This is the middle part of the World of Apu trilogy that began with Pather Panchali. I was dismayed at how the first film existed almost purely to highlight poverty and this is even more so the case here. The life of Apu and especially his mother Sarbajaya is so miserable that this is very painful to watch. Nonetheless as a portrayal of life in India of the period, it is second to none and this particular installment even gives us a look into life in the city. Its depiction of the relationship between mother and son is also considered unusually frank for its era and apparently upset local audiences. It’s not an easy or pleasant film to watch but it is certainly a great one.

So what am I doing watching the fifth installment of a popular action movie franchise? Because it’s that good that’s why. This newest entry of the Predator franchise is perfectly named and given that it takes place in 1719 is technically a prequel to all the others. By now female protagonists of action movies aren’t rare and they even fall into familiar tropes. What blows me away is that the heroine here, Naru, wins not by being stronger, or more skilled, or faster, but by carefully observing what the enemy can do and being smarter. On top of that it makes great use of its historical setting and the action choreography is fantastic. It’s one of the best action movies I’ve watched, absolutely.

This is a Romanian critically acclaimed film that opens with an explicit amateur porn scene so it’s definitely not for the faint hearted. Perhaps even more daunting is a montage in the middle that amounts to director Radu Jude offering his thoughts on a series of loaded words. To me this film certainly makes for a strong artistic statement but I can’t say that I like it all that much. I do appreciate it for providing an excellent window into what modern Romanian society is like and I was even stunned by how similar the Romanian language sounds to French!

I’ve already given up on the MCU and I wouldn’t even be watching this if it weren’t because it was directed by Sam Raimi. I was curious about this being an MCU horror movie and I still have enough affection for Raimi’s early work to see what he could do. As it turns out, this is an extremely Raimi film and you can recognize the director’s characteristic style from his earliest days everywhere in this. The bad news is that this is not at all a good thing as he can’t seem to resist indulging in his old bag of tricks even when it’s wildly inappropriate. The result is visually entertaining but also tonally inconsistent and emotionally dead. It’s not among the worst of the MCU films but it’s not great either.

Elia Kazan and Tennessee Williams are of course the creative team who made A Streetcar Named Desire. This one was made five years later and it’s immediately apparent from its opening scenes that it shares the same DNA. Unfortunately while there are strong scenes in it and there’s no way that the characters in it can be said to be psychologically uninteresting, this is a case of the whole being lesser than the sum of its parts. None of the characters in it are remotely likable and the whole film oozes with filth and nastiness, yet somehow it is mockingly framed as a comedy. I don’t understand the rationale behind many of the creative decisions here and I don’t like the film. Nonetheless I can recognize the genius of Kazan and Williams in it.

Céline Sciamma is rapidly becoming my favorite modern French director with her women-focused films. Here is another, about the relationship between a child and her mother told in a manner surely no one will expect. I love how complete and perfect this work is: the excellence of the performances of the two child actresses who carry the film, the accurate yet subtle insight into how children are dismissed by adults and all of it in a package only a little over an hour. It’s a wonderful example of compact, economical filmmaking that I will recommend to everyone I know.

I added this onto my watchlist purely because of Ridley Scott’s name and because the subject matter seemed promising. But I really should have heeded the atrocious reviews because this film is so mediocre I wondered why Scott wanted to take this project on. This isn’t about fashion or even the world of luxury goods at all but rather is about a feud within the Gucci family that would eventually lead to the murder of Maurizio Gucci in 1995. The characters are businesspeople not artists or craftsmen and it’s not even a particularly serious depiction of business. Lady Gaga gives her all to her role as Patrizia Reggiani but everyone just seems to be going through the motions. Since everyone doesn’t seem much bothered, I don’t see why the audience should either.