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October & November Movies

As the year speeds to an end, it has become abundantly clear that this year, in terms of volume, will be a failure in terms of movies. I'm currently at under sixty percent of my normal 300-325 movies per year. That being said, I've seen some great ones this year. Here's the last two months. October's list is embarrassingly small.

  1. Top Of The Lake: China Girl - Impossible to top the original series and doesn't come close.
  2. Split - Shymalan's vision comes to life thanks to McAvoy, Buckley and Taylor-Joy!
  3. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter - More of the same starts to fade, but loved the conclusion.
  4. Woman In The Dunes - Beautiful, haunting and erotic. A film that lingers inside you. 
  5. Peur(s) Du Noir - B&W Animated vignette. Stories are good, but animation is the draw.
  6. Rififi - Sadly, the DVD wouldn't let me finish the movie, but at that point, I stopped caring.
  7. Cria Cuervos - Wonderful acting, but this anti-Franco allegory didn't work for me.
  8. It Comes At Night - Horror fans will hate it, but it's as complex and layered as it gets.
  9. The Babysitter - Samara Weaving is beautiful, but this film struggles with what it wants to be.
  10. Arrival - Amy Adams not being nominated for an Oscar will go down as an all-time snub.
  11. The Steamroller And The Violin - Early Tarkovsky with hints of the classic, The Red Balloon.
  12. Alien: Covenant - It's as bad as you've heard. One of the worst scripts of all-time.
  13. Stranger Things 2 - Worth the binge watch, but pales in comparison to season 1. Still solid.
  14. Letter Never Sent - Surguy Urusevsky's cinematography makes up for dull plot.
  15. Samurai I - Inagaki trilogy begins. Mifune is wonderful, but the story drags.
  16. Samurai II - Slightly better than original, but mostly due to enhanced cinematography.
  17. Samurai III - My favorite of the trilogy. While hardly great, these film's impact is irrefutable.
  18. Patton Oswalt: Annihilation - Tight routine, with poignant and hilarious segment about loss.
  19. Get Out - Starts strong, but disjointed writing, odd shift in tone and horrible ending fails.
  20. War for the Planet of the Apes - The best since the original 1968 film. Sans ending, better.
  21. Capture Kill Release - Decent found footage, completely running on lead actress's insanity.
  22. I Live In Fear - Not one of Kurosawa's best, but timely, then and now. Mifune is stellar.
  23. The Other Side Of The Door - Tension builds and builds...and builds. Ends up being a bore.
  24. One Wonderful Sunday - Early Kurosawa, feels like other's great films. Depressing, but bold.
  25. The Exorcist III: Legion - Re-watched after 27 years. Still better than the original Exorcist.
  26. The Prodigal Son - Martial arts and humor, with more of the latter. A pleasant distraction.
  27. Kristy - Formulaic horror, but is better than average due to realism and strong lead.
  28. Rosa - Strikingly beautiful animated short. Interesting, but needed more. Want more.
  29. Youth of the Beast - Early Seijun Suzuki is more style than substance, but so much style.
  30. Atomic Blonde - Easily Theron and McAvoy's worst roles. So absolutely terrible.
Top Three: Woman in the Dunes, Arrival, It Comes at Night
Bottom Three: Atomic Blonde, The Other Side of the Door, Get Out
Biggest Surprise: War for the Planet of the Apes
Biggest Letdown: Get Out

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