Heard Colin Farrell is great in it. I actually like Colin, he's been in a lot of movies I've really loved.
I've been watching movies, and can give some brief thoughts on those:
Caligula The Ultimate Cut - OK, this is a totally new version of the film. The porn is gone and they used basically different takes and camera angles to create a brand new version. It's not exactly escapist entertainment because over and over you will think about what we are going through now in the US but I can say this, it actually is a good film now. When Caligula yanks the ring off the finger of Tiberius and then prances around doing his little dance with the ring held out in front of him, well, I admit I thought of Don holding up his executive orders when he signed them. Caligula does this more than once in the film and it was uncanny. Also I thought of funny things like, Caligula was nicknamed "Littke Boots" and Don could be nicknamed "Little Gloves." There are many more comparisons to be made, they are hard to avoid but if you can take it, the film has been transformed from bizarre oddity to a good movie with sort of a doomed atmosphere hanging over everything. I liked this new version a lot.
Northwest Passage - This is a large scale color production form 1940 with Spencer Tracy in the lead as Major Rogers, a guy who was basically in charge of slaughtering every native American tribe he encountered...and yes, he is the hero. It's a great looking giant boy's adventure kind of film, albeit one that probably would not be seen favorably now because Spencer Tracy explains to Robert Young several times that the Indians are not meant for painting (Young's character is an artist that wants to go meet these people and do paintings of them) but rather for slaughtering...and again that it meant to be heroic in the film. It also may be one of the first films to show what a lot of combat and killing can do to a man's psyche. One of Major Rogers' rangers goes kill crazy and loses his mind. It is actually pretty gruesome and intense and not only does he hack away at one of the Indians with an axe (and I think you actually see skull and what is supposed to be brain matter fly up into the shot) but he carries a decapitated head around and talks about eating it. Pretty over the line in a movie from 1940, I think. It's a really good movie but you will have to contend with the fact that the guys that are under Tracy's command are a lot like the guys in Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, which covers similar territory except that the slaughter in Cormac's novel is not portrayed as heroic.
The Lady Eve - A wacky screwball comedy from 1941, where a couple of con artists try to play a guy that is part of a wealthy family that owns a popular brewery. I like a good screwball comedy, this one is a good one, but Henry Fonda is not as adept at these as Cary Grant was. Still, a good time.
The Last Stop in Yuma County - A recent thriller where a group of people get stuck in a diner next to a gas station that has run out of gas and is waiting for the delivery. This plays like an old thriller and is straightforward but fun. You've got the pretty waitress everybody likes, a knife salesman, a good hearted mechanic, an old couple, a couple of bank robbers, and a nutty young couple that basically want to be Bonnie and Clyde. Naturally, things unravel in violent fashion. It's a throwback but I liked it.
Strange Darling - This is another recent film that I don't want to say a lot about. It's a twisty thriller and the less you know going in the better. Very good performances from the leads, this one is bloody and intense and believe it or not, kind of funny. You also get small roles from Ed Begly Jr. and Barbara Hershey. The story is told out of order in 6 chapters and this adds to the suspense.
