Wellington Film Festival

The Wellington iteration of the International Film Festival has wrapped up, and that will be the last time I sit in the Paramount/Embassy for a while.

It is always a bit of a lottery picking movies from among the 200+ on offer. I managed to make it to all ten movies on my shortlist which I thought was impressively nerdy, but Dan went to about a dozen so he wins. I tried to do a little bit of research rather than picking essentially at random, but I still ended up picking in one case based on the picture in the festival brochure.

Movies which I would strongly recommend, Very very good, 8-9/10
Black Book. This is Paul Verhoeven at his finest, very powerful.
Deliver Us from Evil. MAJOR caveat: this documentary is about a pedophile priest, and contains interviews with the priest, his victims, and the church hierarchy. Harrowing, but very moving.

Movies which I would recommend, Very good, 7-8/10
Day Watch- Russian vampire hallucinogenic goodness
I have never forgotten you. Simon Weisenthal biopic, surprisingly uplifting.
Severance. This is just plain funny. The promotional blurb promised a mix of Shaun of the Dead and Hostel, which sums it up about right

Movies which I enjoyed, and I would recommend them if they came up in conversation, but I would not recommend unsolicited, 6-7/10
Cocaine Cowboys, Eagle vs Shark, Exiled, I Served the King of England, Jesus Camp, Rescue Dawn, Them

And before you think I am some kind of movie snob, the last movie I saw before the festival was Blades of Glory and I thought that was very very funny. Not as funny as Anchorman, but still very funny.