Movies, Mom & Me

... an unexpected check for a little over a hundred dollars because apparently I'd been shorted that much over the last year in certain payments I receive. I'm surprised someone was keeping track, because I wasn't. I never would have known.
  Since it was money I wasn't expecting, I splurged, on movies at a 24-hour 50% off sale that Criterion was serendipitously holding.
  It's not curious that I would check out Criterion, first, upon receiving an unexpected windfall. I love Criterion movies, they are my favorite presentation of movies. I will use any excuse to check out their site, although, usually, it's a dry check, meaning, I don't buy anything. After purchasing the following movies, though, all entries dated today, I had to wonder, was Criterion aware, ahead of time, that people would be receiving make-up payments that would arrive today, of all days, and if they held a spectacular 50% off sale, they'd rack up a lot of purchases? Well, I'll tell you, if that's what happened, I'm fine with it. Despite my Criterion favoritism, I don't buy their movies often because they're expensive, even at other sites. They're worth it, but my income can only afford their movies on sale, and a 50% off sale is not only rare for them, but a delight for me.
  Thank you, Movie Gods, or Criterion Gods, or whomever. I didn't purchase anywhere near all the Criterion movies I'd like to, but send me $1,000, Dear Gods, on another Criterion Movie Sale day and I'll make a significant dent in Criterion's inventory. I promise. Could be a win, win, win, win, etc., for everyone!

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  Commentary:  Under construction.
  
  
  
  
  
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Keiko Kishi	Tsuruko Makioka	Yoshiko Sakuma	Sachiko Makioka	Sayuri Yoshinaga	Yukiko Makioka	Yuko Kotegawa	Taeko Makioka

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1983
    Directed by Kon Ichikawa.

Labels: §3, Criterion3

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  Commentary:  Under construction.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Burt Lancaster	Joe Collins	Hume Cronyn	Captain Munsey	Charles Bickford	Gallagher	Ann Blyth	Ruth

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1947
    Directed by Jules Dassin.

Labels: §3, burt-lancaster, Criterion4, film-noir1, hume-cronyn, melodramaB

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  Commentary:  I watched this movie today, 3/21/2022. The experience was somewhat unsettling for me, for a few reasons. I don't think I've ever mentioned this before, but when I watch a movie that has a soundtrack of popular music from an era through which I lived and in which I paid particular attention to that popular music, I find it disquieting. This doesn't happen often. Luckily, I don't end up obtaining many movies that have vivid sound tracks with which I personally identify. In the case of this movie, for me, because I was so familiar with the soundtrack and associated it with a very specific time in my life in which I was in my car a lot, listening to the radio, traveling from job to job, hearing the soundtrack took me out of the movie and whipped me back to that time.
    Other than that, I thought Julianne Moore's performance was astonishing, the character she played was even more astonishing, and, although I've never lived through such a character crisis, had circumstances been a bit different in my life, had I, for instance, gotten married, kept a home for a family, lived in an environment with very strict behavioral codes, I could imagine myself adopting some of that character's behaviors, just in order to remain standing. This surprised me, as it made me aware of the differences between expression of one's self and the expression of other's expectations of one's role that continues to plague women 35 years after the period of time this movie portrays and 27 years after this movie hit the screens. Todd Haynes, himself, has referred to this movie as a horror film. I would have to agree, and a damned subtle and intriguing horror film, at that, which continues, in my opinion, to seem applicable to the lives of women.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Julianne Moore	Carol White	Peter Friedman	Peter Dunning	James LeGros	Chris	Susan Norman	Linda

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1995
    Directed by Todd Haynes.

Labels: Criterion4, dramaE, horror1, julianne-moore, psychological1, women's-movie2

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  Commentary:  I watched this movie last night, 3/20/22. It is yet another in a group of off-center horror movies that I purchased not too long ago. This one is clearly a Brian De Palma film. It was one of his early efforts. He doesn't have as firm a handle on his art, yet, but his promise is clear and the result is entertaining. It was impossible for me to take it seriously consistently. It continually drops into a bit of a puddle of made-for-TV-movies-cum-it's-supposed-to-be-funny-folks, rises out of it as an earnest effort, then drops back, again, and again, and again. The performances are crystalline, but the direction was not, which was clear even to me, who loves movies but is far from educated in film or savvy about all aspects of filmography. However, it was fun for me to watch, being a huge fan of some of De Palma's later films, especially those he released in the 1980's, some of which I gladly own. This one made me very curious about films he's done since then that I haven't seen, which are many. I think I might need to make a trip to the local library. The thing is, in this film, you can see his spark and his genius, but you can also clearly see how far he had yet to come. Thank the movie gods he continued on the journey, and is on that road, still!
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Margot Kidder	Danielle Breton/Dominique Blanchion	Jennifer Salt	Grace Collier	Charles Durning	Joseph Larch	Olympia Dukakis	Louise Wilanski

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1972
    Directed by Brian De Palma.

Labels: brian-de-palma, Criterion4, detective1, horror1, neo-noirA, suspense3, thriller2, violence4

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  Commentary:  Under construction.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Thérèse Liotard	Suzanne	Valérie Mairesse	Pomme	Ali Rafie	Darius	Robert Dadiès	Jérôme

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1977
    Directed by Agnès Varda.

Labels: §3, Criterion4

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  Commentary:  Under construction.
  
  
  
  
  
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Shin Saburi	Mokichi Satake	Michiyo Kogure	Taeko Satake	Kōji Tsuruta	Non-chan/Noboru Okada	Chishū Ryū	Sadao Hirayama

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1952
    Directed by Yasujirō Ozu.

Labels: §3, chishū-ryū, Criterion4, yasujirō-ozu

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  Commentary:  Under construction.
  
  
  
  
  
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Miriam Hopkins	Temple Drake	Jack La Rue	Trigger	William Gargan	Stephen Benbow	Florence Eldridge	Ruby Lemarr

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1933
    Directed by Stephen Roberts.

Labels: §3, Criterion4, miriam-hopkins, pre-code, southern-gothic