#6 ALL ABOUT EVE (1950)

Suggested by Brad Betschen

Thoughts going in:

My best friend recommended this movie, I’ll probably love it.

Thoughts overall:

Women are, by and large, fucking evil to each other.  I don’t know why this is (actually, I have lots of theories why, but I’ll save those for my radical feminism/patriarchy smash blog).  In this movie we see strong women, all with their own motives, torn apart by each other.  A few scenes, in which the men folk have to bring these hysterical ladies back to the real world (a world in which a woman is only a woman, and only of value if she has a man to take care of) are annoying, but to be expected for a movie of this era.  The real gem is seeing how their relationships weave in and out of kindness and cruelty.  While some characters are meant to be seen as the overall “bad girls” they’re all much more complex than that and they’re all, to some degree, complicit in their own suffering.  Snappy lines by Bette Davis make this worth viewing alone.

#5 LES DIABOLIQUES

Suggested by Veronika Kosta

Thoughts going in:

Doug: “They sometimes call this movie the greatest movie Hitchcock never made.” Sounds good to me!

Thoughts Overall:

This movie was half and half for me. I thought the plot was very interesting and I enjoyed the little twists and turns, but viewed by my modern, jaded eyes, I don’t think I was able to feel what the movie wanted me to. I never felt any tension or concern and I did predict the ending fairly early on, but for what it was, when it was made, I think it was pretty good. I found the foley to be so annoying at times that I was actually ANGRY. That said, I did watch this movie when I really should have been in bed and perhaps that clouded my opinion somewhat.

#4 MAGNOLIA (1999)

Suggested by Amanda Cooper

Thoughts going in:

me: “is this the movie where the guy tattoos himself?” Doug: “no, that’s Memento.” me: “is this the one with Nic Cage’s head in a flowerpot?” Doug: “No….that’s Adaptation. Jesus christ.”

Thoughts Overall:

Well, that was depressing. This movie is so incredibly dense that there’s no point in me trying to summarize the plot, but I can say that it’s incredibly well written. I experienced real feelings watching it, and I think the story it tells, and the comment it makes about society are well worth your time. A few things seemed unresolved to me (and I hate that, even though I know I should be mature enough not to) and there was a cast sing-along of an Aimee Mann song that really, really did not work for me, but these are small quibbles compared to the overall beauty of this one. I’d tell you to go see it, but I think I might have been the last person who hadn’t.