My thoughts on What Makes a Great Movie?
These are many movies watched after 2010 or so. Sortable Table. Earlier movies are listed in more movies.
My numeric rating changed inconsistently halfway through. I need to redo them all from text to be consistent. Plan:
- bad
- ok
- good
- very good
- great
- superb
| Title | NRate | Rate | Date Seen | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Queen Margot | 3 | Good | 2022 Oct | Great cinematography. Ok story-telling, Alexandre Dumas style. Ehh... |
| Elusive Justice: The Search for Nazi War Criminals | 3.5 | Good | 2022 Oct | Interesting documentary. Shocking public post-war. Why did my father not help hunt them down? |
| The Northman | 2 | OK | 2022 Oct | One script surprise. Nice cinamatography. Otherwise stupid. |
| Colonel Redl | 3 | Good | 2022 Oct | Historically badly incorrect. Otherwise enjoyable. |
| The Motorcycle Diaries | 4 | Very good | 2022 Oct | Che Guevara's part autobiography. |
| Monsier Lazhar | 4 | Very good | 2022 Oct | No clear point, but wonderful story. |
| Argentina 1985 | 4.5 | Very Good+. | 2022 Oct | True story. People vs. Fritz Bauer is better, but this is no knock here. |
| Pusher I/II/III | 3.5 | Very Good | 2022 Jun | Simple and raw. 3 Stories in same place. Interesting watching. |
| Four Seasons Lodge | 1.5 | OK-Bad | 2022 Jul | Old Holocaust survivor documentary. Boring |
| No Time To Die | 2.5 | OK | 2022 Aug | Previous Bond was much better. Bit pretentious. Parody of itself. |
| Thirteen Lives | 2.5 | OK | 2022 Aug | Not much there. Kids got rescued. Cave diving is hard. OK. |
| Mr. Jones (2019) | 3 | Good | 2022 Sep | Good true docudrama about Ukraine's famine under Stalin. |
| Amen | 4.5 | Very Good | 2022 Sep | True story. Very depressing. Cast from "The Lives of Others" |
| Scapegoat | 3 | Good | 2022 Oct | Doubles. A bit predictable and not deep, but enjoyable. |
| Our Man in Tehran (Frontline) | 3.5 | Good | 2022 Sep | Believable portrait of Iran. |
| South Bureau Homicide | 3 | Good | 2022 Sep | Los Angeles PD Documentary |
| The Conformist (1070) | 1 | Bad | 2022 Oct | Stylish, but incomprehensible behaviors. Very disappointing. |
| Golf Specialist (1930) | 1 | Bad | 2022 Oct | WC Fields. Has not stood the test of time. |
| The Outfit | 2 | OK | 2022 Oct | Concocted script for a theater. |
| King Richard | 3 | Very good | 2022 Sep | Richard Williams, father of Venus and Serena. Strange dude. |
| Ashe | 3 | Very good | 2022 Sep | Documentary on super-great and super-smart (UCLA!) tennis player |
| The Great Dispatch | 3 | Very good | 2022 Sep | Humor is very idiosyncratic. You may like this (like I) or find it just bad. Amazing cast. |
| Nightmare Alley | 3.5 | Very good | 2022 Sep | Spectacular directing/cinmatography/acting. Great Inventiveness. Story good but not great. |
| A Most Violent Year | 3.5 | Very Good | 2022 Sep | A tiny bit slow, but a good, interesting, and unpredictable story. |
| Walk on Water | 4 | Great | 2004 ??? | Not obvious. |
| Quigley Down Under | 1-2 | Meh | 2022 Aug | Aside from other bad stuff, the score and mixing is remarkably bad. |
| The Dark Knight | 3.5 | Very Good | 2022 Aug | As Good As These Superhero Movies Get |
| Mr. Church | 4 | Great | 2018 ??? | Lovely Quiet Movie. Eddie Murphy is great in a Morgan-Freeman type role. |
| Trumbo | 4 | Great | 2020 ??? | Cranston is great. Story is great...and, better yet, mostly true. Best scene was John Goodman's. |
| Mank | 2-3 | OK | 2020 ??? | Just boring. Hollywood Masturbation. Compare to Trumbo. |
| AlphaGo_(film) | 5 | Excellent | 2021 ??? | Documentary about AI (computer science). Say what? Really! |
| Arrival | 6 | Superb | 2017 ??? | Smart SciFi at its Best. I want more... (Ted Chiang is great.) |
| Icarus | 5-6 | Superb | 2021 ??? | Documentary of the Unexpected. Prescient. |
| The King (2019) | 6 | Superb | 2020 ??? | The best "medieval-ist" movie ever. Great script, acting, and music. Thx, Joel Edgerton. |
| Deadwood: The Movie | 2-3 | OK | 2022 Aug | Slow but Boring. Watch 'Open Range' instead. |
| The Man Who Would Be King | 1.5 | OK-Meh | 2022 Aug | Kipling has not aged well. |
| The Last Duel | 2-3 | OK | 2022 ??? | Repetitive, Boring. And I love history... Watch 'The King' instead. |
| Das Boot (Season 1) | 1-2 | Uneven | 2022 Jun | Some nice moments and scene, but too kitschy and predictable (artificially non-sensibly unpredictable) |
| From the Earth to the Moon | 2 | OK | 2022 Aug | Effects look terrible today. Somewhat uneven. |
| Succession, Seasons 1-2 | 4 | Great | 2021 | Fresh Funny |
| Succession, Season 3 | 1-2 | Meh | 2021 | becoming too ridiculous |
| Oblivion | 3 | Good | 2022 (again) | Predictable sci-fi fare, though nicely executed. |
| Whiplash | 5.5 | Superb | 2022 (me late) | Brillant sophomore feature. Perfect JK Simmons and Miles Teller. |
| Bloody Sunday | 4 | Great | 2022 Jun | Great Quasi-Documentary. Aged well. Great Sync. |
| Journey's End | 4 | Great | 2022 Jun | What "1917" should have been — depressing. |
| The Whistleblower (2010) | 4.5 | Excellent | 2022 May | Very tough story of women trafficking. |
| You Were Never Really Here | 2-3 | Uneven | 2022 | Uneven. Great aspects, but also non-sensical ones. |
| Sea Gypsies | 3 | Good | 2022 | Documentary about crazy sailors |
| Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion | 1 | Bad | 2022 | Badly overacted, shlock old Italian. |
| The Fighter | 4 | Great | 2022 | Good, interesting boxer story from low-class Boston |
| Road to Perdition | 4 | Great | 2022 | Very well done--though predictable. occasionally unbelievable & stupid, too |
| The Innocents (French-Polish) | 4 | Great | 2022 | Slow, depressing story of raped nuns in WW2 |
| Delicious (French) | 4+ | Great | 2022 | Period piece, food, unpredictable. |
| Wrath of Man | 3.5 | Very Good | 2022 | Standard fare, but well executed. |
| The Hero | 3.5 | Very Good | 2022 | Sam Elliott, nicely understated, existential dread. |
| Sweet Country (Australian) | 3.5 | Very Good | 2022 | I love aboriginal Westerns |
| Boondock Saints | 1 | Bad | 2022 | Stupid nonsense. |
| The Train | 2-3 | OK to Good | 2022 | Spectacular explosions, but ridiculous behaviors/deaths. Shot people die without screams? |
| 1917 | 2-3 | OK to Good | 2022 | Great Cinematography. Stupid behavior all around (drop msg via airplane and don't walk in front of guns if you can walk on the other side.) Watch Journey's End instead. |
| Ghengis Khan -- Rider of the Apocalypse | 2-3 | OK to Good | 2022 | Cheap reenactment, but well-done. |
| Cast Away | 3.5 | Very Good | 2022 | Too predictable Robinson Crusoe story, but well done.. |
| Jack Reacher | 3.5 | Very Good | 2022 | Predictable standard fare, but well done. Sometimes clever. |
| Germinal | 2-3 | Good to OK | 2022 | Overplayed, not that interesting French fare. Historical setting ok. |
| Biutiful | 3 | Good | 2022 | Not sure what this movie was about... |
| Dune | 4+ | Great | 2022 | Yes, Hollywood can tell good stories (at least from books from the 1960s). Better than first try (which had a good first half, though). |
| Lore (German Movie) | 3.5 | Very Good | 2022 | Strange story of 1945 post-Nazi Germany children. |
| Sardhar Udham | 4 | Great | 2022 | Historically accurate. Depressing Brits were no saints. |
| Vast of Night | 3.5 | Very Good | 2022 | Great (cinematography) for low budget. Otherwise, soso. Predictable. |
| The Hundred-Foot Journey | 4 | Great | 2022 | Fun story. Not predictable, thus interesting. |
| The Tender Bar | 3.5 | Very Good | 2022 | OK story. Good acting. Competent. |
| The Bourne Ultimatum | 3.5 | Very Good | 2022 | Cut above (predictable) genre. Mindless fun entertainment. |
| Inside Lewyn Davis | 3 | Good | 2022 | Folk music singer odyssey, NYC Village. Interesting. |
| A Song for Europe | 3.5 | Very Good | 2021 | Scapegoating — Swiss look real nasty |
| The Fencer | 3.5 | Very Good | 2021 | Understated story about post-WW2 Estonia |
| The German Doctor | 3.5 | Very Good | 2021 | An imagined Mengele story |
| The Tomorrow War | 0-1 | Bad | 2021 | Stupid. All around. |
| One Night in Miami | 2-3 | OK to Good | 2021 | Overrated and pretentious. |
| The Last Narc | 4 | Great | 2021 | Wonder if story about Kiki C. is true |
| The Courier | 3 | Good | 2021 | Bit Boring |
| The Scientology Movie | 4 | Great | 2021 | Imaginative fun poking at an evil organization. |
| The Electric World of Luis Swain | 3 | Good | 2021 | End parts are more unexpected, which is good. |
| The Sound of Metal | 4 | Great | 2021 | Great Indie film about hearing loss |
| Big Fish | 3.5 | Very Good | 2021 | Burton's Imagination — don't send him to a good psychiatrist |
| Saul and Ruby's | 2-3 | Good to OK | 2021 | Somewhat boring story but of interesting old Holocaust musicians. |
| Knives Out | 3 | Good | 2021 | Forced, pretentious. |
| Apocalypto | 2-3 | Good to OK | 2021 | Bloody horror flick, not much else |
| I Dream in Another Language | 3 | Good | 2021 | Interesting story about Amazon families |
| Burn After Reading | 2-3 | Good to OK | 2021 | Forced humor, wasted great cast and directors |
| Black Book | 4 | Great | 2021 | Good story about Nazi-occupied Holland |
| Gett: The Trial | 3 | Good | 2021 | Would be better in a theater |
| The Angel (2018) | 3.5 | Very Good | 2021 | Interesting Egyptian spy, but should have been 100% true — why mess up a great story? |
| Taken | 3.5 | Very Good | 2021 | Predictable, but very good for genre |
| Dangerous Moves | 3.5 | Very Good | 2021 | Interesting character studies of world chess champion players |
| The Hunt (2012) | 4 | Great | 2021 | not what I had expected. Mads Mikkelson is always great. |
| Ida | 3.5 | Very Good | 2021 | Slow but good. Polish nun learns about her own background. |
| The Assignment (1997) | 3 | Good | 2021 | Entertaining BS about lookalike to terrorist |
| A Taxi Driver | 3.5 | Very Good | 2021 | interesting story if true |
| Bigger, Stronger, Faster | 3.5 | Very Good | 2021 | Steroids are not that bad... |
| The Tracker | 3.5 | Very Good | 2021 | Australian Outback Western |
| 10 Rillington Place | 3.5 | Very Good | 2021 | Serial killer, little dated now. |
| Hidalgo | 2-3 | Good to OK | 2021 | A bit ridiculous. Love the desert, though. |
| The Last Tycoon (1976) | 4 | Great | 2021 | Elegantly understated. Young DeNiro. |
| Cromwell (1970) (1970) | 3.5 | Very Good | 2021 | Way Overacted. |
| The Handmaiden (2016) | 4.5+ | Excellent | 2021 | Clever, beautiful cinematography, unexpected. |
| The Conclave (2007) | 4.5 | Excellent | 2021 | History from Transcript. Wow! See also Conspiracy |
| Conspiracy | 4.5 | Excellent | 2010 | History from Transcript. Wow! See also The Conclave. |
| The Two Popes | 5 | Excellent | 2021 | Clever, interesting, imaginative, well-acted. |
| The Door (2009) | 3 | Good | 2021 | Trodden German SciFi (Mikkelson). Yes, he speaks perfect German. |
| Embrace of the Serpent | 3+ | Good | 2021 | A foreign world in the Amazon |
| Outback Rabbis | 2-3 | Good to OK | 2021 | Hail Chabad, the true but charming crazies. |
| Hail Caesar | 3.5 | Very Good | 2021 | Uneven, but some truly very funny scenes making it worth it.. |
| Kaestner and Little Tuesday | 4 | Great | 2021 | Seems like an accurate Nazi story. Well directed. |
| The Believer | 3.5 | Very Good | 2021 | Gosling's great as a Jewish Nazi |
| Tim Roth Made in Britain | 3.5 | Very Good | 2021 | Lovely (=irony) characters |
| Day of the Falcon | 3 | Good | 2021 | Love the cinematography |
| Far From Men | 3 | Good | 2021 | Love the Algerian landscape and acting. Story is so-so. |
| The General | 4+ | Great | 2021 | Fritz Bauer, my hero |
| The Interrogation | 3+ | Good | 2021 | True or Fake? Interesting, anyway. Not overdone |
| Cold War (Czech 2018) | 3.5 | Very Good | 2021 | Stunning B-W cinematography |
| Sicario | 4+ | Great | 2021 | Noire |
| Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011) | 4+ | Great | 2021 | Modern Noire. Interesting mostly through, until it turns obvious. |
| Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas | 3.5 | Very Good | 2021 | Inconsistent. Boring at start. Better later. Somewhat irrational at times. |
| Casino Royale (2006) | 3.5 | Very Good | 2021 | Unusually good for Bond genre |
| Greenbook | 3.5 | Very Good | 2021 | Not deserving to win an Oscar, but good |
| Invictus | 3.5 | Very Good | 2020 | South African rugby underdog story, nicely told |
| Glory | 6 | Superb | 1990 | As good as movies get! Why do we need Oscars-So-White? Our Black actors are better than our White ones! |
| AI | 4.5 | Excellent | 2020 | Smart SciFi |
| Django Unchained | 1-2 | Bad Uneven | 2020 | Over the top. First 3 directed QT were great |
| Ballad of Buster Scruggs | 0-1 | Bad | 2020 | stupid all around |
| The Auschwitz Report (2021) | 3.5 | Very Good | 2020 | True story that Allies could have easily but did not stop Auschwitz. |
| The Reluctant Fundamentalist | 3.5 | Very Good | 2016 Aug | End too obvious, but otherwise interesting story of Pakistanis caught in 9/11 |
| The Hunter | 3.5 | Very Good | 2016 Aug | Interesting (non-sensible) story of New Zealand and a hunter |
| Ex Machina | 3.5 | Very Good | 2016 Aug | Much much better than the Netflix attempt Uncanny |
| Code Black | 4 | Great | 2016 Aug | LA hospital healthcare documentary shows lots of what's wrong. |
| Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer | 6 | Superb | 2016 Jun | Accurate. Interesting. Brillant. Near-perfect. Superb lead. (Unfortunately, second lead is invented.) NY Times Review |
| No Country for Old Men | 6 | Superb | 2008 Aug | Something new and great then...when Hollywood took risks. |
| Das Leben Der Anderen | 6 | Superb | 2007 Apr | A slow but great movie. Enthralling. |
| Thirteen Days | 4.5 | Excellent | 2008 July | ...except for Costner's fake own role. Reality is often more interesting than invention |
| Dallas Buyer's Club | 5 | Excellent | 2014 | MacActor was great. Really. |
| Carlos | 5 | Excellent | 2013 | Terrorist Carlos' amazing story |
| The Departed | 5 | Excellent | 2008 Mar | Great Script. Well done |
| Snatch | 5 | Excellent | 2008 Apr | Next-best thing to Pulp Fiction. Funny |
| Open Range | 5 | Excellent | 2008 Apr | Western with great scenery, scenes and lines. Almost Film Noire. Similar to (and better) than the old classic High Noon (not as dated, though). |
| Night Falls on Manhattan | 4.5 | Excellent | 2008 Jun | Undercover drama. Not as good as Serpico but still very good. |
| Layer Cake | 4.5 | Excellent | 2007 Nov | Unpredictable. Smart and interesting. (PS: Also stylish.) |
| 3 Burials of Melquides Estrada | 4.5 | Excellent | 2008 July | Odd. Has some similarity to 'No Country for Old Men' in setting and actor |
| Deep Cover | 4 | Great | 2008 Aug | I like Fishburne. Why do we need Oscars-So-White? Our Black actors are better than our White ones! |
| Body Heat | 3.5 | Very Good | 2008 Aug | Cult classic. Clever. Bit too much. |
| Gone Baby Gone | 3.5 | Very Good | 2008 Sep | Finally, a Hollywood w/o a happy ending! |
| Taxi Driver | 3 | Good | 2008 Sep | ...but not excellent IMHO. De Niro is lovely, though. |
| Parenthood | 3.5 | Very Good | 2008 | Poignant and funny. Tough to be cerebrally funny — yet Steve Martin films often are. Great cast |
| Nowhere in Africa | 3.5 | Very Good | 2008 Sep | Interesting life story of Jewish-German refugees. Deserved Oscar for best foreign film |
| Lone Star | 4 | Great | 2007 Dec | Tapestry of Texas murder story. Chris Cooper is great. Where have you gone, John Sayles? |
| Good Night and Good Luck | 3.5 | Very Good | 2008 July | Almost better classified as a documentary |
| A Dry White Season | 4 | Great | 2008 Sep | — and very depressing. Thankfully, no more Apartheid. |
| Inside Man | 3 | Good Plus | 2008 | Clever, fun to watch. Unbelievable over-the-top Hollywood, of course |
| Four Brothers | 2.5 | Good Plus | 2008 Jun | |
| Blood Diamond | 2.5 | Good Plus | 2008 Sep | A bit contrived, but topical and good setting. Also very depressing |
| Adaptation | 2.5 | Good Plus | 2008 July | Weird postmodern flick |
| Office Space | 2.5 | Good Plus | 2008 July | Some funny scenes. Worthwhile spoof |
| Harper | 2.5 | Good Plus | 2008 Jun | Paul Newman private eye flick |
| City of Industry | 2.5-3 | Good Plus | 2008 | Great revenge story among thieves. Again, clever and not obvious what will happen next |
| American Gangster | 3.5 | Very Good | 2012 | Fake due to distortions. True story would have been better. |
| Lonesome Dove | 2.5 | Good | 2008 Oct | For a TV series from this era, excellent. |
| Michael Clayton | 2 | Good | 2008 Sep | Clean-up lawyer. Nice Ending |
| Casino Royale | 2 | Good | 2008 Oct | A Bond flick with a story? Wow! (Mildly over the top, but then this is Bond.) |
| Harakiri | 2 | Good | 2007 Dec | Old Japanese flick. Held up |
| The Twilight Samurai | 2 | Good | 2008 Oct | Unusual movie |
| Beyond Rangoon | 2 | Good | 2007 Dec | Depressing—especially that 20 years later, it is still the same in Burma |
| Hell in the Pacific | 2 | Good | 2008 | Though made in 1968, one of the still reasonably believable war films |
| The Long Riders | 2 | Good | 2008 | Again, almost a documentary. Historically accurate. Interesting enough story line, though |
| The Andromeda Strain | 2 | Good | 2008 Jun | Remake and well done (except for stupid solution) |
| The Advocate (1993) | 2 | Good | 2007 Dec | Not too deep, but entertaining medieval story about defending pigs and roma as devils |
| Letters from Iwo Jima | 2 | Good | 2008 | Not great. No great story line. Interesting, but long. Sort of like a personal documentary |
| Yojimbo | 2 | Good | 2008 | 4 Great at the time. Famous for its imitator, "For a Few Dollars More" (which is better) |
| The Mckenzie Break | 2 | Good | 2008 Sep | Interesting 1970 story of cat-and-mouse prisoners of WW-2 story |
| Of Miracles and Men | 3.5 | Very Good | 201? | The greatest sport event ever...from the U.S. perspective, of course. |
| Hudsucker Proxy | 2 | Good | 2008 Aug | Theatrical and stupid, but cute and beautiful images |
| 3:10 to Yuma | 2 | Good Minus | 2008 Sep | Ridiculous behavior of the bad-guy (Russell Crowe), but well-crafted |
| Samurai Trilogy | 2 | M + M + G | 2008 | M=Bad. First two parts are too unbelievable. Third part is good. Final duel is justly famous—and not ridiculously overdone, as it would be in Hollywood today |
| The Bad Sleep Well | 2 | OK to Good | 2007 Dec | Little long |
| Family Business | 2 | OK to Good | 2008 Jun | Boring, slow, odd |
| Whale Rider | 1-2 | OK | 2008 Sep | Maori family story. Just did not draw me in too much |
| The Eiger Sanction | 1-2 | OK | 2008 | Fantastic mountain scenes—how did they shoot them? Just tries to be too Bond-like at parts. Much better when it is its own movie |
| I am Legend | 1-2 | OK | 2008 Sep | just entertaining, but shallow |
| Hidalgo | 1-2 | OK | 2008 | Marginally entertaining Western horse fairy tale |
| Hangin' with the homeboys | 1-2 | OK | 2008 | Four losers hanging out for a night. Not funny, just story-telling. Again, documentary touch |
| Equilibrium | 1-2 | OK | 2007 Dec | Mix 1984+Fahrenheit 451+Matrix. Shake. Predictable |
| Cutter's Way | 1-2 | OK | 2008 Jun | Jeff Bridges in S. Barbara CA. Boring, slow, odd |
| 6th Day | 1-2 | OK | 2008 July | Mildly Entertaining. Predictable |
| Sleepy Hollow | 2 | Good | 2008 July | I generally don't like supernatural horror flicks, and this is one ridiculous movie. Nice Burton visuals |
| Best in Show | 1-2 | OK | 2008 Oct | Mockumentary—joke, of course |
| There will be blood | 2 | Good | 2008 Sep | Literary adaptation of a Misanthrop |
| Unbreakable | 1.5 | OK | 2008 Dec | Supernatural thriller w/ B Willis and Samuel Jackson. Mildly entertaining |
| Time after Time | 1 | Bad | 2008 July | Stupid, predictable |
| The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) | 1 | Bad | 2008 Apr | Silly, though mildly entertaining. Embarrassing product placement. Doesn't Hollywood have real stories to tell any more? |
| The Package | 1 | Bad | 2008 Sep | Much too predictable |
| Signs | 1 | Bad | 2007 Nov | Stupid. Only redeeming feature: ancester of "War of the Worlds" |
| Sayonara | 1 | Bad | 2008 July | Why does everyone like Brando? He always talks as if he had a stroke. Could this movie not have found Japanese actors? |
| Rob Roy | 1 | Bad | 2008 July | Super-Predictable |
| Mission Impossible II | 1 | Bad | 2008 Jan | Fashionable. Can Hollywood make realistic films with stories? |
| Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome | 1 | Bad | 2008 Aug | Stupid and Predictable. Nice cinematography. |
| James Bond: License to Kill | 1 | Bad | 2008 Jan | Are these Bond films just satires of themselves? |
| Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within | 1 | Bad | 2007 Nov | Nice animation. Bad story makes no sense to the uninitiated |
| Thunderbolt and Lightfoot | 1 | Bad | 2008 | Not believable |
| Torn Curtain | 0 | Bad | 2008 Jan | Predictable. Bad Studio Production. Stupid. [opposite=The Spy who came in from the cold] |
| The Patriot | 0 | Bad | 2008 | Lousy collection of bad history and predictable plot |
| Runaway (1984) | 0 | Bad | 2008 Dec | Aged very badly. (Terminator, with a similar subject matter and made the same year, aged very well) |
| Lair of the White Worm | 0 | Bad | 2008 Nov | What were they thinking? Nice naked women? |
| The Maltese Falcon | 1 | Outdated | 2007 | Yes, I am serious. Yes, I know that this is a classic film, but please watch it again. It really is ridiculous |
| Is Paris Burning? | 1 | Outdated | 2008 | Realism should not be lacking in a war movie |
| Pepe le Moko | 1 | Outdated | 2008 | Police and criminals don't have these sorts of relationships |
| Fast and Furious | 0 | Bad | 2008 Sep | ... and stupid. Is this what the general audience likes? |
| Cocaine Cowboys | 2 | Good | 2014 Jun | low-budget fun-to-watch documentary |
| Star Trek Into Darkness | 1 | Bad | 2014 Jun | nice wisecracks and special effects. BUT completely illogical from start to end |
| The Book Thief | 3.5 | Very Good | 2014 Jun | don't expect a lot of action. very literary |
| The Way Back | 3.5 | Very Good | 201? | true story of escape through Siberia |
| 12 Years a Slave | 3.5 | Very Good | 2014 Jun | ...but also very painful. Not a fun afternoon. (Only the Holocaust was worse.) Why did more slaves not kill their masters?? Abolition was not justice: we should have instead made the white slavers the slaves and the former slaves their masters |
| Bob Marley | 2 | Good | 2014 May | ...but skip the first 30 minutes |
| BSG: The Plan | 2 | Good | 2014 May | but only for BSG afficianados. You have to have seen the series, or this movie makes zero sense |
| Tron Legacy | 1-2 | OK | 2014 May | had to watch this with my 10-year old. Could have been worse. Nice graphics. Dumb story |
| Appaloosa | 2 | Good | 2014 May | but not great. too predictable short-run, although long-run story is less predictable |
| God's Pocket | 2 | Good | 2016 Aug | but not great. not captivating |
| The Debt | 2 | Good | 2016 Aug | but not great. story was a bit flat and predictable. |
| A New World | 1 | Bad | 2014 Apr | No shred of truth, though use of historical names. Black Robe (1991) or The Mission (1996) are more realistic and not under false pretense |
| Notorious | 2 | Good | 2014 Apr | White-wash of Notorious B.I.G. rapper. Still funny |
| American Hustle | 4 | Great | 2014 Apr | Not predictable. Still funny |
| Gravity | 2 | Good | 2014 Apr | Not realistic. Predictable |
| Blue Jasmine | 5 | Excellent | 2014 Apr | Cate Blanchett steals the show |
| Beaufort | 2 | Good | 2014 Mar | Weird Israeli movie. Apparently realistic (from someone who was there). |
| Gravity | 1 | Bad | 2016 Jan | Not logical and predictable |
| Peaky Blinders, I and II | 3.5 | Very Good | 2016 Feb | Slow episodes in between, but overall enjoyable |
| Ken Burns Roosevelts | 4.5 | Excellent | 2016 Feb | Great Documentary |
| The Green Prince | 4 | Great | 2016 Mar | Great Documentary |
| Beasts of No Nation | 3.5 | Very Good | 2016 Jan | Idris Elba and the child are great. Very depressing |
| Kids for Cash | 3.5 | Very Good | 2016 Jan | Documentary |
| Making a Murderer | 6 | Superb | 2016 Jan | An Instant Classic. However, don't believe everything you see. |
| The Man in the High Castle | 2 | Good | 2016 Feb | Great atmosphere. At times illogical. Distortion of book |
| Narcos | 5 | Excellent | 2016 Jan | Wagner Moura is magnificent. Well done. Close to real life |
| Elite Squad | 4.5 | Excellent | 2016 Jan | 2 Good movie about Brazilian police, favellas, and corruption |
| North and South | 5 | Excellent | 2015 Dec | British industrialization and ethics, with few stereotypes |
| Jane Eyre | 3.5 | Very Good | 2015 Nov | At times, illogical, but still very good |
| Best of Enemies | 3.5 | Very Good | 2015 Nov | William F Buckley Jr and Vidal Gore. See also "Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia" |
| Nuremberg: Nazis on Trial | 3.5 | Very Good | 2015 Nov | Recreates Nuremberg trials by testimony, mixed with footage |
| Wallander (Brit) | 3.5 | Very Good | 2014 Jul | Boring murder mysteries, but great ambience. The original Skandinavian version was disappointing. |
| The Wind that Shakes the Barley | 3.5 | Very Good | 2015 Summer | A bit boring and slow at times |
| Whitey: USA v James Bulger | 3.5 | Very Good | 2015 Oct | Great documentary. Corrupt Boston police |
| Blackthorne | 4.5 | Excellent | 2015 Oct | What if the Sundance Kid had lived? Slow but Good |
| Flame and Citron | 4.5 | Excellent | 2015 Oct | Dutch Resistance |
| Above and Beyond | 3.5 | Very Good | 2015 Oct | The beginning of the Israeli Air Force |
| Night Crawler | 3.5 | Very Good | 2015 Oct | Creepy guy becomes freelance night reporter and manipulates crime scenes. Noir |
| A Gang Story | 3.5 | Very Good | 2015 Oct | French movie about mobster history. Noir |
| The Homesman | 4.5 | Excellent | 2015 Oct | Tommie Lee Jones and Hilary Swank drive this, though she is too attractive for the role |
| The Best Offer | 4.5 | Excellent | 2015 Dec | Modestly predictable, but still quite Good |
| Age of Uprising: Kohlhaas | 1 | Bad | 2015 Sep | I like slow and I like middle ages, but this is just too boring |
| A Most Wanted Man | 5 | Excellent | 2015 Sep | A terrorist thriller in Hamburg that is not predictable. Philip Seymour Hoffman! |
| Los Angeles: Skid Row is my Home | 3.5 | Very Good | 2015 Aug | and depressing |
| What happened, Miss Simone | 4.5 | Excellent | 2015 Aug | 2 Good documentary |
| Lord of War | 4 | Great | 2015 Aug | and depressing about arms merchants |
| Carl Panzram | 2 | Good | 2015 Aug | standard PBS documentary episode |
| The Killing | 1-2 | Bad to OK | 2015 Aug | flat |
| Killing Them Softly | 3.5 | Very Good | 2016 May | Literary. |
| Rounders (1998) | 3.5 | Very Good | 2016 May | Literary. Loser Gambling. Unpredictable. |
| The Blind Side | 5 | Excellent | 2015 Aug | homeless kid becomes NFL superstar |
| Silver Linings Playbook | 5 | Excellent | 2015 Aug | just as good as "the blind side" |
| An Honest Liar | 3.5 | Very Good | 2015 Aug | debunker of magicians has illegal immigrant spouse |
| Dirty Wars | 5 | Excellent | 2015 Aug | Either the establishment is corrupt or incompetent |
| Seraphine | 4.5 | Excellent | 2015 Jun | German housekeeper is magnificant painter, though mentally disturbed. Oscar-deserving for seraphine |
| Frida | 4.5 | Excellent | 2015 Jun | Frida Kahlo |
| The Honorable Woman | 3.5 | Very Good | 2015 May | fine line between clever and unbelievable |
| Monk with a Camera | 4.5 | Excellent | 2015 Apr | great movie about the philosophy of life, but not for everybody |
| The Great Train Robbery | 3.5 | Very Good | 2015 Apr | nice recreation |
| Vatel | 1 | Bad | 2015 Apr | I love costume dramas, but this one is boring and illogical |
| Low Winter Sun | 2 | Good | 2015 Apr | fine line between clever and unbelievable |
| The Forsyte Saga | 6 | Superb | 2015 Apr | One of the most captivating shows ever. Real characters, all flawed. |
| Europa Report | 2 | Good | 2015 Apr | Aliens, oh my Good! |
| Khodorkovsky | 2 | Good | 2015 Apr | Good PBS fare |
| The Wolf of Wall Street | 4 | Great | 2015 Apr | but not as Good as, say, Margin Call |
| The Assets | 5 | Excellent | 2015 Mar | Real story of US mole Aldrich Ames |
| 20 feet from Stardom | 2 | Good | 2015 Mar | PBS fare for music junkies |
| The Walking Dead | 2 | Good | 2015 Jan | Not bad for a zombie flick. Please, watch only Season 1 |
| Two Lives | 1-2 | OK | 2015 Jan | East German Spy in Norway, of all places |
| Reel Injun | 2 | Good | 2015 Jan | Standard PBS fare |
| The Man Nobody Knew: William Colby | 2 | Good | 2015 Jan | Standard PBS fare |
| Virunga | 5 | Excellent | 2015 Feb | There are many heroes in Africa, not just bad guys |
| Skyfall | 2 | OK to Good | 2015 Jan | ...for James Bond fare. nice scenes and ambience. stupid, like always |
| Croupier | 4 | Great | 2015 Jan | British independent flick |
| Fading Gigolo | 1-2 | OK | 2015 Feb | Woodie Allen formula fare, not believable |
| Robot and Frank | 4 | Great | 2015 Jan | Two great actors, funny story |
| Automata | 3.5 | Very Good | 2015 Jan | Standard sci-fi fare, but well executed |
| The Decent One | 3.5 | Very Good | 2015 Jan | Himmler, wow |
| Generation War | 4 | Great | 2015 Jan | I and II are great. III is ridiculous. Think "Band of Brothers" without the moral high ground |
| Appropriate Adult | 2 | OK to Good | 2014 Nov | High expectations too easily disappointed. Gloucester murderer being interviewed |
| Spiral (Season 4) | 3.5 | Very Good | 2014 Oct | French answer to the wire |
| Senna | 4 | Great | 2014 Sep | Tragic |
| Spies of Mississippi | 2 | Good | 2014 Sep | Good standard PBS fare about the FBI in the 1960s |
| Codebreaker | 3.5 | Very Good | 2014 Sep | Alan Turing |
| Winged Migration | 5 | Excellent | 2014 Aug | perhaps the most amazing nature documentary ever |
| K-19: The Widowmaker | 3.5 | Very Good | 2014 Sep | Harrison Ford as a Russian sub captain |
| Lincoln | 5 | Excellent | 2014 Aug | Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis is great. Great story, too. |
| The Fall (2006) | 5 | Excellent | 2014 Aug | Tarsem Singh. creative, innovative, spectacular visuals, rivaled only by "Dark City" |
| The Unknown Known | 3.5 | Very Good | 2014 Aug | Good PBS-style documentary about Donald Rumsfeld |
| Island at War | 1 | Bad | 2014 Aug | boring...I just could not get into it |
| Gideon's Army | 3.5 | Very Good | 2014 Aug | documentary about public defenders in the criminal justice system |
| All the Pretty Horses | 3.5 | Very Good | 2014 Jun | Good film from the book |
| Star Trek Into Darkness | 1 | Bad | 2014 May | when you run out of Good stories, you rely on Good effects |
| Marley | 3.5 | Very Good | 2014 May | PBS style documentary |
| The Whale | 3.5 | Very Good | 2014 May | Self-tamed Killer Whale in Vancouver |
| Blackfish | 3.5 | Very Good | 2014 May | Sea World...it's a whale, not a fish |
| Downfall | 6 | Superb | 2014 May | Hitler's Last Days. (Germany makes one great movie per decade.) |
| The King's Speech | 4.5 | Excellent | 2014 Apr | Oscar winner |
| Mrs. Brown | 4.5 | Excellent | 2014 Apr | BBC style costume drama, not overplayed |
| Happy People: A Year in the Taiga | 3.5 | Very Good | 2014 Apr | Herzog documentary about Siberian life |
| Bernie | 2 | Good | 2014 Apr | Black humor |
| Sherlock | 1 | Bad | 2014 Apr | ridiculous and unbelievable; too clever for itself; but stylish |
| All is illuminated | 2 | Good | 2022 Jul | Weird, partly in a good and partly in not a good way. |
| Cartel Land | 2 | Good | 2016 | Protection against cartels in MX |
| Into the White | 2 | Good | 2016 | OK |
| Following (1998) | 2 | Good | 2016 | Quite Good Budget Movie. Early Nolan Noir. |
| Lee Daniels' The Butler (2013) | 1 | Bad | 2016 | Lousy. Not authentic. |
| Kilo Two Bravo (2014, British) | 3.5 | Very Good | 2016 | Very good, but also very painful to watch. |
| Look Who's Back (2015) | 1-2 | OK | 2016 | (Adolf, of course.) Bad, but has its amusing moments. |
| Killing Them Softly (2012) | 2 | Good | 2016 | Good. Not predictable. Nice Ending. |
| The long walk home (1990) | 0-1 | Boring | 2016 | Boring. Paint is drying. |
| The Big Short (2015) | 3 | Very Good | 2016 | Problem: I know too much about the subject. Margin Call is a more accurate and better movie, though. |
| Django Unchained (2013) | 2 | Good | 2016 | OK Spaghetti Western. QT has made worse but also a lot better (Pulp Fiction!) |
| Experimenter | 3 | Good | 2016 | (Milgram Experiments.) Good. |
TV shows
Please do not suggest: Ingmar Bergman, Grease, My Dinner With Andre, Wings of Desire, Jaws, E.T., James Bond, The Shining, Rosemarie's Baby, Independence Day, Titanic, Godzilla, various Altman films, plus much of the other sh.. that Hollywood has recently been selling. (Catastrophe) Movies that can be seen on the Weather Channel or CNN do not do it for me, either.
Good Movie Sites: The Internet Movie Data Base.
My favorite critic was Roger Ebert. OK, so I do not fully agee with him, but he was pretty good.