Ryan McNeil
The tally dropped way back this week, mostly because of several lengthy watches.
For starters, there’s that showing of SHADOW OF A DOUBT you see listed, which the final of the Hitchcock Lectures given by Guillermo del Toro that I attended. These evenings at The Lightbox lasted close to four hours every time: a 45 minute intro, the two-hour film, and then a 45 minute discussion afterwards. What this means is that by the time one gets home, there’s no such thing as squeezing in one more dvd before bedtime.
Another oddity is that there’s a film I feel like I should have included but didn’t. Another lecture I went to this week discussed 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. It showed a lot of the film by way of clips, but not the entire thing. So while I feel like I’ve just watched the whole thing, I haven’t marked it down here.
In addition to both of those, there’s Scorsese’s Harrison documentary, which is almost 4 hours on its own (it’s even split into two parts).
So yeah, a low tally on the whole, but still a busy week for this weary cinephile.
Here’s week at hand…
Screenings
DARK SHADOWS – I say this as someone who enjoyed ALICE, SWEENEY, and WONKA: This film is a mess.
SHADOW OF A DOUBT – My friend Kelly called this her favorite Hitchcock, and now I can totally see why.
Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Never Seen
GEORGE HARRISON: LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD – Part two is much better than part one, which if you’ve watched The Beatles Anthology is rather redundant.
Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Watched Before
RONIN – After bringing it up on the podcast with Buckle, I needed to dust it off.
IRON MAN – I’m still in post-AVENGERS bliss.
STAR TREK – I found myself pining for the fine May fare of yesteryear.
Boxscore for The Year
91 First-Timers, 80 Re-Watched
40 Screenings
171 Movies in Total
I liked part one of Living in the Material World better than part two, but that’s because I just love the Beatles years 🙂 Also how amazingly enjoyable is Star Trek? Can’t wait for the sequel enough.
Firsts: Naked Lunch– I did enjoy parts of it, but man- what the hell was I watching?
The Seventh Seal– So amazing. Spent hours on Wikipedia just reading stuff on Christianity after that. I mean I know it’s not only about that, but really piqued my interest.
In the Mood for Love– Oh sweet gorgeousity. It was so painfully beautiful.
Ronin– Yaay for the Matineecast 😀 It was good-ish with great car chases.
Raging Bull– This is by far the loudest movie I have ever seen. There were parts in it that were just spectacular, and I loved De Niro, but seriously too loud.
Dark Shadows– Couldn’t have said it better than you. And it’s heartbreaking to see such talented people make such a mess. Although, I was on a bit of Pfeiffer high- she looked fantastic.
Point Break– “Have you ever fired your gun up in the air and gone AAAA?”- totally get that Hot Fuzz reference now. Quite awesome.
Rewatched: The Breakfast Club– Talked about it on my blog and just had to rewatch it. I’m Brian the brain.
The Muppets– So funny. I have “Man or Muppet” stuck in my head.
Edward Scissorhands– To watch Dark Shadows after this is just heart-breaking.
Have you watched The Beatles Anthology before? If not I’d suggest you get your mitts on that soon. It’s a fantatic watch, and some of the interview clips from ITMW pt. 1 were pulled from it.
Glad i could suggest RONIN – held up wonderfully hasn’t it? As for THE SEVENTH SEAL, would you believe that I haven’t seen it yet? Guess it’s time for me to bump it up the queue huh?
I hope to get to Shadow of a Doubt soon as I my continuing tour of Hitchcock films. Trying to squeeze in a least one of his films each week.
First Time:
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows – Two great scenes and the rest was a gigantic bore.
Man on a Ledge – Words cannot express how dumb this film is. One of the worst films of 2012.
Sabotage – Hitchcock! This one had some great moments but the story could have used some work. Overall I would say it is average.
Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey. My wife and I really enjoyed this film. It is one that I would like to show my son when he is much older.
You would have has a blast at the Hot Docs showing of Elmo. Kevin was there and brought Elmo out to do the Q&A. There was a bunch of us sitting in the front row for it and we were all a blubbering mess during certain scenes within the doc.
I wish I was there for the Del Toro Masterclass. Hopefully he will do another one soon.
First Run movies:
Edward Boyd: A damper, more melodramatic (and Cdn) version of Michael Mann’s Public Enemy. Of course based on a true story.
Hysteria: Well made, but predictable Rom-Com. I am still surprised they can turn a story about vibrator into a PG Rom-Com.
Man On A Ledge: Totally ridiculous. You have to turn off your brain to watch this one.
The Dictator: The least of the three SBC/Larry Charles collaboration. I love Borat, like Bruno, but The Dictator didn’t have enough laughs for me.
Cherry: My first film at the Insideout festival. Way too many side plots to make this work.
Re-Watch:
Inspired, after going to an Italian Wedding. So I watched The Godfather again (probably my 15th time). Easily the top 5 film of all time. Question though: Does anyone think that Michael would ever tell Kay what happened in Italy? He did marry another girl over there.
That’s a tough question, because while he does get very introspective in the third part due to his failing health, and *does* start to think a lot about Apollonia, he still never talks about her to anyone. I’d like to believe that at some point he’d talk to Kay about her, but then again, we’re talking about the same woman who famously had the door closed on her.
“Shadow of a Doubt” is one of my favorite Hitchcock films also. Wright is a great heroine and Cotten’s Uncle Charlie is creepy as all get-out.
The creepiest thing about the whole film for me is the way that Uncle Charlie starts to become celebrated as one of the town’s favorite sons. If only they all knew the truth!
A lot of Star Wars this week.
Screenings:
Headhunters – Pretty good, except for a scene involving an outhouse
The Loved Ones – A twisted film with a dark sense of humour
Clue – Second year in a row I saw it for free at the Toronto Underground
The Fifth Element – Despite some sound problems, it was great seeing this on the big screen again.
Bernie – A very interesting true crime film. I’d recommend it.
Blu-Ray Rewatch:
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones – If it wasn’t for the great action climax, I would have a much lower opinion of this films.
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith – In my opinion, the whole prequel trilogy was made for this film, which it the only one I enjoy from beginning to end (with the exception of some cheesy dialogue).
I see your outhouse and raise you a dog and a tractor.
Yeah, wasn’t too keen on that either (in fact any dog death in movies distrubs me, since I’m a big dog lover)
Dark Shadows looked bad from the start! As for me, pretty quiet week since I had Photo School…
First timers:
Heathers – I love 80s teen movies.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Loved it, but I could do with another watch.
Leon: The Professional – Great movie. Natalie Portman was really good in it, considering how young she was.
The Artist – Finally caught up with it this morning. Loved every second of it. Sublime film.
Rewatches:
The Muppets – I can’t even express how wonderful this film is.
Hugo – Didn’t really hold up that well on a second watch but still lovely all the same.
So where do we get to see the wonderful photos you’re capturing?
Really happy to know that you were smitten with THE ARTIST, my big fear is that as it finally gets to a wider audience on blu-ray, people are going to watch it and say this won best picture???”
I’m still pining to revisit HUGO. I’ve wanted to buy myself a copy for ages, but haven’t wanted to pony up the high sticker price it was selling for for the first few months.
Soon, I promise!
Yeah, that’s my biggest fear with The Artist…or any big film at the Oscars, for that matter. Still, it is awesome.
After three weeks of almost no rewatches, I’ve flipped the mechanism this week.
New to me:
A Room with a View: Oh, Captain Spaulding
The Keep: Proof that Ian McKellen was once young
Ivan the Terrible, Parts 1 and 2: So stylized it becomes comic
Rewatches:
Mad Max: While I love post-apocalypse, seeing the breakdown is interesting
Night of the Living Dead (1968): So good it launched a subgenre
Dawn of the Dead (1978): I never noticed how much this was influenced by Italian horror
On the Waterfront: Better than I remembered, and I remembered loving it.
Inherit the Wind: Arguably a perfect film, and yes, I’d argue that.
I have an inherent aversion to Merchant-Ivory films, which I know sounds terrible, but I can’t help but think those movies aren’t for me. Am I wrong?
Hard to say, really. They certainly aren’t created with me in mind. It’s useful to see one or two just to be able to legitimately say “I’ve watched a couple–they aren’t my style.” when someone offers one up to you.