What I Watched In January

I really packed them in last month. I also kept up my apparent plan to watch films in as many genres as possible too. Whew! Westerns, noirs, science fiction, pirate tales, a Tarzan movie, 1950's horror films, krimis, 1970's TV movies, a Korean mystery and even a musical were all in the DVD player in January. Fun, fun!

The Coen's new version of TRUE GRIT was the best thing I saw theatrically with the fantastic giallo-like BLACK SWAN being pretty damned impressive as well. In the classic film category I finally caught up with THE HEIRESS with the magnificent Olivia de Havilland. This is a great, harsh film that refuses to give you an easy villain to dislike. It shows its stage origins but is so masterfully done that it becomes perfectly cinematic on emotional terms alone. THE PUBLIC ENEMY proves that I have been depriving myself of Cagney's gangster films for far too long. Raw and shocking it's an amazing movie that begs for rewatches at regular intervals. I need to see much more Cagney and soon.

BEFORE I HANG (1940)- 6 (good Karloff chiller)
STOLEN FACE (1952)- 6 (early Hammer noir directed by Terence Fisher)
SHANE (1953)- 8 (excellent if slightly overlong western – deserves its rep)
THE AMAZONS (1973)- 6 (full length cut of Terence Young’s fun peplum)
HIGHLANDER 2 (1991)- 3 (rewatch) (insulting and stupid but as fascinating as a slo-mo car crash)
THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE (1944)- 7 (rewatch)
ROBERTA (1935)- 7 (wonderful musical)
CENTURION (2010)- 8 (brutal period action film- too much CGI blood)
FORTUNES OF CAPTAIN BLOOD (1950)- 6 (a good variation on the classic Flynn version)
ARCANA (1972)- 7 (supremely strange but fascinating Guilio Questi film)
CREEPERS (1990)- 2 (amazingly bad- from the makers of TROLL 2)
GULLIVER’S TRAVELS (2010)- 2 (crappy attempt at a family comedy)
BEOWULF (2007)- 4 (good start but a crappy second half and it looks like a video game)
THE BLACK SLEEP (1956)- 5 (OK chiller with an interesting cast)
TRUE GRIT (2010)- 10 (excellent)
THE OXFORD MURDERS (2008)- 7 (fun Spanish made mystery)
THE PUBLIC ENEMY (1931)- 8 (Cagney is brilliant)
PHARAOH’S CURSE (1957)- 5 (mildly diverting chiller)
BLAST OF SILENCE (1961)- 6 (interesting noir but the voiceover does not work)
TARZAN AND THE VALLEY OF GOLD (1966)- 7 (Tarzan in Mexico)
EAGLES OVER LONDON (1969)- 6 (decent Italian made WWII film)
BLACK SWAN (2010)- 8 (ballet madness)
THE HEIRESS (1949)- 9 (excellent drama that overcomes its stage origins)
FURY OF THE WOLFMAN (1972)- 4 (a Naschy mess)
COLD PREY (2006)- 7 (very good slasher)
EYEBORGS (2009)- 6 (solid low budget sci-fi action)
THE SPY WHO LOVED FLOWERS (1966)- 7 (fast, serious Umberto Lenzi Euro-Spy film)
FELLOWSHIP OF THE FROG (1959)- 7 (great little krimi)
THE ZOMBIE WALKS (1968)- 6 (fun color krimi)
THE HUMANOID (1979)- 4 (fun, silly, daft Italian Star Wars rip-off)
MOTHER (2009)- 8 (slow, deliberate Korean tale of love & murder)
GENESIS II (1973)- 5 (goofus failed TV pilot from Gene Roddenberry)
EARTH II (1971) – 4 (dull TV movie)
DESERT WARRIOR (1988)- 2 (awful post-apocalyptic Lou Ferrigno mess)
ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS (1957)- 5 (rewatch) (I love this mess of a film)
BLOOD ON HIS SWORD (1961)- 7 (great French costume drama/swashbuckler a.k.a. THE MIRACLE OF THE WOLVES)
I HATE MY BODY (1974)- 6 (rewatch)