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| Micmacs |
The Best:
1. Micmacs - A
2. Archipelago - A
3. Ex Machina - A
4. The Harder They Fall - A
5. Tuesday, After Christmas - A
6. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains - A
7. Coup de Torchon - A-
8. Beyond the Hills - A-
9. This is 40 - A-
10. How I Ended This Summer - A-
The Rest:
Arabesque - B-
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas - B-
Child 44 - C
Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean - B
Distant - B+
Furious 7 - B
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief - B
Goodbye to Language - B-
I'm Still Here - B
Insurgent - B
Le Quattro Volte - B-
Matador - A-
Miral - C
Olympus Has Fallen - B
One Foot in Heaven - B
Peacock - B-
The People vs. George Lucas - B-
The Return of the Soldier - B+
The Seven-Ups - B-
Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll - B+
Sorcerer - A-
Tabu (2012) - B+
Tempest (1982) - B-
Test Pilot - B
Unrelated - A-
White House Down - B
Woman in Gold - B-
Rewatched:
Fast & Furious - B-
Fast & Furious 6 - B+
The Fast and the Furious - B
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift - B-
Fast Five - B
Mauvais Sang - A+
Sid & Nancy - A
2 Fast 2 Furious - B
45 Films Watched - 37 New, 8 Rewatched
Both you and Fisti praising This is 40 makes me want to see it
ReplyDeleteI agree with Fisti. I thought it was hilarious, and I loved it. Hope you get a chance to see it! :)
DeleteTuesday, After Christmas!?!?! I really liked that one. Sadly, I couldn't fit it anywhere in the Fistis, but it's so good.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it just missed my Original Screenplay lineup, but I loved it.
DeleteVery cool Josh! I only saw about half of what you did, even w/ the local film festival. But I did finish season 1 of two tv series, so that was pretty productive. Glad to see you give Ex Machina an A, such an excellent film!
ReplyDeleteThanks Ruth! Nicely done on those TV series. I also managed to get through season 1 of The Wire, and I'm on season 2 now. :)
DeleteHmm...The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. I saw that a couple of times as a teenager and was bored with it. I also remember it being a flop at the box-office. You're giving it a B is making me think about revisiting it.
ReplyDeleteI mostly liked it, but I wouldn't strongly recommend it, unless one was a completist and hadn't seen it. ;)
DeleteThe People vs. George Lucas I found quite entertaining, especially the reaction to the star wars prequels. I thought the fanboys were fun to listen to.
ReplyDeleteReally looking forward to Ex Machina, glad you loved it!
Yeah, The People vs. George Lucas was entertaining, if not one of the best documentaries.
DeleteEx Machina was awesome! Hope you like it!
An interesting collection of films this month. Arabesque and Test Pilot are more fun viewed as star vehicles for their iconic cast than great movies but on those terms they are enjoyable and Arabesque is beautiful to look at as well. Dolly Parton and Charles Durning make their version of BLWiT passable but overall I thought it was a gaudy mess.
ReplyDeleteGoing Clear I stumbled across by chance and thought it was a fascinating look at a very warped way of life.
I saw Sorcerer in a nearly empty theatre on its original release and while it isn't quite a match for Wages of Fear it's a very good attempt and a solid picture on its own terms.
I saw Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean on its initial release too, it's not a great film but again what a cast! I like it though because it doesn't shoot to be more than a quirky oddity. I just read a wonderful overview of it a few weeks about at this site, here's the link if you're interested.
http://lecinemadreams.blogspot.com/2015/03/come-back-to-5-dime-jimmy-dean-jimmy.html
Lastly I'm so glad you caught up with The Return of the Soldier and that you liked it. I would give it an A myself, if only for the acting of the four principals, but a B+ is a solid grade. Would love to hear what you thought of it in a bit more detail.
Thanks. My viewing habits tend to be random, unless I'm watching several films from one or two particular years.
DeleteYeah, I enjoyed Arabesque, Test Pilot, and even BLWiT, despite its failures.
Going Clear was, indeed, fascinating. I'll never look at Tom Cruise the same way, but I still enjoy his films.
I agree that Sorcerer works well on its own, though The Wages of Fear is on another level.
Nice Jimmy Dean link! The film is really elevated by the performances. Otherwise, it's not particularly memorable.
The Return of the Soldier was a great acting vehicle for its stars, but I found it somewhat underwhelming overall. I think I actually would've preferred a longer cut. While I liked the film a lot, it barely scratched the surface of these characters. I would've liked a bit more from it.
I can see your point about what a longer version could bring to Soldier, those people have a whole lot of unresolved issues for sure. I would have been happy if they had spent hours at those windows and the nursery since some of the most powerful moments happened in those two places. It's just so full of astonishing performances, it's a very high bar but I think it contains some of the best work any of the four main performers ever did. This was the film where I fell for Julie Christie, followed shortly after by Fahrenheit 451 (I was lucky enough to see both in the theatre, Soldier on its initial release and 451 on a special re-release) and hers has always been my favorite performance in the film but Drew over at a Fistful of Films preferred Glenda Jackson. It's a tough call since both are brilliant along with Bates and Ann-Margret.
DeleteI'm glad you enjoyed the Jimmy Dean link, that site is one of my favorites. He always writes such in depth, thoughtful examinations of the films he turns his eye to and is fond of the older and more obscure films which I love as well.
I haven't seen Fahrenheit 451 yet. It's on my watchlist.
DeleteBates is best in show for me, but I also prefer Jackson to Christie, though they're both great.
I really want to see Ex Machina. I love that you have Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmie Dean, Jimmie Dean & This Is 40 here. I think they rank among Altman and Apatow's best films.
ReplyDeleteEx Machina is SO good. Hope you get to see it soon! This is 40 is easily my favorite Apatow film, though I wouldn't rank Jimmie Dean as one of Altman's finest.
DeleteHow was Mirren in The Woman in Gold?
ReplyDeleteShe was good, but the film is so vanilla. If you like Mirren, then I'd recommend it, though it's not essential viewing.
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