Psycho

My family have had an interest in Hitchcock's films for a long time now that started when we all watched The Lady Vanishes on TV. After loving The Lady Vanishes, we went on to buy Rear Window, Strangers On A Train, North By Northwest etc and, later, a Hitchcock boxset.

For Christmas, my parents bought me a boxset of Psycho and The Birds as we have both on VHS but none of us have actually got round to watching them.
I've been putting off watching them as I feel like you need to be in the mood for Hitchcock's films, but after not being able to find the other discs from our My So-Called Life boxset, I watched Psycho.
It was very different to the image I had created from seeing the shower scene many times, but it was also a lot better than I thought it was going to be... although, it was much less scary but much more weird than I had anticipated.

I felt that Anthony Perkins, who plays the "psychotic" Norman Bates, played the part incredibly well - capturing that nice, yet uneasy feel to his character.

I found it interesting that, at the start, I wanted Marion to succeed in her running away; when she was dead, I wanted Norman to succeed in covering everything up; when Sam and her sister arrive, I wanted them to succeed in discovering Norman's secret. I wasn't rooting for one person throughout, it changed as the film progressed.

The last scene, with Norman's mother's voice, and his creepy grin at the camera was quite unsettling.

All in all, Psycho was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be, but a lot more perturbing.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

I appreciated how Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown had many chaotic and crazy things going on within the plot, but kept it unique and avoided making it into a cliche Mr-Bean-everything-going-wrong type of film.
There was a focus on the relationships between all the characters in the film and it didn't have a heavier focus on the relationship between Pepa and Ivan. This made the film, for me at least, a lot more interesting to watch than had it been entirely focused on the main character's relationships.
The style of the film and the mise-en-scene was very reflective of the time, with a slightly surreal edge at times (like the view from the apartment). The style and colour reminded me of the very stylised, rather odd comedy, I'm So Excited (which I just Googled, and, coincidentally, the two films were both directed by Pedro Almodovar).

Both films feature quirky characters and fit within the comedy genre whilst dealing with the character's anxieties or drama in a humorous way. I'm So Excited also featured Antonio Banderas in a cameo role, and in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, I didn't actually realise that the character of Carlos was played by Banderas.
Whilst Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown had the opportunity to be quite slow, or have scenes that would lose the audience's interest, I found that I wasn't drifting away from the film. Almodovar has created an interesting, quirky film that I did quite enjoy (but I think I preferred the modern "throwback" style and lighter feel of I'm So Excited).

The Young And Prodigious T.S. Spivet

(IMDB)

T.S. Spivet had a very small cast and Kyle Catlett (playing T.S. Spivet) had a certain Macaulay Culkin air about him.
I thought the film was sweet and very stylised with the perspective being from 10 year old Spivet's point of view. This was clear when my family were criticising the film for being so unrealistic and too sweet - my argument was that, when following a story with a 10 year old kid, you're not likely to get a brutal, realistic narrative (and I thought the sweet story worked perfectly with the style and feel of the film).

I loved the cinematography and mise-en-scene, and there had clearly been a lot of though put into the style of the film and into making it work brilliantly in 3D (which I usually hate).
The diegetic sounds in the film were amazing - specifically the scenes when Spivet is on the freight train.

Whilst members of my family weren't keen on the 'dead brother' plotline, I found no problem with it and thought the film was good fun to watch (and with a slight Wes Anderson feel).

In The Mood For Love - response

I thought In The Mood For Love was a really interesting film that didn't fall into the trap of typical Hollywood cliches and perfection.
I really loved the use of slow motion and music in some scenes - for instance, in this scene:

The slow motion and the reoccurring music starts and ends quite abruptly during some scenes within the film and it emphasises the romance and the time taken for the romance to blossom.
Subtle wardrobe changes helped to move along the timeline in a way that kept the flow of the film which was great.

I thought the darker, grittier style worked perfectly with the film and, again, helped to stay away from the Hollywood blockbuster look. The film felt quiet and realistic.

Overall, although it wasn't my favourite film ever, I really enjoyed watching In The Mood For Love.