INDYATMN
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| 79 T6 | Tarzan's Secret Treasure (1941) - 06 Dec 2023
"One of the best installments as you get 2 quality villains you can root against; a much better comic relief than Cheeta in the form of a stereotypical Irishman; & an action-packed river rescue climax w/ decent efx for the time. You also see a cartoonish "home life" that at least hints at why Jane prefers jungle living. What's most interesting is the intro of a black child who becomes friends with Boy & though he does little, by the end of the film seems like he could've become part of the family"
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| 78 T6 | Tarzan and the Amazons (1945) - 02 Dec 2023
"Even though the story structure is pretty bad (Amazons are introduced & then forgotten about for about a third of the film), I found this film to be the most interesting simply because of the unexpectedly nuanced ethical situations the characters find themselves in (most of the intruders are only guilty of respectful curiosity & the Amazons seem merciful one minute & lousy the next). Of course Tarzan, being the noble savage is never wrong, but his refusal to consider other ideas also seems jerky"
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| 74 T4 | Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942) - 02 Dec 2023
"Cheeta is the R2D2, or more accurately, Twiki of the Tarzan movies: kids probably love him, but adults like me hate him & this spends waaaaay too much time on terminally unfunny "comic" relief bits. This is unfortunate because the rest of the film is pretty decent, introducing a group of bad guys, w/ some of them actually being good guys. Unfortunately the film doesn't do enough with its fish-out-of-water concept, but we do finally get to see Tarzan climbing skyscrapers & bridges which is fun"
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| 77 T5 | French Connection II (1975) - 02 Dec 2023
"Is this what sequels did before the blockbuster franchises took over? Tell a significantly different story? The changes were very unexpected, which is a very good thing, however watching Popeye become an addict & recover (implausibly?) gets repetiive after a while. Hackman also must've loved this as he even gets to overact at one point. It also doesn't help that Popeye's such an unlikeable jerk here, but there's finally some suspense after all that & a climax that's perfectly curt."
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| 72 T3 | The Landlord (1970) - 27 Nov 2023
"Generally not funny (unless you're the kind of liberal who finds white guys troubled by stereotypical blacks hilarious), it is interesting how the film radically changes tone midway through. It's also interesting as an early form of Woke ideology as it conflates whites w/ the cluelessly rich & paints blacks as exempt from judgment. Blacks not paying rent is played for comedy. Bridges' character is also painted as problematic because his non-bigoted &"free love" behavior negatively affects blacks"
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| 60 T2 | Game of Death (1978) - 27 Nov 2023
"Having already seen the final fight scenes w/ Lee, I gave up after 20 minutes. If not for those scenes this would be a complete waste of time. I've read that Lee praised director Clouse for being the only other person who cared about how ETD looked, so I wonder why Clouse was okay with the painfully laughable attempts to convince the audience that a deceased Lee is the main character in this film. Not only is his "lookalike" obviously not Lee, but pasting Lee's face on him?!!? Embarrassing."
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| 80 T6 | The French Connection (1971) - 20 Nov 2023
"New to this, I can confirm about half of this has not aged well. While I'm sure many cliches were spawned here (cops like Popeye must've felt very new back in '71), they've still become cliches. And although it remains interesting to see how boring & unpleasant stakeouts no doubt are, it gets repetitive. But there's good stuff too: train chase is still compelling (even though some parts are implausible) & the ending of the film is still completely unpredictable & packs a very interesting punch."
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| 82 T7 | The Drop (2014) - 20 Nov 2023
"I'm going to guess that what kept this from being successful was that in order to hide the ultimate reveal, the first hour often has characters behaving in ways that seem weird/ implausible. For instance, the fact that the mob guys expected the bar guys to find the thieves & get their money back seemed bizarre to me. Isn't hunting & punishing the one thing mobsters do best? But as the film progresses (carried by EXCELLENT performances) it makes more & more sense & that reveal was worth the wait"
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| 80 T6 | Imitation of Life (1934) - 20 Nov 2023
"Both ahead of its time & a product of its time - but not for the reasons modern activist-minded types would give. (For instance, the huge disparity of profits between owner & labor is a class issue, whatever the race.) So, while the film compellingly & consistently forces the audience to consider the truly awful effects of actual systemic racism, it also creates a child-like black woman & throws in a mother-daughter love triangle that always feels comparatively unimportant (because it is)."
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| 84 T8 | Rocky II (1979) - 16 Nov 2023
"Having seen this many times, I noticed the plotholes more (Rocky wouldn't have been limited to commercials - what about photo ads & Wheaties boxes?; why does Adrian suddenly want him to fight?), but it also made me realize that Stallone deserves alot more credit than he gets because everything else is so entertaining & moving & done w/ such iconic characters, that you don't mind. Stallone's as emotionally manipulative as Spielberg & that's a compliment. It's a fairy tale that often feels real."
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