Giant (1956)

Rating: ***

Ugetsu (1953)

Rating: ***

District 9 (2009)

Rating: ** 1/2

Adventureland (2009)

Rating: ***

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)

Rating: ** 1/2

Inglorious Basterds (2009)

Rating: *** 1/2

Finally got to see it.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)

Rating: ***

Mr. Deed's Goes to Town (1936)

Rating: ***

Court-room scenes always ruin movies.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

Rating: ***

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)

Rating: ***

One, Two, Three (1961)

Rating: ***

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)

Rating: ***

Twenty Best Movies of the Decade (in chronological order)

1. Mulholland Drive (2001)
2. Far From Heaven (2002)
3. Capturing the Friedmans (2004)
4. Sideways (2004)
5. Kill Bill, Vol. 2 (2004)
6. Cache (2005)
7. Grizzly Man (2005)
8. The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005)
9. Capote (2005)
10. Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
11. Borat (2006)
12. The Departed (2007)
13. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
14. There Will Be Blood (2007)
15. No Country for Old Men (2007)
16. Ratatouille (2007)
17. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days (2007)
18. Let the Right One In (2008)
19. The Wrestler (2008)
20. Inglorious Basterds (2009)

The Princess Bride (1987)

Rating: ***

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (1972)

Rating: ** 1/2

Amusing, but not necessarily funny.

High Noon (1952)

Rating: ***

Happy Go Lucky (2008)

Rating: ***

Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)

Rating: **

You can skip this one.

Grey Gardens (2008)

Rating: ***

Good performances.

Woman of the Year (1942)

Rating: ***

The Decline of Western Civilzation Part II: The Metal Years

Rating: ***

Some of this is really hilarious.

The African Queen (1951)

Rating: ***

My Dinner with Andre (1981)

Rating: ***

Fury (1936)

Rating: ** 1/2

First act is good, then becomes overly melodramatic.

The Woman in the Window (1944)

Rating: *** 1/2

Clever film noir by Fritz Lang.

After the Wedding (2006)

Rating: ***

The Sweet Hereafter (1997)

Rating: *** 1/2

And Now the Screaming Starts (1973)

Rating: ** to **1/2

Not as good as the other Amicus movies.

La Belle Captive (1983)

Rating: ***

Last Year at Marienbad meets Eyes Wide Shut meets The Fourth Man.

Jeanne Dielman (1975)

Rating: NA

I recognize its artistic merit, but this will try the patience of just about everyone.

The Magnificent Seven (1960)

Rating: ** 1/2 to ***

American Dream (1991)

Rating: *** 1/2

Halloween II (2009)

Rating: **

There are some interesting images and scenes in the movie, but there is something fundamentally lacking in the story and in the characterization of Michael Myers.

Alice, Sweet Alice (1977)

Rating: ***

Should've seen this a long time ago.

Vera Drake (2004)

Rating: ***

Johnny Guitar (1954)

Rating: *** 1/2

Hard-nosed western. First half-hour is especially good.

Muriel (1963)

Rating: ***

Edmond (2006)

Rating: ** 1/2

Entertaining in parts, but peters out towards end.

My Man Godfrey (1936)

Rating: ***

The Servant (1963)

Rating: ***

The Devil and Daniel Johnston (2007)

Rating: *** 1/2

. . . though I'm more than a little skeptical about this guy's music.

Roman Holiday (1953)

Rating: ***

Horror Rises From the Tomb (1973)

Rating: ***

Solid, Black Sunday-inspired movie written by and starring Paul Naschy. Lots of entertaining low-budget effects.

Funny People (2009)

Rating: ** 1/2

This one's hard to review. It is wasn't so over-indulgent, I might give it ***.

Dan in Real Life (2007)

Rating: ** 1/2

Hokey in parts.

State of Play (2009)

Rating: ** 1/2

Entertaining enough, but isn't great.

Ratatouille (2007)

Rating: *** 1/2

Secrets and Lies (1996)

Rating: *** 1/2

Angel Face (1952)

Rating: ** 1/2

Watchmen (2009)

Rating: ** 1/2

Way too long, and never really comes together. Probably still worth a watch.

Asylum (1972)

Rating: ***

Enjoyable British horror trilogy.

Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll (1973)

Rating: ***

Pretty decent Spanish giallo starring Paul Naschy. Gets better as it goes along.

Clean Slate (Coup de Torchon) (1981)

Rating: ***

Pretty funny French dark comedy.

Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion (1970)

Rating: **

A giallo without set-piece murder scenes. It needed some.

Bruno

Rating: *** 1/2

Very funny except for the more staged scenes (e.g., the ending).

Breaking the Waves (1996)

Rating: *** 1/2

The premise of this movie actually could have made a good comedy.

Tetro (2009)

Rating: ***

Public Enemies (2009)

Rating: ** 1/2

Career Girls (1997)

Rating: ***

Masters of Horror: Imprints (Takaski Miike)

Rating: **

This is in pretty poor taste.

Paris, Texas (1984)

Rating: ***

Grey Gardens (1975)

Rating: *** 1/2

Foxy Brown

Rating: ***

It kept me entertained.

Le Plaisir (1956)

Rating: ***

Like the other Ophuls movies: nice visual flow, clever but lightweight stories.

The American Friend (1977)

Rating: ***

Could have been great, but some idiosyncrasies make the story hard to follow.

Cria Cuervos (1977)

Rating: ***

The Most Dangerous Game (1932)

Rating: ***

In the Name of the Father (1993)

Rating: ***

Withnail and I (1987)

Rating: *** 1/2

Pretty hilarious.

Nixon (1995)

Rating: ***

Overlong, but has plenty of interesting scenes.

Tyson

Rating: ***

Cat People (1982)

Rating: **

Stylish, but nowhere near as good as the original.

Sexy Beast (2001)

Rating: *** 1/2

Drag Me to Hell

Rating: ***

Similar in tone to Evil Dead II, but not as humorous.

La Ronde (1950)

Rating: ***

Visually impressive

Il Generale Della Rovere (1959)

Rating: *** 1/2

Good performance by Vittorio De Sica

Strip Nude for Your Killer (1975)

Rating: ** 1/2

Very appropriately titled.

Nuts in May

Rating: ***

Star Trek

Rating: ***

Starts off strong, then becomes only decent.

The Barefoot Contessa (1954)

Rating: ***

Andrei Rublev (1966)

Rating: ***1/2, or *** (depending on whether one expects to be entertained by a movie).

Anvil: The Story of Anvil

Rating: ***

Burial Ground: Nights of Terror (1986)

Rating: **1/2

This movie aims to please. No story, just wall-to-wall zombies.
Firmly in the bad/good category.

The Earrings of Madame de . . . (1953)

Rating: ***1/2

A classic, but the first half is definitely more inventive and interesting than the remainder.

Year of the Dragon (1985)

Rating: **1/2

An entertaining mess. Some laughably-bad dialogue and acting, but some good carnage.

Observe and Report

Rating: ***

Not for all tastes.

Timecrimes (2007)

Rating: ***1/2

Very cool.

The Italian (2007)

Rating: ***

The Public Enemy (1931)

Rating: ***1/2

Dark Passage (1947)

Rating: ***

First half is very interesting and clever. Second half is kinda stupid.

Marley and Me

Rating: **

This was played on the airplane. Kind of strange to have a movie based around a dog where the dog isn't particularly lovable. For most of the movie, it's just a nuisance. Then at the end, it dies (and it still almost made me cry in public).

Force of Evil (1948)

Rating: **1/2

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Rating: ** 1/2

so so

Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)

Rating: *** 1/2

Overlong, but very good.

Rachel Getting Married

Rating: ** 1/2

Good, but somewhat painful to watch. Also, features way too much wedding celebration footage.

White Heat (1949)

Rating: *** 1/2

recommended

Role Models

Rating: **

My Bloody Valentine (1981)

***

Pretty good slasher flick. Definitely watch the extended cut, because the theatrical version edits out the good stuff.

Milk

Rating: ***

A Face in the Crowd (1957)

Rating: *** 1/2

Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)

Rating: ***1/2

Madame X (1966)

Rating: ** 1/2

Abigail's Party

Rating: ***

I Love You, Man

Rating: ***

Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)

Rating: ** 1/2

Decent noir

High Sierra (1941)

Rating: ** 1/2

. . . eh

Blast of Silence

Rating: **1/2

Good story, but maybe too low-budget in execution.

Angel Heart (1987)

Rating: ***

Sometimes ridiculous, but an interesting watch.

Friday the 13th (2009)

Rating: ***

Nothing original, but well executed.

Step Brothers

Rating: **

The Seven Year Itch (1955)

Rating: ***

Pretty funny

To Have and Have Not (1944)

Rating: **1/2

Prizzi's Honor (1985)

Rating: ***

Good, though some of the casting is a little odd.

The Small Back Room (1949)

Rating: **1/2

Another Archers' movie. Interesting, but not entirely successful.

Ghost Town

Rating: ** 1/2

It does have some laughs.

Magnificent Obsession (1954) (D: Douglas Sirk)

Rating: ***

Just as cheeseball as his other movies, but still good.

Gilda (1946)

Rating: ***

A Canterbury Tale (1944)

Rating: ** 1/2

Decent, but nowhere near as good as the other Archers' movies.

12 Angry Men (1957)

Rating: ***

A Matter of Life and Death (1946)

Rating: *** 1/2

Pretty close to ****

Across the Pacific (1941)

Rating: ***

The Wrestler

Rating: *** 1/2

Moby Dick (1956)

Rating: ** 1/2

My Bloody Valentine 3D

Rating: ** 1/2

Good clean fun.

Man on Wire (2008)

Rating: ***

Key Largo (1948)

Rating: *** 1/2

Night of the Iguana (1964)

Rating: *** 1/2

The Old Dark House (1932)

Rating: **1/2

Wait Until Dark (1967)

Rating: ***

Frost/Nixon

Rating: ***

Stalag 17 (1953)

Rating: ** 1/2

Basically enjoyed it, but some of the slapstick comedy hasn't aged well.

Fallen Angel (1945)

Rating: ** 1/2

First hour is great, but last half hour falls flat. Still worth a watch.

My Left Foot (1989)

Rating: ***

DDL = greatest actor ever

The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)

Rating: *** 1/2

Sabrina (1954)

Rating: ***

The Lost Weekend (1945)

Rating: *** 1/2

Erin Brockovich

Rating: ***

Kiss Me Deadly (1955)

Rating: ***

Unique film noir. Story was a bit hard to understand, but recommended.