4 weeks of a*lists, but not 16 movies

Remember, AMC now allows me to have up to four movies per weeks as my A*List allowance.

I don't hit that maximum very often, for one reason or another.

Honestly, I think it's due to a habit of having three as the max for five years, so I don't think about adding that extra one.

That's okay, I'm still getting a great deal for my $28 monthly dues!

 

For my first week of September, I had a double feature of "The Dog Stars" and "Idiots", which gave me one beautiful movie and one not so good.

"The Dog Stars" was a post-apocalyptic scifi with stunning cinematography, as much of it consisted of a guy (Jake Elordi) and his dog flying in the mountains - seriously gorgeous!

It had a solid story, too, with a strong cast that included Josh Brolin, Margaret Qualley, and Guy Pearce.

Given the chance, I'll gladly see this again.

Not so for the poorly executed "Idiots", which was a shame. 

I kept watching, hoping for better from this road trip movie in which Dave Franco and O'Shea Jackson, Jr., have to get Mason Thames to a halfway house.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, that never happened.

Such a waste of time and talent.

That's why I chose "Coyote Vs. Acme", as I'd already seen it and knew it was a solid hit out of the park. 

Week 2 found me with only 2 movies under my belt after 7 days.

Those were a double header, with both being intense with lots of fighting.

"Onslaught" may have been my favorite of the two, though, as it featured two military veterans (Adria Arjona and Reginald VelJohnson) saving the day when Dan Stevens' psycho borgs escape and threaten their trailer park.

Nice to see the "Die Hard" cop in this new scifi!

"By Any Means" was actually based on real events in Mississippi, back in 1966, when, for that second time that decade, a mobster hitman (Mark Wahlberg) gets sent in to force Klansmen to reveal the assassins in a case involving vote tampering.

On to week 3, when I thought I might go for 4 slots filled on my AMC A*List dance card, but ended up with only three, of which only one was new.

That would be "Practical Magic 2", seen after rewatching "Practical Magic", though it turned out the new one stands on its own merits.

Great to see Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing again on a Tina Tuesday!

They're 78 and 82 years old, respectively.

Given that it's been 28 years since the first movie, it's marvelous they were still alive to reprise their roles as the elderly aunts!

It's a shame that Aidan Quinn wasn't carried over as Sandra Bullock's husband, but then again, those Owens women's husbands die from the curse.

That's okay, Lee Pace is the new heart throb, and he has incredible smoky eyes, like those of Nicolas Cage, so he was a welcome addition - RAWR!!!

I didn't recognize him from "Guardians Of The Galaxy", but that's due to the makeup used to transform him into 'Ronan', which disguised those eyes. 

Glad I was able to see this before the "Movies With Grownups" event!

The other two movies - "Coyote Vs. Acme" and "The Odyssey" - were seen the next day as a double feature, as both were on their way out of town.

I just wanted to make sure AMC knew I liked those!!

 

That brings me to this past week, with me again seeing three movies.

The new Ethan Hawke movie, "The Weight", was set in the 1930's during the Great Depression, with him as a man imprisoned for being at the wrong place at the wrong time, losing his daughter in the process.

He joins a road crew run by Russell Crowe, who figures he's found the man to lead his gold-stealing group.

Really good thriller!

Then, today, I finished with a double header, catching "Heart Of The Beast" and "The Stunt Driver" before their time was up at AMC.

Surprisingly, "The Stunt Driver", a new based on real life film about Canadian daredevil Ken Carter, seemed very familiar to me, especially the parts dealing with the 90-foot ramp that was going to let him jump the Saint-Laurent River.

I have to wonder if maybe I had the pleasure of seeing "The Devil At Your Heels", the 1981 documentary about that daring stunt, at one of Jim Reed's Psychotronic Film nights.

This new one was billed as a 'historical comedy', but it was pretty serious. 

"Heart Of The Beast" would have been lovely to have paired with "The Dog Stars", as it again featured a lot of screen time between a man and his dog, though this one starred Brad Pitt as the retired combat veteran with his bomb-sniffing buddy.

Both of those were set in mountains, too.

Maybe I'll have the chance to pair them in the future, when Peacock or some other streaming service makes them available to me.

(smile!)