Oh Oates and Carrandine...

The Shooting(dir. Monte Hellman)
I have never seen a film with expansive American desert as it's backdrop that felt so claustrophobic. The whole experience is one of disorientation with Hellman sometimes transitioning from a scene in an abrupt and perplexing manner. Much like the film's protagonist, the viewer has to always be on his/her toes since the journey is unexpected yet somehow feels entirely premeditated. The film's setting is really the star of the film and not Warren Oates, who still gives a good performance despite not being the star. It's shot in such a fashion that makes it so drab and unflattering that it makes all the recent films set in the desert look childish in comparison. The desert truly looks like purgatory, waiting to suffocate it's inhabitants. The editing of it's fatalistic ending is haunting in it's sun-drenched and off-beat rhythm. This is how you make an existential western. It's a masterpiece.
**** out of ****
Welcome to L.A.(dir. Alan Rudolph)
At first, it was sort of charming in it's romantic Altman-esque tapestry, but as it went along, you quickly realize how much of a master Altman was with juggling the characters and progressing the narratives in his films. The film just eventually became as aimless as its characters' love lives. Keith Carradine could be considered the main character and he essentially plays his womanizing character from Nashville in a less despicable manner with no mustache, just goatee. The whole film feels like a sub-par Nashville with characters that never feel wholly etched out and music that starts off fine but quickly becomes grating because of its repetitive sounding quality and it being overused past the point of tolerance. The film became repetitious and basically went nowhere. It has no idea what to do with it's vast repertoire of characters other than having them sometimes hook up with each other. It was bad.
*1/2 out of ****

Oh 1967...

1967
1. Titicut Follies(dir. Frederick Wiseman)
2. Branded to Kill(dir. Seijun Suzuki)
3. Mouchette(dir. Robert Bresson)
4. Le Samourai(dir. Jean-Pierre Melville)
5. Belle De Jour(dir. Luis Bunuel)
6. Point Blank(dir. John Boorman)
7. The Shooting(dir. Monte Hellman)
8. Bonnie and Clyde(dir. Arthur Penn)
9. The Dirty Dozen(dir. Robert Aldrich)

Need to see: Playtime, Weekend, Scattered Clouds, The Red and the White, Samurai Rebellion, 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her, The Young Girls of Rochefort, The Jungle Book(rewatch), Hombre, In the Heat of the Night, Who's That Knocking at My Door, A Man Vanishes, and more...

Dishonorable mentions: The Graduate, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and more...

Oh Feeny...

The Graduate(dir. Mike Nichols)
I was really liking it for the first hour or so, but the last 45 minutes is built on such a filmsy foundation, that it is easy to see how it falters. Ben and Elaine went on one date. Maybe they went on more than one date, but to my knowledge, it seemed like they only went on one date. How do you fall in love with someone so badly to go through all the stuff Ben goes through from one date? Sure, it seemed like a real nice date after the whole strip club incident, but still. The whole idea that she thought he raped her mother and she didn't think to report to the authorties, even though the story is false, is insulting. The soundtrack is nice at first, but it became increasingly repetitive just played one or two songs over and over. The ending made me LOL. It was just completely ridiculous to see him tackle some people at a wedding and start swinging around a golden cross to keep them away. No wonder why Wayne's World 2 parodied it. You also grow to dislike Ben while the movie goes along. He goes to Berkley and basically terrorizes Elaine the whole time. The whole relationship after the first date and the fact that she took him back while he was basically annoying the hell out of her was unbelievable. Feeny and Mr. Roeper were in it, so that's always a plus. The first hour was really good and the final 45 minutes had some moments, but was pretty awful.
** out of ****

Oh Gene...

Bonnie and Clyde(dir. Arthur Penn)
One word: fun. It doesn't remain fun the whole time, but it's still pretty fun until the end.
***1/2 out of ****

Oh Paris...

Branded to Kill(dir. Seijun Suzuki)
This movie is pretty much insane. Any movie that has a hero that gets turned on by the smell of hot rice is awesome in my book. Any movie that has the hero's love interest living in a house full of dead butterflies is also awesome in my book. I wouldn't say it is quite as good as Tokyo Drifter, but it's pretty close. Way way way better than Youth of the Beast.
**** out of ****
Double Indemnity(dir. Billy Wilder)
Is this the greatest film noir ever made? Not quite. Edward G. Robinson's character is quite awesome. The murder seemed sort of rushed because the guy did not seem like he knew the woman at all and was willing to kill her husband for her. This is a minor complaint, but yeah. Not quite as good as some of Fritz Lang's noirs or Kiss Me Deadly, but still really good.
**** out of ****
Brick(dir. Rian Johnson)
Stylish. Probably the best way to describe the whole experience. Transporting film noir into a high school is pretty unique even if it feels kind of strange. I can see how someone can despise this movie. I, however, liked it alot.
**** out of ****