To Die For. Gus Van Sant. 1995.

Somehow I have missed this Gus Van Sant movie all these years? I think I got it confused with John Waters’ Serial Mom and thought I’d seen it already?

It’s got a very star-studded cast: Nicole Kidman, Joaquin Phoenix, Matt Dillon, etc.

Hm… Oh! I have seen this before! When Illeana Douglas came on screen (on the skating rink), I recognised the scene immediately.

This movie is so mid-90s. It’s structured as a documentary of sorts, and has rapid cuts between the story, people being interviewed about it, and people talking straight at the camera. This was when reality TV was new and fresh (i.e., The Real World on MTV) and that was the aesthetic to go for.

It works fine now, too. As usual, Kidman is totally in her part. Dillon has a role that suits him, but, you know. Alison Folland and Phoenix steal the show, though, as two slightly zonked-out kids.

I think it loses something when it gets less frenetic and the murder plot gets underway. The first 45 minutes are riveting, and then it gets a bit involved.

Bumblebee. Travis Knight. 2018.

Wow. So, OK, this is a Transformers movie not directed by the guy who does the other Transformers movies. I kinda enjoy those other movies, but they’re less like movie than a spectacle that happens before your eyes and then they’re over. You basically can’t comprehend them, because there’s nothing there, which I like.

But this is a totally different thing. It starts with a 15 minute sequence which is basically all fighting, and for the first time in a Transformers movie, it looks gorgeous and you can actually follow along what’s happening. It all makes sense!

It’s set in the 80s, and instead of the normal horrible soundtrack we get, like, The Smiths and er Howard Jones. It’s fun.

I laughed out loud at several of the scenes, but it’s not without its problems. As usual with these sort of movies, it gets bogged down in “character development”, which is code word for the protagonist talking about their father (who wasn’t there for them when they grew up). This one has a father that’s dead, so there’s a reason for that, for once.

The actors are fun, though, and the animated sequences are a hoot. But even at less than two hours (half an hour less than usual) it still feels like they could have removed about half an hour from the movie. Or perhaps just fifteen minutes.

Then it would have been The Best Movie Ever In The History Of Ever.

North by Northwest. Alfred Hitchcock. 1959.

I must have seen this several times before, but not in 2K. The only thing I remember is Cary Grant running in a field? of corn? with a plane trying to kill him?

But I remember it in black and white, so I may be getting my wires crossed, because this has colour.

So much colour. I think they may have over-saturated this a bit during the transfer.

This is a masterpiece of nightmarish gaslighting and spiralling conspiracy. I don’t usually enjoy these things that much because I just instinctually go AAAAAAAAAAAA!!! but it’s tempered by Cary Grant’s perfectly balanced acting: He’s in a horrible situation, but he’s Cary Grant, you know?

Without Grant this movie would have been ridiculous, but he makes everything make sense. We can believe that Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint) would have this reaction to a wanted killer instead of the sensible one.

At 136 minutes, I think this is one of Hitchcock’s longest movies? But it’s so obvious why: It’s not because this has the best plot ever (it’s rather incoherent), but every scene is just a joy to watch. It’s tense and it’s funny.