As you read this, I am walking out of a screening which is my sixth in eight days. It’s a festival-like gauntlet that I’ve run over the last week, facilitated all the more by the fact that I’ve been lucky enough to see four of the six for free. While I’ve had a blast doing it, and especially so for getting the chance to spend so much time with my friends, I can’t say I recommend going on this sort of bender. If it’s possible, I might actually be “theatre’d out” tonight, which going into Christmas week isn’t going to do me any favours.

Then again, at least it leaves my week between Christmas and New Year’s pretty open as there’s not many more new releases coming that I need to desperately see.

In other news, I officially passed 400 films on the year this week, which also makes me feel slightly dubious. In talking with the person who inspired doing the count, I realized that if I didn’t watch any TV (especially sports), the tally easily could have climbed by at least another 200 titles. Crazy ain’t it?

What can I say- it’s my thing. I’d like to believe that I’m mining for the good stuff, and if I knew someone who had spent as much time reading as I spend watching then I wouldn’t bat an eye. Subquestion: How much more could I have watched if I didn’t spend so many hours writing and podcasting about it?

Here’s The Week at Hand…

Screenings
VERTIGO – Getting to see gems like this on the big screen is why I love The Lightbox.
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO – Which I’ll talk about on Tuesday
PINA – Which I’ll talk about in January
WAR HORSE – Which I’ll talk about after Christmas
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL – Which I’ll talk about on Sunday (Useless bugger this week, aren’t I?)

Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Watched Before
SE7EN – The Fincher bender continued in anticipation of Tattoo. To me, this movie is damned near flawless.
ELF – While I was home watching this on DVD, my family was watching it at a screening.
THE GAME – I get the impression a lot of people don’t like this one.
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – If you want to see how my mind can change about a film on rewatch, read this review.
ALWAYS – Many thanks to Tom Clift for sending me one of the only Spielberg films I didn;t already own.

Boxscore for The Year
230 First-Timers, 173 Re-Watched
403 Movies in Total

How’s about you – seen anything good?

26 Replies to “Days of the Week (Films Watched 12/10 – 12/16)”

  1. Another slow week. A couple more days, and then I get some time off work.

    Monsters: Odd. Great use of a small budget, but I’d rather have more, y’know, monsters.
    Yol: Interesting, but ultimately frustrating.
    Die Hard: The perfect action film.
    The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover: Greenaway’s symbolic take on Thatcherism reminded me of Salo. This is not a compliment
    Storm Over Asia: My guess is the shorter version is superior, because the longer version has about 25 minutes worth of cutable footage.

    Man, I really want to watch Se7en now.

  2. First of all I love the Game, Its definitively one of Finchers finest films and a underrated one. Second I have such a hard time with Pitt playing a 14 year-old in Seven. Just got to get it out of my system.

    Here are this week tallie

    Drive – Awesome and easily the best non-popcorn film of the year
    The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – I’ll try to scribble something together about it but to be honest I was quite disappointed.
    Play – Swedish film by Ruben Östlund (it played TIFF), it was quite interesting. Kind of like a Swedish Funny Games.
    Rocky III – Good mix of nostalgia and pure entertainment. It actually held up a lot better than I could remember.
    Rocky IV – See above

      1. In every scene of the film. It gets kind of obnoxious when you’re aware of it. The scene in the diner when he refuses to sit next to Morgan Freeman is an obvious one.

        1. Ah, now I follow. His schtick dodn’t bother me as I found it inkeeping with his character. He’s anxiously trying to prove himself, and also supposedly newly in from a small town.

          Didn’t chalk it up to the act so much as it is the way his character is written.

  3. I have a really good feeling I won’t be able to watch Girl with Dragon Tattoo :/

    Terribly slow week on account of exams and travelling-
    Firsts: Hugo– Easily my favourite film of the year, even if it’s not the best. Going to see it again very soon.
    Cememtery Junction– A nice time-pass film.
    Shaitan– Bollywood film from probably the biggest indie filmmaker in India currently. It was good, albeit a bit incoherent.

      1. It’s banned in UAE, where I am currently. It might not be banned in India due to the Dragon Tattoo-craze there, but there’s a chance by the time I return, they won’t be showing it anymore 🙁
        And this was all I wanted for Christmas…

        1. Ah, now I follow. That’s a pity, but I can see a few things in it that might get it banned in UAE, so there’s no surprise there.

          Hopefully you can track it down when you get home – perhaps in a second run theatre even?

  4. I have to vote for the OFCS ballot by Xmas Eve so I am frantically scrambling to get my last must sees down. Hence, this week was crazy:

    First watches:
    THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (2009)- Watched this and reading the book to gear up for Fincher’s version. It will be incredibly easy for Fincher to top both.
    A WARRIOR’S HEART- Had to watch this to review for freelance gig. Just awful. Family channel quality with two side players from Twilight, all about how awesome lacrosse is. Fucking spare me.
    CITY OF LIFE AND DEATH- Sadly didn’t take to this one, despite the perfect cinematography and my interest in the subject matter. Actually, it felt like all the criticisms people make of Schindler’s List: makes a horrifying atrocity mass entertainment through incessant moralizing.
    A SEPARATION- A masterpiece, and the best-written film of the year. Extends well beyond Iran’s restrictive borders to comment on the selfishness (justified and unjustified) of the human condition. Many more issues broached and examined as well.
    PROJECT NIM- Obviously Rise of the Planet of the Apes didn’t “rip this off,” but those writers HAD to have studied Nim’s case, as the parallels are so strong I kept waiting for the bit where Nim subjugated the humans.
    WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN- Took a break from new unseen stuff to a blind spot from Almodovar. No surprise, I loved it. Perfectly shot, uproarious melodrama. And only Almodovar could feature sex with terrorists and suicidal jilted lovers and have it be the one comedy of his that *isn’t* dark.
    THE INTERRUPTERS- The style is surprisingly pedestrian and typical for someone like James, but the content is so well-arranged and so inherently vital that it’s still on my shortlist. Ameena Matthews is the best hero in film this year, documentary or fiction.
    YOUNG ADULT- Loved this one, and love it more as I dwell on it. As I said in my review, pretty much proves my suspicion that Cody was always incredibly critical of the teenage mindset her detractors lazily said she was cynically appropriating. I’ll be pushing for an OFCS supporting nod for Oswalt, for sure.
    THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN- Spellbinding. I wasn’t that keen on the script (which was my original reason for wanting to see it at all), but Spielberg used animation as his sandbox, and my God are the results amazing. Maybe the first time he’s evoked fully joyous wonder since the brachiosaur in Jurassic Park.

    Re-watches
    Kung Fu Panda: Love this movie.
    Kung Fu Panda 2: This one is even better.
    The Conversation: I now prefer this to at least the first Godfather, maybe even the second. Crafted with utter, absolute perfection
    The Last of the Mohicans: Mann redeems its dim natural lighting and disjointed pacing with some shots of outright poetry.
    Rango: Look for this on my best of list, provided it doesn’t get knocked out of my top 25 with the last few movies I see.
    12 Angry Men: One of the most unassailable counters to the contention that showing always trumps telling.

    1. Damn man – that’s one amazing week of watching! I’m right with you on YOUNG ADULT and Patton’s amazing part in it. I can only guess that people ran into certain expectations where Reitman and Cody are concerned.

  5. Can you just give me a little hint of what War Horse was like? 🙂

    This week was pretty busy, movie wise. They were all first-timers, too:
    Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – Good fun. Veeeeeery 2001.
    Priest – Better than I expected, but it was a lot like Legion. I’m probably the only one at my work who wasn’t overly enthusiastic about it.
    Something Borrowed – Awful awful awful. Reminded me of why I hate chick flicks.
    The Orator – Samoa’s first film. Beautiful, but really slow.
    Cowboys & Aliens – Just okay. Don’t remember much, though.
    Henry’s Crime – Vera Farmiga is awesome.
    Incendies – WHOA. That movie kicked me in the teeth. Loved it.
    Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – The worst of the series.
    Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – An improvement.
    Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – Okay, but it was way too light. Glad to see Ralph Fiennes, though.
    Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – I really liked this one. David Yates definitely turned the series around.
    Submarine – So quirky. I loved it to bits.

    1. I get all proud and patriotic when people bring up INCENDIES. It might actually be my favorite Canadian film!

      As for WAR HORSE, I’ll drop this one little bread crumb – you’re gonna love it.

      PS – What about Potter 1 feels “so 2001”?

  6. First Time:
    -The Help (Really good, though could have been better/a little more tightening).
    -13 (…with such a decent cast, it really sucks that it… well… sucks).
    -Fright Night (the remake… a little better than decent, but could have used more emotion).
    -Dazed and Confused (favorite soundtrack of the 60/60)
    -The Graduate (least favorite soundtrack of the 60/60)

    Rewatch:
    -Amelie (gotta love it)

    …I think that’s about it. Otherwise, I’d just like to comment that I love “The Game.” It’s actually one of the movies responsible for me loving movies as I do.

  7. This week I could only squeeze in:

    Hugo – Hope to have my thoughts on it up on Tuesday
    Tabloid – Great documentary, Errol Morris knows comedic gold when he sees it.
    The Skin I Live In – Really enjoyed this flick

    Re-watched:
    Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – Still holds up though not the lack of time spent on both the magazine arc and the members of the Vanger family is far more noticeable this time around.

  9. This past week, I saw three movies:

    – Black Book: Pretty good WWII movie about a Jewish woman living in Holland and trying to flee Nazi persecution only to fall in love with a German officer.
    – Jane Eyre: I’m usually not very fond of these type of British period pieces but this was surprisingly compelling. Fassbender and Wasikowska are quite excellent.
    – Sherlock Holmes: My review is online but I enjoyed it more than the first one.

    1. BLACK BOOK is one of my favorites, a sterling return to form for Verhoeven and maybe my favorite of his films. Manages to be about as transgressive as Inglourious Basterds while paying more serious tribute to the truth.

    2. I’m curious about SHERLOCK. With all the grumpiness I’ve been catching wind of this week, I was getting worried. Good to know there’s still some differing opinion out there.

    1. It saddens me how little interest I have in PUSS IN BOOTS, especially after how much amusement I got from him in SHREK 2. Glad it delighted though! I’ll have to catch up with it on blu.

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