Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis: Walter Ruttmann

Finally saw BERLIN: SYMPHONY OF A CITY (1927). Fascinating glance not just into Germany's history, but into the late 20s Cambrian Explosion of silent film grammar before the Cambrian–Ordovician extinction event of sound technology.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) August 27, 2018

I know that when it comes to city symphony films MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA (1929) tends to get all the love, but the format of examining a city on a micro and macro level as a living organism within the context of a single day is truly fascinating.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) August 27, 2018

Rating: 9/10

Vengeance: Johnnie To

Watching Johnnie To's VENGEANCE (2009). To is one of my most embarrassing Asian cinema blind spots. I'm pretty sure I've only ever seen his MAD DETECTIVE (2007).

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) August 26, 2018

I like how To seems to understand how dreadfully generic his story is, so he invests instead in truly interesting set-pieces: the grandfather and the 3 killers assembling guns over plates of spaghetti; testing weapons by literally propelling a bike across of yard with bullets.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) August 26, 2018

Well that was superb. VENGEANCE feels like a natural extension of the early Catholic gunplay movies of John Woo in how it both aestheticizes and valorizes violence while interrogating it as a method of achieving justice.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) August 27, 2018

This actually felt like a humanist revenge thriller, if such a thing can exist. The attention to detail--the cooking of French pasta, the sterilizing of surgical knives with flaming whiskey, the marking of a victim with stickers-was likewise delightful.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) August 27, 2018

Rating: 9/10

Sita Sings the Blues: Nina Paley

Nina Paley's Sita Sings the Blues sounds like the kind of film that was dreamed up in a particularly madcap mad-libs session: a combination of ancient Indian mythology, 1920s American blues, and a modern day break-up story in San Francisco/India/New York City. And yet, impossibly, it works. It doesn't just work, it works brilliantly, magically, majestically. Finding rhymes throughout all space-time in all aspects of the human experience, it's a mournful yet defiant shriek against how women have been thrust aside and abused by millennia of men.

Rating: 9/10

What Keeps You Alive: Colin Minihan

To read this review, go to: https://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/124288/what-keeps-you-alive-movie-review-a-thriller-that-borrows-too-liberally-from-other-better-films/.

Rating: 5/10

Highway Dragnet: Nathan Juran

To read this review, go to: http://theretroset.com/cormans-career-defining-highway-dragnet/.

Rating: 5/10

The Little Gangster: Jacques Doillon

To read this review, go to: https://mubi.com/notebook/posts/close-up-on-jacques-doillon-s-the-little-gangster.

Rating: 7/10

Madeline's Madeline: Josephine Decker

To read this review, go to: https://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/124064/madelines-madeline/.

Rating: 6/10

BlacKkKlansman: Spike Lee

Just saw Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman. No offense to Kore-Eda, but Shoplifters had better be one of the greatest pieces of art ever committed to celluloid, otherwise its beating this for the Palme is an injustice. That was a fire sermon of howling fury and despair. The past is the present is the future unless we confront the ghosts of our past and fight. I've heard some people complain that the racists and Klansmen in this film are too over-the-top, but as someone from the Deep South, I know that they're right on the money. As Lee so importantly understands, they're idiots; but they're not just idiots, they're dangerous and organized idiots. Also: this film contains perhaps the best dolly shot of Lee's career. It gave me shivers.

Rating: 9/10

Breaking the Waves: Lars von Trier

After a long, busy day, I’ve decided to wind down with some light, feel-good entertainment. pic.twitter.com/R9w6dHzkV5

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) August 12, 2018

Wow, so, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a movie try so explicitly to make a statement on Christian theology while so fundamentally misunderstanding Christian theology.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) August 12, 2018

Von Trier’s assertion that the true love of God can only be given by a mental cripple and received by a physical one is anathema to the teachings of Christ.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) August 12, 2018

Honestly, this would’ve worked better if Emily Blunt wasn’t a schizophrenic. But I doubt Von Trier would have been interested in making it if she wasn’t. And in my mind that speaks to the core of his inability to process religion in a healthy way. At least pre-Catholic conversion

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) August 12, 2018

Emily *who*?

— Scott Renshaw (@scottrenshaw) August 12, 2018

...oh, YOU try keeping all the Emily’s and Emma’s straight. There’s, like, twice as many of them as Hollywood Chris’s.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) August 12, 2018

Rating: 5/10

Tongues Untied: Marlon Riggs

For only 55 minutes, Marlon Riggs' Tongues Untied is one of the densest documentaries I've ever seen, a churning kaleidoscope of spoken word invective, theater, and dance, and visual poetry dissecting black gayness and how it interacts/reacts to heteronormativity, racism, religion, and self-loathing/self-love. At once heartfelt and cerebral, tragic and inspiring, Tongues Untied contains multitudes. Oh, and the entire film is worth it for the wonderful snap instruction class!

Rating: 9/10

Christopher Robin: Marc Forster

To read this review, go to: https://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/123834/christopher-robin-truly-doesnt-care-if-youre-too-jaded-to-enjoy-it/.

Rating: 7/10

Mission: Impossible - Fallout: Christopher McQuarrie

At first, I thought Christopher McQuarrie's Mission: Impossible - Fallout was kinda underwhelming. The plot made no sense and the character motivations were all over the place. Then the third act started and I think I may have set a new world record for how long a human being can hold their breath. I REALLY didn’t need to be 2 1/2 hours, though. Would’ve preferred a tight 2 hours. But that’s just me. Still waiting for the Mission Impossible movie that REALLY puts the spotlight on Hunt’s criminally underrated support crew. I know Cruise is a box office Midas, but can I just get ONE movie where Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg truly get took to shine. Maybe a buddy cop spinoff?

Rating: 7/10

Destiny: The Tale of Kamakura: Takashi Yamazaki

To read this review, go to: http://www.unseenfilms.net/2018/08/nate-hoods-fantasia-yokai-monster.html.

Rating: 7/10

Rokuroku: The Promise of the Witch: Yudai Yamaguchi, Keita Amemiya

To read this review, go to: http://www.unseenfilms.net/2018/08/nate-hoods-fantasia-yokai-monster.html.

Rating: 5/10

The Passion of Joan of Arc: Carl Theodor Dreyer

To read this review, go to: http://theretroset.com/the-passion-of-joan-of-arc-a-meditation-on-three-soundtracks/.

Rating: 10/10

Tigers Are Not Afraid: Issa López

To read this review, go to: http://www.unseenfilms.net/2018/08/nate-hood-on-tigers-are-not-afraid-2018.html.

Rating: 7/10