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Sunday, November 2, 2014

Films I Saw in October

A Swedish Love Story

The Best:

1. A Swedish Love Story - ****
2. Man on Wire - ****
3. Girl on the Bridge - ****
4. Wild at Heart - ****
5. Tess - ****
6. The Yards - ****
7. Dressed to Kill - ****
8. Fury (2014) (x2) - ****
9. Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai - ****
10. The Grifters - ****

The Rest:

Airport - ***1/2
An Angel at My Table - ***
Awakenings - ***1/2
Bad Timing - ***1/2
Battle Royale - ***1/2
Beau Travail - ***1/2
The Book of Life - ***
The Boxtrolls - ***
Breaker Morant - ***1/2
The Cell - ***
Claire's Knee - ****
Dreams - ***1/2
Fame (1980) - ***1/2
George Washington - ***1/2
Ghost - ***1/2
The Gift - ***
Girlfight - ***
Gloria (1980) - **
Gone Girl - ***1/2
Hollow Man - ***
The House of Mirth - ***
I Never Sang for My Father - ***
Jesus' Son - ***
Ju Dou - ***1/2
Kagemusha - ***
La Femme Nikita - ***1/2
Last Exit to Brooklyn - ***
Let It Be - ***
Longtime Companion - ***
Love & Basketball - ***
Lovers and Other Strangers - ***
Melvin and Howard - ***1/2
Metropolitan - ***1/2
Miami Blues - ***1/2
Nightcrawler - ***1/2
Pollock - ***
Resurrection - **1/2
Ryan's Daughter - ***1/2
Scrooge (1970) - ***
The Stunt Man - ***
Testament of Orpheus - ***1/2
Tigerland - ***
Tora! Tora! Tora! - **1/2
Tristana - ***1/2
Women in Love - ***1/2
Yi Yi - ***1/2

Rewatched:

The Shining - ****

57 Films Watched - 56 New, 1 Rewatched

8 comments:

  1. That's quite a list. I didn't like The Grifters quite as much as you, probably the inclusion of John Cusack in the cast-I'm not much of a fan, but Angelica Huston is unbelievably great in it.

    I LOVE Airport. I have a soft spot for disaster films and the big three, The Towering Inferno, The Poseidon Adventure and this are the ones I watch over and over.

    There's a couple of films with the title, is that the Ellen Burstyn Resurrection you watched?

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    1. I might not be watching as many films over the next few months, as I'm planning to blog more. Still, I'll probably get near 50 a month.

      The Grifters is so much fun. Huston (my #6 choice for Best Actress that year) and Bening (my Supporting Actress winner) are wonderful.

      I love those old disaster films as well. I didn't know what to expect with Airport, but I really enjoyed it.

      Yeah, that's the Burstyn Resurrection. The film is lacking, but her performance is great.

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    2. I agree that some of Resurrection's story line is improbable but Ellen is so brilliant, I haven't gotten to that year yet to see who else I'd nominate but I know of the academy's nominees that year she would be my clear winner. Eva Le Gallienne gives a really beautiful performance as Grandma Pearl too, again she'd be my choice to win in that year's race.

      I saw you were underwhelmed with Gloria. It's been years since I watched the film but I remember it having a terrific gritty feeling, very New York in the late '70's and Gena Rowlands could not have been tougher. Thinking back on it now I don't recall much of the story except her standing in the middle of the street firing a gun but I do remember how fantastic Gena was.

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    3. Interesting choices. Right now, I nominate Burstyn, and give my actress wins to Sissy Spacek for Coal Miner's Daughter and Charlotte Rampling for Stardust Memories.

      Rowlands was good, but I was disinterested from the start. To quote Ebert: "I sat there...nothing happened." I love Cassavetes, but that film felt like a big misfire. I just watched Minnie and Moskowitz, and that film was much better, as was Rowlands.

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  2. Incredible! Even w/ the film fest going on, I still watched less films than you did Josh. Oooh, A Swedish Love Story looks good, did you review that yet? I'm curious now.

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    1. Haha, I'm so glad I don't have to cram in so many movies anymore! It's just catching up on weeks of blog reading I've missed now. :) I haven't reviewed A Swedish Love Story, but it's a special little coming-of-age teen romance. It's on Youtube if you're interested.

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  3. Great set of films, at least of the ones I've seen. Glad to see the love for Grifters. It's so often overlooked. Also love the high score for Battle Royale, aka the original (and better) Hunger Games.

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    1. Thanks. It's strange that The Grifters is overlooked, given the (deserved) Oscar attention it received. Ha, Battle Royale is certainly better than The Hunger Games, but I did enjoy Catching Fire quite a bit.

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