Slowly, but surely…things are getting back to normal around here.

You’d think that by now I’d know how much The Oscars are going to throw my watching and writing for a loop, but it still surprises me every year. Now that I’m not actively hunting down nominated films, perhaps I can go back to just watching whatever catches my fancy…at least for a few weeks until Hot Docs sends me a stack of DVD’s to watch.

In the past two weeks, I didn’t really get to a whole lot of new stuff. While watching more new-to-me films was sort of a quiet resolution of mine, timing just hasn’t been on my side. Thus, what you see below involves many moments of grabbing various titles off my own shelf, with just a bit of new material peppered in.

It’s all alright though – next week is already off to a good start for new-to-me flicks.

Here’s The Week at Hand…

Screenings
ALBERT NOBBS – Some good elements, but not very memorable overall.
PICKPOCKET – When I whittle my “o-watch” pile down a bit, I must get my hands on this on Criterion.

Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Never Seen
THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR – I wish Hollywood still made movies like this.
CUBE – Happy now Jessica?

Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Watched Before
TIGERLAND – If you haven’t seen it, you’re missing something special.
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (2009) – There are indeed things to like in both versions.
PLATOON – In the run-up to Oscar night, I started re-watching Best Picture winners.
BRINGING OUT THE DEAD – Underrated Scorsese – if you can believe in such a concept.
ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND – Watching this came in quite handy for podcasting purposes.
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – The review for this film is a snapshot; Something written before all the hype and likely reads very differently now.
AMADEUS – Yet another dvd that gives the surround-sound system a workout
THERE WILL BE BLOOD – What I wouldn’t give to see this on a big screen again.
WINGS OF DESIRE – Thanks again Sam.
THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP – I liked this one more the first time, but will have more to say about that tomorrow.

Boxscore for The Year
40 First-Timers, 36 Re-Watched
13 Screenings
76 Movies in Total

How’s about you – seen anything good?

29 Replies to “Days of The Week (Films Watched Feb 18 – Mar 2)”

  1. Oh, so many films…

    New to me
    Voodoo Man: Watched with Rifftrax. Better with funny commentary.
    Little Big Man: Overrated? I think so.
    Rifftrax Shorts: Funny and stupid. Just what I needed.
    Out of the Past: One of the finest noirs I’ve ever seen.
    Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans: Everyone likes this more than I do.
    Parents: Film for guest spot on The Lair of the Unwanted.
    Swing Time: Better dancing than Top Hat, but the story isn’t as good.
    Caravaggio: Odd, but gorgeous.
    The Invisible Man: I do love the Universal monsters.
    Glory: A film about freed slaves…but really about a white guy.
    Slumdog Millionaire: Excellent. Some of the best cinematography ever.
    It Happened One Night: The Thin Man lost to this?
    The 400 Blows: Different than I thought it would be.
    I’m a Cyborg, but That’s Okay: Film for podcast.
    The Paleface: If this is Bob Hope’s best, that’s really sad.
    Hoop Dreams: Tremendous and affecting.

    Rewatches
    Fiend Without a Face: This is a Criterion film. Seriously.
    Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead: Not as good as I think it is, but the greatest character names ever.
    The House on Haunted Hill: Mmmmmm…William Castle…
    Singin’ in the Rain: Shown in class. So, so, so good.
    The Jungle Book: Watch for the songs. Ignore the plot.
    Quadrophenia: My favorite coming-of-age film. Terribly underrated.
    Roxanne: Film for podcast.
    Double Indemnity: Shown in class. So damn good it’s hard to say a word against it.
    Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: In the pantheon by right.
    Stand By Me: I forgot how good and how profane it is.

    This is what you get when you skip a week…

    1. Hmmm – we both watched SLUMDOG recently. What are the odds of that? You actually have a lot of films I love dearly on this list, including SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN, and BUTCH & SUNDANCE.

      Then there’s DOUBLE INDEMNITY which includes some of the best writing in movie history…

  2. I really want to see Wings of Desire.

    Okay firsts: Serpico– It was really good. Al Pacino is brilliant, as usual.
    The Woman in Black– Scary shit. DanRad makes me happy 😀
    Take Shelter– It was a bit slow, but the performances were great.
    The Muppets– The joy! Loved it so much!!
    My Week with Marilyn– I really liked it. I thought it had problems, but I still enjoyed it.
    Friends with Benefits– Good timepass.
    Kung Fu panda 2– It was pretty and awesome.
    Sherlock Holmes 2– It was alright, but it all looks tame after Sherlock.
    Prince and the Showgirl– I had to watch this after Marilyn. It was nice.
    Good Night and Good Luck– It was very well made, and I quite liked it.
    The Wicker Man– It was weird and fun.
    Deconstructing Harry– Woody Allen will never stop surprising and amazing me. Proof.
    Paul– Simon Pegg and Nick Frost! Plus Kristen Wiig and Jason Bateman and sort of Seth Rogen! It was funny.
    Days of Heaven– Very beautiful, and though I had problems with its last five minutes, it’s growing on me. One more Malick left!
    The Fugitive– Very entertaining.
    Roxanne– Sweet and Steve Martin is awesome.
    I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK– Quirky, morbid, but engaging.
    American History X– Scary. Edward Norton is so brilliant.
    My Own Private Idaho– Same reaction as Days of Heaven more or less.

    Rewatched: Captain America– I really really loved this one.
    Snatch– Mickey!! jnchdfhjcmfjkcfojfcjfhfjfbg
    Midnight in Paris– I have to stop watching this.
    A Single Man– It is so beautiful still. I need another Tom Ford movie.
    Beginners– Easily one of last year’s best. Plummer so deserves that Oscar.
    Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist– Because I needed something normal to watch after the Oscars. My comfort movie.
    Inception– Best ending ever!
    Blade Runner– It is so cool still.
    Edward Scissorhands– It had been too long since I saw this. One of my most favourite ever. The true Burton+Depp magic.

    PS- I really am not boasting, in case anyone thinks that 🙁 I am just really jobless.

    1. RE: WINGS OF DESIRE – can your dvd player play Region 1 dvd’s, because if so I have a spare copy of the movie I’d be happy to mail you.

      GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK is a big, big favorite of mine. I actually believe that it was the best film of the last decade. AMERICAN HISTORY X takes me back, as it was a favorite around the time I first started getting serious about movies. There was a moment in the film I couldn’t watch for the longest time – I imagine you can guess which one.

      As for DAYS OF HEAVEN, I enjoy every glorious moment of that too. It’s actually one of the films I suggest people watch first when they want to get into Malick, either that or BADLANDS.

      My blu-ray copy of DAYS might be one of my very favorites…

    2. Thank you for offering 🙂 But I’ll get my hands on a copy soon.

      I felt there were a couple of cringe-worthy moments in American History X. But that ending was a bit unnecessary, I thought.

      I have seen Badlands but I may need to watch it again, as I was a bit drowsy throughout.

    3. I don’t know if I’d call the ending “unnecessary” – perhaps you can write a blog post explaining that.

      The scene I turned my head at for the longest time was the curb-stomp.

    1. Damn – everybody has been pulling some truly awesome choices lately. BEATS/RHYMES and A SEPARATION in the same week? Talk about bliss.

      Hey, silly question time: Who is that girl you often use as your avatar image and why is she your avatar image of choice?

    2. It’s Jena Malone and she’s my muse as I wrote a script for her last year and I’m now working on another one for her as part of a trilogy as I’m also working on projects for two other actresses.

  4. I guess the highlight of my week (besides revisiting Manhattan) was finally seeing Being Elmo. It’s a documentary that I wouldn’t put in any top ten lists but it’s a great story of this guy’s love for puppetry and tying it all into Jim Henson, muppets and Sesame St.

    1. A bunch of us here in Toronto saw BEING ELMO last spring at Hot Docs. We sat down in the front row and drank up all its bright colouful glory. The two things I will never forget from that afternoon is the gigantic smiles we all had on our faces when Kevin opened the drawer of Muppet eyes…and the way we were all riffling through our pockets for kleenex during the scenes of Henson’s funeral.

      Solid pick good sir…

  5. Steve … I envy you.

    This week:

    Project X
    The Lorax
    John Carter
    Shadows and Fog
    Wanderlust
    Annie Hall
    Woody Allen Documentary Part 1 & 2
    Pursuit of Happyness.

    2. I re-watched ANNIE HALL just yesterday, so that will be part of next week’s tally. Ditto WANDERLUST.

      As for JOHN CARTER, I find myself reluctantly curious…

  6. Bringing Out the Dead is one of my top 5 Scorseses. A beautiful film, After Hours with a heart.

    Fair warning, I was on a bit of an MST3K kick the last two weeks:

    First time:

    UNDEFEATED: Considering how many things I hate are in this (sports, Blind Side-isms, overdone underdog stories), the fact that I enjoyed this as much as I did speaks to the people shown here.
    OFFSIDE: Great Jafar Panahi film. Would be the crowning achievement of other directors, yet it’s only Panahi’s third best of the last decade (out of three films! A master.)
    THE WOMAN IN BLACK: Ugh. I hate cheap jump-scares so damn much. This is like an interminably self-serious version of Drag Me to Hell, which is at least self-aware.
    THE FINAL JUSTICE: MST3K is rarely better than when Joe Don Baker is involved. This and…
    MITCHELL: are two of the show’s best episodes.
    THE FINAL SACRIFICE: “This has the bacony stink of Canada all over it.”
    I ACCUSE MY PARENTS: An interminably preachy film becomes comic gold thanks to Joel et al.
    THIS IS NOT A FILM: One of the great modern masterpieces. Not only a vital film, but a fantastically intriguing one with bold new ideas for the possibilities of cinema. The midpoint between Film Socialisme’s intellectual pursuit of new cinema and Tree of Life’s poignant reflection. They all make up my modern trinity of great works.
    THE ALIEN FACTOR: The best part of Cinematic Titanic is its live format. I think it enhances the MST3K feel, while Rifftrax too often feels dry and forced.
    GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE: Good in places, with a nicely redesigned Rider and a manic Cage, but I expected more frenzy from a Neveldine/Taylor and Cage collaboration.
    LAST DAYS HERE: Man, some docs are just icky. This feels like exploitation, not honesty. Was nice to hear Pentagram’s music though. Sounds like Black Sabbath, only more world weary and less fantastical. I might get compilations of the band’s early stuff because of this. Still, the movie itself is pretty gauche.
    THE PHILADELPHIA STORY: Hasn’t aged all that well. Charming and witty (and Stewart is actually funnier than either Grant or Hepburn), but over all my least favorite of the four Grant/Hepburn pairings.

    Rewatches
    HUGO: Still a delight that transfixes me.
    FILM SOCIALISME: One day this film will be revered. Almost certainly after we’re all dead. But then such is true of all art.
    MODERN TIMES: A great Chaplin feature, though I prefer at least three or four others to it.
    THE TERMINAL: I wondered if time had been kind to this. It hasn’t. But at least I’m nearing the end of my Spielberg retrospective after finally wrapping up De Palma.

    1. Re. THE TERMINAL – does Spielberg win any points for building that gigantic terminal from the ground-up to allow his camera to zip around it? It’s a sound stage, not a location shoot.

      Thoughts?

    2. Honestly, no. It may be his worst direction ever. His camera doesn’t seem to know what to do, and the gracefulness he usually displays is nowhere to be found. I think that he could have stood to learn a thing or two more from Tati than how to build a big set. He has no idea how to use it. If anything, I like this film LESS than I did when I saw it as a clueless teenager who wasn’t any kind of auterist.

    2. It is in my top five, but I do see faults in the film. I find myself looking forward to Only God Forgives as a better effort.

  8. Wowza, that’s a lot of films recently! I finally got to see Hugo and Martha Marcy May Marlene. I went to see The Artist again. And I watched CNolan’s Following (well, most of it). That was my weekend.

    It’s crazy how awards season does throw you off. You’re competing to watch everything everyone’s raving about, waiting for it all to be released widely, and at the same time, you’re sick of hearing/talking about it. At least, that’s how I feel.

    1. *Most of* THE FOLLOWING? It’s not that long a film.

      I hear you on awards season. Looking through what I watched for this year’s coverage, I saw something truly terrible (THE IRON LADY), a few that were “OK” (IF A TREE FALLS, EXTREMELY LOUD, ALBERT NOBBS), and some wonderful films I might not have chased otherwise (A BETTER LIFE, MARGIN CALL).

      The good news for me was that most of the biggies were films I’d seen before the nominations came down, so I wasn’t thrown by hype. I get the suspicion that THE ARTIST is in for an ungodly amount of backlash based on how underexposed it was to the general public…which is really unfair, but part of the deal these days.

      Count it as one more reason that I’m happy to be able to see these films early in their run these days.

      1. I agree that there will be backlash against the film, but only some of it will be unfair. The Artist is only a enjoyable film. Take away all of the hype and I still felt underwhelmed.

  9. That’s a fine batch of films you saw last week. Good call on Tigerland — that was one of the more criminally overlooked releases from the last several years.

    2. Is Tigerland the one from Joel Schumacher?? I might give that a rent, I heard Farrell’s performance is really good in it.

      I should rewatch AMADEUS, it’s been a long time. I saw clips of it for my Mozart post and was mesmerized by how touching it is.

    3. If you’ve never seen AMADEUS, prepare for greatness. make sure you’re watching it at a time where you can turn the glorious soundtrack up good and loud.

  10. Let’s see…..

    Screenings:
    Pink Ribbons Inc – Excellent doc
    Grease – Crazy atmosphere for the sing-a-long, but fun
    Raising Arizona – OK enough film
    Goon – Was actually my second time seeing the film (first was a test screening last summer)
    Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie – Ugh!
    Face/Off – Only my second time seeing the film, but it was a blast.

    First Time DVD/Blu-Ray/Netflix/Cable:
    Cedar Rapids – OK
    Mary and Max – Excellent
    Beauty Day – Interesting
    UHF – Funny, but I like Weird Al’s music better
    The Big Bounce – Decent enough heist comedy

    Rewatch DVD/Blu-Ray/Netflix/Cable:
    Highlander – Dialogue hasn’t aged well, but it’s a fun film.
    9 – An underrated film
    The Thing – Second film for my Revisiting 1982 series
    Hugo – Still loved it on the second viewing

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