What I Watched in February

After the complete mess of KING ARTHUR (2017) and the I-don't-give-a-crap-ness of a live-action version of Disney's ALADDIN (2019), it is wonderful to see Guy Ritchie back in the genre that he has a firm handle on  -  British gangsters. With THE GENTLEMEN (2020) he returns to modern-day London with various groups of serious criminals vying for smaller and larger slices of the crime pie. Richie's films of this type rise and fall on the strengths of their outrageous characters and the ability of the cast to embody these deadly villains in amusing fashion. In this case, he has hit one out of the park again. The cast is phenomenal, the twisty story is joyous in its clever reveals and the excitement level is always high. More like this please and less like King Arthur and Guy Ritchie can keep making these films for the rest of his life as far as I'm concerned.

Although I’m loath to admit it, I enjoy quite a lot of the film adaptations of H. P. Lovecraft’s horror fiction. Not all of what I enjoy are very good films but, in most cases, I’m pleased by the attempt to bring his often difficult work to the screen. So, when an actual good film based on HPL’s work gets made I’m overjoyed. Such is the case with Richard Stanley’s COLOR OUT OF SPACE (2020) which finds a way to both adapt and update to modern times one of the most interesting of his rural set tales. Taking the story as a solid base Stanley brings his own sensibilities and style to the tale letting it unfold naturally and, dare I say, colorfully. The film allows for deeper characters than on the page and the family relationships feel real as well adding a touch of humanity that Lovecraft usually seemed to view as superfluous. The horrors are well presented and I was happy to notice that a fair amount the dialog was lifted straight from the original tale. Well done! I look forward to the announced adaptation of The Dunwich Horror!

THE LIST 

DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE (2019) – 7

GOD FORGIVES, I DON’T (1967) – 6 (Spaghetti western – first teaming of Hill and Spencer)

THE SATANIST (1968) – 3 (silly, hour long soft-core porn)

TERROR IS A MAN (1959) – 7 (rewatch)

THE THING (1982) – 10 (rewatch)

HEART OF THE NORTH (1938) – 7 (Canadian Mountie film)

IN A VALLEY OF VIOLENCE (2016) – 8 (excellent western)

RODAN (1956) – 7 (the English dubbed version)

THE FALCON STRIKES BACK (1943) – 6 (rewatch)

THE IRISHMAN (2019) – 9 (brilliant if long gangster epic)

LOVE AND BULLETS (1979) – 6 (Bronson in a pretty good crime tale)

ERIK THE VIKING (1965) – 6 (interesting but overlong adventure)

ANON (2018) – 7 (sci-fi noir crime story)

THE BISHOP MURDER CASE (1929) – 6 (early talkie with Basil Rathbone as Philo Vance)

THE FALCON IN DANGER (1943) – 6

THE GENTLEMEN (2020) – 8

MEN IN BLACK INTERNATIONAL (2019) – 7 (shame this wasn’t a bigger hit)

COLOR OUT OF SPACE (2019) – 8

DOCTOR JEKYLL AND THE WOLFMAN (1973) – 8  (rewatch)

MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE (1932) – 7 (rewatch on Blu)