What’s Been Watched This Month – July 2019

Here’s what the ole Wolfensteiner had been watching in July 2019.

The TV

The third season of Stranger Things was released this month. We love the “event” aspect of ST. A great family watch. It was really very good but had a few issues. Hopper and Joyce screaming and shouting all the fookin time was a problem for me! Hopper has been by far the best character in the last two but man he got annoying, both of them! The little girl was also not needed, well not for all the time as she got. The monster was terrifying and well gross lol. The liquefied body mess and bones and all. Oh my days. The new girl was pretty good. You had to feel for Billy. I loved Steve in his sailors outfit for the whole show LOL. The NeverEnding Story song was way to loooooong but all in all it was better than I thought it was gonna be. Though in hindsight S1 and S2 were better.
Hopefully they will wrap it all up S4. Those kids are way too old hehe..

The Boys is bonkers and it’s got binge watch written all over it. I couldn’t imagine how they would film The Boys as it couldn’t be as hardcore and controversial as the comics!! It’s not but they surely give it a try. Garth Ennis comic series is insanely deranged! Man, lucky they do keep close to the FUBAR essense of the comic books. The gang is fundamentally the same but for a few little change aspects. TBH the changes work better for the medium of television. It could never be as controversial as it’s source material but it was fun to see how far they would go. I flew through the 8 episodes over the weekend. Yep I know I’m crazy but after episode one I wanted more. It’s on Amazon so you can get a free trial to rinse it…. Word of warning, it’s definitely not for everyone.

The Films

Wolfman’s Rating System Explained – We All Have A System Don’t We?

16 films this month and a total of 142 this year
634 since the start of the blog in January 2017.

Young and Innocent (1937) – Wolfman Rating 8.5 – IMDB Rating 7
An early Alfred Hitchcock ticked off the list courtesy of a good recommend from that man Todd over at Cinema Monolith.  I absolutely loved it.

Black Narcissus (1947) – Wolfman Rating  8.5 – IMDB Rating 7.9
It’s nun’s in the Himalayas from directors Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger starring Deborah Kerr and a real stand out performance from Kathleen Byron. Loads of bubbling undercurrent tension oozing through this film. It looks beautiful too.

The Glass Key (1942) – Wolfman Rating 8 – IMDB Rating 7.1
A love triangle, fisty cuffs, crooked politician, gangsters and one helluva beating! Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake are a few of the stars. Superb film noir. Wolfie Write Up Here

Johnny Guitar (1954) – Wolfman Rating 8 – IMDB Rating 7.7
I got there eventually. A really entertaining film from director Nicholas Ray starring Joan Crawford in a fiesty role. Sterling Hayden rolls into town with his guitar. Was shown as part of Alex Cox Moviedrome. Check out John’s Cinematic Coffee who’s doing a homage to the iconic movie series.

Captain Marvel (2019) – Wolfman Rating 7 – IMDB Rating 7
The next three films were family on holiday in Bristol movies. Wasn’t quite as bad as we all had imagined though the CGI work on Samuel L Jackson was weird as shit! All in all pretty entertaining.

Shazam! (2019) – Wolfman Rating 5.5 – IMDB Rating 7.2
Ok it was pretty bad but still passable entertainment. I chuckled a few times. Maybe more than everyone else though I was hitting the beers pretty hard hehe.

Alita: Battle Angel (2019) – Wolfman Rating 6 – IMDB Rating 7.4
I really wanted to love this. It looks amazing but deep down you could feel a more expensive Robert Rodriguez Spy Kids! Yeah I know I’m being harsh. In the end it just didn’t go anywhere. That end was a cop out. Will they ever make another? If James Cameron got anything to do with, probably in 10 plus years!

Mile 22 (2018) – Wolfman Rating 5 – IMDB Rating 6.1
Oh my days! this was terrible. The (ADD) Attention Deficit Disorder drove me mad. Director Peter Berg went overboard. Now this doesn’t happen often at all but an hour in I couldn’t take it anymore and off it went. Jeez it’s bad. I’ve liked the other combo of Berg and Mark Wahlberg films. Lone Survivor, Patriots Day and Deepwater Horizon was very good, well if you got though the cheese of the first 20 minutes! Mile 22 is on Netflix so I only lost an hour!

Baby Driver (2017) – Wolfman Rating 7 – IMDB Rating 7.6
This was a rewatch. It dropped a point as the novelty had worn a bit thin the second time. Still great entertainment.

Rear Window (1954) – Wolfman Rating 10 – IMDB Rating 8.5
Now here we’re talking. So incredibly good. Believe this was my third time watching it but the first time in HD. It was like I was seeing it all again for the first time. It’s so perfect in every way. The set is a cast member all of itself. I was so excited watching it again that I tried to get my daughter to watch it with me straight after it finished! It didn’t happen this time but we are gonna pencil it in soon. Another Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece.

Near Dark (1987) – Wolfman Rating 7 – IMDB Rating 7
A very enjoyable cult action Cowboy and Vampire hybrid film that I’d always thought I had seen! Oh the shame. Wolfie Write Up Here

Fallen Angel (1945) – Wolfman Rating 6 – IMDB Rating 7.1
Oh no I didn’t gel with this as much as I thought I would. I just didn’t care for Dana Andrews in this tbh I didn’t really care for anyone though Linda Darnell is smoking.

Hotel Mumbai (2018) – Wolfman Rating 9 – IMDB Rating 7.6
Good gosh! This was intense man. INTENSE!. Trust us to not read anything about it. We went in thinking it was an Indian version of something like Olympus Has Fallen. How wrong were we! After two hours of shocking terror we could breathe properly again.  Based on shocking true events. Dev Patel and the hotel staff try their best to help guests amongst unthinkable horror during a terrorist attack on the majestic Taj Hotel in Mumbai.

The First of the Few (1942) – Wolfman Rating 8.5 – IMDB Rating 7.1
I enjoyed reading about the history of the film and the Spitfire as a bonus to the movie. I did write more than usual if you bored.  Wolfie Write Up Here

Split Second (1992) – Wolfman Rating 7 – IMDB Rating 6.2
Such a sad day hearing the news of Rutger Hauer’s passing. Anyone who knows me knows I’m kind of obsessed with Blade Runner. As homage to the big man I wanted to watch one I had seen before. And what fun I had with Split Second.  Wolfie Write Up Here

Apollo 11 (2019) – Wolfman Rating 10 – IMDB Rating 8.1
I’ve always been crazy for the Moon and the Nasa space program. Well any space program to be honest. I always try to tune into Spacex rocket launches. I bought tickets for my two kids, Nyah and Kofi to join me in this historic look at the Moon mission. The documentary is flawless. No narrator just beautiful restored HD footage of Neil, Buzz and Michael as they blast into space. It’s an incredible time capsule as we watch people watching the launch to seeing the different aspects of the mission. I’ve seen so much footage since a kid but nothing was boring, I was till in awe. The wonder of seeing unseen footage of the control rooms. The close up on the rocket. Everything was perfect. Even the electronic soundtrack worked in unison with the chatter of communications between the astronauts and the control rooms back on Earth. An amazing achievement in every way.

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Well two whole series did take up some time though I did The Boys in two sittings! Somehow I still managed to get in a fair few films in.

Any goodies in there you have seen and liked? Thoughts, recommends etc always welcome if you fancy too.

Keep watching the screens. Thanks for having a look to see what’s been watched. All the best……… The howling one, Mikey

PS I have a few goodies install for August. Hitting the cult vibes. Be seeing you.