Winter-Spring 2020-2021 Movie Preview Part 1

I'll keep "the tradition" on that when the winter begins to throw out a preview entry, despite the fact there's not much to choose from for this. Besides, I don't have another subject to write about :-) Besides, this time we can be a bit more optimistic about the release in the next time period... especially considering that some distributors got tired of reprograming the dates and started accepting also the online option.

The majority of the movies set for December are low budget indies. Out of the titles I found about, the most interesting option seemed to be "Archenemy", despite some ratings after a festival pre-release that aren't so encouraging. The subject though is part of an alternative niche to the classic superhero, a niche where I had multiple fine experiences ("Defendor", "Jeeg Robot", "Colossal" or even "Kick-Ass"). However, I don't have much hope for this one, but we'll see...

"Chaos Walking", set for January, seems to be somewhere between SciFi and western, a combination that unlike the previous, with slight exceptions ("Prospect"), never was very fortunate. The director though, Doug Liman, has some good movies, among which one of the best SciFi movies in the last decade - "Edge of Tomorrow". But again, we'll see...

It might look like bad taste to release a movie about a pandemic in the middle of a pandemic, even though the disease is quite a different one, but out of all what February promises "Little Fish" is by far the most interesting title.

Next time we'll try to find something for the spring too. Let's hope we find some..

==> 13.2 ==>

Without further ado, I'll continue the anniversary "best of" started last time. There are 49 movies left on it in the chronological order of their appearance on this blog + 1. As it follows...

51. Fright Night (2011)

52. John Carter (2012)

53. Get the Gringo (2012)

54. The Cabin in the Woods (2011)

55. Looper (2012)

56. Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

57. Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

58. Life of Pi (2012)

59. Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

60.Trance (2013)

61. Rush (2013)

62. Prisoners (2013)

63. Ravenous (1999)

64. The Lone Ranger (2013)

65. Odd Thomas (2013)

66. The Best Offer (2013)

67. Philomena (2013)

68. Kelly's Heroes (1970)

69. Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

70. Fish Story (2009)

71. Dead Snow 2 (2014)

72. Lucy (2014)

73. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

74. Contraband (2012)

75. Interstellar (2014)

76. Relatos Salvajes (2014)

77. Maleficent (2014)

78. Incendies (2010)

79. Slow West (2015)

80. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)

81. The Revenant (2015)

82. Zootopia (2016)

83. 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

84. Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot (2015)

85. A Hard Day (2014)

86. The Shallows (2016)

87. The Accountant (2016)

88. John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)

89. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

90. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)

91. Molly's Game (2017)

92. Colossal (2016)

93. A Simple Favor (2018)

94. Triangle (2009)

95. Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)

96. First Love (2019)

97. 1917 (2019)

98. Jojo Rabbit (2019)

99. Archive (2020)

.. and we got to the +1. Why did I leave something separate for the end? Simple: because it's not a movie. It's a series. Since I also had such stuff from time to time on my blog, I said it's worth choosing one. Actually, if for the rest I'm not totally sure I left something better out, here I'm 100% positive. I stick to my opinion that "Farscape" is the best ever series made for TV - and after all is the only one where I'm aware of an extra closure shot following pressure of fans who were unhappy with the ending. Not even GoT got that ;) ...

+1: Farscape (1999-2004)

==> 13.1 ==>

My blog just got to the age of 13. Since this year was pretty dry in new movie and I don't have a subject worthy enough of the above number I decided for a "best of". Complicated stuff...

First of all, what would be a "best of" here. I doubt there's anybody in the mood to read my old blog entries. So, I decided to stick to a jubilee selection out of all the movies mentioned around here since all this thing started.

After many twists and turns of what should get into the intended selection I concluded that all the movies I rated max are too few (+ I don't know what I was thinking when I did that for some of these), and all the movies I rated close to max are too many. So after more twists and turns I got stuck to a top 99 (+1).

Long story short: if you like trailers, you're gonna love this - because that's next. Today just the first 50 - otherwise this page will crash. Even so, it probably won't live for playing all in the same session. I don't know if these are the best movies I've seen in the last 13 years, and the order definitely doesn't have any top meaning. It's strictly chronological in respect to their mention in this blog. All I can say is that the selection is probably subjective, but it's a selection that kept me sane (sort of...) in the last 13 years in a world that's not always completely sane. But enough talk. Let's roll... 

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

2. Braveheart (1995)

3. Merlin (1998)

4. Donnie Darko (2001)

5. The Jacket (2005)

6. Stardust (2007)

7. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)

8. Sunshine (2007)

9. Frankenstein (1994)

10. The Lost Room (2006)

11. The Dark Knight (2008)

12. Madagascar (2005)

13. Låt den rätte komma in (2008)

14. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

15. In Bruges (2008)

16. The Hunting Party (2007)

17. Man on Fire (2004)

18. Disturbia (2007)

19. Strange Days (1995)

20. Star Trek (2009)

21. The Assignment (1997)

22. Infernal Affairs (2002)

23. The Prestige (2006)

24. 500 Days of Summer (2009)

25. Inglorious Basterds (2009)

26. Sherlock Holmes (2009)

27. How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

28. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010)

29. Cypher (2002)

30. L'affaire Farewell (2009)

31. Kick-Ass (2010)

32. Inception (2010)

33. Pandorum (2009)

34. Smokin' Aces (2006)

35. Ladyhawke (1985)

36. RED (2010)

37. True Grit (2010)

38. Winter's Bone (2010)

39. Edge of Darkness (2010)

40. Red Hill (2010)

41. Limitless (2011)

42. Source Code (2011)

43. Defendor (2009)

44. The Crazies (2010)

45. The Next Three Days (2010)

46. Drive (2011)

47. Repo Men (2010)

48. The Descendants (2011)

49. The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)

50. Running out of Time (1999)

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016)

 

Again, I don't have the mood and neither the time for writing. But "fortunately" also no sleep. "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot", or briefly "WTF" in NATO phonetic alphabet in case it wasn't clear, is a sort of satire and the only movie fresh enough in my head to use as subject in today's posting.

We don't have a very well defined narrative here. The movie is based on a book of memoirs gathered by a female journalist, war correspondent in Kabul, Afghanistan. So, as the intro on the credits says, it's based on real facts. It starts as a light comedy where the main character is trying to leave the boring office life for a more adventurous position. Starting from this part, the development of the story might seem disturbingly derogatory at times, reflecting a lighter Western position over a real situation in a conflict area that comes packed with all sort of problems, from social issues to tragedies on the battlefield. So, a context that in practice doesn't offer much material for a comedy. Slowly, the movie migrates though, in a relatively predictable fashion towards a more dramatic nuance = it also adds an unlikely romance episode, a kidnapping that brings some real tension and a more serious approach to a case of bad injury on the front. So, as I was saying we end up with a sort of satire that somehow looks decent enough in the end.

I'm still not sleepy enough, but also still not in the mood for writing, so adding that half of the movie's watching value comes from Tina Fey's acting, I'll end this here.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Kajillionaire (2020)

 

"Kajillionaire" is the American version of a theme recently used in a couple other movies too, less candid than a Japanese version we have in "Shoplifters", but also less cynical than the Korean "Parasite".

As in the above references, here the subject is revolving around a dysfunctional family of crooks, a bit smaller though, formed only of the parents and a daughter being raised deprived of feelings, specially trained for a career in this "line of work". She's actually the main character of the movie, getting through a conversion towards humanity after the three intersect with a future fourth group member, a seller in an lenses shop, bored of her usual daily life.

As well as the two above, "Kajillionaire" sits somewhere between a drama and a dark comedy (not so dark though). It's the perfect example of a movie built out of moments - lots of short sequences that can be drawn out of context - from an owner with a mental condition that doesn't allow him to kick out his late paying tenants, to a simple chat with a clerk at a lost luggage desk for who a 6 weeks period for insurance collection seems quick. I can't say there's any such moment that's truly memorable. However, it's the type of a movie that leaves you a warm feeling after end credits, definitely closer to "Shoplifters" in respect to that ;)

Rating: 3.5 out of 5