January 2011
35 posts
5 tags
Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)
Quite a mouthful of Ms— even the programmer stumbled through this title twice while announcing it. The names all belong to the main character, played by surprisingly-not-troll-doll-faced Elizabeth Olsen, who just barely escapes an abusive commune. She’s a highly unlikeable character, so it’s hard to feel sympathy for her as the flashbacks to her time in the commune/cult show...
2 tags
Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times (2011)
If you think print journalism is going away any time soon, you’re wrong, and you should watch this documentary: Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times. It focuses on how the media is changing how the public gets news, and how the news has had to adapt (or go bankrupt). The fact is, whether you’re reading the news on your computer or buying a hard copy, sources like The New York...
4 tags
How to Die in Oregon (2011)
I thought I had seen the most depressing documentary ever made after sobbing my way through Dear Zachary. Then I saw How to Die in Oregon at Sundance, and I think the two films might be tied for first place. How to Die in Oregon follows several people suffering with terminal illness who have the option to end their life with physician-assisted death. It also follows a woman in Washington state...
10 tags
Miss Representation (2011)
Ooooo! Another documentary! They seem to be in good supply at Sundance this year. Hold on to your wine glasses: I made it a priority to see Miss Representation, a documentary on women in the media. Excellent interview coverage of Katie Couric, Rachel Maddow, Lisa Ling, Jane Fonda, Geena Davis, Gavin Newsom, and many other actresses, news anchors, politicians and media critics. The film was...
20 tags
Sundance Wrap Up 2011
Another Sundance Festival gone by… always a depressing day leaving Park City. For me, Sundance means snow, Sorel boots, terrible restaurant food, hanging out with Melissa/Marc/and other ASCAP awesomes, and movies, movies, movies. This year I caught: Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975, The Troll Hunter, Corman’s World, The Woman, Red State, Another Earth, Reagan, Miss Represenation, How to...
4 tags
Reagan (2011)
It’s difficult to wrap up the life of a president in 2 hours, but Reagan makes a valiant attempt. I was born during Reagan’s presidency and so I was too young to remember a lot of the issues he dealt with and his policies. The 1980s were never a decade of special focus in any of my high school history classes or even my one college political science class. This documentary was an...
7 tags
Red State (2011)
If you’re not a fan of Kevin Smith’s previous work, try Red State on for size (on his self-distribution tour or next October when it’s released in theaters). The film deals with 3 teenage boys who fall into the hands of hate-filled religious lunatics. These crazies are quite similar to the Westboro Bapists, who of course protested the premiere, and thankfully were met with a...
5 tags
The Woman (2011)
I saw this film at a midnight screening at Sundance. When the end credits rolled and the lights came up for Q&A, a man in the audience was already on his feet and shouting, something along the lines of: “I have a question for Lucky! How can you make a film so degrading to women and to men? This isn’t art!” Those were some of the things I heard. Without thinking, I...
5 tags
Another Earth (2011)
Another Earth is one of those films that transports you, and after it’s over, leaves you always wanting to return. Technically a science fiction film, it’s a story of pain and forgiveness. If you read the synopsis, it sounds like a typical indie drama, biting off more than it can chew and presumably would buckle under the weight of its own complications. Instead, Another Earth is a...
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Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel...
So rare are the documentaries that succeed on every level: explores a subject in great detail, exposes little-known facts, exhausts rare footage and interviews, and inspires action. Corman’s World delves into the history and legacy of Roger Corman, and is not to be missed, especially if you are a filmmaker, artist, writer, or a lover of progress and innovation. I have to say I knew very...
5 tags
The Troll Hunter (2010)
I’m not going to say a lot about The Troll Hunter because I really hope you see it some day soon. The Troll Hunter is a fake documentary (or is it?) about a man who hunts trolls in Norway. A small group of college kids insist on following him with a video camera. Adventure ensues.
This film was fun and thrilling and wacky but it was also gorgeous. The film crew follows the hunter...
5 tags
Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (2011)
I spoke too soon. My first film of Sundance turned out to be exactly in keeping with my MLK theme week of movies! Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 is a collection of archival footage from those years from Swedish journalists that until now has sat dormant in vaults. The director, Goran Olsson, found this treasure trove of footage and slapped it together with modern music and voice-over interviews...
3 tags
recent fails/festival success!
This week was rough. I’ve been meaning to check in and let you readers know what it’s been like watching a movie every day. Up until Wednesday this week, I would have said “pretty awesome”. But then I failed miserably and skipped Wednesday. I started a movie Thursday, and I just couldn’t finish it. It was very depressing.
The only reason I can justify missing...
4 tags
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Rounding out my MLK week of movies, this classic is a winner, which should come as no surprise. But you never know how adaptations will fare, and I’ve been known to hate all kinds of award-winning films. Start to finish, To Kill a Mockingbird holds up to any recent drama I’ve seen, and to the novel it was based on. I might even say I like the film better than the book, but I read it...
3 tags
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
In the Heat of the Night is the real MLK day jam, reminding us once again that (white) people are the worst. It’s like Guess Who’s Solving the Homicide, set in Mississippi, and so shows the real hatred and ignorance of the time. Truly terrifying.
Sidney Poitier is back again in another perfectly tailored suit.
Why is he so excellent on screen? Is it the Robert Downey Jr. Effect? ...
5 tags
Do the Right Thing (1989)
The great thing about film school is that you get to watch a ton of awesome movies. You get to watch movies in dark classrooms… early in the morning… or in the afternoon after a day of classes… did I mention I can fall asleep anywhere? I think that’s exactly what happened with Do the Right Thing. I remember the first few scenes, but that’s it. Oddly enough, I...
6 tags
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
In honor of MLK day, I’m watching a few films about race and discrimination. I started off last night with Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, a film addressing interracial marriage among west coast intellectuals. It was basically 108 minutes of discussions between two or three characters. So little happens that it feels like watching a tutorial on bringing home or accepting a person of...
5 tags
Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)
I think the best documentaries are best watched completely blind, with little knowledge of the angle or the focal point. I knew Exit Through the Gift Shop was about street art, but for some reason I thought it was all about Banksy. It’s not, although he is part of the story. And the story, the main character, and the way the history is told, is far more interesting and revealing than just...
4 tags
Old School (2003)
Let’s take a big step out of the 80s and into the aughts with Todd Phillips’s Old School, another college comedy.
There’s something to be said for seeing a comedy in a timely fashion, before all the copycat movies come out… before certain actors’ careers take a nose dive… before every joke has been told to you. In my defense, I’ve seen the first 20...
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Revenge of the Nerds (1985)
I’m not sure what I was expecting from Revenge of the Nerds. I thought it was set in high school, not college, for one thing. (Pre-quel anyone?) I also was surprised see to my new friend Anthony “Goose” Edwards as the main star. While IMBD is a helpful tool, I’m glad I don’t dig too deep: I would have been sad if I learned about his role in this movie beforehand. ...
3 tags
Weird Science (1985)
“If you want to be a party animal, you have to learn to live in the jungle.”
It’s lines like this one that made me enjoy Weird Science despite how bad it was. It’s not a good movie, but there are a handful of excellent scenes and lines that surprised me. The whole idea of two nerds programming a sexy lady and bringing her to life seems pretty weak, but it turns out...
Comments, etc.
Hi there, readers. I just figured out that my feeble attempt at manually inserting Disqus comments into this blog’s code actually WORKED! Yay.
All you have to do to leave me a comment is click on the subtle page symbol next to the entry title. Then you can like, follow, or comment away! I’d love any movie suggestions you may have.
For the tumblr-savvy among you who have...
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Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)
Another Hughes trifecta! Bam! I can honestly say that in all my 11 days of watching a movie per day, only 4 of which fall into the Movies I’ve Should Have Seen theme, this is the first film I really wished I had seen a long time ago. What a joy. Absolutely my new favorite Steve Martin role: he plays such a lovable cynic. And I wonder how many of John Candy’s brilliant lines were...
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She's Having a Baby (1988)
Written, Produced, and Directed By John Hughes!! That’s called a turkey in bowling, my friends.
Even though this film is pretty bad, it’s also pretty awesome. A perfect example of its bad-awesomeness is the soundtrack. You have to know John Hughes & company thought the songs were just right, because your-favorite-music-supervisor-and-mine Tarquin Gotch himself is the first credit listed...
4 tags
Blue Valentine (2010)
Tiny Spoiler Alert
“You always hurt the ones you love, the ones you shouldn’t hurt at all.”
Be prepared to have those lines stuck in your head for a while after you see Blue Valentine. I don’t know why this depressing movie didn’t depress me very much. My thoughts echo Kay Steiger’s review, in that the relationship falls apart in standard way, but I thought...
5 tags
The Fighter (2010)
It’s true what you’ve probably heard: The Fighter is a fantastic movie. If you enjoy watching movies, you will like this movie a lot. It might even be your favorite movie of the year. This is one of those movies that I would love to discuss with someone who hated it. I liked it that much.
I don’t want to ruin anything for you since it’s still in theaters, but I will...
4 tags
Dogtooth (2009)
I began my year-long membership to the Cinefamily theatre with a BANG tonight. Dogtooth is a Greek film… about a family… it’s a little hard to explain even after reading a synopsis. The Cinefamily website said Dogtooth was “on par with Antichrist and Enter The Void for sheer audacity”, so of course I wanted to see it. And of course I wanted to go with Josh, Eric,...
4 tags
The Kids Are All Right (2010)
I stayed up waaaaay past my bed time to watch last night’s selection. But I DID watch the WHOLE thing, and that’s quite a feat for me. Another reason why I maybe haven’t seen as many movies as I should/claim to is that I tend to fall dead asleep while watching movies on school nights. Actually I tend to fall dead asleep anywhere, whenever I’m the least bit tired, but...
5 tags
Wretches & Jabberers (2010)
And now for something completely different!
Josh oftentimes will get invites to free screenings from the Society of Composers and Lyricists and ASCAP around awards season, usually of films that have fancy music. Tonight we saw Wretches & Jabberers at one such screening. I’m sure you’ll hear about this movie this year, and if it doesn’t get a wide release, it’s worth...
MISC →
My work is already paying off. I was just trolling my RSS feed, and came across this article from Skepchick re: Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Top Gun references GALORE!! I never would have known what this article’s title was about before last night.
Yay.
5 tags
Top Gun (1986)
“Talk to me, Goose.”
Let me introduce tonight’s selection by stating the alternate title of this blog: Why Do You Lie About Seeing Braveheart? A big part of this project is watching films I consistently lie about having seen. Why lie? Because it’s easier than telling the truth! Duh. Especially when you almost never have to do anything but nod and/or laugh at references...
7 tags
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (1982)
“Be a professional, you’re going to be one anyway!”
I have that fabulous song stuck in my head and most likely will for days. After seeing The Runaways last year at Sundance, someone told me to watch this movie. I can’t remember who recommended it, but I put it on my To See list. Then I put it on my Netflix queue. Then I pushed it back and back, until finally it arrived...
5 tags
The Weather Man (2005)
It’s hard to believe that I only spent 101 minutes watching this movie. Rats off to YOU, Gore Verbinski, for making the last day of my holiday weekend stretch on. (Verbinski also directed The Ring and the first 3 Pirates of the Caribbean movies. A re-make and record grossing movies based on a Disneyland ride.) I think this was another ripple effect of American Beauty (bascially stated on...
6 tags
The Rules
1. Must watch one movie per day OR seven movies per week.
2. The only days I will purposely skip will be when I’m camping, but I have to make up the days at some point.
3. Majority of films will be ones I’ve never seen.
That’s it. It seems incredibly daunting and basically impossible when I think about the whole year. So I’m thinking of it day by day, and it seems...
4 tags
Somewhere (2010)
Somewhere (2010)
My first film of the year! I was planning to curate my first week or so of movies, but I was out of town for New Year’s and when I got back this afternoon, a trip to the ArcLight sounded perfect. And why not start off with an artsy LA movie?
Turned out to be a wise move. Somewhere was worth every penny of the $16 “holiday” ArcLight ticket price. It was...