Skip to main content

January 2016 Movies

I'm adding a little change, with my top three movies, bottom three, biggest surprise, biggest letdown.
  1. Joyeux Noel - A beautiful true story, hurt by over-dramatization. Still works on some levels.
  2. A Pigeon Sat On a Branch Reflecting About Its Existence - Dreadful in every way.
  3. Cracks - Aside from a lovely to look at cast, the movie fails to deliver, Eva Green though.
  4. Monster - Korean crime thriller fails, due to too many undeveloped characters.
  5. Making a Murderer - Poorly done, but makes its point. About 8 hours too long.
  6. Sicario - Del Toro is the real gem, but Blunt takes nothing and makes magic. Great film!
  7. Silenced - Korean film about real life horror at school for the deaf. Well done, but horrifying.
  8. Experimenter - Silly biopic about Milgram's obedience testing. Stumbles from start to finish.
  9. Pay The Ghost - Nic Cage horror flick. Works, for about an hour, but then unravels horribly.
  10. Unfriended - Might actually be worse than The Gallows and Willow Creek. Awful!
  11. Slow West - Good, not great, but fine acting make this "foreign" western a fun ride.
  12. Me And Earl And The Dying Girl - Napoleon Dynamite meets Terms of Endearment. Solid!
  13. Sheitan - Sexy women, creepy atmosphere and Vincent Cassel can't make up for lack of story.
  14. When Animals Dream - Shockingly good, beautifully shot Danish horror film. Overly subtle.
  15. Early Spring - Ozu's look at infidelity. My least favorite so far, but Ikebe shines as wife.
  16. The Kids Are Alright - Wonderful, up until the final twenty minutes and then unravels.
  17. Far From The Madding Crowd - Wonderful cast can't save a poorly constructed adaptation.
  18. Learning to Drive - Good not great. Simple. Clarkson is great as always, but script is lacking.
  19. World of Tomorrow - Oscar nominated short. Take time to let this one sink in, it's fabulous. 
  20. Cub - Belgian horror borrows from many classics, but has an air of originality. Well done.
  21. Sharknado 3 - Awful in every way. This series has finally jumped the, no, just no.
  22. The Blind Swordsman; Zatoichi - First Takeshi Kitano movie I've ever hated. So dull. 
  23. Le Samourai - Stylish noir, limits acting and is all about aesthetics. Inspired, but dull...Classic?
  24. The Assassin - Pretty to look at, but a complete bore. Could have easily been 30 minutes long.
  25. True Detective Season 2 - The writing is so bad, you forget the decent performances.
  26. Far From Heaven - Haynes' visual feast is hurt by Quaid's sleepwalking, despite stellar Moore.

Top Three: Sicario, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, World of Tomorrow
Bottom Three: A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting About Its Existence, Unfriended, Sharknado 3
Biggest Surprise: When Animals Dream
Biggest Letdown: True Detective Season 2

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...
10 comments
Read more

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...
7 comments
Read more

If You Listen To One Speech - Lana Wachowski

http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/videos/lana-wachowski-opens-up-about-difficult-past-and-attempted-suicide-20121024 Today I saw a link to a video for a speech by Lana Wachowski.  The last name rung a bell, but I could't put my finger on it. Lana, used to be Larry, one of the writer, director, producers of the Matrix trilogy, V for Vendetta and the upcoming Cloud Atlas.  Lana is transgendered and has "come out" as a woman.  She was being honored by the Human Rights Campaign. I didn't know what to expect when this broad woman with crazy hair and a raspy voice began to speak.  She began with the usual pleasantries and told of her hair dresser. She then tells of her desire to be a quiet person and how hard the success of the Matrix movies made this.  The first ten minutes is telling of how she's not quite ready to be this spokesperson.  Then she speaks about the new movie Cloud Atlas and reveals the heart of the movie and this speech. She states,"The resp...
Post a Comment
Read more