Movies Seen in 2011

81. The Yakuza (A)

The Yakuza is a smartly written and directed action movie from 1975 starring an aging Robert Mitchum, who is absolutely excellent. Mitchum plays a retired detective called in by an old friend for one last case, which brings him back to Japan for the first time since he was there during the post-WWII occupation. It features a number of terrific Japanese performers as well, who probably wouldn't be featured in most run-of-the-mill American action films (which this is definitely not).

 

Spoiler: Rest of my list

1. The Fighter: B-
2. Batman(90's saga): A-,B-,C-,D
3. Star Wars OT-Special Edition: B+, A, B
4. The Green Hornet: B
5. True Grit(1969): C+
6. Lord of the Rings saga: (A,A,A)
7. The Machinist: A-
8. Season of the Witch: B
9. Frozen: A-
10. Due Date: B+
11. Planet of the Apes(2001): B-
12. Faster: C
13. Romance: D (French film, subtitled)
14. YPF: C- (YPF=Young People F*&^ing)
15. The Beautiful Truth: B-
16. Strictly Sexual: C+
17. DOOM: C
18. Brothers: B+
19. Men In Black II: B-
20. The Crow: Wicked Prayer: C-
21. The Soloist: C
22. Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love: C+
23. I Now Pronounce you Chuck & Larry: B-
24. Battle in Heaven: C+ (Mexican film, subtitled)
25. Legion: B-
26. Battle: LA: B+
27. Righteous Kill: B
28. Dracula II: Ascension: B-
29. Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li: D
30. You Don't Mess With the Zohan: C+
31. Finding Bliss: C
32. Dracula III: Legacy: B-
33. Tangled: B+
34. Paul Blart Mall Cop: C-
35. Chloe: B
36. Kung Fu Panda: B-
37. Centurion: B
38. The People I've Slept With: C
39. Grown Ups: B-
40. The Conspirator: A-
41. XXX: State of the Union: C+
42. Fast Five: B+
43. THOR: A-
44. Priest: D+
45. The Fourth Kind: B+
46. POTC: On Stranger Tides: B-

47. Turtles Forever: A-
48. Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story: B+
49. Easy A: A
50. Inception: B
51. #1 Cheerleader Camp: D

After Inception watched something that required less deductive skills. It's what you think it is, it's just not even very good at being a B-grade tittie movie.

 

Spoiler: Movies Seen in 2011

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightening Thief - HBO
Tron Legacy 3D - theater
Clash of the Titans (2010) - HBO on Demand
Take Me Home Tonight - free screenin'
Sanctum - free screenin'
The Green Hornet - free screenin'
Green Zone - HBO
Fantastic Mr. Fox - HBO
True Grit (1969) - AMC
Ringu - DVD
Black Swan - Alamo Drafthouse (its not just a movie theater)
Unknown - free screenin'
The Losers - HBO
The Sunset Limited - HBO on Demand
Starsky & Hutch (2004) - Cinemax
Kick-Ass - DVD
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - DVD
The Adjustment Bureau - free screenin'
Rango - theater
Red (2010) - DVD rental
Hot Tub Time Machine - DVD rental
Harry Brown - DVD
Faster - DVD rental
Jonah Hex - DVD rental
Battle: L.A. - theater
The Girl who Played with Fire - DVD
The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - DVD rental
Leaves of Grass - DVD
Whiteout - Cinemax on Demand
Sucker Punch - free screenin'
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps - DVD
Paul - theater

Source Code - theater
Rio - free screenin'
The Fighter - DVD rental
Invictus - Cinemax
Scream 4 - theater
Fast Five - midnight screenin'
THOR - free screenin'
Priest - theater
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - midnight screenin'
X-Men: First Class - theater
Ramona and Beezus - HBO
Shrek Forever After - HBO

Watched it with my brother's kids over the weekend, and since its HBO, I've had to sit through it a few times now...

Not as good as the first one, of course, but not as bad as the second. Still haven't seen the third, not really in a rush to, either.

I started to watch All About Steve via HBO on Demand the other day, and got about ten minutes into it, I think..whenever Sandra Bulloch goes upstairs to change for her first date with Bradley Cooper after he's already arrived for the date, that's when I turned it off.

 

1. Alice in Wonderland (2010) - C-
2. Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010) - A
3. Black Swan (2010) - A+
4. The Social Network (2010) - A
5. Cannibal! The Musical (1996) - B
6. Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire (2009) - B
7. Winter's Bone (2010) - C+
8. The Kids are All Right (2010) - A
9. The Lovely Bones (2009) - D
10. 127 Hours (2010) - A
11. Source Code (2011) - B
12. Kick-Ass (2010) - B
13. Thor (2011) - B+
14. X-Men: First Class (2011) - B
15. Easy A (2010) - B
16. Bridesmaids (2011) - A+

I don't give A+'s very often, but I'm doing it here. This is a funny, hilarious, awesome movie and one of my favorite movies of the year. Seeing the trailer, I thought it would be a chick flick, but the more word of mouth I heard, the more I really wanted to see it and I'm glad I did. It's anything but a chick flick, it's an hilarious gut wrenching comedy that has a great heart and great story. Rodolph and Wiig shine in the lead roles and the supporting cast was great as well. It just seemed like everyone had great chemistry with each other and there were so many scenes (Like the entire plane scene or the engagement party) that had me busting out laughing the entire time. Apatow has another hit on his hands and Girl or guy, go see this movie. You won't regret it.

 

Spoiler: Rest of my list

1. The Fighter: B-
2. Batman(90's saga): A-,B-,C-,D
3. Star Wars OT-Special Edition: B+, A, B
4. The Green Hornet: B
5. True Grit(1969): C+
6. Lord of the Rings saga: (A,A,A)
7. The Machinist: A-
8. Season of the Witch: B
9. Frozen: A-
10. Due Date: B+
11. Planet of the Apes(2001): B-
12. Faster: C
13. Romance: D (French film, subtitled)
14. YPF: C- (YPF=Young People F*&^ing)
15. The Beautiful Truth: B-
16. Strictly Sexual: C+
17. DOOM: C
18. Brothers: B+
19. Men In Black II: B-
20. The Crow: Wicked Prayer: C-
21. The Soloist: C
22. Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love: C+
23. I Now Pronounce you Chuck & Larry: B-
24. Battle in Heaven: C+ (Mexican film, subtitled)
25. Legion: B-
26. Battle: LA: B+
27. Righteous Kill: B
28. Dracula II: Ascension: B-
29. Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li: D
30. You Don't Mess With the Zohan: C+
31. Finding Bliss: C
32. Dracula III: Legacy: B-
33. Tangled: B+
34. Paul Blart Mall Cop: C-
35. Chloe: B
36. Kung Fu Panda: B-
37. Centurion: B
38. The People I've Slept With: C
39. Grown Ups: B-
40. The Conspirator: A-
41. XXX: State of the Union: C+
42. Fast Five: B+
43. THOR: A-
44. Priest: D+
45. The Fourth Kind: B+
46. POTC: On Stranger Tides: B-
47. Turtles Forever: A-

48. Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story: B+
49. Easy A: A
50. Inception: B
51. #1 Cheerleader Camp: D
52. Freakanomics: C+

Interesting documentary that seeks to explain things with patterns in the numerical data. I'm not buying that legalizing abortion = crime rate down post 1980 as part of a 45% explanation but the Sumo part along with the child rearing portions were interesting.

I was kinda of expecting something more, I don't know trippy for a title called Freakanomics but it was still better than the Cheerleader movie and that had tits.

 

Spoiler: The rest of my list

1. In the Heat of the Night (A)
2. The Passion of Joan of Arc (B)
3. The Passion of the Christ (A)
4. Mamma Mia! (B)
5. All About Eve (A)
6. Looking for Anne (B-)
7. 2001: A Space Odyssey (B+)
8. The King's Speech (A)
9. How Green Was My Valley (B-)
10. Black Swan (B+)
11. Made in Dagenham (B)
12. Gentleman's Agreement (A-)
13. Barney's Version (A-)
14. Out of Africa (B)
15. The Social Network (A-)
16. The Sound of Music (B+)
17. Pulp Fiction (A)
18. Forrest Gump (A)
19. The Shawshank Redemption (A+)
20. The Illusionist (B)
21. The French Connection (B+)
22. Network (A+)
23. Incendies (A+)
24. Mrs. Miniver (A)
25. A Fistful of Dollars (B+)
26. For A Few Dollars More (B)
27. WALL-E (A+)
28. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (A)
29. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (B)
30. Gigi (B-)
31. I Love You Phillip Morris (B+)
32. How To Train Your Dragon (A)
33. Tarzan (B+)
34. Oliver! (B+)
35. Gosford Park (A-)
36. The Princess Bride (B+)
37. All the President's Men (A-)
38. Oliver Twist (B+)
39. My Fair Lady (A+)
40. Hanna (A-)
41. The Godfather (A+)
42. The Godfather: Part II (A+)
43. The Godfather: Part III (A-)
44. Dog Day Afternoon (A)
45. Taxi Driver (A-)
46. Great Expectations (B+)
47. The Last Airbender (D-)
48. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (A+)
49. Raging Bull (B+)
50. GoodFellas (A)
51. Spartacus (A+)
52. The Deer Hunter (B+)
53. Reservoir Dogs (A)
54. A Clockwork Orange (A)
55. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (A+)
56. Gone With The Wind (A+)
57. On the Waterfront (A)
58. Thor (A-)
59. The Seventh Seal (A-)
60. Hamlet (A)
61. All the King's Men (A-)
62. Roman Holiday (A+)
63. Rebecca (A-)
64. Notorious (A)
65. American Madness (B+)
66. It Happened One Night (A-)
67. Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (C-)
68. You Can't Take It With You (B+)
69. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (A-)

70. The Heiress (A+)
71. X-Men: First Class (A-)
72. Super 8 (B+)
73. Dr. No (B-)
74. From Russia With Love (A)
75. Captain Blood (A+)

Two very different A+ films graded today.

Having watched a few of Olivia de Havilland's movies recently, I decided to check out some of her other parts; since she famously collaborated with Errol Flynn several times, I thought I'd watch a few of those. In this case, this was both their breakout parts in 1935, directed by Michael Curtiz (Casablanca).

In general, I find 30s-40s popular cinema has aged especially poorly relative to other films from that era, but this was a pretty marked exception. From what I understand, some of the battle scenes include stock footage from earlier films, but not having seen those movies it's not a big deal; and the special effects are quite remarkable, overall. Flynn and de Havilland are both excellent (if not especially nuanced), and you can see why this made them stars. I also really liked Henry Stephenson in a supporting part as a friendly nobleman (I thought I recognized him from somewhere, and on checking he was indeed in David Lean's Oliver Twist).

I also have to say, while I've come to decide that historical inaccuracy isn't something I generally hold against a film (if Shakespeare could do it, I don't think it's fair to deny filmmakers the same license; Braveheart is nonsense history, but it's a rousing film nonetheless), I was nonetheless pleasingly surprised by the film's fairly literate use of some lesser known events, like the Monmouth Rebellion. The film is also admirably divergent from expectations in a few places, such as not having the final battle be between Blood and his plantation nemesis Bishop.

76. The Best Years of Our Lives (A+)

It's hard to make a good war movie while the war is still going on; "home front" films may be the general exception, as with William Wyler's earlier Mrs. Miniver or the recent The Messenger. In this case, The Best Years of Our Lives picks up with the war just over, and it's remarkably effective at capturing the complexities of soldiers returning home.

The story of the disabled war veteran (Harold Russell) is one of the more obvious stories to address, and it's handled very well (no doubt aided by the casting of a real disabled veteran). However, in some ways I found the plot with Fred (Dana Andrews) and Peggy (Teresa Wright, carried over from Wyler's Mrs. Miniver) to be more interesting. It's certainly quite daring for this particular period in history, and also quite a timely acknowledgement of the consequences of the fast courtships encouraged by the war period. Though admittedly, given that it's like an hour and a half before we even meet his wife (Virginia Mayo), the viewer shouldn't be surprised that she doesn't stand a chance against Peggy.

 

X-Men First Class 3/4 - This might be the first time I've seen three movies at the theater in a month.

 

Spoiler: The rest of my list

1. In the Heat of the Night (A)
2. The Passion of Joan of Arc (B)
3. The Passion of the Christ (A)
4. Mamma Mia! (B)
5. All About Eve (A)
6. Looking for Anne (B-)
7. 2001: A Space Odyssey (B+)
8. The King's Speech (A)
9. How Green Was My Valley (B-)
10. Black Swan (B+)
11. Made in Dagenham (B)
12. Gentleman's Agreement (A-)
13. Barney's Version (A-)
14. Out of Africa (B)
15. The Social Network (A-)
16. The Sound of Music (B+)
17. Pulp Fiction (A)
18. Forrest Gump (A)
19. The Shawshank Redemption (A+)
20. The Illusionist (B)
21. The French Connection (B+)
22. Network (A+)
23. Incendies (A+)
24. Mrs. Miniver (A)
25. A Fistful of Dollars (B+)
26. For A Few Dollars More (B)
27. WALL-E (A+)
28. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (A)
29. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (B)
30. Gigi (B-)
31. I Love You Phillip Morris (B+)
32. How To Train Your Dragon (A)
33. Tarzan (B+)
34. Oliver! (B+)
35. Gosford Park (A-)
36. The Princess Bride (B+)
37. All the President's Men (A-)
38. Oliver Twist (B+)
39. My Fair Lady (A+)
40. Hanna (A-)
41. The Godfather (A+)
42. The Godfather: Part II (A+)
43. The Godfather: Part III (A-)
44. Dog Day Afternoon (A)
45. Taxi Driver (A-)
46. Great Expectations (B+)
47. The Last Airbender (D-)
48. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (A+)
49. Raging Bull (B+)
50. GoodFellas (A)
51. Spartacus (A+)
52. The Deer Hunter (B+)
53. Reservoir Dogs (A)
54. A Clockwork Orange (A)
55. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (A+)
56. Gone With The Wind (A+)
57. On the Waterfront (A)
58. Thor (A-)
59. The Seventh Seal (A-)
60. Hamlet (A)
61. All the King's Men (A-)
62. Roman Holiday (A+)
63. Rebecca (A-)
64. Notorious (A)
65. American Madness (B+)
66. It Happened One Night (A-)
67. Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (C-)
68. You Can't Take It With You (B+)
69. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (A-)

70. The Heiress (A+)
71. X-Men: First Class (A-)
72. Super 8 (B+)
73. Dr. No (B-)
74. From Russia With Love (A)
75. Captain Blood (A+)
76. The Best Years of Our Lives (A+)
77. The Adventures of Robin Hood (A+)

The second Curtiz-directed Flynn/de Havilland collaboration, also featuring Basil Rathbone from the previous film, and Claude Rains, in his umpteenth role as a villain (I guess audiences would have been genuinely surprised by his promotion to "morally ambiguous" in Casablanca).

I have to say, the colours in this film are amazing. The production design is quite impressive overall. This is a very unironic storybook England, but stories like Robin Hood arguably work best approached that way (I've always thought that the King Arthur story has never had this kind of definitive telling to precede all the film/TV versions that put alternative spins on the mythos). The plot of this film is a bit ropier than Captain Blood's, but I enjoyed it immensely nonetheless.

 

Spoiler: Rest of my list

1. The Fighter: B-
2. Batman(90's saga): A-,B-,C-,D
3. Star Wars OT-Special Edition: B+, A, B
4. The Green Hornet: B
5. True Grit(1969): C+
6. Lord of the Rings saga: (A,A,A)
7. The Machinist: A-
8. Season of the Witch: B
9. Frozen: A-
10. Due Date: B+
11. Planet of the Apes(2001): B-
12. Faster: C
13. Romance: D (French film, subtitled)
14. YPF: C- (YPF=Young People F*&^ing)
15. The Beautiful Truth: B-
16. Strictly Sexual: C+
17. DOOM: C
18. Brothers: B+
19. Men In Black II: B-
20. The Crow: Wicked Prayer: C-
21. The Soloist: C
22. Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love: C+
23. I Now Pronounce you Chuck & Larry: B-
24. Battle in Heaven: C+ (Mexican film, subtitled)
25. Legion: B-
26. Battle: LA: B+
27. Righteous Kill: B
28. Dracula II: Ascension: B-
29. Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li: D
30. You Don't Mess With the Zohan: C+
31. Finding Bliss: C
32. Dracula III: Legacy: B-
33. Tangled: B+
34. Paul Blart Mall Cop: C-
35. Chloe: B
36. Kung Fu Panda: B-
37. Centurion: B
38. The People I've Slept With: C
39. Grown Ups: B-
40. The Conspirator: A-
41. XXX: State of the Union: C+
42. Fast Five: B+
43. THOR: A-
44. Priest: D+
45. The Fourth Kind: B+
46. POTC: On Stranger Tides: B-
47. Turtles Forever: A-
48. Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story: B+

49. Easy A: A
50. Inception: B
51. #1 Cheerleader Camp: D
52. Freakanomics: C+
53. Green Lantern: C

Underwhelmed. Mediocore. Choppy.
I have a review in the grading thread, here.

 

The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)

An inferior remake of a vastly superior film. The script felt like it was jumbled together from disparate elements and there was no real flow to the storyline. The acting was also extremely sub-par. Everybody was a block of wood except for the kid who was just annoying in every scene he had. I also didn't understand Klaatu's abrupt change of heart. It didn't make any sense when compared to the little information the audience already had about the character.

 

82. Dreams with Sharp Teeth (B+)
83. Death of a Pigeon on Beethoven Street (D)

Dreams with Sharp Teeth: This was a well-made documentary about Harlan Ellison, the sf writer who has caused quite a bit of controversy in his day. Neither an apology for the writer, nor a hatched job, I thought it was a well-balanced look at the man, with plenty of visual style, too. It would have been nice to see some of his more outspoken critics have some camera time, though, if only so Ellison could have torn them to pieces in response.

Death of a Pigeon on Beethoven Street: An incidental work in the filmography of Sam Fuller, this is the only film the director made during the 1970s. It's not on home video, and probably won't be unless a box set of the filmmaker's work is released at some point. It features low production values, half-baked performances, and a silly script that can never find a tone (Sometimes it's played as comedy, sometimes it tries to be quite serious, and it never really succeeds in either arena). The plot revolves around a private detective investigating a blackmailing ring in Germany (the film was produced for German television), but it's such an unfocused mess that it's not worth going into detail over. The only scene that stands out is when the main character (played by a mostly disengaged Glenn Corbett) goes to see a film starring John Wayne only to see the very American film star dubbed into German.

 

Spoiler: Movies Seen in 2011

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightening Thief - HBO
Tron Legacy 3D - theater
Clash of the Titans (2010) - HBO on Demand
Take Me Home Tonight - free screenin'
Sanctum - free screenin'
The Green Hornet - free screenin'
Green Zone - HBO
Fantastic Mr. Fox - HBO
True Grit (1969) - AMC
Ringu - DVD
Black Swan - Alamo Drafthouse (its not just a movie theater)
Unknown - free screenin'
The Losers - HBO
The Sunset Limited - HBO on Demand
Starsky & Hutch (2004) - Cinemax
Kick-Ass - DVD
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - DVD
The Adjustment Bureau - free screenin'
Rango - theater
Red (2010) - DVD rental
Hot Tub Time Machine - DVD rental
Harry Brown - DVD
Faster - DVD rental
Jonah Hex - DVD rental
Battle: L.A. - theater
The Girl who Played with Fire - DVD
The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - DVD rental
Leaves of Grass - DVD
Whiteout - Cinemax on Demand
Sucker Punch - free screenin'
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps - DVD
Paul - theater

Source Code - theater
Rio - free screenin'
The Fighter - DVD rental
Invictus - Cinemax
Scream 4 - theater
Fast Five - midnight screenin'
THOR - free screenin'
Priest - theater
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - midnight screenin'
X-Men: First Class - theater
Ramona and Beezus - HBO
Shrek Forever After - HBO
Super 8 - theater
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron - HBO

Found out that the early bird matinee price here is only $2.75 when I went to go see Super 8 earlier this week.

Pretty good movie, I liked it.

And since I'm still watchin' my brother's kids, we watched Spirit tonight on HBO. The girl got kind of upset about it a little, but the boy seemed to really like it.

 

Spoiler: Rest of my list

1. The Fighter: B-
2. Batman(90's saga): A-,B-,C-,D
3. Star Wars OT-Special Edition: B+, A, B
4. The Green Hornet: B
5. True Grit(1969): C+
6. Lord of the Rings saga: (A,A,A)
7. The Machinist: A-
8. Season of the Witch: B
9. Frozen: A-
10. Due Date: B+
11. Planet of the Apes(2001): B-
12. Faster: C
13. Romance: D (French film, subtitled)
14. YPF: C- (YPF=Young People F*&^ing)
15. The Beautiful Truth: B-
16. Strictly Sexual: C+
17. DOOM: C
18. Brothers: B+
19. Men In Black II: B-
20. The Crow: Wicked Prayer: C-
21. The Soloist: C
22. Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love: C+
23. I Now Pronounce you Chuck & Larry: B-
24. Battle in Heaven: C+ (Mexican film, subtitled)
25. Legion: B-
26. Battle: LA: B+
27. Righteous Kill: B
28. Dracula II: Ascension: B-
29. Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li: D
30. You Don't Mess With the Zohan: C+
31. Finding Bliss: C
32. Dracula III: Legacy: B-
33. Tangled: B+
34. Paul Blart Mall Cop: C-
35. Chloe: B
36. Kung Fu Panda: B-
37. Centurion: B
38. The People I've Slept With: C
39. Grown Ups: B-
40. The Conspirator: A-
41. XXX: State of the Union: C+
42. Fast Five: B+
43. THOR: A-
44. Priest: D+
45. The Fourth Kind: B+
46. POTC: On Stranger Tides: B-
47. Turtles Forever: A-
48. Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story: B+
49. Easy A: A

50. Inception: B
51. #1 Cheerleader Camp: D
52. Freakanomics: C+
53. Green Lantern: C
54. The American: C-

Saw this George Clooney movie about a hit man whose on the verge of retirement. The pacing is slow, slow, slow. The cinematography is great. What action scenes there are, are tame. You can figure out who the bad guy is in the film within no time. I'd heard the movie was dull and it was. It's been in my Netflix queue for awhile now and when I found out that Violante Placido was the female lead I had to watch. She is the female lead in Ghost Rider 2 next February and I felt the need to see what she was like. I got to see more of her than I bargained for and that was a nice bonus.

 

The American was an art film masquerading as an action thriller. I think it succeeds very well on its own terms -- as an artful, character study it's great -- but as an action thriller, it doesn't work. Of course, it was never supposed to be an action thriller, but Universal figured they could make more money marketing it that way. Too bad.

 

And on that score they were correct.

Spoiler: The rest of my list

1. In the Heat of the Night (A)
2. The Passion of Joan of Arc (B)
3. The Passion of the Christ (A)
4. Mamma Mia! (B)
5. All About Eve (A)
6. Looking for Anne (B-)
7. 2001: A Space Odyssey (B+)
8. The King's Speech (A)
9. How Green Was My Valley (B-)
10. Black Swan (B+)
11. Made in Dagenham (B)
12. Gentleman's Agreement (A-)
13. Barney's Version (A-)
14. Out of Africa (B)
15. The Social Network (A-)
16. The Sound of Music (B+)
17. Pulp Fiction (A)
18. Forrest Gump (A)
19. The Shawshank Redemption (A+)
20. The Illusionist (B)
21. The French Connection (B+)
22. Network (A+)
23. Incendies (A+)
24. Mrs. Miniver (A)
25. A Fistful of Dollars (B+)
26. For A Few Dollars More (B)
27. WALL-E (A+)
28. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (A)
29. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (B)
30. Gigi (B-)
31. I Love You Phillip Morris (B+)
32. How To Train Your Dragon (A)
33. Tarzan (B+)
34. Oliver! (B+)
35. Gosford Park (A-)
36. The Princess Bride (B+)
37. All the President's Men (A-)
38. Oliver Twist (B+)
39. My Fair Lady (A+)
40. Hanna (A-)
41. The Godfather (A+)
42. The Godfather: Part II (A+)
43. The Godfather: Part III (A-)
44. Dog Day Afternoon (A)
45. Taxi Driver (A-)
46. Great Expectations (B+)
47. The Last Airbender (D-)
48. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (A+)
49. Raging Bull (B+)
50. GoodFellas (A)
51. Spartacus (A+)
52. The Deer Hunter (B+)
53. Reservoir Dogs (A)
54. A Clockwork Orange (A)
55. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (A+)
56. Gone With The Wind (A+)
57. On the Waterfront (A)
58. Thor (A-)
59. The Seventh Seal (A-)
60. Hamlet (A)
61. All the King's Men (A-)
62. Roman Holiday (A+)
63. Rebecca (A-)
64. Notorious (A)
65. American Madness (B+)
66. It Happened One Night (A-)
67. Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (C-)
68. You Can't Take It With You (B+)
69. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (A-)

70. The Heiress (A+)
71. X-Men: First Class (A-)
72. Super 8 (B+)
73. Dr. No (B-)
74. From Russia With Love (A)
75. Captain Blood (A+)
76. The Best Years of Our Lives (A+)
77. The Adventures of Robin Hood (A+)
78. The Treasure of Sierra Madre (A+)

Four A+ films in a row; I may have to watch a bad movie to get some perspective.

I actually got this movie because for some reason the idea that it won Best Picture got into my head, but in fact it lost to Olivier's Hamlet, albeit while claiming the awards for director and adapted screenplay. Comparing the two, while Olivier's film was very good, I would say that this is the superior product. Humphrey Bogart started out playing villains before transitioning to anti-hero roles, but this has to be one of the most unglamourous roles ever taken by a major Hollywood star. The morality play elements might get a little obvious in places (and a lot of the Mexicans are a bit on the side of cartoony), but it's an exceptional product.

 

Green Lantern (2011) B. 3/4 stars.

 

The Silent Star

Probably better known as First Spaceship on Venus, although I saw the film in its original German cut with subtitles. An admirably serious minded science fiction film; perhaps the most idealistic aspect to me is simply the idea that scientists would be widely regarded and respected.

More believable, obviously, is an AI who can beat a human player at chess. An international crew whose sense of unity transcends national, racial, and Cold War boundaries (none of these cause the slightest bit of inter-crew tension) jet off on a pretty cool looking starship to, yes, Venus. They're high minded, noble, and while there's a couple of personal backgrounds that get brought up occasionally it's not much of a character piece.

Visually only really the colour seems a little jarring. The Silent Star is one of those early colour films that wants to remind you there's colour in every frame, it's very bright and there are a lot of primaries - a lot like a certain TV show you might have heard of. The special effects for the planet Venus are... weird.

Weird is good. I think weird - or generally, good design work - ages best, and this film's aged alright, I certainly rather liked the bizarre Venus it presented. The story follows a very unsurprising trajectory, but it's executed well enough.

It's a solid enough movie, not as confident as something like Solaris (as far as Eastern Europe Lem-adaptions go) or Woman on the Moon (as far as German extraplanetary expeditions go) but worth watching once.

The Mummy

Let's make another film like Dracula.

Just like Dracula. Let's bring back Van Helsing to play basically the same character. Let's have that scene again where he confronts the mysterious foreigner who is also undead in a private home. Also he wants the woman.

No, seriously let's repeat every beat.

ONLY MUMMIES!

Can we get Bela Lugosi? Do we want Bela Lugosi? Whatever. Boris Karloff does a good undead...

It's a fine, fun of a movie, brisk, entertaining, bit of an orientalist streak, has a nice brief flashback to Ancient Egypt. Boris Karloff is great, exuding menace even though he's a guy with weird cheeks and a fez for most of the movie (dropping the mummy wrappings early on). The rest of the characters are completely perfunctory, we're told their basic role in the story and it's off to the races.

I guess it was interesting to note that the power of Isis and her symbols plays basically the exact same role as the power of Christianity and the cross in Dracula. A mainstream Hollywood picture from the 1930s where the occultist is one of the heroes? That's something I didn't see coming.

Son of Dracula

Let's make another film like Dracula.

Actually let's just make another Dracula.

Poor Lon Chaney Jr. He's not convincing anyone with that light voice and all-American accent. He's as Eastern European as Los Angeles and as threatening as Elisha Cook, Jr. Tries his hardest, but as Draculas go 'Alucard' isn't a Lugosi, Lee, Schreck or Kinski.

He's actually upstaged by Evelyn Ankers as Claire Caldwell, whose morbid but completely willing love of vampirism is a nice contrast to the girls who are semi-compulsed by supernatural forces like in Lugosi's Dracula or indeed the Mummy.

Another solid Universal horror flick, all the same - these movies are punchy and short and memorable.

Flame & Citron

Enjoy films about resistance fighters in World War II?

Here's another one. This one is based on the true story of two members of the Danish resistance.

This is a strong film, making the most out of the murky ethical waters inherent in killing off targets on the say-so of your higher ups. A lot of people tell them a lot of stories at gunpoint. The stories change. The stories may not add up. It's one thing to pull the trigger, and another to be sure of the consequences.

The two leads - whose code names give the film its title are far from clean cut heroes - they're both fairly screwed up or naive in different ways - but they're still very much committed to the extremely dangerous task of killing Nazi collaborators and the Nazis themselves.

You can pretty much lump this in as yet another very solid continental Nazi/WW2 film from the last ten years, like Untergang or Sophie Scholl.

 

Spoiler: The rest of my list

1. In the Heat of the Night (A)
2. The Passion of Joan of Arc (B)
3. The Passion of the Christ (A)
4. Mamma Mia! (B)
5. All About Eve (A)
6. Looking for Anne (B-)
7. 2001: A Space Odyssey (B+)
8. The King's Speech (A)
9. How Green Was My Valley (B-)
10. Black Swan (B+)
11. Made in Dagenham (B)
12. Gentleman's Agreement (A-)
13. Barney's Version (A-)
14. Out of Africa (B)
15. The Social Network (A-)
16. The Sound of Music (B+)
17. Pulp Fiction (A)
18. Forrest Gump (A)
19. The Shawshank Redemption (A+)
20. The Illusionist (B)
21. The French Connection (B+)
22. Network (A+)
23. Incendies (A+)
24. Mrs. Miniver (A)
25. A Fistful of Dollars (B+)
26. For A Few Dollars More (B)
27. WALL-E (A+)
28. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (A)
29. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (B)
30. Gigi (B-)
31. I Love You Phillip Morris (B+)
32. How To Train Your Dragon (A)
33. Tarzan (B+)
34. Oliver! (B+)
35. Gosford Park (A-)
36. The Princess Bride (B+)
37. All the President's Men (A-)
38. Oliver Twist (B+)
39. My Fair Lady (A+)
40. Hanna (A-)
41. The Godfather (A+)
42. The Godfather: Part II (A+)
43. The Godfather: Part III (A-)
44. Dog Day Afternoon (A)
45. Taxi Driver (A-)
46. Great Expectations (B+)
47. The Last Airbender (D-)
48. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (A+)
49. Raging Bull (B+)
50. GoodFellas (A)
51. Spartacus (A+)
52. The Deer Hunter (B+)
53. Reservoir Dogs (A)
54. A Clockwork Orange (A)
55. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (A+)
56. Gone With The Wind (A+)
57. On the Waterfront (A)
58. Thor (A-)
59. The Seventh Seal (A-)
60. Hamlet (A)
61. All the King's Men (A-)
62. Roman Holiday (A+)
63. Rebecca (A-)
64. Notorious (A)
65. American Madness (B+)
66. It Happened One Night (A-)
67. Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (C-)
68. You Can't Take It With You (B+)
69. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (A-)

70. The Heiress (A+)
71. X-Men: First Class (A-)
72. Super 8 (B+)
73. Dr. No (B-)
74. From Russia With Love (A)
75. Captain Blood (A+)
76. The Best Years of Our Lives (A+)
77. The Adventures of Robin Hood (A+)
78. The Treasure of Sierra Madre (A+)
79. From Here To Eternity (A)

Y'know, given how famous that scene is, you'd think it'd last longer than five seconds.

Another quality film. Fittingly enough, the 70s on my list begin and end with the tortured love life of Montgomery Clift. Strong ensemble performances, including the people who won Oscars, Donna Reed (a long way from It's A Wonderful Life; though she'd be reduced to a TV sitcom within five years of this movie) and Frank Sinatra (very different from his standard persona; actually, I was amazed at how thin he was). I thought Deborah Kerr was the weakest of the main cast, but she was still good.

I had some reservations about what we were supposed to think of the actions of certain characters, particularly Burt Lancaster. After the ring is exposed and the NCOs reprimanded by the new captain, Lancaster and the captain share a conspiratorial smirk: but, er, Lancaster was the company sergeant and did absolutely nothing about the old captain, unless I missed it. If anything, he should have been reprimanded as well. It makes the final scene where he wryly comments on the outcome seem a little hollow. Likewise, he hears Sinatra's dying confession (as do several other people), and Ernest Borgnine doesn't appear to be hindered by it at all.

 

Spoiler: Rest of my list

1. The Fighter: B-
2. Batman(90's saga): A-,B-,C-,D
3. Star Wars OT-Special Edition: B+, A, B
4. The Green Hornet: B
5. True Grit(1969): C+
6. Lord of the Rings saga: (A,A,A)
7. The Machinist: A-
8. Season of the Witch: B
9. Frozen: A-
10. Due Date: B+
11. Planet of the Apes(2001): B-
12. Faster: C
13. Romance: D (French film, subtitled)
14. YPF: C- (YPF=Young People F*&^ing)
15. The Beautiful Truth: B-
16. Strictly Sexual: C+
17. DOOM: C
18. Brothers: B+
19. Men In Black II: B-
20. The Crow: Wicked Prayer: C-
21. The Soloist: C
22. Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love: C+
23. I Now Pronounce you Chuck & Larry: B-
24. Battle in Heaven: C+ (Mexican film, subtitled)
25. Legion: B-
26. Battle: LA: B+
27. Righteous Kill: B
28. Dracula II: Ascension: B-
29. Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li: D
30. You Don't Mess With the Zohan: C+
31. Finding Bliss: C
32. Dracula III: Legacy: B-
33. Tangled: B+
34. Paul Blart Mall Cop: C-
35. Chloe: B
36. Kung Fu Panda: B-
37. Centurion: B
38. The People I've Slept With: C
39. Grown Ups: B-
40. The Conspirator: A-
41. XXX: State of the Union: C+
42. Fast Five: B+
43. THOR: A-
44. Priest: D+
45. The Fourth Kind: B+
46. POTC: On Stranger Tides: B-
47. Turtles Forever: A-
48. Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story: B+
49. Easy A: A
50. Inception: B

51. #1 Cheerleader Camp: D
52. Freakanomics: C+
53. Green Lantern: C
54. The American: C-
55. Super 8: A

Great movie. I put a brief write up in the discussion thread. It's my 'surprise' hit of the summer.

 

"Inspector Gadget" (1999) C-. My brother made me watch this with him last night. I really wanted this film to work but it simply doesn't. It is too over the top and violent in some cases than the cartoon was. I realize that it intended to make more realistic versions of the characters and objects that we came to know and love in the cartoon but none of that works in the movie. Matthew Broderick is fine as "John Brown"/Gadget. In fact he gives a likeable performance. Rupert Everett would have been perfect for Dr. Claw if he didn't phone it in with an incredibly stupid over the top, cringe worthy performance. It was pathetic in a way. I forgot that this movie introduced Michelle Tractchenberg. She does a good job of playing Penny...although I missed her not having the computer book, there were multiple occasions in the movie to make use of her and Brain more than they did but whatever. Joely Fisher was decent as the love interest and scientist who creates Gadget. It was also fun seeing some of Gadget's gadgets come to life. It was a nice touch to have Don Adams as the voice of Brain. I would have had him voice the car.