What Films did You Watch Last Week (15/02 - 21/02) 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

Judas and the Back Messiah (2021, Shaka King)
Based on true events, Bill O'Neal infiltrates the Black Panther Party per FBI Agent Mitchell and J. Edgar Hoover. As Party Chairman Fred Hampton ascends, falling for a fellow revolutionary en route, a battle wages for O'Neal's soul. I ove films set in this era and subject matter and this is a good film with great performances. My best film of the year so far
8/10

My Cousin Vinny (1992, Jonathan Lynn)
Two New Yorkers accused of murder in rural Alabama while on their way back to college call in the help of one of their cousins, a loudmouth lawyer (Joe Pesci) with no trial experience. I had seen bits of this film before and it never appealed to me.  However after watching from start to finish I appreciated it much more and found it an entertaining little yarn.
6.5/10

Final Analysis (1992, Phil Joanou)
Richard Gere plays a  psychiatrist who becomes romantically involved with the sister (Kim Basinger)  of one of his patients (Uma Thurman), but the influence of her controlling gangster husband (Eric Roberts) threatens to destroy them both. I thought I might have seen this before , I had definitely seen the last half hour before. This is a bad film in almost all respects but kind of fun to watch for how bad and campy it is.
3.5/10

REPEAT MOVIE VIEWING

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988, Rob Zemeckis)
blu ray
This is not only a wonderful tribute to the cartoons of old but also a great tribute to the the cinema of the 1940's. Great performances and direction that worked when i was a kid and now I get even more out of it with the many movie references.
8/10

Crossroads (1986, Walter Hill)
blu ray
Ralph Macchio (The Karate Kid) stars in this film that follows the Karate Kids successful formula but this time setting itin the world of Blues.
7.5/10

Paranoid Park (2007, Gus Van Sant)
blu ray
This  film has an interesting non linear structure and is set in the world of young skateboarders. The performances are good and the dream like narrative is compelling.
7/10

Fire in the Sky (1993, Robert Lieberman)
blu ray
This true story set in 1975  sees an Arizona logger mysteriously disappear for five days in an alleged encounter with a flying saucer. His co-workers endure ridicule and contempt as they are wrongly accused of murder. A well made film that may be too slow for some but i was engrossed.
7/10

The Mothman Prophecies (2002, Mark Pellington)
This one dropped a little bit for me as this time around it just felt over directed and edited. There are some interesting things in the film but it does not work as a whole.
5.5/10

The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009, Tony Scott)
blu ray
This crime film does not compare to the fabulous original from the 70's but is okay enough for the first hour. The third act however is bad and squanders any good will.
5/10

FIRST TIME TV VIEWING

Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel (2021, mini series)
Netflix
Pretty padded and poorly put together documentary series about an interesting case.
NOT ESSENTIAL VIEWING

WEEKLY FILM AWARDS

BEST FILM: Who Framed Roger Rabbit
BEST ACTOR: Bob Hoskins - Who Framed Roger Rabbit
BEST ACTRESS: Marisa Tomei - My Cousin Vinny
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Joe Seneca - Crossroads
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Jami Gertz - Crossroads
BEST EDITING: Arthur Schmidt - Who Framed Roger Rabbit
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Dean Cundey - Who Framed Roger Rabbit
BEST SCRIPT: Will Berson, Shaka King - Judas and the Black Messiah
BEST SCORE: Alan Silvestri - Who Framed Roger Rabbit
BEST DIRECTOR: Robert Zemeckis - Who Framed Roger Rabbot


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