What Movies Did You Watch Last Week? (31/07-06/08) CLOSED

Thursday

I watched La La Land for the first time on Blu-ray.

Friday

I rewatched Easy A on Blu-ray (the last time I would’ve watched this movie was probably back when it first got released on DVD here and I rented it). I listened to the commentary with the director and Emma Stone the following day.

As part of my mini ‘Emma Stone-athon’, I watched Aloha for the first time on TV.

Saturday

I rewatched Ex Machina for the third of forth time when it was on TV here last night (I've previously watched it a couple of times on Blu-ray and, I think, at least once on the TV).

Hey! 

Good Time sounds interesting, but I can pretty much guarantee I won't like Pattinson more than Hopkins in Magic. Same goes for liking the score more than Assault on Precinct 13's.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers - well cast, well made, and a really good story. I prefer this to the 1978 version, but that one did have a better ending. 7.5/10

Magic - I really enjoyed this one. Hopkins is brilliant. 7.5/10

Assault on Precinct 13 - no pacing problems for me. It has a kickass score, cool characters, memorable lines of dialogue, and some excellent scenes. 8/10



First Time Viewings:



The 6th Day (2000, Roger Spottiswoode)
This one takes place in the future and concerns a man who stumbles on a cloning conspiracy. Arnold Schwarzenegger is fun in the lead role and the supporting cast is solid as well. I liked the story and the score was quite good and there are some fun action scenes. Some of the effects aren't entirely convincing, but overall I found this to be an enjoyable film. Pretty underrated if you ask me.
7/10


FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992, Bill Kroyer)
This Australian/American co-production is an animated film about the magical inhabitants of a rainforest that fight to save their home. The basic story is similar to other films such as Pocahontas, Dances with Wolves, and Avatar, but I still found it pretty enjoyable. The voice cast is quite good (Robin Williams and Tim Curry were a lot of fun), the score is good, and it has some beautiful animation and a nice short running time.
7/10


Balto (1995, Simon Wells)
This animated film is based on the true story of a dog that lead a team 600 miles to get medical supplies in Alaska. The first half of the film didn't really do it for me, but the second half was actually pretty good. It wasn't enough to make the film overall though. Still, there are many good scenes, a solid voice cast, and a very good score from James Horner.
6.5/10


Swingers (1996, Doug Liman)
In this low budget film a man moves to the west coast after a break up and struggles to move on from his relationship. Jon Favreau is good in the lead role and he also provided the script, which has lots of good natural sounding dialogue. Vince Vaughn is very good in his supporting role and the film also has a very good soundtrack and is entertaining throughout.
7/10


The Last Unicorn (1982, Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin Jr.)
This animated film is about a unicorn that goes on a quest to find out if she's the last of her species. It has nice animation, a solid soundtrack, and several really good scenes, but for the most part it just wasn't very engaging to me. Alan Arkin and Christopher Lee put in some good voice work, but I was disappointed with Mia Farrow and Jeff Bridges. It has its moments, but overall I found it to really drag a lot of the time.
5.5/10


The Accused (1988, Jonathan Kaplan)
This one is based on the true story of a woman who was gang raped in a bar and her lawyer who tries to not only prosecute the attackers, but also the other who were there and cheered it on. Kelly McGillis is good as the lawyer and Jodie Foster is fantastic in her Oscar winning role. The film has a good score from Brad Fiedel (The Terminator) and the story was interesting throughout, with some excellent scenes. One scene in particular was incredibly disturbing and upsetting, but purposefully so and I'm glad they didn't hold back as it made for a more effective film.
7.5/10




Repeat Viewings:


The Black Cauldron (1985, Ted Berman and Richard Rich)
This forgotten Disney film is very underrated in my opinion. It has a cool fantasy story, wonderful animation, a great collection of characters, a nice dark tone, and a good score.
7.5/10


Zootopia (2016, Byron Howard and Rich Moore)
I enjoyed this one the first time, but I liked it even more this time around. It has memorable characters, strong voice acting, and a great storyline that explores some important themes. One of Disney's very best.
8/10


Mulan (1998, Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook)
This has always been one of my favorites from Disney. It has great characters, a great story, terrific songs, and a wonderful score from Jerry Goldsmith.
8/10


Tropic Thunder (2008, Ben Stiller)
I liked this one the first time I saw it, but was also pretty disappointed. When I rewatched it a couple years ago I had a blast though and it held up really well this time around. I love the story and it has an awesome cast, with Robert Downey Jr. impressing most and Tom Cruise having a great extended cameo. The film moves at a good pace and has tons of laughs. A modern comedy classic in my opinion.
8/10


Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981, Steven Spielberg)
This action classic has always been one of my very favorites. It has great characters, an iconic score, excellent cinematography, amazing sets, great storytelling, terrific action sequences, and is simply one of the most purely entertaining and rewatchable films ever made.
10/10


Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984, Steven Spielberg)
This prequel to Raiders has always been my least favorite of the three, but I've still always loved it. It has a few missteps here and there, but it has plenty of great stuff to make up for them. It has another great score from John Williams, awesome sets, brilliant action scenes, and I like how different the story is from the other two Indy movies of the 80's. On my previous viewing I actually liked it a bit less than before, but this viewing reestablished it as one of my favorites.
9/10


Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989, Steven Spielberg)
When I was a kid, I actually slightly preferred this one to Raiders. In the last few years, I've come to like Raiders a bit more, but as far as sequels go (and films in general) it doesn't really get better than this for me. Adding Sean Connery was a stroke of genius and he and Ford share excellent chemistry. The story may be similar to Raiders, but it's different enough to still feel fresh and exciting. The action scenes are awesome, it has terrific sets, a great score, and is an absolute blast from start to finish.
10/10


Enemy of the State (1998, Tony Scott)
I saw this one once on TV several years ago and enjoyed it, but I've been meaning to give it a rewatch for quite a while. I do think it's a bit too long, but it has a really good story that is still relevant today and some fun action scenes. Will Smith gives one of his best performances in the lead role here and the supporting cast is really good too, especially Gene Hackman and John Voight.
7.5/10


Catch Me If You Can (2002, Steven Spielberg)
This one was based on a true story of a young man who stole millions of dollars by forging checks when he was still just a teenager. Leonardo DiCaprio is really good here and Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken, Amy Adams, and the rest of the cast are all really good as well. The film is wonderfully paced and entertaining throughout and features a great score from John Williams.
9/10


The Road to El Dorado (2000, Bibo Bergeron and Don Paul)
This film from Dreamworks animation is one I always loved as a kid. It's been several years since my last viewing, but it hold up pretty well. It has fun characters, good performances, good music, plenty of laughs, and a pretty good story as well. More than anything, its just fun.
7.5/10




Movie Awards:


BEST FILM - Raiders of the Lost Ark
BEST ACTOR - Leonardo DiCaprio (Catch Me If You Can)
BEST ACTRESS - Jodie Foster (The Accused)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - Robert Downey Jr. (Tropic Thunder)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Karen Allen (Raiders of the Lost Ark)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY - Douglas Slocombe (Raiders of the Lost Ark)
BEST SCORE - John Williams (Raiders of the Lost Ark)
BEST SCRIPT - George Lucas, Lawrence Kasdan, and Philip Kaufman (Raiders of the Lost Ark)
BEST DIRECTOR - Steven Spielberg (Raiders of the Lost Ark)

The 6th Day - 7/10
Furngully - 7/10
Swingers - 7/10
The Accused - 7.5/10
The Black Cauldron - 7/10
Zootopia - 7.5/10
Mulan - 7/10
Tropic Thunder - 6.5/10
Raiders of the Lost Ark - 9/10
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - 8/10
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - 7.5/10
Enemy of the State - 7/10 Glad you like it
Catch Me If You Can - 8/10

Same wins as you and I also pretty much know for a fact that I will prefer Hopkins in Magic over Pattisnon in Good Time. 

Glad to see you like FernGully as well.

I didn't remember Will Smith being so good in Enemy of the State. He was a close runner up to DiCaprio for Best Actor.

I thought he was very good, with some scenes of greatness. It also didn't feel like a typical Will Smith performance if you know what I mean.

Yours:

Original Sin - 2/10
Magic - 5/10
Assault on Precinct 13 - 6/10
Saturn 3 - 3/10

Mine: All first time views except Checkmate.

Spotlight (2015) - 8/10 - DVD
Spotlight is one of the best films I have seen in a while. I grew up Catholic but I gave up religion when this scandal broke out with the rapists priests. So this movie really did speak to me. Very well done.

Dark Tide (2012) - 3/10 - DVD
This is a strange film. Its a crappy shark film with Halle Berry. First of all its really poorly lit. Its way to dark in many scenes. Second not much happens in it. At least Halle Berry looked great.

Limitless (2011) - 7/10 - DVD
Pretty good film. Reminded me of Lucy but this one is better.

Heaven Is for Real (2014) - 2/10 - DVD
Im not religious at all but I do like to check out a religious film from time to time. This one is a dud. A kid who has a near death experience goes to Heaven for some reason and comes back. His parents believe him. He comes back with the most generic version of Heaven anyone could think of. Plus hes the son of a pastor. What are the odds? Not to mention they got a book and movie deal and they were in debt. So no I dont believe he went to Heaven. At least its not hateful Christian film like Audacity or Gods Not Dead.

Jarring (2009) - 1/10 - DVD
Very boring thriller. Nuff said.

Silicon Towers (1999) - 5/10 - DVD
OK thriller. Oddly edited.

Checkmate (2015) - 3/10 - DVD
This could have been a good film but it has a really dumb subplot and very bad directing. Not to mention the first seven minutes are the middle of the film. Easily Danny Glovers worst performance. I seen this once before. I gave it a second chance. No luck.

The Grace Card (2010) - 3/10 - DVD
Well acted cop/family drama but way to preachy.

First Viewings...

-Fear City (1984) UNRATED (Aug 1st 2017) - 2/10 (killed it @ 1hr13min due to boredom basically)

Re-watches...

-Running Scared (2006) (Aug 6th 2017) - 8/10 (within my Top 60 movies. it was a 10/10 for me at it's peak but fell back to a 7.5-8/10 on Jan 21st 2012. my previous viewing from the current one was Aug 7th 2014 and at that time the 7.5-8/10 remained. so i bumped it up a little bit this time around. i have probably seen this at least 6 times now (i would be surprised if it's been less than 5 times given what i know) and could be more. it's my #1 Paul Walker movie and my #3 Vera Farmiga movie behind Source Code/Up in the Air. i would still say the 'pedophile scene' is pretty much my favorite scene of hers as it's nice seeing her all fired up ; NOTE: it's Vera Farmiga's 44th b-day today (Aug 6th) )


p.s. in general for me... 5/10 or less = Thumbs Down. 6/10 or higher = Thumbs Up.

SIDE NOTE: finished GTA 5 (on PC) not long ago and i have been working on finishing Mafia III (on PC). but like i figured... Mafia III will likely have more long term appeal between the two as i am not surprised as that's the way it is with the past games of each series. Mafia III seems to have mixed reviews but personally i think it's underrated. but with that said... i can see why some people might not care for it as much but one area i think it's better is it's more challenging than GTA 5 is. i am playing Mafia III on the highest difficulty setting though.

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OP's...

-Good Time (2017) - NS (but i might give it a shot)

-Original Sin (2001) - NS (but who knows, i may eventually give it a shot)

-Chocolat (2000) - 5/10 (watchable but ultimately forgettable)

-Atomic Blonde (2017) - NS (but ill be giving it a shot once it's out on video etc. i am not expecting much from it but i figure it's probably better than most action movies. or since everyone somewhat compares them... i am not expecting it to be as good as the first John Wick movie, which i gave a 6-6.5/10, but might have a chance at topping the second one, which i gave a 6/10.)

-Magic (1978) - NS (but i may have caught a little of this on TV years ago)

-Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) - NS (but i did see the 2005 remake and found that to be watchable but forgettable)