this week on 100 Films

It may seem a while ago now, but the stunning final two episodes of Game of Thrones aired within the past month -- which makes them the centrepiece of 100 Films in a Year's TV review this month:




Elsewhere, 2 brand-new reviews were published this week...


Just Friends (2005)

Just Friends spends a long time feeling like a morally bankrupt movie. It’s unclear if it’s praising or condemning Chris’ frivolous lifestyle, if he needs saving by coming home, or if he deserves revenge on the people who mistreated him. We know what the standard Hollywood perspective on these things is, so kudos to some degree for dodging it, but it doesn’t commit to the other direction either.

Read more here.


White God (2014)

The film’s third act can pithily be described as Rise of the Planet of the Dogs: having seen the abuses of humans, an impounded Hagen leads a canine uprising that seeks to… well, they don’t speak (they’re dogs, remember, and this isn’t Disney), so who knows what their precise aims are? “Revenge” would be too cruel, but they definitely seeking some retribution.

Read more here.


Finally, my 100 Favourites series continued with 3 more posts...


The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003)

in the same way J.R.R. Tolkien considered it one long novel that had to be split up for the sake of publication, so too the movies work well — best, one could even argue — as a single 11½-hour experience. Having inducted the trilogy’s individual instalments into my 100 Favourites series [last week], I’ve covered most aspects of this epic moviemaking endeavour pretty thoroughly already, so here are links to each of my previous entries

Read more here.


Lost in Translation (2003)

the quality of the BAFTA-winning performances of Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson [create] a cross-generational pairing of two lost souls that feels real and touching, rather than tipping into some creepy love affair thing. Nonetheless, through to its ending the film plays with variations on melancholy — a difficult feeling to evoke in movies, in my opinion, but a level writer-director Sofia Coppola here hits with impressive consistency.

Read more here.


Man on Fire (2004)

Memorable Quote #1: “Creasy’s art is death. He’s about to paint his masterpiece.” — Rayburn
Memorable Quote #2: “Forgiveness is between them and God. It’s my job to arrange the meeting.” — Creasy

Read more here.


More next Sunday.