The Movies I Watched in April

Adolescence 2025  7/10

Die Affäre Cum-Ex 2025  6/10

The American Success Company 1979  5/10

Austenland 2013  5/10 

Babygirl 2024  6/10

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever 2022  6/10

BlueBob: Thank You, Judge 1999  6/10

Breadcrumb Trail 2014  7/10 

The Brutalist 2024  7/10

 

Christmas in Connecticut 1945  6/10

Coffy 1973  5/10

Córki dancingu 2015  6/10 

Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer 2025  6/10

Echos aus einem düsteren Reich 1990 6/10

Le feu follet 1963  7/10

 

Glaskupan 2025  6/10 

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire 2024  6/10

Head With Hammer 2001  5/10

Heretic 2024  7/10

 

L'important c'est d'aimer 1975  6/10

Jusqu'au 23 juillet 2006 6/10

Kárhozat 1988  7/10

 

Un matin partout dans le monde 2000  5/10

La matriarca 1968  5/10

Mulholland Dr. 2001  10/10

 

München - Geheimnisse einer Stadt 2000  7/10

 

La Palma 2024  5/10 

Pierre and Sonny Jim 2001  6/10

Ready or Not 2019  6/10 

A Real Pain 2024  7/10

 

The Robe 1953  6/10

The Straight Story 1999 !0/10

The Stranger 2020  6/10 1990  6/10

The Two Jakes 1990  6/10

Was heißt hier Ende?  2015  7/10

 

The Border (1982)

 

A corrupt border Agent decides to clean up his act when an impoverished woman's baby is put up for sale on the black market.

Adequate thriller is tough and suspenseful exposing police corruption and the downfalls of lower middle-class American life; once again, Jack Nicholson delivers a strong performance.

Halliwell (no star): "A rather solemn elaboration on a well-worn theme,with nothing very memorable except its excesses." 

Maltin**1/2: "Cast and story-line beg for Sam Peckinpah in his prime; mildly interesting, but never really takes off."

 

Something's Gotta Give (2003)

A swinger on the cusp of being a senior citizen with a taste for young women falls in love with an accomplished woman closer to his age.

Highly entertaining romantic comedy with the two leads obviously enjoying their job, although a bit too long and losing momentum towards the ending.

Halliwell*: "Overlong romantic comedy that begins well, but soon goes sitcom soggy; Nicholson resorts to his most familiar mannerisms, while Keaton's over-emotional performance makes one wish she'd act her age."

Maltin**: "Entertaining comedy for (and about) grown-ups with delightful performances by the two leads."

The Movies I watched in April

Blackhat 2015  6
The Calling 2014  6
Doom 2005  5
The Dressmaker 2015  6
Earthquake 1974  5
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films 2014  6
Exposed 2016  5
Fantastic Voyage 1966  6
Gold 2013  6
The Handmaid's Tale 2017 TV  8

I, Tonya 2017  7

In the Cut 2003  6
Joschka und Herr Fischer 2011  6
Justice League 2017  6
A Little Trip to Heaven 2005  6
Man on a Ledge 2012  6
Masters of the Universe 1987  5
Mirage 1965  7

Mr. Majestyk 1974  6
Nightmare at 20,000 Feet 1963 TV  8

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 1975  9

Renoir 2012  6
Sneakers 1992  6
Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer 2015  6
La Sirène du Mississipi (1969)  6
Swing Vote 2008  6
Trespass 2011  6
The Way Back 2010  6
The Wonderful Country 1959  6

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

A criminal pleads insanity after getting into trouble again and once in the mental institution rebels against the oppressive nurse and rallies up the scared patients.

A masterpiece of anti-establishment entertainment, excellently staged and with an unforgettable cast, still manages to captivate, although it does reveal a strong streak of misogyny.

Halliwell****: "Wildly and unexpectedly commercial film of a project which had lain dormant for fourteen years, this amusing and horrifying film conveniently sums up anti-government attitudes as well as make love not war and all that. It's certainly impossible to ignore."

Maltin****: "Ken Kesey's script is a triumph of human spirit..."

Mars Attacks! (1996)

Earth is invaded by Martians with unbeatable weapons and a cruel sense of humor.

Fairly enjoyable sci-fi spoof works only to a degree, since it's thoroughly tongue-in-cheek, so that, ironically, the more straight-faced Indepedence Day from the same year was actually more fun.

Halliwell*: "The film begins brilliantly, with a stampede of flaming cows, but then is content to recycle, at great expense, the style of 50s sci-fi films while its cast parody their more serious roles; despite its occasional antic charm, it is not as enjoyable as it ought to be."

Maltin**1/2: "Overly self-satisfied spoof of  '50s alien-invasion movies (and '50s attitudes)...Great effects and animation (of the Martian characters) but awfully broad and one-note in tone, spoofing something that's already funny in the straight-faced originals of the period. One can't completely dislike a film in which Slim Whitman figures so prominently, however."

As Good as It Gets (1997)

A single mother/waitress, a misanthropic author, and a gay artist form an unlikely friendship after the artist is in an accident.

Well cast and highly entertaining comedy drama becomes quite sentimental in its final moments, but Jack Nicholson as the old misanthrope is well worth the show.

Halliwell***: "A sour-toned comedy about damaged people that, for all its occasional glibness and th ease with which its prblems are solved, somehow works; it convinces as long as the movie lasts."

Maltin***1/2: "Wonderful comedy-drama...takes the viewer on an emotional journey, with laughs and tears along the way."

The Little Shop of Horrors (1960)

A clumsy young man nurtures a plant and discovers that it's carnivorous, forcing him to kill to feed it.

Hilarious black comedy; the low-budget shows, but it's lively and immensely entertaining.

Halliwell**: "A Corman quickie, allegedly shot in two days, that is a lively, if occasionally ramshackle, comic delight with a notable cameo from Nicholson as a masocist."

Maltin***1/2: "Classic black comedy...Initially infamous as The Film Shot In Two Days, but now considered one of Corman's best pictures. Nicholson has hilarious bit as masochist who thrives on dental pain..."

New Stuff: The Border

It's been a while back, but I remember this movie to be very good.

Chinatown (1974)

A private detective investigating an adultery case stumbles on to a scheme of murder that has something to do with water.

Seminal neo-noir thriller, the plot spiraling into ever more darker depths, an instant classic and for both director and its star probably their greatest efforts so far.

What can I add: I'll be rewatching this movie very often!

Halliwell****: "Teasing, complex mystery that uses the conventions of detective stories to explore civic and personal corruption, in the style of Raymond Chandler, but adding a more modern perspective. It is eminently watchable, with effective individual scenes and performances and photography that is lovingly composed though tending to suggest period by use of an orange filter."

Maltin****: "Bizarre, fascinating mystery in the Hammett-Chandler tradition..."

Five Easy Pieces (1970)

A drop-out from upper-class America picks up work along the way on oil-rigs when his life isn't spent in a squalid succession of bars, motels, and other points of interest.

Slice-of-life character study that still manages to hold one's interest thanks to strong performances.

Halliwell **: "Echoes of Easy Rider, The Graduate and Charlie Bubbles abound in this generally likeable but insubstantial modern anti-drama which at least takes place in pleasant surroundings and is firmly directed."

Maltin ****: "Brilliant character study...Nicholson's performance is superb, but...all contribute heavily...this is the film with Jack's famous "chicken salad sandwich" speech."

The Bucket List (2007)

Two elderly and fatally ill men decide to do all those things they had previously missed in their lives.

Not really a comedy nor a tearjerker the movie remains somewhere in between. But it's a joy to watch Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman interact.