What Films did You Watch Last Week (13/09 - 19/09) 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

Don't Let Go (2019, Jacob Estes)
Netflix
I had heard mixed to negative things about this film where David Oyelowo (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) plays  a man whose family dies in what appears to be a murder, he gets a phone call from one of the dead, his niece. He's not sure if she's a ghost or if he's going mad but ether way he's determined to right the wrongs against his family. I quite enjoyed this, I was never bored and I thought it made the most of its limited budget.
6.5/10

Joe (1970, John G. Avildsen)
The story of wo men, Bill, a wealthy conservative, and Joe, a far-right factory worker, form a dangerous bond after Bill confesses to Joe about murdering his daughter's drug dealer boyfriend. This is an interesting story, some of the relationships don't seem believable  and it is not the most attractively made film but it still has something.
6/10

Nighthawks (1981, Bruce Malmuth)
This was the script for The French Connection 3 that was to star gene Hackman and richard Pryor. Hackman didn’t want to do another sequel so it was reworked as a stand alone with Sly Stallone and Billy dee Williams.
The plot is a little Rooney and the main characters have almost no depth and are brought to life with pretty one note performances from Stallone and Williams.
Rutger Hauer is good as the villain and the film does have some exciting moments. I think a better film could have been made here with more care.
6/10

REPEAT MOVIE VIEWING

Planet of the Apes (1968, Franklin J. Schaffner)
blu ray
A stunning and masterful film as well made as it is written and brings forth many interesting ideas.
8/10

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011, Rupert Wyatt)
blu ray
A reboot of the classic franchise that goes back to the beginning and offers something new. This story sees a substance designed to help the brain repair itself giving advanced intelligence to a chimpanzee who leads an ape uprising. The motion capture and computer effects combined with real life sets makes a difference in this thoughtful and powerful film.
8/10

War for the Planet of the Apes (2017, Matt Reeves)
blu ray
The closing chapter  of this trilogy about Caesar the leader of the apes is stunning and could make the argument for being the best  ape film. It iis certainly the darkest and heaviest.
8/10

The Wrestler (2008, Darren Aronofsky)
blu ray
A wonderfully realised film looking at the life of a broken down pro wrestler on the last legs of his career. It is very realistic and is shot on grainy film like a classic from the 70's.
8/10

Cinema Paradiso (1988, Giuseppe Tornatore)
blu ray
I watched the shorter version of this love letter to cinema this time and I did not find it as good as the longer version. Still very good though but this version drops half a point.
7.5/10

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014, Matt Reeves)
blu ray
This is the middle chapter of the trilogy and sees a growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar who are threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier. It is well made and the first half is excellent but I find the back end of this film a bit overly noisy and pushes the believability of the action too far.
7.5/10

FIRST TIME TV VIEWING

Australian Survivor(2021, Season Eight)
Another quality series from the best version of this show.
Great TV

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1991, Season Five)
Netflix
Had only seen a handful of these episodes before. Pretty solid trek.
Good TV

WEEKLY FILM AWARDS

BEST FILM: Planet of the Apes
BEST ACTOR: Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler
BEST ACTRESS: Storm Reid - Don't Let Go
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Salvatore Cascio - Cinema Paradiso
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Marissa Tomei - The Wrestler
BEST EDITING: William Hoy, Stan Safas - War for the Planet of the Apes
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Leon Shamroy - Planet of the Apes
BEST SCORE: Jerry Goldsmith - Planet of the Apes
BEST SCRIPT: Michael Wilson, Rod Serling - Planet of the Apes
BEST DIRECTOR: Franklin J. Schaffner - Planet of the Apes

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