What Films did You Watch Last Week (21/11 - 27/11) CLOSED

Hi, Dark.


Yours:

Unstoppable 7.5/10

I enjoyed it. Denzel Washington is good. I think I prefer other Tony Scott movies though. 


Mine:

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery 6.5/10

It's Knives Out sequel, with Daniel Craig. It's about an exclusive party, held by a billionaire on a Greek island for his close friends, with a murder theme, and Benoit Blanc receives a mysterious invitation to join it too. It's not bad, I preferred the first one though. It's a bit heavy handed, IMO. Also, there's a thing about the ending that I thought doesn't make much sense, but yeah...

Phobia 4.5/10

It's a thriller, John Huston directed it, it's about a psychiatrist, who's developing a controversial therapy to treat phobias, but his patients, suddenly, starts to get killed one by one. It's kind of weird John Huston directed it, because it's really like a B movie/slasher, I wonder what's the story behind it...Anyway, I didn't like it, it's really kind of a mess, IMO.

Two Minute Warning 7/10

It's a movie with Charlton Heston, John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands. It's about a sniper who manages to sneak into a football stadium before a game, and the film follows some of the spectators and the cops trying to take him down before he starts shooting. It's O.K., I mean, it's not great, but I thought it was tense. Also, John Cassavetes is really good. He plays a tough SWAT team officer. 

Bones and All 9/10

It's Luca Guadagnino's new movie, it's about a girl, in the 80s, who comes to discover that she's a creature, kind of like a vampire, only that she has to feed on human flesh. When she finds it harder to control her urges, her father leaves her, and she goes away to find her mother, whom she never met and disappeared, to see if she can help and give her answers. Loved it, I thought it was really great, it gets really dark and disturbing, but also somehow also really sweet. It's beautiful visually and the acting is great. I liked Tymothee Chalamet, and the lead actress, Taylor Russell, is really amazing, Such a great presence. I'd love it if she gets nominated for an Oscar, although the movie is not exactly Academy-friendly, so...
Also, I loved the score. It's by Trent Reznor.

Glass Onion - I like Knives Out a bit more, but had a blast with this one too. 8.5/10

Yeah, some parts were fun. I liked Ethan Hawke cameo. But, in general, I was a bit disappointed. I know I'm in the minority though...

Hoosiers - 7.5/10

The Hours - 7.5/10

I thought Man on Fire was O.K., but not great. 

Domino is actually way more over the top though. Really kind of insane.

Yours:

Both The Locket and The Brasher Doubloon are fun flicks. I reveled in the labyrinthian flashback structure of the former and enjoyed the pretty faithful rendition of Raymond Chandler’s novel in the latter. Of the 7 actors who played Marlowe in classic feature films, GM is my next to last in ranking but he can still quip with the best of them (Rich Old Lady: “I expected someone older, more intelligent looking.” Marlowe: “I’m wearing a disguise.”).

I watched “Unstoppable” strictly for Denzel and he didn’t disappoint. The movie around him, however, is just another modern don’t-give-me-a-break, nerve racking, crisis a minute thriller.

Mine:

The Unfaithful / Vincent Sherman (1947). Like another Ann Sheridan film noir from the same year, “Nora Prentiss,” “The Unfaithful” was marketed as a “women’s picture,” thus robbing the movie of its definite noir heritage and leaving it mostly forgotten. Chris Hunter (Sheridan) is happily married to Bob (Zachary Scott). One night, she is attacked in her home by a man who forces her inside. Form the outside, we hear a struggle. The next morning the police are at the house. The man is dead, stabbed by Chris. A clear case of self-defense. Then, people who knew the dead man, starting with his wife, begin to cast doubt on her story and a shady antiques dealer Martin Barrow asks an enormous amount of money to suppress some possibly incriminating evidence.
I would be remit without mentioning Bob’s cousin Paula (Eve Arden, who makes any movie better) first seen as a loudmouth (but witty and funny) gossip but who turns out to be sensitive and caring. Arden is always Best Supporting in any film where she appears. 7/10

Cowboy Cavalier / Derwin Abrahams (1948). This is the kind of kid’s western that filled TV airtime, especially Saturday mornings in 1950s television. They usually ran about an hour and came from a Poverty Row studio (stats on “Cowboy Cavalier”: 57 minutes, Monogram). Plots are negligible, very predictable, but like potato chips to a pre-teen Baby Boomer. You can’t devour just one. It is all pretty simple stuff, but I enjoyed it quite a bit as an exercise in nostalgia. 7/10 for me, 4/10 (or lower) for most people younger than me.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home / Leonard Nimoy (1986). The lightest, funniest, and most fun of the movies with the original cast. Right from the start, Star Trek was interested in social issues. “The Voyage Home” is a Save The Whales movie. I am not making this up.
A probe from deep space sending an odd signal of noises, causes any machine that come withing its range lose all power. It threatens Earth. Our heroes recognize the sounds as that of the extinct Humpback Whale. By sling shotting around the sun, they can time travel (don’t ask questions) back to 1986 to try to return with a Humpback Whale. That is when the fun starts with our strangers in a strange land trying to fit in. I hadn’t seen this since its first theatrical run but remembered most of it and how much I enjoyed it. 8/10

Midsomer Murders
“The Incident At Cooper Hill” Season 18, Episode 2 (January 13, 2016)
“Breaking The Chain” Season 18, Episode 3 (January 27, 2016)

Mission: Impossible
“Break!” Season 7, Episode 1 (September 16, 1972)
“Two Thousand” Season 7, Episode 2 (September 23, 1972)

Miss Scarlet And The Duke
“Quarter To Midnight” Season 2, Episode 5 (November 13, 2022)