What did You Watch Last Week (16/11 - 22/11) 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

Night Train to Lisbon (2013, Billie August)
A mildly interesting low energy thriller starring Jeremy Irons. Well made and acted  but not for everyone.
6/10

Mank (2020, David Fincher)
Cinema
David Fincher finally returns to film with a passion project of his fathers, who write this film based on a discredited article about the authorship of Citizen Kane. The film follows parts of the life of screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz mostly around the time he was writing Citizen Kane and including many flashbacks to points in the prior decade. The film is also shot in the style of how films were made back then and effectively so as it does look like a 1940's film.
I was looking forward to this one quite a bit but was pretty disappointed. Firstly the dialogue is mixed too low and without any sonic breadth, rendering maybe 30% or more o f the spoken word inaudible, The film is also constantly under lit, so whilst I was straining my ears to hear, I was also straining my eyes to see. A few tweaks could have fixed these problems but whilst those points were both annoying, it s the script that does not work as a whole.
The script has some good parts, particularly in the second half but feels very bits and pieces rather than a fleshed out story. The first half of the film is really quite a trudge and I think the subject matter deserved more.
It's not all bad though, the period detail is all as great as expected and the performances are top flight all around. I would not be surprised to see nominations for Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried or Charles Dance.
In the end we are left with smart looking (though too dark) film with a script that does not live up to the promise of the material. The second half was much more enjoyable and I would say that all film history lovers should at least check it out for themselves.
5/10

REPEAT MOVIE VIEWING

Midnight in Paris (2011, Woody Allen)
blu ray
Owen Wilson leads an all star cast as a nostalgic screenwriter who finds himself mysteriously going back to the 1920s every night at midnight.
This is a beautiful and wonderfully written film with great characters. This one gets better with each viewing.'
7.5-8/10

Body Double (1984, Brian De Palma)
blu ray
This viewing had me really click with this film and raised its score considerably. De Palma is known for being heavily influenced by Hitchcock and this one is no mistake with it's influences being quite  obvious but not to its detriment.  The story is of a actor's obsession with spying on a beautiful woman who lives nearby which  leads to a baffling series of events with drastic consequences.
The film is a wild ride for sure and may take a few viewings to come together for you.
7.5-8/10

Dressed to Kill (1980, Brian De Palma)
blu ray
This thriller was a big hit for De Palma and follows the structure of his idols hit film, 1960's Psycho. It is very well made with some haunting set pieces.  The cinematograhy is a little soft to create a dreamy feeling but I am not sure it needs to be as soft as it was.
7-7.5/10

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016, Gareth Edwards)
UHD Disc
This film is basically a prequel that butts right up against the beginning of the 1977 original, Star Wars.  Its a bit of a mised bag for first two act but the third act is a ripper.
7-7.5/10

Night of the Living Dead (1968, George Romero)
blu ray
The influential Zombie film and first entry in Romero's classic trilogy probably has the best acting and some of his best direction but it is not as exciting or nasty as the next two entries.
6.5/10

RKO 281 (1999, Benjamin Ross)
This made for TV movie about the making of Citizen Kane is a pretty solid effort.
6/10

FIRST TIME DOCUMENTARY VIEWING

Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb (2020, James Tovell)
Netflix
After unearthing a tomb that had been untouched for 4,400 years, Egyptian archaeologists attempt to decipher the history of the astonishing find.
Good Documentary

FIRST TIME TV VIEWING

The Queen's Gambit (2020, Mini-series)
Netflix
Orphaned at the tender age of nine, prodigious introvert Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor Joy) discovers and masters the game of chess in 1960s USA. But child stardom comes at a price.
Good TV

WEEKLY FILM AWARDS

BEST FILM: Midnight in Paris
BEST ACTOR: Owen Wilson - Midnight in Paris
BEST ACTRESS: Nancy Allen - Dressed to Kill
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Michael Caine - Dressed to Kill
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Marion Cotillard - Midnight in Paris
BEST EDITING: Jerry Greenberg - Body Double
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Darius Khondji - Midnight in Paris
BEST SCRIPT: Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris
BEST SCORE: Pino Donaggio - Body Double
BEST DIRECTOR: Brian De Palma - Body Double


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