What Films did You Watch Last Week (06/05 - 12/05) CLOSED

Welcome back to another week of the BEST & WORST edition of 'what movies did you see last week?' thread. For those who haven't been part of it before, basically your host (me) posts my weekly movies and you can comment on those and list your movie for the same time frame. I will get back to you on yours and you can talk to other users here about their films. It's a great place to talk about film.

FIRST TIME MOVIE VIEWING

Underworld U.S.A. (1961, Samuel Fuller)
This stylishly shot but very grim neo-noir film follows a teenager who witnesses the murder of his father vows to exact revenge on the four mobsters involved in the killing.
The film is pretty relentless and tough  and maybe with too few sympathetic characters but its stunning to look at and has a lot of memorable set pieces.
6.5/10

Prospect (2018, Christopher Caldwell, Zeek Earl)
Netflix
This bleak yet often beautiful scifi is more a character piece than one of spectacle. The performances are strong and the film does not out wear its welcome.
6/10

REPEAT MOVIE VIEWING

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005, George Lucas)
blu ray
This is the first time I have been able to stomach going back through the Star Wars films since the insulting cinematic abortion that was The Last Jedi. This was always the clear best of the prequel films and this rewatch confirms its staying power compared to the two prior films in the trilogy. For a start George finally got the visual effects to a much more consistent and acceptable level. His direction is also much better from a visual standpoint. He was never good at getting performances (which is evident in the previous episodes) but here much of the cast have had a lot of screen time to get used to the soulless way George made these films and some turned in some good performances. Ewan McGregor is the highlight and the battle between his character and Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker works on all levels. The percentage of this films bad choices are so much smaller than prior and this is really the only one that stands the test of time.
7.5/10

Stalker (1979, Andrei Tarkovsky)
I liked this lauded film better this second time around but I feel it still has some unneeded postulating and not enough story to justify the screen time.
6/10

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002, George Lucas)
blu ray
This is the first time I have been able to stomach going back through the Star Wars films since the insulting cinematic abortion that was The Last Jedi. This film instantly rises above its predecessor with the near elimination of the Jar Jar Binks character and the re-casting of Anakin Skywalker. It also has a much better tone overall but still many shaky parts. The effects are still a very mixed bag and much of the problems from the prior film exist in this department. Overall it is still not a very good film but has a lower percentage of bad decisions than the Phantom Menace.
5.5/10

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999, George Lucas)
blu ray
This is the first time I have been able to stomach going back through the Star Wars films since the insulting cinematic abortion that was The Last Jedi. The Phantom Menace for all its many problems at least feels like it is in the star Wars universe and the characters and story arc are on the correct trajectory. George Lucas is not a great director or script writer but he did have an excellent story arc planned out for this prequel trilogy with some great ideas and character moments. His problem is more with execution than anything else. He had a stubborn vision of pushing the digital effects further than they have before. Unfortunately he pushed them further than the test of time would allow them and in the end the prequel trilogy (especially Eps I & 2) do not have as good effects as the original trilogy from 20 years prior. Also the tone for this is all over the place with George misjudging his audience. The final lightsabre  battle is still a high point for the series though and the John Williams score as usual is magical.
4/10

FIRST TIME TV DOCUMENTARY SERIES VIEWING

The Case Against Adnan Syed (2019, HBO)
tv
I have been following this case of injustice for many years and have listened to the two main extensive podcasts on it and I enjoyed this four part series that at least offered an update as well as some new nuggets of information.
Highly Recommended

WEEKLY FILM AWARDS

BEST FILM: Revenge of the Sith
BEST ACTOR: Pedro Pascal - Prospect
BEST ACTRESS: Sophie Thatcher - Prospect
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Ewan McGregor
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Beatrice Kay - Underworld U.S.A.
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Hal Mohr - Underworld U.S.A.
BEST SCORE: John Williams - Revenge of the Sith
BEST DIRECTOR: Samuel Fuller - Underworld U.S.A.


10/10 - Perfection (or as close to it as possible)
09/10 - An Excellent film
08/10 - A VERY Good film
07/10 - A Good film
06/10 - A Solid film
05/10 - An Average film
04/10 - Below Average film
03/10 - A mostly bad film
02/10 - A mostly terrible film
01/10 - Awful through and through
00/10 - Not only awful but offensive too