#102. Meek's Cutoff (2010)

 

 

Apologies for stating the obvious, but just because a movie's slow, that doesn't automatically make it boring.

 

Take Meek's Cutoff, which is unquestionably the former. Its plot is incredibly sparse, there's very little dialogue (and half of it is so quiet that you can barely make out what's being said), and a good portion of the shots are lengthy wides. If you watch this thing and find little more than a host of beautiful landscape paintings, I totally get where you're coming from. But I actually thought it was quite thrilling.

 

Among other things, Kelly Reichardt really understands anticipation and expectation. She places these vulnerable characters in a dire situation, and uses restraint, as well as our familiarity with the genre, to wring a surprising amount of tension out of this simple premise. It's just a nonstop tale of impending doom, where we can always imagine just how south everything might suddenly go, and you don't realize until the (wonderfully ambiguous) ending that you've been holding your breath the entire time.

 

I'd be curious to see how something like this would hold up on a second viewing, now that I know where it goes. But, even putting aside the suspense, the movie's still a vivid and harrowing depiction of the hardships facing American settlers in the 19th century, and an effective look at the tedium of daily struggle.

 

Grade: A-

 

#101. Times Square (1980)

 

 

I kinda like it when movies are of their time, if for no other reason than because they tend to serve as effective time capsules, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a more 1980 movie than this. Times Square is caught right between the seedy, rebellious angst of the '70s and the poppy sellout excess of the '80s, and the result is something of a sweet-yet-sleazy punk fairy tale, one that showcases the allure of New York City without ever glamorizing it.

 

Granted, it's all pretty trivial and aimless and nonsensical, with large swaths of the runtime consumed by a whole lotta nothing, but I suppose "aimless" and "nonsensical" are quite apt for a story about adolescent frustration. And even if the uglier and messier qualities don't always feel completely intentional, this is one of those cases where the shoddy cheapness still contributes to the overall mood and attitude. I mean, that's essentially the whole appeal of punk in the first place, right?

 

Plus, on the rare occasions where the movie manages to combine its gritty street photography with that fantastic soundtrack and Robin Johnson's superbly believable performance, it reaches near-documentary-levels of authentic.

 

Grade: B

 

#100. Hot Rod (2007)

 

 

I think what we've got here is one of those movies that was "underrated" for so long that it became slightly overrated.

 

When Hot Rod first came out, it was trashed by critics, as SNL alum movies often are. But then, over the following years, it slowly found its audience, and now it feels like the praise has gone a bit overboard - particularly on Reddit. Seriously, go to any thread with a prompt like "What's a hated movie that you love?", and the top answers are almost always Grandma's Boy, Hook, and this.

 

I wouldn't go so far, personally. The tone and storytelling are pretty inconsistent, the Napoleon Dynamite presentation only occasionally works, and I've just never been huge on Lonely Island's brand of quirky and meta comedy. But I won't pretend that I didn't also have fun with it, and audibly laugh at some of the dumb and entirely unnecessary antics (with the two big standouts being Rod falling down that giant hill for close to a minute and the motivational montage suddenly turning into a violent riot).

 

Plus, as ridiculous as this movie often gets, there's also a sincerity to it that provides some emotional grounding. We laugh at Rod more than we laugh with him, but we still want to see the guy succeed, and that kind of rooting interest makes the humour and the characters a lot more likeable as a result.

 

Grade: B

 

And, with that, the first hundred is officially out of the way. Only 9,900 to go!

 

#99. The Decameron (1971)

 

 

When I heard that this one was both a comedy and an anthology, I went into it expecting a relatively easy watch. Can't say I found that to be the case, though.

 

Well, okay, some of these episodes are pretty fun. The first one, about a man who gets swindled twice in the same night, made for a solid opener, and the second, about a guy who pretends to be a deaf-mute in order to get a job (and sleep with some nuns), was mostly amusing. Talk about work with benefits, amirite?

 

After that, though, I feel like the energy started to fall off a bit, as each segment was slightly less interesting than the one before it. The jury's still out as to whether this is a case of the movie being front-loaded or me simply running out of gas (it's definitely the latter), but, either way, I think the structure grew tedious and repetitive after a while, which made for a somewhat tiring viewing experience. Never thought I'd feel this way about a collection of shorts, but there you have it.

 

Still, the outer frame with the painter ties everything together pretty nicely. And I love that closing line, which basically amounts to "Huh, maybe I shouldn't have made this." There's something honest and strangely deep about that observation. 

 

Grade: B-

 

P.S. I'm hoping Italy's seen an influx of dentists since this movie came out. Half of these guys had more fingers than teeth.

#98. Fear and Desire (1952)

 

 

A.K.A. Shape of Fear

 

Prior Viewings: 1

 

Glad I finally got to see a version of this that doesn't look like it was filmed on newspaper.

 

Most people place Fear and Desire at the very bottom of their Kubrick ranking. Even Stanley himself disowned it (which is no surprise, considering how big a perfectionist he became). I don't disagree with those assessments, but I will say that, watching this one again, there's more promise here than I once thought.

 

Granted, it still feels like a first effort, with forced abstractions and clunky narration, but I started to notice the stylizations this time. There's a lot of stark lighting and harsh angles and extreme closeups, all of which drive home the madness that Kubrick would soon be renowned for (with shades of Paths of Glory and Full Metal Jacket sprinkled throughout), even if these qualities aren't fine-tuned just yet.

 

You might think I'm being kind to the movie simply because I'm a fan of its director, but I'd argue that the inverse is more accurate. If I had no idea who was responsible for this, the keen eye and strange vision on display here would be enough to make me curious about anything else carrying the same credit.

 

Grade: B-

 

#97. The Whale (2022)

 

 

People seem to have turned on this one a bit since its release, and I can definitely see why. The tone is bleak to the point of being overbearing, the central themes are messy and overwritten, the score frequently undercuts the mood, the dim visuals are ugly as hell, and the prosthetics aren't very believable. There's just not a lot of nuance here, and the overall presentation can be hard to take seriously at times.

 

But, despite all that, I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't roped in by the melodrama. It's possible that the material just hit home for me because I, too, struggle with an eating disorder, but I also really liked the performances (we all know how great Fraser is here, but Hong Chau and Sadie Sink are equally compelling), and, even though none of these supporting characters are particularly likeable, there was still something about their miserable dynamic that I found strangely endearing.

 

Even the murky lighting and smaller aspect ratio started working for me after a while. They're not especially cinematic choices, but they do represent Charlie's emotional state quite well, and really reflect how trapped he is, both physically and psychologically. And while the light pouring into the room at the end might've been an obvious move, I still thought it was a powerful visual moment to go out on. 

 

Grade: B

 

#96. El Cid (1961)

 

 

The issue I take with a lot of these double-VHS epics from the early '60s is that they almost always felt the need to turn their heroes into saint-like figures, robbing them of personality and depth in the process. It's Ben-Hur and Spartacus all over again: when the protagonist isn't interesting, I'm only gonna be so invested in the story - which is kinda lethal when we're dealing with a three-hour runtime.

 

And it's a shame, because these movies really are quite impressive otherwise. As expected, the production design is simply breathtaking here, with elaborate costumes and sets captured via meticulous detail and surprisingly decent cinematography. And the on-location battle sequences are equally spectacular, especially considering how many extras seem to be involved.

 

I can certainly appreciate and admire a movie like El Cid. As spectacle goes, this is pretty much the definition of a cinematic epic. But between the unengaging script, a few wooden performances (Heston's doing his typical "serious hero man" thing, to similar results), and the generally dry presentation, it can also be a bit of a chore to get through.

 

Grade: B-