Screening log : Feb-Jun 2011. Added: X-MEN – FIRST CLASS (7/10)

Published on: June 20th, 2011

February
23rd : The Fighter (6/10) {16/28}
….. “Middleweight, journeyman, meat-n-potatoes pugpic. Wahlberg best in show.” ….. “Unexpectedly sorry for Mark Wahlberg  – he’s better in it than Christian Bale and Melissa Leo, and no worse than Amy Adams, but no [Oscar] nom…”
23rd : True Grit (7/10) {18}
….. “Dutiful winter-Western, loamy-morbid austerity offset by oddball/comic incidental characters.”
24th : Paul (5/10) Empire, Newcastle {12}
….. “Men In Black + Galaxy Quest = genial scifi spoof / buddy movie, never quite funny enough.”
27th : Animal Kingdom (8/10) Tyneside, Newcastle {22}
….. “It’s taken 12 years, but finally an Oz crime-family saga to match Rowan Woods’ The Boys.”
28th : I Am Number Four (4/10) {11}
….. “DJ Spoony might have done better [than director D.J. Caruso] with this inert, Olyphant-wasting teen-superpowers yawn.”

March
2nd : Red (6/10) {17/28}
….. “Seen in ideal setting: Pensioners’ Matinee. Overheard at exit “good picture, but they’re all a bit old.”"
9th : Rango (8/10) {23}
….. “Believe the hype! Frantic, beautiful CG post-mod Western spoof. I expected laughs; tears were a bonus.” ….. “Olyphant-as-Eastwood, somehow both 100% Tim and 100% Clint. Now I know what religious folk mean by Jesus = God & Man stuff” ….. “We know Rango works a treat for adults (will be in my top 5 of year, barring upsets). But what do kids, especially small kids, make of it?”
10th : Archipelago (8/10) Tyneside, Newcastle {22}
….. “Intriguing tangents of understatement illuminate, exquisitely.”
11th : Battle Los Angeles (5/10) {12}
….. “Just saw the trailer [which] strongly resembles a higher-rent version of the much-abused, oddly likeable Skyline” ….. “Trailer is all bangcrashwallop until it gives way to an “eerie” song, i.e. total ripoff of the famous Halo adverts.” ….. “Khakhophonous khompendium of khaki khlichés” ….. “Best aspect: star quality of Gino Anthony Pesi (nicely underplaying and droll as ‘Cpl Stavrou’)” ….. “And it turns out the title is simply ‘Battle Los Angeles’: colons are evidently for pussies. Oops.”
12th : Blast of Silence [1961] (7/10) seen on DVD {20}
….. “Cult-classic hitman noir, boosted by Lionel Stander v/o & stupendous range of grim NYC locales.”
14th : Limitless (6/10) {17}
….. “Lousy trailer hides surprisingly smart satirical-topical anti-yuppie, anti-quickfix Wall St parable.”
{March 17th – 27th : Bradford International Film Festival, UK}
31st : The Eagle (6/10) {16}
….. “Douglas Henshall for Best Supporting Actor!” ….. “Saw The Eagle at local multiplex. No masterpiece, but I savoured this chance to catch a new-release mainstream film on celluloid. #RIP35mm” ….. “Puts the ROMAN into BROMANCE”

April
3rd : Jezebel [1938] (7/10) Star & Shadow, Newcastle {18/28}
….. “Tartly-written melo-romance of fervid pre-War South; but why would Bette Davis pick Henry Fonda over George Brent?!”
4th : Source Code (7/10) {20}
….. “Quantum Leap + Eye in the Sky = a Moon-like study of extreme solitude & how it can be escaped/transcended.” ….. “Just as I’ll always think of Michael Clayton as Realm and Conquest, so Source Code will always be Beleaguered Castle.” ….. “equation (.2): QLeap + Eye/Ubik + Frequency + Matrix + Groundhog + DejaVu + Inception + Jacket + Moon + Symbol + Manchurian + …”
5th : Your Highness (6/10) Empire, Newcastle {15}
….. “The more thou f*cking swear’st, the less f*cking droll thou becom’st. Nifty Suspiria nod, though.”
7th : Working Girls [1931] (6/10) Filmmuseum, Vienna {16}
….. “Somewhat dated but frequently droll chronicle of sisters’ Big Apple romantic/professional mishaps”
8th : Baby Face [1933] (8/10) Filmmuseum, Vienna {22}
….. “Jawdroppingly sex-saturated pre-Code Barbara Stanwyck vehicle traces rise of Nietzsche-inspired gold-digger.”
8th : WR – Mysteries of the Organism [1971] (6/10) Filmmuseum, Vienna {16}
10th : Montenegro, or, Pigs and Pearls [1981] (8/10) Filmmuseum, Vienna {22}
….. “Oft-hilarious porn-spoof sex-farce with sharp socio-political satire edge”
{April 12th – 17th : Crossing Europe Film Festival, Linz, Austria}
{April 22nd – 28th : CPH:PIX film festival, Copenhagen, Denmark}

May
1st : Mildred Pierce [1945] (8/10) Star & Shadow, Newcastle {21/28}
….. “Occasional quart-into-pintpot feel, but full-blooded noir-melodrama holds up startlingly well.”
2nd : Thor (6/10) {15}
….. “Superman bombast offset by some humour, charm, Thesping, cheeky Norse “myth”, OK FX (looked fine in 2D).” ….. “Cameo by recent Oscar nominee (& imminent action-star) is niftily uninflected; post-credits “stinger” surprisingly long and worthwhile” ….. “With respect to Chris Hemsworth (nice smile, dodgy hairline), Thor’s finest big-screen moment remains The Parallax View” http://bit.ly/12F67a ….. “After input from @Isayitsadam, ranking of Thor’s big-screen appearances: 1. The Parallax View; 2. Adventures In Babysitting; 3. Thor.” ….. “Daftest part: Gimli, Legolas, Arwen and – um – Tadanobu Asano, wandering round a New Mexico town with dopey smiles on their faces”
{May 5th – 14th : IndieLisboa film festival, Lisbon, Portugal}
16th : Fast Five (6/10) {17}
“Narrow 2nd-best (behind Tokyo Drift) in 5-film franchise that has yet to deliver a notably worthwhile movie”
23rd : The Hangover Part II (3/10) Empire, Newcastle {6}
“Strenuously crass ca$h-in sequel is Sex and the City 2 for blokes; low giggle-yield” … “Wondering if Todd Phillips & co wrote this the day after a massive booze-binge debauch that left them debilitated, lazy and humourless” … “What went wrong? Different scriptwriters. This time, Craig Mazin (Scary Movie 3, 4 and Superhero Movie) got involved. Oops” … “Highlights: Ken Jeong’s line-readings (“we both dead inside”), Zach Galifianakis’ dead-eyed sociopathery. Um, that’s it” … “Also, use of Billy Joel’s rather fine 1989 track, “The Downeaster ‘Alexa’” http://cort.as/0ql5
24th : Win Win : (7/10) {20}
“Wrestling-themed, character-based drama/comedy affectingly confirms McCarthy’s rare consistency, skill with actors” … “Impressive how newcomer Alex Shaffer, 18, aces tricky one-on-one scenes with Oscar nominees Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Burt Young”
25th : Attack the Block : (7/10) {19}
“Dark Star + Harry Brown = rock-the-house lo-fi scifi, terrific showcase for lead John Boyega”
26th : Blitz : (2/10) {5}
“Thuddingly derivative, noxiously “stylish” Brit cop “thriller”; criminally wasting high-calibre cast.”

June
21st :  X-Men – First Class : (7/10) {18}
“Slow, choppy early stretches give way to increasingly rousing action/character shenanigans.”

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ranking of new-release films
…
1. Rango (8/10) 23/28
2. Animal Kingdom (8/10) 22
3. Archipelago (8/10) 22
…
4. Win Win (7/10) 20
5. Source Code (7/10) 20
6. Attack the Block (7/10) 19
7. True Grit (7/10) 18
8. X-Men: First Class (7.10) 18
..
9. Limitless (6/10) 17
10. Fast Five (6/10) 17
11. Red (6/10) 17
12. The Fighter (6/10) 16
13. The Eagle (6/10) 16
14. Thor (6/10) 15
15. Your Highness (6/10) 15
…
16. Paul (5/10) 12
17. Battle Los Angeles (5/10) 12
…
18. I Am Number Four (4/10) 11
…
19. The Hangover Part II (3/10) 6
…
20. Blitz (2/10) 5
…
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all screenings at Sunderland Empire cinema unless otherwise noted