With a superb cast, it manages to engage and entertain while never being less than preposterous.

FF=1

Pretty much the non-stop action it promised.  Good stunts.  Nifty cameos.  And everyone looked like they were having a good time.  I did as well.

FF=1

A very dark, very bloody Australian film. I like revenge flicks – a lot – but somehow the precipitating event didn’t lend the avenger the moral weight needed to justify the carnage he inflicted. (Am I making any sense?) Until the final sequence, of course. Nothing too bad could happen to those guys.

FF=1

Rented on Sarah Pinborough’s recommendation, this British indie film won some awards, I think.  An odd story with the oddest casting but engaging as all hell. And even if it weren’t, I could stare at Tuppence Middleton’s angelic face all day.

FF=1

I watched this in the midst of a thunder/lightning/ice storm. You know, much as I love the original (“Let the Right One In”), this might be better. Obliquity is good, but somehow, the more explicit scenes here lent Owen’s decision to go with Abby much more impact. And Chloe Moretz…well, she’s just plain amazing.

FF=1

What a pleasant surprise. I didn’t FF this once. Supposedly based on a true incident, it shows how a single error in judgment can set a disastrous scenario into motion. And of course that’s compounded by subsequent errors. No villainy behind it, just incompetence. And sometimes that’s worse. Denzel Washington showcases his chops in an understated performance as a laid-back, affable engineer who steps up when the situation calls for heroic action. See this. Really.

FF=0

I was intrigued by the trailer on the disc for another film, so I rented this and am I glad. Tons o’ fun. The cast (Bill Nighy, Emily Blunt and Rupert Grint) is perfect. I love a good farce and Brits do the best.

FF=0

A gritty, violent film with a nice little twist at the end that I didn’t see coming but made perfect sense. Hard to believe it was directed by the same guy who did “The A-Team” movie.

FF=1

What a nice surprise. I figured since I knew the outcome, it would be a snoozer. Not so. The owners quite literally bet the farm to keep that horse. Horse people say that race horses have “competitive hearts” and want to win. I’ve always said Bullshit to that. But I’d forgotten what Secretariat did at Belmont, a track longer than any he had ever raced.

FF=0

A prize-winning Australian film with an excellent trailer, good reviews but… meh. The psycho uncle was really creepy, but I thought the pacing was off. It was the orphaned teen’s story but he was so underplayed I couldn’t get into him or care much what happened to him. Supposedly leaves you “stunned.” I wish.

FF=2