Weekly Watch

Thought I’d give this new series a try. It basically keeps track of all the films I watched in the past week or so, and then I do small writeups of each, with a 1-4 star rating scale for funsies. Hopefully this’ll be inspiring enough for me to do some more feature length pieces.

Grizzly Man – One of the best documentaries I’ve ever seen. An absolutely captivating portrait of a man who clearly wasn’t all “there” per say. Despite not much happening in the way of plot or story, it was one of the most dramatic and intense experiences watching a film I’ve had in a long time. Much better than I was expecting and easily my favorite film from Werner Herzog, feature or documentary. ****

Love and Death – One of the most ambitious films from Woody Allen I’ve seen yet, and also one of the funniest. ***

True Grit – Pretty much it was everything I hoped it would be, and even much more at times. A wonderfully crafted film that’s just as cinematically satisfying as it is entertaining on a purely superficial level. It goes without saying that the cinematography was stunning and the entire cast did well, with the clear standout being Hailee Steinfeld in the lead role. Barring a regrettably anticlimactic finale and a general lack of catharsis, this was one hell of a film. ****

Rio Bravo – Stunningly average western flick on all fronts, without any interesting characters or unique plot devices to lead from point A to B. An inoffensive enough piece of hackwork that had its moments, but didn’t do much for me overall. One thing I did love, though, was the liberal use of the term “dude.” How unbelievably anachronistic. **1/2

We'll see how long this one lasts.