55. Christine
Good King adaptation. Psycho car is restored by nerd, bad shit ensues. 7

Queen & Slim

Mostly enjoyable but curiously implausible slow burn fugitive road movie with race relations at the forefront of almost everything. There's a lot to like, but it deserved a leaner edit and a smidge more subtlety at times. [6]. Sturgill nailed his performance, ofc.

Con Air
Holds up worse every time I go back to it, but remains impossibly dumb fun. My favourite thing might be Colm Meaney's pivot from Star Trek's meek Chief O'Brien to the snarling ball of cop cliches he's playing here.

Space Jam
One of a tiny selection of DVDs in the place we were staying at the weekend, which didn't leave much choice. It's terrible, obviously, but I'm more amazed that it managed to hold my patience when I was eight. Incidently, the much-derided Space Jam website has a pretty interesting essay about the making of the film from back in 1996, which includes the line "Roger Rabbit was the vinyl LP, but Space Jam is the compact disc." Truer today in more ways than I think they realised.

Fast and Furious 8 (AKA Fate of the Furious)
Caught this again on TV the other night. A real downward curve following number 7, it just feels convoluted in ways that can't be glossed over with how much fun it's trying to be. Also responsible for my favourite IMDB quote ever.

Ah Christ I missed a week.

The Cat Returns - Fine for a Sunday afternoon, very much a kids' film.  [4]

The Town - Yes it's basically Heat in Boston but it's actually decent, if predictable, and the action scenes hold up really well.  I like Rebecca Hall, Postlethwaite's great and my dislike of Renner's face worked quite well for it.  Hamm I just don't really buy in anything but Mad Men.  [7]

Good Morning - I should probably watch Ozu's canonical Proper Cinema but the lighter one with fart jokes seemed more my level.  I feel I must stress that they're tasteful fart jokes, if that's possible, delivered by adorable children.  [7]

The Quatermass Xperiment - They overreach in the end but I've a lot of love for the effects, particularly the opening scene and the body horror stuff.  That cactus scene was really effective, too.  "Gin goblin" has now entered my vocabulary.  [7]

Paris When It Sizzles - It does sizzle, for the most part, as Hepburn and Holden spark off each other and ham it up with relish in the film-within-a-film.  Always a bit weird seeing Audrey have her life force drained by a leathery senior so I'd rather they lost the forced romance.  Thought they were lampooning exactly that with an imagined vampire scene but nope.  [7]

First Reformed - Quiet, handsome and gripping from start to finish.  Hawke's great as the self-flagellating priest arriving at a kind of logical despair, like a pricklier version of S-Town's John B.  And now I have that damn hymn in my head again.  [8]

10. The Accountant
A rewatch, and on second viewing the early autism seems a bit heavy handed, but the playing of it in the current time was very good, so I can see why it needed to be spelt out, as many with no exposure might have missed it. Some good action as well [8]

Midsommar

Well now.  I knew nothing going in, avoided all trailers as usual.  I'd seen Hereditary, which I wasn't overly enamoured with, but I thought this was exceptional.  Easily the best film I've seen from last year. [9]

44. Rebecca - 7
Not quite as good as I remember but still a solid Hitchcock movie.

45. Spenser Confidential - 5
OTT Mark Wahlberg action comedy that's a bit by the numbers but its fun enough.

46. Onward - 6
Quite an average movie by Pixar standards. It's missing the magic, which ironically is what the protagonists are chasing throughout. But, an average Pixar is still good.

47. Used Cars - 8 
An early Robert Zemeckis comedy with Kurt Russell at the wheel. I'm unashamedly biased towards this one. Seen it countless times, pure comfort viewing for me.

48. Blood From the Mummy's Tomb - 6
A rare starring role from Valerie Leon in this Hammer Horror. It doesn't live up to Hammers best but it still oozes that unique atmosphere. 

My list

20. The Grandmaster - 11 Mar
I do love me some Kar Wai Wong. Thought this was better than the Donnie Yen Ip Man series, although it takes a different approach. Full of beautifully lighted shots and typically melancholic like with Wong’s other works. The fights aren’t as realistic as Ip Man, but are well choreographed. I think it would’ve been great as a longer and more epic film, but it’s good as it is.
[8]

Yep.

Will do.  He's good in The Rover too.  Doesn't seem to have fared to well on the ol' Tomatometer but that's a cracking film imo.

27. Onward

Emotionally engaging but predominantly rather irritating family quest within a contemporised fantasy world.

[6]


28. Sacrilege

Laughably poor low budget horror which sacrifices any sense of originality for cliché.

[4]


29. Military Wives Upbeat true-life drama about the formation of a choir on an army base.

[7]


30. Portrait of a Lady On Fire

Slow-burning yet sporadically incendiary period romance between a painter and her subject.

[9]

I really liked Thoroughbreds when it was at the cinema.

Salt
Can’t believe this film’s a decade old now. One of the better action spy thrillers from the days before every movie had to spawn a franchise. Jolie’s great in it.

21. Porco Rosso - 13 Mar
God damn American du.... actually, I thought the dub was really good for an anime. This one was a bit lost on the kids although daughter did pick up on the "olden days miso" point. But they still enjoyed it more than Kiki. But less than Totoro. So same as me then! Good kids. I enjoyed it more than I remember when I first saw it aeons ago. Great Ghibli.
[8]

22. A Quiet Place - 13 Mar
Been waiting for this to show up. Sister was raving about it. It was a good balance of intrigue and tense horror. But it was also fairly typical and cliched. Enjoyed it so that counts for it.
[7]

23. Contagion - 14 Mar
Didn't enjoy it much the first time. Almost feels like I'm watching the news now.
[7]

Porco Rosso is the best USA dub and better for westerners than the original debate me.


I just love Michael Keaton.