Great cast, slooooow film. Could have been saved by a twist, but finished twistless. If you approach it as a mockumentary, it might be better.

FF=0 (because I didn’t want to miss the cool twist I was sure was coming)

Could be the best-paced action film I’ve ever seen. Don’t try to understand the plot – it serves only to marshal disparate groups of bad guys in pursuit of a little girl with an eidetic memory. It lets you catch your breath in just the right places, limits the obligatory car-chase scene to a (for me) manageable length, and, after allowing the hero to overcome unimaginable odds, handles the (also obligatory) final mano-a-mano between the arch rivals in a surprising, amusing, and fist-pumpingly wonderful way.

FF=0

The only Miyazaki I hadn’t seen all the way through (only bits and pieces here and there). Finally remedied that and was sorry I’d waited so long. What a wonderful, wonderful film, full of love and gentleness. It leaves you with this feeling of inner peace. I can’t give you a plot because there isn’t one. Usually I have no patience with a film like this, but its pastel landscapes and surreal images (I cherish the scene with Satsuki and Totoro standing at the rainy bus stop with their umbrellas) draw you in and hold you. I can’t see this film coming from any culture other than the Japanese. Really, if you haven’t seen it, do yourself a favor. Really.

FF=0

The 2nd half of the title should be “Hunter of Weird Creatures Who Call Themselves Vampires.” Goofy fun if you don’t ask for much in the way of plot coherence or realistic effects. Still, I was engaged enough to watch all the way through.

FF=1

A low-budget gem I really enjoyed. A flaky magazine reporter and a couple of interns investigate a classified ad seeking a companion for time travel. The title of the film is the last line of the ad. Engaging characters and plot, but maybe a little thin, even for its 84 minutes. It does meander some, but will leave you with a smile. Definitely worth a watch.

FF=0

I found it as goofy as its predecessors, but also strangely moving. Am I getting soft in the head or the heart?

FF=1

Finished season 1 and really liked it. 3-D characters, especially the ones in supporting roles. Loved the mid-1950s look of the production. Will watch season 2. I don’t take a lot of credit for sussing out the mole early on (the clues were there).

FF=0

I had no idea how raunchy this was, but that’s not what put me off. The beat-down on Gina Gershon was too much. (Granted, if she’d have been male, I would have said she deserved it, but this plus the sexual degradation was over the top.) The film is peopled with the dregs of white-trash America killing or making life miserable for each other.  No hope of redemption here.  You want to get power-washed after it’s over.

FF=4

Sorta kinda like Occupy Wall Street meets Batman?  A little more formulaic than its two predecessors, I thought, with no Heath Ledger to make things interesting.  I FF’d through the fight scenes knowing Batman would lose the first and eventually win the second.  I guess we’ll never know how he survived that neutron bomb.  I’m trying to care, really I am.

FF=2

I watched both the new Netflix version with Kevin Spacey and the 1990s BBC trilogy with Ian Richardson.  Similar but sufficiently different to avoid too much déjà vu.  Both versions break the 4^th wall.  At first I found this off-putting, but as time went on I realized how seductive it was.  Francis, the central character, is a heinous sociopath, but a charmer.  Talking to the viewer (and sharing smirks and eyerolls) allows him to exert that charm and make a sort of co-conspirator of the viewer.  It’s an effective conceit (and in my book Ian Richardson does the better job, but only by a hair).

FF=0