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Buffalo '66 (Vincent Gallo, 1998) -- Billy is released after five years in prison. In the next moment, he kidnaps teenage student and visits his parents with her, pretending she is his wife. This is a different kind of low budget movie, the one that works better as a low budget flick and which would most likely be ruined by a high price. The movie is even filmed on low budget film, which actually adds to the depressive aura of it. The movie is filmed in Buffalo, where Gallo was born and raised and even used his own house to show his living conditions. The reason I liked this movie is a more personal one, having lived in Buffalo for about three years, I can tell it can be a depressing place, and the whole cinematography and production design worked perfectly to make it seem so. The story is quite depressing and when I watched it I was a bit sad, but the whole story in the end made me feel better about the character and about myself. There's a few interesting cameos, including Mickey Rourke, Jan-Michael Vincent, Kevin Pollak, and Alex Karras, and it doesn't last that long. A true underrated classic. 8.5/10
Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma (a.k.a. Salo or the 120 Days of Sodom) (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1975) -- Four fascist libertines round up 9 teenages boys and girls and subject them to 120 days of physical, mental and sexual torture. Working on the same type of shockumentary hype that seemed to work for the Mondo Cane crew, this movie takes a more mainstream approach, shying away from the documentary setting and trying to look more at the movie from a fictional point, yet based on the Marquis de Sade original Sodom story, and working on a fascist era. While the depiction of violence, sodomy, corpophagia, eye-gouging, scalping, nipple burning with candles, etc. etc. is horrific it is Pasolini's treatment of the boys and girls that is much more horrifying. But the final message of the movie is much more terrifying: there is no redemption. We might shy away and even ignore what we have done to each other in history, but the fact is that it all happened and it works better for us to at least know it. I personally didn't like the movie, but only because it held nothing interesting for me, but that comes from already expecting this type of movie, especially from the Italian '70s style, plus there's the whole re-dubbing into Italian thing that was so common back then and the spotty acting bits. 4.5/10
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Peter Jackson, 2012) -- A younger and more reluctant Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, sets out on an "unexpected journey" to the Lonely Mountain with a spirited group of Dwarves to reclaim their stolen mountain home from a dragon named Smaug. Like almost everyone on the planet, I also read the book before watching the movie, and was a bit perplexed when I found out there would be three movies, made out of a 300-ish page book, and that every movie would be about as long as the original LOTR movies, also by Jackson. In the end, it became an unexpected delight, very well told and extremely entertaining to watch. I watched it in 3D and again, it really wasn't necessary to watch it like that, but many scenes were fun in it. Aside from the story, which is great, the special effects are absolutely amazing. In the original LOTR I thought Gollum couldn't be better, but again, this was something else. If you enjoyed the LOTR trilogy, then Peter Jackson will have you in awe again, although The Hobbit trilogy looks set to be a much more relaxed and 'fun' adventure. 9/10
Babettes Gæstebud (a.k.a. Babette's Feast) (Gabriel Axel, 1987) -- In 19th century Denmark, two adult sisters live in an isolated village in a small congregation of a small Protestant church that is almost a sect unto itself. Although they each are presented with a real opportunity to leave the village, the sisters choose to stay to serve their church. After some years, Babette arrives and commits herself to work for them as maid/housekeeper/cook. At a point, Babette decides to cook a special dinner for everyone, yet Babette is a French passionate woman, who is about to cook a passionate meal to a bunch of repressed Protestants. The result is simply amazing.
The movie does take its time to unfold, especially because as the title suggests, it's about the feast itself, but it really goes to show how important character development and scene setting are, and in this movie they all work for the better because the ending shows everything, sobered up, but as you'd expect. It doesn't go overboard at any time, keep in mind the movie happens to be Danish, so it's not exactly an orgy of emotions, but what really sets it apart is its sly humor, in the sense that it's a beautifully orchestrated clash of sensibilities and repressing actions of the Scandinavians vs. the French passion and satire. The movie remains a deft comedy that enriches every characters and doesn't leave anyone hurt. 8/10
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I also really enjoyed this film. It was good ole Tarantino at his best and Christoph Waltz was just sublime in his role of Dr. King Schultz.
