**** = Really good.
*** = Worth seeing.
** = A waste of time, but one or two good moments.
* = Not worth your time.
-0 = Less Than Zero.
1. The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976)** Nicol Williamson is described by IMDb as "considered by some to be the finest actor of his generation." His early credits seem to support this assertion, showing that he had a turn as Hamlet, for instance, yet he for finished his career doing parts in The Exorcist III and Spawn. Well, one does what one has to do, but it seems sad to me. The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, which I just finished watching this morning, seems like the aesthetic mid-point on Mr. Williamson's journey.
On the one hand, he's portraying a classic character, Sherlock Holmes. On the other hand, it's a pretty bad movie. The concept--Sherlock Holmes meets Sigmund Freud and Freud works to cure Holmes's cocaine addiction (and helps Holmes to solves a mystery / crime) seems pretty cool, and Alan Arkin's turn as Sigmund Freud was quite impressive. Unfortunately, that's about it. The other 93% of the movie is silly or just plain bad. It was painful to watch Robert Duvall--an actor I've long admired--struggle to maintain his British accent and his limp. (He was unsuccessful in that struggle on both counts.) And Nicol Williamson as Sherlock just didn't work for me.
Oh shit, was that really my first movie of the new year? An inauspicious starting point.
2. Superman: Unbound (2013)* The story was okay, but the animation was terrible (ugly art), the voice actors were bad choices (none of "the regulars"), and there were some really harsh moments (an eye plucked out, for instance). Skip this one.
3. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)** http://songsofinnocenceampexperience.blogspot.com/2017/01/what-letters-104.html
4. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016) I've been wanting to see this one for a long time. Even started to go to the theater twice . . . but ended up pooping out because I didn't want to see it alone. But it finally made it to Redbox, so I did, too. And you know, I am not much of a Tim Burton fan, but I thought he did a good job this time out. Maybe because the source material was so good. (I read the first book about a year ago and liked it a lot. Had intended to read the other books in the series, but something shiny caught my eye and I didn't ever get back to it.)
5. The Magnificent Seven (2016)*** I don't think that this movie needed a remake, but Denzel Washington is fun to watch, Chris Pratt is a funny little bunny, and Haley Bennett is a hot little widow. In fact, I feel the need to watch some more Haley Bennett movies in the near future.
6. Suicide Squad (2016)**** Still works for me.
7. Shooter: Season 1 (2016)** This show has some moments, but for the most part it just seems like a very drawn out version of the movie, and the attenuation leads to some seriously improbable events.
8. xXx: Return of Xander Cage (2017)* There was a moment or two when this movie almost engaged me, but it quickly slipped back to boring and stupid. What a waste of film . . . And two hours of my life.
9. Joy (2015)** I love Jennifer Lawrence, and would happily watch her sitting in a chair watching tv for 124 minutes, but this movie was just bad. Stupid. Boring. Unbelievable. As in I didn't believe in any of these characters. I guess the folks who made this movie thought it would be a no-brainer to put Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, and Robert de Niro back together, but there didn't seem to be an chemistry at all this time around.
10. The BFG (2016)*** Hmm, another Spielberg movie. Not bad, but not all that good, either. But Jacqueline wanted to see it, so I watched it with her. Which is always worth doing. Next up: The Swan Princess: Princess Today, Pirate Tomorrow. Woo hoo.
11. Fantasia 2000 (1999)***** This is a pretty amazingly beautiful movie. Whilst watching it with Jacqueline and Pat, I couldn't help but wonder what the experience would be like if I were high . . . but I don't do that anymore. (Mostly because with two autistic children you are on call 24/7.) Oh, The Swan Princess? I couldn't hack it, man. Jacqueline thought it was quite wonderful, though, so I guess they know their audience.
12. Our Town (2003)**** and maybe another * just for Paul Newman and Jane Curtain (who was FABulous). http://songsofinnocenceampexperience.blogspot.com/2017/01/our-towns.html
13. John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)* This was a great movie . . . if you like seeing a couple of hundred people killed. (I'm pretty sure the body count really was that high, too.) Not my cup of T, though. But I still love Keanu Reeves.
14. The Gathering Storm (2002)**** Good movie. Made me want to start reading that set of Churchill's books I bought awhile back. But I could have done with less Albert Finney naked time, fo shoah.
15. The Lives of Pippa Lee (2009)**** Keanu Reeves doesn't have a huge part in this movie, but I really like his character. And both Pippa Lees are awesome and beautiful.
16. Slaughterhouse-Five (1972)*** Interesting. And music by Glenn Gould.
17. Castle in the Sky (1986)**** Miyazaki. Oh, yeah. And hey, Luke Hamill did one of the voices.
18. Hail, Caesar! (2016)**** Coen Brothers. Finally got to see this. Quite a fun movie.
19. A Cure for Wellness (2017) This movie looked really good. Nice shots, nice settings, nice sets. And there were some good moments here and there. But the story . . . well, it's inspired me to start another rating for my movie listings: $50. Which in this case means, "They spent $40,000,000 on this movie; if only they'd spent another $50 on the script." First it lost its momentum. Then it got stupid. Then it got really stupid. Like super de dooper stupid. Oh well. At least Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain had a cameo--one of the technicians was reading a German copy of it in one scene. Until he put it down to masturbate, anyway.
20. Becoming Warren Buffett (2017)***** What a fascinating documentary this was. Mr. Buffett seems like a genuinely good guy, too. As one of his friends said, "Warren's not interested in making money by cheating people." And my favorite Warren Buffet quote: "I don't have a mind that relates to the physical world well." I'm with you, Brother Warren.
21. Steel (1997) -0 An amazingly bad movie. $16 million budget, $1.7 million box office. Not that that says it all, but it do say something. It was cool to see Richard Roundtree, though.
22. A Man Called Ove (2016)**** The first half or so of this movie was in ***** territory for me, but somewhere around the mid-point it stretched my credulity far enough to pop one of those buttons. Still, a very good movie with some important things to say about life, aging, friendship, love, sexuality, xenophobia, and driving. "I am not 'old man.' I am 'angry man!'" Heh heh. I hadn't really intended to see this movie, but (1) a friend told me she liked the book and (2) I read the Amazon sample of the book and it was very good and (3) Amazon had a special 99 cent rental yesterday, so what the fuck, right? Watched it with Jimmy, which doubled my pleasure and fun. Oh, and Ida Engvoll was incredibly beautiful. Those Swedes, man.
23. The French Lietenant's Woman (1981)***** It's been some time since I watched this, although I've thought about it on a pretty regular basis. But when I saw it at the library I knew that it had been way too long and that I really needed to see it again. And it was so great. This might be my favorite Meyrl Steep movie ever. And she is so beautiful. Now I think I have to read the book.
24. Anomalisa (2015) ***** What a superb movie. It perfectly captures the awkwardness of every day existence. Mos def one of my all time favorites. But of course it flopped:
Budget $8 million
Box office $5.5 million
That's how it is on this bitch of an earth.
25. Six (2017)**** Pretty intense show. Only eight episodes, but well done, high production values, yep. Might could watch another season of this.
26. Logan (2017)** And I had to think about if I would even rate it that high. I don't understand. This movie has gotten pretty rave reviews: 92% score on Rotten Tomatoes, 8.7/10 on IMDb, 95%
from Google Users (whatever the hell that means) . . . and it just left me cold. Lots of blood, lots of violence, lots of screaming, lots of gunfire. But I didn't give a shit about any of these characters. I wasn't sad when whosie died . . . nor when whatsie died, either. And when waitaminute called whatsie you-know-what . . . I almost laughed out loud because it was just so fucking ridiculous. One reviewer referred to it as "strangely spiritual." I'm guessing that he and I would not see eye to eye on what constitutes spirituality. It was just a sad, sad mess of a movie, and at 2 hours and 15 minutes running time, it was way too much of a bad thing. But hey, it's already made $300 million on a $97 million budget, so I'm obviously cross-eyed and painless. Again.
27. Kong: Skull Island (2017)** Well, it's only been out a week and it's already earned back its $185 million budget, so clearly SOMEbody likes this movie. And I will say that it looked pretty great; the special effects were very good. In fact, Kong never looked better. And the requisite pretty girl (Brie Larson) was certainly pretty enough. (During the movie I would have sworn that they had "enhanced" her bust, but maybe not--just saw pictures of her at the premiere of the movie and she had pretty impressive breasts. At any event, they certainly played up that aspect of her in the movie. Not that I'm opposed to that at all, just you'd think that a woman who represents a crusading reporter might be represented in a way that wasn't so dependent upon her mammaries, you know?) And it's always good to see John Goodman. But halfway through I just got tired of it all. Which means I more or less enjoyed it for an hour, which is twice as long as I lasted on the 2005 King Kong. But the endless stupid battles with and between monsters, the gaping wounds of plot holes, in all just became much to much. And am I the only person who's just tired of seeing Samuel Jackson in every movie made? And as for the extra, post credits scene? A real rip-off. The only thing to recommend it is that you get another couple of minutes of seeing Brie in her tank top. You don't get any shots of monsters, as seemed to be promised. Mos def not worth enduring the lengthy credit roll, for sure.
28. Adventure Time: The Complete Third Season (2011)***** Oh, man, this show is so good. Makes me laugh out loud on a regular basis. And it's so weird. Good times.
29. Iron Fist (2017)**** Not as good as Daredevil, but not that far off. And much better than the other two. I enjoyed it.
29. Emerald City (2017)**** Very interesting take on the Oz mythos. Plus a pretty girl. And also very pretty girl.
30. Valley of the Dolls (1967)*** Um . . . I thought this movie was supposed to be shocking. I guess times have changed pretty immensely since 1967, though. It was really nothing you wouldn't see on a soup opera nowadays. But I guess Jacqueline was basing a trail way back when. (And speaking of Jacqueline Susan's work . . . looks like she only wrote 6 books (Every Night, Josephine!, Valley of the Dolls, The Love Machine, Once Is Not Enough, Dolores, and Yargo) . . . and I know my mom read Once is Not Enough . . . maybe she should go on my list.) Well, at least there were some pretty girls. Sharon Tate was really a beauty. And although it was dated, it really was pretty interesting once you got into it. Bring on the sequel!
BTW, near the end of the movie I heard a familiar voice and thought, That sounds like Richard Dreyfus. Just checked, and shoe nuff, it was 20 year old RD in his first ever movie role. Uncredited . . . but IMDb knows all, tells all.
31. Miles Ahead (2015)***** I really loved this movie. There was a bit of excess, but hey . . . it's Miles Davis. Besides, the heart of this movie was the love of Miles's music, and it did right by that, foe shoe. Now I need to go listen to some MD.
32. Legion (2017)***** Amazing, stunning, incredible show. Really anxious for more of this. Really more about mental illness than superheroes. But superb music, visuals, editing, everything. One of the best shows EVer.
33. Moana (2017)**** Good times. Lovely animation. And The Rock rocked.
34. Fences (2016)** Well, of course Denzel Wahington was great. And Viola Davis and Stephen Henderson, too. In fact, all of the actors did good jobs. And there were truly touching moments here. More than a few. But there were also more than a few times when I felt like I was watching a play--which is not a good thing to me. I rarely enjoy plays because the actors all talk like they're in a play. There's a falsity in the timbre of their voices. An awkwardness. And the script was so self-conscious, so concerned with extending metaphors . . . far beyond the limits of realistic credulity. So sorry to say that I didn't enjoy this movie very much.
35. Inferno (2016)** Well, you know, I've read all four of the books and I saw the other two movies, so when I saw that this had made it to Redbox I decided to go for it. It's hard to get over the "the same shit keeps happening to this gy" syndrome that is germane to all sequels, but Tom Hanks is always cool, and there was a lot of nice scenery, and I think Felicity Jones is kind of hot, and that's good enough for me.
36. Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970)** I've kind of wanted to see this ever since I found out that Roger Ebert wrote the script, but didn't get around to it until I found out that the library had a copy. >o< (That's my mind blowing up.) It's a very strange movie, for sure. Pretty much non-stop farce (though I wouldn't call it satirical, as most of the sites I visited on line do). The Strawberry Alarm Clock appears (playing themselves playing a gig in some rich guy's mansion), which was kind of interesting. And if you like tits, this is the movie for you, for sure. here are more tits per square inch of this film than just about any movie I've seen. Which is mostly why it originally got an X rating, as there is no other frontal nudity and no sex shown. But tits, tits, tits. (Give it *** if you really like big tits.) And the occasional ass. And as for the rest of it . . . well, it was kind of interesting, I suppose. Occasionally amusing. But I got tired of it pretty fast.
37. Ghost in the Shell (2017)***** Fantastic movie, and not just because Scarlett Johansson is the most beautiful woman in the world. (Though of course that doesn't hurt.) I was a big fan of the anime and the manga, but this . . . yowza.
38. Ghost in the Shell 3D (2017)***** In fact, I went back the next day to see it in 3D. And I almost never go to 3D movies. But there were some scenes in this movie that 3D just made so awesome . . . or so much more awesome, I should say. Yep. Worth doing.
39. The Fate of the Furious (2017)*** I've got to admit, this thing was better than I thought it could be. It had the usual ridiculous bullshit, of course, but there was more to it too. It also had one of the greatest threat lines EVer (courtesy of The Rock): "I'll knock your teeth so far down your throat you'll have to stick a toothbrush up your add to brush your teeth." That's a good one.
40. Over the Garden Wall (2014)***** Oh, man, where has this thing been all of my life? Or for the last three years of it, anyway. What a fantastic show. Ahmo watch it a couple more times. Here's why: http://songsofinnocenceampexperience.blogspot.com/2017/04/over-garden-wall.html
41. Clan of the Cave Bear (1986)*** You know, this movie lost a shitload of money and got terrible reviews, but I thought it was pretty okay. At the very least worth doing.
42. Training Day (2001)* This, on the other hand, had pretty good reviews, made $60 million, and was just bullshit. Glad I didn't pay for it.
43. In Dubious Battle (2017)***** http://songsofinnocenceampexperience.blogspot.com/2017/04/james-franco-goes-into-battle-in.html
44. Passengers (2017)*** And another * for Jennifer's white swimsuit. I like Chris Pratt. And I really like Jennifer Lawrence. Especially in a swim swhit. And I love science fiction. So your think this movie would have been a natural pick for me. But I saw some reviews and they killed my enthusiasm. And I lost interest. But Redbox offered me a reconfigure for a buck, so what the hell, right? And you know, there were the usual You Should Have Paid More Attention in Middle School Science Class moments, but that's Par for the course in Hollywoodland. And there were also some very real and even touching moments. In fact, I actually enjoyed this movie. Wish I'd seen it in the theater; there were some scenes that would have looked amazing on the big screen.
45. Far From the Maddening Crowd (1967)***** First, I must say that Julie Christie is an amazingly attractive woman. Second, I must say that it made me happy to see the Cinematography by Nicolas Roeg credit at the start of the film. It's been awhile since I thought of Nicholas. Too long awhile. A bit of a coincidence with respect to finding this movie on VHS at Half-Price Books today. I stopped at Half-Price because I'd decided I wanted to read some Thomas Hardy, and spent a fair amount of time looking through all the budget areas, then the literature and paperback sections, and I went through the cool old books section three times. Found a few books, but only one of them called to me: a Folio Society edition of The Return of the Native. Which was quite nice, and quite a decent price ($12), but for some reason it didn't make me buy it. So I wandered over to have a look at the video stuff, and I wasn't there but a moment before I spied the movie version of Far From the Maddening Crowd. So I figured I was definitely meant to have that. And besides, it was only a buck. And it was a great movie.
46. Far From the Maddening Crowd (2015)***** Well . . . Carey Mulligan is no Julie Christie, for sure, but this version of FFTMC was absolutely superb in every other regard. Not to mention beautifully photographed. And directed with intelligence and subtlety. A must see, this one. And now I will have to read the book. Sow, it just hit me that this movie was made almost 50 years after the first one. That's a whole lot of water under the bridge, ennit?
47. Waiting for Godot (2001)***** Don't know how many times I've watched this play, but it was still entrancing.
48. Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2**** Fun movie. Groot was a little bit too cute, but this was laugh out loud funny. Dave Bautista was a hoot.
49. King Arthur: The Legend of the Sword (2017)***** It got terrible reviews and lost a shitload of money. And I thought it was just brilliant.
50. The Fool (2014)***** Amazing movie about a crack in a wall. So good that I want to watch all of this director (Yuri Bykov)'s movies.
51. Hidden Figures (2017)***** Wow. I can't even tell you in brief. So I'm gonna go long.
52. Fortitude (2017) Season Two***** What a superb show. And the season (series?) finale was the best I've ever seen.
53. A Monster Calls (2017)***** Wow. This was an amazing movie. Made me cry.
54. The Flash: Season Three (2017)** Man, I used to really love that show. Not so much anymore. Same problem most of the comic book tv shows end up with: too many people in long underwear. Not to mention that the writing has been getting steadily weaker for some time now. The series finale's last couple of minutes was straight up hard core cornography. Bleh. I still like Grant Gustin a lot, but this show . . . I said no, no, no.
55. Be Here to Love Me (2005)*** Well, like most documentaries about people I admire, this made me admire Townes Van Zandt less. Interesting, though, and with great interviews--especially the bits with Kris Krisofferson. But why do great artists have to be such shitty people?
56. Blade Runner (1982)***** The music was a bit dated, but what a great movie, eh? I've seen it a bunch of times, but it was still captivating. Gearing up for the sequel. Took 'em awhile, dinnit?
57. Sleepless (2017) ** It's the kind of movie that you feel like you've seen before . . . because you have seen everything that happens in it before. It wasn't terrible. It just wasn't worth the time.
58. Prometheus (2012)**** You know, I don't understand why I had such disdain for this movie previously. I saw it again because I've been thinking about going to see Alien: Covenant, and I wanted to get a running start. Anyway . . . this film looked great, had great performances from everybody, but especially from Noomi Rapace (my true love), Michael Fassbender, Idris Elba (my other true love), and Charlize Theron (the most beautiful skinny woman in the world). And Damon Lindelof was one of the writers. What the fuck more do you want, man? Anyway . . . glad I watched it again. Now I'm ready for Covenant, foe shoe.
59. Aliens: Covenant (2017)**** Hmm. More and more often I'm finding that movies that I like are really unpopular both critically and economically, and movies that I don't like are big successes by at least one of those metrics. Case in point: I really liked this movie, but I thought that
60. Wonder Woman (2017)** was really, really bad. In fact, I'd have made it a * if I hadn't spent most of the two hours + thinking about how much I would like to have sex with Gal Gadot. This would have been a much better movie if they'd cropped everything else out of the picture and just let us focus on GG for the whole time.
61. I Am Not Your Negro (2016)***** Stunning. “The American way of life has failed to make people happier or to make them better.” And lots of other piercing moments. Hard to watch at times, and it certainly made me feel ashamed of this country's history.
62. The Expanse: Season One (2015)**** Oh, man, I love this show. Like really love it. If it lived in town I'd woo it and seduce it and then propose to it. And live happily ever after, too, you betcha.
63. Speaking of which (ˆ), I seem to have missed entering The Expanse: Season Two (2017) here. Well, in case you didn't guess, it was **** . And if you're a Science Fiction Aficionado (especially as opposed to a Sci-Fi Poser), then it's straight up *****, foe shoe.
64. The Space Between Us (2017)*** Wish I could say, but I didn't really get to focus on this movie, alas--had to deal with a little internet insecurity issue. Even so, when I could pay attention I found it pretty moving. Actually came close to crying a time or two. So I think it's worth doing again if I get a chance tomorrow.
65. The Shallows (2017)*** . . . but mostly because Blake Lively is hot. And in a bikini. Of course, she's also bloody and bruised up, but even with that her hotness shows through.
66. Get Out (2017)*** And speaking of hot . . . Allison Williams. Mmm-hmm. And in addition to feeling great lust for her, I was also admiring her when I read that she refused to sign up for nude scenes in Girls. Until I saw saw pictures of her from a Harper's Bizarre shoot. Open shirt, no bra. Topless with arms across breasts. Now on the one hand, there are few things in life I enjoy more than the sight of a good looking woman with an open shirt and no bra. Or with no shirt and arms just about concealing breasts. If I go to heaven when I die, I will mos def be seeing a lot of that. But what the fuck does it even mean to take a stand against nudity if you're going to use exposing yourself as a means to promote yourself? It just becomes cowardly then, doesn't it? So fuck her. But as for the movie itself . . . it was quite good. Maybe even ****. And if you don't get out much (no pun intended), a *****. Fuckin' white people.
67. Transformers: The Last Knight (2017)* Oh, man, this movie really ground the meat out of my bones. It was so bad that I don't even want to talk about it--except to say this: the trailer looked absolutely great. Just goes to show, hmmm?
68. The Hateful 8 (2015)*** . . . and maybe better. There were times whilst watching this that I thought, "Quentin Tarantino has finally made a great movie." And then there were the usual Tarantino excesses which I don't appreciate: people spewing blood, ugly violence. I am pretty sure that I'll watch this movie again, though. And I may even do a Tarantino Oeuvre thang.
69. The Hunley (1999)***** No doubts on this one, though. This was a truly great movie. A based on a true story about a Civil War submarine about which I'd never previously heard. Very nice romantic story as well, and Armand Asante and Donald Sutherland both his this one out of the park.
70. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)** This was the fourth time I've watched this movie. It was also the last time. Let me tell ya 'bout it--
71. Around the World in 80 Days (1956)*** I actually enjoyed this movie. It was very long (3 hours) and occasionally misogynistic and racist, but it also had some nice twists on both of the aforementioned evils. It also had about a kajillion guest stars. My favorite was Frank Sinatra, who played piano in a saloon and was only on screen for maybe six seconds total . . . only two of which showed his face. So I enjoyed it. Although it also made me wonder why nobody does an updated and serious version of this most excellent Jules Verne novel.
72. Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Dark Side of Dimensions (2016)* Well, who am I to say on something like this? I did enjoy sitting next to Joe while he watched it, though, so the experience gets a ****.
73. Sólo con tu pareja (1991) -0 I can't remember what prompted me to get this from the library, but I'm sorry that I did. What an awful movie. Unless you think that misogyny, racism, cruelty, suicide, animal cruelty, and AIDS are funny, in which case it was a great movie.
74. Valley Girl (1983)** Nick Cage was 19 years old when this movie came out. His first lead role. It wasn't a good movie at all, but it was very cool to see Nick all young and shit. Also made me want to see Birdy again, so ahmo go find that somewhere.
75. Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) **** Probably the best of the Spider-Man movies. The addition of Iron Man / Tony Stark was a good move. Still about 20% Hollywood Bullshit (like a ferry that's cut in two but doesn't sink), but it was relatively easy to let that shit go.
76. Surviving Progress (2011) ***** Yowza. And btw, these First Run Features are Monster AssKickers. I went to the LFPL website and put in requests for 3 more of their films this morning: Paul Bowles: The Complete Outsider, The Siege of Leningrad, and Nelson Algren: The End is Nothing, The Road Is All. Mmm-hmm.
77. The Lost City of Z (2016) **** Superb movie.
78. War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) **** Can't even tell you how much ass this movie kicked. So I'll just have to try in an extended review, coming soon to a blog near you.
79. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017) On the plus side, the movie looked great . . . and I really like the director, Luc Besson . . . and I'm a big Dane DeHaan fan . . . and I would really like to fuck Cara Delevingne . . . but I'm afraid that still leaves this movie at * for me. So you can probably imagine how bad it is. And just btw . . . Rihanna might be the worst actor I've seen in years.
80. Dunkirk (2017)***** One of the best movies ever. Made me cry. Never even thought about the clock. Just fell into it. Want to go back and see it again. Really want to see the 70mm version, but the closest place to do that is Indianapolis. Then again . . . .
81. The Imitation Game (2014) ***** Amazing movie. Took me forever to get around to watching it for some reason. Benedict Cumberbatch was just amazing.
82. The Search for Robert Johnson (1992) ***** This was a truly great documentary with some fascinating background information on Robert Johnson. Also some superb interviews and performances by several lesser known blues musicians. And the host, John Hammond, was affable and knowledgeable and talented. But that last one? Yes, he plays in the video. Plays a lot. Which was kind of a problem for me. He was good, for sure. But not as good as the other guys. And watching a white dude who is a son of a rich man plays the songs of a black man who died without a penny to his name while other forgotten black musicians are RIGHT THERE . . . mos def not the way this should have gone.
83. Nelson Algren: The End is Nothing, The Road is All (2015) ****, + * if you're a writer. Super cool shit. With some Kurt Vonnegut thrown in for good measure. "I submit that literature is made upon any occasion that a challenge is put to the legal apparatus by conscience in touch with humanity." Mmm-hmm. Gonna read me some NA now, motherfuckers.
84. Paul Bowles: The Cage Door is Always Open (2012) *** Another very good writer documentary from the First Run Features folks. It was good, but I guess I just didn't find Bowles as interesting as I did Algren. And don't really think I need to, I suppose. Sorry, Paul.
85. The Siege of Leningrad (2013) ** The first dog I've encountered in the First Run Features kennel. And it still had lots of good and even fascinating information . . . but (1) the sound mix was really terrible. Whenever someone was speaking in a non-English language, the mix was to their favor so that you had to really focus just to get most of the translation. Which is just fuckin' stupid. I mean, do sub-titles if you want, but two languages competing makes no sense whatsoever. (2) I guess there was limited available footage, because I kept seeing scenes repeated in ways that really didn't make any story sense. There are plenty of documentaries on the siege of Leningrad out there. Don't let this one be the only one you watch.
86. Monarch of the Glen (2000) *** Just happened upon this series and got the first season from the library. 8 episodes, and some good moments. Not sure if it's really my cup of haggis, but there were some good laughs, some pretty girls, and even a poignant moment or two. And the scenery is, of course, amazingly beautiful. There are also more than enough "stupid sit-com" moments, and I think that BBC stupid sit-coms moments are even worse than American stupid sit-com moments. Think Benny Hill here. But the library does have the second season, and I've got a lot of hours ahead of me on the stationary bike, so it could happen.
87. 1971 (2015) **** Another hit for me fro First Run. I'd never even heard of the incident at the center of this movie before--wherein a group of regular folks break into an FBI office, steal documents, find astonishing stuff, then leak it to the press. Yep.
88. The Dark Tower (2017) * It's hard for me to express how godawful this movie was. And this from a man who loves Idris Elba dearly. ((Not in a gay way. Not that there's anything wrong with that.)) Matthew McConaughey gets a huge share of the blame here. His "acting" was incredibly bad. Not that the script was a thing of brilliance, mind you, but MMc's delivery was just shit on shit. Pass this one up and you'll have a richer life.
89. Anchors Aweigh (1945) Managed to catch this on television just a few minutes after it started . . . and it was on a statin that let me rewind to the beginning, so even better. I've really been in a Sinatra mood lately, too, so this was perfect. Thank you, universe. Oh. And it was actually quite good. I have always liked Gene Kelly, and Frank was in fine form, for sure. And you know, this was from a time when movies still had heart. You know? Good times. ****
90. 56 Up ***** If you've never seen any of the Up movies (this was the eighth one), it's probably impossible to tell you why you should see this one, but: this was a truly amazing movie. And you don't have to see it's seven predecessors in order for it to work. Though it wouldn't be a bad idea to do so.
91. As I Lay DyingYou (2014)***** You have to give a shit about people who don't have shit and you have to be willing to pay more attention to the movie than you do to taking a piss, and I guess that's why this movie lost millions of dollars. But I thought it was superb. Absofuckinglutely superb. Hats off to James Franco for this.
92. Set Fire to the Stars (2014) *** Pretty good movie about a not very good man--Dylan Thomas. Elijah Wood did a good job of it. To tell the truth, I'm kind of sick of movies about great writers who are shitty people, though.
93. Parkland (2013) ***** First Run Features hits it out of the park again. This was a truly great movie about the assassination of JFK. All of the actors were just fuckin' suPERB, but special props to Marcia Gay Harden as Nurse Doris Nelson, Zac Efron as Dr. Charles 'Jim' Carrico, Paul Giamatti as Abraham Zapruder, James Badge Dale (took me 2/3rds of the movie to recognize him) as Robert Oswald, and Billy Bob Thornton as Forrest Sorrels. Just terrific stuff. And very touching, too.
94. Shepard and Dark (2012) ***** I've been missing Sam Shepard a lot lately, so I got this from the library. Now I miss him more. Watching it has also inspired me to attempt to write (longhand) a letter to Jimmy. Still working on that, but it's a pleasure to do, actually. Handwritten letters are different things, for sure.
95. The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (2010) ***** From First Run Features, naturally. I already knew this story, but this was still fascinating stuff. Quite timely, too, in terms of the leaks occurring pretty much daily in the Trump organization. It's The Morality, Stupid.
96. Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949) ** Frank Sinatra. All 135 pounds of him. (They kind of make a big deal about how much he weighs several times in the movie.) And Gene Kelly, looking fit. And Esther Williams, looking' good. But what a loser of a movie. The misogyny never relents, and it make me kind of queasy.
97. Kings of Pastry (2010) ***** Another First Run Features. And believe it or not, a movie about a pastry competition can be fascinating and even enlightening. Good shit. Made me hungry, though.
98. The Defenders (2017) **** I really liked this show. Lots of criticisms online, mostly about the "slow start," but I call bullshit. It was a slow burn, and that's the way (uh-huh, uh-huh) I like it. Here's hoping that they make another season. And maybe through a little Dr. Strange into the mix, hey? Come on, the movie didn't do that good, did it?
99. The Island President (2012) ***** Mohamed Nasheed . . . whattaman, whattaman, whattaman, whatta mighty mighty good man. Wish we had a president like that. Great documentary, too. First Run Features, of course.
100. Mother Night (1996) **** Pretty close to a Must See so far as I'm concerned. I was really impressed by this movie--which I'd never seen before. Of course Nick Nolte was great, but so was Alan Arkin and pretty much everybody else . . . including a very young Kirsten Dunst. And I was really impressed by director Keith Gordon. So much so that I'm going to have a look at some of his other movies asap. When I went to check him out on imdB, I found that we have crossed paths a number of times: he directed episodes of Homicide: Life on the Street, House, Rubicon, Better Call Saul, Fargo (4 of them, 2 of which reunited him with Kirsten Dunst), and Legion. ANYway, I'm sorry to say that re-reading Vonnegut's book wasn't an entirely pleasant experience, but watching this movie--my first ever YouTube rental, btw--was quite rewarding. $2.99 well spent.
101. The Time Machine (2002) * Really, really bad. The I want my two hours back kind of bad.
102. American Pastoral (2016) **** A pretty amazing movie, with several sequences that were absolutely captivating.
103. The Shop on Main Street / Obchod na korze (1965) ***** Easily one of the best movies I've ever seen. And the ending . . . holy shit, Batman. Just an amazing piece of work.
104. Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) -0 And just to balance things out with my movie karma, this was easily one of the worst movies I've ever seen. It was not only stupid, pointless, and ugly, it was also mean-spirited. As in two guys get ground up in machines and turned into hamburger meat. And one of them gets made into a hamburger which is consumed by another character . . . who knows that it was made from a human being. More? Well, there's the virtual inside of a vagina shot. And there's Elton John saying "Fuck" more times than I would have thought possible, and also said Sir doing Action Hero bits. Which, by the way, weren't in the least bit amusing. Elton looks like a gargoyle, for God's sake. A little dignity, please? But no, not here. I can't go on. It was so bad that I wish I could freeze the memory and then flush the ice cube down the toilet.
105. Roads to Koktebel (2003) Russians to the rescue. After the disaster of Kingmen, I watched this little movie (procured from the public library), and it was superb. ***** for sure. Although there were some pretty sketchy moments . . . like when it looked like an old guy was going to pull his dick out on an eleven year old kid. But it didn't go as far as I feared. Still too far for me, but in the context of the movie it made some sense. (Not so much that it couldn't have been left out, though. Juswatching)
106. Dark Matter (2017) **** Y'know, it took me forfuckinEVer to get around to watching season three. But when I did, I REALly enjoyed it. And then I found out that this was the end for the show, cliffhanger ending notwithstanding. Well, shit. Netflix, can you spare a couple million bucks? Or maybe IDW can help us out via a comic book Season 4? Por favor?
107. Son of Saul (Saul fia) (2015) *****
108. Blade Runner 2049 (2017) **** I think. I was really tired and had some trouble following it at times, but it looked good and it definitely had some moments. Also, it was filmed in Hungary, so there's that. I'll need to be seeing it again.
109. Justice League Dark (2017) *** Good to see . . . er, hear . . . Matt Ryan back in his Constantine role. And the movie was pretty good, actually. I have to say, though, that whoever did the character and costume design on Zantanna did not impress me. Zatanna's tits were literally (literally literally) bigger than her head, and she wore a strapless bustier that was definitely not the best choice for engaging in crime fighting activities. It's funny how nobody would think of having a male character's giant dick or balls so obviously displayed, but this is pretty much par for the course when it comes to female characters.
110. Death Note (2017) *** Kind of interesting, actually, but a bit too gory for me, for sure.
111. 12 Monkeys (1995) ***** I forgot what a brilliant movie this was. And it might be my favorite Brad Pitt performance ever. I have got to get back to Terry Gilliam's stuff.
112. Richard III (2016) ***** I finally got around to watching this Benedict Cumberbatch / Judi Dench version of Richard III . . . and it was exceptional. Benedict is mesmerizing as Richard. In fact, this was so good that I now feel the need to watch the entire Hollow Crown series . . . which is a pretty serious investment, as it consists of six which weigh in at an average running time of 2 1/2 hours . . . for a total viewing time of 15 1/4 hours. That's pretty serious shit there. But it looks like the P-Library has the whole shebang, so it might have to happen pretty soon.
113. Dark Horse (2016) *** I picked this up at the library for Jacqueline, because she likes horse stories, but she wasn't interested. I was going to just return it, but decided to let it roll whilst I Schwinned. And it was kind of interesting. It's more a story about class in England than anything else, and I'm always game for a bit of that. And I thought it was funny how so many of the people in the movie anthropomorphized the horse--"He's not as fast as the others, but he's a scrapper," that kind of thing. Imputing their working class values and identity onto a horse. The thing I liked least about it was that it purported to be a documentary, but there were many scenes where they "re-created" things that had happened. That irritates me. Either make a movie or make a documentary, y'know? That hybrid just seems like a sham to my purist instincts.
114. Blow-Up (1966) -0 I have actually been looking forward to seeing this movie ever since I first heard of it . . . seeing as it was based on a Julio Cortazar story and all that. But it was really bad. A mean-spirited story about cruel people who get away with their cruelties. Save hose two hours of your life to do something meaningful . . . like cutting your toenails. You'll be a lot better off.
115. The Foreigner (2017) **** Well, I wasn't expecting that. A very good movie, with a very heartfelt performance by Jackie Chan. Not the stupid action flick I thought I was going to see At All.
116. The Lady in the Van (2015) ***** Wow. This really blew me away. And a big hats off to Alex Jennings who played Alan Bennett and Alan Bennett. (And did a marvelous job at both roles.)
117. The Gathering Storm (2002) ***** Wow . . . what a fantastic movie. Albert Finney did a superb job portraying Winston Churchill. This movie was inspiring, funny, poignant. Everything you could want and then a little bit more.
118. Wonder Woman (2017) I decided to give this another go since it made it to Redbox. And for the first hour or so, I was thinking, "Man, I really got it wrong this time. I must have been super tired when I went to see this in the theater, 'cause it is really quite good. But then we turned into the last hour or so of the movie, and it all went to shit in a toilet paper basket. The Playstation-y action sequences. The stupidity of the fights. (Speaking of which, why is it so common for the villain to be an old guy? It just seems very bully-isa for a young hero to be pounding the shit out of an old guy, no matter how evil he is. But it seems like it happens all the fuckin' time these days. Is there a subtext here?) So by the time it got to the final scene, I was back to ** for it. And only because Gal Gadot is hot. Otherwise we'd be talking *. I am not looking forward to the sequel, let me tell ya.
119. Thor: Ragnarok (2017) I'm torn between * and ** for this one. There were a few good moments . . . but most of them were in the trailers, and all of them were drowned in an absolute ocean of stupid and boring bullshit. And I say this as a big fan of the Marvel movies, and after having really liked the first and second Thor movies. But this was just so bad. In fact, I am pretty sure that in my humble, this was the worst Marvel movie (since Iron Man in 2008, that is) thus far. What a big disappointment.
120. Justice League (2017) **** Well, what can I say? It definitely had some problems here and there, but I liked it. Especially Aquaman. But it looks like it's falling way short at the box office. So far it's only earned about $100 million, and the budget was three times that. So that's not good.
121. The Punisher (2017) Well. On the one hand, this was a pretty interesting (with the emphasis on intense . . . kind of). But on the other hand, it's just way too much torture porn. How many times are we subjected to the sight of people spitting up or out blood, being brutally beaten, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera? And while I do dearly love Jon Bernthal, either his limitations as an actor (or the inability of the director to allow him to expand as an actor) are painfully obvious here: the "No, no, no, no, no"s, the baffled looks off stage right with the shake of the head and loose lips, the guttural roars . . . sometimes it feels like you're watching one of those cheap cartoons that uses the same footage repeatedly. So while I have to say that I did enjoy the series, I'd also have to say that I wish someone would have let me do the final edit.
122. Bobby (2006) ***** I really love this movie. I was talking about it to Craig and Marilyn last time we had coffee a couple of weeks ago, and then I saw it at Half-Price for a dollar and got it for them . . . mostly for Craig, as he said that (1) he loved Bobby Kennedy and (2) he'd never seen this movie. Re-watching it re-affirmed that it was a great movie for me. But of course it got bad reviews and didn't make any money. I don't understand. After watching the movie (and crying at the end--one of the most powerful movie endings ever, I think) I watched the dvd extras, one of them a making of featurette. And seeing the famous picture of the bus boy holding Robert Kennedy's head made me wonder if that guy was still alive, so I looked him up and found that he, Juan Romero, was indeed still alive, was, in fact, my age (-ish--65). I read a bit more and was startled to read that Romero reported that as he held the dying RFK, he heard him speak:
"First he asked, 'Is everybody OK?' and I told him, 'Yes, everybody's OK.' And then he turned away from me and said, 'Everything's going to be OK.'" (lattimes.com)
So this guy who'd just gotten shot in the head came to consciousness, and his first thought was to ask if everyone else was okay.
Stunning. Just stunning.
This is the kind of movie that makes you a better person, I think. And definitely a must-see.
123. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) ** And I'm being generous here. I really dislike this movie. My least favorite Star Wars film.
124. Star Wars Holiday Special (1978) -0 Yep, it's every bit as bad as I thought it would be. But now I've seen it, so one more thing I don't need to worry about before I die.
125. Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) ***
126. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) **** Gearing up
127. Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi (1983) *** . . .
128. Star Wars: The Last Jedi **** Well, I was impressed. Not that there weren't bits of stupidity here and there, because there were. But it wasn't as overwhelming as it was in The Force Awakens. Much, much better movie than that one . . . certainly a rival for the original trilogy. Better than at least some of them, actually. Maybe better than all of them, come to think of it.
129. Jack Taylor: Series 1 (2010) **** Really three short movies, but y'know. Superb show. I only checked it out because I saw that
Killian Scott, whom I really love in Damnation, had a part in it. And Killian is grand, for sure, but Iain Glen, who plays the lead part, is magfuckingnificent. I am going to have to see what other stuff he's done. After I finish all of the Jack Taylors, that is.
130. Samsara (2011) **** Pretty fascinating. But some extreme disgusting moments with chickens and pigs. I could have done without seeing that shit, for sure . . . though I understand how fucked up that is for a meat-eater to say.
131. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) **** I had no interest in seeing this movie . . . until I saw the trailer. Specifically, until I saw Karen Gillan in the trailer. Homina homina homina. But it turns out that it was a pretty good movie. It was funny. It had a few poignant moments. And it had some good lessons. But most of all, it had Karen Gillan. I could watch it again, for sure.
2016
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