Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in MovieGeek's LiveJournal:

Thursday, April 21st, 2005
12:10 pm	Today's directors Today is the start of the USA Film Festival. Four years ago I was real excited about this. Each year since, the festival has seen a sharp decline to where I could really care less about going (more on that later). I’ll probably still make a few things but only a couple of films I am really interested in seeing. Gregg Araki’s Mysterious Skin (which I can’t make it to anyway) and Hal Hartley’s The Girl from Monday. This raises and interesting point about today’s directors. I will see anything that Hal Harley or Gregg Araki puts out but I really don’t expect that their films will be that great or if I will even like them. Currently there are a number of directors that fall into this category. Catherine Breillat, Todd Solondz, and Todd Haynes are three directors that come to mind. I am real interested in seeing Palindromes yet I don’t think it will be all that good and recently I saw the very week Anatomy of Hell on DVD yet I will still jump at the chance to see another Breillat film. Even standbys like Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, and John Sayles seem to be in decline where there next effort is just as hit or miss as any other director. It seemed in the 70s and 80s a number of directors such as Kubrick, Coppola, Truffaut and the three above put out interesting, good films at a regular pace. Today it seems that directors that regularly put out top notch material are few and work at a pace that Kubrick would admire. Michael Mann is about the only director today that I can count on great work each time. So are films so mediocre that we get excited about films just because they are interesting even if they are bad? Is it harder for directors to put out consistently good work today? Or are our standards too high? Or, and this is probably true, do we have good old days syndrome? (Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 20th, 2005
1:02 pm	Bis ans Ende der Welt I have made my first Internet purchase on a non-English website. At least I think I made the purchase! The German Amazon site has Bis ans Ende der Welt on pre-order to be released in late May. This is the full 4 hour and 40 minute cut of Until the End of the World. I had the opportunity to see this in the theater in 2001 and it is one of my favorite film going experiences. I decided that I would purchase the dvd as soon as it was released. When I got my first dvd player late in 1998 I made a list of films I wanted on dvd. This became sort of a “top 10 most wanted.” It had to be films that I would buy even if the disc was bare bones. Now because I had a decent laser disc collection (50 or so films) many films that would have been shoe-ins never would make this list. I had all the Kubrick films I wanted on laser so I wasn’t going to double dip unless extras were involved. I think the initial top 10 were: After Hours, Dekalog, The Godfathers, Grand Prix, Medium Cool, O Lucky Man, Quadrophenia, The Stunt Man, The Third Man, and The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Well all of those have been released except two very personal favorites: Grand Prix and O Lucky Man. I kept trying to replace a film in the list when one was bought but with the explosion of DVDs being released it has been harder and harder to find films I wanted so much that I would be happy with only the movie on dvd. And happily another one has been released. My official “Top 6 most wanted films on DVD” is now: Brewster McCloud; Duck, You Sucker; Grand Prix; Last Night at the Alamo; Metropolitan; and O Lucky Man. Of those I’ve added, only Brewster McCloud stands on its own merit. I want Duck, You Sucker because that is the only major Leoni film not on DVD, Last Night at the Alamo completes my history of Texas trilogy (including Giant and Lone Star), and Metropolitan completes the Whit Stillman trilogy. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 19th, 2005
6:55 pm	Some people should not be on the internet Well, we have a new pope. To witness an interesting, ongoing sociological experiment on why the Internet is not always a good thing: go to the Wikipedia page on Pope Benedict XVI. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Benedict_XVI The page will be updated almost every time you hit refresh; an average 3 to 5 times every minute. As fast as it can they can be removed people are putting in vandalistic comments as to his Nazi past and their hatred of the Catholic Church and other cute sayings. In addition there are a couple of side arguments as to the spelling of his Latin name and to who was the last German pope. This is really not resolved to the way I would like. I understand Adrian was German but someone has essentially filibustered out any mention as to the last pope born in the current political borders of Germany. (Comment on this)
Monday, April 18th, 2005
6:14 pm	Is cable why every film is being remade? I’m still internally debating with myself as to justify the existence of this thing and feeling guilty when I don’t post anything. I have so many other things that I need to do also but if I make it a point to do this one maybe the others will fall inline. This weekend I was thinking about younger people watching older films. It came about while watching another entertaining Simsons commentary and the writers commenting about wondering if people get many of the in-jokes. I put together a theory that that the ability to watch older films on cable and disc has killed youth discover of old films. With so many choices people are less apt to seek out something unfamiliar. Also with the ability to see any film any time you want has people less apt to discover things. TCM is a great channel but people who don’t have it as one of their favorites may find it a little intimidating. Cable and video didn’t hit until I was well into high school. Growing up broadcast television would show afternoon and evening movies. These were a big deal. With only a few chances a day to see a film you would usually catch one. Especially during “theme week” on the 3pm afternoon film, you would watch one you were real interested in and the coming attractions might draw you into tomorrow’s film. I remember when I was around 12 the afternoon film was Jerry Lewis’ Cinderfella. That night the kids at church got together for something and a significant number of us had watched it and talked about it that night. So is this why almost every film made before 1980 is being remade? No one under the age of 30 has seen them. Or do young people think an old film is Breakfast Club? (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, March 25th, 2005
11:30 pm	Death Penalty I just through watching this week’s Boston Legal on tape. I really enjoy David E. Kelly’s moral discussions from the days of Picket Fences. He usually balances both sides of the issue but this week his opposition of capital punishment was such that he produced a show that went completely over the top and painful to watch. Alan Shore and the new girl go to Texas to deal with the last minute appeal. I will try and get pass all the “Texans as hick” jokes. Maybe I’ll discuss this later but I fail to see why people from the northeast of west coast feel that you can’t mention Texas without some stupid cowboy joke. Everyone DEK shows in tonight’s episode from Texas (the judges, lawyers, press and by extrapolation the citizens of Texas) as bloodthirsty morons who can’t get the last guy off the chair to hook up the next guy. He even goes out of his way to make the incorrect statement that Texas doesn’t even has a supreme court but two high courts. This is to speed up the ability to kill people. I’m I for the death penalty. Yes. But I am not in favor of the way it is applied in Texas. There are two many people who are put to death with questions about their case. If any question arises it should be an automatic life sentence. There will still be a handful of cases where there is no doubt about the guilty party and their danger to society. This should reduce the number of people that Texas puts to death to what other states do and not the hundred or so it is now at. I also question many of the people that are against the death penalty. It amuses me to see victims of high profile cases cry for the death penalty when I’m sure many of them were previously against the issue. The Oklahoma City bombing and the sniper in the D.C. and Virginia area are two memorable cases. People need to put themselves into extreme hypothetical situations to come to the conclusion on any situation. As someone who has had relatives brutally killed (on Christmas Day of all times) by escaped convicts who were later executed, my problem is not should their be a death penalty but how it is applied. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2005
11:00 pm	The Upside of Anger Stayed late after film group Monday to see The Upside of Anger. Interesting film that leads to an interesting situation of not quite liking the film but I would slightly recommend people to see it. I think many people will enjoy the overall film more than I did. If you don't think about it it is quiet enjoyable. The acting is first rate. Joan Allen, in the first of three films, is very good and Costner usually shines in a certain type of part and this is one of them. The dialogue is usually quite good with many scenes very funny. However the whole of the film is less than the sums. A few minor annoyances is the beginning and ending voice over by Evan Rachel Wood. Technically the film is week. At a number of scenes the lighting seemed to flicker and took me out of the scenes. Many people who disliked the film have a problem with the ending. My problem is with the beginning. The film opens with Allen, Costner, and Wood going to a funeral. After the intro voiceover the title displays "three years earlier" and the film spends two hours building back to this funeral. This allows the story to plays with the viewers emotions everytime a secondary character looks like they are near death. It also telegraphs the entire film so that when you learn who the funeral is for, you feel cheated, if you haven't already figured it out. (Comment on this)
Sunday, March 20th, 2005
11:56 pm	I like sports but I'm not an idiot. So this weekend I went to something called the Conspirators Ball, a sort of open mic for views. Very mixed bag, mostly bad than good but something different to do on a Saturday night. One of the things was a mildly funny riff on GW Bush’s answers to press questions. One fake question was to be about his tenure when owning the Rangers but the person asked about the Cowboys and completely screwed up the joke. This leads to my question as to why are people who follow people who follow politics and arts so clueless about sports and look down on people who do. I know that it works the other way around but I can dismiss the bubba who only follows sports. Usually the arty type is interesting and when you are discussing random things in the news as soon as you mention anything sports related they power down and look at you like you are an idiot. I’m someone who is comfortable talking about a number of topics and I’m usually interested in learning about almost anything. Just never understand people who shut out things. (Comment on this)
Friday, January 21st, 2005
4:30 pm	A major update of films. This is a rather long update of the films I've seen. I really need to post more. I can't believe I am on an even 1-film-a-day average. I should exceed that after this weekend. This post brings me almost current. I have purposely not included the film I watched last night, actually early this morning, because it was so interesting it deserves its own post. 006 – Dersu Uzula (1975) Some will find Akira Kurosawa’s Russian co-produced film long and boring. To me this is a beautiful and mesmerizing film that works on many levels and touches many themes. The friendship between the Russian explorer and the Asiatic hunter is extremely moving. It is the heart of the film and is presented in a way that very few films have ever done. 007 – Hotel Rwanda (2004) Don Cheadle gives one of the year’s best performances in this very powerful piece of film making. Sometimes the story borders on manipulation, something George’s earlier film Some Mother’s Son was very guilty of, but that doesn’t diminish that it is a very good film. 008 – Birth (2004) Of the three 2004 films I didn’t like (this being the second), all have so much potential. The first half of this film is very engaging. Halfway through it is like the writers didn’t know what to do so they either don’t follow up with some interesting plot items or take the ones they continue down totally absurd paths that leaves the viewing uncaring and unsatisfied. 009 – The More the Merrier (1943) A pitch-perfect war time comedy of temporary roommates during the housing shortage in Washington. George Stevens' perfect comic direction is helped by the chemistry between the lovely Jean Arthur and Joel McCrea. Charles Coburn is wonderful in the Oscar winning role as the older gentleman who plays matchmaker to the two of them. A real surprise! 010 – Spanglish (2004) What a mess! Where do I start? Téa Leoni’s character is a complete disaster. You have to wonder how she was able to function in the business world; here she can barely function in any setting. She is so annoying that any scene with her is a distraction. But none of the female characters come off very well. James L. Brooks, who once "got" women with the Mary Tyler Moore Show, has written a film without any understanding of any female. Sadly the basic story can be made into a good film and Adam Sandler puts in a very good performance in a wasted effort. 011 – For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943) The only two reasons to watch this film is that it’s early Technicolor and to see Katina Paxinou’s Oscar winning role. Otherwise avoid this 168-minute snooze fest. Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman are miscast as the leads. I’m not a Gary Cooper fan so that doesn’t help but Bergman does look very pretty in the short hair and the extreme number of well lit close-ups. 012 - The Country Girl (1954) An enjoyable film that contains Grace Kelly’s Oscar winning performance. Kelly was in the midst of a string of hits (Rear Window and Dial M for Murder also came out in 1954) that probably helped her win the award. The standout is her husband, Bing Crosby, in a rare dramatic role as an alcoholic who the Broadway director, William Holden, fights to have him cast in his musical. The story has a few twists that more than compensate for the couple of clichés. 013 - The Woodsman (2004) This film is not for everyone but I really enjoyed this film. This film shows that a pedophile can be reformed. This is a big jump for some people to accept in a fiction film but this film sets up the possibility quite well. All the actors do a very good job. Standouts are Bacon, Def, Bratt, and newcomer Hannah Pilkes. I really enjoyed the very creepy scene between Bacon and Pilkes in the park and the final scene with Def. But I want to know why IMDB says that if you liked this film, they recommend The Big Lebowski? 014 - The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004) This film was a disappointment. I kept thinking I was watching a grad school thesis film. Sean Penn’s acting is way too methodical to be natural. It is way over the top with the body movements, voice inflections, and facial ticks. I kept thinking of Robert DeNiro in Taxi Driver and Paul Giamatti in Sideways. Both of them give perfect performances that walk the fine line between a person cracking up or self parody. Penn does not. The direction doesn’t help with the odd choices of camera angles and framing. The one high point was seeing the great Australian actor Jack Thompson again. He puts in a great turn as Penn’s asshole boss. 015 - Where Danger Lives (1950) I just found out TCM show a film noir every Saturday morning at 7am. Many of these are obscure and not on DVD. This is a decent film noir with some fine acting by Robert Mitchum and Faith Domergue as lovers on the run and she is the classic femme fatal. Their run to Mexico has some humorous sequences that set this film apart. It also stars Claude Rains and Maureen O’Sullivan and is directed by John Farrow, Mia’s dad. 016 - Hell’s Angel’s (1930) The Howard Hughes film featured at the start of The Aviator. I found this film very watchable, more so than Wings that came out two years earlier. The acting isn’t good and the story is melodramatic. Some scenes are very campy, like the Germans stoically jumping one by one from the Zeppelin so it can gain altitude. But the action sequences are amazing even by today’s standards. The two set pieces is an early attack on London by a Zeppelin and the final dogfight. The dogfight looks just like it did in The Aviator and I wonder when the two crash if that is real? Some of the sequences are hand tinted. Jean Harlow is very sexy and looks wonderful in a two-strip Technicolor sequence. 017 - Assault on Precinct 13 (2005) My first film of 2005. All I can say is they better get better than this. It's not a terribly bad film but if all you want is dumb action this is for you. Being a fan of the original, I wanted to like this. It actually avoids some standard clichés but the poor direction and completely stupid story details work against it. The original had energy and still strikes a chord 30 years later. This becomes unmemorable driving out of the parking lot. 018 – A Double Life (1947) Ronald Colman’s Oscar winning effort. An interesting noirish drama in which an actor, portraying Othello, allows the character’s jealously to overtake his actual life. Colman gives a fine performance but his award is probably a career award. He is well supported by two future Oscar winners Edmond O’Brian and a stunning 27-year-old Shelly Winters. 019 – Trees Lounge (1996) Enjoyable but not very memorable little film by Steve Buscemi. The most interesting thing is the number of people he got to appear in his film for a relatively short time. I particularly enjoyed his scenes with Chloe Sevigny. (Comment on this)
Friday, January 7th, 2005
12:16 pm	005 - The House of Flying Daggers (2004) I made it out to the theater for the first time this year. The parking in the West Village is nuts. I can’t believe that on a weeknight I had to drive to the ramp that leads to the top to get a spot. I really liked HoFD. Many people can’t help rating it with respect to CTHD and Hero. They are different films and should stand on their own. It’s funny that two of the best looking films this year are foreign, this and A Very Long Engagement. This is technically one of the best films I’ve seen in a while. The photography and sound are excellent and worth seeing in the theater just for that alone. As with all of his films, Zhang Yimou has a wonderful eye for color and he doesn’t disappoint. The fight, and one dance, sequences are some of the best ever and are so good you wish they could hurry up and get to the next one. Many have complained that the story is weak. While I didn’t get emotionally drawn into it, I don’t agree with that statement. The story doesn’t hold up to the excellent action sequences, but one it’s own its fine. I didn’t see many of the twists coming and they held my attention throughout. There are a couple of problems toward the end. The final fight focuses on the three main characters and is the weakest of the film. Yet at the same time the Chinese army is advancing to attack the Flying Daggers, you get to see one quick shot of this happening, but you don’t get any of this battle. Granted this is not the film that Yimou was making but I can’t help feeling a bit cheated as I left the theater. (Comment on this)
Thursday, January 6th, 2005
10:34 am	Forgot about the 4th film of the year. I completely forgot about this. Monday we went over to Ken’s house for a trivia game and a film. It was one of his favorites and I think all of us that saw it for the first time really enjoyed it. 004 – A Letter to Three Wives (1949) Joseph Mankiewicz had double back to back Oscar wins with this film and All About Eve. All About Eve had three of the best actresses of its day. While no one will confuse Jeanne Craine, Linda Darnell, and Ann Southern for Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, and Celeste Holm Mankiewicz uses them well and gets some of their career best performances from all of the actors in this earlier film. There is so much going for this partially forgotten film. It has just the right touch of melodrama without overdoing it. The black and white photography is first rate helped greatly by some interesting framing in many scenes. The dialogue is wonderful. The story structure is the three flashbacks to each of the ladies personal lives. Some nice supporting performances are given by Florence Bates, best known for Rebecca, and Thelma Ritter who again steals every scene she’s in; again proving she is one of the best ever female character actors. Celeste Holm provides unseen narration as the author of the letter. A technique used by the present day Desperate Housewives. This is one of the reasons this 55 year old film doesn’t seen dated. 1949 is a rather week year for American film but this and the b-picture Gun Crazy are two good films that rank at the top. Overall I’d probably put the Italian 1948 film The Bicycle Thief that was released in the States in 49 at the top followed by the Kurosawa film Stray Dog. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, January 5th, 2005
5:00 pm	Ashlee Simson, Why? Gave up at halftime in watching OU look like fools. At least I don’t feel so bad about out Cotton Bowl debacle. The halftime show featured Ashlee Simpson. I want to know how that skank is still getting good work after the SNL fiasco. It just shows that in this day of prepackaged entertainment the public will eat up whatever crap you serve them. Her sister is ok looking and has no talent but some marketing genus has made a big name of her less attractive and even less talented younger sister. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, January 2nd, 2005
8:00 pm	Movie Day Today is movie day. I really want to start to try and start to with the things I do and one of them is my movie watching. It has become a chore to watch as many as I can that I’m not enjoying the film while I’m watching it. I’m doing things like mentally calculating when the film will be over so I can move on to the next task or frantically watching the dvd from Netflix so I can get it in the mail for the next cycle. Well I’m going to stop that. I watched three films today, not to put up some huge numbers, but because there was nothing on tv. We did take down the Christmas tree and I was able to fit the new tree back into the box it came it. A major accomplishment! 001 – Destination Tokyo (1943) A nice war film made when the outcome of the war was still in doubt. I usually enjoy submarine films and this didn’t disappoint. The detail of life on a sub was nice, except the sonar as oscilloscope was funny. The navy didn’t want to show how it really worked yet. Cary Grant does a nice job as the sub commander with some good supporting actors. Sometimes the characters fall into cliché and it’s very politically incorrect. Overall a solid rental. 002 – Million Dollar Baby (2004) Sometimes you see a film that everyone loves but you. Well this is the film for me. I have no idea why this is racking up the awards. Hillary Swank is great but other than that this film left me wondering. At the beginning the narration is very heavy handed and Eastwood and Freeman try to out grizzle each other with their raspy voices and hard lived lives. Both of these ease up but the characters are one dimensional, the dialog is average at best, and the story plays like a Lifetime movie of the week. 003 – Lassie Come Home (1943) I watched this because I needed to boost the number of films I’ve seen in 1943 and because it’s on the AFI heroes list. Not a bad film but not a very good one either. My main problem with it, and also why I’m not a big fan of The Quiet Man, the Irish stereotypes are so overblown that I feel like I’m watching a film full of groundskeeper Willies. (Comment on this)
Saturday, January 1st, 2005
8:00 pm	It's a New Year It’s a new year and one of my goals is to post on a regular basis. It seems in vogue right now to bash New Year’s resolutions. I make a lot and always break them but then I make resolutions about every quarter or month. So far the only two I’ve started with are the writings (both here and on hometheaterforum) and to manage my money. The quarterly resolution works well with managing the money. After only 4 hours of not very good sleep I raced out of my house to meet Jen and her dad at the IHOP to go to the Cotton Bowl. At 7am, the IHOP was packed but the only idiots up that early in the morning were wearing maroon or orange and also going to the game. The game was laughable but at least we had great weather. That was out standard reply when people mentioned the game. Leaving the game they were passing out samples of Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper. That is just too much crap in one drink. Went to a Rose Bowl watching party with a bunch or UT and TT fans. I’ve been rooting for the Big 12 this bowl season so I was actually happy both Texas and Tech won but their fans are a funny lot. Anytime they do something good or their fight song plays they immediately jump up and give the respective hand signal. It’s really funny when their song is playing after a big loss and they still have their guns up but look like they would rather not be doing it. At least we have a variety of weird things to do. (Comment on this)
Thursday, November 11th, 2004
12:00 pm	I'm back I’m back. I meant to start this back at the beginning of the month, only 11 days late. Today is Veterans Day. I have come to hate federal holidays for the only reason that I lose a day in sending or receiving films from Netflix. Right now I am in the midst of a furious Netflix pace. I just turned Poltergeist over in one day. I don’t know why I never saw it before. Don’t know what to think of it. Not a great film but there’s really nothing wrong with it. It’s certainly better than most in the horror genre. I’m also in the middle of an even more furious film watching pace. That was the 7th film in 6 days. It began Friday with Sideways; Sat: Satyicon; Sun: The Incredibles & Summertime; Mon: Stage Beauty; Tue: Finding Neverland: and Wed: Poltergeist. Hopefully I can keep this daily streak up for a while. Reading: I finished Tom Perrotta’s Little Children earlier this month. Really enjoyed it. I’m in the middle of Harry Potter 4. Also made it through L&O. Given out recent discussion of gay marriages it was humorous that the case centered on spousal communications being sacred in a gay marriage. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, March 8th, 2004
9:49 am	4 more Criterions I’ve fallen off the movie watching pace for the last couple of weeks but in my quest to see the Criterion DVDs I’ve recently seen 4 of them. #19 Shock Corridor, #197 Night and Fog, #102 The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, & #43 Lord of the Flies. All very good films. Lord of the Flies really affected me. I wasn’t expecting to see a film so good nor a film with such an emotional impact. I knew the story but never read the book in school. The ending just blew me away. It is even more impressive when you listen to the commentary and hear what they had to go through to make the film. They used a very amateur cast and crew and were on a strict time schedule. The boys were wonderful especially the one they got to play Piggy and the photography, while not technically great, really fits the film. (Comment on this)
Thursday, February 26th, 2004
11:43 pm	Chicago - the musical Well, my movie watching has slowed down quite a bit in the last part of the month in that I’m now below 1 film per day. However, I haven’t slowed in taking in the arts. I have seen three live musicals since Friday. The weekend included Follies in Irving, and Rags at the JCC (my friend LH was in the show). The highlight was last night. LH & I went to the touring production of Chicago. This will be in town through the weekend and if you get the chance to see it make an effort. I really wanted to see this and spent the money on fifth row seats and they were well worth it. All the performers were wonderful they really had no weaknesses they could all sing, dance, and act. Standouts included Carol Woods (Mama Morton), Reva Rice (Velma) and all of the dancers. Woods was so good we started clapping before she finished “When You’re Good to Mama” and I thought we would stop the show right there. Tom Wopat was Billy and he was better then I though he would be. The only complaint is they trimmed a little too much from the book. This is mainly singing and dancing but it is so good you won’t mind. I probably won’t see too many films this weekend since I’m going out of town and will be enjoying college life for a while. (Comment on this)
12:00 pm	#214 - The Devil and Daniel Webster I have just decided to undertake another movie watching goal. This one is to see all of the Criterion DVDs. I have given up on my goal to purchase them all since they are coming so rapidly but I will still try to rent them. I discovered that my local library has about 40 Criterions that I can make use of and the first on my list is #214 The Devil and Daniel Webster. I probably would never have searched out this 1941 film on my own but I am very glad I did. It is a wonderful film adaptation of the short story of a man who sells his soul to the devil for prosperity then enlists the congressman, Daniel Webster, to argue in court for it back. There are many reasons to see this film. First is Walter Huston’s brilliant performance as Mr. Scratch (the devil). He strikes all the right chords in a role that will remind you of his Oscar winner role 8 years later in The Tresure of Sierra Madre. Equally impressive is Edward Arnold as Daniel Webster. I kept thinking Thomas Mitchell would have been just as good in this part. The only Oscar winner score by Bernard Herrmann only adds to the mood. And Simone Simon is very sexy as the devil’s seductress. She would be in Cat People a year later. Criterion has done a wonderful job. Don’t expect DVD quality sound and picture. They had to rescue a lost classic and should be commended. The commentary is very interesting. I learned that Thomas Mitchell was Webster until he broke his leg and had to withdraw and the renaming of the film to “All That Money Can By” was due in part to the problem of putting Devil on Southern marques. Also included: a radio workshop and a reading of the source short story by Alec Baldwin. All very interesting. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, February 24th, 2004
10:00 pm	75 Years of Oscars First of all, I need to keep up on my postings. One of the many goals in my movie watching was to have watched all of the 75 Best Picture winners for the Academy Awards. I just completed this task a couple of weeks ago with possibily one of the worst films to receive this award. It was Cavalcade. There is really no reason to watch this film unless you want to see all the winners. Well my personal list of how the 75 films fall is: My Personal Favorites All Quiet on the Western Front; Life of Emile Zola; The Bridge on the River Kwai; Lawrence of Arabia; Midnight Cowboy; Patton; The French Connection; The Godfather; The Godfather Part II; One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest; Unforgiven; Schindler’s List Very good films that are just one level below It Happened One Night; Mutiny on the Bounty; You Can’t Take it With You; Gone with the Wind; Rebecca; Mrs. Miniver; Casablanca; The Best Years of Our Lives; All About Eve; On the Waterfront; Ben-Hur; My Fair Lady; In the Heat of the Night; The Sting; Rocky; Annie Hall; The Deer Hunter; Ordinary People; Terms of Endearment; Amadeus; Platoon; Rain Man; Driving Miss Daisy; The Silence of the Lambs; Titanic; American Beauty; Gladiator; Chicago Average Oscar Winners (not average films but average when compared to other Oscar winners) The Great Ziegfeld; The Lost Weekend; Hamlet; All the Kings Men; From Here to Eternity; Gigi; The Apartment; A Man for all Seasons; Chariots of Fire; The Last Emperor Average Films aka How did these win Oscars? Wings; Going My Way; The Greatest Show on Earth; Marty; Around the World in 80 Days; Tom Jones; Gandhi; Out of Africa; Braveheart; Shakespeare in Love; A Beautiful Mind Films that I personally don’t care for Grand Hotel; How Green Was My Valley; An American in Paris; West Side Story; The Sound of Music; Dances with Wolves; Forrest Gump; The English Patient Not very good films Broadway Melody; Cimarron; Cavalcade; Gentleman’s Agreement; Oliver!; Kramer vs. Kramer (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, February 16th, 2004
1:10 am	Lilya 4-ever With the Snow falling on the ground, sitting at home all weekend, and half of our cable being out I thought I would get through more movies that I would. I got sucked into watching bits of most of the TCM (we do get this channel) films on Saturday. I also watched the two L&O repeats Saturday night, both of which I hadn't seen. New films seen: Raising Victor Vargas, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and Together (the Chinese film) all solid films but the find of the weekend was Lilya 4-ever. This film will cause me to update my 2003 top 20, maybe my top 10. I have no idea why this film never made it to Dallas. I am planning to seek out Lukas Moodysson's other 2 films. This amazing film is a total heartbreaker that you know can't end well. It never seems exploitative or manipulative but could have easily fallen into this trap. Part of the success is because the lead, Oksana Akinshina, has such a natural charm that you really feel for her. (Comment on this)
Friday, February 13th, 2004
12:33 am	And so it begins... I guess I'll finally get into posting on this. First question: What to talk about? Well until I get used to this, I will probably just ramble on about whatever innocuous things I'm doing at the moment. So right now I am very driven to watch as many movies as I can. Through yesterday (Wed) I have watched at least one movie a day. Not by average, I have not missed a day when I didn't watch a film. 17 films in 12 days. Wednesday I finally completed a personal film watching goal. I have now seen all 75 Oscar Best Picture winners. I had two left and they were Going My Way from 1944 and Calvacade from 1933. I was dreading both of them but Going My Way wasn't too bad. It is very sappy but the good performances and Bing's singing were enought to make it bearable. Calvacade is another manner. This is one of the worst films to have one best picture. It has not held up well and the dialogue is just plain bad. I would not reccomend this to anyone, unless someone is trying to see all of the Oscar winners. Movie watching should get better tomorrow. (Comment on this)