Doraibu mai kâ AKA Drive My Car (2021) by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
It won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign and something at Cannes, so I figured it was worth a watch. It's been a few weeks, so I forget the nuances. And it's a very nuanced movie. 3 hours, so that's already a knock in my book, sorry. And its not a 'quick 3' either. It's a meditative, stop-and-consider film. The type that gets dissected and talked about in Ivy League film clubs. There were some pretty shots but I couldn't get too into it. I can see how the critics would drool over it. 3.75/5
No Way Out (1950) by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
The first in my Sidney Portier marathon. Pretty straightforward movie, and against backdrop of the rest of his films I saw, it ranks near the bottom. Not a bad thing, but nothing to go out of your way to see. 3.25/5
The Defiant Ones [1958] by Stanley Kramer
Next in Mr Portier's marathon. I liked this better than the last. Real fun movie, great pacing, and my favorite: 90 minutes. Tony Curtis is great in this, obviously so is Sidney. They play off each other well. Nice little entertaining Sunday matinee. 4/5
A Patch of Blue (1965) by Guy Green
The third Sidney Portier film in a row. It was . . . cute. And not in a fun way, considering it's a story about a blind girl living with her prostitute mum & alcoholic grandfather, who finds the first 'positive' thing in her life and she's immediately ripped away from it. But seeing Sidney take this poor girl under his wing and show her the only love or consideration she's been shown in her entire life was heartwarming. The film could only push their relationship 'so far' on-screen considering this was 1965, so it's capped in some ways. But watching it I also felt there was a big age gap so maybe they shouldn't have pushed it regardless? 3.5/4
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels [1998] by Guy Ritchie
I immediately felt as I though I'd watched this before and I did, it was called Snatch. And you know, that's not a bad thing, I loved both movies. Why did Ritchie give up this 'formula'? It's such great editing and storytelling with the perfect amount of charm and humour. Edgar Wright said he didn't want to make a sequel to Baby Driver because he didn't want to ever make the same movie twice. Fuck that, give me this style again and again. I heard The Gentlemen was a return to form of this type, it's in my queue. 4.5/5
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) by Stanley Kramer
Boring. I get it. Like all the Portier films in my mini-marathon I've seen, it addresses important racial themes and it's a shame that 55 years later some people still don't "get it". And it was a landmark in showing the first interracial kiss on film. And the lessons it teaches, and values are important. I get it. But those things aside, in the grand scheme of the movie, nothing else stood out. The directing, editing, dialogue, hell, even the acting wasn't anything to write home about. And we're talking about Katharine Hepburn, Sidney Portier, and Spencer Tracy! While it's importance must not be understated, I need a little more sizzle with my steak. 3/5
Desperado (1995) by Robert Rodriguez
This would have made a great short film if it was edited down. Or a great full length if there was anything resembling a plot. It has soooo many things going for it: a bad ass main character, a super cool bar scene shoot out, Danny Trejo as a knife-throwing bounty hunter, a Quentin Taratino cameo, Salma Hayek's tits, Steve Buscemi, Salma Hayek's tits. And those things alone make it a decent bubblegum flick that gets played in the background at a trendy dive bar The problem is, for everything I listed, they're not nearly on screen long enough to make this a great film. If this had an actual story and some decent acting, maybe a cool score thrown in . . . holy. 3.5/5
Pierrot le fou AKA Pierrot Goes Wild (1965) by Jean-Luc Godard
Speaking of lack of a plot lol. It's colorful (in a 'symbolic' artsy fartsy way) and 'fun'. Carefree. Read: french new wave. Just those three words sum up the film. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing? A lot of stylistic sizzle here. Wish they did a bit more with the 'running away from violet gangsters' motif but it's Godard not Tarantino. I remember liking this a lot more my first time. Maybe you have to be in a certain mood. 3.5/5
Yes I realize I rated Godard on the same level as Desperado and it pains me somewhat. But on the other hand, I don't really give a fuck, so. Maybe I should just simplify my ratings to thumbs up or down lol.
