Second Half Of 2016 Film Round-Up
Posted 6th January 2017
Category: Film Genres: N/A
6 Comments
I did quite well this half of the year. In August I thought, ‘ahh, now, I’m always forgetting to watch films from this point in the year onward’ and made a concerted effort. December rolled around and the fact it was the season, together with with the thought, ‘last month of the year!’, led to more films. Catch-up television is incredibly useful – I owe much of this list to iplayer – as are subscription programmes.
Here are the films I watched for the first time during the second half of 2016. My opinions here are a lot more subjective than my book reviews.
The Bishop’s Wife (USA, 1947) – Feel good semi-comedy. We could do with Cary Grant in our films today.
The Black Cauldron (USA, 1985) – It’s easy to see why it’s a largely unknown Disney. The voice acting of the lead, the story line – the spark of an idea but not realised. We found out after watching that the film was hack-edited – one of the higher people in the company decided to do it himself, ruining it, and this caused a group of the animators to go and form Pixar.
Carol (USA, 2015) – A very good film. I liked the quietness that fit the situation.
Far From The Madding Crowd (UK, 2015) – Perfect, super, casting. But no development, progression, epic end section rendered average…
Holiday Affair (USA, 1949) – A film of the times (bit of a brash hero) but this turned out to be pretty charming and, in some ways, ahead of its time (very confusing, I know!)
Into The Woods (USA/UK, 2014) – A few of the lyrics are good and on occasion it’s funny, but it’s mostly a non-event.
The Lady In The Van (UK, 2015) – You can’t really go wrong with Maggie Smith, nor Alan Bennett.
The Lego Movie (USA, 2014) – Fantastic; barmy and hilarious.
Snow White And The Huntsman (UK, 2012) – Pretty good, very much ‘based’ on the story rather than following it.
Miss Potter (UK, 2006) – Found the animation a bit silly but otherwise it’s a lovely film.
What films did you watch for the first time in 2016?
January 6, 2017, 2:25 am
From your list, I only saw Snow White and the Huntsman. We tried to watch Into the Woods and had to turn it off a short way in. It just didn’t do anything for us. I would love to see the Lego Movie.
January 6, 2017, 10:14 am
I saw Lady in a Van last week and loved it. As you say, Dame Maggie, Alan Bennett, what could go wrong?
I don’t watch many films these days, although I watched all the Harry Potter films this year.
I agree with you about Cary Grant, but we also need more of the type of films that he was in.
January 6, 2017, 10:50 pm
I just checked out The Lady in the Van from the library and will watch it this weekend.
I absolutely loved Carol. I thought it was so well-acted and the the writing of the script, just beautiful.
Another recent one I watched was The Clouds of Sils Maria with Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart, which mesmerized me.
Ah, Cary Grant. He is in one of my favorite films of all time: The Philadelphia Story. You can’t beat Grant and Hepburn :)
January 9, 2017, 4:13 pm
I also watched Far From the Madding Crowd for the first time this year. I thought it was very good, but not as great as the book.
January 16, 2017, 2:02 pm
Jenny: It is. And there’s a nice slice of our modern day humour in it as well – it’s all polite and so on but some relate-able laugh-out-loud moments, too. I’ve only seen a couple of his films so can’t comment too much; I suppose I can see both sides of the opinion. Oh Emily Blunt was excellent; it would’ve helped if she’s been in it more.
Kelly: I did consider stopping Into The Woods – it was the hope that it would get better that kept me going. You didn’t miss much. The Lego Movie is well worth it, just be prepared for randomness!
April: Indeed. Maggie Smith made Quartet bearable and helped Second Marigold. True, more of the same type of films would help because we do have actors who could play the same sorts of parts.
Laurie: Hope you enjoyed it! Yes, Carol was just so well done overall. I’ve not heard of Clouds; I’ll have a look; interesting cast. I haven’t seen a Hepburn since I was a child (I therefore consider myself not to have seen any because I didn’t get on with old films).
Jessica: I’d like to see someone else take it on in a few years. Not likely, but the two adaptations I’ve seen now, neither have ‘got’ it.
6 Comments
Comments closed
January 6, 2017, 1:22 am
Bishop’s Wife sounds fun! I am not the biggest fan of Cary Grant (blasphemy I know) but he was in a lot of really charming movies. I agree with you about Into the Woods being kind of a non-event, though I will say for it that it cemented my tremendous affection for Emily Blunt. She’s so pretty and great and talented.