I was on a Criterion kick and watched a few. I’m on a mission to watch as many on the list as I can.

(M) Rashomon. (Akira Kurosawa, 1950) Grade: B-

Thoughts: My first Kurosawa movie and I have to say not bad. The biggest issue I had was it did not move along quickly enough or it could be I was too impatient. After all, the film is only 88 minutes so how quickly can it really go. A heinous crime has taken place and 4 different people recount their version – a thief, a dead husband, his wife and a by passer. The interesting part is you are never told which one is the true account. The film is a look into people’s perspectives and what we as the audience choose to believe.

(M) The Virgin Spring. (Ingmar Bergman, 1960) Grade: A-

Thoughts: Ingmar Bergman is one of my favorite directors. His body of work is amazing and he deals with religion in such a profound way, which makes it more interesting considering how anti religious he is. In Virgin Spring, a young girl is raped and killed by two herdsmen while their little brother watches. Later on, those same herdsmen take shelter at the young girl’s home and the family learns who they are and of their evil deed. I loved how as righteous as some people are they fall prey to human nature – sin, vengeance, rage, anger, grief and forgiveness. One of Bergman’s best and there was a nice commentary by Ang Lee at the start of the film.

(M) RoboCop. (Paul Verhoeven, 1987) Grade: C+

Thoughts: Yes, Robocop is considered Criterion material which makes it awesome in my book. A dead officer Alex J. Murphy is resurrected into RoboCop as a security company’s project. RoboCop soon learns about the people who killed him and decides to avenge his own death. Overall, the movie was pretty 80’s cheesy but it was all in good fun. It was funny to see Kurtwood Smith, who plays Red on That 70’s Show, be this Clarence Boddicker villain who runs dope deals.

(M) Pygmalion. (Anthony Asquith and Leslie Howard, 1938) Grade: C+

Thoughts: I would like this film more but it is pretty sexist. Based on George Bernard Shaw’s famed play by the same name, Eliza Doolittle (Wendy Hiller) is transformed from a poor flower girl to an elegant lady by Professor Henry Higgins (Leslie Howard). It was hard to believe that Eliza could love Henry considering how cruel he is to her during the transformation. His treatment of her, like a slave animal, was difficult to accept. Granted the movie was done in 1938 so I’m sure it was common for women and society to behave that way but I’m glad woman have rights now and a voice. On a side note, Wendy Hiller was gorgeous.

Count: 102 movies