133 movies watched. It’s going to get really difficult soon because I’m beginning to exhaust a lot of my options on Netflix and HBO. It’s taking longer and longer to find and select a movie to watch. I probably need to commit several hours to building a spreadsheet with my best options from Amazon, Netflix, HBO, and YouTube.
Movie 127- Ghosts of Mars. I read the description and couldn’t understand why I had never seen this movie, then I got about 30 minutes in and remembered everything. It’s that bad. Everything from the premise to the acting is atrocious. Now if this had followed its original outline and been Snake Plisken returning for Escape from Mars, it might be different. It’s clear though that they tried to maintain some of that “Escape From” campiness, they even dressed Ice Cube in similar style. The real issue is with the bad guys. They just don’t make sense. I can get behind space zombies, I can get behind alien viruses, I can even get behind all the black pleather, but I get lost at the “brainless zombies that have enough understanding of construction equipment to forge and create complex swords and other martial weapons but can’t use guns” part of the story. Also Jason Statham has hair. WTF?
128-London Has Fallen. I originally watched this on a plane to London actually, but I needed a movie that didn’t require too much thinking. This movie and its predecessor are vastly improved by not thinking. Gerard Butler continues the American tradition of importing action-movie stars. The movie is okay, it’s not great. Though I don’t think anyone going into this movie was expecting an oscar winner.
129- Mean Streets. I picked this one solely because of Scorsese. It’s very stylized, but it’s a lot of fun. Part of that fun is owed to its soundtrack which reportedly was at least half of the films total budget.
130- The Limey. The standout film of the week. Despite some strange sequences where the direction and editing makes you question the timeline of the film, it’s good. It’s a great noir-esque film where a Londoner comes to LA to avenge the death of his daughter. Terrence Stamp is fantastic as a realistic anti-hero, though perhaps Noble Villain would be more of an apt description.
131- Horsemen. It’s kind of a Se7en ripoff. The 4 horsemen of the apocalypse instead of the seven deadly sins. To be honest, the initial twist surprised the hell out of me, but everything after that was telegraphed. At the end of the day, there isn’t much here. There isn’t enough horror to be scary, not enough intrigue to be riveting, and no powerful performances to captivate you. It’s not bad, and if you’re a fan of Se7en and Dennis Quaid, give it a shot.
132- Iron Man. Some nights you just have to pop in a Marvel movie and let it rip. Rewatching Tony’s initial attack on the 10 rings soldiers is beautiful and the shot compositions are legendary. Iron Man peaking his eyes above the crater, showing off the battle damage. The tank missile. So good. Also Jeff Bridges kills it in the villain role.
133- Troll Hunter. This has literally been on my Netflix list since I subscribed years ago. In fact, it was the first movie that I added to My List, and I can’t believe it took me this long to watch it. It’s fun. I don’t think it really classifies as ‘horror.’ There are definitely scary moments, but I don’t even think of it as a creature feature. The documentary angle does something to keep the trolls as background characters. It’s a lot of fun, but you have to be prepared for subtitles.