Recently Watched Films

With the truth heavily embellished by the director's own admission, I can't help feeling that this would have been much more entertaining and effective as an outright comedy. 

I didn't love it but there are enough entertaining moments to have kept me interested. 

Far too predictable but I was entertained throughout. I think the movie's biggest issue is that rather than a shocking reveal I actually suspected the killer almost right away, something just seeming off about the character - I also spotted clues before the movie's characters worked out their significance. 

The better known 1983 remake with Al Pacino bears little resemblance to this 1932 original, which largely holds up - probably my favourite 30s movie I've watched so far. Being a pre-Code movie, it's a lot more violent than what would follow in Hollywood for decades to come, but still seems pretty tame by today's standards, but that doesn't diminish it's power when you consider it depicts what at the time was contemporary. 

It's quite a slow building film, but very effective. It's basically a modern take on the outlaw western with Momoa's character crossing the American West on his bike with the law trying to catch up to him, but then that's thrown into the background and it becomes more of a character piece as Momoa moves from place to place, meeting people along the way including one guy who ends up tagging along for the whole film with him. It also explores modern relations between the States and Native Americans and how the law often fails in cases involving Native Americans, much like the more recent film Wind River. 

Underrated obscure western.

A Nordic gem. Recently remade (by the same director) as Cold Pursuit. Really not sure what a remake could possibly add to this but I guess I'll check it out once it's been out on DVD a while.

A decent enough giant monster movie that I felt could have been much more if it just took itself a bit more seriously. Also, the tiny subtitles really sucked. Could barely read them on certain backgrounds. 

Excellent crime drama split into three distinct chapters. 

I missed this one when it was new and then skipped it for years when the series was cancelled, but finally watched it this morning. It's okay, probably my least favourite Spider-Man movie, though that may be the fact the series stops dead here influencing my opinion. 

A brilliant movie in spite of casting decisions that would not stand today (such as white actor Robert Donat playing a Chinese Mandarin) and being rife with historical inaccuracies that the movie's subject, still alive at the time of it's release, was not pleased with. 

Solid western set in Mexico. 

I loved this one when I first saw it but having been watching original film noir I actually appreciated everything this is a whole lot more this second go around. 

Good 40's crime drama. 

Sam Peckinpah's directorial debut. Usually considered a false start and shoved to the lower end of his filmography, I personally found this film a lot more interesting than his second (also western) movie Ride the High Country.

Solid noir but took me a little while to get invested in it.

Noir masterpiece. 

Early noir gem that was without a doubt influenced by Fritz Lang's M, evident with Peter Lorre cast as a similar character.