Ryan McNeil
First things first – I want to thank everybody so much for all of the kind birthday wishes yesterday. The little notes I got on the site, on Twitter, and on Facebook really kept me smiling throughout the day.
As for the task at hand, this week brought a lot of variety. As I look back, I’m actually sorta surprised I was able to go at a pace of more than one-a-day considering how busy a week it turned out to be. Furthermore, I’m really surprised that I managed to make it a two-screening-week! (says the guy who’s about to have a three screening week).
The funny thing? My tally for the week might have racked itself up even higher, had I not spent most of my last Sunday watching Arrested Development.
Oh, and speaking of high tallys, the community over at Letterboxd are encouraging people to try to watch 100 films in a month again. Making matters more amusing, this time they’ve chosen a 30-day month instead of a 31-day month. I’ve already written about why I think this is a terrible idea, so if you hear of someone trying to hit this bullseye, please talk them down off the ledge.
One last thing – The part of me that is obsessed with round numbers really regrets not re-watching two more movies this week.
Here’s The Week at Hand…
Screenings
BEHIND THE CABDELABRA – The Inside Out Festival did a screening. Pity this won’t be seen by many in a cinema; it’s really gorgeous.
BLANCANIEVES – Speaking of gorgeous.
Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Never Seen
BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA – A high contender for my most fun blindspot yet.
TAPEHEADS – Not as good as I’d hoped, but I’m still humming Swanky Modes
Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Watched Before
DOUBLE INDEMNITY – For podcasting purposes
THE APARTMENT – Ditto – and look for the episode in question in a few hours
HAYWIRE – An underrated movie if ever there was one.
CASINO – I don’t usually upgrade dvds to blu, but rewatching this led me to discover that it’s badly scratched. To the DVD store!
BADLANDS – Who knew Mia Farrow Sissy Spacek was once really hot?
Oooooo this episode will be awesome.
Dead Ringers– Crazy. Jeremy Irons was really good though.
Berberian Sound Studio– So perfectly eerie.
Salaam Bombay– Shame we didn’t put this in your Bollywood syllabus. To be honest though, this is unlike any Indian film I have seen.
Behind the Candelabra– I really liked it. The ending made me cry.
Rewatched: Star Trek Into Darkness– Saw it alone and loved it 😛
Clueless– Introduced a couple of my friends to it. I just adore this film.
Very happy that you enjoyed the latest Matineecast – so far I actually haven’t heard a whole lot of feedback about it!
Lightbox will finally be screening BERBERIAN this summer. Something tells me that a big screen viewing of it is finally in order. Now that you’ve seen it, you should go back a few Matineecasts and listen to Bob and I discuss it as an “Other Side” selection.
(Shameless, ain’t I?)
You think Mia Farrow looked hot in Badlands??? interesting….
I meant Sissy Spacek.
interesting….
I take it you disagree?
She looks like an awkward teen in it… like in Carrie… so I don’t think I’d use hot towards her… but that just be me personal opinion matey
Do you mean Sissy Spacek was hot in Badlands?
Cripes, it’s been a long weekend.
You’re absolutely right, Spacek not Farrow.
Fixed.
A late happy birthday to you!!
Double Indemnity is one of my favorite film noirs… actually one of the few I’ve liked so far. Badlands is awesome too, the only Malick film I’ve seen apart from The Tree of Life. It could’ve been a disturbing movie but somehow it isn’t.
I’m also dying to see Behind the Candelabra. Probably not going to be able to see it until… new year.
Thanks Mette! It turned into a good one.
If you dug BADLANDS, I vote that you give DAYS OF HEAVEN a try. It’s a more Malick-esque malick film, but still quite succinct at 90 minutes.
As for DOUBLE INDEMNITY, if you love that film then you definitely need to listen to the latest Matineecast.
Did ya watch anything good last week?
I feel a little lazy after recapping what I watched this week.
Never watched:
Barton Fink
Warrior
Heathers
Young Adult
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Thief
A Royal Affair
Pontypool
Seen before:
Trainspotting
Men in Black
That looks like an amazing week of watching, and SO many great first-timers! I actually just watched BARTON FINK for the first time myself.
Is it my imagination, or has HEATHERS aged remarkably well?
It was a big week for watching things I had never seen before my Netflix trial ran out.
And it’s not just you about Heathers, the film still felt remarkably poignant.
First-timers: The True Story of WrestleMania, Behind the Candelabra, What’s Up Tiger-Lily?, The Report (1977 film), Take the Money and Run, and earlier today, Magic Mike.
Re-watches: Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, I Love You to Death, Toy Story Toons: Hawaiian Vacation, and Superman: The Mad Scientist.
Did you do CANDELABRA and MIKE on the same day and turn it into a Soderbergh double-feature?
Ryan, I can’t imagine watching 100 movies in a month, even when I didn’t have kids. Back then, I might watch 20-25 and think that’s impressive. I watched a big 12 in May, and that’s about what I’ve done this year.
There aren’t many this time. I’d watched several in one day right before the cut-off last week. There are only three, though all are new for me:
The FP – So ridiculous. It’s fun at times and painful at others. It was worth it to re-listen to your conversation on it. I’ll be curious to hear your thoughts when my post goes up later this week.
It’s a Disaster – I checked this out randomly on VOD and enjoyed it for the most part. Good work from David Cross and Julia Stiles.
The Public Enemy – I watched this on TCM and think Cagney is great in it. The story is only okay, but the ending is a shocker.
I said it in that post that I linked, but I’ll say it again: 100 films in a month is the worst possible combination of gluttony and compulsion. Last time out I had someone poll a few critics, and even THEY never go beyond 1 – 2 films a day.
After a while, one is just going through the motions – there’s no joy coming from it.
As for THE PUBLIC ENEMY, I believe I’m just about due for a rewatch (maybe I’ll even use it for an upcoming “Freeze Frame” post). It’ll be hard not to choose that iconic final scene.
That last shot would be a great freeze frame. It’s so creepy and takes you by surprise because the movie hasn’t been that bloody or violent up to that point. I’d seen the shot before but hadn’t remembered it was from THE PUBLIC ENEMY until that point. It was quite a stunning way to end a film.
100 movies in a month is just ridiculous. As much as I love movies, there is such a thing as too many movies. Also: Haywire is definitely underrated. I really enjoyed that one.
First time:
Superman (1980) [Telugu-language version]
Taken 2
Duel For Gold
Superman (1987) [Hindi-language version]
Superman Returns
Re-watch:
Dead Alive
I didn’t know there were different languaged versions of SUPERMAN. What’s the difference in them?
Hahaha, yeah I’ve been getting that a lot. There’s quite a few unofficial remakes (for various franchises) made during the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, scattered across the globe. I really enjoy them. My reviews of them went up this past weekend, along with another post detailing a few other appearances of Superman in Indian cinema.
The Telugu Superman is from South India (AKA Tollywood) and is a revenge-driven story. The Hindi version hales from Bollywood, and is basically a boring, low-budget re-telling of Richard Donner’s Superman, even re-purposing a lot of the same FX footage.