My Month in Movies: January 2021

Hey everybody, it’s a brand new column! In an attempt to force myself to at least publish some reviews once in a blue moon, I’ll now end each month with a recap of the flicks I saw in the preceding 30 days. Anyway, that’s the plan – and here’s the first one! Appropriately, it’s for January, the month that many call the first of the year…

Wow, I somehow watched 23 movies in January. That seems like a lot. Anyway, the featured photo above is in honor of my late father, who had a poster of Raquel Welch on the wall of his garage literally every day I knew him.

Best of the Bunch:
The Last of Sheila (1973) I had never even heard of this early-70s whodunit until the esteemed Michael McKean tweeted out his recommendation prior to its airing on TCM this month. But what a fun flick! It’s a star-studded parlor mystery, with James Coburn playing a ultra-wealthy Hollywood tycoon who invites a group of friends for a week-long yachting excursion in some exotic European locales. It seems he has an ulterior motive, though: to actually find out which of his invitees was responsible for the hit-and-run death of his wife Sheila at a party the year before. Written by the unlikely duo of Anthony Perkins and Stephen Sondheim, the script is one of the best Agatha Christie-type mysteries outside of her actual writing (Rian Johnson’s recent Knives Out is high on that list, too). I don’t want to give too much away, since most of the fun of the flick is trying to figure out what’s really going on between these show business “friends.” The cast is great, led by Dyan Cannon as a party-girl agent, James Mason as a down-on-his-luck director, and Coburn as the blustering leader of the pack. There’s hardly a misplaced note throughout, although it was with a certain amount of dissonance that I watched Raquel Welch tell Richard Benjamin how irresistibly attractive he is… Anyway, The Last of Sheila is entertaining from start to finish, with several twists that I truly did not see coming.

A few other highlights and/or lowlights:

The Adventurers (2017) Gorgeous but derivative international heist flick with a mostly Chinese cast headed by the often-great Andy Lau, and Jean Reno as a French cop inexplicably after the crooks across all jurisdictions. An enjoyable enough waste of a couple hours, it’s the kind of flick where the thieves use $100 million worth of military and surveillance equipment to steal a $1 million necklace. Also, the character played by Qi Shu is named Red Bean, so that’s something.

The Take (aka Bastille Day) (2016) Moderately above-average thriller with Richard Madden as a Paris pickpocket who accidentally gets caught up in a bombing plot. Starts out as rote as can be, but the plot quickly evolves into a decently twisty ride that’s easy to get caught up in. Still larded up with plenty of cliches, though. “If you do this, you’re way off the reservation. You’re on your own” and “You and I aren’t so different” are actual lines in this film.

Foxy Brown (1974) Having just seen Cleopatra Jones kick ass and take names from start to finish of her starring vehicle, it was disheartening to rewatch Foxy Brown for the first time in ages and see Pam Grier go through such hell on her road to (brief) redemption. Her man is killed, she goes undercover as a prostitute, gets beaten, kidnapped, raped, drugged, whipped, and dragged across the dirt. Sigh. Really puts the “ploitation” in “blaxploitation.”

Groundhog Day (1993) It feels like I just watched this yesterday. “I always drink to world peace.”

Born to Kill (1947) Fantastic, pulpy noir with Lawrence Tierney in his best-ever performance as a violent pretty boy who charms a wealthy orphan – while carrying on an affair with her half-sister. This is a wild ride, and one of my favorite noir flicks. Tierney’s barely-contained violence puts every scene on edge, yet somehow Claire Trevor may be the more unhinged of the lovers in the end. Great stuff.

The Complete List for January (first-time viewings in bold)

Action Jackson (1988; Craig R. Baxley)
The Adventurers (2017; Stephen Fung)
Avengers: Endgame (2019; Joe & Anthony Russo)
Bølgen (aka The Wave) (2015; Roar Uthaug)
Born to Kill (1947; Robert Wise)
Dark of the Sun (1968; Jack Cardiff)
Farewell, My Lovely (1975, Dick Richards)
Foxy Brown (1974; Jack Hill)
The Glass Key (1942; Stuart Heisler)
Groundhog Day (1993, Harold Ramis)
In and Of Itself (2021; Frank Oz)
The Killers (1964: Don Siegel)
The Last of Sheila (1973; Herbert Ross)
Maigret Sets a Trap (1958; Jean Delannoy)
Mission Impossible IV: Ghost Protocol (2011; Brad Bird)
La polizia è sconfitta (aka Stunt Squad; Elimination Force) (1977, Domenico Paoletta)
Squadra antiscippo (aka The Cop in Blue Jeans) (1976; Bruno Corbucci)
The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry (1945; Robert Siodmak)
Sunset Boulevard (1950; Billy Wilder)
The Take (aka Bastille Day) (2016; James Watkins)
Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser (1988; Charlotte Zwerin)
War (2007; Philip Atwell)
Witness to Murder (1954; Roy Rowland)