Phew!

"Young Adult". The trailers make it seem like a comedy, and while it certainly is funny, I wouldn't really say "comedy". More of a character study, of an unattractive character. Charlize Theron does a fantastic job.

The original "Italian Job" from the sixties, with Michael Caine. I was hoping for something along the lines of "Get Carter", but it's more like "Carry On Thieving". Should have twigged when I saw that Benny Hill was in the cast. Not really my cup of tea.

I watched "The Iron Lady". I didn't think it was very good. It zipped around so much in time that you never really ended up caring about what was happening at all.

I would have preferred the movie picking one specific time period or crisis (maybe Falklands War?) instead. It just felt entirely too rushed and like they made a 10 hour movie and just cut out most of it to fit into the allotted time.

"The Hustler". Where can you go wrong, really, with the young Paul Newman? I hadn't seen it for years, and don't think I'd noticed before what a visually striking film it is. We really lost something when we moved to colour in the movies.

Noting both of those write ups.

I usually keep away from films made in the 70s but I watched "Dog Day Afternoon" recently and was just blown away by the quality of it. (It opens with Al Pacino about to rob a bank and the film is the hour by hour story of how that all pans out.) Great acting all around. Brilliant capturing of atmosphere and characters. Fabulous (and oscar-winning) screenplay. Intense!

That's one of my favourite movies - it was pretty daring at the time, too.

That's interesting! I think it has kept its edginess and relevance. I think it's going to get on my favourites list too.

I wondered why it didn't win more Oscars (as it was nominated for the big ones) so I looked it up and that year was a "clean sweep" for "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". Them's the breaks, I guess.

"Defendor" in which Woody Harrelson portrays a mentally challenged person who seeks self improvement by donning the persona of a superhero. There are many comical angles to this (he uses marbles as a weapon of choice, wasps in a glass bottle grenade and chewing gum and a firecracker to open unlocked doors to name a few). But the real point of the movie is that society allows this person to put himself in harm's way and that life doesn't care who you are or what your situation is. A very touching tale told by good performances by all the crafts involved in its making.

PS(edit) It takes place in The Hammer (Hamilton, Ontario).

If you count movies on television, then the last film I watched was "Wait until Dark" (1967), starring Audrey Hepburn as a blind woman on whom three criminals work a complicated confidence game, at least at first.... It is pretty startling at times, and features Alan Arkin as one of the creepiest and coldest villains I've ever seen. It's a real nail-biter! And a sountrack by Henry Manicini ("Pink Panther") to boot!

"Paris, Texas".

And, yeah, it's wonderful, it's beautiful, it's incredibly filmed, the music is flawless, the performances are wrenching, it's got that ricochet thing going that you see in great films where small things start to echo and build up a sense of depth (for example, all the conversations that take place over the phone, over walkie talkies, over distance - nobody ever sits and looks at the person they are talking to face to face, in this movie....)

But I didn't like it as much as I wanted to. I just kept thinking about that kid, a kid who needs his home, his friends, his toys, the sense that the people he loves will be there tomorrow. The kid in this movie is a plot device and a symbol, instead of being a real kid, and that's the weakness of the film. the only thing that keeps it from being perfect, IMO.

"House of Games"

I liked this quite a lot. Can't give away anything about the plot, except that it's about con games and deception. Nice noir feeling to it. In a move which I assume was intentional, our protagonist is highly unlikeable, while the bad guys are pretty appealing. It's possible that she's just a dreadful actress, but Mamet usually knows what he's doing, so I'm working from the assumption that she's supposed to be so flat - it certainly makes the final twist work. Worth seeing if you like modern noir.

"The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp"

Considering it was made in England in 1942-43, a very nuanced look at war and soldiers. Fantastic performances, and Deborah Kerr is radiant, especially in the 1902 role.

Last night I watched 'The Book of Eli', quite violent in places but not overly so and with a marvellous twist at the very end.

"Take the Money and Run", Woody Allen's first on-screen lead (after supporting in What's Up, Pussycat?" & "Casino Royale"), second director (after "What's Up, Tiger-Lily?") and third writer ("What's New, Pussycat?" & "What's Up, Tiger-Lily?") credits. Pure comic genius through the whole film. It is a mockumentary of the life of a bank robber who never got the goods through his own fault and through tragic coincidences. He's like a cartoon character, blown to smithereens in one scene only to be resurrected whole for the next, but without the explosions (Oops, there is that candle/TNT in disguise bit...).

One of my favorite quotes from a Woody Allen movie was in "Take the Money and Run". When he was going to rob the woman in the park and ended up talking to her, he said "After fifteen minutes I wanted to marry her, and after half an hour I completely gave up the idea of stealing her purse." I think his earlier movies were some of the funniest ever made. "Bananas", "Sleeper" and "Love and Death" are also hilarious.

Just watched two: "Teen Witch" and "Matilda." Both were very good, with excellent messages (the former) and a happy ending (both). And, oh, yeah, good music. Only problem is, there was a lot of visual stuff (more so in the latter movie), so it was somewhat difficult for me to follow at times.

We've been having a movie marathon the last week while I was sewing Halloween costumes. My friends were over several days this week and needed some entertainment in between fittings, so they raided my DVDs. It started with a Halloween themed week - we watched 'Zombieland', 'Shaun of the Dead', and Jeff Dunham's new show, 'Minding the Monsters'. Then they moved on to Disney/Pixar - 'Up', 'The Emperor's New Groove', 'Wall-E' and possibly one or two others. I lost track after so many.

If you like Jeff Dunham, you really need to see his new special. It's hilarious!

A couple of movies this last few days. First, "Serpico" - I'd never seen it, for some reason. I was kinda "meh" but my son liked it. Gotta admit, though, Al Pacino is a fantastic actor - it's something we are so used to that we don't always appreciate just how good he was, and to some extent still is.

We also watched "Tremors 4". Enjoyable, and quite a lot of fun. And, since this is the fourth in a horror franchise, that is saying quite a lot.

Well, during the hurricane I was trapped in my home with nothing but my cat and my cable TV to comfort me (which luckily did NOT go out), so I watched quite a few movies. Here are the best:

(1) the original "Frankenstein" movie from 1931. Wow. You've got to see it if you haven't. I can really appreciate it now the way I couldn't when I saw it on TV as a teenager. There's so much to it, the lighting, the music, I can't even explain; and

(2) "Electoral Dysfunction", a very enlightening documentary about the electoral system (or should I say non-system?) in America. Funny, too; and

(3) "King of Kings" with Jeffrey Hunter playing Jesus Christ, although it seemed like it was more about Herod, Barabbas, and Pilate than Jesus, but it's still worth watching.

Recent DVD spins:

Disney's "Sleeping Beauty". has some good behind the scenes extras and commentary by the artists who drew it.

"The Gate" where tweens battle the emergence of an otherworldly creature into our world through a hole in the ground. Some good Harryhausen type stop-action animations. The Director commentary reveals some forced perspective shots that were unbelievable. Where I thought it was composited tiny claymation figures in some scenes were really full sized humans in rubber costumes off in the distance with all the environment and actors suspended in the air in front of the camera. That was worth the look-see.

A Grindhouse Double Feature of "Star Odyssey" and "Prisoners of the Lost Universe". Is there a class of films called D? They define what it was to waste a Saturday afternoon at a theater watching tripe rot on the screen.

"How to Steal a Million", a classic William Wyler romantic farce created to spotlight Audrey Hepburn's return to the screen after her split with Ferrer. This is a good performance by Peter O'Toole. Some good commentary by Eli Wallach and Wylter's daughter, herself now a director/producer. There is also the A&E's Biography short of Audrey Hepburn's life.

"True Blood" an early Jeff ("Lawnmowerman") Fahey lead vehicle. A fair example of teen gang warfare in NYC noir.

"Mystery Men" which seems to grow in my estimation as a good comedy each time I see it. A Darkhorse Comics based film from before Darkhorse became as respected as Marvel for its comics. A good rock music soundtrack rather than scored effort. Tom Waits hustling 90 yr old women is hilarious!

"Objective Burma" A good historical representation thrown together as a wartime recruitment and propaganda film starring Errol Flynn and some great character actors as his paratrooper squad. Bonus features are two recruiting shorts: "The Rear Gunner" with Burgess Meredith as a flying fortress tail gunner and "The Tanks Are Coming"


EDIT to add: Gracious1 inspired me to order "King of Kings" thank you. I will research acquiring the others mentioned here this week too.

"Mystery Men" is one of the favourites around our house. So many great little moments.

I'm still waiting to see "Mystery Men". looks like a fun movie.

Last night I was more or less "bed ridden" so watched 3 movies in a row:

1) Quantum of Solace
Even though I'd seen it before. Craig, as Bond, what's not to like? - even beaten to a pulp, he somehow still comes off as quintessential lol. The only part that bugs me about those first two movies is how much "M" distrusts Bond - I think they overemphasized that aspect more than they should have.

2) The King's Speech, for the first time.
I cried through most of it, although people much younger than me probably wouldn't understand why and

3) Melancholia. Complete waste of time in my opinion, unless you're wowed by artsy-fartsy visuals or are a fan of the so-called "acting abilities" of the "fang-y" Kirsten Dunst (which I am not).

I really loved "The King's Speech".

"The Adventures of Don Juan" starring Errol Flynn good costumes and sword fighting stunts and that's about it.

"Billy Jack" still a pertinent comment on society and that's a shame because the movie is forty years old or two generations by some measures.

"Prey" (2007) See "Melancholia" above but switch Weller for Dunst. I learned: fairly fresh lion turds are called scat and they are kinda warm to the touch. No sensory input was given for how they smell, though that was tested too.


Edit: hope you feel better Jakeroo. Too much good living got you down?