July
Rebel Without a Cause
James Dean can’t play a teen. Great acting, interesting,
super cool. 8/10
Maniac
Better than the average slasher. Interesting. Far too
grizzly for me. 5/10
Double Indemnity
Quintessential Noir. Beautifully made, gripping. 8/10
Frances
Ha
A cross between French New Wave and Woody Allen. Annoying at
first but I warmed to it. It made me want to live the BoHo life. 7/10
August
Wild Strawberries
Entertaining, funny, charming and sweet. Fantastic story.
Original road movie. Better rear projection than Hitchcock ever managed. 8/10
Only God Forgives
Loud. I’m still unsure if I liked it but I was gripped.
Borrows heavily from Park Chan-wook. Would work as a silent movie. I worry that
the talented Gosling is limiting himself to roles which are too similar.
Kristin Scott-Thomas is award worthy. Too violent for me in places. 7/10
How Green Was My Valley
Great sets, really dull, about 15 minutes of interesting
political/religious stuff. Terrible Welsh accents. One of the worst Best
Picture winners I’ve seen. 5/10
Kick-Ass
Great fun. Wonderfully entertaining post modern take on the
genre of the decade. 9/10
Belleville
Rendez-vous
Superb (Read my full review here) 9/10
Sharknado
Dire (Read my full review here) 2/10
Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa
Exactly what we all wanted from a Partridge movie. Tonnes of
laughs, great development of much loved side characters, kept things small.
9/10
The Lone Ranger
Overly long, far too dull, it doesn’t know which character
is the lead. Surely the end is near for this type of super budgeted nonsense?
(Read my full review here) 3/10
Tetro
It looks fantastic and is well acted but I was bored
throughout. 5/10
Man With a Movie Camera
Easily one of the best films I’ve ever seen. (Read my fullreview here) 10/10
Side by Side
An interesting look at the film making process with expert
interviews. The discussion of film vs. digital was fascinating and well argued
on both sides but lacks a solid conclusion. 8/10
Kick-Ass 2
Not as funny, subversive or exciting as the first film.
Toned up and down in all the wrong places. 5/10
The Wild Bunch
Surprisingly violent and ‘adult’, good performances,
beautifully shot and well made. It didn’t always hold my attention. 8/10
Before Midnight
A near perfect end to what has become one of my favourite
trilogies of all time. All pre screening nerves went away after the opening
scene. Wonderfully written and brilliantly acted, a fitting conclusion (?) to
the eighteen year arc. Although initially sceptical, the additional characters
added more than I ever could have imagined. 10/10
Benny and June
A mediocre film in every aspect bar one performance. Johnny
Depp shows what bought him to the attention of Hollywood with a nuanced and sweet portrayal
of a guy all women want to mother. Some great physical comedy in the vein of
Buster Keaton. 6/10
Elysium
Half a great movie with some interesting and pertinent
ideas. It looks fantastic but gets bogged down in unnecessary action towards
the end meaning that it ends up as a ‘seen it all before’ type of film. 6/10
2 Days in Paris
My second watch in less than six months. Loved it just as
much this time around. (Read my full review here) 9/10
Lovelace
A deeply depressing film with a nice twist in its narrative
structure. Amanda Seyfried is brilliant but the film only seems to skim along
the surface and if you pardon the pun, doesn’t go deep enough. 6/10
The Way, Way Back
Nothing new and nothing surprising but it captures the
awkward teenage years well and gets great performances out of Steve Carell, Sam
Rockwell and Allison Janney. 7/10
Jurassic
Park
Still looking good after twenty years and the action beats
most modern blockbusters hands down. (Read my full review here) 10/10
Very cool list of movies there Tom. Yeah Kick Ass 2 wasn't as good as the first one. Loved Before Midnight very much Was kinda skeptical of Frances Ha and Only God Forgives, but will give those movies a look. What no love for Sharknado. lol
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