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wackojackosessentialviewing

Or Ramblings On Cinema By A Peculiar Individual

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  • I’m Thinking Of Ending Things: Netflix’s spooky & cerebral wtf-fest
  • Tenet: Nolan’s most ambitious and nutty epic yet
  • Sputnik: Political corruption and violent aliens in 1980s Russia
  • Unhinged: It’s a B-Movie ‘Duel’ on amphetamines
  • Waiting For The Barbarians: Imperialist with a conscience vs. evil Johnny Depp
  • The Silencing: Kingslayer can’t save weird and lethargic backwoods thriller
  • The Rental: Voyeurism thriller is no masterpiece, but it definitely has chops
  • Palm Springs: Warm & fuzzy, super-smart, batshit time loop romance.
  • The Old Guard: Highlander meets John Wick in mad new Netflix romp
  • The Outpost: Scott Eastwood leads the charge in super-compelling war drama
  • Eurovision Song Contest: The Story Of Fire Saga: Why make a great satire when cheap laughs do the trick?
  • Force Of Nature: Bizarre film centred around hurricanes, armed robbery & a deranged Mel Gibson
  • Da 5 Bloods: Spike Lee is truly back in the saddle
  • Becky: The most annoying film of the year
  • The Vast Of Night: Spooky sci-fi mystery mostly gets it right
  • Survive The Night: Breaking into your own house would be more fun than dull home invasion thriller
  • Capone: Tom Hardy mobster biopic is just…weird.
  • Valley Girl: Want a cure for your enjoyment of life? Watch this film
  • Cuck: Millennial Taxi Driver clone is the best unintentional comedy in years
  • Extraction: Video game energy and great performances make first-rate popcorn
  • Fantasy Island: Hilariously awful reboot is a puzzle for all the wrong reasons
  • The Invisible Man: One hour of solid writing and terror, the rest? Nonsense
  • Bloodshot: 1hr 49 mins of dogshit
  • Vivarium: Insanely creepy new suburban horror is timely to a disturbing degree
  • The Hunt: Dreadful new Trump-era satire misses every mark
  • Calm With Horses: Very brutal, very poignant and very Irish crime drama
  • Escape From Pretoria: Radcliffe prison thriller is solid, if somewhat by-the-numbers
  • Superman: Red Son: Finally, one of the more interesting comic narratives comes to the screen
  • The Call Of The Wild: The Ballad Of Harrison Ford & The Paycheck Film
  • Dolittle: No
  • Parasite: Funny, emotive and disturbing satire dissects class in a manner unrivalled
  • Waves: Extremely moving and suspenseful drama is surely this year’s biggest Oscar snub
  • Queen & Slim: 70s-style road movie + topical social commentary = tender, offbeat magic
  • Cats: It isn’t ‘Meow-vellous’. It’s horrendous shite
  • Uncut Gems: Adam Sandler masterpiece is bad news for viewers with high blood pressure
  • Jumanji: The Next Level: Funny, sweet, clever, nuttier than squirrel turds
  • The Lighthouse: Wacky Wanking Wickies Of New England
  • The Rise Of Skywalker: Thoroughly enjoyable bit of nonsense
  • Blue Story: Well-crafted and painful tale about the pointlessness of gang violence
  • Knives Out: Wry Agatha Christie pastiche delivers tenfold
  • The Irishman: Scorcese’s powerful love letter to several wonderful careers
  • Judy & Punch: Weird 17th century comedy-thriller punches above its weight
  • Gemini Man: Will Smith must be stopped
  • Luce: Unsettling new race-relations drama is sure to inspire blunt debate
  • Doctor Sleep: The oddball sequel to Kubrick’s classic
  • Dark Fate: An ambitious sequel that just about cuts it.

Social Navigation

  • Killer Joe (2011): The black comedy that proved what McConaughey was made of
  • Hyena (2014): Why the dearth of British corrupt cop movies?
  • Baskin (2015): The Turkish horror masterpiece you need to see
  • Sweet Sixteen (2002): Painfully coming of age in Scottish gangland
  • State Of Grace (1990): Scuzzy Irish hoodlums duke it out in Hell’s Kitchen
  • Duel (1971): Almost 50 years later, still one of the scariest movies ever made
  • The Firm (1989): Master portrait of the mind of a football hooligan
  • Mr In-Between (2001): Bizarre hitman drama takes a grim view of love & loyalty
  • See The Sea (1997): The terrifying Neo-Hitchcock you don’t know about
  • Cold In July (2014): The 21st Century’s most underrated 80s throwback?
  • Penda’s Fen (1974): You’ll never see British society dissected quite like this
  • Judgment Night (1993): A woefully underrated slice of popcorn absurdity
  • Top 10 Real-Life Psychos Who Need A Biopic
  • My Dinner With Andre (1981): The most moving film I’ve ever seen
  • Made In Britain (1982): The angriest young man ever shat out of Old Blighty
  • Cutter’s Way (1981): The most original murder mystery/social critique you’ll ever see
  • In Broad Daylight: The crazy case of a small-town tyrant’s unsolved murder
  • U Turn (1997): Sean Penn’s wild weekend with the weirdos
  • The Missouri Breaks (1976): Brando & Nicholson’s bizarre Western epic
  • The Internecine Project (1974): Quietly disturbing espionage thriller is a knockout
  • Red White & Blue (2010): The most f***ed-up abduction-and-revenge movie ever
  • You Were Never Really Here (2017): Joaquin Phoenix’s greatest performance
  • Deep Cover (1992): The best cop movie you never saw
  • Something Wild (1986): Quirky romance, cross-country crime & violent psychopaths
  • Pieta (2012): Devastating oedipal gangster masterpiece
  • The Sting (1973): The most charming, thrilling and intelligent buddy film in history
  • The Seven-Five (2014): Stylish, funny and terrifying documentary about N.Y.C’s ‘most corrupt cop ever’
  • Dogman (2018): Mutts, Maniacs & Mayhem All’Italiana
  • A Woman Under The Influence (1974): The most important film about marriage ever made
  • Scars (2006): Astonishing Jason Isaacs docudrama captivates and nauseates
  • Top 10 Crappy Films That I Still Kinda Like, Sort Of
  • The Boys (1998): Terrifying tale of working-class ex-con and his brothers
  • Southern Comfort (1981): My favourite war film of all time
  • Blue Collar (1978): The greatest film ever made about fighting the system
  • Rise Of The Footsoldier franchise: Please, stop making these pieces of dogshit
  • Black Mass (2015): Johnny Depp acts bollocks off in surprisingly excellent mob saga
  • Sea Of Love (1989): Al Pacino’s Brilliant & Bizarre Romantic Adventure
  • This Is Not A Love Song (2002): Bleak chase thriller significantly blurs moral lines
  • Straight Time (1978): Dustin Hoffman struggles to conform in unsung character masterpiece
  • Walking Too Fast: The Lives Of Others meets Taxi Driver in the best film you’ve never seen
  • Top Ten Scumbags In Film: Part 2
  • Top Ten Scumbags In Film: Part 1
  • A Prophet (2009): France’s bitter antidote to Shawshank
  • Nightcrawler (2014): The hero we needed and deserved.
  • At Close Range: Disturbing 80’s gem that needs more love
  • Top 10 Reels For Those Halloween Feels
  • Falling Down, nearly 30 years later: Does it still have anything to say?
  • Joker: Super stuff, but a game changer? Not especially
  • 2014’s Spring and the undervalued Romantic Horror sub-genre
  • Bad Timing & Simon Killer: Knackered Yank Sociopaths Abroad
  • INTERNAL AFFAIRS (1990)
  • HATED: GG ALLIN & THE MURDER JUNKIES (1993)
  • WHIPLASH (2014)
  • OUT OF THE FURNACE (2014)
  • BLUE VELVET (1986)
  • A Reintroduction – The Wire (2002 – 2008) Because why not shows as well?
  • ONE FALSE MOVE (1992) – Underrated film of the week
  • RISE OF THE FOOTSOLDIER (2007)
  • TAXI DRIVER (1976)
  • STORMY MONDAY (1988)
  • NEAR DARK (1987)
  • TRUE ROMANCE (1993)
  • THINGS TO DO IN DENVER WHEN YOU’RE DEAD (1995)
  • PRIME CUT (1972)
  • THIEF (1981)

Son: Ambitious chiller is both opaquely written and reveals too much

Do you know what always proves to be a cinematic tractor beam for me? Movies about cults. Whether it’s a … Continue reading Son: Ambitious chiller is both opaquely written and reveals too much

Cape Fear (1991): My scariest non-horror film of all time

At the risk of opening with a wildly overused rhetorical question, what’s the deal with the career trajectory of Robert … Continue reading Cape Fear (1991): My scariest non-horror film of all time

I Care A Lot: Intriguing thriller starts strong but falls on its arse

Rosamund Pike is a natural when it comes to being terrifying. I certainly give commendation to her range, given her … Continue reading I Care A Lot: Intriguing thriller starts strong but falls on its arse

Good Time (2017): A mad and scuzzy night-time odyssey

I often encounter people who appear to have a strangely hostile resistance to the fact that Robert Pattinson has considerably … Continue reading Good Time (2017): A mad and scuzzy night-time odyssey

Willy’s Wonderland: So bonkers that only Cage could do it

As soon as the credits started rolling at the end of Willy’s Wonderland, I made a somewhat predictable move by … Continue reading Willy’s Wonderland: So bonkers that only Cage could do it

The Duellists (1977): A thrilling tale of honour and obsession

While he may not have exclusively knocked it out of the park in every instance, the name of legendary director … Continue reading The Duellists (1977): A thrilling tale of honour and obsession

Hostiles: Makeshift families in a violent wilderness

I’m not entirely sure why I missed the boat on Hostiles the first time around. It’s strange, considering that director … Continue reading Hostiles: Makeshift families in a violent wilderness

Naked (1993): A thoroughly nasty dose of existentialism

Mike Leigh, alongside Alan Clarke and Ken Loach, is one of the veritable titans of social realism in British cinema, … Continue reading Naked (1993): A thoroughly nasty dose of existentialism

The Little Things: They certainly don’t add up to much

Ahh, the serial killer movie. Whether it’s the sombre and protracted threat of mystery thriller-cum-character studies like Se7en and Memories … Continue reading The Little Things: They certainly don’t add up to much

Scum (1979): The angriest indictment of a broken system

I’ve always been a huge fan of Ray Winstone. There’s arguably a familial component to it as I hail from … Continue reading Scum (1979): The angriest indictment of a broken system

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