Had a couple weeks of holidays and tried to watch as many films as I could, here’s a rough ranking with some thoughts:
Excellent:
Interstellar (Wow, what an experience!)
Persona (Utterly captivating)
Shutter Island (Throws you around in the best possible way, such great style too)
Great:
Platoon (Great characters, superb action which never appears contrived)
Ex Machina (Concise and smart. Didn’t try to overstretch itself)
LOTR: The Two Towers (Watched this in two sittings, the second sitting really dragged and the silliness stuck out more than I remember. FOTR and the first half of TTT were just as amazing as I remember though).
Robocop (1987) (Has violence ever been so fun? Much better than I thought, terrific practical effects)
Gattaca (Nice atmosphere, love the dreamy vibe and characters)
Good:
Sicario (Phenomenal first half, only solid second)
Rear Window (Always interesting, love that it takes place in a single location)
Taxi Driver (Was constantly interrupted while watching and finished after 3 hours, need a second watch to properly appreciate)
Macbeth (Visually impressive, dialog very difficult to literally hear)
Bronson (Only watched because it was a NWR film and well, it was good – just didn’t enjoy Bronson as a character very much, you can still see NWR in it though)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009) (As a fan of the book, this was a little disappointing. It’s not bad, just half-baked compared to the book. The things they did tweak though were the best parts)
Just decent:
13 Assassins (Some good parts but ultimately felt like watching a video game)
Escape From New York (Kinda clunky and flat. It’s the perfect movie for an 8 year old but content wise it’s not a kids film?)
POTC: On Stranger Tides (Good action, fun, but nothing special)
Not good:
The Princess Diaries 2 (I didn’t hate myself while watching but there was no shortage of huge eye roll moments)
Comedy: (It never feels right to compare serious films with comedies…)
Attack of the Ridiculous (Lives up the first, practically non-stop laughs – great work Frink! Favorite moments - The Clones arrive at Geonosis, Obi-Wan and Jango’s Asteroid fight and Anakin and Padme’s relationship is taken…“further”)