Movie Record: 2019 Edition!! - The Bear and Badger

Webbins

tumblr_nya633v0cx1rp0vkjo1_500.gif?w=344&h=143&zoom=2

Brrrrilliant.

GooberTheHat

Webbins wrote:

I try to not watch shite, usually check Rotten Toms before I plunge. Marking out of ten is quite wide though, maybe I could try the five star system for 2020.

I think I'm going to have to address my scoring system for 2020. I don't think I was consistent this year.

1. Offensively bad. A film that makes me properly angry at the film makers and actors.

5. Overall a bad film, but not without some positives. I wouldn't watch it again though.

6. Not a great film but I got some enjoyment from it despite its flaws.

9. Almost perfect in every way, an all time classic.

10. Perfect, there is nothing about the film that I could find fault with or want to alter in any way.

I will need to work on the definitions for 2-4 and 7 and 8.

Dubs

Oooh I did do this, for reasons similar to Shabby. It definitely got me watching more movies instead of doing something more productive. I probably would've just played Monster Hunter but now I'll never know, thanks Vere.
Watched a lot of "classics" for the first time, with the last few months of the year spent falling down the Garland rabbit hole. I have problems with the Zelwegger film but it, paired with LWL's Judy issue, sparked my interest so I can't begrudge its existence. Pacing myself but I'm about ten films in and roughly halfway through her TV show (AMAZING) and discography. Pretty sure I'm safe from becoming one of those obsessives with a shrine dedicated to her but it's early days.

As for cinema trips, seeing The Matrix on the big screen for the first time cemented it as an all-time favourite. Loved basking in the orange glow of Tarantino's latest and it felt really appropriate to see Cabaret in a small, creaky theatre packed with chuckling OAPs. Looking forward to First a Girl at the same place later this month.

Top 5 would be:

5. Legend of the Drunken Master (aka Drunken Master 2) - Probably the best Jackie Chan film...he injured himself on hot coals ffs. What a pro.

4. The Night of the Hunter - Beautiful tale of Robert Mitchum's charismatic crook charming his way to a dead man's secret fortune, crooning an earworm of a hymn as he goes. Full of stunning images.

3. His Girl Friday - Cary Grant and Rosalind Russel spit barbs like rap gods as they rattle through a whirlwind of a script, cramming as much wit into ninety minutes as possible.

2. Meet Me In St.Louis - Minnelli paints a big-hearted, opulent Christmas card of a movie, glowing with familial affection. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and "The Trolley Song" are perfect.

1. A Star Is Born (1954) - Judy showcases her array of talents in a soul-baring melodrama exploring golden age stardom, the pernicious studio system and the impact of addiction. Esther's breakdown between takes of an upbeat number feels painfully autobiographical and "The Man That Got Away" is perhaps my favourite vocal of hers. The studio butchered the original because money and, despite a herculean effort by Ronald Haver (it's quite the odyssey), a few scenes appear as stills set to the original sound recording. Not ideal but I'd much rather have them than not. They come early in the running time and the extra plot and character development is worth it. As an aside, I love this outtake from "Swanee" with Judy larking around before casually unleashing that force of nature, crikey.

The rest of my highly original and incisive takes, scores are based on general enjoyment or admiration and a [10] certainly isn't perfect because that's impossible. Blank spaces are either a shrug, something I watched while half-asleep or something I forgot to record until much later after the details had escaped my goldfish brain. I make it around 118 or 133 if including stuff I'd seen before, will have to employ those fast-forward strats to win at movies this year.

Spoiler:

ShabbyMcCrabby

Webbins wrote:

I love 'em. They are bad films; you can analyse every plot hole, every woeful performance and rotten scripting. But just to have Michael Myers or Jason Vorhees on screen, in all their masked glory, stalking a victim or at the point of striking one down and you get that split moment on their mask, worth the entry price alone.

The sequence in og Halloween towards the end when Laurie Stroud is facing out of the bedroom and a slightly out of focus Michael rises up from the floor and turns his head towards Laurie is so chilling and brilliant.

I wish there was more proper schlock these days. Sometimes you just don't want to think much and enjoy something a bit dumb but with some good stuff to take from it like the crazy kills in Friday. I watched Dante's Peak as my last film of 2019 and it's so darn good as a Saturday afternoon brain off.

There isn't much like that these days. Even marvel stuff wants you to concentrate a bit. And the schlocky stuff is either knowingly so or low low budget

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories