Once Upon a Time in Hollywood 2019 // USA // Quentin Tarantino Letterboxd (LINK) I’ve been wrestling with this film since I have watched it last week. Objectively, it’s Tarantino‘s most well-crafted, good-natured, self-righteous, self-indulgent and self-parodied work, yet I consider this film to be among my least favorite Tarantino film. I can’t deny I’m affected by… Continue reading Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino, 2019)
#97 Do the Right Thing 1989 // USA // Spike Lee Criterion Collection (LINK) / Letterboxd (LINK) If you told me DO THE RIGHT THING is a new release this year, I would believe you without a doubt. Its messages are still socially and politically relevant today, if not more than it had evoked thirty… Continue reading #97 Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989)
Hand of Death 少林門 1976 // Hong Kong // John Woo 吳宇森 Letterboxd (LINK) Largely uncharacteristic and mediocre, John Woo’s early Wuxia feature film, HAND OF DEATH (the Chinese title literally means Shaolin Gate), suffered from the generic tropes and stereotypical characters in a lacklustre vengeance mode. The entire plot of killing the villain, the… Continue reading Hand of Death 少林門 (John Woo 吳宇森, 1976)
All Quiet on the Western Front 1930 // USA // Lewis Milestone Letterboxd (LINK) A powerful and effective anti-war film with the horror of warfare, from brainwashing education of nationalism to the deaths without honor, in full display on the screen with ‘sound’! It’s hard to imagine ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT belongs… Continue reading All Quiet on the Western Front (Lewis Milestone, 1930)
Snowpiercer 2013 // South Korea, Czech // Bong Joon-ho Letterboxd (LINK) One could simply enjoy SNOWPIERCER as a Sci-Fi action film built around a high concept of a non-stopped train running in the midst of a post-apocalyptic frozen world, or one can further read it as a symbolism of a revolution against hierarchy and totalitarianism,… Continue reading Snowpiercer (Bong Joon-ho, 2013)
Fight Club 1999 // USA // David Fincher Letterboxd (LINK) Where should I begin with FIGHT CLUB? Like the unnamed narrator played by Edward Norton, I’m split and torn, by my feelings on the meaning of FIGHT CLUB in my miserable and pathetic life. I used to watch it every time when it was shown in… Continue reading Fight Club (David Fincher, 1999)
Cops and Robbers 點指兵兵 1979 // Hong Kong // Alex Cheung 章國明 Letterboxd (LINK) A landmark film of Hong Kong New Wave, COPS AND ROBBERS may include some dated, albeit welcome, elements like an entire scene in a night club featuring Teddy Robbins (the composer and the singer of the opening song) singing, but… Continue reading Cops and Robbers 點指兵兵 (Alex Cheung 章國明, 1979)
#975 Funny Games 1997 // Austria // Michael Haneke Criterion Collection (LINK) / Letterboxd (LINK) FUNNY GAMES is one of the most difficult films to watch. Plot-wise, it is basically a film of home invasion by two young psychopaths, probably at their early twenty, who sadistically torment and then eventually kill an entire family,… Continue reading #975 Funny Games (Michael Haneke, 1997)
The Wild Bunch 1969 // USA // Sam Peckinpah Letterboxd (LINK) Western has always been my least favorite genre, and I don’t even like John Ford’s THE SERACHERS (1956). I guess the reason is I started my Western viewing from films by Sergio Leone and Sam Peckinpah‘s THE WILD BUNCH instead of the film’s from the… Continue reading The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah, 1969)
The Searchers 1956 // USA // John Ford Letterboxd (LINK) Confession: I’m not a fan of Western genre, and I don’t think John Wayne could act. There’re exceptions in both though. For instance the spaghetti westerns directed by Sergio Leone are among my favourite. How about those directed by the American legend John Ford? STAGECOACH (1939)… Continue reading The Searchers (1956)
The Films in My Life (OnCriterion) 