What Films did You Watch Last Week (10/12 - 16/12) 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

Roma (2018, Alfonso Cuaron)
Netflix
A much more personal story this time out for Oscar winning director Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity) that is shot in glorious black and white that conjures thoughts of Federico Fellini. It is set in 1970's Mexico and is an epic of sorts that might nab Cuaron a second directorial oscar.
8/10

Bumblebee (2018, Travis Knight)
cinema
Well after 5 films in the transformers franchise where that were all directed and the last four with full autonomy by serial film rapist Michael Bay to extremely hostile reviews and decreasing box office we now have a course correction/ reboot film that he thankfully has nothing to do with.
Trying to conjure up the feeling of the original 80's wave of mania for the characters this film is set in 1987 as somewhat a prequel to the other films or perhaps (hopefully) just a do-over. We see fan favourite Bumblebee in a smaller scale adventure that takes much of its structure from Steven Spielberg's E.T. and for the first time the Transformers themselves actually have characters that are important to the film and also look like actual Transformers.
We have gone from a series of films marketed at kids that are sexualised, lowest common denominator 'humour' with racial stereotypes, bad scripts and high octane clusterfuck action sequences that are most likely not good for childrens development to now a mostly low octane, family friendly, well structured character piece that is much truer to the source material.
It may sound like this lower budget entry is a total winner and in comparison it is by far the best live action film in the series but it is a little bloated with slightly messy action scenes at times and still a little but too goofy.
All in all this is a very successful course correction that should please fan of the original franchise as well as those who like an 80's setting and great 80's music. It certainly does not touch the classic Animated film from 1986 but its a step in the right direction and another plus is its critical success and hopefully financial success will eat away at whatever is left of that clueless asshole Michael Bays soul.
6/10

FIRST TIME DOCUMENTARY VIEWING

Who Killed Jam Master Jay? (2018)
Netflix
Interesting documentary following the leads of the still unsolved murder of Run DMC famed DJ Jam Master Jay.
Recommended

FIRST TIME TV VIEWING

Australian Survivor (2018, Season Five)
tv
This show has now surpassed its American counterpart with a longer more challenging format.
Recommended

Star Wars: Rebels (2017, Season Four)
blu ray
This final season of the show may start a little slow but finished very strong and goes to show why series creator Dave Felloni (Star Wars: Clone Wars) should be in charge of the live action Star Wars films.
Recommended

WEEKLY AWARDS

BEST FILM: Roma
BEST ACTRESS: Yalitza Aparicio - Roma
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Marina de Tavira - Roma
BEST SCRIPT: Alfonso Cuaron - Roma
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Alfonso Cuaron - Roma
BEST DIRECTOR: Alfonso Cuaron - Roma


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