At the risk of my website turning into a movie blog, I’m back with more reviews – none of which are of new releases. I’m finding myself growing a greater tolerance for – and desire to see – old, epic movies that I’ve never entirely sat through before.

2001: A Space Odyssey

United States of America | 1968 | 139m | English

I saw 2001: A Space Odyssey for the first time in the best way possible: in a theater, in 70mm, with the overture and intermission intact. It’s a movie that demands to be taken seriously and I did my best to respect that. But it’s slow; there’s no getting around it. Some scenes of this movie made me want to say to the director, “How dare you make me sit through all this.” The “screeching” scene on the Moon is one such example. The infamously obtuse ending is another example. And yet, as frustrating of a viewing experience as this can be, it’s fascinating, too. The cinematography is incredible. The score is unforgettable. The story is as grand and epic as any story about humankind could possibly be. I bought the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray and watched it a second time, and far from feeling slow, it flew by. 2001 is audacious and uncompromising, but it exerts some kind of mysterious pull on me, not unlike the monolith on the ape-people. I hate it. I love it. I’ll watch it again.

4/5

Boogie Nights

United States of America | 1997 | 155m | English

Boogie Nights felt to me like Tarantino or Scorsese at their best. It’s hard to think of any flaws in this movie, honestly. Everything from the acting to the music to the dialogue worked together perfectly to create a highly entertaining movie from start to finish. There’s enough sleaze to remind you that you’re watching a movie about the porn industry, but it never goes so over-the-top that it detracts from the viewer’s empathy for the complex characters and the story of how, dysfunctional as they may be, they’re still family to one another.

5/5

Tokyo Godfathers

Japan | 2003 | 92m | Japanese, Spanish

Tokyo Godfathers follows three homeless people – a drunk, a runaway, and a cross-dresser – on Christmas Eve after they discover an abandoned baby and resolve to reunite it with its parents. A series of miraculous (or at least highly unlikely) things happen to the protagonists thanks to the child, which is what indicated to me that this is indeed a true Christmas movie. This easily could have been live-action, though, since it lacks the mind-bending fantastical scenes you might see in Satoshi Kon’s other movies. The characters are developed well, but it certainly didn’t wow me the way Perfect Blue did.

3/5

Cooper’s Christmas

Canada | 2008 | 95m | English

Cooper’s Christmas, also known as Cooper’s Camera, is a Canadian Christmas comedy for adults. It stars Jason Jones and Samantha Bee, best known for their work on The Daily Show. It’s a “found footage comedy” about a dysfunctional family that receives a new video camera for Christmas and records their hijinks. The Cooper family does not completely tape over the previous owner’s footage, however, leading to a running gag that in my opinion was needlessly vulgar to the point of making this movie tough to recommend. Teenagers, on the other hand, will probably think this movie is hilarious.

2.5/5

Lawrence of Arabia

United Kingdom | 1962 | 218m | English, Arabic, Turkish

Continuing my trend of watching epic classics at the TIFF theater, I caught their 70mm showing of Lawrence of Arabia this past month. I know I’ve seen part of this movie before, but never all the way through. Lead actor Peter O’Toole steals every scene he’s in; I was always interested to see what he would say or how he would react. Thanks to the excellent script, I never got bored listening to the smart, witty dialogue (although I lost track of who a couple of the characters were by the end). The cinematography is immaculate and the music is clearly up there with some of the all-time great movie soundtracks. It feels blasphemous to score this movie as anything other than perfect, given the profound impact that I know it has had on the industry, but keep in mind that this only a reflection of my subjective viewing experience. I recognize Lawrence of Arabia‘s excellence, even if early ’60s movies are still a taste that I’m acquiring.

4/5

Eyes Wide Shut

United Kingdom, United States of America | 1999 | 165m | English

As much as I want to open with an obvious joke like, “My eyes were certainly shut during this movie,” that wouldn’t be entirely true. It kept my attention, but this movie dragged. It did not earn its length. Nicole Kidman. Talks. In. An. Excruciatingly. Slow. Cadence. It felt like the director was trying to tell us something profound (perhaps about the nature of Hollywood and the people who work it in?) but do I have the patience to sit through this another couple of times to try to understand? Nah. The infamous party scene, which I thought nailed “creepy” much better than “sexy,” was the highlight of the movie. Go track that part down on YouTube/wherever and skip the rest.

2/5