Remember last week when I watched nine films in seven days? Turns out I was slacking.

Have you ever gone to the freezer, taken out a carton of ice cream, put a scoop or two in the bowl and then walked away content? And then a little while later, you go back, and grab yourself another scoop? Then even later, you dispense with the formality of the bowl and the scoop and you just start eating from the carton?

Before you know it, your face is a mess of pralines and cream, and you ‘re staring in a state of sudden self-loathing at the empty carton and licked-clean spoon?

That’s basically me right now.

 

Here’s The Week at Hand…

 

Screenings
CELESTE AND JESSE FOREVER – Looking forward to writing about this one.
SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED – This one a bit less-so, though it was solid.
BREATHLESS – Of the classics I’ve watched for the first time in 2012, this makes the top five easily.
THE BOURNE LEGACY – I think I liked this more than you.

Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Never Seen
THE RULES OF THE GAME – Six down, four to go.
MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN – How did they ever allow Sandler to remake this?

Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Watched Before
50/50 – Sometimes you just grab the first blu-ray on the shelf.
THE AMERICAN – Might be one of the more underrated movies of the last few years.
ANNIE HALL – I’d offer an opinion, but it’d just start an argument between Fredo and Sam.
ONCE – Still as beautiful as the first time I watched it.
ATTACK THE BLOCK – Know what? It’s kinda violent.
SE7EN – So I got sick on Wednesday, which prompted a Fincher-watching bender.
THE GAME – My blu-ray player couldn’t read my dvd too well so that Criterion blu-ray can’t come fast enough.
FIGHT CLUB – I actually hoped to fall asleep watching this. Imagine my grumpiness when I lay awake to the sounds of The Pixies at 1:30am
PANIC ROOM – So what’s the ugly Fincher step-child: this or BUTTON?
BEING JOHN MALKOVICH – Birthday gift, finally got to actually putting it in the player.

Boxscore for The Year
143 First-Timers, 138 Re-Watched
70 Screenings
281 Movies in Total

How’s about you – seen anything good?

23 Replies to “Days of The Week (Films Watched Aug 4 – Aug 10)”

  1. It feels weird going two weeks without stepping into a cinema. That will be remedied today with both Bourne Legacy and Total Recall at the Lightbox.

    Cottage DVD Rewatches:
    Meet the Fockers – I always have a mini marathon of these films at the cottage. Good ways to spend an afternoon.
    In Bruges – Looking forward to Seven Psychopaths
    Little Fockers – After rewatching the previous two, this unnecessary and underwhelming third film sticks out in a big way.
    Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark – I think this film’s underrated.
    The Artist – Looks great on an old 4:3 TV 😛

    Other Rewatches:
    Rushmore – The Criterion blu-ray was waiting for me when I got home.

    1. Sorry I didn’t have a chance to catch up with you at Lightbox – saw you but kept getting too distracted to say ‘hi’.

      I keep forgetting to pick up a copy of THE ARTIST- it’s gonna feel a bit weird watching that 4:3 on an HDTV. I wonder how many people are going to zoom way in and watch it wrong.

  3. I rather enjoyed Panic Room, I find myself re-watching it far more than I do The Game or Alien 3

    First-time:
    Charade – Was alright, but not as good as everyone led me to believe.

    California Suite – Loved the cast but not all the stories worked.

    Bell, Book and Cradle – The wife and I have been going through some older films on Netflix. This is a standard rom-com but the casting was decent (e.g. Jimmy Stewart, Jack Lemmon, and Kim Novak)

    Houseboat – See above comment but substitute the cast with Cary Grant and Sophia Loren instead.

    The Dictator – I laughed in spots but overall this felt like it should have starred Adam Sandler. The film really needed to focus on the political satire a lot more than he did. Also, Anna Faris’ comedic talents are wasted in the film.

    Re-watch:
    Jackie Brown – Still love this film, it gets better with age. Plus I got to introduce my wife to the film and she really liked it…which is always a bonus.

    Clue – Wife had never seen it before. The film is silly but it still makes me laugh.

    The Piano – I had forgotten how good Holly Hunter and Harvey Keitel are in this film.

    The Crying Game – Still enjoy this film, I cannot believe it has been 20 years since this came out.

    1. Yeah, JACKIE BROWN still holds the title of ‘Tarantino Step-Child’, doesn’t it? I wonder why? We all realize what he was trying to do now, and we can all agree that the marriage of Elmore Leonard and Qt dialogue is a glorious thing. Why isn’t this movie more revered?

  4. Woah great movies! Fincherrrrrrrr. Breathless is so wonderful. I really ought to rewatch it, but it’s anyways there in my film studies syllabus this year 🙂

    I had intended this month to be the crowning glory of the year. So not happening.

    Firsts: Haywire– Yes, I do like the Carano vs Fassy fight more than Batman vs Bale. But apart from that, it was an okay movie.
    Margaret– I loved it, but it was soooo flawed. But then that made me love it more. I can’t explain it.
    Swingers– I have seen it. Sent you a mail.
    2 Days in New York– As a critic says in the movie, I liked the theme more than the execution. Julie Delpy is adorable though.

    1. Good little week of watching there!

      We’ll discuss SWINGERS soon enough. Until then, thank-you for the reminder that I still need to buy myself a copy of HAYWIRE.

    2. Carano vs Fass better than Bat vs Bane ? No way ! Sure there was the realism and Carano’s awesome thigh move :p but the latter had me thinking Bane had completely broken the Bat, pivotal scene in the movie as well.

  5. Interesting question you bring up about which is Fincher’s stepchild. Guaging “critics” response, I feel it may be BUTTON just because it’s always accused of being pretentious and inorganic in relation to Fincher’s natural sensibilities which at first used to make me doubt my love for it, but it’s still – maybe – my #1 or #2 for him. So…)

    1. You’re preaching to the choir sir – I count myself a big fan of BENJAMIN BUTTON, though it wasn’t always so. In my original review I expressed my disappointment. It wasn’t until a rewatch, where I focused on different details of the film that I fell for it pretty hard.

      No though, I have stepped into the light, and staunchly defend it.

  6. I think Panic Room is underrated, but I’m sure I’m close to alone in that.

    Anyway,

    New to me:
    Meshes of the Afternoon: Maya Deren’s odd little short was better than I thought it would be, but I really expected it to suck, so…
    The Last Wave: More spiritual than I am, and I liked it more than I should have.
    The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums: Evidently there’s a good print of this, but Hulu doesn’t have it.
    Brokeback Mountain: I get why people liked this. I liked it, too.
    A Touch of Zen: Slow starting, but when it picks up, it really picks up.
    Captain America: The First Avenger: Not the worst pre-Avengers film, but certainly not the best, either.

    Rewarches:
    Dune: I know it sucks, but I love how audaciously campy this is.
    Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon: Just as good as it was 12 years ago. 12 years ago? Damn, I’m old.

    1. That’s a great cross-section of films you pulled for the week, sir!

      I think BROKEBACK will age spectacularly well, if for no other reason than the fact that the film is visually stunning. I remember re-watching it for our Film Locker podcast series last summer, and being taken aback at how I could have forgotten how lush-looking a film it is.

  7. Four in the theater this week, making up for last week’s zero. The one that took me by surprise was THE LUMIERE BROTHERS FIRST FILMS, a compilation of 85 Lumiere Bros. “actualities” that was made in 1995 for the centenary of cinema. It was narrated by Bertrand Tavernier. I don’t know why a French film institute had a French director give his narration in English, but I’m definitely not complaining- he is very charming, as well as informative and amusing in turns. His appreciation for the artistic quality of many of the films and simply seeing so many more of them than I ever had before gave me an entirely new appreciation for the Lumieres.

    1. Your comments always leave me feeling so uncultured Helen.
      Thanks for the tip – I’ll add it to the to-see list for the next time I’m feeling like some silent goodness.

      This another special event, or is it the sort of thing I’ll be able to find on dvd/streaming?

    2. Would it help if I mentioned that the two new movies I saw last week were TOTAL RECALL and THE BOURNE LEGACY? And that nobody loves BOURNE LEGACY more than I do? ^_^

      The Lumiere compilation is on DVD and available through Amazon, although OOP so priced a bit steep. It isn’t on Netflix unfortunately. (I checked into it after the showing so I could recommend it to some friends who are classic movie buffs.)

    3. There we go – now I feel better about myself!

      We still have a small handful of great indie bricks & mortar dvd rental spots here in Toronto, so perhaps one of them will have it. Thanks for the tip, I’ll make sure to look for it next time I’m there!

  8. I was so surprised by The Newsroom my movie watching took a back seat this week, excellent show it is, all the more because of Emily Mortimer 🙂

    Firsts:
    Margaret / Can’t say I didn’t enjoy it, but like Nikhat said there are flaws and the looong running time didn’t help either. Anna Paquin’s performance stood out.

    You Can Count On Me / Kenneth Lonergan again, better and more concise than Margaret.

    Wild Bill / Delivers a UK street movie with heart, better than I expected.

    Rewatches:
    Easy A / Still as fresh and fun as the first time ha.

    1. I’ve been meaning to rewatch EASY A for ages, and the only reason why I haven’t i because I tend not to look at my wife’s dvd shelf as often as I should.

      One of these days I should finally give MARGARET a watch…if only to shut Corey up.

  9. Stellar week, my man! Glad you had a Fincher marathon! He’s one of my favorites 🙂

    I watched:
    The Dark Knight Rises (better the second time and I didn’t have to go out and pee)
    My Big Fat Greek Wedding (still pretty funny but I hate the dad).

  10. Damn, I’m never on time for these. Let’s see… from 8/4-8/10, I did:

    -Smoke
    REALLY dug this movie. It’s right in line with the 90s indie vibe.

    -Dracula (1992)
    A rewatch, one that greatly downgraded my opinion of the movie.

    -The Fog (1980)

    -Night of the Demon

    -Freddy vs. Jason

    -Galaxy Quest
    I was pretty surprised by how much I enjoyed this movie.

    -It’s Pat

    -Black Legion

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