The Conversation (1974)

IMDb plot summary: A paranoid and personally-secretive surveillance expert has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that a couple he is spying on will be murdered.
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Starring Gene Hackman, John Cazale, and Allen Garfield.

I don't *understand* you, Francis Ford Coppola.

I like the concepts for his movies. I like one or two individual moments. But there is always a serious emotional disconnect, a sense that I have no idea what's going on in his films, thematically. I can't read his characters, I can't see his vision, I can't figure out what he's trying to say. It's hard to explain - it's not that I can't follow the plot. It's a bit like watching a movie in a foreign language that is translated literally word-by-word into English. Each individual word makes sense, but the sentences are too confusing to parse. Similarly, while I can follow and repeat back to you each action, I can't place them in the movie's context. We somehow are speaking a very different cinematic language.

That being said, I really really liked the ending shot of this movie, and in the last 20 minutes or so I think I realized what this movie was about, and then it actually became interesting. Before that though, it was just an hour and a half of me going, "DANG IT, COPPOLA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Not enough to win me over. 2 stars.

Flickchart: #1180 out of 1916, below Twist of Faith and above Holiday.

Premium Rush (2012)

IMDb plot summary: In Manhattan, a bike messenger picks up an envelope that attracts the interest of a dirty cop, who pursues the cyclist throughout the city.
Directed by David Koepp. Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Shannon, and Dania Ramirez.

There's nothing particularly memorable or long-lasting about this thriller, but it sure is a fun ride. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is entertaining as always and Michael Shannon is deliciously over-the-top evil. There's really not much to say about it this time from my end. If you like fun popcorn movie thrillers, this one's pretty good.

Flickchart: #765 out of 1915, below 21 Jump Street and above Rushmore.

Hotel Transylvania (2012)

IMDb plot summary: Dracula, who operates a high-end resort away from the human world, goes into overprotective mode when a boy discovers the resort and falls for the count's teen-aged daughter.
Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky. Starring Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, and Selena Gomez.

Meh. There have been some good animated kids' flicks in the last couple years. This is not one of them. It's generic, cliche, and the jokes really didn't work - I'm not sure if I even smiled once through the whole thing. Adam Sandler is less despicable as a voice than he is in live action anything. (Maybe it's just his face that makes me angry...) This is definitely not worth a watch. 1 star.

Flickchart: #1673 out of 1914, below 101 Dalmatians (1996) and above One For the Money.

Videodrome (1983)

IMDb plot summary: A sleazy cable-TV programmer begins to see his life and the future of media spin out of control in a very unusual fashion when he acquires a new kind of programming for his station.
Directed by David Cronenberg. Starring James Woods, Deborah Harry, and Sonja Smits.

As fascinating as this concept is, and as much fun as I had watching everything unfold, it never really came together for me, especially in the end. I found the last 10 minutes or so very anticlimactic. I have a feeling when I think back on this movie, it's going to be the first half of the movie that I remember, rather than the second. I loved all the messing around with reality, though, and thought all that was visually fascinating, if frequently rather "icky."

Flickchart: #878 out of 1913, below The Hunger Games and above 13 Going On 30.

Blow Out (1981)

IMDb plot summary: A movie sound recordist accidentally records the evidence that proves that a car accident was actually murder and consequently finds himself in danger.
Directed by Brian De Palma. Starring John Travolta, Nancy Allen and John Lithgow.

(Mild spoilers ahead for the ending.)

When I looked up this film on IMDb, I was a little surprised by all the love it was getting. I looked around online to confirm that, nope, it wasn't just there. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't really anything special. It's all a little campy and a little cheesy and has quite a few ridiculous moments and some rather terrible dialogue, but it's a fun idea for a thriller and does a good job of ramping up the suspense at the end. The ending is much darker than I anticipated, and I'm not sure yet if I liked that or not. All in all, I enjoyed it, but I'm still confused by the people gushing about it being a "masterpiece" on the Internet. 3 stars.

Flickchart: #798 out of 1912, below Frankenweenie and above The Dark Knight Rises.

Stalker (1979)

IMDb plot summary: A guide leads two men through an area known as the Zone to find a room that grants wishes.
Directed by Andrey Tarkovskiy. Starring Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy, Anatoliy Solonitsyn, and Nikolay Grinko.

Well, this was... something.

You know what movie made me feel like this? The Tree of Life. I consistently felt like there was *something* really beautiful and really interesting about that movie beyond my reach, but, like with Tree of Life, I couldn't quite break through the wall of OH MY GOSH NOTHING IS HAPPENING. I'm pretty sure there was a four-minute shot of these men just staring into a tunnel. That's it. No dialogue, no sound, not really any movement. Just tunnel-staring.

I just don't have the patience for a movie that has four minutes of tunnel-staring. 1.5 stars.

Flickchart: #1458 out of 1911, below Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey and above The Firm.

Lincoln (2012)

IMDb plot summary: As the Civil War continues to rage, America's president struggles with continuing carnage on the battlefield and as he fights with many inside his own cabinet on the decision to emancipate the slaves.
Directed by Steven Spielberg. Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, and David Strathairn.

Wow. This year's nominees have all been pretty underwhelming for me thus far.

There's nothing really *wrong* with this movie. The writing's good. The acting's good. It's a solid story. But in the end, it felt like a biblical fiction novel. There's a whole genre of books out there that retell Bible stories as novels, so all your favorite Bible characters show up... and then they just calmly walk through the events, without fleshing out their character, creating any real sense of drama, or making me care at all about what's happening. I had the exact same feeling here: I knew I was *supposed* to care, but I never felt like I was watching an actual person, just a historical figure. Given Daniel Day-Lewis' great acting chops, Steven Spielberg's very personal directing style, and Tony Kushner's fantastic writing capabilities, I have no idea what went wrong for me here... but just a few hours after having watched it, I struggle to remember my reaction to it. 3 stars.

Flickchart: #1140 out of 1910, below Hustle & Flow and above Total Recall (1990).