This seems to have been a commercially successful film and the directorial debut of John Tsu. Its source material is a horror video game by a Taiwanese director and its premise is undoubtedly strong, being about students and teachers living during Taiwan’s White Terror period. Telling a story about political repression within the horror genre seems at first like a stroke of genius. But then it quickly becomes obvious why this is rarely attempted. The real event is such a weighty tragedy that the supernatural elements cannot help but feel farcical in comparison. Then there’s how the director plays up the horror imagery so blatantly, perhaps in order to be faithful to the video game, when a lighter touch would have been more effective. I really wanted to like this, but it’s much of a mixed bag to be considered actually good.

In so many of the Westerns he appeared in, Gary Cooper feels like he’s playing the same character and that’s the case here as well. Even though here he is a former outlaw who is forced to confront his old gang, the inner conflict and moral quandary are much the same as if he were the sheriff. This isn’t to say that it isn’t good because it is in fact a very solid Western. But it’s also a completely straight and stereotypical Western and its finale is a little underwhelming. I can see why it’s a classic of the genre but it’s not for me.

My wife has been raving about this one film since forever and it’s only just now that I’ve gotten around to watching it. Though this predates Studio Ghibli, it’s commonly considered their first film as its success was what made the studio possible. It was also based on a manga written and illustrated by Hayao Miyazaki himself so it’s a hundred percent his work. I found this to be far different from the later Ghibli films in so many ways: it’s explicitly violent with the heroine herself killing multiple people on screen, it depicts warfare and death on a grand scale and it’s straight out science-fiction. In fact, I’m pretty sure that Vesper was directly inspired by its imagery. As such, yeah, I’m pretty sure this is my favorite of the Ghibli films as well.

This was the directorial debut of Panah Panahi, the son of Jafar Panahi. Appropriately enough it’s a road trip film set largely within the confines of a car and about a family smuggling their son across the border, both elements that we’ve seen in his father’s films. It’s a rather grim scenario yet the film makes heavy use of dance and song to emphasize the humor in the situation. The use of music in particular and copious references to popular American movies ensure that Panah has difficulty establishing a style distinct from that of his father. I think the film lets the child actor steal the show too much but it is a fine film that surely presages an illustrious career to come.

I have no great love for the mobster films of Martin Scorsese, yet not having watched Goodfellas feels like an increasingly blatant hole in my cinematic education. It’s weird to see this now as so many of the shots from it are now memes in popular culture and the character archetypes Scorsese establishes here recurs so often in later films. There is no absolutely doubt that Scorsese is at the height of his powers here as he brings so much rich detail and life to the stories of the gangsters. Yet it’s also pure glorification of a lifestyle that revolves entirely around being unrepentant murderers and robbers. Sure they get their comeuppance at the end as is traditional but you can tell that Scorsese has no enthusiasm for that part of the film at all.

Here’s yet another European film about the Holocaust, especially poignant given current events in Israel. It stars Alain Delon in the title role and more interestingly was directed by an American Joseph Losey after being effectively exiled to Europe after being denounced by the House Un-American Activities Committee. We’ve watched many films that show the concentration camps. This one however is about the bureaucracy that identifies and detains Jews to be sent to the camps and how this warps the entirety of society in Vichy France. Between doubts as to whether or not this Mr. Klein that we see really is a Jew after all and the steadily ratcheting tension as the walls close around the main character, it’s a fantastic film both in its conception and its execution.

I can’t summon much enthusiasm for Marvel films these days but I was always going to watch this final part of the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy just because it was written and directed by James Gunn. This has very little to do with the wider MCU and that is for the best as the Guardians’ own mythos has grown large enough to be its own thing. I wouldn’t say this is strong film exactly, its plot about uncovering Rocket Raccoon’s origins is straightforward and to the point with all of the expected emotional beats. Still it’s a serviceable action-adventure film and it closes out the trilogy in a satisfying manner and that’s good enough.