Recent Movies

I was telling a friend of mine about recent movies. I figured it was neat enough that I would post here. Don't know (or care) if there's any overlap with previous posts. (only Nobody Knows, b/c I remember posting how extremely upset I was about what the mother did to these children.)

Recently watched:

Mr. and Mrs. Smith (dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1941) - very good; atypical [sic] Hitchcock; everyone's quick to claim remake in name only, but I think it's closer than that, at least thematically (talking about marriage)

The General (silent, 1927) explains why Buster Keaton is so revered. Hilarious. I want more Keaton -- Buster, not Michael (though he's pretty decent in his own right)

High & Low (dir. Akira Kurosawa, 1963) His take on the American crime detective story. Slow but deliberate. Excellent.

Shoot the Piano Player (dir. Francois Truffaut, 1960) well done but a little disjointed; I guess a very French film, though not nearly so depressing an ending as typical. Makes me want to see more Truffaut films, of which eight are previewed on the disc.

And Then There Were None (Agatha Christie story, 1945) the original (maybe). great story with a great twist. If you've seen Identity, you know the basic twist. Still worth seeing.

Beauty and the Beast (dir. Jean Cocteau, 1946) very much a live-action fairy tale/fable. I understand much better how the Disney film was what it was (though clearly different, and not necessarily for the better)

Nobody Knows (2005) based on a true story (apparently "inspired" is the appropriate term), four children are abandoned by their mother to fend for themselves. How will they manage? I believe in the true life version, the mother actually died, which I think is not nearly as tragic as the abandonment.

 

Watching Shall We Dance? with Richard Gere. It's decent. Apparently, it's based on a Japanese film of the same name (though in Japanese, not English)