Idiots and Angels (2008)

An American animation by Bill Plympton.
A man who hangs out at a bar grows wings.
If you know and like Plymptoons as much as I do, you know that the plot cannot be expressed in a few simple sentences, but that the premise spins off into many ideas and sub-plots. As much as I like Plympton and as good as this was, it just was not as good as his other stuff. It was a little more serious and lacked some of the absurd exaggerations which make his other films so enjoyable. The animation was cleaner, like Cheatin' (2013) instead of rough and sketchy like The Tune (1992). The music was also similar to Cheatin', but featured less classical pieces. Also like Cheatin', it had no dialogue. Having seen 6/7 Bill Plympton films, I would say that the animation cleaned up over time, but the humor decreased. I rate this good. Watch it if you like strange animation, just know that all of his other stuff is stranger.

Cheatin' (2013)

An American animation directed by Bill Plympton.
A man and woman fall in love at a bumper car fair ride. While clothes shopping, the saleswoman takes a suggestive photo of the woman surrounded by male mannequins. Seeing the photo and thinking that his wife is cheating on him, the man begins having affairs with many women. The woman hires a hitman to kill her husband and also finds a man with a "soul transfer" machine so she can be inside the women her husband is sneaking around with.
There are few filmmakers who can do no wrong and Bill Plympton is one of them. His style is consistent, but improves with time. The sketchy art style is exactly what I like most. He also does these exaggerated and abstracted sequences that I find bizarrely wonderful. A good example in this film would be the hitman taking weapons out of his drawers. He pulls out a really long bullet belt, a really long gun, atomic bombs, a rubber dildo and a flower bouquet, among other items. What marks this film as different from other Plympton films I've seen is lack of dialogue. It was all done visually, with sound effects and music. I have to rate this best. If you're looking for wild animation, here it is.

Popeye (1980)

An American musical comedy directed by Robert Altman, starring Robin Williams.
Popeye, the sailor arrives in a town with an over-zealous taxman and a woman who is about to wed a villain. After encountering the woman on the street and finding an abandoned baby with her, the trio of Popey Olive Oyl and Sweet Pea is formed. As they struggle against Bluto, Popeye finds his long lost father, Poopdeck Pappy.
This should not have been a musical. The stunts and special effects were moderately entertaining, but it was otherwise mediocre at best. I really don't think there is any more to write about it. I rate it tolerable.

Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)

An Australian mystery drama directed by Peter Weir, starring Jacki Weaver.
A large group of girls at a British school in Australia go for a picnic near a unique mountain. Four of them climb the mountain, but one comes back. The teacher has also left to climb the mountain and the girls return to school. A young man and his friend see the girls on their way to the mountain and find out they are missing. The pair return to the mountain to search for the girls, but only find one. One of the girls at the school has missing parents and money, so she is about to be transferred to an orphanage.
I can't see why this film was such a critical success or why it has 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. It seemed disjointed, unfocused, inconclusive, lacked a main character and the audio was bad. ... Unless that's what people want. Murky, disjointed plots and whisper acting films get made all the time, so someone must like that. The only positive thing that I saw was camera-work and editing. It looked pretty good. Not even just "good for 1975", but good for any time. The shot which stuck in my mind was one of the women at the school walking up the front steps toward the building as the camera tilted up to follow her. Another memorable set of shots was images of the mountain in which the rock formations suggest faces. I rate this poor because it wasn't painful, just not any good at all.

Phenomena (1985)

An Italian horror directed by Dario Argento, starring Jennifer Connelly, Donald Pleasence and Patrick Bauchau.
A teenage girl starts going to a Swiss boarding school near where murders have been happening. She finds that she can communicate with insects and befriends a nearby scientist who studies insects. With the help of the scientist and her insect friends, she tries to find the murderer.
I have never seen a movie that used music as well as this. Claudio Simonetti's Phenomena song was later covered by Rhapsody of Fire as Queen of Dark Horizons and they also did a cover of Iron Maiden's Flash of the Blade (used in 2 separate scenes!). Obviously, Luca Turilli and Alex Staropoli liked this film quite a bit. Another song to mention is Motorhead's Locomotive. I found this film a little slow and dull at times, but I was glad that I kept watching when it finished. The girl is really put through some extreme situations, but is able to call massive clouds of insects when she is in trouble. All of my favorite parts were at the end, so I won't spoil that. I rate this good and would recommend it for metal heads who like horror films.

Pecker (1998)

An American comedy written and directed by John Waters, starring Edward Furlong, Christina Ricci, Mary Kay Place, Martha Plimpton, Brendan Sexton III, Mink Stole and Lili Taylor.
A young photographer in Baltimore Maryland is discovered by a New York City art dealer. His show is a success, but it causes problems for his friends and family because the photos provide a deep view into their lives.
I had gotten so tired of the "high art" films with hidden meanings and lofty ideals. It's good to watch a plain American comedy after all of that snobbishness. The plot held my attention very well and the characters were interesting. I even thought some parts were funny. A good example is the clothing store woman catching the photographer and shoplifter pair and forcing a "pecker picture". I rate this good because it's a very sincere and unpretentious comedy. I recommend it if you have gotten into a similar situation with watching films like I have.

Paterson (2016)

A German French American drama written and directed by Jim Jarmusch, starring Golshifteh Farahni.
A bus driver writes poetry and meets other poets. His wife decorates their house, makes cupcakes and orders a guitar so she can be a country singer.
I thought Jim Jarmusch could do no wrong, until I saw this. It was 2 hours of total pointlessness. This fits with the bad run of movies I've been watching recently. Most of it has been Dogma 95 and Wong Kar-wai romances. It has all been so dull that I don't even want to write a scathing review of it. When one of my favorite directors makes something that fits this mold, I have to type something. I sat here the whole time, waiting for something in the plot to change, but it never happened. The video all looked good: camera movement, composition, framing, blocking, editing... all great, but nothing happened. I have to rate this shit because of disappointment which has lead to distrust. DO NOT WATCH! ...and if you like Jim Jarmusch films, REALLY DO NOT WATCH!!!

Italian for Beginners A.K.A. Italiensk for begyndere (2000)

A Danish romance directed by Lone Scherfig.
A group of men and women whose family members have died are taking a class in Italian language together. Sisters are reunited and 3 pairs are formed.
This was surprisingly good for Dogma 95. It started with tragic losses and despair, but ended in romance. I say that's the way to make a romance movie, There has to be some contrast so that the happy ending will satisfy people who like variety in films. The plot held my attention enough to not notice the shitty camerawork so much.I knew it was there, but cared more about the plot and characters than whether a tripod was being used. Based upon being a genre I don't like and intentionally lower production, but liking it anyway, I have to rate this good. I would recommend it for anyone who likes drama films with emphasis on plot and characters.

Rat Film (2016)

An American documentary by Theo Anthony.
The history of Baltimore, Maryland is compared with studies on poverty and rat problems. There are interviews with people who kill rats and some who keep them as pets.
Not very good. My first complaint is the slow pace. Second is that there was too much unrelated B-roll. What do drag racing and a video game prototype have to do with Baltimore rats? Third is that it focuses on rats as a pest control problem. Experimental animals gets some time and pets might as well have not been included. I guess my last complaint is that there was not enough rat footage. The most talkative characters were Edmund, the professional exterminator (image) and the guy who was fishing for rats in alleys using turkey and peanut butter. The most entertaining moment was when a rat stole the bait from his fishing line. The overlays of demographic maps of Baltimore showing poverty was extremely informative because the same section in the middle of the city was always there. I'm rating this tolerable and would hesitate to recommend it to anyone.

Raiders Series: Tokyo, Seoul & Europe (2000, 2005, 2018)

A Chinese kung fu spy comedies directed by Jingle Ma, starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai.
Spies and government agents work against and with one another to uncover secrets and obtain stolen items or people.
The first two films were entertaining and had their own style. It was like Jackie Chan mixed with James bond or "what if Austin Powers were Chinese and done relatively well?" The third film was trash: just new Hollywood "how big can we make it?" I should have expected something when the intro was a person skiing down a mountain in a light suit. What was really missing in Europe Raiders was humor. For example, the series had established that after the first fight, Tony says "I don't mind fighting, but don't mess up my hair" and Europe did not have it. All of the films had too much camera movement and the editing was too fast. That is the style of the times and I don't like it, but can live with it if there are other things going on that are good. My favorite scene of the series was in Seoul when Lam has Owen tied up and plays a sushi prank on him as torture because the truth serum won't work on him. Europe was also missing the truth serum! Everything that the first two films worked so hard to establish and that worked so well in them was missing from the third. I'm rating the first two adequate and the third bad. The strategy for watching them should be obvious.

In the Realm of the Senses A.K.A. L'Empire des sens, Ai no korīda, Corrida of Love, 愛のコリーダ (1976)

A French Japanese erotic drama directed by Nagisa Oshima.
A married man and his mistress meet in hotels to have sex for long periods of time. Things take a strange turn when erotic asphyxiation is added to their activities.
What Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) did with drugs, this did with sex. Although, these people weren't acting most of the time. They were really doing it. The camera-work looked good, but I was mostly distracted by what the actors were doing. There were a few too many dick shots for my taste though. All through the duration, Sada is threatening to kill Kichi or cut off his wang. Unfortunately for her, that would exterminate her only form of entertainment. She doesn't realize this. The audio was good and subtitles I got were on time. I rate this a strange pink rating because I'm glad I saw it, but wouldn't watch it again. I need something more from a movie than sex sex sex, but it was made quite well.