What did You Watch Last Week (02/03 - 08/03) 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

Pray for the Wildcats (1974, Robert Michael Lewis)
This made for tv movie is considered by its fan to be a minor classic and whilst I would not go that far, it's pretty damn good. It follows three ad agency executives who are pressured into taking a motorbike trip to Baja by a big-ticket client who is a bit crazy. All three of the executives have different dilemmas at home that influence their actions on the road... interesting stuff. It is a little puffed up by long montages of bike riding through the Mexican desert but has a great score that gets shown off in this sequences so it balances out. Another thing of note is that the executives all wear shirts that look like they are from Star Trek the original series, made funnier by one of them being played by William Shatner.
7/10

Patterns (1956, Fielder Cook)
Written by Rod Serling (The Twilight Zone) we take a look at the ruthless corporate culture of the 50's. Interesting and well acted with a dark tone.
6/10

The Intruder (1962, Roger Corman)
A man in a gleaming white(William Shatner) suit comes to a small Southern town on the eve of integration. He calls himself a social reformer. But what he does is stir up trouble... trouble he soon finds he can’t control.
6/10

Bleed for This (2016, Ben Younger)
Netflix
The inspirational true story of World Champion Boxer Vinny Pazienza (Miles Teller), who after a near fatal car crash, which left him not knowing if he’d ever walk again, made one of sports most incredible comebacks.
It is a great story but the film does not quite work, it has its moments though.
6/10

REPEAT MOVIE VIEWING

Any Given Sunday (1999, Oliver Stone)
blu ray
I do not like American Football but this film makes it exciting with its interplay of on field and behind the scenes action with an anchoring performance by Al Pacino as the head coach. Stone directed the fuck out of this one too, great stuff.
7.5/10

Arbitrage (2012, Nicholas Jerecki)
blu ray
This little independent thriller stars Richard Gere as a  troubled hedge fund magnate, who is  desperate to complete the sale of his trading empire. He makes an error that forces him to turn to an unlikely person for help.
A smart debut for this writer director.
7.5/10

U Turn (1997, Oliver Stone)
blu ray
This film borrows a lot of similar plot elements from Red Rock West which was made 4 years earlier but is very different in tone and execution. There is no mistaking this as an Oliver Stone film as it has all his unique visual stylings and an all star cast that only a director of his position can wrangle. The film is a little bloated and could’ve lost the John Voight stuff and be tightened up here and there but it’s still a fun sweaty crime adventure.
7/10

Gotcha! (1985, Jeff Kanew)
I have not seen this since it came out and I had fond memories of that viewing. Unfortunately time has not been kind to this film that follows a student (Anthony Edwards) on a trip to France who is tricked into smuggling secrets across the Iron Curtain by a sexy spy (Linda Fiorentino).
The films mix of tones does not really work but it still has some fun scenes.
5/10

FIRST TIME TV VIEWING

Atypical (2019, Season Three)
Netflix
Another great season, look forward to the final fourth season.
Good tv

I.m Not okay with this (2020, Season One)
Netflix
This show set around a teen who discovers she has powers could actually still work without any of the super powers part as the characters and world were set up well enough to be a straight drama.
Good tv

WEEKLY FILM AWARDS

BEST FILM: Any Given Sunday
BEST ACTOR: Al Pacino - Any Given Sunday
BEST ACTRESS: Cameron Diaz - Any Given Sunday
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: James Woods - Any Given Sunday
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Brit Marling - Arbitrage
BEST EDITING: Thomas J. Nordberg - Any Given Sunday
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Salvatore Totino - Any Given Sunday
BEST SCRIPT: Nicholas Jerecki - Arbitrage
BEST SCORE: Ennio Morricone - U Turn
BEST DIRECTOR: Oliver Stone - Any Given Sunday




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