In the back of my brain, I suddenly hear a clock ticking where my film-watching is concerned.

As I’ve mentioned once or twice, I’ve taken to recording classics off TCM and keeping them on my PVR for down moments when I want to watch something new. However, along with TIFF coming up very quickly, we’re also quickly coming up on the return of the TV season. In other words, the time of year where I’ll need more space on the PVR’s hard drive. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to watch them just so I can clear the space…especially since they don’t take up all that much space given that they are recorded in SD. Still, part of thinks “If you don’t watch ’em soon, when will you watch them?”

This of course is not the reason to watch a film…it’s the sort of habit my friend Simon would mock as quantity over quality.

Of course in two weeks I’ll find my self at the intersection of quality and quantity, so perhaps I should just take it easy until then

 

Here’s The Week at Hand…

 

Screenings
PREMIUM RUSH – This was just the sort of film I needed to end the summer.

Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Never Seen
ADAM’S RIB – Turns out I have a bad habit of mixing up Spencer Tracy and Cary Grant
HIGH AND LOW – I’ve seen this for sale in my local used dvd shop many times, I’m really wishing I’d just bought it blind.
THE FORTUNE COOKIE – That’s ten Wilders down, fifteen to go.
 

Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Watched Before
CONTAGION – Looks awful pretty for a movie about sick people.
AMADEUS – A friend came and got my stereo system hooked up properly; I gave it a test drive with this film. Damn!
MAN ON THE MOON – Watching AMADEUS got me in the mood for further Milos.
THE PEOPLE VS. LARRY FLYNT – Like I said…
CHICKEN RUN – It had been far too long since I watched this last.
ZODIAC – Two weeks later, the Fincher series continues.

Boxscore for The Year
152 First-Timers, 146 Re-Watched
74 Screenings
298 Movies in Total (The OCD part of me really wanted to stay up late last night and watch two more films)

How’s about you – seen anything good?

25 Replies to “Days of The Week (Films Watched Aug 18 – Aug 24)”

  1. Sadly another busy week so I only squeezed in three films:

    First-time:

    Jules and Jim – Such a lovely piece of filmmaking. The best of the few New Wave films I have seen.

    Pirate Radio (aka. The Boat that Rocked) – Loved the cast and enjoyed the film for the most part. I wish the story was more focused though.

    Ran – Loved the film. The last act needed to be edited down a bit further.

    1. Pity you didn’t come see Jules at the Lightbox this summer – looked glorious on a big screen. RAN was actually one of my first experiences with Cinematheque back when they operated out of the AGO.

      As for PIRATE RADIO, I still need to catch up with it…

  2. The chickens are revolting!

    HIGH AND LOW is my favorite Kurosawa and that’s saying a lot, seeing as how he’s my favorite director.

    The Indianapolis Museum of Art is the main repertory cinema here and this week showed BILL CUNNINGHAM NEW YORK. I don’t often watch documentaries but I’m glad I made an exception as it’s as good as the reviews claimed.

    1. For once, Mr. Tweedy, we agree…

      I fell hard for documentaries a few years ago, so if you’re ever looking for recommendations, look no further. That said, I still haven’t seen CUNNINGHAM.

      I love every bit of Kurosawa I’ve seen, but sadly, I’m still way behind.

  4. I’ve been meaning to watch Chicken Run and Pirates! back to back! Claymation gives movies such a cool homemade feel.

    New:
    Expendables 2 / Mindless action, terrible writing and surprisingly short. It’s the exact opposite of Transformers’ famous excess, this could’ve been better for a sequel.

    Detachment / Adrian Brody plays a very convincing part, I liked the focus on teachers rather than the students.

    Best Exotic Marigold Hotel / Argh, old people lol, I wanted to like this but all I got from it was an entertainin Dev Patel.

    ReWatches:
    Despicable Me / Swift animation and witty writing, the sequel should be just as good. Did anyone else think the minions were inspired by the alien kids from Toy Story?

    Treasure Planet / The animation holds up surprisingly well, and I had no idea about JGL voicing the main character. Next up is The Iron Giant.

    The Hunger Games / I was so engrossed by the story the first time I didn’t notice how sparse and slow moving it was. Although if there’s 3 sequels to come this will work in it’s favour as part of the franchise.

    2. Detachment is worth a watch . Especially If you enjoyed any of these: Monsieur Lazhar, The Class or Half Nelson .

  5. What I saw this week?

    First-Timers: Nostalghia, Les Carabineers, Voyage in Time, One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich, and The Sacrifice

    Re-Watches: Ruthless People, The Bad News Bears Go to Japan, and Super 8.

    2. Well, the first time was in the morning where I only saw most of it. There were part of it that I missed so I DVRed it during the brief EPIX preview and decided to see it in its entirety yesterday. It surprised me and it turned out to be a better film than I thought it would be.

    3. Omar, I’ve seen it twice myself and actually own a copy on blu-ray. It’s flawed, but has so many good things going on that it’s a really worthwhile watch.

  6. I so rarely do guest appearances on blogs. Made the week interesting.

    New stuff:
    Down by Law: Oh, I do like Jim Jarmusch. I do, I do, I do.
    King of New York: An odd film, but I think I liked it.
    White Heat: The best reason to watch a Cagney film remains Cagney himself.
    The Old Dark House: Not scary, but definitely on the creepy side.
    La Maman et la Putain: Pretentious, long, and aggravating.

    Rewatches
    Inherit the Wind: Arguably more important now then when it was released.
    Animal Farm: The 1950s version–they mucked with the ending.
    Radio Days: My favorite Woody Allen script.
    Pan’s Labyrinth: As good as it was six years ago. Guillermo de Toro should direct more, starting now.

    1. Another grouping where I’ve seen so very little – man y’all are making me feel sheltered this week! You’ll get more GDT next year with PACIFIC RIM, which seems like it’s going to be epic. Pity you don’t live closer actually, since Del Toro did a week-long film discussion series at The Lightbox here in town where he broke down a handful of Hitchcock films (inc. NOTORIOUS, SHADOW OF A DOUBT and NXNW)

  7. Woah Premium Rush is good? Who would’ve thought? Regarding Zodiac, there’s a quote I read once which I loved about how Hitchcock could recite the alphabet and still have people wondering how it will end; I honestly think that Fincher can do that too, as he proves it with this film.

    V. few movies due to it being birthday week and loads of travelling.

    Firsts: Delicatessen– This was delightful, and so quirky and awesome.
    Another Woman– I loved it. Woody Allen dramas are lovely.

    Rewatched: Batman Returns– Because Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman is my favourite female performance ever.

    1. I don’t know if I’d apply that to Fincher – too many people dislike PANIC ROOM and BENJAMIN BUTTON to annoint him with the Alphabet Crown. (I count myself a fan of both though).

      DELICATESSEN is another film that’s been on my list of hame for w-a-a-y-y-y-y too long.

  8. First time:

    PATHER PANCHALI: Does feel like poverty porn but the lyrical, Renoir-esque touches grabbed me more than the realism, important as it was to establish a “real” India.
    LOST HIGHWAY: Masterful, Lynch’s ’90s run is the most underrated hot streak ever.
    THE STRAIGHT STORY: Feels more like a Coens movie than a Lynch one, but Lynch’s heart is on his sleeve here in a way it would never be for the brothers.
    ELEPHANT MAN: Ugh. Sentimental dross that only occasionally examines how it is guilty of all the things it finds heinous in Merrick’s treatment.
    THE HUNGER: The opening alone makes me love it. Inconsistent elsewhere, but it’s fun to see Tony aping big brother Ridley before getting thrown into his own shtick with Top Gun.
    ERNEST SAVES CHRISTMAS: I thought my friend and I had suffered through all these. We saved the worst for last.
    ENEMY OF THE STATE: Feels kind of True Romance-y, from the “eggplant” reference to the final shootout of mobsters and cops (this time Sizemore is on the other side), but also anticipates the much busier frames of Scott’s coming work. Really solid flick.

    1. I got into a lengthy email discussion with Simon Columb this week about ENEMY OF THE STATE. Basically, he’s more a fan of it than I am. I do really want to see THE HUNGER now, but my Scott requiem watch was SPY GAME.

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