What Movies Did You Watch Last Week? (17/10-23/10)
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 hosts (us) posts our weekly movies and you can comment on those and list your movie for the same time frame. We 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 Breathe (2016, Fede Alvarez)
This thriller mostly takes place in one location as a trio of thieves break into the house of a blind man who isn't as helpless as he seems. It is fairly well made and acted with some ok set pieces but for the most part I was not too invested, give me Green Room over this any day of the week.
5.5-6/10
Dead of Night (1974, Bob Clark)
The same year as he directed the influential Black Christmas he also made this lesser known UK/Canada funded horror film about a zombie Vietnam Vet. The film is quite starkly serious, sombre and plays out like an allegory for post traumatic stress syndrome. It is a little rough around the edges and feels a little dated but it is an interesting attempt at a serious horror with layers.
5.5-6/10
Lights Out (2016, Dvid F. Sandberg)
This is a pretty clinically put together studio horror film but it has some solid enough character moments and some interesting set pieces. Worth a once off.
5/10
Saw (2004, James Wan)
This is the first (and cited generally as the best) in a long series of films that involve elaborate plots to have people do things they do not want to do. In this one two strangers (Cary Elwes, Leigh Whannell) awaken in a room with no recollection of how they got there or why, only to discover they are pawns in a deadly game perpetrated by a notorious serial killer. The film is fairly interestingly structured with good use to flashbacks and is reasonably creative. However it is not a very well made film and at many stages I did not care how it was going to end. Most of the cast are quite good, especially Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon), Ken Leung (The Force Awakens) and Michael Emerson (Lost) but the two characters we spend the most time with (Elwes & Whannell) are pretty awful, especially Elwes who has never been a good actor but here he is t his worst. It is hard to care anything about what happens to them and Elwes just makes the whole thing ridiculous and pushes the score down considerably. Fun enough for a once off but I do not see a repeat viewing in my future and am unlikely to seek out the sequels in any kind of hurry.
5/10
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016, Edward Zwick )
cinema
The first Jack Reacher film was met with skepticism before it came out and was only a mild success at the box-office but found a large fanbase on the small screen for its hard edge, great atmosphere, superb car chase and a memorable villain. Four years later Jack Reacher returns and must uncover the truth behind a major government conspiracy in order to clear his name.
Tom Cruise is his usual excellent self and is joined by Cobie Smulders (The Avengers) & Danika Yarosh (Heroes: Reborn) who are good but unfortunately has a cookie cutter, cliche'd set of villains. This however is the least of the problems with this very tepid sequel that has a by the numbers script and incredibly bland direction. Edward Zwick (The Last Samurai) has never been the most visionary of directors but this film doesn't feel like it was made with and love or flare at all and feels dated and cheap.
In the end it is not a bad film but a very bland film and a real missed opportunity especially in the portions set during halloween in New Orleans. A better director might have been able to give something interesting to this run of the mill script but we are left something a little tired and forgettable with only a few entertaining sections.
4.5/10
The Seventh Victim (1943, Mark Robson)
This dark film follows a woman in search of her missing sister who uncovers a Satanic cult in New York's Greenwich Village, and finds that they may have something to do with her sibling's random disappearance. Tom Conway (Cat People) has top billing but serves in a supporting role and is good as always. The plot of the film is pretty dark for its day but it ends up being mostly rather dull.
4/10
Yoga Hosers (2016, Kevin Smith)
This second film in the True North Trilogy from Kevin Smith follows some of the minor characters from the first film Tusk on their own adventure against nazi monsters made of sausages. Where Tusk was actually a pretty reasonable effort with a workable plot albeit a strange one, it fell apart with the involvement of Johnny Depps terrible and unchecked character 'Guy Lapointe'. This film however has no structure, no point to make or exist and Depps return as Guy Lapointe might be the best thing in the film. Smith might be having a mental crisis as this is a drastic fall for even him. A couple of jokes work but little else does and the whole thing is just more annoying than anything else. I wonder if Depp sees these low budget weird films as a way to live out his Ed Wood fantasies?
2/10
REPEAT MOVIE VIEWING
Suspiria (1977, Dario Argento)
The last time I saw Suspiria was well over 10 years ago, late at night on an old VHS and I did not care for it much. I thought it was a high time I gave the revered horror another viewing and this time with high definition widescreen presentation. As the visual and audio elements are far and away the strongest thing in the production, this helped greatly with this viewing.
The story starts with a newcomer to a fancy ballet academy who gradually comes to realise that the school is a front for something far more sinister and supernatural amidst a series of grisly murders. Not unlike the Spaghetti westerns that were produced out of Italy in the 60's and 70's this too is made up of international players who act in their native tongues only to be re-dubbed if necessary for different markets. It is actually done pretty well as are pretty much all things of technical merit. The star of the film are the striking visual compositions and the intense score performed by Goblin. Argento really lucked out on collaborating with them to make this film so memorable s with a more typical score this film would be a much lesser experience.
The problem however is for all the style the film has it has a pretty poor plot and script and a few dubious line readings. I cannot just let it slide because it is such a visceral experience in other ways, the script is a mess and when the pace and score settle down, those parts are a bit of a chore to get through. It can definitely a case f style over substance but the style is enough to make it worth a viewing or two. I am sure Nicolas Winding Refn is a fan of this film from a production standpoint as many of the striking colours and compositions reminded me of his work. In the end I am happy to push the score up based on these things but can only go so far because the story is so lacking.
6-6.5
WEEKLY MOVIE AWARDS
BEST FILM - Suspiria
BEST ACTOR - Tom Cruise - Jack Reacher 2
BEST ACTRESS - Cobie Smulders - Jack Reacher 2
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - John Marley - Dead of Night
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Danika Yarosh - Jack Reacher 2
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY - Luciano Tovoli - Suspiria
BEST SCORE: Goblin - Suspiria
BEST DIRECTOR - Dario Argento - Suspiria
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