What movies did you see last week? (9/24-9/30)

Enemy
Back to the Future (re-watch)
The Big Lebowski (re-watch)
Pulp Fiction (re-watch)
Saving Private Ryan (re-watch)
Mandy
Minority Report (re-watch)

The Great Outdoors - 7 / 10

Smokey & The Bandit - 7.5 / 10

Woman Walks Alone - 6 / 10

Moonstruck - 8 / 10

Valkyrie - 8 / 10

Pokemon Ranger: Temple of The Sea - 5 / 10

Pokemon: The Legend of Darkrai - 7.5 / 10

Chinatown (rewatch) - 8
still have issues with the ending. I don't mind a director twisting the knife when its naturalistic, but Polanski's direction of the final sequence is as subtle as a gut punch. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (rewatch) - 7.5
if I was rating purely on enjoyment, it'd be more like a 6.5 or 7. I've definitely outgrown this film but I respect its massive influence and the technical precision of Spielberg's direction.

Long Weekend - 7

The Servant - 8.5

Sweet Bird of Youth - 6

The Chalk Garden - 8

Coma - 6

The Boys from Brazil - 5

Tombstone - 8

Jeremiah Johnson - 7

Testament (rewatch) - 9

McCabe & Mrs. Miller - 7.5

Monte Walsh - 6

A Star is Born - The 1976 version. LAME as heck. I dunno how you fuck up a story that is this audience-friendly and (at least seemingly) easy to tell but Frank Pierson managed to do exactly that. The chemistry between Streisand and Kristofferson is non-exist-ent and separately they aren't really engaging here - Streisand is just having one of her ego trips and Kristofferson is kinda bored most of the time. On top of that the soundtrack blows, at least the Streisand stuff does (and of course it's her that we see perform the most). The Kristofferson parts at least have okay rock music even though his singing here is not good.

Sicario: Day of the Soldado - I really like Taylor Sheridan but this script was a bit lame for him. Repeats too much of what he already explored in much more interesting ways in the first movie and also makes some story decisions that are just not that great, especially one towards the end that was just cringe-inducing. Some solid sequences here and there though. But the absence of the Villeneuve team is just palpable - this is what the first "Sicario" would be like if it were average.

Macbeth - The only Orson Welles film so far that I haven't really enjoyed. Maybe I just wasn't in a Shakespeare mood but I just found it to be a little dull. Visually vibrant as always with Welles but narratively stale. And the accents were slightly annoying.

Damsel - A peculiar (within reasonable limits) delight with some great performances (Pattinson and especially Wasikowska are aces) and an awesome sense of humor which is never too much but always just enough.

Under the Volcano - A minor but still rather strong John Huston picture with a magnificent Albert Finney performance at its centre. That really is some of the very best drunk acting I've seen but that's far from the only reason why he's so terrific - the way Finney explores the depression and self-destruction of his character is nothing short of fascinating. The film also features a terrific opening credits sequence beautifully scored by Alex North - any fan of those should check this out.

Eighth Grade - The year is far from over but I think I already have a contender for the most overrated film of 2018. I cannot for the life of me comprehend how anyone can consider this a masterwork, yet looking at the critical notices it's apparent to me that I'm in some sort of abyss of confusion. There are films about the teenage experience that tell interesting stories, that create fascinating characters, that try to do something exciting...this wasn't that kind of a film for me at all. I felt this was the most basic and average teen film one could think of - it's got all the usual bits and pieces that these movies have (awkward talking to the popular kids, a caring but somewhat quirky parent with an obligatory heartfelt talk scene, the 'learn to love yourself' message) and it doesn't really do anything that makes it stand out. What's the great achievement here? That it shows a teen with pimples? That it forces awkwardness on almost all of its scenes and that it's main thesis is basically 'ain't it awkward being a teen'? I dunno, I found this movie to be very small and trivial, and aside from the Youtube videos it didn't give its main character any traits of her own that would make her interesting. I suppose that's what many like about this movie but I just don't think there's much achievement in just showing the banalities of a couple of days in the life of an average kid. I did enjoy the lead performance though. But I feel that the more times passes, the more I find this movie to be completely insignificant.