This post named in honour of the big winner at the BAFTAs, obviously. Of course, I haven’t seen it, so that’s where anything I have to say about it ends.
This month’s viewing towards my yearly challenge
#10 A Night at the Opera (1935) — Failures #2
#11 Fantasia (1940) — Series Progression #1
#12 Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) — Series Progression #2
#13 Tropical Malady (2004) — Blindspot #2
#14 Ace in the Hole (1951) — WDYMYHS #2
#15 The Sign of Four: Sherlock Holmes’ Greatest Case (1932) — Rewatch #2
#16 Die Hart (2023) — New Film #2
- I watched nine feature films I’d never seen before in February.
- That means I again failed to hit my minimum target of ten new films a month, for the third month in a row.
- Although, as I only watched eight last month, it also makes it the best month of 2023 so far.
- On the bright side, six of them counted towards my 100 Films in a Year Challenge, along with one rewatch, which leaves me bang on target.
- I also watched five short films, an uncommonly high number, so that’s something too.
- After accidentally forgetting the category last month, I quickly caught up on Series Progression, watching two qualifying films at the start of the month. But then I didn’t watch any more films from any ‘non-compulsory’ categories (i.e. the ones where I don’t need to watch a film every month), so swings and roundabouts.
- This month’s Blindspot film was Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Tropical Malady.
- This month’s WDYMYHS film was Billy Wilder’s Ace in the Hole.
- From last month’s “failures” I watched A Night at the Opera.
The 93rd Monthly Arbitrary Awards
Favourite Film of the Month
Not a bad bunch of films this month, but fairly easily the best of them was Billy Wilder’s satirical portrait of journalism — its cynicism so dark that it’s commonly labelled a film noir — Ace in the Hole.
Least Favourite Film of the Month
Not many outright bad films this month, so it’s easy to declare Die Hart the ‘winner’ here. I didn’t hate it, but it’s high on obvious gags and light on genuine laughs. On the bright side, it’s barely 80 minutes long.
The Audience Award for Most-Viewed New Post of the Month
My first review roundup of the year included three Oscar nominees and a then-recent new-ish release, so I guess it should be no surprise that Weeks 3–4 topped this list with ease.
Every review posted this month, including new titles and the Archive 5
It’s time for the Oscars. I’ve only seen two of this year’s Best Picture nominees so far, but hopefully I’ll catch some more before the ceremony. Whatever happens, there’s a greater-than-zero chance that March’s monthly review title will somehow reference the winner.
100Films.co.uk 
Yeah, Ace in the Hole is something special, isn’t it? There’s a definite case to be made for Billy Wilder to be the GOAT considering how many genuinely great films he made, and how they crossed so many genre. James Cameron’s filmography may gross more dollars but he’s a one-trick pony in comparison.
And you’re not alone, I haven’t seen All Quiet… either. Considering some of the tripe I’ve watched over the past few weeks, its really rather odd that a film so highly recommended has so far escaped me. I think I’ve been holding back for the right time (my excuse for not yet watching the 4K set of The Godfather films that I was given at Christmas).
Re: Die Hart, I saw that up on Netflix a few days back. I reacted badly to the ‘clever’ pun in the title. I suspected they came up with title, signed Hart, then thought “hey, we gotta think up a story…” so I didn’t bother watching it.
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I know Wilder does get mentioned in “greatest director of all time”-type conversations, but every time I watch one of his movies I feel like he doesn’t get mentioned enough. Of course, I suppose I’ve ended up cherrypicking his best work, but still, he was behind a fair few “all-time great”-level movies.
I think you’ve got the right idea about Die Hart. The premise seemed passable enough (comedy actor wants to become action star), but I’ve never particularly been a fan of Hart, and it was originally made as a series for Quibi — it needs a better pedigree than that to pull the idea off. Given the poor reviews, I probably would’ve skipped it… but it ticked a box for my challenge. I try to avoid watching films just to tick boxes nowadays, but sometimes ‘needs’ must.
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