This Is the Movies — 4/23/24

Your cinematic one-stop shop. Here you'll get the new, upcoming, good, and bad without wasting your time. I love going to the theater, I love seeing movies, and I love giving the skinny because any more is just vanity. —Fisher

Solid Golid Olidies Edition

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (Director's Cut) (1978) 

Gambling addict / club owner owes the mob, mob says do the title of the movie. Didn't love it, didn't hate it. Not particularly exciting, technical merits are tamer, characters aren't too vibrant. None of these are objectively bad, but they typically add points if the story doesn't GRIP me.

The plot drives the story, but we have plenty of detours into "day in the life" territory. I enjoyed it as a less blatant character study. Our lead is a very interesting man. I get a real kick out of the morality and culture of yesteryear. Grappling with it exercises a ton of muscles. Gains can be so sick, bro.

I cared about the lead (great performance), the plot and its machinations are fine, locations are solid, dialogue is realistic. Hmmm... I seem to be chatting it up more than my initial "didn't love it didn't hate it." I do like it more than I dislike it. But come to think of it, the mafia has never really been my bag. Replace them with demons and I give it two more stars.

I'm probably gonna do a lot more from this director because his premises interest the fuck outta me.

The Battle of Algiers (1966)

Holy shit. Did lots and lots and lots of thinkin' with this one. Ya gotta see it. I'd heard about it in passing, then the writer/director of A Thousand and One mentioned it on a Letterboxd Top Four. I liked what she made, so I took her recommendation on this one. I was stunned.

Does not hold back a tiny bit. It's a borderline documentary on events that concluded five-to-ten years prior to the film's release. I'm hard-pressed to fathom a film I've seen that I might call braver. It's simply fascinating.

Raises all the questions in the world. Answer them at your own leisure. Imperialism viewed in each and every cosm from micro to macro. Wild stuff. Gotta see it so that you can learn.

Blood Simple (1984)

Coen Brothers are pretty much the best. They're not even "one of mine" but they're pretty much the best. They were so confident and competent out of the gate that I'm only astonished. This movie rules.

It was great to have had decades spent intermittently seeing their movies. Going back and seeing their first does explain a TON about what we would see later. Their themes PERSIST. And they're really really fun themes. Good for them, good for us.

Some mild stinker notes, however: Frances McDormand was not given anywhere near enough. It didn't help that the actor mostly opposite her was SO FUCKING DOG SHIT. I might have been aghast. 

Despite those seemingly major holes, this movie is well buoyed by M. Emmet Walsh and Dan Hedaya. There's a scene between the two I'd nominate for a top ten dual performance of the decade. The whole movie is just a top-notch thriller that holds up 40 years later and has some real sinister fun. Get it.