Movies Watched -- Emily the Criminal (2022)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

93 minute running time … this movie was not terrible and actually not half bad … it stars some bug-eyed girl who badly feigns a tough-girl New Joisey accent … she is doing DoorDash and is up to her neck in student loans, so why not engage in a little credit card fraud? The the stakes get raised and things get more dangerous.

This felt low budget but it really wasn’t super terrible, which is quite an accomplishment. It’s not good enough to recommend, but if it comes on cable or something you might want to give it a watch.

Sleeveless, braless

Movies Watched -- The Lady Vanishes (1938)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

97 minute running time .. another early-ish Hitchcock … large portions of it take place on a train .. the story isn’t bad and it’s filled with the usual Hitchockian humor, including a lot of British class humor, which seems a little unusual … I don’t think it’s one of his best, but he never made a bad film. I’m not going to give it a green-go rating, reserving it only for his very best, like The 39 Steps and North By Northwest.

Movies Watched -- The Ipcress File (1965)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

107 minute running time so it could have lost ten minutes or so … this is an example of a movie that I enjoyed, it’s skillfully made (Otto Heller on camera) and the story isn’t terrible, but it wasn’t good enough to recommend (getting my coveted green-go rating) … lots of exposition which always spoils things for me. Harry Saltzman liked Michael Caine for some reason, maybe the Cockney accent helped. My favorite Michael Caine movie is Hannah and Her Sisters: “I have my answer!”

You have seen everything? (at groin height after tucking gun in waistband). “I’m not hungry.”

Earliest Movies Dropped from the Original Edition of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Added on by C. Maoxian.

The terribly titled book, 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, was first published in 2003. I have the most recent edition of the book (2021) and was interested to see which of the early movies were dropped to make room for recent additions, and here are the earliest 25:

  1. Intolerance (1916)

  2. Way Down East (1920)

  3. Seven Chances (1925)

  4. The Jazz Singer (1927)

  5. Napoleon (1927)

  6. The Kid Brother (1927)

  7. Le Million (1931)

  8. La Chien (1931)

  9. Boudu Sauvé Des Eaux (1932)

  10. I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)

  11. Me and My Gal (1932)

  12. The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933)

  13. Sons of the Desert (1933)

  14. Judge Priest (1934)

  15. Sabotage (1936)

  16. Things to Come (1936)

  17. Le Roman D’un Triechur (1936)

  18. Babes in Arms (1939)

  19. Le Jour Se Leve (1939)

  20. Gunga Din (1939)

  21. Ninotchka (1939)

  22. Wuthering Heights (1939)

  23. Dance Girl Dance (1940)

  24. Sergeant York (1941)

  25. I Walked with a Zombie (1943)

Movies Watched -- The Chinese Bungalow (1940)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

72 minute running time … chop suey font and gibberish “Malayan Chinese” being spoken … white guy (Paul Lukas) playing the Chinese guy … this wasn’t super terrible or over-the-top racist … millionaire Sing isn’t really a bad guy other than sending over the occasional siamese cat with poisoned claws and his bored wife was two-timing him after all, as her sister was quick to point out … I liked the sisterly jealousy angle, Cherry Blossom versus Heart of Jade.

Marriage is complete possession and we do not tolerate thieves

Movies Watched -- Paterson (2016)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

118 minute running time so at least 30 minutes too long … I hated this and am more convinced than ever that Jim Jarmusch only made one good movie (Dead Man) … this is the story of the funny-looking guy from Girls who now drives a city bus in Paterson, NJ. He writes excruciatingly bad poetry and has a beautiful but kooky Indian (subcontinent, not Injun) girlfriend. They have no kids of course, but keep a nasty English bulldog instead.

It’s just such pretentious, precious, faux artsy bullshit, who can stand movies like this? Boo, Jim Jarmusch and your stupid hair.

Headed to Nashville

Among the One Thousand Essential Films

Added on by C. Maoxian.

These lists are taken from the 2019 edition of The New York Times Book of Movies: The Essential 1,000 Films to See. Heavy on Hitchcock, I see.

Crime/Mystery/Suspense:

  1. Little Caesar (1931)

  2. M (1931)

  3. The Public Enemy (1931)

  4. The Thirty-nine Steps (1935)

  5. Fury (1936)

  6. They Won’t Forget (1937)

  7. You Only Live Once (1937)

  8. The Lady Vanishes (1938)

  9. Rebecca (1940)

  10. High Sierra (1941)

  11. The Maltese Falcon (1941)

  12. Suspicion (1941)

  13. Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

  14. Laura (1944)

  15. Detour (1945)

  16. Spellbound (1945)

  17. The Big Sleep (1946)

  18. The Killers (1946)

  19. Notorious (1946)

  20. The Spiral Staircase (1946)

  21. Crossfire (1947)

  22. The Fugitive (1947)

  23. Odd Man Out (1947)

  24. Out of the Past (1947)

  25. The Big Clock (1948)

  26. Force of Evil (1948)

  27. They Live By Night (1949)

  28. White Heat (1949)

  29. The Third Man (1950)

  30. Strangers on a Train (1951)

  31. The Big Heat (1953)

  32. Dial M for Murder (1954)

  33. Rear Window (1954)

  34. Bob le Flambeur (1955)

  35. Diabolique (1955)

  36. To Catch a Thief (1955)

  37. The Wages of Fear (1955)

  38. Rififi (1956)

  39. I Want To Live! (1958)

  40. Touch of Evil (1958)

  41. Vertigo (1958)

  42. Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

  43. North By Northwest (1959)

  44. The Big Deal on Madonna Street (1960)

  45. Pigs and Battleships (1961)

  46. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

  47. Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)

  48. High and Low (1963)

  49. Topkapi (1964)

  50. The Ipcress File (1965)

  51. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

  52. In Cold Blood (1967)

  53. Point Blank (1967)

  54. The Bride Wore Black (1968)

  55. Bullitt (1968)

  56. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

  57. La Femme Infidele (1969)

  58. Topaz (1969)

  59. Le Boucher (1970)

  60. This Man Must Die (1970)

  61. Dirty Harry (1971)

  62. The French Connection (1971)

  63. Get Carter (1971)

  64. Klute (1971)

  65. Play Misty for Me (1971)

  66. Shaft (1971)

  67. Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971)

  68. Frenzy (1972)

  69. The Godfather (1972)

  70. Straw Dogs (1972)

  71. Badlands (1973)

  72. The Long Goodbye (1973)

  73. Mean Streets (1973)

  74. Serpico (1973)

  75. Chinatown (1974)

  76. The Godfather, Part II (1974)

  77. The Parallax View (1974)

  78. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

  79. Night Moves (1975)

  80. Three Days of the Condor (1975)

  81. The Warriors (1979)

  82. Dressed to Kill (1980)

  83. Diva (1982)

  84. The Verdict (1982)

  85. L’Argent (1983)

  86. Prizzi’s Honor (1985)

  87. Blue Velvet (1986)

  88. Fatal Attraction (1987)

  89. RoboCop (1987)

  90. Bull Durham (1988)

  91. Married to the Mob (1988)

  92. Black Rain (1989)

  93. Dead Calm (1989)

  94. Goodfellas (1990)

  95. The Grifters (1990)

  96. Reversal of Fortune (1990)

  97. A Brighter Summer Day (1991)

  98. Point Break (1991)

  99. The Killer (1991)

  100. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

  101. One False Move (1992)

  102. Reservoir Dogs (1992)

  103. Pulp Fiction (1994)

  104. Fargo (1996)

  105. Lone Star (1996)

  106. Donnie Brasco (1997)

  107. L.A. Confidential (1997)

  108. Face/Off (1997)

  109. Out of Sight (1998)

  110. Infernal Affairs (2003)

  111. Collateral (2004)

  112. L’Enfant (2006)

  113. Election (2007)

  114. Zodiac (2007)

Science Fiction:

  1. Metropolis (1927)

  2. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

  3. The Fly (1958)

  4. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

  5. Blade Runner (1982)

  6. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

  7. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan )1982)

  8. Aliens (1986)

  9. Beetlejuice (1988)

Movies Watched -- Ghost Dog (1999)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

115 minute running time so at least 20 minutes too long… since I loved Dead Man so much I’ve gone on a Jim Jarmusch kick, but I wasn’t thrilled with Ghost Dog. I guess I didn’t “get it” … the scenes with the bumbling, idiotic Mafiosi were funny, but… Jonathan Rosenbaum liked it a lot.

Don’t give away the ending…