Steve’s Selections #15 – Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)

First things first, this is a few days late.  Steve Honeywell at 1001plus and I plan to post our monthly reviews of the films each of us gave the other on the second Monday of the Month.  This time I gave Steve a heads up that health would prevent me from being able to do so on schedule this month.  I have since watched the movie Exit Through the Gift Shop and I liked it.  The big question surrounding this documentary is whether it is a hoax or not.  I have no firm opinion one way of the other, but I will submit that in the end, it actually doesn’t matter.

February Movie Status

In the month of February I saw 7 new films, plus I re-watched 2 more.

This is even fewer than last month and the reason is the same – I just haven’t been in much of a movie watching mood.  I don’t know why.  I made myself watch two of the three DVDs I’ve had from Netflix for more than a month.  I’ve been doing some reading instead.

In February I did finish off the last of the Oscar Best Picture nominees for 2016 – making me as complete as I can be on all nominees again, but I didn’t watch any of the 14 additions to the IMDB list.  February also saw a new They Shoot Pictures Don’t They list being issued.  The result of the re-ranking done for 2016 is that I now have 16 films to watch to once again be complete on that, too.

I will probably plug away at these 30 films over the next few months rather than try to just get them all out of the way as quickly as possible.

Here are the 9 films I saw in February.  Ones I would recommend (give at least a three star rating to) are highlighted.  

Oscar (3): Room (2015), Bridge of Spies (2015), Brooklyn (2015)

101 Genre (2): Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), The Wiz (1978)

Other (2): Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015), Crazy Horse (2011)

Re-watches (1): Hollywood Shuffle (1987), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Hollywood Shuffle (1987) – I re-watched this film and reviewed it for an “Acting Black” blogathon.  You can read my review here.   3 Stars

Room (2015) – I reviewed this Best Picture nominee here.   3 Stars

Bridge of Spies (2015) – I reviewed this Best Picture nominee here.   4 Stars

Brooklyn (2015) – I watched this Best Picture nominee, but did not write a review because it was not quite good enough for me to recommend.  Oh, it's not a bad movie, but ultimately there's not much depth to it or the characters.  A young Irish woman with a crappy life moves to the U.S., is homesick, makes friends, takes classes, aces her bookkeeping certification, meets a great guy, falls in love, and is very happy. Of course, if you know anything about movies you know the happiness won't last for two major reasons: 1. the movie's only halfway through; and 2. critics like the movie.   2.5 Stars

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) – I re-watched this Best Picture nominee.  You can read my review of it here.   4 Stars

Oh! What a Lovely War (1969) – This is a different kind of film. It's one part anti-war drama, one part musical, one part satire, and one part theatrical allegory. A whole host of familiar faces cameo in a retelling of how WWI started and its impact on one fictional British family.   3.5 Stars

Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015) – It doesn't start out that well, but after 30 minutes or so it improves. Aardman has done better than this, both with this character and with others, but there are still some smiles to be had. Just don't expect A Close Shave.   3 Stars

The Wiz (1978) – There are parts of this that are quite good (i.e. Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow breaking into Ease on Down the Road for the first time), but there are also parts that are just terrible (i.e. trashcans with fangs, many of the bland songs early in the film).  I do admit that it grew on me as it got towards the end, but not enough that I could recommend this.   2.5 Stars

Crazy Horse (2011) – Director Wiseman has been making documentaries since the 1960s. I guess it takes that much experience to film the most famous nude revue show in the world (Paris' Crazy Horse) and somehow make it a little boring.   2.5 Stars