On this installment of my 100 Movies Bucket List Challenge, I watched a handful of films that were evenly split between those I had never seen and some that were re-visits for me. For the most part, nothing in this batch really stood out to me as being particularly awful, but a couple whose reputations preceded them certainly fell a bit short of expectations. Surprisingly all of the films that were re-watches more or less held up for me or exceeded my initial impressions. This list includes films watched between the beginning of March and halfway through April, bringing the total films watched up to 28.
Click here to see the Letterboxd list of films.
Scent of a Woman – dir. Martin Brest
A prep school student takes a job as temporary caretaker for a blind war veteran; hijinks and life lessons ensue. This was definitely a film at the top (bottom?) of my list of movies on the poster that I did not want to see, mostly based on just the title alone. Boy, was a pleasantly surprised to find a movie that for better or worse had a very loose plot and mostly consisted of Al Pacino staring off at nothing in particular while saying outlandishly nutty crap. Hoo-ah! 3.5/5
Escape from Alcatraz – dir. Don Siegel
A criminal incarcerated in San Francisco’s infamous island prison makes an attempt to escape. I think I’m learning this year that I really don’t care for most of Clint Eastwood’s body of work. I know that this film is one of the quintessential prison escape films, but it’s very basic and straight-forward to the point where watching it 40 years later takes some thrill out of it. Thankfully, it’s paced well enough that it’s quite an easy and relatively enjoyable, if not bland, watch. 3/5
Terminator 2: Judgement Day – dir. James Cameron
A cyborg is sent back in time to prevent the murder of a future resistance leader. Until this year I’ve always kind of held the contrarian view that the first Terminator was better than Judgement Day. After watching both movies again, I have to finally rest my case that, while the first film definitely nails the horror of being hunted by a machine, the second film cashes in much bigger on spectacle and thrill. Nearly every set piece action scene in T2 is iconic and done with either practical effects or cutting-edge (for the time, but still respectable) computer-generated effects. 4/5
Blood Diamond – dir. Edward Zwick
Set during Sierra Leone’s civil war in 1999, a smuggler and local fisherman attempt to recover a priceless diamond. There’s not much I have to say about this one other than the fact that it just kind of washed over me leaving very little impact. One of the few things to note is DiCaprio’s South African accent that is, while not necessarily that bad, very distracting. I would love for someone to explain to me what it is that people find extraordinary about this film. 3/5
A Beautiful Mind – dir. Ron Howard
A gifted mathematician struggles to separate reality from his schizophrenia-induced hallucinations. A second viewing for me, I don’t think it entirely escapes the hammyness and somewhat triteness that seems to permeate the majority of dramatic biopics, but it mostly works well for me. However, I do think Crowe’s performance is noteworthy enough to ground the otherwise ridiculously-staged plot. 4/5
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial – dir. Steven Spielberg
A child attempts to help a stranded alien return to his own kind while avoiding being intercepted by government officials. From what I can recall, this is the first time watching this movie in what I would consider my adult life. What stood out to me the most was how unabashedly goofy and idiosyncratic it is for a film that captured the hearts of an entire generation. Forty years later and I can probably count on one hand the number of movies with equal or better child acting than this cast. 4/5
The Departed – dir. Martin Scorsese
A rookie FBI agent infiltrates the Irish mob while one of the mobsters does the same within the FBI. Fifteen years ago, this may have been one of my first introductions to Martin Scorsese’s work. With a lot more of his movies under my belt, I do think that this is one that more skillfully balances the epic crime scope with a really well-paced and engaging story. Nicholson really knocks it out of the park in what I consider his last great performance (for now). 4.5/5
Doctor Zhivago – dir. David Lean
A Russian doctor engages in a love affair amidst World War 1 and the following Bolshevik revolution. I did not expect to enjoy this three-hour-and-twenty-minute drama pic, and lo and behold I didn’t really find much of anything to like here. In addition to being an overlong slog, I couldn’t find any of the characters sympathetic or the finale a satisfying resolution. Just about the only thing I could enjoy was the stunning cinematography that brought out beauty in an otherwise bleak landscape. 2.5/5
Saving Private Ryan – dir. Steven Spielberg
A platoon of Army rangers is tasked with finding and bringing home a soldier from behind enemy lines. Even though I don’t think this movie every attains the same heights achieved in the ‘storming of Normandy’ scene, it’s certainly phenomenal from beginning to end. Tom Hanks aside (I don’t think he has much range as an actor), the rest of the supporting cast, starring more excellent character actors than you can shake a bayonet at, wonderfully rounds out the troop of rich and interesting characters. I don’t think there is a longer film (169 minutes!) that I am almost guaranteed to agree to watch at least once a year. 4.5/5
Dirty Dancing – dir. Emile Ardolino
A teenage girl on a resort vacation in the 1950s falls in line with somewhat unsavory dancers led by a rebel instructor. While I can’t say that I wholeheartedly loved this movie, I was shocked to learn how much more there was to it outside of a very simple forbidden love story. I do think it’s funny how unabashedly 80s the movie is for something that is supposed to be set in the 50s. 3/5