Monthly recap: What have I been watching?


Going to try a new feature, a monthly round-up of what I've been watching.

Incendies (2010)
Nominated for foreign-language oscar. A brutal watch, not because story contains lots of violence, but disturbing emotionally. How events can change your goals in life. What transpires can make you shudder, and you won't forget the ending in a hurry. Not a good advertisement for travelling to the middle east! Not perfect, a weak point was the shift between locations, which was poorly executed. Would have helped by adding captions of which country we are in. I was surprised it was a Canadian production considering the subject matter. Going to jump into my top 15 films of 2010.
Rating 7.9

Bright lights big city (1988)
Gave it a chance because set in the 1980s yuppie environment, which readers will know I've been researching for a review of American Psycho. I can safely say Bright lights big city was forgettable, Michael J Fox seemed miscast. The scenes at his office were too easy to guess the outcome of. Script had a B-movie ring to it despite being based on a popular 80s novel by Jay McInerney. There were apparently a lot of script rewrites. I assume the book is better.
Rating 6.0

3 (2010)
German director Tom Tykwer to me was always stronger from a technical standpoint than as a storyteller, in films such as Run Lola Run (1998) and Perfume (2006). His latest with the short title "3" was attempting to be more "grown up". Had its moments, sadly was too predictable.
Rating 6.7


Shame (2011)
More about what is not said, than what is. Good performance by Michael Fassbender, who struggles to have emotional bonds, and is addicted to having sex. The conflict is he wants to disconnect, and his sister longs for connection. It’s an unerotic film with erotic scenes. I could certainly empathize with Brandon’s troubles. The question of blame, is it pornography and prostitution at fault is interesting, he is kind of portrayed as a victim, despite being very selfish and uncaring. Controversial love scenes may have prevented Fassbender receiving an Oscar nomination. Perhaps a little repetitive, going from one conquest to the next. Harry Escott’s haunting score is worth mentioning.
Rating 7.6

Adventures in Babysitting (1987)
My expectations were low, was pretty good, nice family fun, and several moments that made me laugh. Good for an entertaining one time watch.
Rating 7.4

Less than zero (1987)
I was expecting more. The characters just wandered around without purpose, which was not my idea of a good story. I read Brett Easton Ellis' novel a few years ago, and I couldn't tell it was the same material, they changed it so much. I really don't know why I finished watching. The music score was decent, that's only positive. Won't make you nostalgic for the 80s. Maybe it was un-filmable?
Rating 5.5

The Broken Tower (2011)
I was bored. Adding quotes of poetry between scenes was a quirky idea, I just never cared about the characters.
Rating 5.0


The White Ribbon (2009)
2nd lifetime viewing. Won Palme D'or at Cannes film festival in 2009. Strange events happen in a small village in the north of Germany during the years just before World War I, everyone is a suspect. Stays with you, and a good time capsule of how different life was back then. Childhood in those times was not fun and games. Very powerful, despite the large cast.
Rating 7.8

I Am (2010) (documentary)
Director Tom Shadyac speaks with intellectual and spiritual leaders about what's wrong with our world and how we can improve both it and the way we live in it. The soundtrack was nothing new, but the messages were uplifting, and the ideas about our society put forth thought-provoking. The tone of the doc was a bit all over the place, the clips of the movies he directed like Ace Ventura felt out of context. Many of the theories are old news in new packaging, and towards the end the arguments are a little too "out there", which is a pity. Still worth a look.
Rating 7.2

Iron Lady (2011)
I said I wouldn't, I did anyway out of curiosity. Good performance by Meryl Streep as expected, especially the British accent she nailed. Unfortunately they focused on her senile days for about 50% of the running time, which was not the right priority in my view. I think it would have resonated if I had been an adult in the 80s.
Rating 6.5


Detachment (2011)
The most powerful film experience of the month. A character study of both teachers and pupils at a high school. I'm torn about the rating, I know we have seen movies with a similar formula, Detachment for me was just a cut above other entries such as 187 (1997). The dialogue despite the fine acting was a bit shoddy in places. Excellent performance by Adrien Brody. The voice-overs at times reminded me of Malick's Tree of Life. I give the film extra points for bringing us close to the suffering, tough to shake from my memory. Also the visual style I found to be quite original. In my top 3 of 2012 so far.
Rating 8.0

Autumn leaves (1956)
Joan Crawford was a big star back in the day, I don’t find her somewhat masculine looks very attractive if I’m honest. Who’s to say what people thought in those times. Nevertheless, the story about a choosey and cautious lonely woman searching for love does bring out pity, and the romance was pretty sweet. The twists and turns in the plot made it difficult to predict what would happen. Maybe they took things a little bit into unrealistic territory. Who knows, I didn't live in the 1950s.
Rating 7.4

Quiet City (2007)
A small indie movie (Budget:$2,500) about a man and a woman who meet by chance and spend time together. The dialogue and getting to know each other keeps it interesting.
Rating 7.2

Medicine For Melancholy (2008)
A small indie movie about a man and a woman. Where did you hear that before ( : ok, this time, it is in black and white. The main character is an African/American. You can’t blame the lead for trying, though girls don’t like a guy who tries too hard. Less dialogue than I was anticipating.
Rating 6.7

The mother and the whore (1973)
A French drama about aimless 20something guy visiting the local cafe, pretending to read, and going on dates, and talking a lot. The conversational dialogue held my attention, but became a bit monotonus, and 3 and a half hours was too long. Sort of movie doesn’t matter if you miss 10 min. There is quite a lot of talk about sex, often when smoking cigarettes after intercourse. Surprisingly effective all things considered
Rating 7.6

Europa Europa (1990)
Overrated foreign language WW2 drama. Was expecting more considering the critical acclaim on movie sites. The actor in the lead I didn’t really connect to his struggle, so I ended up skimming this one. Not as powerful as other WW2 films I’ve seen. Didn't affect me as much as I think the filmmakers were intending.
Rating 6.9

Return of the Jedi (1983)
There are things to enjoy, the ewoks, the speeder bikes, sadly the ending involving the Death Star was unoriginal.
Rating 7.5


Mission impossible 4 : Ghost Protocol (2011)
Very suspenseful entry, for me better than 2 and 3 in the series. The ending was a bit far-fetched, the Dubai scenes were spectacular. Léa Seydoux (above) could be a star of the future, she is very beautiful.
Rating 7.4

Intouchables (2011)
Imagine Thomas McCarthy's The Visitor (2007), only in French. I usually find it difficult to love French cinema, I will have to make an exception for Intouchables. A star is born in the shape of actor Omar Sy. He beat Jean Dujardin at the French equivalent of the oscars, the Cesars. Yes, Sy's performance is THAT praise-worthy. Likeable characters that can appeal to young and old alike.
Rating 8.0

Dreams of a Life (2011) (documentary)
Most gripping documentary I've seen in 2012 so far. Memorable look at the life of Joyce, we are told her dead body was not discovered until 3 years later, with the TV still on. Her interesting tale is told from the point-of-view of friends and acquaintances. Not as bleak as the description suggests.
Rating 8.0


The Goonies (1985)
A childhood favorite I rewatched with the purpose of writing a guest post for inspired ground's upcoming 2nd birthday. An 80s Speilbergian adventure movie that is easy to like. Very underrated how effective it is in terms of kids dialogue.
Rating 7.8

Sleep Tight (2011)
A psychological horror film, directed by Jaume Balagueró, we slowly drift into the story, that girl he is secretly stalking is totally hot! The main character (stalker) in my mind was unlikeable. The filmmakers attempted to make us feel sorry for him, by making him sad. I didn't like the way the film developed. Did hold my attention, I had not seen the story done before, an original horror movie is a rare thing.
Rating 7.6

Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (2011 ) (documentary)
Was moderately entertaining, but not great. I was expecting to add films from his long career to my to-see-list, and that didn't happen. The Intruder (1962) is arguably the highlight of Corman's directing life, and I already had that on my watch list. Didn't paint a very flattering picture of his resume. The feeling I got was the stars saluting Corman's low budget methods maybe owe him one for being helped into the movie buisness when they were starting out, so the praise felt forced.
Rating 7.1

Something Wild (1986)
Jonathan Demme comedy. I liked the idea, just went on too long. A light hearted comedy, that lost it's way midway through. I commited the cardinal cinephile sin of fast-forwarding over the last part of the film to find out what happened at the end. Could have done wth better editing. Didn't need to be 2 hours.
Rating 6.5

First attempt at a monthly recap, so bear with me, I hope I did alright? Any thoughts on what I watched?

24 comments:

  1. Well done :).

    I think Omar Sy was much better than Jean Dujardin. It was just something very new and fresh he did, whereas Dujardin's performance wasn't that surprising, even though it was good.

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    1. @Mette: Thanks! Good point you make about, hadn't perceived Jean Dujardin's acting from that angle.

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  2. Nice selections of movies to watch, Chris. I've always wanted to see Shame, hopefully soon. I thought I'd recognized Lea Seydoux in MI4, I thought she looked cold but gorgeous. I watched Detachment but felt it was kind of depressing, so I didn't finished it. Thanks for the mention, I should write them this weekend (hopefully my schedule won't be so tight).

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    1. @Andina: Thanks for saying so ( : I know you like the brigher movies, Detachment (2011) as the title indicates is about being detached,and shows suffering. I think to see a wide range of emotions in life, you need to see both the ugly and the brigher moments. Reality is we don't live in a world where everyone is fine(even if that is what we hope and try to bring out in others). I sometimes have a more powerful reaction to suffering, because you learn to empathise, and experience a different way of life. Maybe I notice pain in others in real life, when I have watched that behaviour in a movie. I have heard that criticism of Detachment before, so is not a film for everyone. Shame is also dark and a little depressing, so I don't think you'd like it either. Looking forward to seeing the guest post ( :

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  3. Nice recap! I will be watching Ghost Protocol soon, I'm glad it's good and Lea is indeed very beautiful. That ending of Midnight in Paris was enchanting mostly because of her.

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    1. @Sati: Ghost Protocol is great fun, kind of like a Bond film. Tom Cruise is forever young as an action star, is weird how his eyebrows are thicker in MI4 than MI3 ( : Also noticed Cruise hadn't aged a day at the recent Oscars.
      I think the ending of Midnight in Paris was my favorite scene of the whole film, Léa Seydoux lights up the screen in both movies ( :

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  4. I'd love to know how/where you got The Mother and the Whore. I'm having a hell of a time finding it.

    I'm also pleased to see that you liked The White Ribbon. I hear a lot of people downgrading that film, and I thought it was mesmerizing and powerful. Nice to find I'm not alone.

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    1. @SJHoneywell: Is rare for The mother and the whore to be shown on tv. I've seen some bleak films this month! The White Ribbon is indeed in that category of dark yet powerful experiences.

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  5. Where did you see Shame? I've been wanting to watch that for a awhile, but have been unable to get my hands on it

    And i've been hearing good things about Incendies

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  6. @dirtywithclass: I saw Shame in the cinema.

    Incendies is on dvd if you can locate it in your area, I can understand it got nominated for foreign-language oscar, even though I should warn you it's disturbing.

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  7. I haven't seen a lot of these, but I do hope to catch some soon.
    I agree with your rating of Incendies, which was released over here in 2011 so it sits comfortably in my top 10 for the year. I did find, as you say, the transition between locations a bit confusing, especially considering that our two main characters looked so alike. As for the rest it was very surprising, emotional and engrossing. A great surprise.
    I really want to see White Ribbon!

    Great recap Chris!

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    1. @niels85: Incendies has a lasting impact, how can it not with a shock value ending of that magnitude. I know, confused me as well two main characters looked so alike. Look forward to your opinions, when you get to the other ones you want to see!

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  8. Some great movies there. Incendies was mind blowing to me albeit slightly overlong. Great flick. Also glad you got to see The White Ribbon, fantastic movie by Haeneke.

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    1. @Castor: Thanks, Incendies was indeed mind blowing, particularly the end scenes. Agree with you, The White Ribbon was fantastic, in spite of the bleakness of the story.

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  9. I don't even need to count to be able to tell you watched way more than I did in March. Surprised you weren't crazy over Shame when a lot of other critics championed the hell out of it. I think I enjoyed Mission Impossible 4 more than you, but you gave it high marks as well.

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    1. @Max: I'm not much of a counter!! Not about quantity for me ( :
      Well the highest I gave this month was an 8. Shame I gave 7.6, which is a pretty high score. Shame was strong for atmosphere, but maybe the script was more a situation than a story. I feel a rewatch is needed later to make a better verdict.
      MI4 was very good too, but in the end the formulaic nature of the script brought it down a few points for me. And while the skyscraper scenes in Dubai were impressive, we saw something quite similar done in MI3. I did love the witty dialogue, reminded me of Bond movies.

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  10. Bright Lights Big City and Less Than Zero, You are on an 80's novels of excess kick. Agree totally that both those films don't do justice to the source material. I remember really liking the Less than zero soundtrack for some reason when I was about 13. I had it on cassette. ;-)

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  11. @threeguys1movie.com: Life Fades Away by Roy Orbison was memorable, the rest of the soundtrack is all a bit of blur right now. I'll take a look at the tracklist.

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  12. Good stuff, Chris. I read Less Than Zero not too long ago, and I think the potential is there for a great movie. While I haven't seen the film adaptation, it's too bad that the 80s movie changed the entire theme of the book. Maybe someday we will get a proper version.

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    1. @Eric: Less Than Zero really was a rubbish movie, which the ratings everywhere also reflect. Like I said, maybe its un-filmable. I would not recommend watching.

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  13. It looks like a good mix of movies. I've seen some of them, but there were a couple I've never even heard of.

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    1. @Chip Lary: I'm known by my family for watching and recommending little-known films, but I also try and keep up with the latest releases of interest ( :

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  14. Nice reviews,I will pick up some 8-rating film to watch!!

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    1. @David: Anything with a score of 7.4 or above on my list I'd recommend. Will look out for your reviews then!

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