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Rusty
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184 - Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) - 6.5/10 - Scott Lang and family are dragged to the quantum realm where they have to fight to get home. There were some fun things here and there in the film, but also a lot of stuff that didn't work as well. Bill Murray seemed kind of out of place in his small role. I didn't dislike the film, but also wasn't enamored with it.
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:7510:
185 - Casque d’Or (1952) - 7.5/10 - Georges Manda is out of prison and trying to go straight as a carpenter when his prison buddy introduces him to Marie. The two fall for each other, but gang boss Felix Leca wants Marie for himself. I enjoyed this period drama.

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186 - Naked Childhood (1968) - 7/10 - Francois is a troubled 10 year old boy in the foster care system. The film starts with him being removed from a home where the foster parents like the boy, but can't trust him for the things that he does - stealing, being cruel to the cat, etc. He is placed in a new home and forms a bond with the elderly nana who lives there, but hasn't changed his ways.

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187 - The Fire Within (1963) - 6.5/10 - Alain is a recovering alcoholic who is afraid to leave the detox facility and is contemplating suicide. He ventures out into Paris, meets up with old friends, and starts drinking again, becoming ill and then argumentative. The film is okay, but I didn't really care for it or the main character all that much.

188 - Stranger by the Lake (2013) - This really wasn't my thing. I found it mostly kind of boring.
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189 - The Menu (2022) - 8/10 - A group of wealthy and influential diners gather at an exclusive restaurant on an island only to find that the chef (Ralph Fiennes) has quite a bit on the menu in addition to food. Fiennes is very good as is Anya Taylor-Joy who plays the date of one of the guests, but not the one he originally planned to bring. There is plenty of dark humor throughout and I enjoyed the film.

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190 - Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (2022) - 7/10 - A family moves into their new home in NYC only to find a singing crocodile living in their attic. It's not a great film, but I thought it was fun.
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191 - Women Talking (2022) - 8/10 - Some of the men in a remote religious community have been systematically sedating and raping the women and girls of the colony. After it is discovered, some men have been arrested and place in jail in the nearest town. When the rest of the men leave to bail them out, the women gather to decide between three choices - stay and forgive the men, stay and fight, or leave. The title of the film is pretty accurate since much of the film is devoted to women debating the topic and their place in the community, but it remained interesting due to nice performances and direction.

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192 - The Whale (2022) - 7.5/10 - Brendan Fraser stars as a morbidly obese professor who teaches English classes online. He is estranged from his ex-wife and teenage daughter. His only friend is his nurse and caregiver, Liz (Hong Chau). He is likely to die soon and wants to reconnect with his daughter (Sadie Sink). Most of the film takes place in his apartment. The film doesn't really escape its stage origins, but Fraser and Chau give really nice performances.

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193 - The Northman (2022) - 6.5/10 - A young prince sees his father murdered by his uncle. The boy flees and years later returns as an adult for his vengeance. The film is well made, but I didn't really enjoy it.
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194 - Blue Is the Warmest Color (2013) - 7/10 - A young woman named Adèle is a high school junior who seems unsatisfied with her intimate relationships until she meets Emma, slightly older woman with blue hair. The film follows the two of them over the next few years as Adèle grows up and eventually becomes a teacher. The film seemed longer than necessary and was filled with a number of scenes of people eating pasta and the two woman having sex. I can see why some might love the film (and others hate it) and I thought the film wasn't bad, but could have been much better.

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195 - The Lovers (1958) - 6/10 - A wealthy woman is bored with her husband on their life in the country, preferring life in Paris. She has a lover on the side and falls for the man who comes to her aid when her car broke down. All four spend the night under the same roof. I was kind of bored with this and didn't care about any of the characters. The husband and the lover are peripheral and undeveloped characters. One thing I didn't get was why she left the doors wide open on her car after getting a ride from the stranger who stopped to help.

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196 - Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932) - 5/10 - Boudu is an eccentric free spirit/bum who jumps into the Seine only to be rescued by a bookseller. The bookseller takes Boudu into his home where life is disrupted by Boudu's antics. This is a social satire, but I didn't really care for the portrayal of Boudu which was more a caricature than a fleshed out character. The plot is a bit thin as well.
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197 - Me, Myself and Mum (2013) - 7/10 - This is an autobiographical film about a very effeminate boy whose mother and the rest of the family decide is gay at a very young age. He is bullied in school, eschews athletics, and even tries to explore a couple of gay relationships as an adult before falling in love with a woman and realizing that he is totally straight. The film gets kind of bogged down in the middle, but is decent at the beginning and end. It's never really laugh out loud funny, but has some humor throughout.

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198 - Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022) - 6/10 - Grindelwald's out to take over the world and Dumbledore plots to stop him. I didn't like the first half hour or so at all and was tempted to give up on the film, but it did get better after that, though not great. I liked the first film in the series, didn't care much for the second film, and this was a bit of a step down from that.
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199 - A Trip to Infinity (2022) - 7.5/10 - Scientists and mathematicians discuss a variety of ways to approach and apply the idea of infinity. I found the discussion to be pretty interesting, though I also see the possibility that some who are less interested in the subject to get bored with the discussion. There isn't anything revelatory in the discussion, but it is presented in a fairly easy to understand manner. The real attraction to the film are the animated graphics that accompany the discussion. Those are extremely well done and interesting. On a personal note, I liked the mention of the Hotel Infinity story. When I taught a couple of 7th grade math classes early in my career, I used that story to spur discussion. I also had students make drawings to illustrate some aspect of the story and then posted them on my classroom wall. I ran across those pictures in a box a couple of years ago, scanned them and then posted them to Facebook for the students (and others) to enjoy 25 years later.
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:7510:
200 - Moonage Daydream (2022) - 7.5/10 - This documentary about David Bowie is a bit unconventional and uses lots of unreleased footage from Bowie's estate plus interviews from throughout his career and an excellent soundtrack. The visuals and music are great, but I thought it was a bit overlong and the central narrative of the film was kind of lacking. It did give decent glimpses into the person that Bowie was. I'll definitely take this over the Elvis movie.

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201 - Vivre Sa Vie (1962) - 5.5/10 - A woman who aspires to be an actress quickly descends into prostitution. The story is told in 12 vignettes. I liked Anna Karina, but found the story to be pretty dull and only a couple of the vignettes were interesting.

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202 - All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) - 8/10 - I liked this one a lot more than I did when I watched it 15 years ago. At the moment, I like the 2022 version more, but this has quite a bit going for it and I might change my opinion if I rewatch the two films again in the future.
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:7510:
203 - The Woman King (2022) - 7.5/10 - In the 1820s, a kingdom in Africa has an elite group of female warriors (led by Viola Davis). They fight to protect their people from the warriors of a neighboring kingdom and from slavers. The focus is split between the leader and a new recruit (Thuso Mbedu) who joins the warriors rather than wed a man who will beat her. It was perhaps a bit predictable, but was entertaining.

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204 - Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) - 8/10 - A 40 something Belgian widow goes about her daily routine over a three day period. She has dinner with her son, cooks, cleans, runs errands, takes a bath, babysits, has sex with men for money before her son comes home from school, and so on. Based on the length of the film and the description, I went in expecting to be bored with the film and to not really like it. I ended up being pleasantly surprised and enjoyed it. I wouldn't rank it among my all time favorites by any means, but it was good.

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205 - The Headless Woman (2008) - 6/10 - A woman runs over a dog while momentarily distracted by her cell phone while on a deserted road. She is shaken up and doesn't get out to check on it. She continues to be out of sorts for days to come as she convinces herself that she might have actually run over a child instead of a dog. The film seemed a bit lifeless at times and while it isn't bad, it didn't really do much for me.

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206 - Le Bonheur (1965) - 7.5/10 - Francois is happily married with a beautiful wife and two young children. They enjoy taking picnics out in the woods. He meets a young single woman and embarks on a relationship with her as well and this only increases his happiness. I've seen this film described as horror wrapped in sunny colors and the description seems to fit. It is very nicely shot.

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207 - Portrait of Jason (1967) - 7.5/10 - This film features is essentially just 105 minutes of Jason Holiday being interviewed by Shirley Clarke and another person from off camera. Jason is a good storyteller who seems to love the attention. The first half hour was pretty hilarious, but the rest of it was okay, but not as good. I'm not sure if it was because I was tiring a bit of the shtick, but suspect that was only part of it. Still, overall an interesting film.

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208 - Wanda (1970) - 4/10 - Wanda is a not very bright woman whose husband divorces her and keeps their young children since she was neglectful of them. Wanda readily agrees to the divorce and starts wandering, sleeping with men who buy her drinks and give her a place to sleep. She ends up traveling around with a small time criminal who doesn't treat her very well. The film is kind of a slog to get through with uninteresting characters and situations. I didn't think the acting was that great either. The most interesting part of the film was seeing the cars , buildings, etc. from that time period.
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:6510:
209 - Werckmeister Harmonies (2000) - 6.5/10 - The film is shot fairly well and I liked the theme music and a few of the scenes, but overall I slightly prefer Satantango even though it is nearly three times the length of this film.

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210 - She Said (2022) - 7/10 - This film tells the tale of the New York Times investigation into Harvey Weinstein by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey. Zoe Kavan and Carey Mulligan are pretty good in their roles as the reporters. The subject is important and I did like the film, but I think it was missing something and seemed a bit by the numbers at times.

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211 - Till (2022) - 8/10 - Danielle Deadwyler stars as the mother of Emmitt Till, the 14 year old boy murdered in 1955 for whistling at a white woman while he was visiting his relatives. The circumstances of Till's death are re-enacted and the rest focuses on the mother's story. Deadwyler does a very nice job.

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212 - Where the Crawdads Sing (2022) - 7.5/10 - A girl grows up in the marshlands outside of a town. Her mother and siblings leave over time due to the abusive father and then the father leaves. She is left to fend for herself. Years later, she is arrested and put on trial when her former boyfriend is found dead. I've never read the book, but I found the movie to be pretty entertaining.
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213 - The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach (1968) - 5.5/10 - The film mostly consists of people in period costume performing works composed by J.S. Bach with sporadic narration from his second wife's (fictitious) journal about his life. The film is worth listening to for the classical music if you are in to that at all and I would rate the music as a 9/10, but the narration is kind of tiresome and what acting there is is fairly wooden. As a movie on its own, it's not very good.

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214 - Leviathan (2012) - 3/10 - The film takes place on a fishing boat in the North Atlantic. There is a lot of shaky cam and no real dialogue other than a bit of background noise. One person described it as a Brakhage film with added fish. That seems like an apt description.

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215 - XXY (2007) - 6/10 - Alex is an intersex teen who explores both sides of her gender identity. Her family wants to be supportive, but also wants Alex to decide which gender she will follow. Alex doesn't really seem to be a very interesting individual and the film is a bit dull at times, though there are a few interesting scenes.

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216 - Intimate Stories (2002) - 7/10 - Three people go on the road to San Julian - an old man looking for his lost dog, a young woman (with her baby) who won a chance to appear on a game show, and a traveling salesman looking to surprise a client that he likes. Their paths intersect on occasion in what is a nice enough film.

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217 - Clandestine Childhood (2011) - 8/10 - Juan is a young boy whose parents and uncle are guerrillas who fled Argentina when the military took over. They return to Argentina in 1979 under assumed names to carry on the fight. Juan at first seems to enjoy the secrets and clandestine behavior, but events make it seem not quite as fun. He also falls in love with a girl at his new school. The film is inspired by the life of the director and is pretty good. The actors do a very nice job, including the boy who played the lead role.
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218 - Zama (2017) - 7/10 - Zama is a Spanish officer stationed in a remote part of Argentina, far from his wife and children. He longs for a transfer to a larger location, but is frustrated in his efforts. The tedium of life in this part of the colonial world takes its toll on him over time.

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219 - El Angel (2018) - 7/10 - Carlos is an amoral teenager from a decent home who breaks into empty houses and takes what he wants. He falls in with Ramon, another young criminal who has ties to larger criminal activities. The crimes escalate and people die along the way with Carlos barely batting an eye. This film is based on an Argentine serial killer who has been incarcerated for the past 50 years.

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220 - Nine Queens (2000) - 8/10 - A professional con artist meets an amateur con artist and they spend the day going over some of the grifts that they know. An opportunity comes up for them to team up on a con involving counterfeit stamps and they go for it. A number of nice twists and good performances here in an entertaining crime film.

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221 - Las acacias (2011) - 6.5/10 - A trucker driving lumber from Paraguay to Buenos Aires gives a ride to a young woman and her baby at the request of the trucker's boss. The trucker starts out wanting his solitude, but along the way he and the woman form a bond, probably mostly due to the baby. There is very little dialogue and not much really happens during the journey, though I did like the film.

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222 - Not Reconciled (1965) - 6/10 - This is a frustrating film that jumps between time periods and parts of a family's history without much in the way of clues or explanation. There were a number of things that I liked and I think that I would have enjoyed the film a lot if it had been made in a more traditional manner rather than the stripped down version that Straub and Huillet went with, but then it wouldn't have been in their style I suppose.

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223 - The Color of Pomegranates (1969) - 6.5/10 - The film covers the life of an 18th Century Armenian poet/musician using many creative scenes without much real dialogue, though there are occasional excerpts from his poetry and some singing. While the cinematography is interesting, it also can seem a bit repetitive at times and the style gets a bit tiresome over the course of the film.

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224 - Moonfleet (1955) - 7/10 - In the 1700s, a young boy is sent by his dying mother to the village of Moonfleet and the care of her former lover. The former lover happens to be a man who keeps a respectable facade, but is aligned with smugglers and pirates. I thought it was a decent adventure film and I enjoyed it, though was surprised to see that Fritz Lang directed it.

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225 - The Taking of Power by Louis XIV (1966) - 6/10 - Cardinal Mazarin is dying and Louis XIV asserts his power. The costumes and sets all look nice. The film seems to make a serious attempt at accuracy, but the result is a pretty boring film. The actor chosen for Louis XIV was not a professional and was very dull (which apparently is what the director wanted).
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226 - Black God, White Devil (1964) - 6.5/10 - A ranch hand kills his boss and is forced to turn outlaw when the boss tries to cheat him. The church hires a bounty hunter to track down and kill the leaders of the outlaws. I liked the cinematography and use of music. The story was a bit more of a mixed bag for me with some parts that I liked and others which were not as interesting. Not being that familiar with Brazil from that era probably plays a role in that.

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227 - Antonio das Mortes (1969) - 5/10 - The sequel to Black God, White Devil has the bounty hunter from the previous film turn revolutionary. This film is in color which is an interesting change, but the story is much more of a mess. The use of music was still good.

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228 - Pixote (1980) - 8/10 - Pixote is a 10 year old boy who is sent to a juvenile detention facility. Conditions there are poor with rapes, beatings, other abuse, poor food, etc. being prevalent. Eventually, Pixote joins a group of boys who escape the facility and live on the street. Living on the street comes with its own set of challenges, including having to hustle to survive on a daily basis. It's not a very happy film, but it's a good one.

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229 - Bigger Than Life (1956) - 7.5/10 - A teacher is diagnosed with a rare disease that will prove fatal if not treated. The only treatment available is cortisone, but he becomes addicted and misuses the drug, leading to personality changes and psychosis.

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230 - Living (2022) - 7.5/10 - Bill Nighy gives a nice performance in this British adaptation/remake of Ikiru. A civil servant learns that he is dying and it changes his outlook on life for the time he has remaining. It's not as good as Ikiru, but it's still a solid film.

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231 - Cherry Blossoms (2008) - 7.5/10 - When Trudi finds out that her husband Rudi has a terminal illness, she convinces him to go take a trip to visit two of their kids in Berlin without telling Rudi or the kids the real reason for the visit. The kids find their visit to be a nuisance (think Tokyo Story) and don't want to make time for them. The second half of the film is a bit odd at times, but I thought it was a good film.

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232 - The River (1951) - 8.5/10 - A British family living on an estate next to the Bengal River has four girls and a boy. One of their neighbors has a teenage daughter about the same age as the two oldest girls and they are all friends. The neighbor's American cousin comes to stay with him. He lost a leg during the war and all three of the girls take an interest in him. The use of color during the film is very nice and I also enjoyed the narration which took the form of one of the girls as an adult looking back on that time of her life. We get to see their daily lives and occasional rivalries. I liked the film quite a bit.
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233 - Hunger (2008) - 6.5/10 - Steve McQueen's film about IRA member Bobby Sands and the hunger strike he helped lead in prison goes for a minimalist approach in a number of ways. The first half of the film is filled with life in prison, including a lot of violence from the guards and little in the way of explanation. McQueen seems to be going more for the show don't tell approach, except for a nice scene with a priest mid-film. This is effective in its way and I can see why some people might love the film, but it felt a bit lacking to me.

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234 - Journey to Italy (1954) - 8/10 - Marital issues come to the forefront when an English couple travels to Italy to sell a house that they inherited from a relative. Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders were each pretty good here.
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:610:
235 - The Flowers of St. Francis (1950) - 6/10 - Nine vignettes are shown to illustrate the teachings of St. Francis. There are some nice visuals here and a bit of humor now and then, but overall these didn't do much for me.

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236 - Titicut Follies (1967) - 7/10 - Frederick Wiseman was able to film inside a Massachusetts hospital for the criminally insane. The conditions that he showed in the film were such that the State of Massachusetts sued and was able to get the film banned from distribution for decades.
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