Ryan McNeil
So where were we?
It’s been two weeks since I last posted one of these entries. In between, I’ve been spending a lot of time around friends and family…spent a whole day discussing ways to improve this space…a lot of hours working on various projects…a few moments here and there watching “House of Cards”…and, well, not a lot of time watching films!
That seems strange to say in a post where I’m logging fourteen films over fourteen days (including two screenings). However, if you know me, you’ll realize that tally is a film or seven behind the pace.
Still, I’ve chalked up some good’ns, half of which were first-timers. Maybe slowing down a bit is working for me!
Here’s The Two Weeks at Hand…
Screenings
SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL – I really have no excuse for never having seen this before
STOKER – Lordy did I ever need this.
Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Never Seen
SOUND CITY – Great music, good film.
CIMARRON – The Best Picture Project continues. I was told it’d be a slog, but it really wasn’t.
GRAND HOTEL – This on the other hand…
THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC – I’m still in awe.
GOING MY WAY – I’ll have “Swingin’ on a Star” stuck in my head for weeks.
Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Watched Before
HOT FUZZ – “By the power of Grayskull!”
THE APARTMENT – When I re-shuffle my all-time favorite films, this will do some serious climbing.
ROCKY – My Oscar day tradition is to re-watch a few past Best Picture winners.
WEST SIDE STORY – The second half of the Oscar day double-feature.
A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION – I laugh way too much at “Bad Jokes”…
M*A*S*H – …and felt the urge for more Altman.
LOOPER – I can’t believe it took me this long to finally revisit this movie.
Ryan, I love Some Kind of Wonderful. Although he didn’t direct it, it stands out to me as one of John Hughes’ best films. It’s cool that you were able to check it out.
I can’t remember exactly what I’ve watched in the past two weeks, but here are the three most recent ones:
Hedwig and the Angry Inch – I’d heard a lot of great things about this musical, and it pretty much lived up to the hype. It’s an unconventional musical yet still has that showmanship of the best of the genre.
King of New York – Watched this for the Blind Spots post this month. It’s a gritty and effective crime movie, with a great performance from Walken. However, it’s also really sexist, which brings it down for me.
Damsels in Distress – I finally re-watched this movie on Blu-ray on Thursday. It was my #2 film of 2012, and it held up really well. Of course, I’m really inclined to love anything that Whit Stillman does.
Do you use Letterboxd.com? *Super* handy site for keeping track of what you watch, what you want to watch, seeing what others are watching, etc.
I liked “Wonderful” quite a bit, but I wasn’t all that thrilled with the end. I know that it’s basically Hughes doing a gender switch of the events of PRETTY IN PINK, and that there are some out there who saw PINK and wanted Andie to end up with Duckie. I was never one of those, so the ending of Wonderful rang a little false.
As for Hedwig, you have chosen a film near and dear to my heart! Glad you dug it.
Yes. I’m on Letterboxd and do keep track of the movies there. I sometimes forget to check that when looking at the certain days that I watched things. Very wise idea.
I do feel like the ending of PRETTY IN PINK was weird. It’s not that Duckie is so perfect, but the Andrew McCarthy character didn’t feel right either. I like the ending of Some Kind of Wonderful because it’s easy to see their connection throughout the movie. It feels like that’s the only way that the movie could end.
See, but that’s the thing – their connection *did* make a whole lot of sense, which left me wondering why he didn;t just go for her in the first place.
Then again, maybe it’s a case of something being so clear to everyone EXCEPT the person it directly affects.
Only ten screenings, I always forget you have a bit of a movie drought at this time of year. I been to seventeen screenings with another two planned before the weekend is over. Seven of them have been nominated in the major Oscar categories
Hearing great things about House of Cards, I think I am going to have to bite the bullet and renew my Netflix subscription.
I think I got spoiled last year: besides new releases that I enjoyed like HAYWIRE and WOMAN IN BLACK, there were some stellar holdovers like CAFE DE FLORE, A SEPARATION, and WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN.
The other stumbling block was the fact that come nomination morning, there was only one film nominated in the major categories I hadn’t seen (ZERO DARK THIRTY). With my usual round of catch-up scuttled, I was left with nuthin!
Why Did I Get Married Too? – Typical Tyler Perry melodrama…boy does Perry need a story editor.
California Solo – Solid performances, conventional indie drama.
Le Samouraï – Blindspot! Loved it. Bought the DVD blind over a year ago but never watched it until now.
The Three Stooges – Remember when the Farrelly Brothers actually new what comedy was? Yep, I miss those days as well.
Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1980 – Far better than the first one, which I also enjoyed, in overall execution. I will probably watch the finally chapter later this week.
Pariah – Good lord did I ever love this film! A hidden gem that I should have seen a lot sooner.
Coal Miner’s Daughter – Surprised by how much I liked this film despite it being a typical biopic.
Side by Side – It was an interesting film, though I think it is a bit too one-sided.
Fresh Guacamole – A delightful short.
Daisies – A captivating and extremely puzzling feminist film.
Not Quite Hollywood – I think I liked Machete Maidens Unleashed a bit more, but still an enjoyable doc about the Aussie B-movie genre.
Perhaps SIDE BY SIDE was too one sided because the argument for the other side is becoming increasingly moot?
A bit long this week
Screenings:
Some Kind of Wonderful – Pretty much a gender reversal of Pretty in Pink
Pretty in Pink – Speaking of which….
Ghost Graduation – I can still hear “Total Eclipse of the Heart” in my head.
Dead Before Dawn 3D – For a Canadian zombie film aimed at teens, it was decent enough (3D sucked though).
Shadows of Liberty – It was interesting to say the least.
Little Terrors – I should check out this series of horror shorts more often.
5 Broken Cameras – Essentially Non-Fiction Found Footage About the Irael/Palestine conflict
Tower – First time I recall theatrically rewatching a film I saw at TIFF
Dark Skies – Good scares, bad melodrama
The Invisible War – If Sugar Man didn’t win, this is the film that would’ve got the Oscar instead
Bram Stoker’s Dracula – Despite being a closer adaptation of the novel, it was marred with bad acting and cheesy execution. Still somewhat decent though.
Screeners:
California Solo – Worth seeing for Robert Carlyle’s performance
Blu-Ray Rewatch:
Inglourious Basterds – Finally finished my Tarantino box set (minus the two discs of special features)
Midnight in Paris – Apparently there is a bug with Samsung blu-ray players that prevents the dialogue on the disc from being audible. Thankfully it was fixed by changing my audio settings.
The King’s Speech – Still love it two years later.
The Social Network – Even though this film somewhat fictionized, it is interesting seeing how Facebook was created for much different reasons than it is used now.
Blu-Ray/Netflix First Time:
The Godfather – I join those who love the film.
The Blob – An entertaining 50s sci-fi/horror film.
Ugh I need Stoker!
Firsts: Sleuth– The original. Oh so good and smart and creepy and wonderful.
My Left Foot– Er… DDL and the mom were great. The film, not so much.
Awaara– Shame that Bollywood doesn’t make films like this anymore. Slightly too melodramatic, but as iconic as they come.
The Crow– I liked the story, but gosh the filming style was annoying. Like a really long music video.
Rewatched: Hot Fuzz– Yarp.
I actually hadn’t realized that STOKER was getting such a slow roll-out (only seven theatres in North America!). Definitely catch it when you can.
Wow, when you miss a week of this, it really starts to pile up, doesn’t it?
First time:
Aguirre: The Wrath of God
Doll Graveyard
The Queen of Versailles
The Eunuch
Mandroid
The Invisible War
The Villain
The Golden Seal (1971)
The Bitter Buddha
The Secret Kingdom
Re-watched:
The Duel (1971)
Shaolin Wooden Men
Young Sherlock Holmes
Sure does! And with Hot Docs on the horizon, prepare for another entry where the tally will climb.
What did you think of THE INVISIBLE WAR?
I thought it was excellent. I had no idea of the problem, so it was very infuriating.
Apologies for the late response: Agreed, but what did you think of it as a film. Seems as though in an age where docs are trying harder and harder to be *more* than just talking heads, that the look of this film was tremendously unpolished.
Wow, do you and I have a different opinion of Grand Hotel. I think that’s a spectacular film and nothing at all like a slog. Anyway, I had a couple of big weeks.
New to me:
Forbidden Games: One of the most powerful anti-war films I’ve ever seen.
The Gospel According to St. Matthew: I’m not a massive fan of the source material.
Once: I can’t get enough of the music.
Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer: Sobering, and not in the way you’d think.
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer: One of the most calmly disturbing endings I’ve ever seen.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance: A story that happens to be a Western rather than a Western with a story.
On the Town: I get why people like it, but I don’t like it.
Peking Opera Blues: The single most hilariously bad subtitle track I have ever encountered.
There’s Something About Mary: The majority loves this. I’m in the minority.
Spring in a Small Town: In desperate need of restoration.
India Song: Pretentious. Never again.
Walkabout: Why hadn’t I seen this before?
Rewatches:
The Breakfast Club: Takes me back to high school.
The Avengers: Still pretty damn awesome.
Re-Animator: This one takes me back to high school, too.
Clash of the Titans (1981): Not a great film, but Ray Harryhausen was something!
The China Syndrome: About like I remembered.
The Thin Man: One of the best scripts ever written.
Galaxy Quest: By Grabthar’s hammer…what a savings.
An American in Paris: The ballet is too long, but it’s still pretty special.
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre: If you haven’t seen this, you damn well should.
Damn that’s a big tally – was it enough to pull you past me again for the year overall?
ONCE is a personal favorite of mine – you may or may not recall that I revisited it for the fifth anniversary of this site, and did so because it was the first film I ever reviewed here!
As for GRAND HOTEL, “slog” was probably a bit harsh. It did what it needed to do, but for whatever reason, I couldn’t engage with it. Within the Best Picture Project, I was more locked into BROADWAY MELODY, GOING MY WAY, or even THE GREAT ZIEGFELD more than I was HOTEL. Perhaps I just need to watch it again.
First-Timers: Priceless, Summer Hours, Mona Lisa (Blind Spot), The Long Good Friday, Withnail & I, Battleship (boy, that sucked), The History of the Eagles, Frantic, Close-Up, Walkabout, The Traveler (1974 film), and later tonight, Metropolitan.
Re-Watches: The New World, Sonny, The Love Bug, Steamboat Willie, American Dreamz, Miracle, and The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus.
Your aside about BATTLESHIP gave me a great laugh on this Monday morning – thanks for that.
Very excited to hear that you liked STOKER so much. I love the director’s work and was hoping for something special.
I think we’ve got to wait until August to see it in Aus though.
CLOUD ATLAS and WEST OF MEMPHIS were my two best screenings this month. I need to see CLOUD ATLAS AGAIN asap. Wow, what a trip!
If you liked CLOUD ATLAS, you should go back and listen to my Matineecast episode where I talk it over with Steve Honeywell. Not so much for me, but for the wonderful insights that Honeywell brings to the table.