I love Molly Burch … here she is singing First Flower … unfortunate backing vocals by the band, she needs some pros backing her 20 feet from stardom:
Sixteen Erotic Thrillers
List via Criterion, where I found this blurb:
Sleekly stylish, deliriously plotted, and unabashedly steamy, the erotic thrillers of the 1980s and ’90s are both the ultimate guilty pleasure and an illuminating reflection of an era’s changing attitudes toward sex on-screen. As the ’70s came to a close, with studio filmmaking in decline, home video and cable on the rise, and new X-rated movies ushering in an era of “porno chic,” Hollywood studios and independent filmmakers began pushing boundaries to cash in and create popular films that could never have been made before. Often dismissed as disreputable byproducts of the video-store era, these carnal classics can now be seen as rich cultural texts, laden with tantalizing ideas about gender, the relationship between sex and violence, and the cinematic gaze.
Dressed to Kill (1980)
Body Heat (1981)
Crimes of Passion (1984)
Body Double (1984)
The Bedroom Window (1987)
Fatal Attraction (1987) [added later]
Sister, Sister (1987)
Call Me (1988)
The Comfort of Strangers (1990)
Basic Instinct (1992) [added later]
Single White Female (1992)
Poison Ivy (1992)
Dream Lover (1993)
Color of Night (1994)
Criminal Passion (1994)
Fleshtone (1994)
The Last Seduction (1994)
Jade (1995)
Movies Watched -- Emily the Criminal (2022)
93 minute running time … this movie was not terrible and actually not half bad … it stars some bug-eyed girl who badly feigns a tough-girl New Joisey accent … she is doing DoorDash and is up to her neck in student loans, so why not engage in a little credit card fraud? The the stakes get raised and things get more dangerous.
This felt low budget but it really wasn’t super terrible, which is quite an accomplishment. It’s not good enough to recommend, but if it comes on cable or something you might want to give it a watch.
Sleeveless, braless
Movies Watched -- The Lady Vanishes (1938)
97 minute running time .. another early-ish Hitchcock … large portions of it take place on a train .. the story isn’t bad and it’s filled with the usual Hitchockian humor, including a lot of British class humor, which seems a little unusual … I don’t think it’s one of his best, but he never made a bad film. I’m not going to give it a green-go rating, reserving it only for his very best, like The 39 Steps and North By Northwest.
Movies Watched -- The Ipcress File (1965)
107 minute running time so it could have lost ten minutes or so … this is an example of a movie that I enjoyed, it’s skillfully made (Otto Heller on camera) and the story isn’t terrible, but it wasn’t good enough to recommend (getting my coveted green-go rating) … lots of exposition which always spoils things for me. Harry Saltzman liked Michael Caine for some reason, maybe the Cockney accent helped. My favorite Michael Caine movie is Hannah and Her Sisters: “I have my answer!”
You have seen everything? (at groin height after tucking gun in waistband). “I’m not hungry.”
Earliest Movies Dropped from the Original Edition of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
The terribly titled book, 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, was first published in 2003. I have the most recent edition of the book (2021) and was interested to see which of the early movies were dropped to make room for recent additions, and here are the earliest 25:
Intolerance (1916)
Way Down East (1920)
Seven Chances (1925)
The Jazz Singer (1927)
Napoleon (1927)
The Kid Brother (1927)
Le Million (1931)
La Chien (1931)
Boudu Sauvé Des Eaux (1932)
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
Me and My Gal (1932)
The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933)
Sons of the Desert (1933)
Judge Priest (1934)
Sabotage (1936)
Things to Come (1936)
Le Roman D’un Triechur (1936)
Babes in Arms (1939)
Le Jour Se Leve (1939)
Gunga Din (1939)
Ninotchka (1939)
Wuthering Heights (1939)
Dance Girl Dance (1940)
Sergeant York (1941)
I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
Movies Watched -- Foreign Correspondent (1940)
120 minute running time so it could have been tightened up probably, but this was Hitchcock and it’s very good, a green-go for sure … humor and suspense and action … the windmill scene truly scared me, which is odd .. good writing … a plea against isolationism … aiding the war effort, you know, 1940.
Movies Watched -- The Chinese Bungalow (1940)
72 minute running time … chop suey font and gibberish “Malayan Chinese” being spoken … white guy (Paul Lukas) playing the Chinese guy … this wasn’t super terrible or over-the-top racist … millionaire Sing isn’t really a bad guy other than sending over the occasional siamese cat with poisoned claws and his bored wife was two-timing him after all, as her sister was quick to point out … I liked the sisterly jealousy angle, Cherry Blossom versus Heart of Jade.
Marriage is complete possession and we do not tolerate thieves
Nobody's One and Only
Great song from Dan Penn … ta ta ta ta!
Movies Watched -- Paterson (2016)
118 minute running time so at least 30 minutes too long … I hated this and am more convinced than ever that Jim Jarmusch only made one good movie (Dead Man) … this is the story of the funny-looking guy from Girls who now drives a city bus in Paterson, NJ. He writes excruciatingly bad poetry and has a beautiful but kooky Indian (subcontinent, not Injun) girlfriend. They have no kids of course, but keep a nasty English bulldog instead.
It’s just such pretentious, precious, faux artsy bullshit, who can stand movies like this? Boo, Jim Jarmusch and your stupid hair.
Headed to Nashville