Ryan McNeil
I forget sometimes that a certain cluster of my fellow film geeks actually pay attention to what I log on Letterboxd.
For exaxmple, last night my friend Sasha James said to me “You’ve been watching some crap lately, huh?”. I scoffed at this for starters, because as we all know, I do not watch crap (/pretention). But of course one geek’s mess is another geek’s masterpiece, so the point led to a fun conversation. Seems as though Miss James didn’t like that I don’t rate every last film I watch. Where I use it primarily as a log, she wanted me to use it to also state my opinions.
I had to smile and remind her that I have a blog for that. I also had to thank for for paying attention to what I do online…since on sites like that, I swear much of the time I’m only detailing things for my own purposes.
Here’s The Week at Hand…
Screenings
MIRROR MIRROR – Widely underrated.
SHORTS NOT PANTS pt. 2 – My friend James presents this programme of short films once every few months. This screening included selection like THE MAN WITHOUT A HEAD and TO DIE BY YOUR SIDE
Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Never Seen
THE WAITING ROOM – Hot Docs Screener: The American health care system continues to baffle me.
Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Watched Before
A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN – I suddenly feel the urge to take a road trip to Cooperstown.
BOOGIE NIGHTS – Perhaps a fitting choice considering all the sex that was on tap in Shorts Not Pants.
DEAD MAN WALKING – A small attempt at hitting the ‘reset’ button.
Boxscore for The Year
64 First-Timers, 66 Re-Watched
28 Screenings
130 Movies in Total
Slow week for me non-screener wise.
First time watch:
G-Dog : Hot Docs Screener. Interesting, fairly straight forward doc.
The Frog Princes: Hot Doc Screener. Decent
Legend of a Warrior: Hot Docs Screener. Really enjoyed this film.
Re-watched:
The Ten Commandments – Still holds up well.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) – Not as bad as I remembered but still not that good. The casting is rather surprising, I forgot that Ben Affleck, Ricki Lake, and Hillary Swank were also in the film.
I’ve always wanted to sit down and watch THE TEN COMMANDMENTS properly, but have never had an entire day to kill.
I use Letterboxd for logging and rating films, since I am too lazy to write a blog. It’s pretty useful and the nice graphics doesn’t hurt.
Looking forward to seeing Waiting Room at Hot Docs.
First time watch:
The Deep Blue Sea: Terrance Davies can’t seem to leave post WWII Britain behind, there is a sense of melancholy about this one.
Lockout: Silliest movie of the year, a Die-Hard, Escape From NY wannabe, with Maggie Grace playing a damsel in need of rescuing once again, and Guy Pierce spewing cheesy one-liners/wisecracks.
The Hunter: Dafoe is good, but the movie isn’t much to write home about.
American Reunion: Time to put a needle to this series. Though watching Tara Reid trying to change her facial expressions is kind of amusing to me.
Fightville: Watched it at the new, revamped Bloor Cinema. Very swanky. Got to see more films there. I think only 4 people were in attendance, and that includes two of my friends. Good film though.
Fish Story: A truly bizarre but sweet Japanese film. It’s about how a forgotten song from a old punk rock group could save the world. I can’t do justice with the description.
Re-watch
Last Train Home: Continue my preparation for Hot Docs. This one is probably the best doc about lives in Modern China.
Seems like an uphill climb where screenings are concerned these days, doesn’t it?
I’m hoping for good things from The Bloor. I decided to hold off visiting the joint until the festival so I can get the full effect. All the same, I’m hoping it can sustain itself. Swank as I’m sure it is, I can’t begin to guess what the doc-going crowd will be like year-round in this town.
Guess we’ll find out soon enough!
I feel like watching Boogie Nights again. Especially since Punch-Drunk Love was coming on the telly yesterday. I wish PTA would make a comedic film again.
Firsts: The Hurt Locker– It was alright. I’m not all that impressed by it.
if…– This would actually make an interesting double feature with The Hurt Locker– men who like violence. Malcolm McDowell is brilliant.
A Trip to the Moon– Watched it officially. Fantastic to note how films took us to the moon some 60+ years before Neil Armstrong did.
Barry Lyndon– It was nice but far too long. And I am a really impatient person.
The Guard– Thanks again 🙂
The Secret of the Kells– Probably the most beautiful animation that I have ever seen.
Talk to Her– I am going to become an Almodovar fiend. Loved it! Any suggestions for the next film I should watch from his filmography?
Animal House– Indian colleges are so not like this. Sigh. Too funny.
Wild Strawberries– First Bergman and already a fan. Beautiful.
Rewatched: The Artist– In-flight movie. My plane took off at the same moment as the plane in George Valentin’s film took off. Perfection 😀
Carnage– Saw this on the plane too. Christoph Waltz is too awesome.
I’m actually quite a big fan of THE HURT LOCKER, especially smitten by the fact that it’s a war film without a specific “enemy”. The enemy is the bomb – I can’t think of any other war film that took such a tack.
I’m fuzzy on which Almodovar’s you have seen and which you haven’t. If either VOLVER or ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER are still on the ‘to-watch’ list, go there next.
I’m with you on BARRY LYNDON by the way. As big a Kubrick fan as I have turned into, that’s by far my least favorite.
If you really want my full take on Three Kings, I’d suggest listening to the next LAMBcast (#112) when it shows up.
You aren’t writing any sort of post on it?
Quite short this week (because I was quite busy).
Screenings:
Mirror Mirror – Turned out to be an enjoyable film to see for my birthday.
Cabin in the Woods – *zip* (it’s awesome)
DVD/Blu-Ray/Netflix First Time:
The Greatest Movie Ever Sold – Morgan Spurlock knows how to make an entertaining doc.
DVD/Blu-Ray/Netflix Re-Watch:
House on Haunted Hill (1999) – After watching American Horror Story last fall, I realized that that the show features the same type of highly stylized horror present in this film. Great performance by Geoffrey Rush.
SOLD looked a bit heavy-handed for me as a doc. I *am* looking forward to seeing his one on Comic Con though…
First-time
Titanic 3D
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Midnight in Paris
Re-watches
Casablanca
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
I’ll take “Semantics” for $1000 Alex:
Should TITANIC 3-D count as a first-timer?
I’d say so. The scope of the film is changed a great deal by 3D.
I’m back on track with more than one film per day on average.
New to me:
Volver: Unfocused, but Penelope Cruz is fantastic in it.
Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon: For podcast.
Gigi: Happy, happy misogyny.
Three Kings: Good. Great? Maybe.
Nine Queens: Very much like The Sting, but different in important ways.
Dodsworth: Surprisingly deep for mid-1930s Hollywood.
Rewatches (you’ll sense a theme here):
Scream: So, so, so good.
Touch of Satan (Mystery Science Theater 3000): Only watchable with Mike and the bots.
Secret Agent Super Dragon (Mystery Science Theater 3000): “We need the Super Dragon!”
Manhunt in Space(Mystery Science Theater 3000): Did people find this entertaining without the shadows in front?
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie: I miss this show. Obviously.
Hey, have you ever seen this show called Mystery Science Theater 3000?
Y’know one of the things I really like about THREE KINGS? It plays so much better with the context of what came later than it did upon first release.
“I don’t even know what we did here…”
Hey I never told you this but I LOVE the choice of photo you used for this series. It’s perfect!
Well, I saw one of the Michael Mann’s films I’ve been meaning to see, Manhunter. It’s really good, especially Brian Cox’s performance as Lecter (spelled Lecktor in that film). I also re-watched The Incredible Hulk. Still like it.
Thanks a bunch! I love images of people watching movies within the movies. I must admit though, I was a little bit saddened when I couldn’t find the still I was looking for. I wanted to find a shot of Michael Stuhlbarg operating the camera as he showed the kids and Missus Mellies the film.
c’est la vie.
I haven’t rewatched THE INCREDIBLE HULK since it played in theatres, but something tells me I will before I see THE AVENGERS (though with THE AVENGERS opening at the tail end of Hot Docs, that’s no guarantee). I do remember liking it a great deal too – if you were to drop down the “Reviews” menu, you’d be able to find my old post on it in the review index.
Oh, and MANHUNTER is underrated.