Movies I Watched - January 2026
Except for Unfaithfully Yours, these were all watched with the Super Saturday Movie Club on the purple OSR server, where we watch movies every Saturday morning.
January 10 - Double bill: Sorcerer (1977) & Unfaithfully Yours (1948)
Sorcerer has a very good, slow kind of action. These guys have to transport incredibly volatile nitro-glycerine through a dense rainforest in the bounciest trucks known to man. The stunt work was rock solid and had me wondering a lot how they pulled something like that in the late 70s. Reminded me of Jaws in some ways - it has that "big movie" feel, but it also packs people in a very specific location with a very specific, thrilling peril, and lets them figure it out. 9/10.
Later that day I watched Unfaithfully Yours, a screwball comedy about a maestro who thinks his wife is cheating on him. Deeply funny and zany, though I thought the structured jokes were funnier than the slapstick, which was served in spades in the back half. The sight gags were also out of control, every scene there was something funny happening in the background without the characters ever acknowledging it. And, like a lot of screwballs, it has a very cute, beating human heart at its centre that makes the comedy hit even harder. I wish they still made these! 8/10.
January 17 - Rewatch: Hero (2002)
Nathan says he dislikes Hero because it represents, to him, kung fu movies turning their eyes to the international crowd and diluting what made them so great in the first place. That is likely true, Hero is quite conventional, but as I don't have as much of an attachment to kung fu movies like that, it doesn't overpower the stunning colours, the subtle and heartfelt performances, and the beautifully choreographed fighting. It is, as of right now, my favourite kung fu movie not made by Jackie Chan - even above The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter and The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, which I'm sure exposes my rustic biases.
In criticism of Hero, however, I will say this: I liked it a little bit less this time around, and I have a sneaking suspicion that I'll like it a little bit less the next time I watch it, having watched more kung fu movies. 9/10.
January 24 - The Boxer's Omen (1983)
I was so excited for this one. If you look up images of it online, you'll be served these beautifully strange shots, filled with cool imagery and coloured lighting that looks like nothing else. And then you actually watch the movie and it ends up being what no kung fu movie should ever be: boring.
The pacing is all over the place, with plots being dropped as quickly as they are introduced; absurd amounts of time dedicated to the most mundane or disgusting gross-out scenes while dedicating no time to the actual martial arts (there's almost none of it in the movie). The soundscape is noisy, every single woman is male gazed, the characters don't have enough depth to serve as cardboard cutouts. And it hurts to see all those momentaneous glimpses of very cool imagery put in service of something this uninteresting. 2/10.
January 31 - The Cranes Are Flying (1957)
A young Soviet man goes off to fight in World War 2, leaving his soon-to-be wife and family back in Russia, as well as the camera, which follows them rather than him. By the time the credits were rolling I felt like my heart had been ripped from my chest. It is such a sober, human story of the infelicities of the war, but perhaps more importantly, it is told with titanic defteness. Every single shot is framed to perfection; there is no fancy or showy camera work, just pure care and thought put into every image. I think "care" is the keyword for this movie - despite being one about such deep seated tragedy (much recent at time of filming), the movie overflows with compassion. A Marian masterpiece, 10/10. Made me really enthused to watch I Am Cuba, by the same director.
