This is only the fourth time this year this has happened outside of a film festival, and let me tell you – a four-screening week is a beautiful thing. It actually could have been a five had I not bailed out on seeing THE DESCENDANTS last night, but five might have been pushing things to new levels of obsession. A five-screener week was not in the cards, but some awesome films were re-watched on dvd to make up for it.

I do have a question for my American friends: How do you decide what to see around the Thanksgiving holiday? It seems like there are so many options to choose from, and if I understand thing correct, y’all often soak these things up in groups. I can hardly get four people to agree on what toppings they want on a pizza!

Here’s The Week at Hand…

Screenings
THE MUPPETS – Few movies this year have filled me with this much joy.
MELANCHOLIA – Bleak and beautiful. Review should be up tomorrow morning.
HUGO – It’s funny, as I read around this film seems to be getting so much love, but so many I know personally who have seen it are just shrugging.
THE MUPPETS – Yup. Loved it so much I watched it twice in a week.

Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Never Seen
CRASH (1996) – This was actually the first film I have watched on my phone via NetFlix. Would be great to kill time, but can’t say it’s my first choice as a medium.

Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Watched Before
HOOK – Spielberg and Sony each lose ten points for turning a feature-less dvd into a feature-less blu-ray.
ROMEO + JULIET – I saw this story as a ballet recently; it really made me miss that wonderful dialogue.
SOURCE CODE – A handsome blu-ray if ever there was one. Watching this made me anxious to find out what Duncan Jones will do next.
THE GREAT MUPPET CAPER – Like last week’s experience with THE MUPPET MOVIE, so much time passing since I saw this film last made it feel like I was watching it for the first time.

Boxscore for The Year
221 First-Timers, 157 Re-Watched
378 Movies in Total

How’s about you – seen anything good?

37 Replies to “Days of the Week (Films Watched 11/19 – 11/25)”

    1. Lots of Woody allen! In prep for the LAMB Director’s Chair I assume? Speaking of Woody, I nodded off last night watching the documentary about him on PBS…sorta pissed because I really wanted to see that.

      Funny story – my Mom has a tendency to watch films by flipping channel and coming into them part way, so a few weeks back, she says to me “I was watching this film the other night…a guy lives in a beautiful house…I think someone has died…and he’s really sad.”

      It’s like a quiz with my prents

  2. Hmm…8 films this week.

    Rebecca: Not Hitchcock’s best, but decent.
    Vertigo: The least of Hitchcock’s great films. Good, but I’d rather watch several of his other ones.
    Stranger than Paradise: It grew on me. I was neutral after watching, and a fan a day later.
    True Grit: The Coens are better filming their own stories.
    American Graffiti: Lucas can actually write dialogue!
    The Barefoot Contessa: Fantastic. Go watch this.
    Dances with Wolves: The extended version is too extended. Good, but too melodramatic.
    The Muppets: Cutest movie of the year? Or cutest movie ever?

      1. Ah…North by Northwest, which is probably my favorite film regardless of director. Hitchcock’s five best films (my opinion, and I haven’t seen them all yet) are Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho, and The Birds. All five are great, beautifully made, and important–even critical. Vertigo is the one I think has aged the poorest.

        We’ll see if that list of five changes once I locate a copy of Rope.

        1. I loved Rope. From my experience during Hitchcock month earlier this year, I would exchange either Psycho or Vertigo with Rope, though I know most people wouldn’t.

          1. Not sure if I’d ever call ROPE Hitchcock’s best (I’m too partial to PSYCHO or VERTIGO), but like you I do count myself as a massive fan of it…and might even call it underrated.

  3. I can’t wait to see The Muppets! I’ve decided that I WILL be going to see this movie in cinemas.

    Anyway, what did I watch?

    Movies I haven’t seen before:
    Meek’s Cutoff
    Bad Teacher
    Contagion
    Clueless
    City Lights
    sex, lies, and videotape
    Modern Times

    Rewatches:
    Fight Club
    (500) Days of Summer
    Three Colours: Red

    1. I’m going to watch CLUELESS soon for our conversation about it, and I’m happy to hear that THE MUPPETS will warrant the long journey you take to get to a theatre!

      What did you think of MODERN TIMES?

  4. I want to watch Hugo so bad!!

    First timers- 1) The Boy in the Striped Pajamas– I watched this because technically I had not seen any Asa Butterfield films and it has devastated me forever.
    2) 50-50– It was sweet and funny and good performances from JGL and Rogen.
    3) Albert Nobbs– It was supposed to be so sweet, but it ended up being rather depressing. Glenn Close was wonderful though.
    4) Martha Marcy May Marlene– Wow. So good. I am officially an Elizabeth Olsen fan.
    5) It’s Complicated– I love Meryl Streep too much! I wish that I can look like her in my sixties, that is all.
    6) Stardust Memories– Brilliant! One of the best Woody Allen films that I have seen. And god does he have a knack for choosing gorgeous women!

    1. When does HUGO hit theatres for you?

      FUnny thing, amongst my friends here in town, I seem to be the only person who really like MMMM, which is strange because everywhere else I look, people seem to love it.

  5. Theatrical:
    -Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1 (Probably one of the better made, which means it was one of the lesser entertaining)

    First time:
    -Beginners (Good acting with a lot of potential, but bleakly told)
    -Boogie Nights (Great first 90 minutes, dull 25 minute stretch, great final 30 minutes)
    -A Streetcar Named Desire (…eh)
    -Nightmares in Red, White, and Blue (documentary about the evolution of American horror films… fell asleep around the middle, but the parts I saw were pretty interesting)

    Re-Watch:
    -Deathly Hallows Part 2 (Yes… again. But to be fair, I wasn’t watching it alone this time.)
    -The Last Samurai (One of my favorite Cruise films)
    -Panic Room (second viewing of it, and the first was a long time ago… so it might as well have been a first-time. Still, it was really good.)

      1. Ew, no way. I’m a fan of making fun of Twilight. But I don’t like making fun of things I haven’t experienced (which is why I’ve read and watched the series). With Breaking Dawn in particular, a lot of it also has to do with morbid curiosity, because that book was damn near unfilmable… especially as two films.

  6. Quite a slow week since I have rewatched La Femme Nikita and Living Daylights.

    Nikita was even more awesome than I remembered Living Daylights didn’t hold up that well but Daltons performance as Bond is great as usual and to me he is James Bond.

      1. I don’t think it’s that great, and that’s coming from a big Luc Besson fan. It has some good moments, but it’s mostly just a decent precursor to Leon.

      2. Well I do think you need to get on it then. I have a hang-up on Le Grande Bleu but beside that one I think Nikita is his best film as director.

        As I have also tweeted you I really think he should get his own Filmlocker episode when you and Simon start up that one again.

        1. I have yet to see Le Grande Bleu (as we already talked about, Joel), but I can’t agree with Nikita being his best. That easily goes to Leon, then possibly Angel-A (which is his most artistic). I’d also put Fifth Element above Nikita. Actually, I made a Top 10 Luc Besson Productions post a while back, and Nikita was at #10.

          1. Well you are of course in title to your own opinion which I don’t share. =)

            Leon feels like more of a typical action film while Nikita is more of a romantic grown up coming of age film sprinkled with some awesome action scenes.

            I can’t wait to hear your opinion on Le Grande Bleu.

    1. My overall is much higher than yours I’d wager, and I think the overall tally counts for more. I’d also wager my in-theatre total is much more.

      So…y’know…”boo ya!”

  8. “Hugo” has lovely moments but it’s much too long.

    Ironically for a movie lover, Thanksgiving weekend is when I stay home; the multiplexes I go to are all at malls and I hate dealing with the traffic/parking. I want to see “The Muppets,” “Melancholia” and “The Skin I Live In” but they’ll just have to keep until next week.

    1. I get the hunch that HUGO will play better on re-watch, and that issues like its length will feel more palatable. Come back to it sometime down the road.

      I hadn’t thought of all of that mall-going traffic. With that in mind, it’s a wonder that any of y’all go to the movies on Thanksgiving weekend.

  9. First times:

    J. Edgar: Eastwood’s second flat-out embarrassment in a row (some might add Invictus but in spite of everything I enjoyed that one)
    Island of Lost Souls: A wonderfully nasty Pre-Code horror
    Limelight: Not Chaplin’s best, but perhaps the best summary of his career
    Breaking Dawn Part 1: Honestly, the mediocrity of these films offends me more at this point than the message they impart
    The Last Emperor: A beautifully shot film, and one that fits perfectly with Bertolucci’s pet themes of personal and social upheaval, with sexual confusion added for good measure.
    Beginners: Too arty by half, but the cast really gets to the core of what Mills wanted to say. Plummer gives one of the best performances of his career.

    Rewatch:
    Amelie: Having since found equally ebullient films that also have something to say, Amelie isn’t one of my faves anymore, but it’s still as delightful as ever, and the Blu-Ray is gorgeous.

  11. This past week I saw:
    – The Girl Who Leapt Through Time: A bit too-slowly paced. Charming story though with a simple time-travel paradox
    – Cedar Rapids: Average, forgettable comedy. Maybe worth seeing if you have 90 minutes to burn but nothing more
    – The Muppets: Lovely bundle of joy
    – Hugo: Odd family film. Not sure it works as such, given the slower pace relative to your average family-oriented flick.

    1. I *think* GIRL/TIME is on my anime syllabus (which I haven’t started hashing through yet), and one that I’ve heard a lot of good things about. Will be interested to finally see it and see if my opinion matches up with yours.

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