Since my last post: Tree of Life (A) Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (B+) Terror of Mechagodzilla (D-) Microcosmos (B) The Adonais Factor (C) The Life of Reilly (B)
Spoiler: #1-139. 1. In the Heat of the Night (A) 2. The Passion of Joan of Arc (B) 3. The Passion of the Christ (A) 4. Mamma Mia! (B) 5. All About Eve (A) 6. Looking for Anne (B-) 7. 2001: A Space Odyssey (B+) 8. The King's Speech (A) 9. How Green Was My Valley (B-) 10. Black Swan (B+) 11. Made in Dagenham (B) 12. Gentleman's Agreement (A-) 13. Barney's Version (A-) 14. Out of Africa (B) 15. The Social Network (A-) 16. The Sound of Music (B+) 17. Pulp Fiction (A) 18. Forrest Gump (A) 19. The Shawshank Redemption (A+) 20. The Illusionist (B) 21. The French Connection (B+) 22. Network (A+) 23. Incendies (A+) 24. Mrs. Miniver (A) 25. A Fistful of Dollars (B+) 26. For A Few Dollars More (B) 27. WALL-E (A+) 28. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (A) 29. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (B) 30. Gigi (B-) 31. I Love You Phillip Morris (B+) 32. How To Train Your Dragon (A) 33. Tarzan (B+) 34. Oliver! (B+) 35. Gosford Park (A-) 36. The Princess Bride (B+) 37. All the President's Men (A-) 38. Oliver Twist (B+) 39. My Fair Lady (A+) 40. Hanna (A-) 41. The Godfather (A+) 42. The Godfather: Part II (A+) 43. The Godfather: Part III (A-) 44. Dog Day Afternoon (A) 45. Taxi Driver (A-) 46. Great Expectations (B+) 47. The Last Airbender (D-) 48. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (A+) 49. Raging Bull (B+) 50. GoodFellas (A-) 51. Spartacus (A+) 52. The Deer Hunter (B+) 53. Reservoir Dogs (A) 54. A Clockwork Orange (A) 55. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (A+) 56. Gone With The Wind (A+) 57. On the Waterfront (A) 58. Thor (B+) 59. The Seventh Seal (A-) 60. Hamlet (A) 61. All the King's Men (A-) 62. Roman Holiday (A+) 63. Rebecca (A-) 64. Notorious (A) 65. American Madness (B+) 66. It Happened One Night (A-) 67. Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (C-) 68. You Can't Take It With You (B+) 69. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (A-) 70. The Heiress (A+) 71. X-Men: First Class (A-) 72. Super 8 (B+) 73. Dr. No (B-) 74. From Russia With Love (A) 75. Captain Blood (A+) 76. The Best Years of Our Lives (A+) 77. The Adventures of Robin Hood (A+) 78. The Treasure of Sierra Madre (A+) 79. From Here To Eternity (A) 80. To Have and Have Not (B) 81. The Big Sleep (A-) 82. Barry Lyndon (B+) 83. The Snake Pit (B+) 84. Hoosiers (C-) 85. Rocky (A-) 86. Midnight in Paris (B+) 87. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (B+) 88. Key Largo (B-) 89. Bridge on the River Kwai (A) 90. The Apartment (A-) 91. Captain America: The First Avenger (A-) 92. Ordinary People (A-) 93. Days of Heaven (B+) 94. Yojimbo (A-) 95. Tangled (A) 96. Cowboys and Aliens (B) 97. Crazy, Stupid, Love (A-) 98. Beginners (A-) 99. They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (A+) 100. Bonnie and Clyde (A-) 101. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (A-) 102. Elmer Gantry (B+) 103. Sanjuro (A-) 104. The Help (B+) 105. Dark Passage (B+) 106. Easy A (B) 107. Rob Roy (B+) 108. The Great McGinty (C+) 109. Christmas in July (B-) 110. The Tree of Life (B+) 111. The Lady Eve (A-) 112. Sullivan's Travels (B+) 113. The Palm Beach Story (A+) 114. A Passage to India (A-) 115. Glengarry Glen Ross (A-) 116. Hail the Conquering Hero (B-) 117. The Great Moment (C+) 118. Platoon (A) 119. Atonement (A+) 120. Patton (A) 121. Pan's Labyrinth (A+) 122. The Debt (B+) 123. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (A-) 124. The Pawnbroker (A-) 125. Double Indemnity (A) 126. Mildred Pierce (B+) 127. The Postman Always Rings Twice (C-) 128. The Great Dictator (A+) 129. La Belle et la Bete (B+) 130. Contagion (B+) 131. The Age of Innocence (B+) 132. The Remains of the Day (A+) 133. His Girl Friday (A) 134. Howards End (B+) 135. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (A) 136. The Lion King 3D (A+) 137. Paths of Glory (B+) 138. Big Fish (B+) 139. The Magnificent Ambersons (B+) 140. Dumbo (A) Simple little gem from Disney's early years; watched this many times on VHS back in the early 1990s, but haven't seen it since then. Walt himself was minimally involved in this one due to other commitments, so it's rather different from the other features of the period stylistically (much closer to Warner Brothers humour in some places). There's some very imaginative animated sequences that still come across as such today (the delivery of all the babies via stork made an impression on me as a kid, I recall).
Spoiler: New Movies Seen in 2011 Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightening Thief - HBO Tron Legacy 3D - theater Clash of the Titans (2010) - HBO on Demand Take Me Home Tonight - free screenin' Sanctum - free screenin' The Green Hornet - free screenin' Green Zone - HBO Fantastic Mr. Fox - HBO True Grit (1969) - AMC Ringu - DVD Black Swan - Alamo Drafthouse (its not just a movie theater) Unknown - free screenin' The Losers - HBO The Sunset Limited - HBO on Demand Starsky & Hutch (2004) - Cinemax Kick-Ass - DVD The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - DVD The Adjustment Bureau - free screenin' Rango - theater Red (2010) - DVD rental Hot Tub Time Machine - DVD rental Harry Brown - DVD Faster - DVD rental Jonah Hex - DVD rental Battle: L.A. - theater The Girl who Played with Fire - DVD The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - DVD rental Leaves of Grass - DVD Whiteout - Cinemax on Demand Sucker Punch - free screenin' Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps - DVD Paul - theater Source Code - theater Rio - free screenin' The Fighter - DVD rental Invictus - Cinemax Scream 4 - theater Fast Five - midnight screenin' THOR - free screenin' Priest - theater Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - midnight screenin' X-Men: First Class - theater Ramona and Beezus - HBO Shrek Forever After - HBO Super 8 - theater Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron - HBO Devil - Cinemax on Demand Green Lantern - theater Killers - Netflix Instant Push - DVD rental Ron White: Behavioral Problems - DVD rental All*Star Superman - DVD rental Captain America: The First Avenger - midnight screenin' Dylan Dog: Dead of Night - DVD rental Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part One - DVD The King's Speech - DVD rental Get Low - DVD rental Dan in Real Life - DVD Thor: Tales of Asgard - DVD rental Green Lantern: Emerald Knights - DVD rental Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths - DVD Planet Hulk - DVD rental Alien vs Predator: Requium - Unrated - DVD rental Fright Night (1985) - DVD John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) - DVD 50/50 - free screenin' Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules - DVD Repo Men- Unrated - DVD Earth Girls Are Easy - DVD Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey - DVD Tangled - DVD Kung Fu Panda 2 3D - dollar theater Dolphin Tale - free screenin' Mad Money - DVD The Ron Clark Story - DVD Nico the Unicorn - DVD Jungle Boy - DVD Killer Wave - DVD Conan O'Brien Can't Stop - Netflix Instant Steve Harvey - Don't Trip...He Ain't Through With Me Yet! - Netflix Instant Mel Brooks' Silent Movie - DVD Steve Harvey - Still Trippin' - Netflix Instant Secretariat - Netflix Instant From Dusk 'til Dawn - Netflix Instant From Dusk 'til Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money - Netflix Instant From Dusk 'til Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter - Netflix Instant Kevin Smith - Too Fat for 40 - Netflix Instant Dream House - free screenin' Machine Gun Preacher - free screenin' The Ides of March - free screenin' Real Steel - free screenin' 127 Hours - HBO on Demand Last week, a friend of mine asked me to keep an eye out for Real Steel passes. I didn't really want to see it, but he did...so, I got passes for us to see it last night. There were freebies - a sports towel & bottle opener - and two trailers for fall movies that didn't really interest me. But, hey, the movie was a lot better than I expected it to be, and there is a bit of an homage to Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots in the first robot vs robot fight. Hugh Jackman does most of the heavy liftin' for the film, but the kid co-star does a good job, too. And nice to see Kevin Durand again, after Lost & X-Men Origins: Wolverine. This afternoon, I watched 127 Hours via HBO on Demand...that was a pretty intense movie. I can see why James Franco got the Oscar nomination for it. Don't think I'll be in much of a rush to watch it again, but I can say I've seen it now. I did skip out on the Footloose screenin' tonight...I just didn't feel like drivin' across town for it. But I do already have passes to see it next week at a theater closer to where I'm stayin'. I've also got passes for Fireflies in the Garden & The Way, fingers crossed I'll get passes for The Thing, too.
Spoiler: #1-139. 1. In the Heat of the Night (A) 2. The Passion of Joan of Arc (B) 3. The Passion of the Christ (A) 4. Mamma Mia! (B) 5. All About Eve (A) 6. Looking for Anne (B-) 7. 2001: A Space Odyssey (B+) 8. The King's Speech (A) 9. How Green Was My Valley (B-) 10. Black Swan (B+) 11. Made in Dagenham (B) 12. Gentleman's Agreement (A-) 13. Barney's Version (A-) 14. Out of Africa (B) 15. The Social Network (A-) 16. The Sound of Music (B+) 17. Pulp Fiction (A) 18. Forrest Gump (A) 19. The Shawshank Redemption (A+) 20. The Illusionist (B) 21. The French Connection (B+) 22. Network (A+) 23. Incendies (A+) 24. Mrs. Miniver (A) 25. A Fistful of Dollars (B+) 26. For A Few Dollars More (B) 27. WALL-E (A+) 28. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (A) 29. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (B) 30. Gigi (B-) 31. I Love You Phillip Morris (B+) 32. How To Train Your Dragon (A) 33. Tarzan (B+) 34. Oliver! (B+) 35. Gosford Park (A-) 36. The Princess Bride (B+) 37. All the President's Men (A-) 38. Oliver Twist (B+) 39. My Fair Lady (A+) 40. Hanna (A-) 41. The Godfather (A+) 42. The Godfather: Part II (A+) 43. The Godfather: Part III (A-) 44. Dog Day Afternoon (A) 45. Taxi Driver (A-) 46. Great Expectations (B+) 47. The Last Airbender (D-) 48. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (A+) 49. Raging Bull (B+) 50. GoodFellas (A-) 51. Spartacus (A+) 52. The Deer Hunter (B+) 53. Reservoir Dogs (A) 54. A Clockwork Orange (A) 55. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (A+) 56. Gone With The Wind (A+) 57. On the Waterfront (A) 58. Thor (B+) 59. The Seventh Seal (A-) 60. Hamlet (A) 61. All the King's Men (A-) 62. Roman Holiday (A+) 63. Rebecca (A-) 64. Notorious (A) 65. American Madness (B+) 66. It Happened One Night (A-) 67. Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (C-) 68. You Can't Take It With You (B+) 69. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (A-) 70. The Heiress (A+) 71. X-Men: First Class (A-) 72. Super 8 (B+) 73. Dr. No (B-) 74. From Russia With Love (A) 75. Captain Blood (A+) 76. The Best Years of Our Lives (A+) 77. The Adventures of Robin Hood (A+) 78. The Treasure of Sierra Madre (A+) 79. From Here To Eternity (A) 80. To Have and Have Not (B) 81. The Big Sleep (A-) 82. Barry Lyndon (B+) 83. The Snake Pit (B+) 84. Hoosiers (C-) 85. Rocky (A-) 86. Midnight in Paris (B+) 87. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (B+) 88. Key Largo (B-) 89. Bridge on the River Kwai (A) 90. The Apartment (A-) 91. Captain America: The First Avenger (A-) 92. Ordinary People (A-) 93. Days of Heaven (B+) 94. Yojimbo (A-) 95. Tangled (A) 96. Cowboys and Aliens (B) 97. Crazy, Stupid, Love (A-) 98. Beginners (A-) 99. They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (A+) 100. Bonnie and Clyde (A-) 101. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (A-) 102. Elmer Gantry (B+) 103. Sanjuro (A-) 104. The Help (B+) 105. Dark Passage (B+) 106. Easy A (B) 107. Rob Roy (B+) 108. The Great McGinty (C+) 109. Christmas in July (B-) 110. The Tree of Life (B+) 111. The Lady Eve (A-) 112. Sullivan's Travels (B+) 113. The Palm Beach Story (A+) 114. A Passage to India (A-) 115. Glengarry Glen Ross (A-) 116. Hail the Conquering Hero (B-) 117. The Great Moment (C+) 118. Platoon (A) 119. Atonement (A+) 120. Patton (A) 121. Pan's Labyrinth (A+) 122. The Debt (B+) 123. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (A-) 124. The Pawnbroker (A-) 125. Double Indemnity (A) 126. Mildred Pierce (B+) 127. The Postman Always Rings Twice (C-) 128. The Great Dictator (A+) 129. La Belle et la Bete (B+) 130. Contagion (B+) 131. The Age of Innocence (B+) 132. The Remains of the Day (A+) 133. His Girl Friday (A) 134. Howards End (B+) 135. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (A) 136. The Lion King 3D (A+) 137. Paths of Glory (B+) 138. Big Fish (B+) 139. The Magnificent Ambersons (B+) 140. Dumbo (A-) 141. Smiles of a Summer Night (A) Hey, a non-depressing Ingmar Bergman film! Still shot through with bits of melancholy and one moment near the end that anyone familiar with Bergman's later work would interpret as a shocking tonal swerve (which actually makes the joke work better). It's a comedy more of smiles than laughs, but it's very enjoyable and extremely well-acted.
Philip Seymour Hoffman double-bill. Spoiler: #1-139. 1. In the Heat of the Night (A) 2. The Passion of Joan of Arc (B) 3. The Passion of the Christ (A) 4. Mamma Mia! (B) 5. All About Eve (A) 6. Looking for Anne (B-) 7. 2001: A Space Odyssey (B+) 8. The King's Speech (A) 9. How Green Was My Valley (B-) 10. Black Swan (B+) 11. Made in Dagenham (B) 12. Gentleman's Agreement (A-) 13. Barney's Version (A-) 14. Out of Africa (B) 15. The Social Network (A-) 16. The Sound of Music (B+) 17. Pulp Fiction (A) 18. Forrest Gump (A) 19. The Shawshank Redemption (A+) 20. The Illusionist (B) 21. The French Connection (B+) 22. Network (A+) 23. Incendies (A+) 24. Mrs. Miniver (A) 25. A Fistful of Dollars (B+) 26. For A Few Dollars More (B) 27. WALL-E (A+) 28. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (A) 29. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (B) 30. Gigi (B-) 31. I Love You Phillip Morris (B+) 32. How To Train Your Dragon (A) 33. Tarzan (B+) 34. Oliver! (B+) 35. Gosford Park (A-) 36. The Princess Bride (B+) 37. All the President's Men (A-) 38. Oliver Twist (B+) 39. My Fair Lady (A+) 40. Hanna (A-) 41. The Godfather (A+) 42. The Godfather: Part II (A+) 43. The Godfather: Part III (A-) 44. Dog Day Afternoon (A) 45. Taxi Driver (A-) 46. Great Expectations (B+) 47. The Last Airbender (D-) 48. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (A+) 49. Raging Bull (B+) 50. GoodFellas (A-) 51. Spartacus (A+) 52. The Deer Hunter (B+) 53. Reservoir Dogs (A) 54. A Clockwork Orange (A) 55. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (A+) 56. Gone With The Wind (A+) 57. On the Waterfront (A) 58. Thor (B+) 59. The Seventh Seal (A-) 60. Hamlet (A) 61. All the King's Men (A-) 62. Roman Holiday (A+) 63. Rebecca (A-) 64. Notorious (A) 65. American Madness (B+) 66. It Happened One Night (A-) 67. Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (C-) 68. You Can't Take It With You (B+) 69. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (A-) 70. The Heiress (A+) 71. X-Men: First Class (A-) 72. Super 8 (B+) 73. Dr. No (B-) 74. From Russia With Love (A) 75. Captain Blood (A+) 76. The Best Years of Our Lives (A+) 77. The Adventures of Robin Hood (A+) 78. The Treasure of Sierra Madre (A+) 79. From Here To Eternity (A) 80. To Have and Have Not (B) 81. The Big Sleep (A-) 82. Barry Lyndon (B+) 83. The Snake Pit (B+) 84. Hoosiers (C-) 85. Rocky (A-) 86. Midnight in Paris (B+) 87. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (B+) 88. Key Largo (B-) 89. Bridge on the River Kwai (A) 90. The Apartment (A-) 91. Captain America: The First Avenger (A-) 92. Ordinary People (A-) 93. Days of Heaven (B+) 94. Yojimbo (A-) 95. Tangled (A) 96. Cowboys and Aliens (B) 97. Crazy, Stupid, Love (A-) 98. Beginners (A-) 99. They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (A+) 100. Bonnie and Clyde (A-) 101. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (A-) 102. Elmer Gantry (B+) 103. Sanjuro (A-) 104. The Help (B+) 105. Dark Passage (B+) 106. Easy A (B) 107. Rob Roy (B+) 108. The Great McGinty (C+) 109. Christmas in July (B-) 110. The Tree of Life (B+) 111. The Lady Eve (A-) 112. Sullivan's Travels (B+) 113. The Palm Beach Story (A+) 114. A Passage to India (A-) 115. Glengarry Glen Ross (A-) 116. Hail the Conquering Hero (B-) 117. The Great Moment (C+) 118. Platoon (A) 119. Atonement (A+) 120. Patton (A) 121. Pan's Labyrinth (A+) 122. The Debt (B+) 123. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (A-) 124. The Pawnbroker (A-) 125. Double Indemnity (A) 126. Mildred Pierce (B+) 127. The Postman Always Rings Twice (C-) 128. The Great Dictator (A+) 129. La Belle et la Bete (B+) 130. Contagion (B+) 131. The Age of Innocence (B+) 132. The Remains of the Day (A+) 133. His Girl Friday (A) 134. Howards End (B+) 135. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (A) 136. The Lion King 3D (A+) 137. Paths of Glory (B+) 138. Big Fish (B+) 139. The Magnificent Ambersons (B+) 140. Dumbo (A-) 141. Smiles of a Summer Night (A) 142. The Ides of March (B) Not a great movie, but a good one. It's rather like Clooney's Good Night, and Good Luck in that the trailer pitches it as much more dramatic than it actually is; Clooney's dramatic instincts on his own projects tend to be fairly low-key. As the reviews have noted, there's nothing new here in terms of message, though to be honest I'm not sure whether there's much new to be offered about the moral nature of modern political campaigns. It's a dirty business, and everyone knows it. Anyway, the film's a solid piece of adult-oriented filmmaking. It has a great cast who all do good work, including another strong Ryan Gosling performance this year. The cast standout is really Evan Rachel Wood, whose role contains the most surprises if you're only watching the advertising; if anyone here deserves awards consideration, it's her. The director himself is also very good in his big scene at the end. 143. Moneyball (A-) Baseball bores me to tears as a spectator sport (as do, well, most spectator sports other than hockey), but this was a very good movie. Capote, Bennett Miller's previous movie, I thought had an admirable level of craft but was too antiseptic to fully succeed. Here I think he strikes a much better balance; it never becomes sentimental, but the human element really comes across. Particularly given that this is a movie about statistics supplanting "common sense" baseball tactics, the balance of statistics versus sentiment is especially important. Soderbergh was originally going to direct this, and it'd be interesting to see how he approached it, but I think Miller's style is a pretty good fit with Soderbergh. Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zaillan's screenplay does a great job of making a movie that is basically about statistics interesting to watch; fittingly, given the subject-matter, the actual players are only seen in glimpses and none have real arcs, but the bits we see of them are very effective. Brad Pitt gives a great lead performance, backed up nicely by Jonah Hill in a supporting role considerably more understated than then norm. The final message about succeeding in changing the game but not personally winning the big prize is nicely bittersweet (and taken from real life, so I suppose they really couldn't approach it another way).
I tried to watch I Am Number Four via Showtime on Demand (or HBO on Demand, not sure), and got about ten minutes in before I gave up... Next week's free screenings will be Fireflies in the Garden, The Thing (2011) and The Way. I do have passes for Footloose, since it is at the same theater on the same night as The Thing. I figure if I don't get into one, I'll go for the other...
True Grit (2010) I've been a fan of the original adaptation of Charle Portis' book for years and I still believe it to be the superior film. That said, this was also an excellent adaptation. Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld were excellent in their respective roles. The pacing is well done and the ending featured in this version fits the overall tone of the picture. The Warriors (1979) Sort of a modern day take on the Anabasis of Xenophon. The version I saw was apparently a directors cut that included comic book panels to delineate the various sections of the narrative. The director suceeds in creating a comic book world with the multitude of gangs that inhabit his version of New York City. I'm not sure that the abbreviated love story added anything to the picture.
Spoiler: New Movies Seen in 2011 Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightening Thief - HBO Tron Legacy 3D - theater Clash of the Titans (2010) - HBO on Demand Take Me Home Tonight - free screenin' Sanctum - free screenin' The Green Hornet - free screenin' Green Zone - HBO Fantastic Mr. Fox - HBO True Grit (1969) - AMC Ringu - DVD Black Swan - Alamo Drafthouse (its not just a movie theater) Unknown - free screenin' The Losers - HBO The Sunset Limited - HBO on Demand Starsky & Hutch (2004) - Cinemax Kick-Ass - DVD The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - DVD The Adjustment Bureau - free screenin' Rango - theater Red (2010) - DVD rental Hot Tub Time Machine - DVD rental Harry Brown - DVD Faster - DVD rental Jonah Hex - DVD rental Battle: L.A. - theater The Girl who Played with Fire - DVD The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - DVD rental Leaves of Grass - DVD Whiteout - Cinemax on Demand Sucker Punch - free screenin' Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps - DVD Paul - theater Source Code - theater Rio - free screenin' The Fighter - DVD rental Invictus - Cinemax Scream 4 - theater Fast Five - midnight screenin' THOR - free screenin' Priest - theater Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - midnight screenin' X-Men: First Class - theater Ramona and Beezus - HBO Shrek Forever After - HBO Super 8 - theater Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron - HBO Devil - Cinemax on Demand Green Lantern - theater Killers - Netflix Instant Push - DVD rental Ron White: Behavioral Problems - DVD rental All*Star Superman - DVD rental Captain America: The First Avenger - midnight screenin' Dylan Dog: Dead of Night - DVD rental Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part One - DVD The King's Speech - DVD rental Get Low - DVD rental Dan in Real Life - DVD Thor: Tales of Asgard - DVD rental Green Lantern: Emerald Knights - DVD rental Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths - DVD Planet Hulk - DVD rental Alien vs Predator: Requium - Unrated - DVD rental Fright Night (1985) - DVD John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) - DVD 50/50 - free screenin' Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules - DVD Repo Men- Unrated - DVD Earth Girls Are Easy - DVD Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey - DVD Tangled - DVD Kung Fu Panda 2 3D - dollar theater Dolphin Tale - free screenin' Mad Money - DVD The Ron Clark Story - DVD Nico the Unicorn - DVD Jungle Boy - DVD Killer Wave - DVD Conan O'Brien Can't Stop - Netflix Instant Steve Harvey - Don't Trip...He Ain't Through With Me Yet! - Netflix Instant Mel Brooks' Silent Movie - DVD Steve Harvey - Still Trippin' - Netflix Instant Secretariat - Netflix Instant From Dusk 'til Dawn - Netflix Instant From Dusk 'til Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money - Netflix Instant From Dusk 'til Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter - Netflix Instant Kevin Smith - Too Fat for 40 - Netflix Instant Dream House - free screenin' Machine Gun Preacher - free screenin' The Ides of March - free screenin' Real Steel - free screenin' 127 Hours - HBO on Demand Fireflies in the Garden - free screenin' Went down to south Austin yesterday, for only my second screenin' ever at the Cinemark Tinseltown near Stassney & I-35. The first time I went there for a movie screenin', it was S.W.A.T., which just goes to show how often they have screenings there... I miss my S.W.A.T. ballcap I got at that screenin'.... Anyway, Fireflies... Its a family drama about an abusive father (Willam Dafoe), his wife (Julia Roberts) their teenage son (played by Ryan Reynolds as an adult) & the wife's sister (played by Hayden Panettierre as a young adult). There's two time periods at work - a particular summer where the wife's sister came to live with the domestic disturbance and the week in May (presumably) when Julia Roberts's wife had finally finished college. Her graduation is the reason everyone is gatherin' together. There was a sense that Ryan Reynolds hadn't been home in a long time, but it seemed to me that if he attended the local college, it probably hadn't been that long. But, anyway... Carrie-Anne Moss and Ioan Gruffurd have supportin' roles. Not often ya get to see Mr. Fantastic, the Green Goblin & Deadpool in a movie with Trinity & Claire, huh? Filmed four years ago in Austin & Bastrop, the folks next to me talked about the filmin' of one scene at the UT campus (she thinks she saw herself & he said he was a sophomore when they filmed there), the movie is finally gettin' released in a limited run. The problem I had with it is that it's not all that great. It has moments, but the moments don't add up enough to make for a good movie. Ah, well, at least it was free... Tonight's free screenin' will be The Thing (2011)...or, if I don't get into that, Footloose, since I have extra passes & its at the same theater.
151. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde [1941] (C) 152. Cold Souls (B-) 153. Drive (A) Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Much has been said about how Spencer Tracey was miscast in the title role of this film (he was), but the worst offender is Ingrid Bergman, who is never once believable as a poor waitress. She's just too regal to ever come off as the "bad woman" she's supposed to be here. As for the film, it's okay, but it never overcomes the problems in casting to be any more than that. Any of the famous Universal horror pictures are better. Cold Souls: An intriguing sf movie in which Paul Giamatti stars as himself, but one that never fully exploits its premise (in which the soul, or at least something called the soul, has been scientifically quantified and can be extracted from the subject). Honestly, the whole thing would probably work better if it wasn't Giamatti playing himself, which ultimately serves as more of a distraction than a benefit. Drive: All the reviews say this is a stripped-down action movie with great economy, and that's about right. Everyone in the cast gets one or two scenes to play (except for Gosling, although he is very restrained as the lead) and then the movie continues along. It doesn't waste any time, and often lets the film's terrific soundtrack propel the movie forward without any dialogue at all. Hopefully this won't be Nic Refn's last American movie -- he's a very talented director that seems to know exactly what he wants. 163 movies seen this year.
He's developing a remake of Logan's Run at the moment, and has talked about wanting to do Wonder Woman.
Logan's Run is more interesting to me than a superhero property. I hope that goes through. Is Ryan Gosling still attached as the lead?
Apparently. Wonder Woman has a lot of potential as a property (though it's rarely been made use of). I'd be interested to here why Winding Refn is so keen on it, because so far he's only really said that he wants Christina Hendricks as Wonder Woman, and I don't think she's a very good choice for the role.
Yesterday I went to the cinema and saw The Hunter starring Willem Dafoe and Sam Neill. From IMDB i thoroughly enjoyed this movie and have ordered a copy of the book it is based on. The Tasmanian scenery is absolutely stunning though it really needs to be seen on the big screen for full impact. [yt]http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri=%2F&gl=AU#/watch?v=l_ByVNMblbQ[/yt]
Updates in Bold: Adieu Galaxy Express 999 (8) The Adjustment Bureau (8) Afro Samurai: Resurrection (7) Arashi no Yoru ni (One Stormy Night) (7) Armored Trooper Votoms: Alone Again (7) Armored Trooper Votoms: Finder (8) Babylon 5: A Call to Arms (8) Babylon 5: River of Souls (7) Babylon 5: Thirdspace (7) Blue Remains (6) Black Swan (9) Bleach Movie 4: Hell Chapter (9) Broken Blade 3: The Mark of the Assassin's Dagger (9) Broken Blade 4: The Land of Disaster (9) Broken Blade 5: Death's Horizon (9) Broken Blade 6: Bastions of Sorrow (9) Captain America: The First Avenger (8) Cowboys and Aliens (8) Cutthroat Island (9) The Debt (8) The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya (9) Drive Angry (7) Evangelion 2.22: You Can (Not) Advance (9) Godkiller (6) Green Lantern (8) Hanna (8) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (8) Honey and Clover (6) I Am Number Four (8) Infernal Affairs (7) Kamui (4) Galaxy Express 999 (9) The Garden of Sinners Movie 8: Epilogue (9) Loups=Garous (8) The Mechanic (2011) (9) Mardock Scramble: The First Compression (9) Mobile Suit Gundam 00: Awakeening of the Trailblazer (8) Munto: The Movie (6) Musashi Miyamoto (6) Outlander (8) Pirates of the Caribean: On Stranger Tides (9) Priest (5) Real Steel (8) Rise of the Planet of the Apes (9) Source Code (9) Super 8 (8) Thor (9) Time of Eve (10) Transformers: Dark of the Moon (9) Trigun: Badlands Rumble (8) Unknown (7) Urusei Yatsura Movie 1: Only You (8) Versus (6) X-Men: First Class (8) Your Highness (3)
Spoiler: New Movies Seen in 2011 Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightening Thief - HBO Tron Legacy 3D - theater Clash of the Titans (2010) - HBO on Demand Take Me Home Tonight - free screenin' Sanctum - free screenin' The Green Hornet - free screenin' Green Zone - HBO Fantastic Mr. Fox - HBO True Grit (1969) - AMC Ringu - DVD Black Swan - Alamo Drafthouse (its not just a movie theater) Unknown - free screenin' The Losers - HBO The Sunset Limited - HBO on Demand Starsky & Hutch (2004) - Cinemax Kick-Ass - DVD The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - DVD The Adjustment Bureau - free screenin' Rango - theater Red (2010) - DVD rental Hot Tub Time Machine - DVD rental Harry Brown - DVD Faster - DVD rental Jonah Hex - DVD rental Battle: L.A. - theater The Girl who Played with Fire - DVD The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - DVD rental Leaves of Grass - DVD Whiteout - Cinemax on Demand Sucker Punch - free screenin' Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps - DVD Paul - theater Source Code - theater Rio - free screenin' The Fighter - DVD rental Invictus - Cinemax Scream 4 - theater Fast Five - midnight screenin' THOR - free screenin' Priest - theater Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - midnight screenin' X-Men: First Class - theater Ramona and Beezus - HBO Shrek Forever After - HBO Super 8 - theater Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron - HBO Devil - Cinemax on Demand Green Lantern - theater Killers - Netflix Instant Push - DVD rental Ron White: Behavioral Problems - DVD rental All*Star Superman - DVD rental Captain America: The First Avenger - midnight screenin' Dylan Dog: Dead of Night - DVD rental Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part One - DVD The King's Speech - DVD rental Get Low - DVD rental Dan in Real Life - DVD Thor: Tales of Asgard - DVD rental Green Lantern: Emerald Knights - DVD rental Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths - DVD Planet Hulk - DVD rental Alien vs Predator: Requium - Unrated - DVD rental Fright Night (1985) - DVD John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) - DVD 50/50 - free screenin' Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules - DVD Repo Men- Unrated - DVD Earth Girls Are Easy - DVD Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey - DVD Tangled - DVD Kung Fu Panda 2 3D - dollar theater Dolphin Tale - free screenin' Mad Money - DVD The Ron Clark Story - DVD Nico the Unicorn - DVD Jungle Boy - DVD Killer Wave - DVD Conan O'Brien Can't Stop - Netflix Instant Steve Harvey - Don't Trip...He Ain't Through With Me Yet! - Netflix Instant Mel Brooks' Silent Movie - DVD Steve Harvey - Still Trippin' - Netflix Instant Secretariat - Netflix Instant From Dusk 'til Dawn - Netflix Instant From Dusk 'til Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money - Netflix Instant From Dusk 'til Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter - Netflix Instant Kevin Smith - Too Fat for 40 - Netflix Instant Dream House - free screenin' Machine Gun Preacher - free screenin' The Ides of March - free screenin' Real Steel - free screenin' 127 Hours - HBO on Demand Fireflies in the Garden - free screenin' The Thing (2011) - free screenin' The Crow: City of Angels - Netflix Instant Poltergiest II: The Other Side - Netflix Instant Poltergiest III - Netflix Instant Some folks I've seen at the last few screenings I've been to let me go in with them last night on their VIP passes, so I had a high row, center seat for The Thing prequel. There were a couple of trailers, includin' one for Tower Heist, which will have Alan Alda as the "bad guy"!!! The prequel was alright, set in the days before the events at the American camp in John Carpenter's '82 film. I didn't like the idea of a remake (a woman in the Kurt Russell role, really?!?) and then I found out it was a prequel, an idea I liked even less, since the Euro camp was shown in the first movie. Anyone who has seen it would have a pretty good idea what was goin' to happen...and anyone who hasn't seen it, like the woman sittin' next to me last night, won't get the endin', which totally sets up the openin' of the original. I may see it again, but as a rental later, do a double feature or something... Hangin' out at friends' place today, usin' their Netflix. I was with 'em a couple of weeks ago, and had started watchin' the first Crow sequel. Finished watchin' it this mornin', since "resume" was still an option. Not a very good movie...the sequel with Kirsten Dunst, which I have seen, was a lot better. I may watch the one with David Boreanaz later... - edit, to add - Instead of another Crow sequel, I went with a Poltergiest sequel instead. Its been a few years since I watched the first one, but 'til today, I hadn't gotten to the sequels. It was alright, more cheesy than scary, though the preacher was fuckin' creepy and the special effects were for shit compared to what's comin' out these days. Maybe I'll watch the third, too...haven't decided yet. - edit, again, to add - Went ahead with the third Poltergiest, which only has two of the previous characters in it. The mirror effects were pretty good, but overall, the story was a let down. I didn't care much for the mythology that got built in the sequels. The first movie was way better, when it was just random horror because of the house, not targetted horror because of the little girl. Back to watchin' Law & Order episodes for dinner.
Spoiler: #1-139. 1. In the Heat of the Night (A) 2. The Passion of Joan of Arc (B) 3. The Passion of the Christ (A) 4. Mamma Mia! (B) 5. All About Eve (A) 6. Looking for Anne (B-) 7. 2001: A Space Odyssey (B+) 8. The King's Speech (A) 9. How Green Was My Valley (B-) 10. Black Swan (B+) 11. Made in Dagenham (B) 12. Gentleman's Agreement (A-) 13. Barney's Version (A-) 14. Out of Africa (B) 15. The Social Network (A-) 16. The Sound of Music (B+) 17. Pulp Fiction (A) 18. Forrest Gump (A) 19. The Shawshank Redemption (A+) 20. The Illusionist (B) 21. The French Connection (B+) 22. Network (A+) 23. Incendies (A+) 24. Mrs. Miniver (A) 25. A Fistful of Dollars (B+) 26. For A Few Dollars More (B) 27. WALL-E (A+) 28. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (A) 29. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (B) 30. Gigi (B-) 31. I Love You Phillip Morris (B+) 32. How To Train Your Dragon (A) 33. Tarzan (B+) 34. Oliver! (B+) 35. Gosford Park (A-) 36. The Princess Bride (B+) 37. All the President's Men (A-) 38. Oliver Twist (B+) 39. My Fair Lady (A+) 40. Hanna (A-) 41. The Godfather (A+) 42. The Godfather: Part II (A+) 43. The Godfather: Part III (A-) 44. Dog Day Afternoon (A) 45. Taxi Driver (A-) 46. Great Expectations (B+) 47. The Last Airbender (D-) 48. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (A+) 49. Raging Bull (B+) 50. GoodFellas (A-) 51. Spartacus (A+) 52. The Deer Hunter (B+) 53. Reservoir Dogs (A) 54. A Clockwork Orange (A) 55. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (A+) 56. Gone With The Wind (A+) 57. On the Waterfront (A) 58. Thor (B+) 59. The Seventh Seal (A-) 60. Hamlet (A) 61. All the King's Men (A-) 62. Roman Holiday (A+) 63. Rebecca (A-) 64. Notorious (A) 65. American Madness (B+) 66. It Happened One Night (A-) 67. Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (C-) 68. You Can't Take It With You (B+) 69. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (A-) 70. The Heiress (A+) 71. X-Men: First Class (A-) 72. Super 8 (B+) 73. Dr. No (B-) 74. From Russia With Love (A) 75. Captain Blood (A+) 76. The Best Years of Our Lives (A+) 77. The Adventures of Robin Hood (A+) 78. The Treasure of Sierra Madre (A+) 79. From Here To Eternity (A) 80. To Have and Have Not (B) 81. The Big Sleep (A-) 82. Barry Lyndon (B+) 83. The Snake Pit (B+) 84. Hoosiers (C-) 85. Rocky (A-) 86. Midnight in Paris (B+) 87. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (B+) 88. Key Largo (B-) 89. Bridge on the River Kwai (A) 90. The Apartment (A-) 91. Captain America: The First Avenger (A-) 92. Ordinary People (A-) 93. Days of Heaven (B+) 94. Yojimbo (A-) 95. Tangled (A) 96. Cowboys and Aliens (B) 97. Crazy, Stupid, Love (A-) 98. Beginners (A-) 99. They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (A+) 100. Bonnie and Clyde (A-) 101. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (A-) 102. Elmer Gantry (B+) 103. Sanjuro (A-) 104. The Help (B+) 105. Dark Passage (B+) 106. Easy A (B) 107. Rob Roy (B+) 108. The Great McGinty (C+) 109. Christmas in July (B-) 110. The Tree of Life (B+) 111. The Lady Eve (A-) 112. Sullivan's Travels (B+) 113. The Palm Beach Story (A+) 114. A Passage to India (A-) 115. Glengarry Glen Ross (A-) 116. Hail the Conquering Hero (B-) 117. The Great Moment (C+) 118. Platoon (A) 119. Atonement (A+) 120. Patton (A) 121. Pan's Labyrinth (A+) 122. The Debt (B+) 123. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (A-) 124. The Pawnbroker (A-) 125. Double Indemnity (A) 126. Mildred Pierce (B+) 127. The Postman Always Rings Twice (C-) 128. The Great Dictator (A+) 129. La Belle et la Bete (B+) 130. Contagion (B+) 131. The Age of Innocence (B+) 132. The Remains of the Day (A+) 133. His Girl Friday (A) 134. Howards End (B+) 135. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (A) 136. The Lion King 3D (A+) 137. Paths of Glory (B+) 138. Big Fish (B+) 139. The Magnificent Ambersons (B+) 140. Dumbo (A-) 141. Smiles of a Summer Night (A) 142. The Ides of March (B) 143. Moneyball (A-) 144. A Few Good Men (A+) Debatably Rob Reiner's best movie, this was the first of two films he made with Aaron Sorkin (The American President was also good, but not this good, and is mainly memorable as the prototype for The West Wing). A stirring legal drama with great dialogue and the best performances of a number of the cast; it's a damn shame that Nicholson's performace was in the same year as Gene Hackman's work in Unforgiven, because they were two of the strongest supporting performances of the 1990s. The Oscar that year deservedly went to Hackman, but it's a shame that Nicholson didn't get it (it would certainly have been a better third Oscar for Nicholson than As Good As It Gets). I also enjoy the number of minor parts played by actor who would become more famous in later years (especially funny is the presence of John M. Jackson, who later became the boss on JAG, a TV series one imagines was heavily inspired by this movie's success).
Out of random curiosity, I watched Reflections in a Golden Eye from 1967. It struck me as the kind of story that could be remade better today (but would need to be set in the same era). It just did not come together at all. John Huston's bizarre and hilariously literal decision to film the whole thing in a yellow filter was constantly annoying. The Filipino houseboy's performance was one of the most irritating that I've ever seen in a movie. Liz Taylor seemed to be playing a parody rather than a character. Marlon Brando otoh was interesting to watch, in a very uncharacteristic role for him, just at the stage in his life when he was decaying from hot young superstar into Jabba the Hutt. So his casting at just that time, in just that role, was perfect. The young soldier who was the object of Marlon Brando's lust didn't register at all on screen. I know the guy is supposed to be mysterious, but they really needed to cast a young actor with a ton of presence, to compensate for the underwritten yet pivotal role he plays. Someone like Warren Beatty or Robert Redford. Of course both were making better movies that year - Bonnie & Clyde and Barefoot in the Park, respectively, and were somewhat too old by that time anyway but I can't think of an actor of the right age who would have filled the bill instead.
ODO, the sequels for Crow just get clichingly(is that a word?) bad. I watched pt.4 earlier this year with Eddie Furlong and David Boreanaz and I had more fun rooting for David's bad guy than Eddie's Crow. I warn you, it serves line after line of cliche.
Stagecoach (1939) The first of many collaborations between John Wayne and director John Ford, this was a truly excellent film. Many of the western genre cliches are intact such as the alcoholic doctor and the prostitute with the heart of gold but I wouldn't be surprised if this was the film that came up with them. The story is fast paced and well plotted as is the action taking place in the final act. Finally, as usual John Ford gives the audience a spectacular view of Monument Valley as he continued to do for years to come. High Plains Drifter (1973) Another excellent western, this time with an implied supernatural bent. Although Clint Eastwood's character The Stranger is very close to his famed Man With No Name from the Dollars Trilogy, this character is much more sinister. Most of the characters that inhabit the town of Lago are unlikeable and I found myself rooting for The Stranger by the end of the film. I also enjoyed the completely abrupt ending. For my fellow TOS fans, the film features Marianna Hill in the role of Callie Travers. In 1966 she played the role of Dr. Helen Noel in the episode "Dagger of the Mind."