IMDB No. One Hundred and Thirty

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Imdb No. 130
Notorious (1946)
Notorious is about a government agent who falls in love with the woman he's meant to get to spy on some German friends of her recently deceased father. The Notorious of the title references Ingrid Bergman's Alicia Huberman who by today's standards would be a drunken slut, quite possibly a ladette. But none of that happens in this film, it's not even talked about only slightly referenced at. But it is the crunch of the story because she then has to get close to her mark by any way she deems fit. She deems it fit to marry him. Cary Grant's Devlin does not.
Once all the cards have been revealed by both sides the ending is quite intense. Not by today's standards either. Where today there would be a shoot-out and much death. There is only a possible gun in a pocket and a walk down the stairs. And yes I did say it was intense.


Also this was my second tasting of Cary Grant, my first being North By Northwest in which he plays a pansy mumma's boy. I thought that was just him. But no he can actually act as this film testifies as it does to Alfred Hitchcock's ability as director. There are some great shots in this film as well as one of film's greatest kisses.


7/10

IMDB No. One Hundred and Twenty-Nine

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Imdb No. 129
Yojimbo (1961)
Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo was ripped off by Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars which is sad to see. Seeing A Fistful of Dollars first really ruins the viewing experience of Yojimbo because you know what to expect and how everything plays out. The character of Sanjuro (meaning thirty-something quite frankly the man with no name) is a greater anti-hero than Dollars 'Joe' (The Man With No Name). This is played up with the introduction of a pistol. In a film with swords and knives a single pistol tips the scales in favour of the bad guys. But because of Sanjuro's awesomeness he wins but not before having the pistol pointed at him by a dying man and just waits it out to see if the other guy will succumb to his wounds before he fires a shot. In that bad ass move Sanjuro is summed up. In a world where honour bound samurai are no more and people can win battles not with skills but with guns, where does Sanjuro fit in?

8/10

IMDB No. Seventy-One

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Imdb No. 71

L.A. Confidential (1997)

From this post it has now been a while since I've seen this film. It was good for one of those 1940's noir detective stories except as the viewer you already know they are barking up the wrong tree. 

7/10

IMDB No. Sixty Three

Imdb No. 63
Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind (2004)

This film is wondrous in its depiction of memory and how it is used to illicit feelings about one's past.
If you haven't seen it, you should. Even if it is just to prove that Jim Carrey can act without his elastic face.

8/10