if you lose, there won't be a return match next year... perhaps not even for a hundred years

Average rating: 8     (Note, I did not include the third entry because its ranking is meaningless.)

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) - "General Candy (Roger Livesey), who's overseeing an English squad in 1943, is a veteran leader who doesn't have the respect of the men he's training and is considered out-of-touch with what's needed to win the war. But it wasn't always this way. Flashing back to his early career in the Boer War and World War I, we see a dashing young officer whose life has been shaped by three different women (each was played by Deborah Kerr), and by a lasting friendship with a German soldier (Anton Walbrook)."
length: 2 hours, 43 minutes

source: I borrowed the DVD from the public library
I watched it because: this has been called the best (and most) British film ever made, and I was curious to know what that means
IMDB: 8.0/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 97% Audience: 90%
my IMDB: 9/10

MPAA rating: Approved

notable quote: "'Well, sir ... I have a friend.'

    'Good. Not everybody can say that. Continue!'"

directed by: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger

my notes: brilliant, long, weird, very funny, very sad, sweet, bizarre, and satisfying. I loved all the leads, particularly the fantastically talented Walbrook.

    Roger Ebert's review is here, with which I agree wholeheartedly.

overall: very highly recommended

 

The Most Dangerous Game (1932) - "When legendary hunter Bob Rainsford (Joel McCrea) is shipwrecked on the perilous reefs surrounding a mysterious island, he finds himself the guest of the reclusive and eccentric Count Zaroff (Leslie Banks). While he is very gracious at first, Zaroff eventually forces Rainsford and two other shipwreck survivors, brother and sister Eve (Fay Wray) and Martin Towbridge (Robert Armstrong), to participate in a sadistic game of cat and mouse in which they are the prey and he is the hunter."
length: 63 minutes

source: I borrowed the DVD through the public library
I watched it because: ... Joel McCrea
IMDB: 7.1/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 100% Audience: 73%
my IMDB: 6/10

MPAA rating: Approved

notable quote: "Kill! Then love. When you have known that, you will have known ecstasy!"

directed by: Irving Pichel, Ernest B. Schoedsack

my notes: almost hysterically funny, almost legitimately scary, and almost believable. McCrea is credible as the adventurer Rainsford. Fay Wray has two settings: seduce and shriek. The propsmaster for the film—Set Decorator Thomas Little—deserves the most credit, though. Without his disgustingly realistic dressing, this film would not be scary at all. As it is, I almost had nightmares.

overall: recommended for early horror fans, and the curious

Following (1998) - "Lacking prospects, a writer (Jeremy Theobald) begins tailing strangers, until he encounters a voyeuristic thief (Alex Haw)."
length: 1 hour, 9 minutes

source: I borrowed the DVD through the public library
I watched it because: it's in the Criterion Collection, and I've liked some of Christopher Nolan's films before
IMDB: 7.4/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 83% Audience: 85%
my IMDB: 1/10 DNF

MPAA rating: R

directed by: Christopher Nolan

my notes: 25 minutes into this 69-minute film, I realized that I couldn't tell what was happening, and was confused about where it was going. I thought about just starting it over . . . but popped it out and put it in the Returns pile. I just don't care where it was going, why it was made, and how f-ing brilliant and innovative it's supposed to be. Does cinematic brilliance need to be incomprehensible and pretentious?

overall: not  recommended

The Other Side of Hope (2017) - "As Khaled, a young Syrian mechanic who has escaped Aleppo's living nightmare, finds his way into Helsinki by accidentally stowing himself away on a coal freighter, on the other side of town, joyless traveling salesman Wikström experiences a profound mid-life crisis. Under those circumstances, Khaled and Wikström, who are desperately looking for a fresh start, eventually cross paths when the latter, after an endless night of high-stakes poker, buys himself a decrepit restaurant and offers Khaled not only shelter but also work. In the end, whether the Syrian refugee has a future in the Finnish capital is unknown, but what is undisputed is that he will find an eccentric but affectionate new family."
length: 1 hour, 40 minutes

source: I borrowed the DVD through the public library
I watched it because: I'd seen it before and loved it, and it sort of got under my skin. It would be good to see this one every year or so, for a dose of a unique entertainment experience.

    previously reviewed here
IMDB: 7.2/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 92% Audience: 76%
my IMDB: 9/10

MPAA rating: NR

notable quote: "Her name's Koistinen."

directed by: Aki Kaurismäki

my notes: weird, sad, meditative, very funny, joyful, inspiring, profound.... I saw some elements that I'd missed the first time, like song lyrics, the smoking, and some of the driest wit. It is frustrating that the subtitles don't extend to all of the dialog, but maybe that just focuses the viewer toward watching and listening for facial expression and inflection.

    the RogerEbert.com review is here, with which I agree (and which opened my eyes to a couple of things I'd missed before).

overall: highly recommended

 

[the title quotation is from The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp]