What did You Watch Last Week (10/08 - 16/08) CLOSED

Lethal Weapon - 8/10

The Naked Gun - Was thinking about rewatching these soon. Really enjoyed it the first time though. 8/10

Dark Phoenix - Needs a rewatch. I've liked it less as time has gone on though. 6.5/10

Logan - I liked it more the second time too. 8/10


First Time Viewings:

300: Rise of an Empire (2014, Noam Murro)
The main character is pretty boring, but I did like Eva Green as the villain.
5/10

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008, Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg)
Actually enjoyed this one more than the first one. I found it funnier and more consistent. Some parts still miss the mark, but overall I had a good time with it.
7/10

A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas (2011, Todd Strauss-Schulson)
Weakest of the three, but still has some good moments.
6/10

Metropolis (1927, Fritz Lang)
Finally got around to this one. It's well made and tells a good story.
7.5/10

Nowhere Boy (2009, Sam Taylor-Wood)
This one is about John Lennon's teenage years. It's alright.
6/10

The Cat in the Hat (2003, Bo Welch)
I actually didn't hate this one. It's bad, but I didn't find it awful and it is somewhat amusing at times. 
5/10

Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988, Stephen Chiodo)
Has its moments, but the characters are a bit flat, so I never was fully invested.
5.5/10

Vera Drake (2004, Mike Leigh)
This one has interesting subject matter and a very strong lead performance.
7.5/10

Best in Show (2000, Christopher Guest)
The cast and characters are pretty fun in this one and I quite enjoyed it overall.
7.5/10


Repeat Viewings:

300 (2006, Zack Snyder)
I used to like this one, but hadn't seen it in years. It has too much slow motion and I don't care enough about what's happening for it to fully work. I'm not big on the style of it. It has some good parts though.
6/10

Sucker Punch (2011, Zack Snyder)
Liked it even less this time. It has some interesting ideas, but they're mostly executed poorly and the soundtrack is full of weird covers of good songs. 
4.5/10

Silver Linings Playbook (2012, David O. Russell)
Wonderful performance in this one and a strong storyline that has humor, drama, and some strong emotional moments. Great stuff.
8.5/10

Zoolander (2001, Ben Stiller)
It has a good cast and some funny moments, but it's not funny enough to fully work for me.
6/10


Movie Awards:

BEST FILM: Silver Linings Playbook
BEST ACTOR: Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook)
BEST ACTRESS: Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Robert De Niro (Silver Linings Playbook)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Metropolis
BEST SCORE: Metropolis
BEST SCRIPT: David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook)
BEST DIRECTOR: David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook)

I might watch Zoolander 2 this week. I know it's considered crap by most people. 

300: Rise of an Empire (2014, Noam Murro)
Just like the first movie this has too much slow-mo and the green-screen has an alienating effect, but Eva Green was pretty cool
5/10

Nowhere Boy (2009, Sam Taylor-Wood)
An okay movie, the only thing I remember about it is that Ophelia Lovibond was pretty cute in her small role.
6/10

The Cat in the Hat (2003, Bo Welch)
Really bad and annoying
3/10

300 (2006, Zack Snyder)
Style over substance movie where the style wears thin pretty quickly. I wish they would’ve made Michael Mann’s Gates Of Fire instead which would’ve been a more historically accurate retelling of these events.
5/10

Silver Linings Playbook (2012, David O. Russell)
I thought this was a missed opportunity. Cooper is not a bad actor but he seemed out of his depth here, without Lawrence’s inspired performance this would’ve been real bad.
5/10

Zoolander (2001, Ben Stiller)
Love this hilarious spoof of the fashion industry, though I understand that it’s not for everyone
8/10

First Time Viewing:

Queen Of Spades (2015) – Russian fantasy-horror about a bunch of kids at a boarding school who summon an evil witch and get more than they bargained for. It starts out solidly but soon deteriorates into a succession of loud jump scares and bad CGI.
3/10

The Prodigy (2019; Nicholas McCarthy) – A couple finds out that their child is possessed by the reincarnated soul of a monstrous serial killer. This is fairly by-the-numbers stuff with little originality.
4/10

TV

Cracker (1993) – Season 1 – Robbie Coltrane plays a brilliant clinical psychologist who assists the police in catching serial-killers. I had seen some episodes of this show many years ago and decided to rewatch the whole thing. It’s intelligent and gripping but also very bleak and challenging stuff.
7.5/10

Marseille (2016) – Season 1 – This Netflix show was originally envisioned as the French answer to House Of Cards, but poor reviews and low ratings soon put an end to such high hopes. Gérard Depardieu and Benoit Magimel play two scheming local politicians. There are the typical political intrigues, corruption and back-stabbing you would expect from a story of this kind, but it’s all very predictable and poorly written.
3/10

Repeat Viewing:

Never Say Never Again (1983; Irving Kershner) – I forgot how silly this movie was. It almost plays like a spoof of the Bond series with Connery sending up his own image with a constant twinkle in his eye. The action scenes are rather dull and unexciting, apparently Richard Donner was originally approached to direct, but turned down the opportunity. Barbara Carrera and Kim Basinger make this a very sexy movie though.
6/10

Metropolis for best film, writing and director. I agree with the rest of your wins.