January 2025 rewatches ranked

Nine of the movies I watched in January were rewatches. A couple of them I have seen several times, favorites from my DVD library from the early '00s. The rest are films I remember watching only once before.

Here are my tier-list rankings of those rewatches. I'll be back in the next day or two with a recap of all the movies I saw for the first time, and I also plan a combined ranking.

9. Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, 1978, directed by Philip Kaufman, streamed on Kanopy, 2.5 stars. 

I had always remembered this as a pretty good film since I saw it probably during its first theater run. But it didn't hold up for me at all, mostly because of all the plot holes.

8. V/H/S/2, 2013, multiple directors, streamed on Prime Video, 2.5 stars.

You need more than one excellent and one decent segment to hold up a five-segment anthology.

7. Southern Comfort, 1981, directed by Walter Hill, streamed on Prime Video, 3 stars.

A decent thriller about a National Guard unit lost in the swamps that becomes a bit of a slog in the middle section.

6. Rest Stop, 2006, directed by John Shiban, streamed from Movies Anywhere digital library, 3 stars.

A pretty good direct-to-video horror film about a woman stranded at a remote rundown rest stop being terrorized by a psycho redneck.

5. Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, 1982, directed by Carl Reiner, Kino Lorber Blu-ray (2021), 3.5 stars.

Carl Reiner and Steve Martin are in top form for this clever sendup of '30s and '40s film noir.

4. Electra Glide In Blue, 1973, directed by James William Guercio, streamed on Prime Video, 3.5 stars.

Robert Blake is outstanding as a principled motorcycle cop with ambitions to be a homicide investigator.

3. Magic, 1978, directed by Richard Attenborough, streamed on Prime Video, 4 stars.

Pre-Hannibal Lecter Anthony Hopkins losing himself to his ventriloquist's dummy.

2. American Beauty, 1999, directed by Sam Mendes, Paramount Pictures blu-ray (2017), 4 stars.

Oscar-winning Kevin Spacey does his best Kevin Spacey in this Oscar-winning gem.

1. Kalifornia, 1993, directed by Dominic Sena, Shout Factory blu-ray (2019), 4 stars.

Brad Pitt as a redneck serial killer and Juliette Lewis as his sweet young girlfriend road-tripping with urbanites David Duchovny and Michelle Forbes? That's a slam-dunk good time.