, but the film felt overly long while also glossing over quite a bit.


124 - The Fabelmans (2022) - 8.5/10 - I've read various mixed reactions to Stephen Spielberg's film based on his youth, but I enjoyed it. Gabriel Labelle is really good as Sammy Fabelman. I also liked Michelle Williams and Paul Dano as his parents. Judd Hirsch was good in his brief role as Uncle Boris, but it seemed like a very small role to get an Academy Award nomination.

[Rusty]

125 - The Story of a Cheat (1936) - 7.5/10 - A man sits down in a cafe and writes his memoirs, narrating events as they unfold on screen. Throughout his life, the evidence suggests that dishonesty pays while being honest gets you nowhere. It's a fairly humorous tale.


126 - La Chienne (1931) - 8/10 - A middle aged cashier with a domineering wife falls for a pretty woman who happens to be a prostitute who is in love with her pimp. The pimp has the woman start a relationship with the man to try and get money out of him. The cashier paints as a hobby and this also comes into play. I like Fritz Lang's version (Scarlet Street) more, but this is a pretty good film.


127 - Certified Copy (2010) - 8/10 - A British author is giving a speech in Tuscany about his latest book. The book is about original art and copies of original art and whether there is really any difference between the two. A woman is in the front row for the speech, but has to leave due to her son's behavior so she leaves her number with the author's friend. The woman meets with the author the next day and they spend the day driving and walking around to various places. It's an interesting film with a bit of mystery thrown in about their relationship.


128 - Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood (2022) - 7.5/10 - In 1969, a 4th grader is recruited by NASA for a special mission to the moon in advance of the Apollo 11 mission in the science fiction fantasy. The film has the man narrating the story of his childhood during this time and it does a pretty good job capturing the feel of the era.

[Rusty]

129 - The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022) - 7.5/10 - This was fun. The songs were excellent and there was plenty of humor...and Kevin Bacon.


130 - The Quiet Girl (2022) - 8/10 - A shy and withdrawn girl who doesn't get much attention at home is sent away to live with her mother's cousin during the summer until the girl's pregnant mother gives birth. During the summer, the girl finds the attention and affection that she had been missing. It's a fairly simple film, but I really liked the setting and the performance of the girl in the lead role.


131 - Close (2022) - 7.5/10 - Two boys have an incredibly close relationship and spend almost all of their time together. That relationship starts to fray when they start secondary school and their peers comment on the closeness of their relationship. One of the boys starts to pull away.


132 - The Elephant Whisperers (2022) - 8/10 - Raghu is an orphaned elephant in bad shape. He is taken to a refuge in southern India where he is nursed back to health and spends time with other elephants and animals. Another elephant calf soon joins them. It's a nice short documentary.


133 - The Martha Mitchell Effect (2022) - 7.5/10 - The story of Martha Mitchell, the outspoken wife of Nixon's Attorney General. She was outspoken and a whistleblower, but was not really taken seriously about important matters until much later. It's an interesting film.

Haulout (2022) (25 minutes)
How You Measure a Year (2021) (29 minutes)
Stranger at the Gate (2022) (30 minutes)
An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It (2022) (11 minutes)
Ice Merchants (2022) (15 minutes)
My Year of Dicks (2022) (26 minutes)
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse (2022) (34 minutes)
The Flying Sailor (2022) (8 minutes)
An Irish Goodbye (2022) (23 minutes)
Ivalu (2023) (16 minutes)
Le Pupille (2022) (39 minutes)
Night Ride (2020) (16 minutes)
The Red Suitcase (2022) (18 minutes)


134 - Fanny (1932) - 8/10 - This picks up right after Marius ended and focuses on Fanny and how she deals with her new situation. I liked this film more than the previous one and think having Marius only appear for a small role was good.


135 - César (1936) - 7.5/10 - 20 years have passed since the events in Fanny. Fanny's husband is dying and Fanny's son, Césariot, is grown up and about to join the army. Césariot seeks out Marius to try and find out what kind of person he is. Overall, I liked this and would put it on par with the first film in the trilogy and a step below the second.


136 - Le Boucher (1970) - 7/10 - A young head teacher attends the wedding of the school's assistant teacher and is seated next to a man who recently left the army after 15 years to take over the family butcher shop. The two hit it off and start a relationship while a series of murders makes headlines and frightens people in town. It's a good film, though had the potential to be a lot better.

[Rusty]

137 - A House Made of Splinters (2022) - 7.5/10 - This film looks at a shelter in eastern Ukraine that houses children in need of care, often those neglected by their parents due to alcohol or other issues. Four of the children are followed as they go about their daily lives, interacting with the women who run the shelter, interacting with their peers, or calling home to talk to relatives. Some of the kids will get placed with other relatives, some will go on to the state orphanage, and others may end up with a foster family. It's a tough situation, but they generally make the best of it that they can and have some hope of normalcy eventually. The film isn't all doom and gloom, though.


138 - 80 for Brady (2023) - 7/10 - My mom wanted to see this so we caught a matinee. Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Sally Field, and Rita Moreno star as four women who have been getting together to watch Patriot games since Tom Brady was a rookie. They have their rituals and all have a love for Brady. When the Patriots are going to play the Falcons in the Super Bowl in 2017, they manage to get tickets and head to Houston to enjoy the activities, parties, and game. I doubt if the film will win any awards, but it was fun, thanks to the four leads and some of the supporting cast.


139 - Aftersun (2022) - 8/10 - A woman pieces together a vacation she took with her father to a Turkish resort when she was 11 using her memory and old videos that they took during the trip. Her father is dealing with a number of issues, but is doing his best to be a good dad and hold it together. It's clear that he loves his daughter a lot and that she returns the affection. Frankie Corio was excellent as 11 year old Sophie and Paul Mescal also did a nice job as her father. I liked the film quite a bit and suspect that I might like it even more if I rewatch it at some point.


140 - EO (2022) - 7.5/10 - EO is a donkey who was born in a circus where he had a woman who loved and cared for him. When they are forced to sell EO, it is the start of a journey where he travels quite a bit and meets many people, some cruel and some kind. The visuals are very well done.

Passionless Moments (13 minutes)
Lemon (1969) (7 minutes)
Desistfilm (1954) (7 minutes)
I... Dreaming (1988) (7 minutes)
What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This? (1963) (9 minutes)
Delicacies of Molten Horror Synapse (1991) (8 minutes)

Barres (1984) (14 minutes)
Toujours moins (2010) (14 minutes)
Essai d'ouverture (1988) (14 minutes)
The School for Postmen (1947) (16 minutes)
Charleston Parade (1927) (20 minutes)
Le vampire (1945) (9 minutes)

[Rusty]

141 - Shoot the Piano Player (1960) - 7/10 - Charlie Koller works as a piano player in a bar and looks after his kid brother. In a former life, he was a famous piano player under a different name. A couple of thugs start looking for Charlie and his younger brother in order to find their two older brothers who stole from them. Much of the film is kind of meandering with good parts here and there. Not a bad film, but also not always the most engaging.


142 - Vagabond (1985) - 7.5/10 - A young woman's body is found in the ditch where she died due to the cold. The movie then flashes back to her life traveling and camping in various places while meeting a number of different people. Some of those people are also interviewed documentary style about her.


143 - Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2021) - 7/10 - A guy staying at an airbnb discovers that a living shell who wears shoes lives there. He decides to make a documentary about him. I expected to like this more than I actually did. I found myself a bit bored with the movie at times. It wasn't bad, though.


144 - La Classe américaine (1993) - 5/10 - Clips from various movies (All the President's Men, Rio Bravo, etc.) are pieced together and dubbed into French to make a parody of Citizen Kane. I didn't find it to be particularly funny.


145 - Babylon (2022) - 8/10 - Life in Hollywood during the late 1920s/early 1930s seems to be one big drug fueled party, at least for a while. Many have dreams of making it big, whether through acting, making tons of money, or behind the camera. There is a ton of humor and the film seemed to fly by, even with a 3+ hour runtime. It doesn't all land, but much of it does and it is quite the spectacle.

[Rusty]

146 - All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2022) - 8/10 - The film documents the life and career of artist Nan Goldin and also the downfall of the Sackler family due to the activism of Goldin and others in relation to the opioid crisis. It's a pretty good documentary.


147 - Navalny (2022) - 8/10 - This documentary starts with the poisoning of Russian political activist Alexei Navalny, his recovery in Germany and the subsequent investigation into his poisoning and his return to Russia. I remember when this happened and was already familiar with much of what is covered, but it is still pretty interesting and put together very well.


148 - Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022) - 8/10 - Puss in Boots is down to his last life and it makes him more cautious. Then he discovers a possible way to recover those lost lives and goes on a quest. It's a lot of fun.


149 - To Leslie (2022) - 7/10 - Andrea Riseborough stars as a Texas woman who wins $190,000 in the lottery, but blows out all on drugs and alcohol. Six years later she is a destitute alcoholic whose family doesn't trust her. Riseborough gives a good performance and the supporting cast is decent.


150 - The French Connection (1971) - 7.5/10 - I was pretty bored with this film when I watched it 15+ years ago and didn't really get into it much. I liked it more this time around, though I wouldn't classify it is a favorite.


151 - Fire of Love (2022) - 8.5/10 - This film looks at Katia and Maurice Krafft, French volcanologists who traveled the world and studied volcanoes before, during, and after eruptions. A lot of their stunning footage of volcanoes is incorporated into the film and this, combined with other archival footage and the narration, paints a good picture of the couple. They spent about 20 years studying volcanoes before dying due to a volcano in Japan in 1991.

Gloria! (1979) (10 minutes)

Shrimp Stories (1964) (10 minutes)
Hyas and Stenorhynchus, marine crustaceans (1929) (10 minutes)
The Fourth Dimension (1937) (10 minutes) - I liked this one a lot and probably would have shown it to some of my math classes when I was teaching.

[Rusty]

152 - Blonde (2022) - 5.5/10 - The visual style was interesting at times, but I thought the story and the way they went about telling it was much less interesting. I didn't think that de Armas was bad, but the film is way too long and ponderous.


153 - Tell it Like a Woman (2022) - 7/10 - Seven tales of women from around the world are told here in short films directed by women. There were a couple of the segments that I didn't like as much, but overall not bad. My favorite was the week in the life of the Japanese woman.

Surface Tension (1968) (10 minutes)
Desert (1976) (10 minutes)
For Marilyn (1992) (10 minutes)
Lovesong (2001) (11 minutes)

Taris (1931) (9 minutes)
Sea Urchins (1958) (11 minutes)

[Rusty]

154 - All That Breathes (2022) - 7/10 - Two brothers run a bird clinic in Delhi. They have also made it their mission to care for the numerous injure black kites in the area. Pollution and overpopulation have increased the dangers for the local wildlife. They struggle with financing, but do what they can with what they have.


155 - Empire of Light (2022) - 7.5/10 - Hilary (Olivia Colman) works at the Empire Cinema in the early 1980s. She struggles with being bipolar plus other issues, but finds some new happiness at times in the form of a young new employee named Stephen (Michael Ward). If they were going for the power of 'the magic of cinema', I don't think they really hit their mark in that regard, but I still enjoyed the film. Colman and Ward each give pretty good performances and the film looks very nice (as expected).


156 - Tár (2022) - 8/10 - Cate Blanchett stars as a world renowned conductor who has a new book coming out and has plans to record Mahler's Fifth Symphony soon. She can be arrogant, callous, manipulative, and controlling in addition to being brilliant. We get to live in her world for quite some time before her eventual downfall, though the seeds are planted early in the film. Blanchett definitely earned her Best Actress nomination and I enjoyed the film quite a bit. My mom was an orchestra conductor for decades, though for youth orchestras rather than adult orchestras, so I have a bit of familiarity with the profession and music.


157 - The Sea Beast (2022) - 8/10 - A very nice animated tale about a land where ships with 'Hunters' hunt giant sea beasts to keep a kingdom protected. This was has gone on for generations and there are many tales and storybooks about the exploit of the Hunters. One young orphan girl runs away from the orphanage to join the crew of the most accomplished ship. The animation is pretty nice, especially the parts with the sea, and I enjoyed the story.


158 - RRR (2022) - 8.5/10 - When a sadistic governor and his equally sadistic wife take a young tribal girl away from her village, it set off a chain of events which involves two men who fight against the British Raj. The men have different approaches, but become close friends without knowing the true nature of the other. Sure it is ridiculously exaggerated and over the top at times, but it is still a lot of fun with the action sequences and humor and occasional songs. Heck, they even express their love of nachos in one big song and dance number.

[Rusty]

159 - All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) - 8.5/10 - The film is very well acted and has nice cinematography. It does a good job depicting the senselessness and some of the horrors of WWI.


160 - Glass Onion (2022) - 8/10 - An eccentric billionaire gets together with his friends on a Greek island for a murder mystery game. Benoit Blanc somehow also ends up with an invite. Janelle Monáe was pretty good here (as expected) and the story was pretty entertaining. I'd still give the edge to the first film, but I enjoyed this one, too.


161 - BARDO, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths (2022) - 7/10 - A Mexican journalist who has been living in California for the past 20 years return to Mexico on the eve of accepting a major award. There were a number of scenes that I liked and the visuals are pretty good throughout, including many that are surreal. The film feels kind of drawn out, though, and doesn't always make the most interesting narrative.


162 - L'Argent (1983) - 8/10 - When two teens pass off a fake 500 franc note at a photo shop, it sets off a chain of events that ruins the life of an honest man and leads him to a life of crime. It's a fast paced minimalist film.


163 - La Pointe-Courte (1955) - 7.5/10 - A married couple is having issues and they must decide whether or not to stay together. They meet up in the fishing town where he grew up and wander around having a long discussion about their situation. Meanwhile, life goes on around them with the fishermen dealing with health authorities and the use of their small lagoon to gather shellfish. There are plenty of children and cats around. The jousting from boats and other events near the end were interesting.

The Love Life of an Octopus (1967) (14 minutes)
Diatoms (1968) (17 minutes)

[Rusty]

164 - Argentina, 1985 (2022) - 8/10 - The Trial of the Juntas in Argentina is dramatized here, focusing on the lead prosecutor, Julio Strassera, his family, and those who worked with him during the trial. It's pretty well acted.


165 - Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022) - 8/10 - This version is set in fascist Italy and is a bit darker than the Disney version. The animation is pretty good and I enjoyed the film.


166 - Le Doulos (1962) - 8/10 - Maurice recently got out of prison, but is planning a job with his friend Remy. Maurice and others of his acquaintance are worried about a police informer in their midst with talk centering on a man named Silien. There is plenty of action and some great shots. There was also plenty of dialogue, but that didn't bother me.


167 - Mouchette (1967) - 7.5/10 - Mouchette is a girl who doesn't seem to live a very happy life. She lives with her infant brother, dying mother, and abusive alcoholic father. She also doesn't seem to fit in with the other kids at school, going so far as to throw clumps of dirt at them. There is minimal dialogue in the film and things seem to progress pretty rapidly.

[Rusty]

168 - Clerks III (2022) - 7/10 - The Clerks crew is back for one final film. Dante and Randal are back at the Quick Stop with Jay and Silent Bob now running a THC shop next door. Randal has a heart attack and then decides to make a movie of his life (basically Clerks) called Inconvenience. I wasn't really enjoying the film all that much early on, but started getting into it more as it went along. I liked Rosario Dawson's short scenes and the Elias/Blockchain combo were good for laughs throughout.


169 - DC League of Super-Pets (2022) - 7/10 - Orange kryptonite gives super powers to an evil guinea pig (formerly owned by Lex Luthor) named Lulu who subsequently takes down the Justice League. Krypto enlists the help of other animals from a shelter who gained powers at the same time as Lulu and together they do battle to take down Lulu and rescue the Justice League. The film was okay, though not nearly as good as I was hoping it would be.


170 - Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022) - 7/10 - Gru sets out to join a popular group of villains in the mid-70s. The Minions come to his aid when things don't go exactly as planned. This is about on par with the first Minions movie and while it isn't great, it had enough fun moments to make it worthwhile.


171 - Prey (2022) - 8/10 - A young Comanche woman in 1719 is a healer, but wishes to be a hunter like her brother. When a mountain lion threatens, she senses a greater threat in the area, but is not believed. This was a lot of fun with plenty of action. Amber Midthunder did a nice job in the lead role.

[Rusty]

172 - Moonfall (2022) - 5/10 - The moon starts moving out of its orbit and threatens all life on Earth. The CGI wasn't bad and there were some decent story elements in the film (mostly early on), but the overall story was pretty dumb and made it hard for me to enjoy the film too much.


173 - Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022) - 7/10 - Dr. Robotnik is back and has a new ally in Knuckles. Sonic also has a new ally in Tails. The sequel wasn't as much fun as the first film, but it was okay.


174 - Purple Noon (1960) - 8/10 - Tom Ripley is hanging out with the wealthy Philippe Greenleaf in Italy, trying to convince Philippe to return with him to San Francisco so that Tom can earn $5000 from Philippe's father. Philippe prefers to spend his time traveling, partying, and spending money. Tom has many talents that he will soon find useful. I liked this version a bit more than the later Matt Damon film. Alain Delon is very good as Tom Ripley and Marie Laforêt was pretty good as Marge, Philippe's girlfriend.


175 - The Collector (1967) - 6/10 - Adrien and Daniel are spending the summer in a 17th Century villa with the intention of being incredibly lazy and doing as little as possible. Their 'peace' is disturbed when Haydee joins them at the villa. What follows is endless talk and mindgames that isn't particularly interesting most of the time.


176 - The Green Ray (1986) - 7/10 - Delphine is lonely, but incapable of playing the singles game. When she finds herself without her usual traveling companion during summer vacation, she ends up among various groups where she finds herself frustrated for a variety of reasons. I thought this was a decent film and I liked the ending.

[Rusty]

177 - Les Dames du bois de Boulogne (1945) - 7/10 - A society woman and her lover agree to free each other and just be friends. She secretly still loved him, though, and plots her revenge by tricking him to marry a woman who was a cabaret dancer and someone they and their friends would view as having a disreputable background. The film had its moment and wasn't bad.


178 - Le pied qui étreint / The Clutching Foot (1916) - 7/10 - This parody of Les vampires has a number of good gags here and there and isn't bad overall, though a few things (like blackface and yellow face) would be problematic today. A famous scientific detective and his child secretary/assistant (who has a gun that seems to never run out of bullets) spend a lot of time rescuing the detective's fiancée from The Clutching Foot gang. A couple of things that stood out including him inventing the mobile phone (and getting kicked out of a movie as a result), a brief appearance by Musidora herself, and the appearance of Chaplin's Tramp character in the last episode, played by an impersonator.

[Rusty]

179 - Time Out (2001) - 7/10 - An executive is fired from his consulting firm, but instead of telling his family, pretends to quit and get a new job with the U.N. in Switzerland. He is away every day traveling to his new 'job', though he spends much of that time in his car or reading. The film wasn't bad, but I didn't find it totally convincing and expected it to be a bit better.


180 - Mignonnes (2020) - 7.5/10 - This film definitely was at the center of a lot of controversy a couple of years ago. The dancing gets increasingly provocative and disturbing as the film progresses, but I think that it is meant to be that way and to make a statement, but not one that some people are getting. Growing up is hard on just about everybody, but especially young girls in the social media age. The girl in the lead role was very good.


181 - Un chapeau de paille d'Italie / The Italian Straw Hat (1928) - 7/10 - A man is heading home in his horse and buggy on the day of his wedding when the horse accidentally eats part of a rare straw hat belonging to a woman having an affair with a soldier. The belligerent soldier demands that the man replace the hat with an identical one so that the woman's husband won't find out about the affair. The soldier also threatens to destroy the man's home if he doesn't come through. The film is mildly amusing, though definitely dated.

[Rusty]

182 - The Bob's Burgers Movie (2022) - 7.5/10 - A giant sinkhole opens in front of the Bob's Burgers right as the summer season is about to begin, threatening their ability to meet their loan payments. The kids try to solve a murder mystery while the parents try to keep the store in business. The movie was fun and the songs were generally fun, too.


183 - Fall (2022) - 7/10 - Becky is still depressed about a year after a climbing accident. Her best friend has a a remedy for this - climbing an old abandoned 2000 foot radio tower in the desert. Things are going well until they get stranded at the top with no way down. This was better than I expected and is a decent thriller.