The Movies I Watched in July

Anne of Green Gables 1985  7/10

 

The Batman 2022  6/10

Bob Dylan's Amerika 2018  6/10

The Brain From Planet Arous 1957  5/10

The Brood 1979  6/10

The Burning Hell 1974  4/10

Crash 1996  6/10

Dead Ringers 1988 10/10

Dragonwyck 1946  6/10

Eastern Promises 2007  7/10

The Falling 2014  6/10

Frasier, The Complete Series 1993-2004  8/10

 

Godzilla: King of the Monsters 2019  6/10​

The Guilty 1947  6/10

The Hills Have Eyes Part II 1984  4/10

A History of Violence 2005  8/10

Idi i smotri 1985  10/10

The Immoral Three 1975  4/10

The Last Don 1997  5/10

The Last House on the Left 1972  6/10

Men 2022 6/10

Peaky Blinders, Season 6 2022  7/10

Rabid 1977  6/10

The Rat Pack 1998  6/10

Rocker 1972  7/10

 

Shake Hands With Murder 1944 5/10

Scanners 1981  7/10

Shane 1953  7/10

The Souvenir 2019  7/10

The Souvenir 2021 Part II  7/10

Spider 2002  8/10

Stranger Things, Season 4 2022  7/10

The Town 2010  6/10

Unagi 1997  7/10

Videodrome 1983  8/10

The Wilds, Season 1 & 2, 2020-2022  6/10

The Sea of Trees (2015)

 

A suicidal American befriends a Japanese man lost in a forest near Mt. Fuji and the two search for a way out.

Despite all credentials (director and cast) this intended moral tale is highly sentimental and simply doesn't convince with its construed plot twists and turns; good nature photography, though. 

 

King Kong (2005)

In 1933 New York, an overly ambitious movie producer coerces his cast and hired ship crew to travel to the mysterious Skull Island, where they encounter Kong, a giant ape who is immediately smitten with leading lady Ann Darrow.

A remake of a classic movie that is worthy to be compared with the original and adds its own magic with a capable cast, top-of-the art effects and some nice new touches to the famous story

Maltin***1/2: "A rare remake that reinvents the original film while honoring it at the same time. Jackson pulls us into a world of wonder, both on Skull and Manhattan Island, and takes us on a long but thrilling adventure that's hard to beat."

The Movies I Watched in April

A-Haunting We Will Go (1942)  5
The Accountant (2016)  6
An (2015)  7

D'après une histoire vraie (2017)  6
At Eternity's Gate (2018)  8 

 
Boyz in the Hood (1991)  7

Breaking the Waves (1996)  8

Brewster McCloud (1970)  6
Buried (2010)  7

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010)  7

A Cure For Wellness  (2016)  6
Darkest Hour (2017)  7

Durante la tormenta (2018)  TV  6
Es geschah am hellichten Tag (1958)  7

Fright Night (2011)  6
The Highwaymen (2019)  7

Homecoming: A Film by Beyonce (2019)

Iron Sky (2012)  6
King Kong (2005)  7

LBJ (2016)  6
Lifepod (1993) TV  5
The Man From Texas (1948)  5
Mes ami, mes amour (2008)  6
A Most Wanted Man (2014)  6
Operation Finale (2018)  6
Runaway Daughters (1956)  5
Sorority Girl (1957)  6
22 July (2018)  7

Us (2019)  7

Violette (2013)  7

Wild Bill (1995)  5

The Glass Castle (2017)

A young girl comes of age in a dysfunctional family of nonconformist nomads with a mother who's an eccentric artist and an alcoholic father who would stir the children's imagination with hope as a distraction to their poverty.

Adaptation of a bestselling memoir convinces due to solid direction and an excellent cast; Woody Harrelson is especially good as the free spirit domineering father.

Matinee (1993)

A small-time film promoter releases a kitschy horror film during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Loving homage to 50s nuclear-scare monster flics is a bit pedestrian and harmless, but full of enjoyable details, a genuine-looking film-in-film and a great performance by John Goodman.

Halliwell*: "An enjoyable celebration of the nuclear-inspired, gimmicky horror movies of the 50s, brilliantly parodied; but it is hampered by a teen romance, presented without apparent irony, which might have been lifted from any drive-in movie of the period."

Maltin***: "Goodman is delightful...Sweet-natured film, full of nostalgia and in-jokes for film buffs, but a little slow (and soft) until it gets rolling."

Naomi Watts

J. Edgar (2011)

J. Edgar Hoover, powerful head of the F.B.I. for nearly 50 years, looks back on his professional and personal life.

Despite excellent period detail and good performances this biopic ticks off all aspects of Hoover's character only superficially and thusly doesn't lift itself above any former G-Men pic.

Maltin**: "One-note portrait of J. Edgar Hoover...Long, often boring account.....provides litle insight or understanding. DiCaprio works hard, but is miscast and never embodies the bulldog-like Hoover. Hammer's old-age makeup is so ludicrous it almost torpedoes  the entire film."

Naomi Watts

Eastern Promises (2007)

A Russian teenager living in London who dies during childbirth leaves clues to a midwife in her journal that could tie her child to a rape involving a violent Russian mob family.

Dark, intense and atmospheric gangster movie thate seems to transcend the genre with its brilliant direction and fantastic cast, but also doesn't shy away from moments of sentimentality.

Maltin***: "Intelligent thriller set against a rich tableau...Mortensen is superb and has one unforgettable scene in a Turkish bathhouse."

Fair Game (2010)

CIA operative Valerie Plame discovers her identity is allegedly leaked by the government as payback for an op-ed article her husband wrote criticizing the Bush administration.

Effective political drama based on a true case manages to tell the story straight and fairly simple, although it does heroize the two leads a bit; Watts and Pean, however, are in top form.

Maltin***: "Intimate, propulsive drama...reveals how these events affected their lives and threatened their marriage. Engrossing and credible; an especially fine showcase for Watts."

Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)

A washed-up actor, who once played an iconic superhero, battles his ego and attempts to recover his family, his career and himself in the days leading up to the opening of his Broadway play.

Skillfully crafted satire on the perks of being an actor with a stellar cast, which actually manages to offer an almost encyclopedic number of scenes displaying the full range of the art of acting.

Naomi Watts

Down (2001)

When the express elevators in the Millennium Building, one of New York's most famous landmarks, start to malfunction and behave in erratic ways, an  elevator mechanic is sent out to find the cause of the problems.

Remake of the director's own 1983 Dutch movie is meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but is still rather silly and unsuspenseful.