The Movies I Watched in December

28 Years Later 2025  7/10

 

Adam's Rib 1949  7/10

 

The Beast in Me 2025  7/10

 

Black Bag 2025  7/10

 

Brats 1930  7/10

 

The Bullfighters 1945  5/10 

Carry-On 2024  6/10 

Caught Stealing 2025  7/10

 

Cheers. Season 8 1990  7/10

 

Cheers. Season 9 1991 7/10

 

Ciudad de sombras 2025  6/10 

Cronos 1992  7/10

 

Da xiang xi di er zuo 2018  8/10

 

Dahomey 2024  7/10

 

The Dancing Masters 1943  5/10 

Death by Lightning 2025  7/10

 

Don't Worry Darling 2022  7/10

 

Early to Bed 1928  6/10 

Eddington 2025  6/10

Helpmates 1932  7/10

 

A House of Dynamite 2025  6/10 

Jitterbugs 1943  5/10 

Katie Says Goodbye 2016  7/10

 

The Living and the Dead 2006  7/10

Miséricorde 2024  7/10

 

Munster, Go Home! 1966  5/10 

The New Yorker at 100 2025  6/10 

Prisoners 2013  7/10

 

Sirât 2025  7/10

 

Sisters With Transistors 2020  7/10

 

La tour de glace 2025  8/10

 

Train Dreams 2025  7/10

Wake Up Dead Man 2025  7/0 

 

You Were Never Really Here 2017  8/10

 

Cate Blanchett

Cate Blanchett

ph: Norma Jean Roy

Truth (2015)

Newsroom drama detailing the 2004 CBS 60 Minutes report investigating then-President George W. Bush's military service, and the subsequent firestorm of criticism that cost anchor Dan Rather and producer Mary Mapes their careers.

Solid, but a bit old-fashioned political docudrama makes well use of its star cast and does manage to convey the vagaries and risks of a high-profile journalistic investigation into a political scandal.

Cate Blanchett

ph: Julia Hetta

Window faces

Regensburg, May 2018 (Cate Blanchett)

Cate Blanchett

ph: Irving Penn

The Monuments Men (2014)

An unlikely World War II platoon is tasked to rescue art masterpieces from Nazi thieves and return them to their owners.

An otherwise highly interesting episode of  WWII is (intentionally) treated like a Dirty Dozen-style war adventure complete with a good-humoured cast, light action and some sombre moments; mildy entertaining, though, it is.

Maltin**: "A great true-life story...gets surface treatment and the identities of its heroes is fictionalized, making it difficult to fully invest in their characters. Deliberately old-fashioned, the movie has its moments, and the charisma of its formidable cast carries it a long way."

Window faces

Munich, October 2016 (Cate Blanchett)

Cate Blanchett

New Stuff: Carol

I liked the movie so much I had to get the Blu-ray.

The Movies I Watched in March

All Good Things 2010  6
Blue Jasmine 2013  7

Carrie 2013  6
Cave of Forgotten Dreams 2010  7

Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story 2005 6
First Spaceship on Venus 1960 6
Midnight Lace 1960  6
Nebraska 2013  8

Orphan 2009  6
Pope Joan 1972  6
Queen of the Desert 2015  6
Reasonable Doubt 2014  6
Redemption 2013  6
Rescue Dawn 2006  7

Room of Death 2007  6
Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace 1962  5
Sherlock  Episode: The Abominable Bride 2016
The Ballad of Josie 1967  6
The Good Shepherd 2006  8

The Night of the Generals 1967  6
The Pervert's Guide to Cinema 2006  8

The Sorcerer's Apprentice 2010  5
The Woods 2006  6
Theory of Obscurity: A Film About the Residents 2015  7

They Were Called Graveyard 1969  7

Blue Jasmine (2013)

A New York socialite, deeply troubled and in denial, arrives in San Francisco to impose upon her sister.

Intense variation on A Streetcar Named Desire convinces thanks to subtle direction, a great ensemble and a spectacularly good performance by Cate Blanchett.

Maltin***1/2: "Fascinating study...you can't take you eyes off her, especially in Blanchett's riveting, Oscar-winning portrayal. Allen's sharp-edged screenplay offers food for though about ethics, morals, friendship, family, and our consumerist society. It also provides great parts to a superb ensemble of actors, with an especially eye-opening performance by Clay as Hawkin's ex. Many people see this as a variation on A Streetcar Named Desire."

Carol (2015)

An aspiring photographer develops an intimate relationship with an older woman.

Highly exquisite adapation of Patricia Highsmith's lesbian love story achieves an intimate perspective from within a fragile relationship and awes with some Saul Leiter-inspired cinematography.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)

Bilbo and Company are forced to engage in a war against an array of combatants and keep the Lonely Mountain from falling into the hands of a rising darkness.

Despite the usual excellence in production this is a confusing and unexciting finale disappointedly inferior to the previous parts of the trilogy.