Recently Watched Films

A solid John Ford 40's western, though I don't see how any can rate this as better as some of his other work like The Searchers and Fort Apache. 

Unusual movie for Eastwood to have directed. Solid but too long, it's not one I can see myself watching again in a hurry, if ever. 

Generic story but solidly performed B&W western with Robert Mitchum. 

Takes too long to get going but very good once it does. 

Wasn't sure if this would be my cup of tea - drawn to it on account of it being from Howard Hawks. Pleasantly surprised, though the sound quality on my DVD copy was bloody crap. 

Yardie (2018) - Directorial debut of Idris Elba. Very solid crime drama bordering on a gangster movie. 

Black Mass (2015) - Gangster biopic with Johnny Depp. Very good I thought. 

Too Late for Tears (1949) - This noir failed to be impress me. The film quality on Prime was god-awful. Very B grade all round.

3 Godfathers (1948) - Quite entertaining John Ford western. Some parts dragged slightly, but overall I found it quite a unique entry in his western filmography. More comedic and is probably the closest thing to a Christmas western that exists. 

Bite the Bullet (1975) - Unusual western about an endurance horse race. 

Ride Lonesome (1959) - this western seemed very average to me. 

Duel at Diablo (1966) - Pretty good western and a rare one with a black co-lead actor. 

Stake Land (2010) - vampire movie. Though everything feels very B movie about it, it was actually pretty solid. 

Gun Crazy (1950) - film noir. It's not about Bonnie and Clyde but it's clearly based on them, except the man is a pacifist. Very good film. 

Two Rode Together (1961) - Another John Ford western. This one has James Stewart in what in my experience with his films is a rare less sympathetic role. 

The Roaring Twenties (1939) - Very good prohibition gangster film.

The Furies (1950) - Brilliant Anthony Mann western. Glad it was shown on TV because I couldn't find a DVD to exist for this one at all. A shame, it's a real gem.

Force Majeure (2014) - darkly comic psychological drama. There's some English, but it's mostly a subtitled film. Even so, very funny despite the language barrier. Tormund from Game of Thrones plays a major supporting role. 

Wild Bill (1995) - Oddly done biopic western. I liked it more than most seem to however. 

Stake Land 2: The Stakelander (2016) - Not as good as the first one and to be honest I have a pet peeve with sequels which ruin the prior film's happy ending.

Snowpiercer (2013) - This elusive movie finally appears in the UK. Actually, it's been available to buy digital on Amazon since last year, but that's still a five year wait for this one to be released in the UK. Luckily Netflix now has it for streaming. It's a gem, though the ending unfortunately diminished it for me slightly. 

The Hallelujah Trail (1965) - Hard to believe that John Sturges of great westerns such as The Magnificent Seven and Bad Day at Black Rock directed this. It is a comedy western and does have some amusing moments but is far too long to be truly effective (over 2 and a half hours). Maybe it's just aged badly. I didn't care for Blazing Saddles either.

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) - Brilliant. This is how you do a long film the right way. Rivals Apocalypse Now as my favourite war film. 

The Predator (2018) - Another very definition of unnecessary, but I did enjoy this action sci-fi for what it was. Not sure why they keep insisting on making new films in this franchise though: nothing is ever likely to better the original. 

A must see 40's comedy. The Coen Brothers took the name of their O Brother Where Art Thou? film from this movie and the two complement each other well.

Excellent Philip Marlowe film noir. Bogart's portrayal of the character in The Big Sleep is probably more famous, but I enjoyed Dick Powell in the role here a lot too.

There's about five gangster movies from the 1930s that are generally deemed to be essential. This is the third I've seen along with Scarface and The Roaring Twenties. Just The Public Enemy and Little Caesar to go. This one is essential IMO. 

My first silent film and also takes over as the oldest film I've seen. In some ways it seems pretty corny, but it's also impossible not to be wowed by the fact that this was released in 1927 and I also cannot say for a minute that I wasn't entertained in spite of the long length (I have the restored 2.5 hour version), though I was forced to watch it in three instalments between last night and this morning, taking breaks to keep up with shows live on TV and then because I simply couldn't say awake to finish it, but I don't think it would have been hard to watch it one sitting otherwise. What started as something I felt obliged to watch in order to call myself a self-respecting sci-fi fan quickly turned into a movie I was floored by. Everyone should see this, though make sure you see the restore 2010 version of course!

Bogart's penultimate movie. Great home invasion thriller/noir. Could have been really brutal had the Hollywood Production Code not still be in force at the time. 

Re-watch on a remastered DVD. Honesty don't recall if the version I originally watched on Amazon was the same or any worse, but this was a very good copy. A must for film noir and/or Fritz Lang fans. 

Brilliant.