“Network” (Netflix InstantWatch)

Network.

In the 70’s it was a federal offense to put a proper ending on a movie.

Apparently.

“Oldboy” (Netflix InstantWatch)

Oldboy was very distracting. Very distracting indeed. I watched a dubbed version on Netflix InstantWatch (without the ability to switch languages or subtitles). The three main male characters were all prominent voice actors, who usually work on dubbing anime for North American release.

The main character Oh Dae-su was dubbed by Michael McConnohie whom I recognized as Emperor Charles Zi Britannia from “Code Geass”, Schwarzwald from “The Big O”, Keiichi Ikari from “Paranoia Agent”, and D from “Vampire Hunter D”.

The main antagonist Lee Woo-jin was dubbed by Crispin Freeman aka Alan Gabriel from “The Big O”, Hagi and Joel Goldschmidt from “Blood+”, Jeremiah Gottwald from “Code Geass”, Togusa from “Ghost in the Shell”, Karasu from “Noein”, Shannon Casull from “Scrapped Princess”, Tsume from “Wolf’s Rain”, and a few zillion other anime I have seen.

A secondary baddie Mr. Park was played by Kirk Thornton known as Kaname Ohgi from “Code Geass”, Hideo Kuze from the second “Ghost in the Shell” series, Goemon Ishikawa from various “Lupin III” media, Hachimaki from “Planetes”, and Hideo Shiina from “Figure 17”.

Other than that I don’t have much opinion on it beyond typical East-Asian cinema of the era.

“A Streetcar Named Desire” (Netflix InstantWatch)

A Streetcar Named Desire was made in an era where apparently clothing was made of tissue paper, racism was secondary as a staple American trait only to sexism (and misogyny), smoking and drinking (especially while pregnant) as a social hobby was expected of everyone, and violence towards personal possessions was fun and profitable. To summarize, things get smashed, clothing gets ripped, women get slapped, cigarettes get smoked, and coarse language gets flung.

I am thinking the “wifebeater” came about as most shirts probably ended up with this basic shape after the uppity midcentury womenfolk would try to fight back from getting what was coming to them.

Well, not really, but I do think it is plausible that men who are prone to beating their womenfolk learn fast that, when using your arms to both restrain and attack, that they are the only part of you the woman will make frantic grasps at. If you wear a sleeveless shirt, then they are less likely to reach and rip anything important.

Also, it was apparently okay to sedate and commit women for having mood swings (or trying to resist rape). Ahh well, it could have been worse!

Also there is much overacting.

“Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari” (Netflix InstantWatch)

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

Also, the 1996 restoration had the worst title cards EVAR.

“The Big Sleep” (Netflix InstantWatch)

The Big Sleep:

“Hotaru no haka” (DVD)

Grave of the Fireflies is pretty much the only Studo Ghibli film not dubbed by Disney. I guess it isn’t terribly family friendly, in their tiny minds.

“WALL•E” (DVD)

WALL·E.

DIRECTIVE?

“Iron Man” (DVD)

Iron Man. Yah.

Some superhero based-on-comic movies are just so over-the-top they’re cartoony. “Fantastic Four” is a good example of this.

Some are played straight, if campy. The recent franchises of “X-men” and “Superman” are good examples.

Some are set so firmly in reality you question if they should be considered sci-fi/fantasy. The latest “Batman” movies fit into this example.

“Iron Man” crosses these lines several times. It starts out so realistic (if alternate-timeliney, of course) that you question if it isn’t simply set in our world, 20 minutes into the future. However, it then pops in some bits of magical unobtanium that you accept for the sake of storyline, getting a bit campy. Then it’ll randomly have his first suit (which he built in 3 months in a cave) show flight capability, and a ground impact well beyond terminal velocity with a walk-away scenario for the occupant. Yah, believable. It later turns into a giant mecha fight. And then the head of a Homeland Security splinter department turns out to be Nick Fury. Heh.

It isn’t bad, I just don’t think it deserves to be in the top 250. Well, most of these movies don’t deserve to be in the top 250. In fact there aren’t 250 movies that deserve to be in the top 250. Perhaps I should have aimed for the “Top 50”.

“Into the Wild” (DVD)

Into the Wild is the 200th movie of my original list to get watchified. Woo for milestones. Not so much woo for this movie. I spent 3 weeks watching this in installments. I believe 9 days is the largest gap so far, in entries here.

Perhaps I am getting burned out? Coming up next I think I have “The Godfather”, “High Noon”, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”, “Rosemary’s Baby” and “Iron Man”. Lets see how long it takes to get through those.

“Nuovo cinema Paradiso” (OVATION/Satellite)

Cinema Paradiso. Was what Alfredo did right for Toto? Probably depends on which version of the film you see.

There isn’t a lot to write about very visual movies.