Ryan McNeil
With that, my 2014 movie-watching kicked into high gear.
Thirteen viewings in one week – helped in no small part by a bug that kept me home sick on Monday. Through the course of the week, I ended up watching enough first-timers to nudge the new film/old film ratio into the black for the first time all year. Then again, I only have myself and my decision to start the year with an Indiana Jones marathon to blame for that!
This was also a big week for my documentary watching with five tackled before the clock struck midnight last night. (Six, if you count SHINE A LIGHT) I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that much non-fiction in one week outside of Hot Docs. Every one of them were time well spent too, which is also a rarity.
Guess what I’m saying is that even with the sick day, it was a pretty good week!
I even got back into a theatre…good thing too, since I have no plans to go for the next seven days or so.
Here’s The Week at Hand…
Screenings
PHILOMENA – I’m currently working on a theory that this film hits UK audiences harder than North Americans.
Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Never Seen
DIRTY WARS – Interesting, but a movie that feels a few years late.
THE SQUARE – is it my imagination, or did we all watch this one last week?
THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD – Wait, what happened to the foxes and bears?
RUSSIAN ARK – A film I admire more than I “like”.
CUTIE AND THE BOXER – Lordy did I ever want to pick up a brush.
20 FEET FROM STARDOM – I forsee several more viewings before the year is out.
LIFE ITSELF – Drop by tomorrow, I’ll have a few thoughts.
PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM – Did Woody ghost-direct this or something? Seems awful Woody for a non-Woody film.
Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Watched Before
BROADCAST NEWS – I will never tire of watching Albert Brooks try to anchor.
THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER – It’s still infinite.
SHINE A LIGHT – Felt fitting after 20 FEET FROM STARDOM
JERRY MAGUIRE – Is it possible for a film to feel both relevant and dated?
First-Timers: Monsieur Verdoux, Safety Last!, Land Without Bread, Limelight, WrestleMania III, The Past, and Oblivion.
The only re-watch is in The Patriot.
For how simple it’s narrative is, how amazing is Safety Last?
I’m glad that I was able to see Russian Ark in the theater here when I came out; I think that helped a lot with my admiration for it.
A gigantic week for me, with four viewings!
The World’s End – There’s an interesting melancholy to the mayhem
Escape from Tomorrow – This was playing at the local college film series that’s five minutes from my house, and I couldn’t help myself. What a mess.
Dredd – This one really surprised me; great fun and simple in a good way
Crimes and Misdemeanors – Really enjoyed it, though the connection between the two story lines is pretty tenuous.
Russian Ark is yet another film I could have/should have seen at TIFF but didn’t. At least in this case, I can claim that my interest in cinema was still evolving and I wasn’t quite ready for it yet.
Re. Escape From Tomorrow – pretty sure I warned ya about that!
I know; I even listened to your podcast! It made me skeptical enough to wait, but I got sucked in because of my interest in Disney World. The only saving grace is some impressive footage of some rides. Still, that did not make up for the pain.
Nice nice nice! I watched all 5 Oscar docs last week too!
Cutie and the Boxer – Exactly! I picked up a pencil instead, but that counts, right?
Dirty Wars – Too focussed on itself instead of its subject matter.
The Square – Important but too disconnected if that makes sense.
20 Feet From Stardom – Oh boy. Made me wanna pick up my vocal chords.
The Act of Killing – Best. Documentary. Ever.
Also watched a couple other great Oscar movies… and Filth! Which was an interesting, dirty ride – almost as filthy as WoWS.
I tried reading Filth once but couldn’t get past page 20. I wager I’d do better with the big screen version, so when it drops you best believe I’ll be checking it out.
Pretty interesting crop of documentaries, ain’t it? As you probably read, I’m emotionally attached to Stardom, but my soul is still shaking from what I saw in Killing.
Ah, one of these days I need to see Broadcast News!
First-timers this week:
Aliens in the Wild, Wild West
Oldboy
Young People
And I re-watched:
The Running Man
Re. Broadcast News – watch it as a double-feature with Network. The two have very little in common besides being “TV Films”, but I think it’s interesting to see how the 70’s line of thinking gives way to the 80’s line of thinking.
How have you watched 37 films already?
Firsts: Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit– First 2014 movie. It was sooo slow. I wish it was more fun. Chris Pine’s eyes though *swoons*
All is Lost– I was a little bored at the beginning but it’s really engaging and very beautifully shot.
The Act of Killing– Am I the only person who felt REALLY angry after watching this? Proper powerful cinema.
Ernest et Celestine– Ugh so cute and such pretty animation.
20 Feet from Stardom– I wish I could sing 🙁 Also that I was more music literate 🙁 🙁
Cutie and the Boxer– I kind of want to box-paint now.
Filth– Really weird and surprisingly depressing.
The Croods– It was fun.
“How have you watched 37 films already?”
Look at what the current temperature is in Toronto.
Then stretch that trend out over 3+ weeks.
Tell me if you’d want to leave the house any more than absolutely necessary.