Movie Night!

What we’ve watched:

  • Top Hat (1935) (January 22, 2022) 4/5 – Great dancing (of course) and some witty dialogue, but in today’s terms the main storyline involves stalking as courtship.
  • Downton Abbey (2019) (January 15, 2022)
  • The Guilty (2021) (January 14, 2022) 3/5 – overacted and not as gripping as it could/should have been (maybe the Danish original from 2018 is better)
  • No Time to Die (2021) (January 7, 2022) 2.5/5 – boring (but the ending was a surprise for those who haven’t heard any spoilers)
  • The Gay Divorcee (1934) (December 31, 2021) 4.5/5 – hard to believe this was made 88 years ago; so much fun; great dancing and witty dialogue (the way Ginger Rogers’ dress moves in “Night and Day” is just spectacular)
  • Don’t Look Up (2021) (December 26, 2021) 1/5 – heavy-handed and a bad film; almost none of the jokes hit the mark (last 15 minutes was well done, but the movie was way too long)
  • Mystery Men (1999) (December 23, 2021) 3.5/5 – lowbrow stupid fun
  • Hail Caesar! (2016) (December 2021) 4.5/5 – inventive fun that captures the tone of 50s Hollywood and its films perfectly
  • The Secret Life of Pets (2016) (November 20, 2021) 4/5 – great for kids; pretty good for adults too
  • Zootopia (2016) (November 19, 2021) 5/5 – genuine fun for the whole family; absolutely charming; worth it for the DMV sloths alone
  • Dark City (1998) (November 12, 2021) DNF – we get that it’s a classic but we found it confusing and couldn’t get into it
  • Host (2020) (November 5, 2021) 4/5 – a terrifying and intense hour (don’t be put off by the short running time because you probably can’t take much more)
  • Blow the Man Down (2020) (October 29, 2021) 4.5/5 – emotional and suspenseful story of two sisters’ struggles in a small town (lots of “local colour”)
  • The Wind (2020) (October 22, 2021) 4.5/5 – unusual historical horror involving isolated pioneers on the frontier
  • Run (2020) (October 15, 2021) 4/5 – gripping tale of a mother’s love gone wrong
  • His House (2020) (October 8, 2021) 4.5/5 – excellent horror that explores the trauma and struggles of refugees
  • Bad Genius (2017) (October 2, 2021) 4.5/5 – well-done with an interesting premise (the only movie from Thailand we’ve seen and we’d like to see more)
  • Long Shot (2019) (August 20, 2021) 3.5/5 – not bad by rom-com standards, i.e. predictable and amusing
  • Gerald’s Game (2017) (August 27, 2021) 3/5 – promising premise but got tiresome
  • A Quiet Place 2 (2021) (August 24, 2021) 3.5/5 – doesn’t live up to the standard set by A Quiet Place
  • Troy (2004) (August 13, 2021) 1.5/5 – a bloated Hollywood fail. (just read Song of Achilles or The Iliad)
  • Hush (2016) (August 5, 2021) 4/5 – a taut thriller with great female protagonist
  • Frankenstein (2015) DNF – sickening gratuitous violence
  • Frankenstein (1931) 3/5 – not a very good old movie
  • My Fair Lady (1964) 5/5 – great music, clothes, acting, script. A classic for good reason
  • Cabaret (1974) 5/5 – great music, moving story, unforgettable characters, set against the backdrop of the Nazis rise to power in the 1930s
  • Center Stage (2000) 4/5 – a true guilty pleasure; lots of fun; perfect for those times when you just need a bag of chips and a formulaic dance film
  • Gladiator (2000) 5/5 – thrilling historical epic with a classic hero and his evil nemesis
  • Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) 5/5 – great fun from beginning to end
  • Dirty Dancing (1987) 5/5 – You can watch the final dance sequence over and over and over and never get tired of it. And “no one puts Baby in a corner”
  • Train to Busan (2016) 4.5/5 – zombie movies don’t get any better than this
  • Zombieland (2009) 4.5/5 – zombie comedies don’t get any better than this
  • Zombieland: Double Tap (2019) 4/5 – entertaining sequel; picks up nicely on storylines from the first film but doesn’t quite live up to its standard.
  • Strangers on a Train (1951) 3/5 – hard to see what all the fuss is about
  • The Third Man (1949) 5/5 – Rotten Tomatoes sums it up perfectly: “This atmospheric thriller is one of the undisputed masterpieces of cinema, and boasts iconic performances from Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles”
  • Grease (1978) 4/5 – Iconic, but dated.
  • Grease 2 (1982) 0/5 DNF – So terrible it was unwatchable.