What Films did You Watch Last Week (18/04 - 24/04) 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

Boiling Point (2021, Philip Barantini)
Stephen Graham (This is England) plays  a head chef who balances multiple personal and professional problems at a popular restaurant in London. It is very well done and all in one take but is just a small slice of life story that does not reach wild heights.
6.5/10

Champion (1949, Mark Robson)
A boxing film noir starring Kirk Douglas as an unscrupulous boxer who fights his way to the top, but eventually alienates all of the people who helped him on the way up. Well made, really good cast but a little too predictable and by the numbers to be a classic.
6/10

Deep Cover (1992, Bill Duke)
This is a nice looking crime film with lots of lovely neon lit scenes but the story jumps through things pretty awkwardly which makes it not flow very well.
6/10

X (2022, Ti West)
Low budget horror director Ti West returns with X which is a story set in the 70's where a porn troupe filming in a farm house in the middle of nowhere  fall on the wrong side of a crazed older couple. It has shades of Texas Chainsaw Massacre but through quite a different lens. It is well enough acted and has some cool scenes but  overall it feels like a once and done kind of experience.
5.5/10

Last Looks (2021, Tim Kirkby)
I love neo-noir  detective films with a slight comic bent so I had reasonable hopes that I could enjoy this one. It stars Charlie Hunnam (The Gentlemen) as a disgraced ex-cop who seeks solace by moving to the woods, but his quiet life comes to an end when a private eye recruits him to investigate the murder of an eccentric TV star’s wife. It starts real strong witha  good set up but soon meanders into relatively boring nonsense. This along with the uninspired glossy direction ruined this film and the good work put in by the actors, Mel Gibson is great.
4.5/10

REPEAT MOVIE VIEWING

Swimming with Sharks (1994, George Huang)
dvd
Frank Whaley (Pulp Fiction) plays a young film executive who’s willing to do whatever it takes to make it in Hollywood. He begins working for famed producer Buddy Ackerman (Kevin Spacey), a domineering, manipulative, cold hearted boss. This has a great script and a superb cast putting in great work.
8/10

The Birds (1963, Alfred Hitchcock)
UHD Disc
This is Hitchcock's version of a monster movie. Based on the Daphne Du Maurier novel about birds attacking a sea side town which feels now like it was quite influential on films like Jaws. I have never liked the opening 10 minutes in the city and I still did not here but once it moves to the sea side town everything falls in place and the relationship drama is very interesting until it s taken over by the attack of the birds.
8/10

FIRST TIME DOCUMENTARY VIEWING

Confluence (2011, Jennifer Anderson, Vernon Lott)
A look at the Lewiston / Clarkston valley murders. Pretty interesting and does not outstay its welcome with filler.
Above Average Documentary

FIRST TIME TV VIEWING

Anatomy of a Scandal (2022, Mini-series)
Netflix
British court room drama that starts well but veers both into convoluted and predictable in equal shares. Well acted though.
Average TV

WEEKLY FILM AWARDS

BEST FILM: Swimming with Sharks
BEST ACTOR: Kirk Douglas - Champion
BEST ACTRESS: Tippi Hedren - The Birds
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Kevin Spacey - Swimming with Sharks
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Michelle Forbes -  Swimming with Sharks
BEST EDITING: George Tomasini - The Birds
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Bojan Bazelli - Deep Cover
BEST SCORE: Dimitri Tiomkin - Champion
BEST SCRIPT: George Huang - Swimming with Sharks
BEST DIRECTOR: Alfred Hitchcock - The Birds


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