who can I trust? ... It haunts you in moments of doubt. Sometimes when you wake up at night, you wonder if you've put your faith in the right people

I have, as mentioned in a previous post, decided to watch all the DVDs that I own. I have cooled it on the borrowed-from-the-parents selections for a while, as well as those on the various streaming options that I have (recently discovered to be four). The next few weeks' watching may prove to be even darker than usual.

Victoria & Abdul (2017) - "Queen Victoria strikes up an unlikely friendship with a young Indian clerk named Abdul Karim."
Source: I bought the DVD after a preview on something I watched on loan from the library.
I watched it because: the cover art made it appear to be rather lighthearted, which seemed appealing
IMDB: 6.8/10
Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 66% Audience: 68%
story: 4/10--this may have been based on a true story...ish..., but it is quite unbelievable. It is hard to imagine anyone feeling compelled to friendship with this twerpy guy, much less a formidable monarch with a legendary mind. Compare Mrs. Brown, which was engaging, heartfelt, and fully wrought.
visuals: 7.5/10--beautifully shot
costumes, hair & makeup: 5.5/10--some of the costuming was outstanding, but overall it was repetitive and uninspired. Hair and makeup were fairly mainstream except for Judi Dench, who somehow appeared to be Queen Victoria, with all her overwhelming gravitas.
acting: 5/10--none of it thrilled me
intangibles: 3.5/10--this could and should have been a fun movie. It was not.
Academy Award nominee:
• Best Makeup and Hairstyling
• Best Costume Design
overall: 5.1/10--yup, I get it. I should love this, because it is "intellectually stimulating" and "historically intriguing." Sorry, it was simply neither entertaining, nor fun.

Sea Wolf (2009) - "A young man is taken aboard a seal-hunting vessel helmed by the cruel captain Wolf Larsen."
Source: I bought the DVD during my Sebastian Koch phase, after the last time that I watched Black Book.
I watched it because: after the last thing, I was looking for a story with a rougher edge
IMDB: 6.4/10
Rotten Tomatoes: N/A
story: 6.5/10--it is based on the Jack London novel. Loosely based, though, given the somewhat unreal gaps in the story.
visuals: 6/10--the bits on land and within the ships are well done. Those shot at sea are somewhat less convincing.
costumes, hair & makeup: 5/10--not a wide variety of costumes or hairstyling, but the makeup is fairly skillful. In particular, Stephen Campbell Moore's progression from effete Humphrey Van Weyden to buff and assertive seaman "Hump" is nicely done.
acting: 3.5/10--this is not great stuff. It lapses into silliness, particularly the repetitive, ridiculous and inadvertent injuries to "Cookie" Mugridge (played by Julian Richings). Tobias Schenke is the best of the bunch as Leach, the prickly deckhand.
intangibles: 2/10--Koch has been wonderful in a couple of movies and sucked wind in a host of others. This one is a big disappointment. (And anyone who has ever had a headache would realize that he has not, given the unrealistic and doofy way that he portrays them.)
overall: 4.6/10

The Revenant (2015) - "A frontiersman on a fur trading expedition in the 1820s fights for survival after being mauled by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting team."
Source: DVD
I watched it because: it was one of three (equally) great options, and happened to be the one chosen by pure random luck
IMDB: 8.0/10
Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 78% Audience: 84%
story: 8.5/10--strength and revenge
visuals: 9/10--gorgeously shot. It must have been astounding on the big screen. Certainly worthy of an 80" TV.
costumes, hair & makeup: 9/10--outstanding! Leonardo DiCaprio (Hugh Glass) looked revolting through 99% of the movie; in only one scene, in fact, did he "look like Leo" (that was when he and Hikuc [Arthur RedCloud] laughed while trying to catch rain on their tongues). Tom Hardy is the same - I honestly did not realize that it was him until the final credits rolled. Great costuming, hair and makeup.
acting: 9.5/10--standouts: DiCaprio and Hardy were typically phenomenal. Domhnall Gleeson showed why he is a favorite of mine; he played Captain Andrew Henry, brave and over his head. Will Poulter's Jim Bridger was also memorable - conflicted, scared, and not yet a man.
intangibles: 7.5/10--this is a very gristly, vicious film. Not for the faint of heart, and not for dinner theater. (And there is some quibbling to be done about the extraordinary durability of DiCaprio's character....) But if you like a movie that will knock your visual socks right the F off, keep you up at night, and make you think about something greater than yourself, this is highly recommended.
Academy Award winner:
• Best Actor—DiCaprio
• Best Director—Alejandro González Iñárritu
• Best Cinematography
Academy Award nominee:
• Best Picture
• Best Supporting Actor—Hardy
• Best Film Editing
• Best Costume Design
• Best Makeup & Hairstyling
• Best Sound Mixing
• Best Sound Editing
• Best Visual Effects
• Best Production Design
overall: 8.7/10

Papillon (1973) - "A man befriends a fellow criminal as the two of them begin serving their sentence on a dreadful prison island, which inspires the man to plot his escape."
Source: I own the DVD (my dad gave it to me)
I watched it because: I was looking for something classic and on the shorter side. HA! Be warned, the original is 151 minutes long. (Some DVD cuts are closer to 2 hours.)
IMDB: 8.0/10
Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 81% Audience: 90%
story: 6/10--good stuff, but way overlong
visuals: 7.5/10
costumes, hair & makeup: 8/10--Steve McQueen's hair and makeup are particularly skillfully done
acting: 6/10
intangibles: 6.5/10
Academy Award nominee: Best Music, original dramatic score
overall: 6.8/10--this one is about friendship. Not fortitude or prison life or adventure of escape. Just the pure depth and meaning of friendship.

[the title quotation is by Jim Butcher, from Skin Game]