What Films did You Watch Last Week (05/04 - 11/04) 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

White Heat (1949, Raoul Walsh)
James Cagney plays a psychopathic criminal with a mother complex who makes a daring break from prison and leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist. Although often lumped in with Film Noir, it is more so a gangster film in the vein of gangster films from the 1930's.  It is an action packed film with terrific performances and may just be a tad long in the second half.
7/10

Bad Trip (2021, Kitao Sakurai)
Netflix
Underground comedy star Eric Andre leads this mix of a scripted buddy comedy road movie and a real hidden camera prank show much the same format as Bad Grandpa. It all works together really well going from more subtle tomfoolery to quite elaborate set pieces.
6.5/10

Ocean's Eight (2018, Gary Ross)
Netflix
This spin-off  from Steven Soderbergh's popular Ocean's trilogy see's Danny Ocean's sister Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock) assemble a team for a jewellery heist. The film lacs the charm of the originals but more importantly it does not have any of the frenetic energy created by the direction and editing of the Soderbergh films.  Rather it is a much more standard film which only shows the convolution of the plot more clearly.
4/10

REPEAT MOVIE VIEWING

The Killing (1956, Stanley Kubrick)
blu ray
Kubrick's first film with a reasonable budget is a true wonder and  one of the best film noirs ever made. It's non linear narrative must have blown minds back in the 50's.  This one feels well ahead of its time and has been a great influence on film ever since.
9/10

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013, Martin Scorsese)
blu ray
The story of Jordan Belfort who is a Wall Street conman who was investigated by the FBI. It is a crazy story full of wild characters and very entertaining.
7.5/10

Sudden Fear (1952, David Miller)
blu ray
This is a wonderful A List  Film Noir with a great central performance from Joan Crawford. The tension built up by the various plot devices are superb.
7.5/10

The Hustler (1961, Robert Rossen)
blu ray
Paul Newman is electric as Fast Eddie, an up-and-coming pool player who plays a long-time champion in a single high-stakes match. The film is well made and acted but is a little more drawn out than it should be and could benefit from being tightened up a little. Still its a great film with many memorable moments.
7.5/10

Rush (2013, Ron Howard)
Netflix
Based on the true story but an exaggerated version of the 1970s rivalry between Formula One rivals James Hunt and Niki Lauda. The casting in this film is spot on and the driving scenes exciting.
7.5/10

Top Gun (1986, Tony Scott)
UHD Disc
A pretty basic story of a wild pilot (Tom Cruise)  making his way through the Top Gun program for the best fighter pilots in the  USA. What makes this film stand out is the way its shot, the use of real fighter jets and the roaring soundtrack. Of course Tom Cruise was on fire back then too and is pretty mesmerising but you cannot underestimate  the fine cast around him, especially Val Kilmer.
7.5/10

The Last Boy Scout (1991, Tony Scott)
blu ray
This Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, The Nice Guys) script is year another buddy cop one and is a particularly violent one. It s fun and only drags in a few spots, Willis is great but Wayans not so much.
7/10

Internal Affairs (1990, Mike Figgis)
blu ray
Richard Gere is great as the bad guy in this dirty, sweaty cop film. This one certainly has a nasty edge to it and it works well but the script is a little but of a mess.
6.5/10

Killer's Kiss (1955, Stanley Kubrick)
blu ray
This early micro-budget film noir (from a pre fame Stanley Kubrick) takes noir and fuses it with a more arthouse experimental sensibility. This combined with a more naturalistic style of acting makes it quite an interesting entry. While not completely successful as a whole it gave a glimpse of what the still learning Kubrick would soon unleash on the world.
6/10

REPEAT TV VIEWING

Seinfeld (1991, Season Three)
dvd
Glorious.
TV at its best

WEEKLY FILM AWARDS

BEST FILM: The Killing
BEST ACTOR: Richard Gere - Internal Affairs
BEST ACTRESS: Joan Crawford - Sudden Fear
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Jonah Hill - The Wolf of Wall Street
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Gloria Grahame - Sudden Fear
BEST EDITING: Thelma Schoonmaker - The Wolf of Wall Street
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Lucien Ballard - The Killing
BEST SCRIPT: Terence Winter - The Wolf of Wall Street
BEST SCORE: Brian Banks, Mike Figgis, Anthony Marinelli - Internal Affairs
BEST DIRECTOR: Stanley Kubrick - The Killing

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