Ryan McNeil
Three weeks worth of watching comin’ atcha, including the annual spike in screenings.
Here’s The Three Weeks at Hand…
Screenings
THE PAST – Taking one turn too many does not ruin an entire story of goodwill. Discuss.
A STORY OF CHILDREN AND FILM – Loved that it didn’t try to be definitive.
12 YEARS A SLAVE – Not to be predictable, but it was my favorite.
LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON – Subtly beautiful
CINEMANOVELS – I try not to kick the little guys, but no.
DALLAS BUYERS CLUB – Dear Matthew; You Complete Me.
THE WONDERS – Gotta love leads that are pretty and pretty funny!
THE DOUBLE – Will make a great double-feature with BRAZIL.
NIGHT MOVES – Possibly my favorite Reichardt yet!
THE UNKNOWN KNOWN – Even Rumsfeld doesn’t speak Rumsfeld.
THOU GILD’ST THE EVEN – Not as charming as it thinks it is.
WE ARE THE BEST! – This on the other hand has charm coming out of its ears.
THE GREAT BEAUTY – Can I go to Italy?
GRAVITY – We’ll discuss this next week.
THE STAG – The perfect mid-week palette-cleanser.
THE WIND RISES – Beautiful, though I will need to revisit it.
R100 – That’s some crazy shit right there.
THE AMAZING CATFISH – A tender look at the very nature of family.
MOEBIUS – Actually that’s some crazy shit right there!
THE SACRAMENT – Mr. West, you’re better than this.
CAN A SONG SAVE YOUR LIFE? – I don’t care if you don’t like it.
LABOR DAY – How have I still not had a piece of pie?
SUNSHINE ON LEITH – Pardon me while I download a boatload of Proclaimers
WITCHING & BITCHING – This strikes an unfortunate chord for me.
ATTILA MARCEL – No seriously, I don’t care if you don’t like it.
UNDER THE SKIN – Dense and aloof. Pretty though.
THE WORLD’S END – For the second time, this time with the Robinson Boys.
Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Never Seen
SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS – Don’t have sex – you might go crazy.
OLD JOY –Did some Reichardt studying before the fest began.
GIANT – Holy cow, this makes THERE WILL BE BLOOD look succinct!
CASA DE MI PADRE – OK – that was fun.
THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES – The Wilder Watchlist continues.
TRADING PLACES – This first time all the way through, and the first time in a long time.
ZOOLANDER – Ditto.
Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Watched Before
MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL – I needed something lightweight.
FOUR ROOMS – Was Ione Skye always in this?
YOUNG ADULT – I like this one on first blush, and like it even more now.
To think I had aimed to watch more movies than the people at TIFF 😛 Many of these are pretty high up in my watchlist.
Firts: Kick-Ass 2– Like why?
World War Z– I *really* liked it.
The Bling Ring– Twice. I am obsessed with Emma Watson in this. So funny. The whole film was really enjoyable.
The World’s End– Twice. I liked it a lot, but it was a tad disappointing. And I HATED that ending. Simon Pegg was amazing though.
A Royal Affair– *sigh* Mads Mikkelsen.
White House Down– Most fun mindless action movie of the summer.
Camille– Old movies make me so sad. Robert Taylor *swoon*
This is the End– Hilarious. Best ending of the year so far.
Rewatched: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day– Twice. The second time was in film studies when I made an entire class of girls pine after Lee Pace because I’m evil like that 😀
The Shawshank Redemption– Ultimate soul-upliftment movie.
Fish Tank– Fassy in this is honestly my favourite cinematic asshole.
Shaun of the Dead– My favourite comedy film.
Hot Fuzz– Yarp.
Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani– Made for my inner Bollywood girl.
This is quite the list in its own right! THE BLING RING will stay burned in my brain this year for that longshot of the heist as watched through the windows.
Funny thing about FISH TANK; I actually didn;t know who Fassbender was when I watched it. He was just “that guy from INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS”.
And did you run out of time before watching Scott Pilgrim, or did Shaun and Fuzz give you your Wright fix?
Well, let’s see. In First-Timers: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The Spectacular Now, The Campaign, The World’s End, the atrocious U.S. cut of The Grandmaster, Shadows in Paradise, Le Havre, a trio of early shorts by Jane Campion, Love Crime, Mon Oncle, Sweetie, Ted, Summer with Monika, Winter Light, and The Portrait of a Lady.
In Re-watches: Brave, Les Miserables, Partysaurus Rex, Outside Providence, Contagion, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and later tonight, THE BEST FILM EVER!!!!
Damn! That’s some good watchin’ right there!
I still haven’t caught up with THE GRANDMASTER, but something tells me I’m going to have to bite the bullet and watch the American edit for now. Better than nothing, and I’m assuming this is a film that I’ll want to see on a big screen.
I’m shocked that you watched anything other than the TIFF films! You are truly a film junkie. 🙂
As for me–
First time:
Red Sonja
Pacific Rim
The Madonna and the Dragon
Master with Cracked Fingers
The Typewriter, the Rifle & the Movie Camera
Repulsion
Evil Dead (2013)
The Casino (1972)
Conan the Barbarian (2011)
ParaNorman
Extract
And I re-watched:
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Demolition Man
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Fist of Fury
Dumb and Dumber
My non-TIFF watching came in two different ways.
First, this time frame includes five days leading into TIFF, and an additional five leading out. In that time, my regular habit was in play. Second, during TIFF there were a few moments where the schedule eased off and I was at home for good long stretches. In that time, I put on slighter titles to cleanse the palette somewhat (Namely M:I and Zoolander).
What’d you think of PARANORMAN? for some reason I never actually reviewed that.
I liked it a lot. If I had known it was stop-motion, I would’ve seen it a long time ago.
Given the length of time, it’s amazing that I still have such a limited number of movies. It pales in comparison to your giant list from TIFF:
DEMOLITION MAN – re-watched this for a podcast, and it was even sillier than I remembered
SUN DON’T SHINE – interesting little indie from Amy Seimetz. It doesn’t totally work but shows there’s talent for her behind the camera.
IN A WORLD… – Really enjoyed this directing debut from Lake Bell. Great cast, and a lot of fun.
JOHN DIES AT THE END – This movie is ridiculous and so inventive. It’s kind of a mess but has a lot going for it.
CASINO ROYALE – I watched this again for a blogathon of reviews of more than 2,000 words. It was fun to dig so far into this movie.
Oh man – didn’t my discussion of DEMOLITION MAN on ep 85 of The Matineecast scare you off that film?
I will say that it’s a funny movie, though a lot of the humor is not intentional. It’s an easy watch, even if it isn’t very good.
And with my TIFF tally beating yours I’m within 5 of winning Ryan in the made up “watch more than Ryan” game of movie watching.. because it’s a thing right?
Still mad I didn’t catch BLUE JASMINE while I was in town
You’ve closed the gap, and who knows – you could even eclipse me by year’s end! Course, I’m content holding the lead on screenings (93 at last count), which I doubt you could overtake with your new routine.
Watch anything good last week?