What Films did You Watch Last Week (08/02 - 14/02) CLOSED

First Time Viewing:

Dead In A Week (2018; Tom Edmunds) - A suicidal writer hires an aging hitman to help him die, but when he falls in love he wants to call the job off. It may not be the most original premise, but this British comedy is charming enough, has a competent cast and delivers some very witty dialogue and has enough black humor to entertain.
6.5/10

The Endless (2017; Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead) - Very weird and initially puzzling indie thriller about two brothers returning to a mysterious sect they had been part of as children. You have to buy into the somewhat far-fetched concept of the movie, but if you do, it becomes a fascinating and fairly intelligent philosophical work.
6.5/10

The Good Liar (2019; Bill Condon) - Ian McKellen plays a conman who is after the money of a rich widow (Helen Mirren). What could've been the geriatric version of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is a disappointingly dull and in its second half surprisingly dark thriller only enlivened by the convincing performances of its stars.
4/10

TV

The Little Murders Of Agatha Christie - Season 5 (2013) - This French Christie adaptation relocates the action of Christie's novels to Northern France in the 1950s and disposes of Poirot and Marple instead introducing a cynical police inspector and a young journalist as the investigators. It's not for purists, but if you're willing to keep an open mind and tolerate the farcical humor this is actually quite enjoyable.
7.5/10

Repeat Viewing:

Dark Shadows (2012; Tim Burton) - I know nothing about the mythology of the franchise and never ventured any further into the Dark Shadows universe, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. It's weird, crazy and positively Burtonesque, and the cast is clearly having a lot of fun.
7.5/10

The Croods: The New Age - 7/10

My Cousin Rachel - 7/10

Saving Christmas (2014 Darren Doane) - 0/10

Yes.

It is hard to even explain how and why the movie is so completely abhorrent. I find it difficult to even call it a movie.

The movie is 80 minutes, but really only 55 minutes. The first 8 minutes is Kirk Cameron talking directly to the audinece in the most smug way imaginable and the opening credits and the last 16 minutes is a pointless and horribly directed Christmas party dance sequence and the end credits.

The rest of the movie is largely him sitting in a car explaining to a Christian who hates Christmas because it isn't about commercialism and not Jesus, why everything involving Christmas is all about Jesus and how it is all great and wonderful, including the commercialism. He speaks to the other character in the most condescending self-satisfied way possible, while Christian (literally the character's name) is shown to be an absolute moron. It is incompetently written and directed, even for a propaganda movie. The movie is literally a Christian against other Christians movie. That makes the movie even more confusing as to who it is even aimed at. Both Atheists and Christians will hate the movie. It is Kirk Cameron stroking his underserved ego for 70 minutes straight.

The funny thing is that it isn't as offensive as it is just incompetent and laughable. The way he gets from the Christmas tree to Jesus through Genesis is a wonder to behold and it literally has an image of a Christmas tree lot with a cross of Jesus in glowing lights, telling us every time we walk onto a lot to buy a tree it is a holy experience. It is ridiculous and shameless preaching.

MINE

Justice League Dark: Apokolips War (2020 Matt Peters & Christina Sotta) - 5.5/10

The Croods: A New Age (2020 Joel Crawford) - 6.5/10

Saving Christmas (2014 Darren Doane) - 0/10

Berkeley Square (1933 Frank Lloyd) - 7/10

Alone in the Dark (2005 Uwe Boll) - 3/10

Pygmalion (1938 Anthony Asquith & Leslie Howard) - 7.5/10

Son of the Mask (2005 Lawrence Guterman) - 2.5/10

My Cousin Rachel (1952 Henry Koster) - 7.5/10

Major Barbara (1941 Gabriel Pascal) - 7/10

Doctor Dolittle (1967 Richard Fleischer) - 5.5/10

The Whistler (1944 William Castle) - 7/10

Side Street (1950 Anthony Mann) - 7/10










Film Awards

BEST PICTURE - My Cousin Rachel
BEST ACTOR - Richard Burton (My Cousin Rachel)
BEST ACTRESS - Wendy Hiller (Pygmalion)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - Robert Newton (Major Barbara)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Olivia de Havilland (My Cousin Rachel)
BEST DIRECTOR - Henry Koster (My Cousin Rachel)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY - My Cousin Rachel
BEST SCORE - My Cousin Rachel

08/02
Beautiful Boy (2018) 9/10
Horizon Line (2020) 3/10

09/02
Pushover (1954) 7/10
5 Years Apart (2019) 5/10

10/02
Bedtime Stories (2008) 5/10
Galveston (2018) 6/10

11/02
Penguin Bloom (2020) 8/10
Saint Maud (2019) 7/10

12/02
Bliss (2021) 4/10
Light from Light (2019) 3/10

13/02
Un maledetto imbroglio (1959) 8/10
Little Fish (2020) 7/10

14/02
The Kid (2000) 6/10
Palmer (2021) 8/10


BEST FILM: Beautiful Boy 
BEST ACTOR: Steve Carell - Beautiful Boy
BEST ACTRESS: Naomi Watts - Penguin Bloom
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Timothée Chalamet - Beautiful Boy
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Elle Fanning - Galveston
BEST EDITING: Josh Crockett - Little Fish
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Ruben Impens - Beautiful Boy
BEST SCRIPT: Aja Gabel & Mattson Tomlin - Little Fish
BEST SCORE: Marc Shaiman - The Kid
BEST DIRECTOR: Felix van Groeningen - Beautiful Boy