I watched another 7 movies last week.
- It’s been a while since I’ve read Le Guin’s original novel, but The Lathe of Heaven feels true to both its plot and ideas, no doubt because of her own heavy involvement in the production. It can’t quite escape the feel of what it is—a cheap TV movie made by PBS in 1980—but it does a lot with its minimal cast and sets. Had I seen this as a child of the ’80s, I can see how it might still haunt my dreams.
- BASEketball feels lazy even by David Zucker standards: toothless as a satire, not even funny as a spoof, and going for gross-out instead of jokes almost every time. “Too much of this film,” wrote Roger Ebert (in a generous star-and-a-half review), “is pitched at the level of guys in the back row of homeroom, sticking their hands under their armpits and making farting noises.”
- Die Wand (The Wall) is a quiet meditation on loneliness, isolation, the loss of civilization. It’s very slow-paced and sad, but it’s also strangely beautiful and rewarding as a film.
- The Limehouse Golem is rich in historical detail and some good performances, though does feel a little cheaply made at times.
- Brian and Charles is a modest little gem, delightfully quirky, if a bit forgettable afterwards.
- The Wild, Wild Planet feels a little like Moonraker on acid. It’s a little dull, but its bizarre Italian schlock has its appeal.
- Originally part of a larger anthology film, Eros, which I’ve never seen—but of which this was reportedly the best part—Wong Kar-wai’s The Hand is by turns both erotic and claustrophobic. It feels a litlte like his earlier and better-known In the Mood for Love, with a little more griminess to it.
I also re-watched Jordan Peele’s Us, and I was reminded why it’s almost certainly my favorite of his three films.
