W - WH
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Wag the Dog [1997] The Wailing [2016] The Wandering Earth [2019]
War for the Planet of the Apes [2017] The War of the Worlds [1953] Warning Sign [1985]
The Wasp Woman [1959] The Wasp Woman [1995] The Watcher [2000]
Watcher [2022] The Wave [2015] We Are Still Here [2015]
We Are What We Are [2013] We Go On [2016] Welcome to Collinwood [2002]
Welcome to Mercy [2018] Werewolf Warrior [2004] Westworld [1973]
What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? [1969] What Happened to Monday [2017] What's the Matter with Helen? [1971]
When Evil Lurks [2023] When the Wind Blows [1986] The Whisperer in Darkness [2011]
The White Storm [2013] The White Storm 2: Drug Lords [2019] The Whole Nine Yards [2000]
The White Storm [2013]
aka So duk
            
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Chinese crime drama featuring the tragedy developing between 3 friends - an undercover cop, his superior, forced to make horrible choices, and a cop turned traitor?? - while trying to hunt down the biggest drug dealer in SE Asia. Lot of different settings and some stellar action sets. As with a lot of Asian dramas dealing with pain, loss, guilt, etc., this tends to get far too melodramatic at times, which tends to defuse the excitement and thrill of the pursuit, but I've come to expect that and I don't feel it took too much away from being a solid action piece.
The White Storm 2: Drug Lords [2019]
aka So duk 2: Tin dei duei kuet
            
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Being about the drug trade in SE Asia and having 3 principal characters is the only connection with the first film. A cop, an ultra rich CEO with a checkered past and a drug lord who wants it all, go to war. Much more a crime drama than the first film, which was more an action piece. The acting is exceptional, the story is well written, despite it being pretty familiar, and it had some good emotional beats without belaboring them. Although it does have less action, what it does have is killer! And, my goodness, what a climax. Good entertaining gangster stuff!
The War of the Worlds [1953]

            

A nostalgic favorite, this H.G. Wells story of Martians invading the earth was an absolute classic in its time and easily still the best adaptation of the story. It is certainly dated ...no denying that, with questionable science (they really didn't know any better), it's overly dramatic acting and, of course, the token hysterical female lead but this is pure popcorn matinee delight with spec fx that were state-of-the-art at the time and still hold up well enough to be effective and exciting today. Getting around to watching this again was like re-visiting a childhood friend.
When Evil Lurks [2023]
aka Cuando acecha la maldad
            
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A possession virus, of sorts, is being passed around a group of people in a rural setting causing them to kill each other. First I'll say, it's worthy of the accolades as one the best horror films last year. The pacing is great and it's loaded with some gruesome, horrific imagery and lots of shocking moments. But I was never quite clear as to what was happening. It took awhile for me to catch on that "rotten" in the subtitles meant possessed and the rules just seemed arbitrary for the convenience of the story rather than a valid mythology. It was entertaining, though.
Welcome to Collinwood [2002]

            
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A few years before becoming an MCU powerhouse with their Avenger films, the Russo brothers made this comedy caper film involving a group of ill-equipped misfits attempted to pull off their 'Bellini'. Although there were a few sequences that seemed flat and dry and really could have been improved, the film does have several inspired and totally laugh-out-loud moments making these totally inept criminal's attempt, with all seriousness, to score big, incredibly fun to watch. Rockwell and Macy were gold and everyone else was a joy. Great entertainment.
Watcher [2022]

            
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After moving to Bucharest, because of her husband's work, a woman begins to believe she's being stalked. Having an active serial killer in the city doesn't help with her fears, either. And that's the question... is she really being stalked or is being a foreigner in a strange country just making her overly paranoid. Both Maika Monroe (who I'll watch in anything) and the filmmakers do a superb job of never revealing the truth until the final act. It is an unnerving slow burn, perhaps too slow sometimes, but it had me totally hooked and guessing the entire time. Excellent!
The Wailing [2016]
aka Gokseong
         
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A bumbling police Sergeant finds himself well out of his depth while investigating the mass murder of families by one of the family members. And now his daughter seems to be possessed. A tense, unique story that grabs your attention and doesn't let go, despite a prolonged first half. Keeping our protagonist as confused as the viewer over what is right, wrong, good, evil, are there demons, ghosts, witches, until the final moments elevates the tension to overwhelming levels. Acting is exceptional and Hwan-hee Kim, as the daughter, is magnificent. Nice!
Warning Sign [1985]

            

A bio-weapon gets loose in a lab and turns people into rage monsters. Ridiculously contrived from the accident occurring, due to careless lab procedures, to bizarrely placed actions from characters and scenarios, to progress the story, to a mob of angry, ignorant hicks that threaten to let the germ loose, to the pristine and squeaky clean ending that wraps everything up in 2 minutes, this film is predictable from the start. Despite that, it's actually quite entertaining for an 80's thriller with familiar faces and a few choice moments of tension and dread. Not bad!
We Go On [2016]

            
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A man, with an unrelenting fear of death, posts an ad stating that he'll pay $30k to anyone who can definitively prove an afterlife. Although tagged as a horror film, it is not ...in fact, there's hardly a scare in it. What it is is a psychological, 'be-careful-what-you-wish-for' exercise detailing the ramifications and the devastation that the answers to some questions can bring. Well written, well acted and, although slower than one may expect, it held my attention completely from start to finish. Good, thought provoking entertainment.
When the Wind Blows [1986]

            
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An animated film about a retired couple living in the English countryside when nuclear war breaks out. The couple is likable and easily relatable carrying on their non-stop conversation with the love and endearment you would expect of a pair who've known each other forever. That's also it's problem as the friendly chatter loses it charm long before the expected and depressing ending making this a sad and painful film to watch as their naivety, ignorance, and denial prevents them from fully understanding how fatal their situation is. Good film but hard to like.
The Whisperer in Darkness [2011]

            
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A skeptical professor travels to a farm in Vermont to see if reports of crab-like creatures laying siege to a farm are true and runs into something extraordinary. Presented as a B&W, pseudo film noir, this film was really a joy to watch visually. The photography is fantastic, it has a really authentic fell to it and the acting and writing were top notch. That being said, it also got rather long-winded and melodramatic at times making me a bit antsy. The cryptic ending left me somewhat cold, as well. Still, quite a good viewing experience.
Wag the Dog [1997]

            

When a sitting U.S President is accused of sexual misconduct 2 weeks before the next presidential election, the spin doctors go to work. This is an extremely satirical look at spreading rumors, creating wars and heroes, and manipulating the American populace with ease. Irreverent, and funny as hell, the all-star cast plays their roles to perfection making this film a blast to see what they come up with next and their apparent ability to mitigate any disaster that befalls them. The only film I can think of that makes better use of dialog is Network. Brilliant!
We Are What We Are [2013]

            
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A reclusive family, lorded over by a fanatically religious father, must maintain the family tradition when the mother dies ...a tradition that's destroying them and has been responsible for the disappearance of hundreds. A very slow and unnerving character study, creating a sense that something horrible is going to happen any second, keeps you tense throughout. And, just as expected, the ending is sudden, shocking and terribly unsettling. Excellent performances by the two girls.
The Wave [2015]
aka Bolgen
         
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A Norwegian disaster film based on what might happen if Akneset, an unstable mountain pass, were to fracture off sending an 80 meter high wall of water down the fjord. Us Americans tend to make our disaster movies filled with excitement, thrills, and loaded with spec fx. This film tended to be far more realistic and human. We got to know the characters intimately and really cared about them. They also managed to make the attempts to save each other thrilling and realistic without being outrageous. Nicely done!
The Whole Nine Yards [2000]

            

A dentist, whose marriage and life is miserable, meets the new next-door neighbor, a professional mob hit-man in hiding. His life suddenly gets very exciting. This is one of those twisted dark comedies with a multitude of characters, all with different agendas, and the chaos it creates is humorous and complex. Twisting from one moment to the next, the story is all over the place and yet it's still easy to follow while being thoroughly entertaining. I've seen better movies like this but this is a very good one.
We Are Still Here [2015]

            
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A middle aged couple, who's recently lost a son, moves into a haunted house with the titular spirits making their presence known is a big way. I nearly gave up about halfway through this as it was presenting itself as a totally cliche haunted house story with mild scares and few ghostly events. But then things took off and, holy cow! ...it was like a blood-drenched roller coaster ride from hell!! Still not quite sure what to make of the ending but then ghosts don't really have to make sense, do they? I'll have to watch it again to figure it all out. Good gory fun, though!
Welcome to Mercy [2018]

            
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A woman and her daughter returns to her childhood home where she hasn't been since she was a child and strange things start happening. This film is just plain awful. Direct from the filmmakers of 'dragging things out', this ultra slow dirge provides us with no thrills, no scares, a story that's nonsense, no likable characters and we get to find out that most of it is a delusion! The sound track was completely incongruous to the events ...we've got a woman in the throws of demonic possession while we hear music fit for a funeral with crying mourners. Come on!!
The Wasp Woman [1995]

      

In an attempt to reverse aging, a cosmetic executive takes an experimental wasp hormone treatment with a few minor side effects. This is a made-for-TV remake of the Roger Corman 1959 film and it's just about what you would expect from a very low budget TV movie. Rejuvenatrix (which is basically the same story without having anything to do with wasps) had much better make up and spec fx. Come to think of it, all I ever saw in the lab were bees, not wasps. This one was pretty bad.
Werewolf Warrior [2004]
aka Kibakichi: Bakko-yokaiden
  

This ultra-low budget culturally traditional Japanese samurai movie features a samurai - who is also a werewolf - stumbling into a town where there is an issue between humans and yokai (beings who disguise themselves as human). The spec fx are pretty laughable and I'm not quite sure I understand what was going on as the film is quite surreal ...but stylish with a pretty messy bloodbath at the end ...and I was really diggin' the music. I would say I was pretty entertained.
What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? [1969]

         

Once a woman discovers her husband left her nothing after his death, she resorts to hiring housekeepers, getting their savings (under the guise of investing them in stock), kills them and buries them in her garden. This delightful bit of fun has some super performances by Geraldine Page and Ruth Gordon. Very nostalgic Old Biddy style suspense film that was popular around that time and definitely one of the better ones. The trailer is rather silly and obnoxious, though.
The Watcher [2000]

            

A psyche damaged ex-FBI agent is reluctantly drawn into a case hunting down the same serial killer that damn near destroyed him. This was a very tense and entertaining game of cat and mouse with James Spader (cop) and Keanu Reeves (killer) turning in some excellent performances. The ending was somewhat cliche and a bit of a let down but overall, an exciting film much better than the ratings seem to indicate and well worth watching.
War for the Planet of the Apes [2017]

            

Caesar's tribe is captured by a rogue Colonel for his own psychotic plans. Question #1 ...where's the war? There's battle scenes in the beginning and the end (which covers 80% of the trailer). In between we have too much moralizing, philosophizing, extended scenes of dialogue, and way too much heart-string pulling. Throwing in a blatantly obvious Moses analogy sent it completely into sappyville. It's not a bad movie but it's probably the most non-action, action film of the year and it is most certainly NOT a war movie.
Westworld [1973]

            

Tourists can now go to Medieval World, Roman World, or Westworld, and experience the lawless west of the 1880's in complete safety ...unless something goes wrong. I haven't seen this film since in came out in 1973. I remember it being very cool then and I expected it to now be somewhat hokey and dated. Surprisingly, it's held up rather well and is not nearly as dated as I thought it would be. I felt the chase sequence near the end dragged on for way too long but I still enjoyed it immensely.
What's the Matter with Helen? [1971]

            

I remember this movie terrorized me back in the 70's. Apparently, I was an impressionable teen back then as it's pretty light fare by today's standards. If you can get through the first half of the film, which has far too much dancing and entertainment for this type of movie, what we have here is a great character study of a descent into madness and the tragic result. Excellent performances by Debbie Reynolds and Shelly Winters and that twisted piano riff at the end sticks in your head for quite a while afterwards.
What Happened to Monday [2017]
aka 7 Sisters
            

In an over-populated future society, a set of identical septuplets must grow up learning to be one person by having each impersonate this persona on a daily basis to prevent having their family torn apart. I could see this more as a television series because so much happened in two hours that I felt a bit assaulted story-wise. But it was done extremely well, with a magnificent performance by Noomi Rapace, and the predictable, inevitable outcome even felt true and logical. Exciting, thought provoking entertainment.
The Wasp Woman [1959]

         
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This was the original version of the remakes The Wasp Woman [1995] and Rejuvenatrix. As flaky as those re-makes were, they pretty much outdid this original version. Basically, a woman uses wasp royal jelly to become youthful again but it has the side-effect of changing her into a wasp when she's buzzed off. There are certain givens expected in a Roger Corman film and much can be forgiven as a result but this one is pretty cheesy even by Corman's standards. ...and those are bees, not wasps.
The Wandering Earth [2019]

            

A pseudo-science spectacle that will appeal to the 2012 crowd, like me, about the Earth having to move somewhere else as the sun's gonna bloat. Turn your brain off for maximum enjoyment as this Chinese film is all about 'in-your-face' entertainment on steroids. There is a story, ludicrous as it may be, and they did their best to include human drama about family and, yada, yada, yada, but it's so overwhelmed by the constant eye-candy and roller coaster pacing that it's hardly noticed. Easily 30 mins too long but still, if you like this type of film, hell, yeah!
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