#78: GASLIGHT (1944)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

9

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

No

BEST SEQUENCE

The scene when Paula (Ingrid Bergman) has a mental breakdown at a fancy piano recital

BEST LINE

I don't want to give any direct quotes in order to avoid giving too much away, but I liked a lot of Paula's lines during the climactic confrontation

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

88%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

None to be found

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"After the death of her famous opera-singing aunt, Paula (Ingrid Bergman) is sent to study in Italy to become a great opera singer as well. While there, she falls in love with the charming Gregory Anton (Charles Boyer). The two return to London, and Paula begins to notice strange goings-on: missing pictures, strange footsteps in the night and gaslights that dim without being touched."

THOUGHTS

• I really liked this one!
• It's an interesting situation in that I feel like the title of the movie has had a longer lasting impact than the movie itself. It was quite well received when it came out, getting seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and several acting categories (and Ingrid Bergman won for Best Actress). Despite this, at least to me it doesn't really feel like a movie that people talk about much these days. I never regarded it as a must-see classic, but now that I've seen it it's one I'll probably come back to! I found it to be really gripping and well done
• As alluded to above, the term "gaslighting" comes directly from this movie's title. There's no other source for it (except for the play and British movie which preceded this one). Because of this, despite never having seen the movie and having very little idea of what it was about, I had a pretty good sense of what was happening throughout. It's still immensely entertaining because of the performances and the way that the gaslighting concept is used for the plot, but it would have been interesting to watch with absolutely no idea of what was really happening
• When I first heard of the concept of gaslighting someone, I didn't even know there was a movie with that title, and I bet that applies to a lot of people reading this as well
• Ingrid Bergman was really excellent in this, and she earned her Oscar, but for me the real standout performance was Charles Boyer. He's an actor I wasn't familiar with, but when you start to understand what's going on with the movie's plot his character is just fascinating to watch. And there's something about his French accent that really adds to the performance. Boyer was also nominated for Best Actor, incidentally, but he didn't win
• Going into the list of the 100 most thrilling movies ever made, I definitely didn't expect to see so much Angela Lansbury! But this is her second appearance so far (after The Picture of Dorian Gray) and she'll be showing up at least once more (The Manchurian Candidate). I gotta say, though, I love you Angie, but I have no idea why she got an Oscar nomination for Gaslight. She really wasn't an important part of the movie. I had similar thoughts about Dorian Gray, for that matter. But hey, Gaslight was her first movie, so kudos to her on the acting nom
• To sum up, you might already know what gaslighting means, but if you haven't seen the movie that inspired it, I really do strongly recommend it! As far as movies I've now reviewed upon watching for the first time, this is really high up there (maybe the highest score, but I didn't go back to check). Although, be warned: normally I complain about annoying child actors in these old-timey movies. This movie has an annoying old woman character. Take a hike, Miss Thwaites, and stop sticking your nose in other peoples' business!

Up next: It's a big one! Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Can't wait!

#79-B: SEVEN SAMURAI (1954)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

6

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

No

BEST SEQUENCE

The final battle in the pouring rain and the mud

BEST LINE

"Again we are defeated. The winners are those farmers, not us” - Kambei, the leader of the seven, reflecting on their hollow victory; the last line of the movie

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

100%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"Arguably Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece, The Seven Samurai is an epic adventure classic with an engrossing story, memorable characters, and stunning action sequences that make it one of the most influential films ever made."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"A veteran samurai, gathers six samurais to protect a village from the cruel bandits. As the samurais teach the natives how to defend themselves, the village is attacked by a pack of 40 bandits."

THOUGHTS

• Well, it's a seminal movie, groundbreaking and influential as hell. The genesis of several classic movie tropes, a few people have even called it the first modern action movie. It shows up time and time again on lists of the greatest movies ever made. And in my opinion, it was just fine
• There's definitely some good filmmaking here, with exciting and dynamic battle scenes, engrossing camerawork, and some lovely scenery. But as a whole story, it didn't have my attention locked down
• Part of this may be due to the 3 1/2 hour runtime, with things only really getting into gear during the last hour or so. The long buildup might have been intended to develop the characters and make the action more meaningful, but I didn't really form strong opinions about any of the characters aside from the leader of the group, Kambei, who I thought was wise and brave and well acted by Takashi Shimura
• And really, despite this being considered an important movie, one that I've heard about my whole life, that's about all I have to say about it. It was fine. It was long. I'm not sure I'll have the urge to come back to it ever again. I have it to thank for all the other movies and directors that it inspired, but I'll just watch those other movies, thanks. Do we have any dissenting opinions out there? By all means, tell me what I may have been missing

Up Next: Gaslight, a thriller from 1944, which did indeed inspire the common term used today!

#79: THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

7.5 (The Magnificent 7.5)

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Nope

BEST SEQUENCE

The climactic shootout is really exciting, as is the scene when the seven first ambush the bad guys

BEST LINE

"Now, to business! I could kill you all. You agree?" [Silence] "Well, you don't disagree!" - Calvera, the bad guy, after he gains the upper hand

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

89%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"The Magnificent Seven transplants Seven Samurai into the Old West with a terrific cast of Hollywood stars -- and without losing any of the story's thematic richness."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"Seven gunfighters are hired by Mexican peasants to liberate their village from oppressive bandits."

THOUGHTS

• I'm not well versed in Westerns, but this one was pretty fun. A movie like this gets by on the appeal and charisma of its leads, and if all the leads weren't quite at the same level, the ones who brought it really brought it
• Horst Buccholz played Chico, a young hothead, and his performance was the only one I actively disliked. Too much overacting, and a little too cutesy at times
• Robert Vaughn and Brad Dexter were Lee and Harry Luck, respectively, and they were fine but I found it hard to distinguish between the two characters. I'd also never heard of or seen these actors before, so that's probably a big contributing factor to that
• Charles Bronson and James Coburn, as Bernardo and Britt, had some great moments. Coburn had the best introductory scene - he gets challenged to a duel, Coburn using a throwing knife and the other guy using a gun. I almost picked it for my favourite scene of the movie
• Yul Brynner played Chris, the leader of the seven, and he was such a good lead. Stoic and in control and cool as a cucumber
• And finally, Steve McQueen was Vin, Chris's right-hand man, and he was my favourite. All the best lines, and just as cool as Chris but with a bit more levity. Sounds like McQueen was kind of a dick during filming, though, always trying to draw focus and upstage the other actors. Also, what's with all the neckerchiefs?
• Brynner and McQueen also had a great introductory scene, giving us some good early-movie action and showing us the goodness of their characters in an efficient way
• I also liked Eli Wallach as Calvera, the villain. He may not go down as one of my favourite villains in cinema, but I liked that he was more practical than just evil (aside from the "robbing the villagers" part)
• Lots of overlap between this movie and one of my favourite movies ever, the war movie The Great Escape. I've mentioned it before, and I'll mention it again - it's movie #19 on the list. McQueen, Bronson and Coburn all starred in both movies, and both movies were directed by John Sturges
• It's always fun to see a "getting the gang together" sequence, which constitutes the first 40 minutes or so. And there were some really exciting gunfights towards the end. The middle part drags a bit, but whatcha gonna do
• And finally, what a score! Elmer Bernstein's music will be showing up again, including in the aforementioned Great Escape, and his music for The Magnificent Seven is iconic. You probably recognize it even if you don't realize you do. Give it a listen.
• 
  

Up Next: Supplementing the list with another movie I haven't seen, Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, which The Magnificent Seven was based on

#80: REBECCA (1940)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

7

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Never, and I knew nothing about the plot

BEST SEQUENCE

The scene in the beachside cottage between Maxim and the second Mrs. de Winter when they have a frank discussion about Rebecca

BEST LINE

"What was Rebecca really like?"

"I suppose she was the most beautiful creature I ever saw"

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

99%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"Hitchcock's first American film (and his only Best Picture winner), Rebecca is a masterpiece of haunting atmosphere, Gothic thrills, and gripping suspense."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"A self-conscious woman juggles adjusting to her new role as an aristocrat's wife and avoiding being intimidated by his first wife's spectral presence."

THOUGHTS

• As has happened a few times now, the full movie is available on Youtube. It's quite good, I definitely recommend it, so you might want to watch it before reading this review (although I won't spoil anything). Here's the link
• The main character is not Rebecca. Rebecca was the first wife of the aristocratic Maxim de Winter. The main character, instead, is Maxim's second wife, and her name is never even provided to us. This lines up perfectly with the main thrust of the movie - the second Mrs. de Winter fears that she can never hope to live up to the glamorous and beautiful Rebecca, whose presence lingers throughout Manderley, the mansion where they live
• But despite the IMDB synopsis above, there's nothing supernatural about this movie - Rebecca's belongings remain in the mansion, and the memories of her remain firm in peoples' minds, but this isn't a ghost story. It does have the trappings of one, though. I kept wondering if something more otherworldly was about to occur
• It's a bit of a slow burn, but an effective one, and things really pick up towards the end
• Laurence Olivier played Maxim in this, and he's quite good. Charismatic yet aloof, and really kind of a jerk. He proposes to the second Mrs. de Winter by saying, "I'm asking you to marry me, you little fool." Olivier will appear in a couple more movies on this list, Spartacus and Marathon Man, and maybe others that I'm not aware of
• This is a bit of a milestone movie for us, as it's the first appearance of Alfred Hitchcock, the most represented director on the AFI list. Including Rebecca, the list has nine of his movies. It's a good Hitchcock movie, just not as thrilling as some of his others, so I have no problem with this placement
• Based on the novel Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. I never read the book and I didn't know anything about the plot, so I was happy to be surprised by the movie. Another interesting connection between Hitchcock and du Maurier, she wrote a short story called The Birds, which Hitchcock loosely adapted into the movie of the same name. The AFI holds The Birds in high regard, placing it at #7. Hot take alert, I only saw The Birds once, and I don't remember thinking much of it
• Finally, Netflix released a remake of this story in 2020. I didn't see it, but it seems like the general consensus was that it wasn't great and didn't have much reason for being since the 1940 version already existed. Especially since it's so easy to watch on Youtube, whether you saw the Netflix movie or not, give this one a try!

Up next: The Magnificent Seven from 1960, the first Western movie on the list

READERS' CHOICE #41-B: AUDITION (1999)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

10

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Yes, a few years ago

BEST SEQUENCE

After the titular audition, when we see Aoyama call Asami to express his interest in continuing their courtship, and we watch Asami's smile light up her face with joy

BEST LINE

"You guys auditioned many girls and you didn't pick me but you called me afterward. You just wanted to have sex with me. All guys are the same.” - Asami, justifiably upset and effectively expressing her feelings of betrayal in a way that's hard to argue

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

83%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"Great chemistry between the leads made this a warm and charming delight"

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"A widower takes an offer to screen girls at a special audition, arranged for him by a friend to find him a new wife."

THOUGHTS

• We've had so many dark and grim thrillers and horror movies so far, it's nice to lighten things up with a rom-com, no?
• In the vein of classics like 10 Things I Hate About You and She's All That, we're watching a movie about a relationship which was built on deceit. The main character, Aoyama, has been widowed and mostly single for seven years. Partly at the urging of his teenaged son, he decides it's time to get back out there, but he's a little stumped about the best way to find the right woman for him. Enter his film producer friend, Yoshikawa, who has what they consider to be a pretty good idea: they'll invite a variety of women to audition for a movie, a movie that the men know will never be made, and that way Aoyama will meet many different women and eventually take his pick; somewhat of a one-sided speed dating concept
• And through this, he meets Asami. Soft-spoken and demure, always wearing white, and with a lovely sing-song voice. Aoyama falls for her, but just like every relationship, theirs is not without conflict
• We eventually realize that Asami is still very close to her ex, a potential cause for concern, but which isn't actually a factor in the climactic quarrel between Aoyama and Asami. This culminating scene was almost my pick for the best sequence, and I certainly wouldn't argue with that. What's important about this part of the movie is that it shows us there's more to a relationship than just what one sees on the surface. Sometimes you need to go deeper. Deeper, deeper, deeper
• If you haven't seen Audition and you plan on watching it based solely on my recommendation, please either message me or comment on this post beforehand. I just want to make sure it's not too romantic for you
• Oh, and I have just been informed that some wires must have gotten crossed somewhere; somehow, the Rotten Tomatoes Critics Consensus written above was for the wrong movie! I inadvertently put the Critics Consensus for the Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan classic You've Got Mail. Oh well, too late to change it now. Just call me Mr. Butterfingers!

Up next: OK, now it's time to get back into the American Film Institute's list! It's movie #80, Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca, and the first of nine Hitchcock movies which we'll be watching

READERS' CHOICE #41: ICHI THE KILLER (2001)

TW: Extreme violence, sexual violence and torture 

THRILL SCALE 1-10

8.5

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Nope

BEST SEQUENCE

The torture/interrogation scene in which Kakihara suspends his victim from the ceiling with metal hooks pierced through the skin of his back and his legs, sticks needles through his cheeks and jaw, and finally pours boiling hot oil on his back

BEST LINE

"There's no love in your violence"

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

64%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"Ichi The Killer is a thoroughly shocking gorefest that will surely entertain those with strong stomachs and a penchant for brutal violence."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"As sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer Kakihara searches for his missing boss he comes across Ichi, a repressed and psychotic killer who may be able to inflict levels of pain that Kakihara has only dreamed of achieving."

THOUGHTS

• Usually when I say "this movie isn't for everybody," I mean it as a suggestion. In this case I mean it as a warning. This movie is not for everybody. Honestly, this movie review may not be for everybody
• Ultimately I think I enjoyed this movie; at the very least, it definitely had an impact on me and it's not one I'll be forgetting anytime soon. The extremity of the violence in this movie is, frankly, ludicrous, and that's without even mentioning the amount of violent scenes the movie contains. If I had to estimate, I'd say there are at least a good 4-5 scenes and sequences in this film that count amongst the most violent, gory and disturbing content I've ever seen
• I wasn't totally sure where I wanted to place this next statement, but I think I want to make it known early: there are depictions of violence against women in this movie that I found appalling. I hope the trigger warning helped people avoid reading about this unnecessarily, and I'm not going to get too detailed, but the majority of the violence against women is unflinchingly brutal, and realistic in a way that I don't think is depicted quite the same as in many of the other scenes. I haven't read into the director Takashi Miike's intentions behind this, if there even are any deeper intentions, but without any further context, these scenes diminished my opinion of the movie a fair amount. I do want to talk about the rest of the movie without seeming like I'm sweeping anything under the rug, but I'll just say one more time, the scenes in which women were the victims of men's violence cast a shadow over the rest of the film, and they were deplorable in a way that I can't be entirely sure was the director's intention
• Outside of the previous note, the depictions of violence ran quite a gamut. There were scenes which looked cartoony and almost silly, like when a guy gets sliced right down the middle, vertically, and the left side and the right side of his body part ways. There were scenes which aimed for hyperrealism, like when we get a closeup of Kakihara, the main character, severing at least an inch off of the tip of his own tongue. And then, there were scenes which occupied a surreal middle ground. For example, there's a scene in which Kakihara decides he's going to pull a man's face off. He just grabs a cheek, throws him to the floor, and puts his back into it, even using his feet on the guy's head for added force. Almost all of the violence is remarkably convincing, even the scenes which are intentionally ridiculous; you know these terrible things aren't actually happening to these actors, but damn, it sure looks like it sometimes
• However, when a movie dials everything up to 11 like this, for the entire runtime with nary a chance to breathe, it may sound counterintuitive but even the ultra-violence eventually gets somewhat mundane. And outside of the shocking visuals, I actually found the plot a little hard to follow; therefore, by the end of the movie, when I was a bit worn out by 2 hours of extremes, my attention started to flag
• Certainly a unique movie, and I saw things I'd never seen before, never imagined I'd see, and will probably never see again. I was able to handle it, but I'm honestly not going to recommend it unless your interest was piqued
• Oh yeah, and one more thing, THE BLOND GUY ISN'T ICHI?! I hadn't seen this movie before, but I had seen pictures, I'd seen posters, I may even have seen trailers, and I was absolutely convinced that the blond man with facial scars and piercings had to be the titular Ichi the Killer. Nope. While said blond man was (who I'd consider) the main character, Kakihara, he sure wasn't Ichi. I was so firm in my assumptions, though, that this discrepancy even caused me some plot confusion early on

Up next: It's been a while since I've added a supplementary movie to the list. So, while it may be cheating a little to add a movie of my own to the Readers' Choice picks, this seems like a good chance to shoehorn in Audition, a previous movie by the same director Takashi Miike, and a movie that I must implore you to watch with as little prior knowledge as possible

READERS' CHOICE #42: UNCUT GEMS (2019)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

7

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Yes, a couple years ago. I liked it a lot the first time, and I think I liked it even more this time

BEST SEQUENCE

When Howard watches the final, climactic basketball game on TV. A guy watching a televised basketball game might not sound like the most thrilling thing, but if you've seen the movie you know why it's actually pretty exciting

BEST LINE

“You know what, Howard? I think you are the most annoying person I have ever met. I hate being with you, I hate looking at you, and if I had my way, I would never see you again.” - Howard's wife, rebuffing Howard after he tries to salvage their soon-to-be-ended marriage (and to be clear, the only reason Howard tried to salvage the marriage was because he had recently broken up with his much younger girlfriend, after believing that she was cheating on him with The Weeknd; also, to be clear, The Weeknd is in this movie, as himself!)

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

92%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"Uncut Gems reaffirms the Safdies as masters of anxiety-inducing cinema -- and proves Adam Sandler remains a formidable dramatic actor when given the right material."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"With his debts mounting and angry collectors closing in, a fast-talking New York City jeweler risks everything in hope of staying afloat and alive."

THOUGHTS

• In a way, on this viewing I saw Uncut Gems as kind of an interesting companion piece to Nightcrawler, which I reviewed just a few movies ago. Nightcrawler was about Lou Bloom, an unnerving and unfeeling sociopath. Jake Gyllenhaal gave him very few characteristics which could be considered charming, and yet, I kinda liked the guy, while definitely not ever wanting to meet someone like him in real life. Adam Sandler's character in Uncut Gems, Howard Ratner, is nowhere near as cruel or dangerous as Lou Bloom (well, not dangerous to anyone but himself, anyway), but he is tremendously obnoxious. Abrasive and vulgar, self-aggrandizing and yet pathetically self-pitying, he truly is one of the most annoying film characters I can think of. And yet! I kinda like the guy. The whole movie depicts a series of misfortunes falling on Howard's head, most of them resulting from the bad decisions made by Howard himself, but I still wanted to see him come out on top. And at this point I do want to acknowledge that gambling addiction is a mental disorder, so while it can't be denied that the choices Howard makes are bad ones, there's only so much judgement one should pass
• Of all the vices in the world, gambling is one that never got its hooks in me, particularly sports gambling. And while the compulsion can be terribly destructive, this movie kind of made me understand why it's so thrilling and addictive for some. Like I mentioned above, during the climactic scene you definitely feel the tension in watching this basketball game play out
• And speaking of basketball, I know very little about it, and I know even less about Kevin Garnett, specifically. He plays himself in this movie, though, and he's a pretty good actor! He doesn't have a whole lot of heavy lifting to do, but he's convincing and has good screen presence
• As I mentioned before when I reviewed 12 Angry Men, usually my Thrill Score roughly lines up with my general approval for a movie, but there are times when I think a movie as a whole is of higher quality than just whatever number I assign to say how thrilling it was. Uncut Gems has often been praised as tense and anxiety inducing, but I didn't really find myself feeling all that anxious while watching it, even though I could recognize what aspects of the movie might inspire anxiety in other viewers. So, while for me it's not one of the most thrilling movies I've reviewed, I do think it's pretty high up just in terms of being a good movie, and I'd definitely recommend it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet

Up next: Another new movie for me, Ichi the Killer. Also the last readers' choice movie from this group of 10, after which we'll be diving back into the American Film Institute's list!