What I Watched in July

Last month I caught the much maligned new Terminator film TERMINATOR: GENISYS and I really enjoyed it. I'm not sure what all the bitching was about other than it NOT being as good as the first two films in the series and did anyone expect that? I consider this new film to be the third best of the run and a major step up from the poorly written TERMINATOR: SALAVATION from a couple of years back. At least this one had a decent story and didn't feel like it was assembled from a bunch of notes leftover after a boardroom meeting.

GENISYS works best when it's playing with what we remember from the first couple of movies while twisting those events into new shapes. I was fearful that the spoiler heavy trailers had given too many plot points away for the film to really surprise me but I was happy to be wrong on this count. I like that we get to revisit the beginning of this story and view it from different angles. It gives the film a retro but fresh feel that felt correct each time that the film shifted into an alteration of known events. Cool! And the cast, with one exception, was very good. Schwarzsenegger finally looks comfortable onscreen again after his dalliance with politics; Emilia Clarke shows that she may have a career after Game of Thrones ends and Jason Clarke handles the toughest role very well moving from hero to antagonist with skill. It is only the hunky (?) new Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) that fails to register much screen charisma often seeming more robotic and stiff than Arnold's T-100. Don't get me wrong- he's not bad enough to ruin the film and he's much better than Salvation's pathetic human shaped black hole Sam Worthington, but he isn't much more than serviceable. Good film, though. Hope they make the proposed sequel.

ANT-MAN might have seemed like Marvel's biggest gamble to date but honestly that was GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. The ANT-MAN story they have chosen to tell onscreen is probably the perfect one as it gives the studio space to have an original 'classic' Ant-Man with adventures that can be told in the future as well as the new guy who seems poised to join the Avengers pretty soon. Once again they have struck the near-perfect balance of action, character, suspense and humor that keeps these films from feeling stale or stupid. I know they will eventually screw up and make one that I don't enjoy but so far the track record is astonishing. Now I just want the Wasp to make her debut and Giant-Man to put in an appearance and we'll be set. Think I'll mosey on down to Milgrom street and see what's what! 

WEB OF THE SPIDER (1971)- 8 (rewatch)

SORCERESS (1982)- 3 (rewatch) (terrible but fun)

BATTLE FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES (1973)- 6 (rewatch)

LEVIATHAN (1989) - 3 (rewatch)

TERMINATOR: GENISYS (2015)- 7

PROMETHEUS (2012)- 8 (rewatch)

CORNERED (1945)- 8 (excellent Noir with Dick Powell)

CHERRY 2000 (1987)- 6

THE FACE BEHIND THE MASK (1941)- 6 (Noir with Peter Lorre)

THE GOLDEN BAT (1966)- 7 (over the top Japanese silliness)

CONTAMINATION (1980)- 3 (rewatch)

DOCTOR JUSTICE (1975)- 8 (wow!)

HANNAH, QUEEN OF THE VAMPIRES (1973)- 6

NIGHTCRAWLER (2014)- 8

THEY CAME FROM BEYOND SPACE (1967)- 6 (low budget British SF)

IT'S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD (1964)- 7 (197 minute version)

THE BRIBE (1949)- 8 (excellent Noir with an excellent cast)

LOST SOUL:The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau (2014)- 9 (excellent documentary)

ELVIS COSTELLO: MYSTERY DANCE (2014) - 8

ANT-MAN  (2015)- 8

STRANGE BREW (1983)- 7 (rewatch)

NEIGHBORS (1981)- 9 (rewatch)

THE SHOW (1927)- 8 (fantastic silent from Tod Browning)

EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC (1977)- 7 (rewatch)