Spoiler: The rest of my list. January 1. Daddy Day Care (✩✩✩½) - TV 2. Wild Child (✩✩) - TV 3. Fling (✩✩✩½) - DVD 4. Arthur 2: On the Rocks (✩✩✩✩) - DVD 5. Havoc (✩✩✩✩) - DVD 6. Contagion (✩✩✩✩½) - On Demand 7. The Blind Side (✩✩✩½) - TV 8. Batman: Under the Red Hood (✩✩✩✩½) - TV 9. The Andromeda Strain (✩✩✩½) - TV 10. The Last Man on Earth (✩✩✩✩) - TV 11. Network (✩✩½) - TV 12. Normal Adolescent Behavior: Havoc 2 (✩) - DVD 13. Starsky & Hutch (✩✩½) - TV 14. The Rundown (✩✩✩½) - TV 15. Mallrats (✩✩✩✩) - DVD 16. My Sister's Keeper (✩✩✩✩½) - TV 17. Valkyrie (✩✩✩½) - TV 18. The Anderson Tapes (✩✩✩) - TV 19. Jack Goes Boating (✩✩✩½) - DVD 20. Margin Call (✩✩✩½) - On Demand 21. Away We Go (✩✩✩½) - TV 22. Superman & Batman: Apocalypse (✩✩✩✩) - TV 23. Pandorum (✩✩½) - TV 24. Paper Man (✩✩✩✩½) - DVD 25. In Like Flint (✩✩½) - TV 26. Blood Diamond (✩✩✩✩) - DVD 27. The Invisible Man (✩✩✩✩) - TV 28. Frankenstein (✩✩✩½) - TV 29. The Dilemma (✩✩✩½) - DVD February 30. That One Night (✩✩✩½) - Internet 31. Sex Drive (✩✩½) - DVD 32. Chronicle (✩✩✩½) - Theatre 33. Couples Retreat (✩✩✩) - DVD 34. RV (✩✩✩) - TV 35. Chaos Theory (✩✩✩✩) - TV 36. Black Swan (✩✩✩✩✩) - DVD 37. One Missed Call: (✩) - DVD - People get phone calls, and on the other end is their own voice just moments before their death, which ends up playing out exactly as it was heard. Sounded great but the movie was pretty bad. It wasn't scary, I couldn't get attached to the characters before they were offed, and the last half-hour lost me. Theatre: 1 DVD/Blu-Ray: 13 TV: 20 On Demand: 2 Internet: 1
Cowboys & Aliens - DVD Rise of the Planet of the Apes - DVD Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - free screenin' Limitless - Netflix Instant The Next Three Days - Netflix Instant Man on a Ledge - free screenin' Red State - Netflix Instant Mars Needs Moms - Netflix Instant S.W.A.T.: Firefight - Netflix Instant Red Tails - free screenin' Resident Evil: Degeneration - Netflix Instant The Last Exorcism - Netflix Instant Frozen - Netflix Instant The Perfect Host - Netflix Instant Tucker & Dale vs Evil - Netflix Instant Brooklyn's Finest - Netflix Instant Stone - Netflix Instant The Woman in Black - free screenin' Salmon Fishing in the Yemen - free screenin' Haywire - free admission The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) - free admission The Artist - free admission Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - free admission *movie that shall not be named* - tech screenin' Hugo - free admission Safe House - free screenin' The Captains - Netflix Instant Troll Hunter - Netflix Instant The Evil Dead (1981) - Netflix Instant There was a tech screenin' at work the other night, and I stayed for it, 'cause I had nothin' better to do...and it was a gawd awful movie, and I can't believe it was made, that its bein' shown to people, or that people are actually payin' to see it! The screenin' was for an event that has sold out!!! 250 in this city have paid real cash money to see that onscreen! Holy crap! Anyway... Got together with a buddy of mine yesterday for a free viewin' of Hugo in 3D. I thought it was a good movie, and even Sacha Baron Cohen was tolerable as the station inspector. I don't think the 3D was necessary, and I'm glad my friend & I got in for free. These days, even a 3D matinee costs $10.50! A girl I know came out to see Safe House with me last night, for a free advance screenin'. Denzel was, of course, awesome, because he's Denzel. And Ryan Reynolds got to kick some ass, too. Sam Shepherd had a supportin' role, and every time I see that guy in a movie, I always think of his line from Thunderheart, "The officer has been bit by a fucking badger!" At friends' apartment for the day, while they are at work, and they have Netflix Instant, so I'm watchin' The Captains, where William Shatner interviews the other captains from the Star Trek franchise. - edit, to add - Just finished watchin' Troll Hunter, a foreign film about college students filmin' a guy who hunts for trolls in the Norway countryside. I had to pause it a few times, because first person shaky cam & subtitles don't mix very well, kept givin' me a bit of a headache. - edit, again, to add - Found The Evil Dead on Netflix...figured, why not? Haven't seen it before...and, holy crap! Bruce Campbell looked so young thirty years ago!!!
Updates in Bold: Bad Boys (8) Daybreakers (5) First Squad: The Moment of Truth (8) Gantz: Perfect Answer (7) King of Thorn (9) Legend of the Millennium Dragon (7) Redline (10) Salt (7) Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (5) Underworld: Awakening (8)
19. Transsiberian A good thriller with a great atmosphere (frozen Russia and the cramped train), but I thought the ending was a bit of a let down. I would have preferred it if Kingsley's character had stayed more ambiguous.
Cowboys & Aliens - DVD Rise of the Planet of the Apes - DVD Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - free screenin' Limitless - Netflix Instant The Next Three Days - Netflix Instant Man on a Ledge - free screenin' Red State - Netflix Instant Mars Needs Moms - Netflix Instant S.W.A.T.: Firefight - Netflix Instant Red Tails - free screenin' Resident Evil: Degeneration - Netflix Instant The Last Exorcism - Netflix Instant Frozen - Netflix Instant The Perfect Host - Netflix Instant Tucker & Dale vs Evil - Netflix Instant Brooklyn's Finest - Netflix Instant Stone - Netflix Instant The Woman in Black - free screenin' Salmon Fishing in the Yemen - free screenin' Haywire - free admission The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) - free admission The Artist - free admission Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - free admission Ted & Eric's Billion Dollar Movie - tech screenin' Hugo - free admission Safe House - free screenin' The Captains - Netflix Instant Troll Hunter - Netflix Instant The Evil Dead (1981) - Netflix Instant Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace 3D - tech screenin' Underworld Awakening 3D - free admission Went to the tech screenin' of TPM this mornin' at my work...yes, I've seen the movie before. I've even seen it on the big screen before, back when it was originally released to theaters. But I'm pretty sure this was the blu ray version, since Yoda was CGI & not a puppet. The added 3D effect worked really well for the CGI in the movie, especially the pod race. And Darth Maul's entrance at the hanger bay door is even more strikin' with the added element of 3D. But I'm glad I got to see it for free, 'cause the movie as a whole really is gawd awful... Used my employee discount to see the latest Underworld film for free. Even had the theater to myself. I haven't seen any of the previous movies all the way through, just in bits & pieces, but there was a recap at the beginnin' of this one, so that helped a lot. Not too bad a movie, may go ahead & watch the first three now.
Spoiler: #1-9. 1. My Week With Marilyn (B-) 2. Fantasia 2000 (B+) 3. Blade Runner (B) 4. The Hidden Fortress (A-) 5. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (B+) 6. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (A+) 7. The Descendants (A-) 8. Monsieur Lazhar (A) 9. The Prestige (A+) 10. Blood Simple (A-) 11. The Big Lebowski (B+) 12. West Side Story (A-) I've had this Blu-ray since it was released in mid-November, but it took me this long to get around to watching it (among other things, I was under the impression the movie was 3 hours long for some reason, so when I was budgeting time to watch movies there rarely seemed to be that much). Like most old musicals, it's a bit campy (a modern film version would probably cut down on the more ballet-esque dancing for the street gangs), but it has a numbr of very powerful sequences. Compared to the other Wise/Robbins musical to win Best Picture in the 1960s, this also feels considerably less bloated (My Fair Lady had the same problem; three hours for a musical is pushing it). The story has inherited some of the characterization issues of its source material (I'll have to remember the old "kill her brother" method of seduction). Cinema: 4 Home Video: 8 Computer: 0
1. Marie Antoinette (2006) - 2.5/5. 2. Sherlock Holmes - A Game Of Shadows (2011) - 4/5 3. The Muppets (2011) - 4.5/5 4. 2012 (2009) - 2.25/5 5. The Sound of Music (1965) - 4.5/5 6. True Grit (2010) - 4/5 7. Star Wars - The Phantom Menace 3D I've decided not to grade it, as I found the 3D impressive, but the film did one thing it made feel happier. After all these years, I still find problems with the story, but was great to see this film with the 3D improvements.
1) The Artist (2011) - A+ 2) Midnight in Paris (2011) - B 3) Tree of Life (2011) - F 4) The Descendants (2011) - B 5) Drive (2011) - B 6) Hanna (2011) - C What a strange film this was. Ronan was great, the action was pretty good, but I found the story kind of lacking. I guess it was supposed to be kind of a fairy tale-ish thing, but I honestly didn't see it as such. Also, the beginning and the end were very good, but the middle of the film felt really draggy. Theatre: 2 BluRay: 2 (+1) On Demand: 0 Internet: 2
20. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy A very good spy thriller with a great cast. It's a slow film, maybe a bit too slow in the beginning, but it gets better and the ending is pretty much perfect.
Spoiler: #1-9. 1. My Week With Marilyn (B-) 2. Fantasia 2000 (B+) 3. Blade Runner (B) 4. The Hidden Fortress (A-) 5. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (B+) 6. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (A+) 7. The Descendants (A-) 8. Monsieur Lazhar (A) 9. The Prestige (A+) 10. Blood Simple (A-) 11. The Big Lebowski (B+) 12. West Side Story (A-) 13. The Hours (A-) Having seen Stephen Daldry's fourth film recently, I decided to finally get around to seeing his second, which is the only one of them that I hadn't seen previously (though my memories of Billy Elliot are almost a decade old; may have to revisit that movie as well). I read the novel this was based on last year (it won the Pulitzer). It's a highly literary, arty piece of work, and highly internal in ways that don't always translate well to film, but I think Daldry and David Hare do a pretty good job. The cinematic intercutting of the three timelines emphasizes the parallels between the characters much more directly than the chapter format of the book, which can be a bit unsubtle at the beginning, but you get used to it. The acting is superb, though of the three leads I thought that Kidman, who won the Oscar, was the least-compelling. Ed Harris makes a big impression in his two scenes. Cinema: 4 Home Video: 8 Computer: 1
2011 and 2012 (so far) have been more TV years for me than movie years. I haven't seen any new movies in 2012 yet but that'll change in May. So far: The Andromeda Strain (1971) Transatlantic Tunnel (1935) Crack in the World (1964) Normally my choices aren't this old.
Cowboys & Aliens - DVD Rise of the Planet of the Apes - DVD Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - free screenin' Limitless - Netflix Instant The Next Three Days - Netflix Instant Man on a Ledge - free screenin' Red State - Netflix Instant Mars Needs Moms - Netflix Instant S.W.A.T.: Firefight - Netflix Instant Red Tails - free screenin' Resident Evil: Degeneration - Netflix Instant The Last Exorcism - Netflix Instant Frozen - Netflix Instant The Perfect Host - Netflix Instant Tucker & Dale vs Evil - Netflix Instant Brooklyn's Finest - Netflix Instant Stone - Netflix Instant The Woman in Black - free screenin' Salmon Fishing in the Yemen - free screenin' Haywire - free admission The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) - free admission The Artist - free admission Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - free admission Ted & Eric's Billion Dollar Movie - tech screenin' Hugo - free admission Safe House - free screenin' The Captains - Netflix Instant Troll Hunter - Netflix Instant The Evil Dead (1981) - Netflix Instant Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace 3D - tech screenin' Underworld Awakening 3D - free admission We Need to Talk About Kevin - free admission The Innkeepers - free admission Two new movies today, used my employee discount to get into 'em, and took a friend with me to see The Innkeepers. WNTAK is a very heavy film to watch. Tilda Swinton carries the movie, and its a rough story for sure...really will not watch it again, but it is worth checkin' out. Innkeepers was not scary, at all. But it did have Kelly McGillis, and I haven't seen her in a movie since she played Charlie in Top Gun. And my friend kept gettin' scared durin' the movie...which wasn't scary...so, her bein' scared made me laugh. And I feel kinda bad about that...
Spoiler: Rest of List 1. Holy Rollers (B-) 2. The Kids Are All Right (B) 3. History of the World, Part 1 (C-) 4. Blazing Saddles (A+) 5. Scarface [1932] (B-) 6. The Purple Rose of Cairo (A) 7. Rampart (B+) 8. We Need To Talk About Kevin (A+) 9. Tucker and Dale vs Evil (B+) 10. They Live (B-) 11. Darling Companion (D) 12. A Dangerous Method (B-) 13. Haywire (C+) 14. Mission: Impossible (B+) 15. Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (B+) 16. Twixt (C+) 17. Burn After Reading (B+) 18. Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy (B-) 19. Drive (A) 20. Crazy Stupid Love (A) 21. The Omega Man (D) 22. The Adjustment Bureau (B+) 23. The Artist (A-) The Artist: It's not the best picture of the year (although I think it has a good chance of winning), but I found it to be delightful. It wisely plays off silent comedies more than silent drama (although it does go to dark places at times, it's smart enough to not stay in them for too long). Honestly, the only thing that I didn't like was the oft-complained about use of Bernard Herrmann's Vertigo score in one of the final reels. The movie makes reference to other movies with enough frequency that the use of Herrmann's music can't help but result in associations with the Hitchcock movie, even though it doesn't seem to be the intended effect. It's distracting -- especially when the movie mostly has an original score. And although it's being sold as a "silent" movie, I found the film's use of sound to be very effective, as well as its strategic use of silence (most of the movie isn't "silent" since it features an original score -- but, then again, most "silent" movies did the same). Theatres: 8 +1 Home Video: 14 Computer: 1
Spoiler: #1-9. 1. My Week With Marilyn (B-) 2. Fantasia 2000 (B+) 3. Blade Runner (B) 4. The Hidden Fortress (A-) 5. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (B+) 6. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (A+) 7. The Descendants (A-) 8. Monsieur Lazhar (A) 9. The Prestige (A+) 10. Blood Simple (A-) 11. The Big Lebowski (B+) 12. West Side Story (A-) 13. The Hours (A-) 14. Lady and the Tramp (B) Walt Disney expresses his love for dogs and deals the Siamese cat breed a blow from which it has never recovered. For "dog people", the simple domestic scenes seen from Lady's POV are very cute. It's an effortlessly charming little film, with typically excellent animation, but it lacks anything to really put it over into the realm of greatness. The climax also features a dog whom we've previously seen defeat three other larger dogs in combat facing off against a rat, so the stakes never really get off the ground. Cinema: 4 Home Video: 9 Computer: 1
Updates in Bold: Bad Boys (8) Daybreakers (5) First Squad: The Moment of Truth (8) Gantz: Perfect Answer (7) King of Thorn (9) Legend of the Millennium Dragon (7) Redline (10) Safe House (2012) (8) Salt (7) Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (5) Underworld: Awakening (8)
I should probably see Lady and the Tramp again soon. It's been ages since I've seen it and I still consider the Spaghetti and Meatball scene one of the classic, greatest love scenes in all of cinema.
Cowboys & Aliens - DVD Rise of the Planet of the Apes - DVD Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - free screenin' Limitless - Netflix Instant The Next Three Days - Netflix Instant Man on a Ledge - free screenin' Red State - Netflix Instant Mars Needs Moms - Netflix Instant S.W.A.T.: Firefight - Netflix Instant Red Tails - free screenin' Resident Evil: Degeneration - Netflix Instant The Last Exorcism - Netflix Instant Frozen - Netflix Instant The Perfect Host - Netflix Instant Tucker & Dale vs Evil - Netflix Instant Brooklyn's Finest - Netflix Instant Stone - Netflix Instant The Woman in Black - free screenin' Salmon Fishing in the Yemen - free screenin' Haywire - free admission The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) - free admission The Artist - free admission Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - free admission Ted & Eric's Billion Dollar Movie - tech screenin' Hugo - free admission Safe House - free screenin' The Captains - Netflix Instant Troll Hunter - Netflix Instant The Evil Dead (1981) - Netflix Instant Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace 3D - tech screenin' Underworld Awakening 3D - free admission We Need to Talk About Kevin - free admission The Innkeepers - free admission Big Miracle - free admission Chronicle - free admission Underworld: Unrated Extended Cut - DVD The Grey - free admission Went up to Lake Creek to see Big Miracle yesterday before work. The whole movie is in the freakin' trailer. I don't care if its based on a true story or not, studios need to stop doin' that. Got cut from work early last night, wound up usin' my employee discount to get into an almost sold out showin' of Chronicle. Pretty good movie, remindin' me quite a bit of Unbreakable, in that it was a real world view of superheroes, no capes, no masks, no tights, and no clue what do with newfound powers. Watchin' the unrated extended cut of the first Underworld movie on DVD now...figured since I've seen the fourth, might as well watch the first three, too. - edit, to add - Went to see The Grey tonight... Kinda disappointed...Liam Neeson wasn't nearly the bad ass I was hopin' to see taken on wolves in the frozen wasteland. And it probably didn't help that part of the pre-show includin' a clip from Sesame Street where he was takin' orders from Ernie & a rubber duck. But, on the plus side, the preshow also included the trailer for Darkman, one of the first Neeson movies I ever watched. Can't remember if I saw it before or after Leap of Faith... Plannin' an all day triple feature tomorrow - three free movies on the big screen in a row!
21. The Descendants I guess my biggest problem with this film was that I had read so many good things about it that my expectations were too high. It's a good film with great performances by the whole cast, but I liked Payne's About Schmidt (which shares some similiarities with this) better.
I haven't seen About Schmidt, but the Payne movie I did like better than the Descendants was Sideways. It's a little more lighter, even though there are some dark aspects. I just don't remember Sideways being as depressing as this movie was.
Spoiler: Rest of List 1. Holy Rollers (B-) 2. The Kids Are All Right (B) 3. History of the World, Part 1 (C-) 4. Blazing Saddles (A+) 5. Scarface [1932] (B-) 6. The Purple Rose of Cairo (A) 7. Rampart (B+) 8. We Need To Talk About Kevin (A+) 9. Tucker and Dale vs Evil (B+) 10. They Live (B-) 11. Darling Companion (D) 12. A Dangerous Method (B-) 13. Haywire (C+) 14. Mission: Impossible (B+) 15. Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (B+) 16. Twixt (C+) 17. Burn After Reading (B+) 18. Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy (B-) 19. Drive (A) 20. Crazy Stupid Love (A) 21. The Omega Man (D) 22. The Adjustment Bureau (B+) 23. The Artist (A-) 24. Lady and the Tramp (B) Lady and the Tramp: This isn't one of the greatest animated Disney films, but it's an enjoyable one, with a deservedly iconic scene (the spaghetti dinner, of course). That the Tramp faces off against an easy adversary at the end didn't bother me; the real drama at the end of the movie is whether or not Lady and the rest will be able to get to the pound before the Tramp is put to sleep. I'd almost prefer it if the animals didn't speak; Lady doesn't utter a word in the first ten minutes and those scenes work beautifully. There's also the unfortunate fact that when the animals do speak the movie indulges in a few rather unsavory racial stereotypes (the slanted-eyed Siamese cats being the most notable offender, but not the only one) that reflect the period it was made. They're not major elements of the film, but they do occur, and I'd hate to have to explain them to children. Theatres: 8 Home Video: 15 +1 Computer: 1