Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Films I Saw in May

Act of Violence

I've been listening to a lot of music lately for SoundSpec Awards posts, so I only watched a few films last month. Here's a quick ranking of what little I did see.

8. Leap Year
D

7. Special Correspondents
D+

6. High-Rise
C-

5. Colonia
C+

4. Get Along
B

3. The Con - The Movie
B

2. NausicaƤ of the Valley of the Wind
B

1. Act of Violence
B

8 comments:

  1. I'm disappointed that Colonia only received a C+...I was looking forward to that one. :\

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    1. It's not a must-watch, but you might find it interesting. It's not bad - just kind of mediocre.

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  2. Wow it was light viewing for you last month. I've only seen two of these...your lowest ranked and your top.

    I've tried and tried but I just don't like Amy Adams and I didn't like the film either.

    Now Act of Violence is one tough, hard black film with some really brilliant acting. Heflin and Janet Leigh were good but Mary Astor and Robert Ryan were great.

    Don't know if you caught the film on TCM though I'm guessing you did since Ryan was Star of the Month for May. Robert Ryan is one of my top five favorite actors, just behind John Garfield and Richard Widmark, so I took full advantage to see as much of his filmography as possible. That's what I love about that particular feature, it enables you to see some of the performer's really obscure work. Sometimes it's good and sometimes bad but you can get a clear picture of the scope of their talent. Especially with someone like Ryan who remained in demand up until his death you got to watch him progress from small bits through starring roles to significant supporting roles in the emerging new cinema of the late 60's/early 70's.

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    1. Films like Junebug, Enchanted, Doubt, and Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day made me an Adams fan, but Leap Year is terrible. It's just so...bland.

      Yeah, I saw AOV on TCM, and Robert Ryan was effortlessly great in it. Such an underrated actor. It's odd that he landed an early Oscar nom and was never recognized again throughout his long career.

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    2. Odd that the same situation happened to Robert Mitchum of the early nom and then nothing despite YEARS of consistent brilliance. Another example of when you always offer exemplary work it's taken for granted.

      Yet a mediocre talent like Jennifer Jones managed to racked up five nominations and a win. I makes the mind reel.

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    3. And the trend continues for modern actors like Michael Shannon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Casey Affleck, and (potentially) Tom Hardy. I'd argue they're pretty consistent, but the Oscars tend to overlook them.

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  3. I'm most curious to see High-Rise though I have to brace myself for some of the bizarre & violent scenes.

    Yep, agree that Leap Year is a whole lot of rubbish!

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    1. Haha, High-Rise is definitely full of those. I can usually overlook some flaws in rom-coms, but Leap Year was SO bad.

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