24. The Babysitter
Tongue in cheek, hugely implausible but fun, teen slasher. 6

ShabbyMcCrabby wrote:

The Daddy wrote:

12. Bait. Five minutes in I thought it wasn’t for me, but then found it strangely mesmerising.

The Australian shark movie?

Seemed more like a Cornish fisherman film, but maybe I just missed the point.

Is that on a streaming site yet?

Moot_Geeza wrote:

Is that on a streaming site yet?

I got a 30 (maybe 60?) day BFI player trial for 90p and it's on there; did it through Amazon Prime Video.

24.  Collateral - Love a good "one crazy night" film and this is damn fine except for that Audioslave song.  The principals are all excellent, Cruise a perfect fit for a detached, philosophising psycho.  [8]

25.  Holy Motors - I tend to struggle with this kind of thing, am a dummy.  The visuals and Lavant's performance sustained me well enough but some segments dragged.  Seeing an erect penis in a film was novel.  [5]

26.  Laura - Watched for the Twin Peaks connections ie. Waldo Lydecker, a dead Laura and peoples' idealised images of her.  It's a decent whodunnit where whodunnit doesn't matter much, somewhat lacking in visual flair.  [6]

27.  New York, New York - Scorsese successfully marries a quite grounded love story with the gorgeous production design of a 40's musical.  The fantastical elements serve to intensify the tougher reality and vice versa.  Bob's great as ever and Liza's an absolute knockout, especially while channeling her mama, among others, in the climactic Happy Endings sequence.  Hats off to the hair and wardrobe folk.  [9]

28.  Meek's Cutoff - Beautiful cinematography with composition evoking Old West portraits and photographs.  I found it hard to get into, it felt more like a documentary of these people's lives, light on drama.  [6]

29.  King of New York - As enjoyable as Larry is, I think I'd have preferred it if more time was given to Walken's character and less to the cops, shootouts and car chases.  [5]

30.  First A Girl - 1935 gender swap musical comedy with Jessie Matthews.  The choreography's a bit tame but it's supported by some inventive staging and direction, with standout sequences involving mirrored floors and crowds of dancers flipping genders.  Similarly, some of the comedy is dated but Matthews is charming enough to carry it off.  The old folk in the theatre were having a whale of a time.  [7]

31.  Uncut Gems - Obvious comparison but I love Good Time and here Sandler has a similar energy to Pattinson's slippery crook.  He is built exclusively for this strange underworld, his mind moving a mile a minute and we just have to try and keep up.  That restlessness borders on unpleasantly stressful during some of the longer LOUD NOISES scenes but that's probably the point.  There's at least a few moments of tragi-comedy to provide a release.  [8]

Dubs had a productive day there.

Harsh on Laura imo Dubs, stone cold classic.

24. The Big Short
I still kind of didn't get what exactly happened but it was a fairly well told story. Kinda hate that filmmaking style though.
[7]

25. Terrified
Creepiness ruined by LOUD NOISES and LOUD SOUNDTRACK. Also poor characterisation. A bit of a shame. Made me jump though.
[6]

22. 40 Year Old Virgin - 7
Was one of the funnier films I'd seen in awhile when it came out, and it still stands up well. Seth Rogan steals quite a few scenes, it's no wonder he went on to become a star in his own right.

23. Cliffhanger - 7
Got a real soft spot for this. I quite enjoyed Stallone's early 90s output, and this was one of the better ones. Solid pop corn action flick.

My list

retroking1981 wrote:

23. Cliffhanger - 7
Got a real soft spot for this. I quite enjoyed Stallone's early 90s output, and this was one of the better ones. Solid pop corn action flick.

That's harsh on Cliffhanger imo, I'd give it 9/10, 8 at least, it's just pure action from start to finish, cast are all good, great theme and setting and is just unapologetically 90s action, like Speed. I watched it again last year and it was brill.

Webbins wrote:

25. The Crazies (2010)
Reasonably effective Romero remake. Toxin leak turns Iowa residents into batshit mentals. 6

Have you watched The Town That Dreaded Sundown remake? I think it's one of the few good modern remakes.

The Farewell
A grandmother is lied to about her terminal cancer diagnosis in this bittersweet family drama. Even-handedly deals its sentiment cards, and remains very sweet throughout.

The Lighthouse
"Two men go crazy in an isolated lighthouse" should be a prompt, not a whole plot. Loved how it was shot, appreciated how it was acted, disappointed with how it was written. A real shame.

ShabbyMcCrabby wrote:

Webbins wrote:

25. The Crazies (2010)
Reasonably effective Romero remake. Toxin leak turns Iowa residents into batshit mentals. 6

Have you watched The Town That Dreaded Sundown remake? I think it's one of the few good modern remakes.

No, neither the remake nor the OG. I shall bear it in mind.

cockbeard wrote:

3. Terminator - Tampon of Fate (or whatever)
Seriously, female dialogue written by committee is even worse than written by a shit man. Terminator likes soft furnishings, fuck off [5]

edit: also stop wringing the everloving shit out of "I'll be back", it's dead dave, everybody, everybodys dead, dave dead everybody, everybody is dave dead, twats

Agreed. It's shocking how poor it's got now. Was by far the worst film I saw at the cinema last year.

26. Ashburn Waters
Low low low budget Aussie horror film that I won tickets too. Glad I didn't pay for it. Wasn't all bad but needed to learn the "less is more" technique for its monster.
[4]