First-Time Viewings: September, 2011

I plowed through a number of films in September as late Summer and early Fall battled each other outside my window (I am happy to report that as of today Fall has won). Of the 2011 films I caught up with the best was easily Drive, which I posted on here. I also greatly loved The Ward, Contagion and Moneyball. The biggest surprise among the new batch of films I watched was Blitz, a terrific Jason Statham British thriller that barely got a theatrical release here. The worst of the 2011 bunch was easily the extremely disappointing Cowboys and Aliens and I had a lot of problems with the could have been great Skateland as well as the Straw Dogs remake, a needless retread that removed nearly all the subtext that made the original so great.


Among the pre-2011 films I watched for the first time, my favorites were Joe Sarno's Confessions of a Young American Housewife, the chilling late sixties British work Girly, the stand-up John Waters vehicle This Filthy World, the undervalued Keira Knightley film Last Night, Bill Maher's incredible Religulous, Stephen Frear's masterful The Hit, Tim Roth's brutal The War Zone, the French fact-based chiller Them, and the Tom Hardy British crime mini-series The Take.


I watched a number of less than great films as well with the worst of the bunch being Assault Girls, LD 50 Lethal Dose, Pussycat, Pussycat I Love You (a terrible sequel to one of my favorite films), Satan's Blade, Son of Sam (what has happened to Ulli Lommel?) and the cult-favorite The Boondock Saints, a film I hope I never have to watch a frame of again.

Here are the complete lists for those interested and, as always, consider anything with a three-star rating or more as recommended.

Pre 2011 Films:

And Soon the Darkness (2010) **
Assault Girls *
Black Belt Jones ***1/2
Blood Mania ***1/2
Confessions of a Young American Housewife ****
Demented **
Devil **1/2
Five on the Black Hand Side ***
Gamer *1/2
Girly ****
Hell on the Beach ***
John Waters: This Filthy World *****
Last Night ****
LD 50 Lethal Dose *
Murder Loves Killers Too **1/2
Naked Ambition ***
Nightmare in Wax **
Pussycat, Pussycat I Love You *
Religulous ****1/2
Rubber **
Satan's Blade 1/2*
Skateland **1/2
Sl8n8 (Slaughter Night) **1/2
Son of Sam *
Still Waiting **
The Boondock Saints *
The Dumb Waiter ****
The Hit ****1/2
The Messengers ***
The Plumber ***
The Take ****1/2
The War Zone ****1/2
Them ****
Three and Out ***1/2
Vampire Circus ****
Wicked, Wicked **1/2

2011 Films:

2011 Films:

Blitz ****
Contagion ****
Cowboys and Aliens *
Drive *****
Jane Eyre ***
Moneyball ****1/2
Skateland **1/2
Straw Dogs **1/2
The Ward ****
Warrior ***1/2