Recent stuff

When I saw “City Island” in the theater last Spring, I howled – sometimes in recognition, sometime at the slapstick. It is still one of the funniest movies of 2010, maybe for the past few years.

Classic “A Fistful of Dollars” is the original Spaghetti Western. A remake of “Yojimbo”, it gave us Sergio Leone, Clint Eastwood as a movie star, and Ennio Morricone.

Speaking of Ennio Morricone, he scored “Four Flies on Grey Velvet” (Italian / English), an Italian slasher thriller from the 1970s. Not bad.

I love Lauren Cantet’s movies. “Heading South” (French / English) is different from his other movies, but it’s a well made and thoughtful reflection on class, sex and racial differences. In the 1970s some women over 40 would go to Haiti and other third world countries for a little r&r: pampering and easy sex with local young men.

“Memories of Murder” (Korean) was the first full-length movie by Bond Joon-ho who also directed “The Host” and “Mother”. It’s a police procedural, but broader and more poetic. Really good.

“Performance” is from 1972. James Fox from “The Servant” and “King Rat” plays an English gangster who hides out from the mob in Mick Jagger’s London mansion. Pretty good.