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Lethal Weapon
An almost perfect example of the ‘80s action movie genre, complete with homoerotic wrestling by rain and moonlight at the end. →
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Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
I enjoyed this back in 2011 and it’s grown on me since then. →
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Frozen
A little…exuberant for my tastes, but it’s great to see a Disney film subverting the One True Prince Love stereotype. →
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The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
A shameless, joyless, emotionless slog. →
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Blade Runner
Cinematic perfection. Thank God they’ll never make a sequel! →
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Little Shop of Horrors
Another film I could comfortably put on a loop and watch forever. →
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Prince of Darkness
Slow-burning John Carpenter film; a bit like Assault on Precinct 13 but with demonic possession. I liked it, eventually. →
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35 Shots of Rum
Hard to find fault - an intimate family drama with a lovely Tindersticks score. →
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The Abominable Dr. Phibes
Great. Dark comedy horror that stands up today, and Vincent Price out-acts everyone without ever moving his lips. →
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Jude
A solid enough Hardy adaptation though in the end it’s just about a guy who really wants to bone his cousin without consequences. →
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X-Men
By modern standards this is now like watching an Amazon Original Series pilot, but Jackman/Stewart/McKellan are always fun. →
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Joe
A perfectly fine Texan drama that’s just been done slightly better in the recent Mud. Nothing really wrong with Joe, but Mud is better. →
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King Arthur
An insipid, bland & dreary ‘realistic’ Arthurian story with a script ripped from Braveheart. Clive Owen at his most leaden. →
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Frantic
The sort of decent, solid ‘80s Euro-thriller that these days would have Liam Neeson killing everyone in sight. No complaints. →
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The Jacket
An interesting time travel curio. A bit sedate compared to 12 Monkeys, but it’s worth a look. Unexpectedly strong cast as well. →
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Only Lovers Left Alive
Great example of how to do dialogue-driven, action-free filmmaking. Almost nothing happens but I didn’t care at all. →
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Ain’t Them Bodies Saints
All style, no substance. Mumbling dialogue & constant finger-plucking music over nearly every scene irritated me. →
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The Road to Perdition
Probably more emotionally engaging if you’re a father with a son but I liked all the non-father-son-bonding bits also. →
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The Dark Crystal
Brilliant and somewhat nightmarish - almost made me wish I had children so I could terrify them with it. →
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Blue Ruin
An American take on those short, intense, Australian revenge flicks. Liked this a lot. Brief, violent, tense and darkly comic. →