What Films did You Watch Last Week (14/01 - 20/01) 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

Glass (2019, M. Knight Shyalaman)
Cinema
Ninteen years ago M. Night Shyamalan made a 75 million dollar film called Unbreakable when he was hot off the heels of a world wide sensation with The Sixth Sense. The film film did okay money wise (248 million) and with critics but did not generate the excitement of his prior hit but has since garnered a very strong following despite talk of it becoming a trilogy having long gone silent. Fast forward to 2016, Shyamalan after a string of high profile, higher budget flops is now making smaller budget films and gets himself a big hit with the 9 million dollar film Split that goes on to make over 278 million. Not only that, the final post climax scene ties it to the Unbreakable universe, setting up the highly anticipated Glass that will serve to cap the trilogy as a sequel to both Unbreakable and Split.
I am happy to report that despite the massive success of Split that Glass is a low budget film made for just 20 million dollars with a great deal of that presumably going to the larger cast. This film brings together characters from Unbreakable (Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Spencer Treat Clark and others) and Split (James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy) with a bevy of new characters. The feeling of comic book mythology that was expertly woven into Unbreakable is back here in spades and this definitely feels more the tone of that film. I won't go into specifics but the story elements of the first half hour feels what someone would typically make as the entire third film in this trilogy but Shyamalan wisely goes into some different territory and we get some great scenes with the characters in a slower paced middle section of the film. Unfortunately not every character really gets to shine here as is common with many team up films each person only has a limited time which makes this film unlike both prior entries really only viewing for people who have seen the others, definitely not a stand alone tale.
They make the most of the limited budget and as is often the case with good film makers, it makes them more creative. It is a nice looking film and well made but I think the abundance of POV shots could have been tempered back a a little. The performances from the many characters were all great but as expected James McAvoy steals the show taking on his role from Split again as the man with 23 different personalities (of which he plays 20 here). There were a few things along the way that seemed like lazy or silly scripting that did get a new light once the final twist was revealed. Speaking of twists, there is more than one and he may have overdone it. I imagine the ending will not be for everyone but I enjoyed the film from start to finish, there was a possibility for a while that it would have made the Kill Bill Vol.2 error of promising a big showdown and not delivering but the route they went in the end worked much better. In the end I am happy with this film despite preferring the previous two entries and it has become quite the trilogy.. one that I will revisit.
7/10

Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018, David Slade)
Netflix
In a strange experiment Black Mirror have made a movie that essentially plays like a pick-a-path book or adventure game. You the viewer gets to make choices where the story goes from the mundane to the less mundane. Unfortunately often the choices you make are rerouted pretty quickly to the opposing choice in one way or another, or even worse it just gives you the option to go back to another part of the movie and try again. I like movies, I do not like games so I would have rather watched one coherent movie trying to get across the same ideas.  It's not all just gimmick for gimmicks sake as the gimmick itself is an important thematic part of the story being told but ultimately this was not for me.
4.5/10

Where the Day takes you (1992, Marc Rocco)
This forgotten film has an all star cast who play among other things a group of teen-age runaways who try to survive in the streets of Los Angeles. Drugs, prostitution, violence and bureaucratic indifference all pose threats to the kids, who nevertheless prefer this harsh life to going back to their families. It is trying very hard to be gritty and poignant but I am not buying it but it seems the following actors bought into it, Christian Slater, Kyle MacLachlan, Lara Flynn Boyle, Ricki Lake, Sean Astin, Will Smith, Alyssa Milano and David Arquette.
3.5/10

REPEAT MOVIE VIEWING

Trading Places (1983, John Landis)
blu ray
This great Eddie Murphy comedy still works. Great cast, fun script and a lot of laughs.
8/10

Beverly Hills Cop (1984, Martin Brest)
blu ray
Great action comedy and another one of Eddie Murphy's great early vehicles.
7.5/10

The Plague Dogs (1982, Martin Rosen)
blu ray
In 1978 Martin Rosen directed the animated film based on the Richard Adams novel of the same name, Watership Down. This was a surprise hit despite not being suitable for most children and being somewhat disturbing.
Four years later, Rosen returned to direct this film based on another Richard Adams novel using the same team of animators and many of the same voice actors. This one however would be far to bleak and disturbing, eventually falling into obscurity. The film followed two dogs who have escaped from a vivisection lab and are suspected to be carrying the bubonic plague. As they struggle to survive on the outside world they are also being hunted down by police and the lab workers. Many a grizzly setback befalls them , so much that the American release of the film was severely cut. I recommend the much longer international cut, although either version is heartbreaking.
The animation (like Watership Down) is quite crude but it is still effective. The film is a tearjerker and won’t make you feel good but is an excellent and important film. It is the saddest film I’ve seen beating out another animated film Grave of the Fireflies.
7.5/10

What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice (1969, Lee H. Katzin)
blu ray
This is the third in a Robert Aldrich produced series of Psycho biddy films and the most entertaining for my money. The cast do a great job with the material, it is the direction however that is a little uninspired and TV show like.
7/10

FIRST TIME TV VIEWING

Survivor (2018, Season Thirty Seven)
Pretty average season of the show, I don't think this will be considered to be a great season by many.
Recommended for Fans Only

WEEKLY AWARDS

BEST FILM: Trading Places
BEST ACTOR: James McAvoy - Glass
BEST ACTRESS: Geraldine Page - What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Spencer Treat Clark
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Ruth Gordon - What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice
BEST SCRIPT: M. Knight Shyalaman - Glass
BEST SCORE: Harold Faltermeyer - Beverly Hills Cop
BEST DIRECTOR: M. Knight Syalaman - Glass

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