Ryan McNeil
It’s incredibly late as I type this, which is a real shame because I really wish I had time to dig through previous years’ worth of “Days of The Week” posts and see if what happened this week has ever happened outside of a film festival experience.
A five screening week.
It really didn’t occur to me until this evening, mostly because I had forgotten about a rep screening I attended on the weekend and for some kooky reason mis-filed my second go-round with Chris Rock. But here I sit, having spent four nights in the last seven sitting in a cinema. And yes, for those of you keeping score at home, that means that one of those nights involved a double-feature.
See the funny thing is that I know full-well that for the pros that can handily be par for the course. Heck, for all I know they’d call a five-screening week “downtime”. But when one is already holding down a 9-to-5, preparing for the holidays in all sorts of ways, and trying to be a present spouse, then finding so much time to be out and around is a little tricky. Then again, I have no idea when this might happen again (next week?) so I should probably quit my complaining.
What’s more is that with one lonely exception, I enjoyed every last thing that I saw this week! Then again, that’s probably because I skipped an offered showing of EXODUS.
But still, fun times! Maybe I’ll do it again next week.
Here’s The Week at Hand…
Screenings
THE KILLING – My favorite Kubrick. Not my choice as “the best” – my favorite
MR. TURNER – I really need to get back into sketching
SELMA – Expect to hear more about this in the very near future, but for now I’ll just say that it kicked my ass.
TOP FIVE – After SELMA, I really needed to laugh
THE IMITATION GAME – Strange to say this, but I didn’t expect it to be this funny.
Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Never Seen
UNBROKEN – Several people this week commented on this film’s lack of award love. None of them had seen it.
I WILL FOLLOW – Inspired by SELMA and a recent rewatch of LIFE ITSELF
Boxscore for The Year
271 First-Timers, 185 Re-Watched
101 Screenings
457 Movies in Total
I’ve been watching a lot of films lately, mostly action movies since I also had an exam for a class about action movies. I didn’t have much in the way of screenings, but here’s what I watched so far:
First-Time viewing:
-The Last Stand: Arnold Schwarzenegger’s big comeback movie was a lot of fun, with sort of a modern western vibe and plenty of crazy over-the-top action.
-Sabotage: Not quite as fun as The Last Stand, but still action-packed and suspenseful, with a few unexpected twists and turns for good measure.
-Robocop: This one was kinda silly.
Rewatch:
-The Tourist: Lots of fun, plus beautiful scenery. Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp in Venice, what’s not to love?
-Total Recall: I personally thought this was a better film than Robocop, with a lot of action that is crazy even for Schwarzenegger and the added element of uncertainty if what we’re seeing is real or not.
-Eyes Wide Shut: A bit of an odd one to include here, but a great film nonetheless. Also you could technically argue that it’s a Christmas movie so this is the perfect time to watch it: http://hitchcocksworld.blogspot.ca/2014/12/1999-sexual-odyssey_12.html
I didn’t see much as I’m still trying to recover from the flu.
First-Timers: The Kate Bush Story: Running Up That Hill, Prisoners, The Lego Movie, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (it’s not amazing, it’s shit), Confidentially Yours, and the first 2 parts of The Story of Film: An Odyssey as I’m going to watch the 2nd part later tonight.
Re-Watches: The Crew.
That’s neato you got to see The Killing on the big screen. There shouldn’t be any shame in loving that one! I’m also rather stoked for Top Five, so I’m glad to hear you liked it so much.
First time:
The Tanks Are Coming
And I rewatched:
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – Just because the new one is almost out, but also for podcasting purposes. I love this one so much, I don’t care what anyone says.