Wit 2001

Amazing performance by Emma Thompson of a death. Incredibly moving, and should be mandated for all med students and researchers.

Superman Returns (2006)

Thoughtful and moody ‘sort-of sequel’ to Superman and Superman II. Good premise and I like the slow pace and discarding of boring action for most of the runtime but unfortunately it’s replaced with boring dialogue and two leads that somehow don’t show enough charisma for me.


Dunkirk (2017)

Excellent. Visually impressive and stirring depiction of the famous evacuation.

Karate Kid (parts I, II, and III)

We watched the first season of Cobra Kai and I had never seen the movies, so after season 1 I went back and watched the movies. They were pretty good, but in II and III the what felt like 10 minutes recapping the previous movie was annoying. And I kept screaming at the TV for both the movies and the TV series "Why doesn't anyone call the police???"

I watched Karate Kid I and II last year and to my surprise I realised that I’d never actually seen 1. The first film is great and I absolutely adore the interactions between Daniel and Mr. Miyagi. Was he Oscar nominated? Feel like he should have been. The second part fell into the average sequel trap in my opinion. Covering the same ground but with less brilliance.

I watched a few episodes of Cobra Kai one night off the back of seeing those two films and just couldn’t get into it.


I watched The Italian Job (1969) earlier. What a fun caper. Lovely cinematography and music. Michael Caine seemed to be having so much fun. Great stuff.

Emma (1996)

Gwyneth Paltrow stars. You know I’m getting more into Austen adaptations. I still think they are all pretty much the same story in principle but dressed differently each time but I think when they use or adapt some of that amazing dialogue it’s beautiful work it really is. So yeah, a tedious story about a matchmaker becomes very watchable!
I loved Jeremy Northam’s Mr. Knightley. I think I want to marry him myself!

Look out for Ewan McGregor wearing a ludicrous wig.

The Laundromat (2019)

Preachy and unsubtle. Loads of stars queued up to appear in this and make their political statement. It tries to send a strong message about tax havens, tax avoidance, shell companies whilst it is made with money from Netflix.....

"Emma" is one of my favourite Austen novels, but I've never seen any of the adaptations. I tend to stay away from Austen adaptations in general, as they lean very hard on the romance aspect, and sometimes seem to totally miss that the books are social satires. "Love & Friendship" from 2016 is one that I think gets it right.

Yes they do indeed lean on the romance.

Funny, though, I didn't think Love & Friendship worked all that well (though I do very much see what you mean. That movie leaned far more into social commentary). Maybe it didn't sit well with me because it was being played strongly for comedic value but I wasn't laughing? That combination never works out well for me.
One of the problems I have with these Austen adaptations is the way the actors choose to deliver their lines. Sounds so false, again I have a hard time with that. They are trying to fit all this dialogue in so quickly...

Enjoying exploring the genre though.

I agree, the movies got worse as they made more. I blacked out somewhere during the third one - I really hated the villains in the third one and don't even remember how it ended. But maybe because I watched season 1 first then the movies that's why I like the series? Although I still scream "Call the police!" at the tv.

I'll have to watch the Italian Job.

A great many movie ‘franchises’ tend to reduce in quality over time. I can imagine my wife shouting something like that at the TV. I tend to just roll my eyes sometimes.

The Judge (2014)

Robert Downey jr and Robert Duvall in a family drama disguised as a courtroom drama. It’s quite good actually albeit clichéd. Beautiful score by Thomas Newman.

The Midnight Sky (2020)

Slow burning, sentimental, science fiction, survival film directed by and starring George Clooney.

Depressing and never truly fulfils the set up but still an interesting idea that I was gripped by throughout. The space scenes are very much The Martian meets Gravity. The Arctic scenes like a disaster/survival movie.

Don’t expect a classic but there were plenty of things to enjoy.

"Desert Hearts" 1985

Charming lesbian love story, thankfully nobody has to die. A little bit oddly paced, but it makes up for it by being beautifully shot. Mrs Roper has a big supporting role, I spent half the movie going "who is that actress, why is her face so familiar?"

Has it really been a week since I posted?

Desert Hearts sounds interesting Agony, I think I'll add it to my ever growing watchlist.

I know this is supposed to be 'last film you watched' but let's go on a tour of a movie watching week in lockdown life.

Started with Gunfight at the OK Corral from 1957. Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas starring. It was fairly good but not a highlight of my recent tour of 40's, 50's and 60's westerns. Kirk Douglas gets more interesting things to play in this one as the filmmaker seems to have been very hot on the mystique of Doc Holliday.

Then I jumped into the eighties to watch Superman III from 1983. I've been fascinated revisiting the Christopher Reeve Superman movies at how lighthearted and wacky they were but this installment takes the biscuit. In the first scene there is a farcical scene full of slapstick and ending with a pie in face! That sets the tone but it is an enjoyable movie.

Next I jumped into 'The Trench' from 1999. It's a claustrophobic WW1 film that follows a platoon through the days leading up to the Battle of the Somme. Very effective and starring Daniel Craig who gives a performance better than any other I have seen from him.

I jumped back to 1979 for the best film I've watched in the last week. Escape From Alcatraz starring Clint Eastwood. Don Siegel directs this excellent prison break movie based on the true story of Frank Morris. Superbly atmospheric and the tension rises and rises towards the end of the movie without the need for any melodrama either from the actors or created by the score. It's the second time I'd seen this and enjoyed it just as much if not more than the first time.

Then I jumped onto the couch with the kids to watch the Disney animation Tangled from 2010. This is one of my favourite Disneys, and incidentally, the most expensive animated movie ever made (still). It's a modern Disney princess story with great music, funny dialogue and a really nice story. We've watched this one countless times.

Draft Day from 2014 was a rather dull interlude. A Kevin Costner sports movie, who'd have thought it? It follows Costner's manager character through a fictional NFL draft.

From the same year I then picked Gone Girl starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike. This is really quite a good mystery thriller. Pike is great. Lots of twists and turns, changes of pace half way through as we are clued into what is going on. It works well.

Last night I went back for the final installment of my Superman run, Superman IV: the quest for peace. Awful movie. Sad way for Christopher Reeve to bow out of his red cape. Luckily with a short run time (mercifully I'd say) I had time to stick on an Oscar winner from a couple of years ago.

Green Book (2018) was my final stop. Lovely road movie about the friendship that develops between musician Don Shirley, played by Mahershala Ali, and his driver played by Viggo Mortensen. Some great scenes in a feel good movie.

And that's it! A week in the locked down life of me.

"The Assistant" 2019

Wow.

Not a lot of action in this, but in some ways that's the point.

I see a lot of the reviews are saying it's boring, and they clearly missed the point entirely. Really powerful, and I suspect anyone who is or was a young woman working for powerful men will especially get a few gut punches.

Heard good things about this one and now you favour it so it's going on my watchlist!

On Saturday I watched the 1970 epic "Waterloo" starring Christopher Plummer. It's a remarkable spectacle the likes of which will never be recreated on film except using CGI. They used 17,000 Soviet troops including a Cavalry regiment in the recreation of Waterloo which took up the second half of the film. Fantastic.

Rod Steiger is a very dialled up Napoleon and Plummer is Lord Wellington. I enjoyed both performances. My favourite line being Wellington as he surveyed the site of battle afterwards with dead or injured bodies and horses strewn all over he says, "Next to a battle lost, the saddest thing is a battle won."

RIP Christopher Plummer, he passed away last week.

"It's Complicated" 2009

I had a lot of fun with this. It's a little uneven, the slapstick bits don't work too well for me, but on the whole, it's nice to see a rom com with grownups, and with the complications that adult lives have - past loves, grown children....
Good performances from everyone, Alec Baldwin is perfect for the role, he's a dog, but he's kind of a softie, too. John Krasinski is so great as the son in law. And I've always like Steve Martin better when he plays it straight.

"Avanti!" 1972

Seems to be my week for adultery.

It's far from Billy Wilder's best movie, but from him, that's still pretty darn good. Very sweet, very charming, very funny, full of great little moments of humour or truth. Just a delight.

Though how anyone would consider Juliet Mills, at about a size 12 here, to be overweight, confounds me.

"About Time" 2013

Oh, lord, what a sweet, life affirming movie. There's time travel in it but it's not really a time travel movie, and there is romance and comedy but it's not really a rom com. Just makes me want to go hug everyone I love.

I’ve watched loads of films since last report but here’s a couple of brand new ones:

1. The King of Staten Island - 2020

Starring comedian Pete Davidson who is a zany type of character in this film based on Davidson’s own experiences growing up.
It’s a funny script, it’s got a good heartfelt core and Davidson does a great job of giving his character (that seems To be essentially himself) enough charm and be redeemable enough for this to work.

Steve Buscemi and Marisa Tomei provide the star quality and experience.
Really enjoyable.

2. Escape from Pretoria 2020

Daniel Radcliffe stars as a man convicted in South Africa for setting of letter bombs during Apartheid. It details his incarceration and his plans to escape. It is much, much like Escape from Alcatraz but not as good at representing prison life... so my advice is to skip this and just watch Don Siegel’s masterpiece.

The Sonic the Hedgehog movie.

I could have told my husband it was going to suck before he put it on, but I didn't. It sucked. And come to find out it's Jim Carrey, who I already didn't like.

Avoid it unless you're in one of those moods where stupid + more plot holes than swiss cheese = funny.

"A Few Good Men" 1992

Somehow managed to get this far without having seen this one.

It's not bad, but honestly the only cliche it missed was having Demi Moore and Tom Cruise get it on. Moore's character doesn't make any sense - is she sharp and tough? Is she criminally incompetent? More the latter, really.

Still, it kept my interest throughout and there were some good bits. Can't quite understand why it's so famous when other better movies sink like stones, though.

"Little Women" 1949

Yet another take on this one.

It feels pretty dated, which is to be expected, I guess. June Allyson seemed to be doing a Judy Garland impersonation - I haven't seen her in much, maybe that's what she's like. She's probably the weakest Jo of the versions I've seen.

Peter Lawford as Laurie appears to be about 35 (he was in his mid twenties at the time). Rossano Brazzi forgets that he is supposed to have a German accent after about the first five minutes, and just goes with his natural Italian.

Margaret O'Brien is a standout Beth, probably the best of the three versions I've seen. In this version it looks like Beth is the youngest.

I would have liked to have seen Elizabeth Taylor as Amy in Europe, but they skipped that part, just went "Oh, got a letter, Amy and Laurie are married!" As I remember from reading the book as a kid (read it several times) I never liked Amy and didn't pay much attention to her, but she's a character that really works on film - all three Amys I've seen have been great.

"Bernice Bobs her Hair" 1976

I think this one counts here, even though it's only about 45 minutes long, and was made for TV. A really good adaptation of the Scott Fitzgerald story, with Shelly Duvall perfect as always as Bernice. Bud Cort is hilarious as Warren - he's "full of sap".

Oh I adore A Few Good Men. I try to watch it every year at least. I love the way it builds so nicely and is kind of bookended by the two scenes with Jack Nicholson. Fantastic.

I've watched a movie a day throughout 2021 so far. In the last week the standout one was Richard Attenborough's "A Bridge Too Far". Absolutely insane production value in the telling of the story of operation Market Garden late in World War Two. Fabulous cast too. Looks fantastically accurate. Definitely worth seeing. It's what I'd say falls into the "epic" category but good for it.

Other films this week:
"Proof" from 1991, pretty good Australian film starring Russell Crowe and Hugo Weaving who plays a blind man.
"About Time" from Richard Curtis. First half I thought was very strong but it kind of lost its way and strayed from Curtis' strength which seems to be beautiful romantic comedy into melodramatic, life affirming piece instead. Still pretty good though.

"Life in a year" is a newer film I watched starring Will Smith's son Jaden. This was ok but bit of a mixed bag.