December 2009
62 posts
Movies of the Year
Over the course of this wonderful year, I’ve tried to watch a movie a day, six days a week. There were some periods (holidays, laziness, LA trips) in which I slacked a bit. But regardless, there it is.
I’ve watched and reviewed 213 movies this year. Wow. And the perfect example of how it’s benefited me is this: I started to notice, in a lot of my reviews later in the year,...
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Movie of the Day
BEAUTIFUL GIRLS
This seemed like another one of those movies where everyone would say, “You haven’t seen that?! You have to see it!!” But now, having watched it, I think that the only people who said that to me were females, age 26-30. You know, the kind that were just entering high school in 1996. Because this movie is a chick flick about dudes. And I can just imagine...
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Movie of the Day
ROPE
Hitchcock’s famous experiment takes place in one apartment, and consists of only 10 separate takes, and 6 of those cuts are “hidden” with camera moves. The result is a 90 minute film that for the most part feels like one real-time shot. Of course, it’s not (film reels last a maximum of 10 minutes).
A murder is committed, the body hidden in the dining room just as...
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Movie of the Day
NINE
There’s some missed opportunity in this film, I feel. I haven’t seen the stage version, but just by the nature of the limited space of stage, I have to assume that most musical numbers happened within (or thereabouts) the same area as the current action. Director Rob Marshall separates them here: every song happens on the soundstage/set of Guido’s “film”,...
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Movie of the Day
ANNIE HALL
This is definitely one of those films where I hear, “What?! You haven’t seen it?!” So here, I’ve seen it now. This 1977 classic won Best Picture, and Keaton a Best Actress statue of her own. And Keaton’s fantastic: adorable, darling, sharp, stunning. Woody’s good too, and it’s sort of weird about this movie… This film definitely...
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Movie of the (Holi)Day
SHERLOCK HOLMES
It’s hard to put a finger on why this film didn’t really work for me. Director Guy Ritchie always injects a hell of a lot of adrenaline into his films (though, please, Hollywood, can we stop filming every “cool” fight using the Zack Snyder’s 300-inspired extreme slow-down technique?), but it just doesn’t gel here to form a complete film. ...
Xmas Fun Fact
Bob Clark, director of “A Christmas Story”, also directed “Porky’s” and “Porky’s 2”.
“What’s the difference between Santa and Tiger Woods?
Santa stops at...”
– My friend’s Uncle Joe. Ahhhh, family gatherings!
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Movie of the (Holi)Day
INVICTUS
Let’s start with the main problem with this disappointing film: the screenplay. Writer Anthony Peckham’s resume isn’t impressive, and this film shows it. It’s a potentially uplifting true story, about a country split in two, and a man trying to bring it back together. But we have hackneyed, forced, almost juvenile scenarios throughout to deal with the complex...
Best of 2009
I went through all 61 pages of this blog to bring you what I consider some of my favorite posts of the year. Enjoy!
First post ever.
The first Movie of the Day
Winning the Zoetrope contest
I hate DVD trailers
Who kidnapped Kylie?
Lars directs Medium
Soooo immature
Chilling on the red carpet
Reed and Trav use my name on Medium
The Lost Tribes of NYC
Fave unsolicited fiction
What is...
Um.... guys?
So, apparently only kicker Nick Fuck* understands that it’s Dallas Cowboys Annual December Meltdown™ time, as evidenced by his complete failure at hitting a 24-yard field goal. I mean, hello, Cowboys? This is an electric, unbeaten team. You’re playing on their turf, in an effin’ loud DOME. It was yours to lose, and to keep the streak alive.
Alas, no. The Saints experience...
"Magical" snow!!!
The last time we had a big storm, I had to cancel my trip to Ithaca.
Today, as much as I love a blizzard in NYC, I’m stressed out, as I’m due to fly to Dallas today at 4pm.
Always on the travel days, Nature. Fab.
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Movie of the Day
AVATAR
It’s impossible to discuss this film without talking about the technology involved. It’s practically half of the entire PR campaign for the film: “James Cameron had to wait 148 years for technology to be good enough to make this film!” So let’s talk about the technology. I’ve never seen CG as good as this. The planet of Pandora is a wonder to look...
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Movie of the Day
ARSENIC AND OLD LACE
Who hasn’t heard of Frank Capra’s classic screwball comedy? I sure had, though I didn’t know at all what it was about. And so when I noticed that Netflix classifies it as “dark humor”, I was like, Really?
Yep, really. When drama critic Mortimer Brewster brings his new bride home to Brooklyn to say farewell to his two aunts, he discovers a...
Hot Tub Time Machine
‘nuff said.
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Movie of the Day
FUNNY PEOPLE
Judd Apatow’s movies have been getting more and more of the same problem: they are tooooo looooooong. The 40-Year Old Virgin was just about long enough. Knocked Up started to drag. Funny People is about 45 minutes too long (it’s 2 and half hours), and it’s too bad, because there’s a pretty interesting story there about celebrity, and mortality, and...
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Movie of the Day
TERMINATOR: SALVATION
This is the Matrix sequels. This is War of the Worlds. This is Reign of Fire (also starring Bale!). This is a little bit of Thunderdome. This is the entire foundry sequence from T2. Director McG is a 5 year old who saw a bunch of action movies and decided to mimic them, whilst making nothing but Monster Energy Drink available at craft services.
So why was this even...
Tall & Skinny Films' Latest Masterpiece....
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Movie of the Day
This movie feels so much like two separate movies forced together, I’m going to review them separately and together…..
JULIE
The basis for this half of the story (and the origin of the title) is this real life Julie’s blog, in which she tried to cook every recipe in Julia Child’s French cooking book in a year. And she blogged about it. And that’s about it. It...
On track....
The Dallas Cowboys Annual December Meltdown™ still going strong.
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Movie of the Day
SUNSHINE CLEANING
Here’s how Hollywood does the “indie” film. Pick a few quirky characters (one can be played by Alan Arkin, but it’s not a requirement). Give them a grim or quirky task (in this case, crime scene clean-up). Put in a few “devices” that will pay emotional dividends as we become more invested in the characters (child that thinks CB radio...
WHAT. THE. FUCK?!?!
They’re REMAKING DEATH AT A FUNERAL?!?!?! AS A BLACK COMEDY DIRECTED BY NEIL LABUTE????!?!?!?
WHAT THE FUCK WAS WRONG WITH THE FRANK OZ-DIRECTED “OLD” DEATH AT A FUNERAL, MADE BARELY TWO FUCKING YEARS AGO????????
I AM SO FUCKING ANGRY, YOU LAZY FUCKING FUCK FUCKERS.
REALLY, WATCH BOTH TRAILERS, TRY TO SEE WHY THE FUCK THIS NEW ONE WAS AT ALL NECESSARY.
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Triple Feature Friday!
A SINGLE MAN
First off, I hesitated saying a big thing that surprised me about what this film was about, until I heard (thank you, Zamile) about Colin Firth being upset at the Weinstein’s advertising for this film: it’s about a gay man in the 60s. Is that a big deal? No. Is it weird that there’s nothing about that in any of the trailers? Kinda, yeah.
That said, it’s...
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Movie of the Day
LIVE FLESH
Another Almodóvar film. This one is pre-All About My Mother, yet feels a lot less melodramatic. In fact, a lot of it feels Shakespearean. A group of characters, with all signs pointing to a tragic end to all. It’s incredibly fun to watch unfold, but this film feels the least Almodóvar-like of all of his films I’ve seen. He’s good with the camera, (a glimpse of...
10 million strong......and growing
My building’s stairwell smells like Flintstones chewable vitamins.
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Movie of the Day
CORALINE
This is a fun movie. A freaky movie. Quite freaky, actually, in a delicious storytime type of way. The animation is beautiful to look at, the art direction solid through and through. But I find with these type of stop-motion films (Nightmare Before Xmas, Corpse Bride, etc…), they often feel a bit…. slow. I don’t know if it’s the style of the animation, but...
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Rewatch...
LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL
Haven’t watched this film in years. First thoughts: I had forgotten how French it is. And the reason it doesn’t feel overly French, the reason it doesn’t spiral into awkwardness, is Natalie Portman. Her performance grounds the film more than you could ever imagine. Without her solid, confident work, this could’ve made one uncomfortable viewing...
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Movie of the Day
HOME
Avoid this pointless documentary. If you want beautiful HD film of our planet, watch Baraka. If you want education with that beauty, watch the BBC’s Planet Earth (or the upcoming 11-part BBC series Life, which I cannot wait to see). If you want a rich, deep, intellectual explanation on the origins of life on this planet, watch the fantastic Miracle Planet.
The first clue to this...
Penguin Graphic Classics
Absolutley LOVE these book covers. I see them at Barnes & Noble all the time, and it’s all I can do not to buy them all, just for the cover art.
Dig the latest (not in the Flickr group), by Ruben Toledo.
Drooooool
I have just discovered Man v. Food on The Travel Channel. I want to go to Amarillo and eat this:
The Burger From Hell at the Coyote Bluff Cafe.
And also the chicken fried steak with taters and cream gravy at the Stockyard Cafe.
And maybe try the 72oz Steak Challenge at the Big Texan Steak Ranch:
UPDATE: 7 episodes later (thank you, Netflix Streaming Disc for PS3), I. Am. So. Hungry.
Fun with looping
Simply recording what it looks like they’re saying. It’s subtle but quite entertaining.
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Movie of the Day
STAGECOACH
John Ford’s classic 1939 Western (and the his first “sound” Western) gave John Wayne stardom. It’s also an excellent psychological film. A single stagecoach is crossing through hostile Apache country. It could be attacked at any moment. Aboard this stage are such a cast of characters: the ornery driver, a lawman, a soldier’s wife, a gambler, a drunk...
*sigh*
Let the Dallas Cowboys Annual December Meltdown™ begin.
