Movies

I watched some movies this weekend. Here's what they are:
Finally finished the 14-part miniseries Berlin Alexanderplatz (Rainer Werner Fassbinder). We've been watching it for weeks. It's very, very good. Especially the 12th episode. There is a 30-minute extended scene in that one that words can't even begin to describe. See it if you can, even though it's 15 1/2 hours long and out of print.
And I rented:
It Lives Again (Larry Cohen) I'm a fan of Larry Cohen. He makes intelligent, funny B-movies, usually in the horror, blaxploitation, or suspense vein. Sometimes his dialogue isn't so hot, but he usually has good actors and weird ideas, and his movies are a lot of fun to watch. This one is a sequel to "It's Alive," the story of normal parents giving birth to killer, mutant babies. This is probably my least-favorite Cohen movie so far, but it does have an interesting script, some good scenes, and John Marley, who gave one of my favorite performances in one of my favorite films, John Cassavetes' "Faces."
And the Ship Sails On (Federico Fellini) I've seen a lot of Fellini films, and I think he's a great artist, but I don't feel a lot of affinity for his work. I like it, but it doesn't affect me much personally. There are a few exceptions ("Nights of Cabiria," "Amarcord," "Toby Dammit"), but mostly I admire Fellini's skill without feeling very moved. This film fits right in with my feelings about Fellini. It's fun, it's beautiful to look at, and there are a few great scenes. I like the film, but it hasn't really stayed in my thoughts much since seeing it. The first and last ten minutes are probably the best parts and those scenes alone are worth a rental.
Rumble Fish (Francis Ford Coppola) I liked this quite a bit. I don't think it's great art for a number of reasons -- heavy stylization, some undeveloped characters, a silliness (especially in the ending) in the source novel -- but the movie looks great, the acting is much better than it has to be (especially Dennis Hopper, Mickey Rourke, and Diane Lane), and it's based on one of my favorite books when I was 12. You can't truly ever dislike something you loved when you were 12. And the scene where Matt Dillon, Mickey Rourke, and Vincent Spano hit the bars and get mugged in the street was really well-done.
The Swinging Cheerleaders (Jack Hill) This is one of the most consistently funny exploitation movies I've ever seen. Not a single scene drags, and its extreme ridiculousness is something to be admired. Here's a sample line of dialogue:
One of the cheerleaders is sleeping with her professor and pressures him into getting a divorce. He says divorce is expensive, but he just might have some money coming in soon. Then he says, "Baby, if this deal comes through, we'll be rolling in so much clover, we'll make a big pile of it on the bed and ball in it." Pure genius.