Skip to main content

August & September Movies - 2017

2017 continues to be the year I watched the least number of movies in a calendar year, I have watched a few series, but then again I've watched a few shorts, so I'm about 150 behind the norm this time of year. At about 140, I'm well over 100 movies behind last year's pace. Doesn't look to rebound much, with the baseball playoffs starting and my life in a bit of a tailspin as of late. Well here's the best, the worst, and the rest of the last two months

  1. Election - Johnnie To's triad film feels like a weak homage to Goodfellas and alike.
  2. The Spirit Of The Beehive - Second viewing and easily the most complex film I've ever seen.
  3. The Gospel According To St. Matthew - Biblical tour de force from Pasolini. Beautiful.
  4. The Devil's Candy - Solid acting and decent story gives way to horribly silly climax.
  5. Lifeboat - Re-watched. In my opinion, Hitchcock's greatest film.
  6. Strasek, de Vampir - Ode to Dreyer's Vampyr, it looks good in B&W, but fails miserably.
  7. Come and See - Klimov's war film is unlike any other. Viscerally shocking, haunting film.
  8. Gojira (Godzilla) - The original still resonate with it's anti-war message. Maybe more today.
  9. El Topo - The weirdest movie I've ever watched. Jodorowsky is insane.
  10. Ghostbusters (2016) - Exceeded not only expectations, but its predecessor. Yes, I said it!
  11. No Estamos Solos aka We Are Not Alone - Well done, but typical and predictable. Nice finale.
  12. Le Silence de la Mer - Melville's visuals accentuate the silence of all, but one character.
  13. Drunken Angel - It's impossible to believe this was Mifune and Kurosawa's first collaboration.
  14. The Autopsy of Jane Doe - Great cast can't save this. Absolutely awful.
  15. Kanal - Wajda's film develops so many characters, so quickly. Shot beautifully, despite themes.
  16. The Darjeeling Limited - First Wes Anderson film I hated. Truly awful. 
  17. Raw - Average throughout, leading towards boring, but excels in its finale.
  18. Logan - One of the better superhero/comic movies ever. Great action and stands on its own.
  19. Armageddon - Re-watched. So silly, but still a fun movie.
  20. Delta Force - Re-Watched. So campy and very little Chuck during the first half.
  21. Hounds of Love - Good, but disturbing film about domestic violence and kidnapping. 
  22. Don't Breathe - Great idea, fails with lack of tension and ridiculous side story and finale
Top Three: The Spirit of the Beehive, The Gospel According to Matthew, Come and See
Bottom Three: The Autopsy of Jane Doe, El Topo, The Darjeeling Limited
Biggest Surprise: Logan
Biggest Disappointment: The Autopsy of Jane Doe

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

White Privilege

This was a post I wrote on Facebook after surprisingly not seeing any moaning about the Documentary by Jose Antonio Vargas, titled White People Dayyum! I just scrolled my timeline and not a single white person got their feelings hurt by White People. I unfortunately haven't seen it, but the number of fake accounts that popped up on twitter, tells me it was a damn good show. Here's the thing. If someone of color aka non-white says "White Privilege," are you offended? If you said yes, then you are exhibiting white privilege. It has nothing to do with how hard you work or study, how you stayed out of trouble, because here's the thing, that is entirely the point. Somewhere out there, there are 100 Black, Spanish, Native American, Arab, Asian, who worked and studied as hard as you and never got in trouble, but they don't have what you "earned" or achieved. Stop looking at the one person you know who isn't white that achieved as your benchmark. Loo

11 Rules of Life - Bill Gates?

I read this on Facebook this morning.  A friend had posted it and said that every child should have to receive this. I of course read it and started to think.  I immediately wondered who really wrote this, as I rarely see things like this attributed to the proper person.  I immediately found it was written by Conservative Charles J. Sykes when he wrote a book about how America is dumbing down our youth.  I read it twice and started to wonder how true it was.  Below is a link to the actual picture I saw. So let's look at each of the rules and analyze them. Rule 1: Life is not fair — get used to it! - Life is not fair in that we are not all afforded the same opportunities based on race, creed, color, socio-economic background, but in general, those who are afforded the same opportunities to succeed are very often rewarded for their individual efforts.  Sure there may be underlying circumstances, but hard work is proven to pay more often than not and those who strive for succ

Quickie Review - Finding Vivian Maier

While I thoroughly enjoyed the film, especially the first 15-20 minutes, I was a little bothered by the way the film played out. The interviews with the clearly disturbed brother, sister and the mother, who obviously, was in for a cut, didn't need to be in the film. Then the woman who suggested abuse, yet seemed to have her life defined by Maier, as she tried to muster every ounce of emotion and fake guilt. Her friend, more than happy to be party of the charade. People who talk about abuse for the first time, usually don't do so on camera. The fact these scenes were so prominent, shows that they felt wronged that they were not rewarded. Maloof on the other hand, seems to disappear from the documentary during this part, almost hiding away from the fact, he went from complete praise, to even making money off of her, to destroying her personal legacy. He almost mentions the family of boys taking care of her rent, as an afterthought. Her burial spot, never shown, yet a video of her