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What I’m watching
Wherein our movie critic periodically shares what DVDs he’s been viewing in his spare time …
- “The Howling” (1981; Joe Dante): I was puzzled to realize I’d never seen this impoverished wannabe of John Landis’ still-brilliant “An American Werewolf in London,” which is scarier, gorier, funnier, boasts a genius soundtrack and spectacularly better special effects. This low-budget copywolf wallows in feeble camp, is rarely gory and is witty the way Roger Corman’s films are witty (with a groan). John Sayles wrote and makes a cameo — his and Dante’s follow-up to their imitation-crab “Jaws” spoof, “Piranha.”
- “The Tall T” (1957; Budd Boetticher): I love this scrappy western, even after three viewings. Boetticher regular Randolph Scott gets tangled in a group of kidnapping killers, and the moral shadings — Boetticher is a master of nuanced human nature — hold you in its vice. Tight and crunchy, with neato B acting, and, if you pay attention, lovely compositions and use of tension in space. Story by Elmore Leonard.
- “Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans” (1927; F.W. Murnau): German expressionist Murnau’s maiden Hollywood feature convulses with camera tricks, dolly shots, fades and just about the entire lexicon of visual grammar. This silent melodrama — some of its acting and emotions are applied with a paint roller — holds its spot as a groundbreaker. It won a special artistic Oscar at the first Academy Awards in 1928.
- “Germany Year Zero” (1948; Roberto Rossellini): Brutal, fascinating Italian neo-realism by the progenitor of the genre. Another stark post-war drama, following Rossellini’s “Rome, Open City,” about a 12-year-old German boy in bombed-out Berlin doing whatever he must, legal or not, to survive. The imagery, all crumbled shells of real buildings on location, mesmerizes. With an ending so bleak, you almost can’t believe it.
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