What Movies did you watch last week? (19/03-26/03)

Office Christmas Party - Much better than the reviews suggested. It lost it's steam half way through a little, but still made laugh right until the end. TJ Miller is a riot. 7/10

The Chamber (2016) - I always found movies that take place in one location interesting. The chamber is a low budget thriller that takes place in a little submarine that get's stuck in the bottom of the sea. A decent film that you watch once and then forget about it. 6/10

Why Him? - This was a let down. I was looking forward to it because I like Franco and Cranston. Cliched and boring and not funny enough. 5/10

Aloys (2016): A lonely private detective gets telephonically involved with a mysterious female neightbour. Some fantastical things happen. Both overcome isolation… I think… maybe. It was interesting, it had some great fantastical moments, but at points it was a bit on the boring side (for me at least).

Money Monster (2016): If you were to smash Dog Day Afternoon and Network together (and probably a few others), but not as good. George Clooney reprising the role of George Clooney, from every George Clooney movie, ever. Too much going on in this one for me. Bankers rigging the system, media critique, the little guy fighting The Man, chest bombs that didn’t seem to bother much the people they were strapped on. I didn’t care for it.

Suntan (2016): Greek Island. Summertime. A middle aged-doctor falls in with a young crowd. He gets the hots for a young woman. Things unravel in a bad way. Oh, and there are lots of naked people. I really liked this one. The performances were good. The unraveling of the main character was interesting to watch. Though it felt a bit repetitive at one point, then the ending came, and all was good.

The Fake (short 2015): An elderly man gets a fake ID so he can use a senior discount at the movies. It was a fun 8 minutes.

The New World /Nowy Swiat/ (2015): Three different stories about three immigrants living in Poland. A woman whose husband is a political prisoner and her involvement with the campaign to release him, and the man running that campaign. A gay man who lives in his car and his relationship with his colleagues, and his past. A trans woman who’s confronted with parenthood and a decision. (I don’t remember where they were from originally). There is also a palm tree. This one was a bit uneven, with it being three different stories. But overall it was alright.

American Hot Wax (1978): Buddy Holly lives! Rock’n’Roll is here to stay! Radio stations really want to push things on their disc jockeys. I really enjoyed it. The music especially. It’s a great picture of the early days of Rock’n’Roll, with some creative licenses taken.

Twenty-Four Eyes (1954, Japan)
A woman becomes schoolteacher for a dozen children in a remote island village in rural Japan shortly before the Manchurian Incident. She forms a bond with her students and watches them for the next 20 years growing up as they're torn apart by poverty, fascism and war. I think it poured it on a little thick at some points, particularly toward the end, but it's a great movie, a powerful piece of Japan's postwar anti-militarist and anti-fascist cinema.

Pulp Fiction (1994, US)
Quentin Tarantino's classic black comedy crime film depicting the intersecting lives of a bunch of sordid characters in Los Angeles.

Pigs and Battleships (1961, Japan)
Revolving around the lives of a local yakuza gangster and his prostitute girlfriend who caters to US sailors, this movie is a pull-no-punches look at the seedy, hopeless and exploitative society around the US military base at Yokosuka.

The Wizard of Oz (1939, US)
The classic musical about a young girl from Kansas who runs away from home and finds herself in the magical land of Oz, where she runs afoul of the Wicked Witch of the West as she tries to find her way back home.

Perrier's Bounty (2009, Ireland)
Michael, a small-time hoodlum, gets in trouble with a local gang boss when he fails to repay money he owes him and one of his thugs gets accidentally killed while trying to punish him for it. This forces Michael to go on the run with the girl who accidentally shot the thug as well as his estranged father, a fellow crook who haplessly wandered into the middle of the mess. A quirky, extremely funny, well-acted and all around highly entertaining movie.

Lifeboat, followed by The Man Who Knew Too Much ( 1956 ), today.

Train to Busan (2016) - a Korean zombie movie - surprisingly good
Demolition (2015) - great acting by Jake Gyllenhaal but a terrible movie
Come and Find Me (2016) - unrealistic CIA thriller
It Came From Outer Space (1953) - a very watchable early Sci fi movie

😜

Still working on Lost. Up to mid-S4 at the moment, with a lot left to go.

I've fallen asleep whilst watching a number of movies and shows. Sometimes it means they didn't capture your attention, other times it means you were tired, and it's worthwhile to give them another go.

Halfway through the fourth season of Suits... should be able to finish the series and start some movies by next week.

Far From Heaven was a good movie... you should try to go back and finish it one day unless you don't normally like art house films.