Ryan McNeil
Once again this summer I’m headed out of town, and once again I’ve decided to have at a blog-a-thon to keep the car running while I’m gone. And once again, I’ve decided to stray over to the left for my viewing material. For those of you who are new to the site – or have the memory retention of rabbits – allow me to fill you in.
Last summer, while I was out of town for a week, I decided that I’d tide things over around here by venturing to a very scary place: my wife Lindsay’s dvd collection. Not only did I pull titles from her shelves, but I tallied up some of the most undesirable titles off her shelf that I’d never touch in a million years and had my readers vote on which ones would make the cut (yeah, y’all had real fun with that didn’t ya?). Thus, I watched all eight “winners” for last summer’s King of Pain Blog-a-thon.
Well, this summer I’m doing something similar – but screw you guys and your sadistic ways, I’m calling the shots this time.
You see, there are actually quite a few gems on Lindsay’s shelves that for reasons unknown, I’ve never sat and watched. So I’ve pulled five of the most promising to watch for this summer’s Sweet Pain Blog-a-thon.
The posts will go from July 12th to July 16th….and the five titles I’ve chosen to watch are as follows:
Woo Hoo!! And I have seen two of these. Goldmine I liked, Dollhouse not so much.
I have a growing pile of shame too. With really really good movies. It’s depressing.
This is sort of a particular “pile of shame”.
Many of my most notorious “neverseens” are being covered in the Blind Spot Series – which has a new entry going up a week from today btw.
These movies are ones that I’ve never seen…that I want to see…and worst of all are right there, in the apartment, on the shelf just waiting to be watched.
You should have let me pick…I would have been kind(ish).
I have no idea what you would have chosen. There aren’t many more on your shelves that I actively want to see that I never have (emphasis more on the latter than the former)
I think you will enjoy American Movie. I remember seeing this at TIFF 1999. One of the most poignant and funny doc I have seen.
I’ve heard good things. Don’t ask me why I’ve never pulled it from the shelf to watch up until now.
There is 3 of my all time favourite movies there! Before I started adding more complex stuff my list.. I’ll look forward to your views 🙂 x
Interesting – which three?
I’ve seen four of these. The only one that isn’t on the list I haven’t seen is American Movie.
If you love the Ramones, go see Rock N’ Roll High School. That’s the one I would recommend the most.
I like The Ramones a lot but wouldn’t call myself a die hard or anything (which is to say I have the first LP and then a smattering of MP3’s). Now that I think of it, Lindsay isn;t a huge fan either – I wonder what prompted her to buy that one…
Lindsay has good taste! Velvet Goldmine is a favourite…but with both Bale and McGregor I’m clearly biased. I’ve been tempted to dig out my film school notes from when we watched it in my Film & Society class.
15 year old me also loved Welcome to the Dollhouse. I should re-watch it and see how I feel about it 15 years later.
Part of me is actually rather worried about WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE. I fear it’s one of those edgy 90’s indie films that might have seemed avant garde at the time, but has aged badly.
I’m hoping for good things, but we’ll see!
Interesting choices. I have been wanting to see American Movie for a while — heard nothing but good things. Velvet Goldmine is in my Netflix Instant queue right now, too. Looking forward to your reviews.
Try to watch ’em before mid-July and then we’ll have something to discuss at the bar!
Todd Solondz is really hard for me to watch. Happiness was the first movie that made me so uncomfortable that I almost turned it off.
I actually don’t think I’ve seen anything by Solondz. I think I might have seen STORYTELLING, but if I did I’ve forgotten every moment of it. Of the five I’ve pulled, it might well be the one I’m intrigued by the most.
Trust me, if you had seen Storytelling, you would remember ONE scene. It’s easily one of the most controversial moments in film history.
This blog-a-thon is a great idea! Looking forward to your thoughts on these peculiar movies. Velvet Goldmine is the only one I’ve seen.
Now I can only hope that I haven’t spread myself too thin and that I’ll be able to watch and write about all five films in a mere three weeks!
I liked Velvet Goldmine and (kind of) Welcome to the Dollhouse. I think you’re going to be less pained this year.
After CAMP CUCAMONGA there’s nowhere for me to go but up!
Odds are one or even two of these will be watched this weekend, and I could not be more stoked!
American Movie is hilarious, especially if you’ve ever been to Wisconsin.
I actually haven’t been to Wisconsin, but I’ll be stopping by as this blog-a-thon is happening. I have tickets to see The Brewers play The Pirates.
I saw Rock and Roll High School many many moons ago… its pretty much what you’d expect.
Haven’t seen the others, except for Baron Maunchausen. I’m gonna gamble there and say you’ll wind up liking it. I like that one quite a bit. One of Gilliam’s better efforts. Very creative, very visually oriented, very unique. But fun, “Fanciful”. 😀
I’m actually very hopeful that I like them all, but we shall see. Funny thing is that Lindsay has had all of these dvd’s ever since we first moved in together, so me going so long without watching them is pretty sad.