Just finished a few movies.
Well, this first one I finished a few months ago but I thought I'd mention it.
Gomorrah
Extremely well done movie about the slums of Italy and all the organized crime that goes on. Subtitled. A bunch of stories within a story, some connected, some not. My understanding is that Scorsese saw it and loved it though he had nothing to do with it regardless of the "Martin Scorsese Presents" title on the movie. At times it was hard to understand what was going on as I dont think the subtitles were exactly accurate. I read the Wikipedia after and it shed some light. 91% on the RT meter.
I watched My Left Foot for the first time. Started it last night and finished it this morning. Well, DDL, as per usual, killed it. Knocked it out of the proverbial park. What a jaw dropping job of complete immersion into a role. You could feel the angst and resonation of the character Christy Brown. The simple acts of movement you and I take for granted are filled with so much concentration and tension for someone suffering from cerebral palsy and this came across perfectly. The tension and electricity in the facial features, in the "idle" hands is palpable. 100% on the RT meter.
I also watched Killer of Sheep. A film from 1977 that I learned about after watching Shabbazz Palaces' incredible "one shot" music video for Belhaven Meridian. That video was 4 years ago at least. My list of movies to watch is sometimes daunting.
[video=vimeo;10369494]https://vimeo.com/10369494
Killer of Sheep, I found out, has made it on many critic's lists as one of the top 100 films of all time. Fellini, Kubrick, Cassavetes are all mentioned when opinions are given on this very raw film. Neo-realism to say the least. Sound was pretty bad overall. The story was almost plotless and the movie at times seemed more documentary than traditional narrative. Filmed completely in Watts, LA, it's a good insight into what that impoverished area looked like in the late 70's. It was like almost "watching" a blues song. Also, soundtrack was impeccable and one of the reasons the movie was never released; no rights to the music used. Ebert gave it 4 out of 4 stars. You can read his review
here. 97% on the RT meter.
Lastly, I don't know about you, but I always appreciate a good movie poster. All three of these are great in my opinion. There is sooooo much garbage out there, so when I see one that's interesting, it's hard not to give it it's props. Like recently I saw this one. I don't know anything about the movie but it's such a damn good poster. There's another version of the poster that has a border which I think is complete garbage.