What Films did You Watch Last Week (02/09 - 08/09) 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

Casualties of War (1989, Brian De Palma)
This film is based on a true story set during the Vietnam War. Michael J. Fox (Back to the Future) plays a soldier who finds himself the outsider of his own squad when they unnecessarily kidnap a female villager.
It is a very well done film but the subject matter is quite harrowing and not one I'd care to visit again despite  liking the film itself.
7/10

Dressed to Kill (1980, Brian De Palma)
This De Palma project as often the case is a stylish mess but an enjoyable one. It is the story of a mysterious blonde woman who kills one of a psychiatrist's patients, and then goes after the high-class call girl who witnessed the murder.
The film has a very sexy first act and some great Hitchcockian (a signature and major influence of the director) tension building murder. De Palma where is influences to broadly but he is certainly a visual craftsman.
6.5/10

The Fury (1978, Brian De Palma)
After the success of Carrie (1976), De Palma returns to similar material with this film about a former CIA agent (Kirk Douglas) who uses the talents of a young psychic to help retrieve his telekinetic son from terrorists, who want to use his mental powers for evil.
Unlike Carrie however this is not nearly as disciplined and suffers from some of the directors worst instincts. It is still a great looking film with some great set pieces and fun to watch.
6/10

Last Night (1998, Don McKellar)
A group of very different individuals with different ideas of how to face the end come together as the world is expected to end in six hours at the turn of the century.
As it moves between the myriad of characters it never bores and is worth a watch.
6/10

Warlock (1959, Edward Dmytryk)
Henry Fonda plays a famous gunman who becomes the marshal of Warlock to end a gang's rampages, but is met with some opposition by a former gang member turned deputy sheriff (Richard Widmark) who wants to follow only legal methods.
However the most interesting relationship is the one between Henry Fonda and Anthony Quin's character. It is a bit of an exhausting watch for the first two acts but picks up in the third and is quite rewarding.
6/10

Snake Eyes (1998, Brian De Palma)
Nic cage is fun in the lead role as the cop investigating a murder inside a casino but this is a real mess and is the kind of film that makes me always have doubts going into a De Palma directed film.
3/10

REPEAT MOVIE VIEWING

Strangers on a Train (1951, Alfred Hitchcock)
blu ray
This is top tier Hitchcock where a psychopath (Robert Walker) forces a tennis star (Farley Granger) to comply with his theory that two strangers can get away with murder.
Walker is deliriously good as the flamboyant antagonist in this film that has so many memorable moments, most of which he is a part of. The deft comedy and the artistically staged set pieces combined with one of the all time great finales makes this a must see.
9/10

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992, Francis Ford Coppola)
UHD Disc
The visual craft on display here is superb and most of the performances match, especially Gary Oldman in a career best as Prince Vlad (Dracula). This is y favourite adaptation of the Stoker text and certainly the largest scale film of the many versions. Coppola directs Keanu Reeves (Point Break) as best he can and although the "actor" out of his depth here, he could have been worse. One might imagine how much better this film could have been if the studio did not insist on a commercial star to be front and centre in this dark tale.
8/10

Blow Out (1981, Brian De Palma)
Using the same initial set up as the 1966 film Blow-up, we have a thriller where a sound recorder (John Travolta) for film accidentally records the evidence that proves a car accident was actually murder and consequently finds himself in danger.
I had seen this film before and enjoyed the build up but was let down by the third act. This time I enjoyed the entire film despite some elements of the final stretch being a little rushed with some scenes being re-shot with a different cinematographer after some reels went missing. The visuals are stunning and this has to be one of the directors best.
7.5-8/10

Death Proof (2007, Quentin Tarantino)
blu ray
Tarantino riffs on a B movie horror sees Kurt Russell having a lot of fun playing Stuntman Mike who is obsessed with killing young twenty something girls via vehicular Homicide. The film is broken into two halves with a 14 month period between them that some might find tedious at times but the last twenty minutes of the film is sure to excite anyone with a pulse.
7.5/10

Back to the Future Part III (1990, Robert Zemeckis)
blu ray
The final part of the trilogy is a little slower paced than the others but is a satisfying ending to the series. This one does not reach the highs or swing to the lows of the previous entry and is a much more consistent effort.
7/10

Turk 182 (1985, Bob Clark)
This little remembered drama sees Timothy Hutton (Beautiful Girls) playing artist Jimmy Lynch who is angry because his older brother, who was injured as a result of an off duty fire rescue and is denied benefits by the city.
The films set pieces are still exciting and uplifting but its the drama between these moments that are a bit rough and not held up that well. The film has a good cast and they do their best with the dialogue but a better script could have really helped.
6/10

Innocent Blood (1992, John Landis)
Innocent Blood (known in Europe as A French Vampire in America) sees John Landis (American Werewolf in London) return to the comedy horror genre with this sexy vampire tale. I really want to like this film more and it has all the ingredients but just doesn't quite work. The casting is great and the film looks beautiful but the pacing is certainly a bit languid at times. Perhaps a better edit could have saved it better but I'm not sure that would fix everything.
5.5/10

Hi, Mom! (1970, Brian De Palma)
This is an odd film that goes all over the place but in quite a delightful but not always successful way.
4.5/10

Mission to Mars (2000, Brian De Palma)
De Palma's voice is mostly lost here in this large production of a mission to Mars that goes wrong and a rescue team is sent out only to discover some ancient secrets of the universe. It plods along ok but does not look as good as deep space sci-fi films from before and after it but it is the ending which is far too spelled out and comes off like a school lesson.
4.5/10

FIRST TIME DOCUMENTARY VIEWING

De Palma (2015, Noah Baumbach, Jake Paltrow)
A documentary about writer and director Brian De Palma. Despite having problems with many of his films (even those i like) and flat out disliking quite a few more, De Palma is an interesting figure and I like that he is an outsider. This pushed me a long quicker on my De Palma quest of finally getting around to some of his films on my watchlist and overdue rewatches of others.
Recommended

FIRST TIME TV VIEWING

Glow (2019, Season Three)
Netflix
Good season but the first half was a little unfocused. It ends strong enough though.
Good Television

WEEKLY FILM AWARDS

BEST FILM: Strangers on a Train
BEST ACTOR: John Travolta - Blow Out
BEST ACTRESS: Anne Parillaud - Innocent Blood
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Robert Walker - Strangers on a Train 
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Angie Dickinson - Dressed to Kill
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Vilmos Zsigmond - Blow Out
BEST SCORE: Ennio Morricone - Casualties of War
BEST SCRIPT: Raymond Chandler - Strangers on a Train
BEST DIRECTOR: Francis Ford Coppola - Bram Stoker's Dracula


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