What did you watch this week potatoe? (05/16-05/22)

Hi!

I've been meaning to watch All the money in the world for while now, but haven't gotten around to it. Maybe I will watch it on my next vacation.
Enemy 8/10
I've seen Benny and Joon many years ago, but don't remember it well enough to rate it

I watched:
Chimes at Midnight (1965) rewatch 9/10
Whiplash (2014) rewatch 9/10
Dirty Dancing (1987) 6/10
Easy Living (1937) 7/10
Splash (1984) 7/10
Dude, Where’s My Car? (2000) 5/10
Remember the Night (1940) 7/10
In Fabric (2018) 6/10
The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975) 7/10
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) 8/10
Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) 7/10
Top Secret! (1984) 8/10
I Propose We Never See Each Other Again After Tonight (2020) 8/10
The Woman in the Window (1944) 7/10
À Nos Amours (1983) 7/10

Enemy was weird. 6.5/10

All the Money in the World - might have been better with Spacey 6/10

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008) - I twist on the Holocaust. The ending is devastating but I had trouble feeling sorry for the parents. 7.5/10

Sleepers (1996) - Somewhat contrived in places but there some great scenes and performances especially from Bacon. 7/10

Duel in the Sun (1946) - A movie I put off for years because of the reputation and I do love westerns. The whole thing was one big miscast starting with Jennifer Jones. Peck and Cotten should have been switched. The Sam Pierce character was not needed. 5.5/10

His House (2020) - Good premise but just not scary enough. The ending is interesting as you don't usually see a spirit/ghost/witch physically killed. 6/10

MOVIES:
Army of the Dead (2021) - 6/10
The Dry (2020) - 7/10
Above Suspicion (2019) - 5/10
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017) - 7/10
Dark Crimes (2016) - 5/10
Child 44 (2015) - 6/10
Get Hard (2015) - 5/10
High-Rise (2015) - 6/10
99 Homes (2014) - 6/10
Butter (2011) - 6/10

SHOWS:
The IT Crowd - 8/10

Dead Man Down 2013 7/10. Colin Farrell A very good, well acted thriller. Victor, a rising gangland player, has infiltrated a crime lords organization. Victor watches, and is watched by Beatrice, a mysterious young woman who lives in the apartment across from his.

Agatha and the Truth of Murder (2018) 7/10. If you like Agatha Christie mysteries, you'll like this. Good acting, good mystery.
In 1926, with her personal life in tatters and her writing in crisis, a young Agatha Christie decides to solve a real-life murder.

Greetings
Enemy 6.5/10
Benny & Joon 7/10

My week
Stay Out of the F**King Attic (2020) 6/10 I thought this was decent. For a b movie it was well acted and it didn't feel cheap. It could have been shorter and it would have worked better, but I did think it was a lot better than most of the reviews.

Horror in the High Desert (2021) 7/10 This one surprised me as I knew nothing about it. I liked it because it was like watching an episode of Unsolved Mysteries. Because it was a faux documentary , the found footage was minimal. I did find the ending disappointing, but overall a nice concept.

The Lost Footage of Leah Sullivan (2018) 3.8/10 I like found footage movies, I think that's obvious, and I watched this one as it had a decent reviews. I don't know what the good reviews saw that I didn't, but I found this one tedious, and grating. I would not recommend.

Dream Lover (1993) 6.3/10 I am really surprised that I hadn't seen this one before. I have such a crush on Mädchen Amick, so I did enjoy this. It is a predictable, run of the mill, early 90s romantic thriller, but it's well done. James Spader is always interesting. I don't know if I would ever revisit this, but I'm glad I saw it.

Darkness Falls (2003) 6/10 I feel like I'm being generous here, but it's not that bad of a film. The effects are a little drab, but I found most early 2000s horror to be a little drab so this fits in. It could have been better, but it's not the worst.

Asylum Blackout (2011) 7.4/10 I'd seen this one before and I really like it. I think it has great atmosphere and none of the characters act stupidly. I will add that Rupert Evans is a bonus. I cared about the characters. My only complaint is that they threw in a twist where I'm not sure the film needed one. Nice gore, but not over the top.

The More The Merrier, a funny 1943 comedy about the housing (and man) shortage in Washington in 1943. It stars Joel McCrea, Jean Arthur and Charles Coburn. 7.5/10.

It was remade in 1966 as Walk, Don't Run with Cary Grant, Jim Hutton and Samantha Eggar. The remake was a pale copy.

😎

i recall being mystified by enemy, but in a very fun, pleasing way. my letterboxd account tells me i gave it a 3.5, but it was an enthusiastic 3.5. i should give it a re-watch soon. i have to catch up with prisoners one of these days.

my week:

it happened one night (1934) 3.5 i'm too embittered to appreciate this the way a well adjusted human would but i can't deny that it's a very sweet film.

the wolf house (2019) 5 i don't know anything about art or animation. someone who really understands this stuff might be able to tell you that this is incompetently made. i dunno.

but i love looking at it. goes head to toe with spider-verse and dark city for being my favourite film to gawk at.

under the silver lake (2018) 5 when that riff to inna-gadda-da-vida comes in, any doubts i have about the greatness of this slip away like a sandcastle against the tide.

predestination (2014) 3.5 you've gotta admire the audacity.
i've always believed that terrible things have more in common with great things than mediocre things.

cuz to achieve greatness, you have to be willing to make yourself look like an idiot. take chances and all that.

i'm not saying this is great. or that it makes the makers look like idiots.

but it's definitely not like everything else you've seen, & that deserves a bit of respect for sure.

circle (2015) 3 this movie is idiotic & hammy and i'm pretty certain it doesn't make sense, but it is also completely entertaining, and i never complain about being entertained.

not boring! i will put a hand up for any movie that's not boring!

blair witch project (1999) 3.5 i said some snippy things about this when i watched it about 1/2 a year or so back.

but i have to say it played much better to me tonight.

i still think it pales next to the best found footage films that have come in its wake (rec, lake mungo being the masterpieces of the style), but it has some good, creepy moments.

the hot rock (1972) 3.5 it's fun.
but maybe a bit weirdly paced?
like...the fun stuff happens in the first 2/3s. and then it sort of plods along to the end.
it's absolutely a good time. goes down easily.
but it doesn't quite pop, y'know?

if you're a fan of robert redford's hair, you are gonna be very happy.

eraserhead (1977) 5 this is the most industrial movie ever made

insidious the last key (2018) 3 not as good as the other ones, but far from terrible.

all the insidious films are pretty good imo. yeah, they all have that inky black look and jump scare/string stab stuff. but they're still fine. it's not a small thing to make 4 pretty good films. show some appreciation.

actress is very foxy.

odds against tomorrow (1958) 3.5 belafonte plays the marimbas around the 24m mark. not very adeptly, but it still makes me cheer for him. marimbas are a very under-rated instrument.

tough, grim film. a bit plodding in the middle section, but a dark ending rewards your patience.

lo and behold (2016) 3.5 herzog doc on tech & the internet age. not a peak herzog doc. a bit too all over the place. all the segments are interesting, but the cumulative effect feels like you just skipped off the surface of 6 different topics but didn't really come away with any insight gained.

back to school (1986) 3 i kinda have a hard time accepting how much taller terry farrel is than keith gordon. & they don't even try to hide it!

this is ok. moderately amusing. ambles along nicely. good kurt vonnegut joke.

the miracle of morgan's creek (1943) 4 old screwball comedies don't generally go down very easily with me, but this is quite a bit of undeniable fun.

sullivan's travels (1941) 4 to this day people get sniffy about comedies.
like they're too easy, too common.
bollocks.
there is nothing harder than making people laugh.
witness the glaring, continuous absence of genuinely entertaining comedies.
this is a good one.

veronica lake. holy cow.

annabelle comes home (2019) 3.5 the people who have collectively decided to give this a 2.6 on letterboxd must have all been pissed when they logged their ratings. this movie is actually quite good. flawed, certainly, and it has lots of the characteristics of your standard modern pg horror.

but that scene with the brunette and the old tv? great! girl wakes up with the doll? also great!

yes, there's some dodgy cgi and some less effective moments. sure. but this is a very slick, efficient, skillfully executed film, & if you don't like it you're wrong.

also, it should always be repeated that ed and lorraine warren were absolutely kooks and con artists.

rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ed_and_Lorraine_Warren

edge of the city (1957) 3.5 pretty good! man running from his past struggles to do the right thing. nothing major, but it's tight & efficient & well done all told.

the silent partner (1978) 4 kinda bonkers, has an unusually subdued but very cool elliot gould performance, lots of foxy ladies and seventies nudity, a very canadian shopping mall, and a fairly shocking bit of violence at the end.

i loved it!