Movies Watched in June 2026

I’m getting bad about recording the movies I’ve been watching, so I’ll do a single post and just add to it throughout June…

La promesse (1996) … Dardenne brothers, depressing AF, quit at midpoint.

Good Morning (1959) … Ozu, post-war Japan comedy? … paused at 30 min mark.

Nashville (1975) … Robert Altman … 160 minutes long, which would normally outrage me, but I was so intrigued and amused by this wackiness that I give this my highest rating, four stars, everyone should see this movie.

Il posto (1961) … may be a perfect movie, a masterpiece… I don’t use these terms lightly … beautiful, funny, deeply sad … I loved it. Four stars. And of course a running time under 100 minutes.

Zabriskie Point (1970) … Antonioni, I don’t think I’ve liked a single movie he ever made … saw this 30 years ago probably and forgot how bad it is … dirty hippie cop killer free love writhing anti-capitalist bodies in the 1970 Death Valley desert … it’s true that Daria Halprin was a blue-eyed Jewish beauty and that was a fantastic short green dress with Injun bead belt she wore .. this is a 2 or 2.5 stars, don’t see it, despite wonderful Wonder bread explosion at the end.

Ugetsu (1953) … Mizoguchi … morality tale and ghost story … I found it a little heavy-handed, but it is stylish, esp. the ghost story … a good line from the Criterion blurb: “Moving between the terrestrial and the otherworldly, UGETSU reveals essential truths about the ravages of war, the plight of women, and the pride of men.” Ambition, greed, responsibility, family, the neighbor, the clan. 3 stars.

The Beguiled (1970) … Don Siegel directing Clint Eastwood, pre-Dirty Harry … Clint as wounded Union soldier taken in by school marm and her bevy of beauties, many of whom he seduces, including the 13-year-old and the beautiful negro slave! Nursed back to health with the aid of a hacksaw and served a final meal of specially picked mushrooms. Score by the almost always awful Lalo Schifrin. It isn’t terrible, but I can’t recommend it. 3 stars.

La haine (1995) … some kind of re-enactment of a police brutality case in Paris maybe? Immigrant life in the “projects.” I made it 10 minutes in and couldn’t take it. Not in the mood. I did enjoy “Dheepan,” which is also about this world.

Drunken Angel (1948) … Kurosawa … odd combo of public health warning (tuberculosis) in post-war Japan and a gangster movie … it’s not bad … there are genius moments, Kurosawa was super talented. The Yakuza “code” and other foolishness derided. 3 stars. An essay on the movie by Ian Buruma, whose writing I always liked.

The Music Room (1958) …. Ray … always interested in capturing a vanishing India … the crumbling, dissipated aristocracy being surpassed by striving sons of moneylenders … tragedy, pride, foolishness, omens, reading the signs … it wasn’t terrible and had some pretty wonderful music scenes … 3 stars.

The River (1951) … Jean Renoir … Technicolor movie in India, jute, ugly Brits, wasn’t interested, quit at 30 minute mark.

The Ballad of Narayama (1958) … apparently tells the story of a charming Japanese tradition of abandoning a person on a mountaintop when he or she turns 70 … I made it 10 minutes in and quit.

The Spirit of the Beehive (1973) … Directed by Víctor Erice … set in rural Spain in the early 1940s, after the civil war and Franco’s rise to power, so it’s full of mysteries and symbolism I didn’t understand, but if you were a thoughtful Spaniard in 1973 you would have understood what he was trying to say … fantasy, imagination, make-believe, the power of movies, killer mushrooms … and Dad keeps a display beehive INSIDE the house. Think about what that can symbolize! Basically it’s about a little girl’s loss of innocence and the reality of monsters (like fascist Franco, er, Frankenstein, get it?) and death. It’s a movie you’d have to read a lot of analysis and spend a lot of time thinking about to truly get. John Farr writes: “Long considered a masterpiece of world cinema … ‘Beehive’ epitomizes the magic of cinema itself.” It’s too inscrutable to be a masterpiece on first viewing, unlike a true masterpiece. 3 stars. (Many mysteries revealed in this essay.)

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) … too long at 110 minutes … comedy / action / Western … two gorgeous hunks and Katharine Ross … some funny bits and some good action, but ultimately unsatisfying and 10 to 20 minutes too long.

Lord of the Flies (1963) … good adaptation of Golding’s book … the right running time at 90 minutes. "Kill the pig! Slit her throat! Bash her in!” Mob mentality.

Under the Roofs of Paris (1930) … Rene Clair talkie … very French, very Clair, very 1930 … I watched an hour of it, but didn’t finish it. Clair made one great movie, À nous la liberté, which everyone should see.

Highway Patrolman (1991) … Alex Cox likes making weird movies … they are funny, but you have to be in the mood for them. I wasn’t in the mood.

Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973) … Peckinpah … never seen a Peckinpah movie that I liked. He was a little guy with a big thing for violence and liked his women bare-breasted. James Coburn always good as a bad guy, but this was way too long and dumb … hated seeing a mangy little Jewish guy (Bob Zimmerman!) in a gang in the Old West. Terrible. 2 stars. Don’t see it and NOT a John Farr reco.

Everlasting Moments (2008) … I actually had to buy a copy of this movie since I couldn’t find it anywhere, but I regret it, John Farr led me astray here … this was no good. It was way way way too long at 131 minutes and the story was lame and sort of pointless .. turn of the century Sweden, a woman is married to a violent guy, I don’t think he’s an alcoholic but he beats her … she meets a photographer when she’s trying to sell the family camera and they sort of fall in love but not really … story telling is so restrained that it becomes lame … this is 2.5 stars.

One False Move (1992) … Argh, again I buy a movie because John Farr recommended it but I can’t find a copy anywhere … this was terrible … Billy Bob Thornton dumb script and directed by a black guy I guess, might explain why some critics loved it, Siskel & Ebert, come on! Bill Paxton as redneck Arkansas cop … it was just so bad and violent and dumb … why do good people recommend bad movies? This isn’t even a 2.5, it’s a 2 star movie, don’t see this.

Barbarella (1968) … Totally bizarre and a PG rating to boot despite opening cosmic striptease and young Jane Fonda’s lovely tits being on full display … little savage metal-teethed children nibbling on Jane’s bloodied thighs, seriously WTF! And how about that Orgasmatron!! I’ve always like Jane Fonda, I think she’s beautiful and talented, but this was unwatchable … yes, I know it’s camp and a cult classic, etc., but not for me! 2 stars.

Pinocchio (1940) … Disney … importance of the score … weird story of little boys taken to Pleasure Island (not Epstein’s) where they can smoke cigars and play pool and be “gluttons,” but then they’re turned into donkeys and sent to work in the salt mines?!? And what’s with Geppetto being trapped inside a whale? What drugs were these people doing? Freaky. Be “brave, truthful, and unselfish” except for when America comes First. 3 stars since everyone should see all the early Disney movies.

Bugonia (2025) … pretty mild for a Lanthimos movie … I found Todd terrifying in Breaking Bad and he’s ever scarier with dirty hair … Sam Bankman-Fried plays his cousin … Emma channeling Tilda Swinton character from Michael Clayton (loved that movie) … 1 hour 58 minute running time… surely it could have been tightened up by half an hour? Didn’t hate it, but there is much better, older, Lanthimos than this. Seek that out instead. 3 stars at best.

Cold Water (1994) … Who cares about these bratty French teens? I LOVE Virginie Ledoyen, she’s super cute and has a great 17-year-old bod, and I really enjoyed La Fille seule (A Single Girl), which unlike this movie, is interesting and a pleasure to watch, but this was just bad… the tragic ending was OK, but of course made no sense. Olivier Assayas made Clouds of Sils Maria and Personal Shopper, BOTH of which I HATED.

Bad Timing (1980) … over two hours long and terrible… hated the disjointed storytelling … Artie Garfunkel and his beezer, Harvey Keitel a German cop with a strong Brighton Beach accent … Theresa Russell has a white trashy quality about her and the pit hair is a no-no … Old Man Roeg ended up marrying her … awful, hated that several people recommended this.

Secrets & Lies (1996) … another awful Mike Leigh movie .. of course the black girl can’t be related to those dumb working class whites … just terrible, and over two hours long… who recommended this to me? Shame on them!

Lola Montes (1955) … now I liked La Ronde and I think Max Oppenheimer (Ophuls) was super talented but this was just so long and sort of terrible. Boo hiss. Don’t see this.

The Awful Truth (1937) … Leo McCarey comedy … Irene Dunne is no match for Cary Grant, not as beautiful, and not as good a comic actor, which sort of spoils it … Carole Lombard was beautiful and talented enough to act opposite Grant, but never did (I don’t think) … oops, Google says they starred together in In Name Only (1939) — will have to try to see that … this movie has a lot of funny bits, post-Depression “rich people are silly” thing, white telephone, but I’ll have to see more 1937 movies before I can recommend it.

El Norte (1983) … too long, wasn’t interested … illegal immigrant journey to Murka from Guatemala, circa 1983 … probably seems quaint now. Rating: 2.5.

Siblings, not lovers

The Beach (2000) … young Leo DiCaprio (born 1974) … I watched this for Virginie Ledoyen (born 1976), whom I loved in A Single Girl … this is too long and the story is kind of dumb, well, really dumb. Leo uses Excite Mail! Wonder how much that product placement cost. Tilda Swinton (born 1960) is good, as always, and looks amazing for age 40. Rating: 2.5.

High Art (1998) … I liked this one enough to create a separate page for it. “Baruch Hashem we got out before.” Rating 3.5

Tropical Malady (2005) … homosexual love story from Thailand, weird, awful, can’t bear to listen to the Thai language … bad movies are a malady, but there is a cure: don’t watch them!

Knuckle slobber

Movies Watched -- Last Tango in Paris (1972)

129 minute running time which means that it’s 29 minutes too long. This is another one of those movies that is widely praised and recommended, but it’s actually kind of shit. Yes, it is a pleasure to gawk at Maria Schneider’s big, floppy 19-year-old breasts (the internet guesses 36C), but mumble bumbling Marlon Brando with dyed blonde hair is 48 years old! His ship is on the verge of setting sail. It’s pretty easy to understand why his wife committed suicide.

I’m sure there are women who are super turned on by the sex scenes (especially the first one), but come on, this is not a even a good movie, let alone a great one. Must have been X-rated at the time. Brando is sort of a caricature of himself … it’s funny, but also pathetic. 2.5 out of 5 stars… terrible.

You've Been Having Assignation With My Wife?

I watched The Panic in Needle Park last night. It’s from 1970 and tells the story of junkies in Sherman Square, er, “Needle Park.” It was Al Pacino’s first starring role; he is full of his usual manic charm.

Anyway, there’s a great scene where Pacino’s girlfriend, played by fresh-faced Kitty Winn, is “balling” a “trick” and Pacino bursts in on them and says: “You've been having, uh, assignation with my wife?” It’s clear that Joan Didion and her husband, John Gregory Dunne, had fun writing the script.

Shortly before Rocky takes a dive…

Movies Watched -- Leave Her to Heaven (1945) (Re-watch)

(That’s odd, I reviewed this six years ago this month and forgot all about it).

110 minute running time so 10 minutes too long, but this is a wonderfully weird movie. I thought it was a Sirk film given the “blazing Technicolor,” but the director was John M. Stahl (born Jacob Morris Strelitsky).

That beautiful blue sky above the “lake cabin in Maine” was actually shot in northern California. The movie stars Gene Tierney, her overbite, and her face-in-a-trance. She’s beautiful, she’s rich, she’s politically- and socially-connected, she has impeccable manners, she is beautifully dressed (for the 40s), and she is a complete psychopath. It’s a lot of fun. Weird fun.

She marries a Harvard man (editor of the Lampoon) named Dick, after unceremoniously dumping Vincent Price, the District Attorney. Dick is close to his younger brother Danny, whom she calls a “cripple” in a moment of indiscretion (maybe he has polio?). Spoilers ahead: she doesn’t like Danny around so she drowns him. See what I mean about this movie being fun?

She gets pregnant with Dick’s baby, but ends up hating the “little beast” inside her, so she throws herself down the stairs to induce a miscarriage. Let me remind you that this movie was made in 1945, the height of American myth-making in Hollywood, the opposite of the dark truths put on display here.

High on Crazy Hot Index

Dick loses interest in her after this, and spends more time with her “sister” Ruth (actually a cousin), and he even ends up dedicating his latest novel to Ruth, which leads Gene Tierney and her overbite (spoilers ahead) to kill herself while attempting to frame Ruth for “murder.” High comedy!

There’s some really great writing in this movie, great lines and dialogue. I loved everything about it. What’s weird is that it is not on ANY must-see movie list, including John Farr’s, which is a real surprise. But I strongly recommend seeing this movie, it’s wonderful, green-go!

(How could Fox’s largest-grossing movie of the ENTIRE 1940s be so unknown today?!? I think it’s because the movie is so dark, so perverse, that normal people don’t want anything to do with it… similar to Angel Face or Nightmare Alley … crazy hot people committing suicide or going mad is not something the public anxious to see.)

Movies Watched -- Loves of a Blonde -- Deleted Scene

The five minute deleted scene from Loves of a Blonde makes a wonderful short film on its own. I think it’s a pity that it wasn’t included since it’s more proof that Milda is a cad. The beautiful girl he is trying to sleep with comes up with a clever way of getting rid of him, the same way all beautiful girls can think on their feet to get a guy off their backs.

Movies Watched -- Letter Never Sent (1959)

In Russian. 96 minute running time so the perfect length. This is a Soviet propaganda movie at its finest. I watched the whole thing and enjoyed it and recommend it. Rating: 4.

No one explicitly picked this as a Closet Pick in the Criterion Closet, but several people mentioned it in passing, usually in the same breath as The Cranes Are Flying (which was not as good as this).

“Sergei Stepanovich. You’re tired.” (then she shakes her head so slightly)

Movies Watched -- Mr. Klein (1976)

In French. 123 minute running time so 23 minutes too long, but I watched all of this and enjoyed it and recommend it. It is yet another Holocaust movie, but it’s actually watchable and dare I say it, entertaining. Horrifying too of course, but really well made. Joseph Losey knew what he was doing. The opening scene was stunning, it made my jaw drop just like the opening of Diamonds of the Night (yes, another Holocaust movie). Rating: 4.

Once again my method of finding hidden gems proves its value: only one person recommended this as his Closet Pick in the Criterion Closet, so that’s how I discovered it. Thank you, Ari Aster, for the recommendation, but shame on you for making Midsommar, which was unspeakably awful in every way.

We've been French and Catholic since Louis XIV!

Movies Watched -- Girlfight (2000)

105 minute running time so five minutes too long, but I watched all of this and enjoyed it and recommend it. Tough kids living a tough life in Brooklyn. The movie wouldn’t have worked at all without the star, Michelle Rodriguez, who knocked it out (of the park). Boxing. Friendship. Family. Competition. Love. Rating: 4.

Once again my method of finding hidden gems proves its value: only one person recommended this as his Closet Pick in the Criterion Closet, so that’s how I discovered it.

So what's it like in Gowanus?

Movies Watched -- The Soft Skin (1964)

In French. 117 minute running time so 17 minutes too long, but I enjoyed this and recommend it. Truffaut imitating Hitchcock. Sexiness of jet air travel and hotel rooms in foreign countries. Mirrors. Probably Truffaut’s best movie, and next to no one has seen it. Rating: 4.

Once again my method of finding hidden gems proves its value: only one person recommended this as his Closet Pick in the Criterion Closet, so that’s how I discovered it.

Movies Watched -- Simon of the Desert (1965)

In Spanish. 45 minute running time so wonderfully short. I don’t know anything about Luis Buñuel, but he was clearly a funny guy, a real smartass … this movie is irreverent, maybe even sacrilegious, but it’s also hilarious. Bad boy Buñuel, what a prankster, I enjoyed this …

I watched this because only one guest of the Criterion Closet (Asif Kapadia) picked it … Kapadia also recommended Investigation of a Citizen Beyond Suspicion, which was also good.

Rating: 4, you should see it, esp. with a 45 minute running time.

The devil roams this wilderness. I hear him in the night.