My weekly totals are slowing down a little bit as we creep towards the end of the year. At this point it’s a certainty that I will eclipse the one-a-day total for 2011, but I wonder just how high this tally will get? With seven weeks to go, I’d sort of like to finish it all with 400. That’s about six a week, which should be do-able (though next week will likely be a low tally). That said, we all know how nutty things can get during the holiday season.

The funny thing is that adding to the nuttiness is all of the wonderful films that come out this time of year. Hell, between December 21st and December 25th there are halfa dozen must-see films dropping for me! However will I cope?

 

Here’s The Week at Hand…

Screenings
IMMORTALS – Look for a review on Monday. For now I’ll just say that I am really looking forward to SUPERMAN.

Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Watched Before
SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD – When I first got my blu-ray player last Christmas, Steve Johnston recommended this as one of the essential titles to own on blu. Upon rewatch, I must admit – when the man is right, he’s right.
PUBLIC ENEMIES – While admittedly flawed, I still think this film is underrated.
UNFORGIVEN – This was recently discussed on Reel Insight. They’re both wrong.
MYSTIC RIVER – As you can see, thinking about seeing J. EDGAR tonight got me into a very Clint frame of mind.
CAPE FEAR (1991) – I wonder what the reaction to this film would be if anyone other than Scorsese had directed it?

Boxscore for The Year
214 First-Timers, 147 Re-Watched
361 Movies in Total

How’s about you – seen anything good?

36 Replies to “Days of The Week (Films Watched 11/5 – 11/11)”

  1. Repertory screening of “The Best Years of Our Lives”. Even though I’d seen it several times and it’s been a favorite for years, I still caught details of shot composition that I’d missed before and have never enjoyed it so much. The great films deserve to be seen on the big screen.

    Unlike just about all my movie friends I really liked “Public Enemies”. A movie not well served by its trailer or release date.

  2. Another slow week for me:

    Girl with a Pearl Earring
    Melancholia
    Crazy Stupid Love
    Drive Angry
    Sunset Boulevard
    Last Night (the Canadian one)

    Probably going to get to Water for Elephants here soon. I sorta watched The Exorcist while editing the podcast last night. Brad had it on, but I only stopped and watched the more iconic moments.

    And I’m not all that wrong about Unforgiven. I hear J. Edgar’s a real doozy.

    1. Hmmm…they can’t be for a star of the week, because there’s no common link to them. What’d you think of LAST NIGHT?

      As for UNFORGIVEN, there’s a lot of texture to it that made it stand out. It’s seen as Clint Eastwood’s attrition for his early career where the western glamorized violence and killing. In UNFORGIVEN, we meet men who set out to do some killing, but wrestle with the moral repercussions of pulling the trigger. Even the youngest character struggles both with the act of killing and with the fallout.

      Coming from the man who starred in some of the most notorious/gun-happy westerns, tht’s a pretty ig deal.

      1. Girl with a Pearl Earring was the last one I had to watch for Cillian Murphy week. Melancholia was a new release and prep for the Kirsten Dunst RI episode. Crazy Stupid Love and Drive Angry were 2011 catch-ups. Sunset Boulevard is my classic of the month. And Last Night was just a totally random watch while Mia was taking her nap yesterday afternoon. And I liked it. It was actually fitting since I had seen another end of world movie earlier in the week.

        1. If you recall, Jess and I spoke about LAST NIGHT the last time I was on RI. That final shot of McKellar and Oh is one of the most beautiful shots I think I’ve ever seen.

          1. Yep, I remember. I think you also chose for an FMD “You Choose” too, so I’ve heard them talking about it. It was a really good take on the end of the world as the anti-Roland Emmerich, if you will.

  3. A week of some strange things for me.

    Bad Day at Black Rock: You should watch everything that stars Spencer Tracy.
    The Good, the Bad, the Weird: Great action, yes. Great movie? Maybe.
    Der Blaue Engel: One of the best early German talkies.
    Czlowiek z Marmuru: I want to see more of this director’s work.
    Viy: Part is creepy, part looks like a junior high production.
    Cinema Paradiso: Why didn’t someone tell me about this film years ago? And if they did, why didn’t I listen to them?
    The Bitter Tea of General Yen: Controversial 80 years ago, controversial now for a different reason. Barbara Stanwyck cures a lot of problems.

    1. Congrats on finally catching up with PARADISO – now you see why I use that as the image for the weekly round-up.

      I watched BLACK ROCK for the first time back in March, and really liked it a lot! If you dig through the archives and give Matineecast #30 a listen, you can hear me discuss it with the boys from MaMo.

      1. Cinema Paradiso…I think maybe I like that film a bit more than a lot of people, but it’s difficult for me to think of someone for whom films are important not liking that film at some level. But most of the feedback I’ve gotten is of the “I liked it but not that much” variety. I always knew that the kid in the picture above was from that film, and it’s one I’ve almost watched a few times. So now I’m kicking myself that I hadn’t watched it sooner.

        1. There’s only so many hours in the day. There’s a great rep cinema here in town that had a free showing of that two days before Christmas one year. It was a great little gift to the film lovers in town.

    1. As a huge U2 fan, I’m anxious to finally catch up with FROM THE SKY DOWN. Hopefully it hits blu-ray soon!

      SLEEPING BEAUTY has been pretty divisive – what did you think of it?

  5. I need to buy Scott Pilgrim on blu-ray! ASAP. I haven’t seen that film in so long, it’s an offence.

    Horribly slow week 2.0- Saw Gattaca for the first time. I quite liked it. Ethan Hawke was such a good actor, it’s sad how scarce hje has become now. Though there will apparently be Before um, something, set in New York. I rewatched Fight Club. Man, I’ll never get over that film…it’s still so amazing! Sooo my favourite film ever.

    This week is Tintin week! Hurrah!!

  6. First time: Retreat, Peacock, The Edge of Love, The Wind that Shakes the Barley, Intermission, Bad Day at Black Rock, City of God.

    Rewatch: Fast Five, The Good The Bad The Weird, Moon, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (I think I watched that within this time frame, anyway).

    I think that’s about it.

  7. Chiming in:
    Ides of March
    Bad Day at Black Rock
    The Good, The Bad, The Weird
    Falling Down
    Headhunter (Theatrical release of a Norwegian thriller in the same tone as the Pusher sequels)

    Of my rentals I still have Timecrimes to go through. Heard a lot of good about that one.

  8. I think I might ask for a Blu-ray copy of Scott Pilgrim to be added to my Christmas stocking 😉

    Movies I haven’t seen before:
    The Trip
    Centurion
    TrollHunter
    Cars 2
    Wrecked
    Tucker & Dale vs Evil
    Transformers 3
    The Double Life of Veronique

    Rewatches:
    Memento
    Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
    The Social Network
    The Tree of Life (I definitely ‘got’ this movie a lot more 2nd time around)
    Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

  9. Screening:

    J. Edgar
    Jack and Jill
    Harold & Kumar Christmas
    Happy Feet 2

    Re-Watch:

    Happy Gilmore
    It’s Kind of A Funny Story

    First Time:

    Terri
    American Teacher
    Guilty By Suspicion

    We’ll see what I watch today.

      1. My significant other hadn’t seen either one of them. She loved both of them.

        I didn’t anticipate Network being that kind of a satire.

  11. Hipsters: In Soviet Russia, Rouge moulin you!
    The Rum Diary: Love Hunter, love Bruce Robinson, but the combo of the two didn’t work. The novel is essentially about Hunter finding his voice through substances, while the film is so thick with dramatic irony it might as well end with a reminder Hunter committed suicide after burning out.
    Harakiri: Oh my God what a masterpiece. A vicious film of visual perfection.
    The Skin I Live In: Certainly the most daring exploration of gender identity in a relatively mainstream film (at least compared to other strong works of feminine critiques like Jeanne Dielman or Valerie and Her Week of Wonders). Pedro’s at the top of his game thematically and aesthetically here.
    The Mill and the Cross: It lost me a few times, but what a fascinating experiment.
    Day for Night: Chatted about this with Allison from Nerd Vampire. We both loved it.

    1. There were small details I liked about RUM DIARY, but I can’;t help but wish it was a little more focused. I could go on, but Rachel and I went over this to the enth degree during the last Matineecast).

      THE SKIN I LIVE IN is a film I hope more people get to see as it has become one of my very favorites of the year, and I believe lands itself amongst Almodovar’s very best. Have you written about it yet?

  12. Haven’t seen too many movies lately. I rewatched The Tree of Life. Still loved it despite its flaws. Also saw Despicable Me, that was underwhelming and definitely more of a children movie than something for all audiences

    1. I’ll probably be watching TREE OF LIFE for a third time in the near future as Lindsay hasn’t seen it yet. However, I’m betting even money that she won’t much care for it and get antsy by the time we get to the Creation sequence.

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