Some thoughts on the last few movies I've seen

Shutter Island
I was enjoying this quite a bit up until I realized I knew exactly how it was going to end. I initially thought, "Nah, Scorsese has more integrity and imagination than that," but, well, my initial suspicions were confirmed. This movie was pretty chilling, well-acted, and clever when it was subtle and affecting, before it decided to run with a twist that rivals M. Night Shyamalan's most ridiculous. I'm pretty disappointed. This could have been so much better if it hadn't relied on a gimmick.

Sukiyaki Western Django
As someone with a love/hate relationship with Quentin Tarantino, I couldn't help but find his presence in this movie kind of out-of-place and jarring, and this is a film about Takashi Miike's version of a Wild West Nevada populated by rival Japanese gangs. It's actually surprisingly subtle for a Miike film, and even when the violence borders on the extreme, it doesn't veer into ridiculous territory. It's obviously indulgent, but not to the point where it is obnoxious due to how lovingly crafted it is. Enjoyed this very much, but for the love of god Tarantino, stop acting.

Thirst
A legitimately sexy and intense vampire film. I'm a big fan of Oldboy, and stylistically this is very similar - it's dark, moody, and it looks beautiful. It grappled with religious issues in a way that I admired for being touching and refreshingly honest. There were times when I felt the film unnecessarily incorporated too many vampire tropes, but the touches of black humour made me smile and the score was eclectic and almost jazzy. Really liked this movie.

Adaptation.
I generally enjoy Charlie Kaufman's awkward, paranoid view on life (except for one of his other films that shall remain nameless), and deep down I geek out over a movie like this, with so many layers of meta I confuse myself trying to keep track of all of them, get them all straight, then lose myself again. The screenplay is pretty damn close to a masterpiece. Nic Cage is surprisingly excellent in this, and reminds me that he can actually act when teamed with a competent writer and director. I did think there were times when the constant reiteration of Charlie's pathetic loner-ness was hammy and overstated, but it petered out by the last half of the film.

Inland Empire
I have a very tenuous grasp on exactly how I feel about this movie because I, like most other people I'm sure, have no idea what the fuck it was about. I'm left with a strong sense of being both horrified and fascinated. I liked it a lot. I'm fairly sure of this. It's probably the most frustrating thing I've ever seen, but I felt such a sense of wonder at how powerfully psychological and disarming it was. It feels more like a long, bizarre, frighting, trip with frequent flashes of brilliance than a movie, and I'm wondering if this really is the point of Inland Empire after all.

All That Jazz
I'm not sure why I haven't seen this before, but it's probably the smartest, most affecting, most creatively crafted quasi-musical-(auto)biography I've ever seen. It also becomes a million times more disturbing when you realize that Bob Fosse wrote, directed, and choreographed a film about essentially himself as a drug-addicted workaholic who is too "generous with his cock". The whole thing is fast, wild, and, just like Inland Empire, feels like a trip - albeit one that's much more fun (and much less hopelessly confusing. This has a plot).