1948. Bicycle Thieves, Vittorio De Sica. This amazing movie felt like an intrusion of literary fiction into a world dominated by the alternating excitement and prettiness of genre. Whether this distinction is even useful in the end, this movie felt like the start of a new era.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · 2d ago

1947. Nightmare Alley, Edmund Goulding. Tyrone Power plays a hustler who, surprise surprise, flies too close to the sun. But I believed him every step of the way because he's just that good, and this movie is just that solid.

1947. Nightmare Alley, Edmund Goulding. Tyrone Power plays a hustler who, surprise surprise, flies too close to the sun. But I believed him every step of the way because he's just that good, and this movie is just that solid.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · 3d ago

1946, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Tay Garnett. I confess that I wasn't much impressed with the first third of the movie, finding it too conventional. However, what this basic and, I thought, obvious setup builds into is well worth a viewing. Another classic that I'm glad to have now seen.

1946, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Tay Garnett. I confess that I wasn't much impressed with the first third of the movie, finding it too conventional. However, what this basic and, I thought, obvious setup builds into is well worth a viewing. Another classic that I'm glad to have now seen.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · 5d ago

1945. The Picture of Dorian Gray, Albert Lewin. I showed up for young Angela Lansbury kicking theatrical ass, was immediately seduced by George Sanders' diabolical Lord Wotton, and was ultimately a victim of Hurt Hatfield's deceptively innocent Gray. Good pick.

1945. The Picture of Dorian Gray, Albert Lewin. I showed up for young Angela Lansbury kicking theatrical ass, was immediately seduced by George Sanders' diabolical Lord Wotton, and was ultimately a victim of Hurt Hatfield's deceptively innocent Gray. Good pick.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · 7d ago

1944. Maria Candelaria, dir Emilio Fernandez. An entire town gangs up on an innocent woman who is worth more than all of them combined. My copy was really low quality but its beauty still shone through. I really hope I get to see this at its best one day.

1944. Maria Candelaria, dir Emilio Fernandez. An entire town gangs up on an innocent woman who is worth more than all of them combined. My copy was really low quality but its beauty still shone through. I really hope I get to see this at its best one day.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · last wk.

1943. Several times this film compelled me to softly exhale a wow! I'm talking about The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, dir Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. I loved this movie. It is so generous, so clever, the meanest shot a sumptuous tableau. There is too much to say. Damn, damn, damn.

NEW STOP CARING ESSAY IS LIVE @humblepopstar.bsky.social wrote about Stray Children, playing by the rules, and the painful ways young people are taken advantage of by their elders. It would be so kind of you to read, share, and subscribe. www.stopcar.ing/object-lesson/

Object Lesson

Learning and unlearning the rules of Stray Children.

stopcar.ing

1943. Several times this film compelled me to softly exhale a wow! I'm talking about The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, dir Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. I loved this movie. It is so generous, so clever, the meanest shot a sumptuous tableau. There is too much to say. Damn, damn, damn.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · last wk.

1942. Holiday Inn, Mark Sandrich. Bing Crosby is a swell fella whose bride-to-be leaves him for Fred Astaire. (Who wouldn't?) Crosby sets up in Connecticut and finds a new love, but Astaire is at it again. This is a musical romance with good and bad numbers, and charming work by Crosby and Astaire.

1942. Holiday Inn, Mark Sandrich. Bing Crosby is a swell fella whose bride-to-be leaves him for Fred Astaire. (Who wouldn't?) Crosby sets up in Connecticut and finds a new love, but Astaire is at it again. This is a musical romance with good and bad numbers, and charming work by Crosby and Astaire.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · last wk.

1941. The Wolf Man, George Waggner directing. Featuring Lon Chaney, my man Claude Rains, a cameo by Bela Lugosi. Astoundingly moody visuals. Dark irony, fate. Not even remotely spooky of course, but who cares. Look at this thing.

1941. The Wolf Man, George Waggner directing. Featuring Lon Chaney, my man Claude Rains, a cameo by Bela Lugosi. Astoundingly moody visuals. Dark irony, fate. Not even remotely spooky of course, but who cares. Look at this thing.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · 2w ago

1940. Dance, Girl, Dance. Dorothy Arzner is the first female director on the list. Two dancers with wildly different ambitions work together, but not quite towards mutual benefit. I really liked Maureen O'Hara in this, and Lucille Ball practically runs riot. What a duo!

1940. Dance, Girl, Dance. Dorothy Arzner is the first female director on the list. Two dancers with wildly different ambitions work together, but not quite towards mutual benefit. I really liked Maureen O'Hara in this, and Lucille Ball practically runs riot. What a duo!

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · 2w ago

Before starting on the 40s, bonus movie! 1933, King Kong, special effects by Willis H. O'Brien. The man earned his money and then some. What a spectacle. Weak human drama, as usual. But the viciousness on display suffuses Kong's story with much more pathos than I believe was intended.

Before starting on the 40s, bonus movie! 1933, King Kong, special effects by Willis H. O'Brien. The man earned his money and then some. What a spectacle. Weak human drama, as usual. But the viciousness on display suffuses Kong's story with much more pathos than I believe was intended.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · 2w ago

1939. Ninotchka. Ernst Lubitsch. I don't mind that these classic romcoms are set in the upper crust. But it's sad how Ninotchka embracing her emotions is displayed thru her wardrobe. Does she love materialism or a person? I liked Greta Garbo, but felt she had no chemistry with Melvyn Douglas.

1939. Ninotchka. Ernst Lubitsch. I don't mind that these classic romcoms are set in the upper crust. But it's sad how Ninotchka embracing her emotions is displayed thru her wardrobe. Does she love materialism or a person? I liked Greta Garbo, but felt she had no chemistry with Melvyn Douglas.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · 3w ago

1938. In Bringing Up Baby, Howard Hawks asks us to believe that Cary Grant is a socially awkward nerd who associates, against his will, with a pathological klutz who happens to be Katharine Hepburn. I soon upgraded Hepburn to walking calamity, and brother, I believed it. I believed it all.

1938. In Bringing Up Baby, Howard Hawks asks us to believe that Cary Grant is a socially awkward nerd who associates, against his will, with a pathological klutz who happens to be Katharine Hepburn. I soon upgraded Hepburn to walking calamity, and brother, I believed it. I believed it all.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · 3w ago

1937. La Grande Illusion, Jean Renoir. I waited a good long while to get Renoir in here, but it was worth it. Immediate comparison brings up The Great Escape, but no, superficial similarity. Illusion hopes we're all the same. Couldn't know better. I'm a Jean Gabin fan now.

1937. La Grande Illusion, Jean Renoir. I waited a good long while to get Renoir in here, but it was worth it. Immediate comparison brings up The Great Escape, but no, superficial similarity. Illusion hopes we're all the same. Couldn't know better. I'm a Jean Gabin fan now.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · 3w ago

1936. Blood on Wolf Mountain by Fei Mu. Also a propaganda film but a narrative one. Day after day, bloodthirsty wolves attack a village. Inside the community there rages a debate about how to deal with them. I wonder who the wolves could possibly represent. Neat.

DEEP HELL X STOP CARING CROSSOVER @deephelldotcom.bsky.social joins the site to reflect on the search-action genre and its connections to ecological collapse, life among ruins, and dreams of the (post-)apocalypse It would be so kind if you could read and share. www.stopcar.ing/court-of-ash/

Court of Ash

Visions of post-apocalypse, real and imagined.

stopcar.ing

1936. Blood on Wolf Mountain by Fei Mu. Also a propaganda film but a narrative one. Day after day, bloodthirsty wolves attack a village. Inside the community there rages a debate about how to deal with them. I wonder who the wolves could possibly represent. Neat.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · 3w ago

1935. Triumph of the Will, Leni Riefenstahl. The only entry on the list that was 100% homework. I suppose if you were a nazi you'd quite enjoy seeing your iconography and dubious heroes so exalted. How many in the parade would be dead in ten years' time, and how many would they have killed?

1935. Triumph of the Will, Leni Riefenstahl. The only entry on the list that was 100% homework. I suppose if you were a nazi you'd quite enjoy seeing your iconography and dubious heroes so exalted. How many in the parade would be dead in ten years' time, and how many would they have killed?

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · 3w ago

1934. L'Atalante, Jean Vigo. Now this is kino. The first movie in the list that I would describe as whimsical. Although it's a bit aged in its social mores, I loved this air-light comedy and all the cats that came with it.

1934. L'Atalante, Jean Vigo. Now this is kino. The first movie in the list that I would describe as whimsical. Although it's a bit aged in its social mores, I loved this air-light comedy and all the cats that came with it.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · 3w ago

1933. Duck Soup! Leo McCarey. I don't know what the title refers to, unless it's the four Marx Brothers. But this was really funny. Hail Fredonia, I guess?

1933. Duck Soup! Leo McCarey. I don't know what the title refers to, unless it's the four Marx Brothers. But this was really funny. Hail Fredonia, I guess?

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · 4w ago

1932. Broke my one movie per director rule to watch Tod Browning's Freaks. I like this a lot more than Dracula. It shows the eponymous "freaks" leading prosaic lives with a can do attitude, avoiding the temptation of a lame "poor me!" sentimentalism. Very similar to Euripides' The Bacchae.

1932. Broke my one movie per director rule to watch Tod Browning's Freaks. I like this a lot more than Dracula. It shows the eponymous "freaks" leading prosaic lives with a can do attitude, avoiding the temptation of a lame "poor me!" sentimentalism. Very similar to Euripides' The Bacchae.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · 4w ago

1931. Dracula (blyah!) Tod Browning. I've known about Bela Lugosi's Dracula all my life but this was my first viewing. It looks great, but it had no scares for me, in fact it was downright charming with its toy bats and gothic sets. The Count is great, but Renfield really helps carry the film.

1931. Dracula (blyah!) Tod Browning. I've known about Bela Lugosi's Dracula all my life but this was my first viewing. It looks great, but it had no scares for me, in fact it was downright charming with its toy bats and gothic sets. The Count is great, but Renfield really helps carry the film.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · 4w ago

1930. All Quiet on the Western Front, Lewis Milestone. Wowzers, what a picture. The first talkie on my list made me feel as if I had skipped forward a decade. It was so emotional, so well paced and edited, hitting all the expected beats, that it immediately felt exactly like classic Hollywood.

Mothership was the natural home for this piece and I love having it up there.

Mothership@mothership.blog · 4w ago

"The games have wildly different reputations, but they seem to have come up in the same schoolyard. Soon after its release, the internet celebrated the fact that 2B's derriere was drawn by more polygons than the entirety of Ocarina of Time. False, but one understands why the thought was compelling."

1930. All Quiet on the Western Front, Lewis Milestone. Wowzers, what a picture. The first talkie on my list made me feel as if I had skipped forward a decade. It was so emotional, so well paced and edited, hitting all the expected beats, that it immediately felt exactly like classic Hollywood.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · 4w ago

1929. I had to go with Haiducii, or The Outlaws, (Horia Igirosanu). I confess it hadn't even crossed my mind that there might have been a film industry during the Romanian Interbellum. A young girl disguises herself as a man and joins a band of outlaws to rescue her sister from from the local boyar.

1929. I had to go with Haiducii, or The Outlaws, (Horia Igirosanu). I confess it hadn't even crossed my mind that there might have been a film industry during the Romanian Interbellum. A young girl disguises herself as a man and joins a band of outlaws to rescue her sister from from the local boyar.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · last mo.

1928. The Man Who Laughs, Paul Leni, from the Victor Hugo novel of the same name. I was moved by this melodrama in which smiles are the cleverest symbol. I was strongly reminded of The Elephant Man, but it also thematic crossover with The Phantom of the Opera.

1928. The Man Who Laughs, Paul Leni, from the Victor Hugo novel of the same name. I was moved by this melodrama in which smiles are the cleverest symbol. I was strongly reminded of The Elephant Man, but it also thematic crossover with The Phantom of the Opera.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · last mo.

1927. Napoleon, Abel Gance. It's one thing to be Bonaparte, but to have Abel Gance as your biographer, that's too much glory. In 2000 years Christ has not received propaganda this fine. At several junctures the movie compelled me to clap like a monkey. It is simply incredible.

1927. Napoleon, Abel Gance. It's one thing to be Bonaparte, but to have Abel Gance as your biographer, that's too much glory. In 2000 years Christ has not received propaganda this fine. At several junctures the movie compelled me to clap like a monkey. It is simply incredible.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · last mo.

1926. A Page of Madness, Teinosuke Kinugasa, looks like a charcoal drawing brought to life, presents a narrative requiring some interpretation, uses no title cards, but a lot of camera movement, including the dramatic zoom in that I was taught was Hitchcock's handiwork. Very nice.

NEW STOP CARING ESSAY @lesbiankakyoin.bsky.social unpacks her attraction towards toxic yakuza siblings, and how they reflect her own experiences. It would be so kind of you to share and read. www.stopcar.ing/dear-brother...

Dear Brother, Have Some Sake With Me

What so consistently drives a girl-like organism to the toxic yakuza sibling experience?

stopcar.ing

1926. A Page of Madness, Teinosuke Kinugasa, looks like a charcoal drawing brought to life, presents a narrative requiring some interpretation, uses no title cards, but a lot of camera movement, including the dramatic zoom in that I was taught was Hitchcock's handiwork. Very nice.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · 2mo ago

1925. The Phantom of the Opera. I confess that any time the Phantom wasn't on screen, ie most of the time, I was thoroughly bored. Lon Chaney in his grotesque make up, great, but his dramatic flourishes are better. This is the talkingest silent picture I've seen so far.

1925. The Phantom of the Opera. I confess that any time the Phantom wasn't on screen, ie most of the time, I was thoroughly bored. Lon Chaney in his grotesque make up, great, but his dramatic flourishes are better. This is the talkingest silent picture I've seen so far.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · 2mo ago

1924. The Thief of Bagdad is a sparkling bit of orientalist filmmaking. The sets are so magnificent, the production so lavish that it falls into the modern fallacy of spectacle replacing emotion. It's delightful to observe such enduring dilemmas, though. Also, Douglas Fairbanks is awash in charisma.

The wind is rising. This month's issue of Unwinnable Monthly features @autumn-wright.com on The Wind Rises and terror plus our regulars on topics like Marathon, Alan Wake II and Silent Hill f. Buy: buff.ly/ci350lH Subscribe: buff.ly/2FiTW11