Ryan McNeil
Somehow, it turned into a Jennifer Lawrence sort of week.
When you count in my rewatch of WINTER’S BONE last week, it makes for four of her movies in the last eight days. Maybe I was getting myself all geared up for CATCHING FIRE this week and AMERICAN HUSTLE in a few. Or maybe I’ve just been talking to Kate Bradford a little too often. Whatever the reason, the ingenue was all over my TV this week.
I know some of the rest of you get into these sorts of patterns too – you’ll work through a director’s filmography, or a franchise. I’m not talking about for writing series or for podcasting homework. I’m talking about the knee-jerk reaction that points us towards a specific spot on the DVD shelf.
Is it just habitual? Is it subscribing to a trend? Or is it not good enough to watch a little of this and a little of that…we need to watch it all?
Here’s The Week at Hand…
Screenings
NEBRASKA – See this movie as soon as you can.
THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE – A solid second step. More thoughts tomorrow.
Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Never Seen
PRINCE AVALANCHE – Based on an Icelandic film from what I understand. That’s easy to see given the patience the film exhibits. That patience didn;t work so well with my impatience though.
Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Watched Before
NASHVILLE – For podcasting purposes.
THE GAME – This might be Fincher’s most underrated.
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK – I’ll never understand why this movie has haters.
THE HUNGER GAMES – Y’all know you rewatched it too.
BRINGING OUT THE DEAD – I’m getting my brain into WOLF OF WALL STREET mode.
Man, some of my favorite times as a movie obsessive are when I fall in love with an actress/actor and then begin an all-out assault on her/his canon. That happened for me with Joanne Woodward a couple years ago and has been happening for me with Jean Harlow this year. And it just happens naturally. You see one and think, “Yup. This is the actress for me.” So…embrace it! Own it!
And direct all haters of “Silver Linings Playbook” to my address. We’ll have a chat.
The last hater of SLP who I encountered pretty much yelled at me about it over Twitter. I’ll spare you the argument.
For me, that desire to plow through a group of movies happens when I see something that reminds me how much I love a given actor, director, genre, whatever it is. It’s such a strong feeling sometimes you just have to give in and let it wash over you with a flurry of favorites.
First timers for me this week:
Shadow of a Doubt
It Happened in Hollywood
And I re-watched:
Commando
Y’know, I’ve never seen COMMANDO.
Is it worth chasing down?
That’s a question that will probably bring wildly different answers from people, but since you’re asking me, the answer is MOST DEFINITELY. I’ve loved Commando since childhood. It’s one of my favorite Arnold movies and I also think it’s one of the most satisfying and entertaining dumb action movies of the decade.
Had a week full of goodies with the European Union Film Festival going on:
-Blind Spot, Luxembourg’s Oscar pick = meh.
-I’m an Old Communist Hag = great title, pretty good film.
-Weddings and Other Disasters = disposable, but harmless fun.
-The Broken Circle Breakdown = WINNER.
Hey Pat – don’t get many comments from you, so thanks for dropping by!
I’ve been continually amused all week with the divisive nature of BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN. While I sit here and wonder where it will slot in my year-end top five, I get tweets and comments from people who think I’m nuts. In such times, it’s nice to know I’m not alone.
BTW – If you’re interested, dial up Matineecast 99 where we discuss it for 20 minutes. Pretty good episode if I do say so myself.
Don’t be a stranger, eh?
In First-Timers: Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out, The Apartment, Belle de Jour, Mystery Train, my Blind Spot assignment in Sunset Boulevard, Tristana, and earlier today, Hello I Must Be Going.
Re-Watches: Deuce Bigelow: European Gigolo, Cloud Atlas, and the 1960s version of The Parent Trap.
OK, I’m listening:
What did you make of THE APARTMENT?
(Answer carefully)
Definitely one of the best films I had ever seen.
You passed.
My love for that film is more-or-less legend by now, but if you’re interested, give a listen to Matineecast 86 where Jess Rogers and I discuss it at length in lieu of a feature review.
The past month has been Daniel Day-Lewis month for me, thanks to watching The Crucible all the time in preparation for playing Elizabeth in our production for it. I’ve just about seen all of his filmography – kind of easy, considering it is so small. Jennifer Lawrence is awesome! Can’t wait to see Catching Fire and American Hustle. Anyway, films I fit in this week –
First-timers:
Monster’s Ball, Pacific Rim, The Conjuring, My Left Foot (see – Daniel Day-Lewis feels), The Internship
Rewatches:
Side Effects (such a solid thriller, if a little forgotten now), Nine (probably the only DDL movie I haven’t liked thus far), Before Midnight (perfect), Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (so very good) and The Hunger Games
Weird: I read THE CRUCIBLE and somehow my brain thought your school was doing a production of THE SCARLETT LETTER.
I don’t tend to follow patterns too often, but my wife is extremely suseptable to them. She will very often get into a kick with a specific actor or actress and watch EVERY movie in their filmography that she can get a hold of. And while that does tend to force her into a bad movie trap quite often, it also ends up exposing her to a lot of great indie flicks that I’ve never even heard of. When I choose a trend, it’s more often a much broader theme like cheesy older movies, or animated movies.
Back when Jess Rogers and Rachel Thuro used to focus on an actor’s filmography on the Reel Insight Podcast, I got suckered in more than once to fill in the gaps in certain actors’ filmographies.
Did you know that james Franco has a lot of clunkers to his name? Cuz I do.
This was another pretty limited week, but I’m getting ready to ramp up my posting on the site. That means watching more movies. I win!
Just two this week:
IRON MAN 3 – Finally saw it and liked it more than Iron Man 2. Even so, I wouldn’t say it all worked.
THE UNDERNEATH – One of the few Soderbergh films that I hadn’t seen, and it was a fun noir film. Lots to like, including William Fichtner in his usual type of role.