There was time to watch more films this week, but I found myself distracted by season three of The Wire.

Much to the chagrin of Corey Atad, I’ve been taking my sweet time working through the landmark HBO series. Considering it’s taken me a year and a half to watch three seasons, I should be finished sometime before the next Winter Olympics. It’s not for lack of enjoyment mind you…it’s just a time thing.

I tripped over the same speed bump with BBC’s Sherlock. With each episode being 90 minutes without commercial, it was more like watching a hexology of films than six episodes of a TV show. Because HBO skips out on commercial time, their shows can likewise put in a full 50+ minutes. So when thinking about what I want to watch at any given moment, I find myself thinking “Well, I could watch two episodes of The Wire, or I could watch a full length film”

I’ll get to season four eventually, but for now I feel like catching up on a few more films first.

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Here’s The Week at Hand…

 

Screenings
ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE – Had I seen this Bond film when I was younger, I would have hated it.
HOLY MOTORS – Pardon me while I continue to bend my brain around this.

Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Never Seen
THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL – Charming, but I’d rather have rewatched MY WEEK WITH MARILYN.

Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Watched Before
DIE ANOTHER DAY – Ever remember something being better than it is?
DR. NO – As you might have guessed, this was watched to get the taste of DIE ANOTHER DAY out of my mouth.
CABIN IN THE WOODS – Holds up nicely on rewatch, even if it did arrive somewhat overhyped.
THE COMMITMENTS – I’ve been listening to a lot of Glen Hansard lately, which reminded me that it had been ages since I watched his other Irish musical gem.

 

Boxscore for The Year
222 First-Timers, 203 Re-Watched
115 Screenings
425 Movies in Total

How’s about you – seen anything good?

16 Replies to “Days of The Week (Films Watched Nov 10 – Nov 16)”

  1. SHERLOCK! I miss it.

    Firsts: Argo– Finally! I dunno about if it is the best film of the year since I’ve barely seen any, but I will be v. surprised if there is a better made film this year.
    Vamps– I liked it. Happy vampires 🙂
    Total Recall– In-flight movie. Snore.
    The Hunt– So I went for my first film festival this week. Anyways, really good film and Mikkelsen is excellent.
    Beasts of the Southern Wild– I need to rewatch this to fully decide how I feel about it. It is so unlike anything I’ve seen. However Quvenzhane Wallis will be THE performance to beat this year.
    Rust and Bone– A tad underwhelmed. Really liked the leads.
    Night and Fog– Michael Haneke spoke about how this is the only truthful Holocaust film. Good lord it was scary.

    Rewatched: Up in the Air– Since I was going to travel the next day :/

    1. I’ll be rewatching BEASTS in the next few days and can’t wait to revisit it. As for RUST AND BONE, there was a trailer for it before HOLY MOTORS at Lightbox last night abd it was the first time I’d thought lot about it since TIFF.

      I still like it an awful lot, but found that there was something about it that stopped me from falling completely in love with it. Guess I should start thinking about that since I’ll probably be writing a longer post about it soon.

      Which film festival did you go to?

    2. Yeah I felt the same way about Rust and Bone. Also is it me or the trailer is better than the film?

      I went to the Kolkata International Film Festival. I couldn’t enjoy it completely because I only returned to the city after it had started and my exams are this week too. I missed things like Holy Motors and Amour 🙁

      1. The curious thing about the trailer is the way it tips the climax of the film, but you wouldn’t know it unless you’ve seen the climax of the film!

        Your experience at KIFF is reminding me of 2009 where I sat out most of the Toronto International Film Festival.

  2. Ryan, I’m not sure Die Another Day could be any worse than I remember it being. Such a waste of a good opening too.

    My film watching hasn’t been super frequent recently. I did see Skyfall last week and thought it was very good. It’s interesting to see how they’re trying to keep their serious edge while making it more like an old-school Bond film.

    The other movie I watched was Ruby Sparks, which was interesting. It has a killer premise and starts out very strong, but it gets a bit shaky in its final act. Even so, it’s definitely worth seeing, especially for Zoe Kazan.

    1. RUBY SPARKS was one of those indie summer movies I wanted to see but just ran out of time (so too was YOUR SISTER’S SISTER for instance). Strangely though, I’ve heard wildly divided reactions to it. Some outright loathe it.

    2. Without giving too much away, I’ll say the lead character is not so likable. Also, there are some dramatic shifts in the final act that are going to lose people.

  4. First-Timers: Skyfall, The Shock Doctrine, Park Row, Merrill’s Marauders, CSI-Grave Danger, Shock Corridor, The Naked Kiss and later tonight, Rust and Bone.

    Re-Watches: Ghostbusters

  5. I broke through 400 this week. So there’s that.

    New to me:
    The Burrowers: Not scary enough.
    The Wind Will Carry Us: Mmmmm…Kiarostami…
    Report: The weirdest 13 minutes of Kennedy assassination you’ll ever see.
    La Belle et la Bete: Gorgeous!
    The Laramie Project: Watched in preparation for a class screening.
    The Boys from Brazil: You haven’t lived until you’ve seen at 62-year-old Gregory Peck in a fistfight with a 71-year-old Laurence Olivier.
    Mother India: To quote myself, “A misery sundae with poverty sprinkles.”

    Rewatches:
    Them!: The best atomic critter film? I think so.
    The Laramie Project: Screened for class.

    1. Not only did you break 400, but you did so on films I haven’t even heard of! (Except THEM!, somehow the title of that one has stuck in my brain since I was a kid)

  6. Screenings:
    The Story of Film: An Odyssey – IT’S DONE!!! (FYI DVD release now set for Dec 18)
    On Her Majesty’s Secret Service – Bond reads Playboy, goes skiing, becomes widower. All one needs to know about this one.
    The World Before Her – Excellent Doc
    Argo – Glad I finally caught up with this one
    Halloween – Awesome on the big screen

    Blu-Ray First Time:
    The Game – A bit of a mind twister
    The House of the Devil – Loved the 1970s aesthetic

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