#141. Slacker (1991)

IMDb-link

I really do like dialogue-based movies, but I must say that I was disappointed here. I really like Richard Linklater's other movies; his Waking Life, Before Sunset and Before Sunrise are all great and his A Scanner Darkly is good too. I seems to me that he's getting better and better at making more interesting and good dialogue. This one though wasn't that good, although it is one of his first movies, so there's that.

It goes from one person or to another and they're all talking about their crazy world views and "theories". So you never really get to know the person, it just moves on and on. This would still be good, if the dialogue was more interesting or more interactive. I'd really like to know what Linklater's view was and this only confused me. Is it his view? Is he open to all of this or is it just stuff his friends are saying? I'd love to have a conversation with Linklater, that would be fun I think.

5/10

#140. Dog Star Man: Part I (1962) [Short]

IMDb-rating

For those that aren't familiar with Stan Brakhage's films, he was an experimental filmmaker. So, no mainstream stuff here, although he has inspired some mainstream films and pop culture during the years.

Anyway, so this is a 30 minute short film from Brakhage. And it's pretty typical the Brakhage I know, fast cuts, zooming, layers, etc. Dog Star Man consists of five parts; Prelude, Part I, Part II, Part III and Part IV, and of course, there's no narrative here so you could watch them in any order you want. Oh, and there's no sound, at least not in the original films.

I like the pictures I see in Part I though, which is the best part I think because you we can see this man struggling (or at least that's my interpretation) through the mountains. That gives me something to look at and relate to. Plus that it is mixed with other pictures on top of that. Which are usually nice to watch, but nothing more than that. I must also add that I prefer when he goes totally abstract (The Dante Quartet) or abstract colours layered on some more meaningful pictures (Thigh Line Lyre Triangular).

Either you see it as art and interpret it, or you'll see it as worthless moving pictures with no meaning. I try to see what he's trying to say with his work, he's not making it easy though!

6/10... if a rating is possible.

#139. Total Recall (1990)

IMDb-link

So this is one of those Arnold movies I've seen back in the 90s, but that I've almost totally forgotten about or barely remember. It begins as a serious sci-fi movie (with bad acting) and then pretty quickly turns into something very goofy. And I'd prefer this movie's concept with a more serious tone, it would've worked, instead we get this goofy action flick that we've seen a billion times. I admit, it is a funny movie but it's only because Arnie's saying those bad one liners... otherwise this wouldn't be worth watching.

I can't help to compare it to The Fifth Element, which is also pretty goofy and stupid. Although it has some great scenes with Milla Jovovich, and I love Bruce Willis as an actor, it's still fun and goofy but it's doing it the whole way. Total Recall begins as a serious movie, but after like 20-30 minutes it feels like they realized it's going to be over the top and went with that. I think that's a little bit unfortunate because it would've been interesting to see a sci-fi about people living on Mars and what difficulties there are to that, what new cultures or ideologies have arisen.

Somebody said it's fun action and thought-provoking. Yeah, sure, like five seconds and they do nothing with it. Also, it's pretty much unscientific as well even in it's time. Some examples, "terraforming" of Mars in like 5 minutes (actually only added oxygen to the atmosphere but still, wouldn't go so fast), heads exploding in space/planet with no oxygen, Earth gravity on Mars... these stupid things take me out of the movie.

It's not boring, I'll give it that but very silly and if you like that kind of stuff you'll probably like this movie. I'd recommend watching Predator or Terminator (1 and 2) instead. Or even Commando, that one is in the same league but does it all the way. Or just check Youtube for all the funny one liners, that's even easier.

5/10

#138. Dracula (1931)

IMDb-link

I've finally got around to see the WHOLE classic Dracula with Bela Lugosi and I can tell you that he's really incredible in his portrayal of the Undead Count. I can say that I love the vampire creature, but usually they somehow screw up this cool mythological creature either with annoying characters or just with bad storytelling. Now, this is of course the classic Bram Stoker story so when you start watching it you probably already know what'll happen and you know the story works (if you've read the book or watched the other 100 versions). Also, you could really see why Coppola (in his 1992 version) cast Anthony Hopkins as Van Helsing, he kinda talks like Edward Van Sloan in this and also you can clearly see that Coppola was hugely inspired by this movie (who isn't?) when creating the interior designs. You could also do a comparison with Murnau's Nosferatu (1922), which is of course great but it needs a rewatch from my part again. Probably better on a second viewing.

The first part, in Dracula's castle, had some pretty impressive set decorations. The only thing that took me out of the movie was the overacting here and there, but of course, that is understandable. The actors came basically from the theater, Lugosi reprised his role here from his plays. Now of course, there's nothing scary about this film, we're so spoiled and used to much scarier stuff today. But the atmosphere that is the combination of Stoker's great story and the music makes it an immortal classic.

+7/10

#137. South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut (1999)

IMDb-link

Now, I'm not a huge fan of the show but the episodes that I've seen are good. This movie is slightly outdated on the political aspect but it's still good and kind of works. You get your satire on politics, religion, political correctness and even MPAA, and if you like these subjects you'll probably find this hilarious. If you think it's just about swearing, well then you're wrong.

7/10

#44-136. A bunch of movies!

I've been too busy to maintain the blog but I'll revive it once again. This time I'll just give you a list of movies (and ratings) I've watched from the 1001 Schneider-list since the last post.

IMDB-rating High-low:

44. Ran (1985) - 10

45. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) - 9
46. M (1931) - 9
47. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007) - 9
48. The Elephant Man (1980) - 9
49. Barry Lyndon (1975) - 9
50. 12 Angry Men (1957) - 9
51. Rear Window (1954) - 9
52. Lawrence of Arabia (1962) - 9
53. The Graduate (1967) - 9
54. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) - 9

55. Metropolis (1927) - 8
56. La passion de Jeanne d'Arc (1928) - 8
57. Modern Times (1936) - 8
58. Rope (1948) - 8
59. Sunset Blvd. (1950) - 8

60. Shichinin no samurai (1954) - 8
61. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) - 8
62. Princess Mononoke (1997) - 8
63. Smultronstället (1957) - 8
64. Vertigo (1958) - 8
65. Blue Velvet (1986) - 8
66. North by Northwest (1959) - 8
67. Repulsion (1965) - 8
68. Psycho (1960) - 8
69. Persona (1966) - 8
70. Rosemary's Baby (1968) - 8
71. Easy Rider (1969) - 8
72. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972) - 8
73. The Sting (1973) - 8
74. The Exorcist (1973) - 8
75. Chinatown (1974) - 8
76. Annie Hall (1977) - 8
77. Days of Heaven (1978) - 8
78. Hold Me While I'm Naked (1966) - 8 [Short]
79. La jetée (1962) - 8 [Short]

80. The Gold Rush (1925) - 7
81. Un chien andalou (1929) - 7 [Short]
82. Duck Soup (1933) - 7
83. Double Indemnity (1944) - 7
84. It's a Wonderful Life (1946) - 7
85. The Bicycle Thief (1948) - 7
86. The Third Man (1949) - 7
87. Rashomon (1950) - 7
88. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) - 7
89. Strangers on a Train (1951) - 7
90. Singin' in the Rain (1952) - 7
91. On the Waterfront (1954) - 7
92. Les Diaboliques (1954) - 7
93. Touch of Evil (1958) - 7
94. Les quatre cents coups (1959)- 7
95. Some Like It Hot (1959) - 7
96. The Apartment (1960) - 7
97. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) - 7
98. 8 1/2 (1963) - 7
99. Badlands (1973) - 7
100. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) - 7
101. Manhattan (1979) - 7
102. The Thing (1982) - 7
103. The Terminator (1984) - 7
104. Groundhog Day (1993) - 7
105. Trois couleurs: Bleu (1993)- 7
106. Festen (1998) - 7
107. Rushmore (1998) - 7
108. Amores Perros (2000) - 7
109. Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001) - 7
110. The Pianist (2002) - 7
111. Irreversible (2002) - 7
112. Der Untergang (2004) - 7
113. Report (1967) - 7 [Short]
114. Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) - 7 [Short]
115. Khaneh siah ast (1963) - 7 [Short]
116. Las Hurdes (1933) - 7 [Short]
117. Nuit et brouillard (1955) - 7 [Short]

118. City Lights (1931) - 6
119. King Kong (1933) - 6
120. It Happened One Night (1934) - 6
121. The Wizard of Oz (1939) - 6
122. Notorious (1946) - 6
123. The Night of the Hunter (1955) - 6
124. Faster, Pussy Cat! Kill! Kill! (1965) - 6
125. Eraserhead (1977) - 6
126. Trois couleurs: Rouge(1994) - 6
127. L.A. Confidential (1997) - 6

128. His Girl Friday (1940) - 5
129. The Philadelphia Story(1940) - 5
130. The Maltese Falcon (1941) - 5
131. The Big Sleep (1946) - 5
132. Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) - 5
133. High Noon (1952) - 5
134. Scorpio Rising (1964) - 5 [Short]
135. Sherlock Jr. (1924) - 5

136. The General (1926) - 4

#43. Citizen Kane (1941)

IMDb-link



Many would say that this is the best picture of all time. I personally wouldn't go that far but it is one great classical film. I must say that it has stand the test of time, both artistically and in entertainment value. Citizen Kane probably works better today than it did in 1941.

Rating: 4/5
IMDb-rating: 8/10

#42. The Breakfast Club (1985)

IMDb-link



Another classic I saw in the summer, but not as good as Stand by Me. The solid and "down to earth" script works well with its great actors (some better than others). I'd prefer Hughes film rather than most of today's movies in the same genre.

Rating: 3/5
IMDb-rating: 6/10

#41. Stand by Me (1986)

IMDb-link



I saw this cult classic earlier this summer for the mood was in the right place. Memorable and beautiful in its own simplicity.

Rating: +3/5
IMDb-rating: 7/10

#40. The Quiet Earth (1985)

IMDb-link

Good film. Not as great as I wanted it to be. I hoped for more depth and well thought-out story, but it is beautifully made and has a nice slow pace.

Rating: 3/5

IMDb-rating: 6/10