Brian De Palma films summary

The Wedding Party (1964) - comedy on an island, not very funny, interesting to see young de Niro and Jill Clayburgh, very French/British new wave influenced.
Murder a la Mod (1968) - interesting student feature only for completists but shows all his themes (voyeurism, Hitchcock references, satire, unfunny wacky comedy, women being murdered, stalking, fake outs, characters who make dodgy films for a living).
Greetings (1968) - would’ve meant more at the time, this is actually Cassavetes like rather than De Palma like, period piece, early showy de Niro performance.
Hi, Mom! (1970) - more polished than Greetings, maybe less effective, remarkable middle sequence (immersive theatre bit, you'll know it if you saw it) that I’m still processing .
Get to Know Your Rabbit (1972) - wacky comedy which proved Tommy Smothers wasn’t a leading man, very much of its time.
Sisters (1972) - terrific riff on Psycho, beautifully made, with great acting from Margot Kidder and Jennifer Salt, wonderful score.
Phantom of the Paradise (1974) - nutty, subversive, consistently interesting, some unfortunate humour gaps, can see why it's a cult.
Obsession (1976) - never quite gets in gear for me, Genevieve Bujold a perfect Hitchcock heroine but Cliff Robertson not as good... interesting and it made money but I prefer his other Vertigo riffs.
Carrie (1976) - the most emotional De Palma? Perfect marriage of director, author and star, Sissy Spacek and King giving this agonising heart missing in the director’s other movies - why didn’t he direct another King book?
The Fury (1978) - fun action-thriller which I had low expectations for and enjoyed a lot, couldn’t pick the twists
Home Movies (1979) - De Palma scratches his 60s-induced itch for wacky comedy and satire with his student film with stars - goes for too long but Keith Gordon centres it quite well
Dressed to Kill (1980) - De Palma nails it, perfect script, score, cast, direction - has tremendous heart too with the Gordon-Allen relationship - I think he knew he got a hole in one here and kept going back to the well
Blow Out (1981) - I get it. I get all of it. Beautifully made. Just mean. Didn't like it.
Scarface (1983) - like Blow Out, I get its appeal, it just doesn’t mean as much to me as others. I love the opening hour and the last fifteen minutes. The rest is a slog. It’s a film that doesn’t die wondering, I’ll say that, and Stone and De Palma match well.
Body Double (1984) - part Vertigo riff part screwball comedy, with one of De Palma’s best stars (Melanie Griffith) and worst (Caig Wasson) - he had gotten divorced just before this and TBH you can tell it feels like he made it in a bad mood
Wise Guys (1986) - sigh. Clearly a CAA pitch movie - would’ve sounded fun in short hand, hard going, a throwback to De Palma’s unfunny comedy in the 60s. He still hadn't learned how to do it.
The Untouchables (1987) - love it, my favourite film of his, every image and line of dialogue etched in my brain from when I saw it (except the John Ford sequence which I always forget it in there) - I wish Mamet had worked with De Palma again
Casualties of War (1989) - I like this more now than when I saw it in part bc I realise how depressingly accurate it is - and I appreciate the risks Michael J Fox took with his stardom
The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990) - overrated book which needed someone like Robert Altman though it’s the script rather than De Palma - probably his most racist film though that’s more Wolfe, than him I think
Raising Cain (1992) - De Palma forced back into making thrillers, uses his bag of tricks, some good moments though feels a little “I just need to make a successful film”
Carlito’s Way (1993) - terrific, I like it more than Scarface, wonderfully realised, maybe relies too much on Sean Penn’s character to propel the plot.
Mission: Impossible (1996) - I don’t think this series hit its stride until the 4th instalment (what a thing to write) but fun to watch.
Snake Eyes (1998) - I love this film, not many people do, but it feels very cohesive, Cage is a perfect De Palma hero
Mission to Mars (2000) - some good moments but not good, feels like a movie that would’ve been better on a third of the budget, you can smell the notes on it.
Femme Fatale (2002) - De Palma goes back to the thriller well, some excellent scenes and it’s a fun if silly movie.- his luck with female stars (so strong in the 70s and early 80s - Spacek, Allen, Griffith) had deserted him by now
The Black Dahlia (2006) - should’ve worked, doesn’t work, this was disappointing.
Redacted (2007) - good on him for making a gutsy movie even if he did just remake Casualties of War - some very silly scenes and very powerful ones.
Passion (2012) - casting not quite right, the bag of tricks is by now really overworked but I had more fun than I thought
Domino (2019) - some really interesting material in here, the leads should be the characters played by Eriq Ebouaney and Mohammed Azaay but they aren’t. Too much McBain type material.