Between my semi-annual head cold and a dangerous obsession with Candy Crush, I haven't done much writing since my last rankings update: just reviews of the experimental docu-drama Yumen and Tsui Hark's wuxia fantasy Green Snake. I have put out a whole lot of podcasts though. For They Shot Pictures, three episodes including one on Akira Kurosawa's Samurai Films and a two-parter recapping the Vancouver and Toronto Film Festivals. For The George Sanders Show, we've done episodes on Belle de jour and Belle toujours, The Black Cat and Cat People and Ingeborg Holm and The Holy Mountain.
Over at letterboxd I have some new and updated lists: 144 Great Musicals, VIFF 2013 Ranked and a lot of director lists: George Cukor, Jean-Luc Godard, Sammo Hung, Tsai Ming-liang, Jia Zhangke, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, John Carpenter, Hong Sangsoo, Brian DePalma, Tsui Hark, Claire Denis, and, of course, Johnnie To.
Speaking of Johnnie To, as I often am, I'm hoping to start a series of reviews, going through his filmography in chronological order. I haven't gotten off to a good start, as I've now seen the first two in the last two weeks without writing about them and had to rent the first one again to refresh my memory (by the way, go rent movies at Scarecrow Video). I'd like to do the same with Hong Sangsoo as well, leading up to a They Shot Pictures episode about him. We have several other directors in mind for that show, but have given up on the idea of sticking to a schedule. But we should be recording a Claire Denis episode in the very near future. The George Sanders Show has the next few weeks planned out as well.
These are the movies I've watched and rewatched over the last couple of weeks, and where they place on my year-by-year rankings. Links are to my letterboxd comments, where applicable.
Ingeborg Holm (Victor Sjöström) - 2, 1913
The Big Parade (King Vidor) - 3, 1925
The Black Cat (Edgar G. Ulmer) - 9, 1934
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown - 4, 1966
Belle de jour (Luis Buñuel) - 9, 1967
The Holy Mountain (Alejandro Jodorowsky) - 10, 1973
Dark Star (John Carpenter) - 7, 1974
Obsession (Brian DePalma) - 6, 1976
The Enigmatic Case (Johnnie To) - 22, 1980
Cat People (Paul Schrader) - 24, 1982
Body Double (Brian DePalma) - 7, 1984
Happy Ghost III (Johnnie To) - 24, 1986
Green Snake (Tsui Hark) - 14, 1993
In the Mouth of Madness (John Carpenter) - 18, 1994
The Day a Pig Fell into the Well (Hong Sangsoo) - 11, 1996
Beau travail (Claire Denis) - 2, 1999
Trouble Every Day (Claire Denis) - 12, 2001
L'intrus (Claire Denis) - 16, 2004
Belle toujours (Manoel de Oliveira) - 13, 2006
35 Shots of Rum (Claire Denis) - 8, 2008
