Benjamin Judge's judgements

From here on in, everything is something that I enjoyed or is flawed but with enough good stuff to be worth seeing. We aren’t up to the classics or anything. We are still damning with faint praise, I suppose, but I don’t regret seeing any of these films

150: Becoming Led Zepplin

This is a pretty straight early history of the band but the scene where they had been booked for a totally unsuitable gig, rocking out to an audience of bored parents and bemused children covering their ears is absolute gold.

149: Predator: Killer of Killers

Not perfect, but a quite interesting way to broaden the Predator lore, pitting a Predator against warriors from various periods in earth’s history and then taking them to the Predator home planet to meet/fight the other Predators, all Predator-y. I wasn’t sure the anthology structure was working, but then it did, so that shows what I know.

148: A Big Bold Beautiful Journey

This started so well. The Phoebe Waller-Bridge scene with the car rental service in the empty warehouse is great. But that slightly off-kilter mood is lost, or drifts away as the film goes on, the delightful awkwardness replaced with a love story of two people who are clearly not right for each other. Like the last episode of Friends, your overriding thought is, divorced in three years.

147: On Falling

Laura Carreira gives a brilliant performance as a Portuguese migrant working in a Scottish warehouse struggling to scrape any real life out of her existence. The scene where she interviews for a different job is heartbreaking.

The warehouse itself though, makes no sense. Just random items scattered on shelving. Books next to hairdryers next to egg cups next to tyre irons. To someone who has worked in logistics it looked like a shitshow. It shouldn’t have been distracting but it was.

146: The Roses

A comedy that tries not to, but does, mine domestic abuse for humour. Not quite as bad as that sounds, but not great either. Solid performances all round though.

145: Playdate

OK, so this Kevin James comedy is objectively not great but I have to say, I quite enjoyed a lot of it. He works well as a straight man for both Isla Fisher and Alan Ritchson (Reacher).

144: A Working Man

It doesn’t matter how many below-par action films he churns out, I’ll stick with Jason Statham because when he picks the right project (Snatch, The Transporter, Spy, about half of Crank, his Fast and Furious stuff) he is brilliant. This one… I’ll admit… not so much. Any Statham port in a Statham storm though, or something.

143: Nobody 2

As with the John Wick films, the first Nobody gave you everything you really needed. As soon as you start adding lore to these films they buckle under the weight of it. We just want to see a man get revenge on the guy who shot his dog or get a Hello Kitty bracelet back. We don’t care what happened in the past. We don’t care about the complicated drug operations of warlords. One person punching lots of people: that’s the secret sauce.

Anyway, while not a patch on the original, and with nothing to match the action of the bus scene or the humour of the scene in the tattoo parlour, this was ok. Sharon Stone was a fun addition to the cast.

142: Regretting You

The sort of film that gets a 28% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and an 85% audience score (scores correct at time of publication). Honestly, I can see the validity of both arguments.

Sure, it’s guff, but it knows it is so, you know, shut up. Leave it alone. Eat your popcorn. We watched it in the Everyman in Newcastle where a group of teenage girls, possibly on their first big night out together, bought everything on the menu. That is what films like Regretting You are for; couples and families and teenagers having a good night out. No apologies.

141: The Naked Gun

Mostly not great but with one or two very funny bits and some decent running gags.

140: Novocaine

The idea of a man who can’t feel pain accidentally becoming an action hero arguably makes a better trailer than a movie but this was ok.

139: Nonnas

Netflix movie about a man opening a restaurant staffed by grandmas. Based on true story. A great advert for human kindness and good food and, I suppose, the actual restaurant the story is based on.

138: Back in Action

The return of Cameron Diaz after eleven years is to be celebrated. Even if the film itself isn’t exactly a career high. She’s great in it, as is Jamie Foxx. It has a lot better script than a lot of Netflix’s straight-to-streaming action films. Some funny lines. The ending sets up a sequel that I will watch if they make.

137: Kontrabida Academy

Eugene Domingo and Barbie Forteza are both great in this very silly Filipino Netflix meta-comedy about a villain school in another dimension that makes tv for a streaming service a bit like Netflix. It kind of runs out of steam in the last twenty minutes but it deserves more attention than it has got so far (2 reviews and less than 50 ratings on Rotten Tomatoes). The idea that this deserves your attention less than Is It Cake? is ridiculous. I mean, it’s either cake or it isn’t. Who gives a fuck?

136: Our Times

Another Netflix film. This time a Mexican time-travel-comedy-drama about gender discrimination in the work place.

135: The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Classy, but I didn’t love it as much as everyone else did.

134: Homebound

This is the sort of Indian film that the Guardian loves. Lots of social realism, no songs and nearly everyone dies. They had it at 46 on their list. Set during covid. Worth a watch if you like a bit of misery.

133: Bugonia

It’s very rare that a Hollywood remake of a film from another country lives up to the original and this version of the Korean film, Save the Green Planet, suffers from the same problems of having smoother edges and making safer choices that most of them do. Some great visuals though. 

132: Eenie Meanie

Mostly a by-the-numbers post-Tarantino caper but with a good cast and a lot of heart. The car chases are good. Samara Wearing makes a convincing getaway driver, taking the rare decision in Hollywood movies of regularly checking her mirrors.

131: Devo

Documentary about Devo. Good footage. Good interviews. Great songs.

130: Jay Kelly

Classy if somewhat lightweight examination of a man who put his career before his family. The conclusion seems to be he was right because look at all those films he made. Not sure I agree with that.

129: Restless

Imagine an arthouse Channel 5’s Neighbours from Hell: The Movie. The story is perhaps a bit too neat but the direction and performances are really good.

128: The Lost Bus

A bit of a mixed bag. The action scenes look fantastic but the family drama stuff didn’t work quite as well for me. Good though. Worth a watch.

127: Elio

I was a bit underwhelmed by Elio but I really liked how they fitted so many horror tropes into a film for very young children. You’d get an excellent Film Studies dissertation out of it.

126: John Candy: I Like Me

An easy going look at a legend. Seeing Candy perform is always a treat. Always. And I say that as one of the very few people who saw Wagons East at the cinema.