At The Movies

Third Monday Movie Day

136 Comments

Movie of the Month: Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) (2006, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck)

The winner of the 2006 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film certainly deserved it. Beau's been ragging on me to see this for something like a year, and I had it at home from Netflix for three months (I have a bad habit of putting off foreign movies because I can't look away from the subtitles and my kids distract me a lot).

It was worth the wait. Wiesler (Ulrich Muhe) works for the East German secret police, the Stasi, and bugs the houses of artists and writers, documenting their activities to see if they're western sympathizers. At times I forgot I was watching a German movie, since it's easily compared to McCarthyism in America.

Wiesler follows the lives of a playwright and his girlfriend and becomes increasingly sympathetic with them, and is forced to start making some difficult choices.

The playwright, the girlfriend and various other secret police and artistic types all turn in fine performances, but Muhe is the clear star and commands attention any time he's onscreen. According to IMDb, the script particularly resonated with Wiesler, since he as a theater actor was observed by the Stasi, and he later found out that his wife at the time was registered as an informant. Sadly, the film that launched Muhe from a supporting player to a lead actor proved to be one of his last, as he died in 2007 at age 54 of stomach cancer.

The script is near flawless and the whole thing leads to a satisfying and yet utterly believable ending.

I can't recommend this one enough.

136 thoughts on “Third Monday Movie Day”

  1. We watched Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy last night. I thought the acting was terrific, but the pacing was more "slow" than "tense". Also, I think it suffered from me having wanted to see it for so long.

    1. That was basically my review here a few months. Although I was more frustrated with the screenplay (you can't "solve" a mystery with flashbacks the audience hasn't seen) than the pacing, but both were problematic.

    2. I love that book so much. It's in my top 5. The BBC Miniseries was really well done too. The movie... it lacked climax. What is one of the most tense scenes in all of literature became an afterthought in that movie. I was ok with the pace - it's an accurate pace, I'd say (though really the last 100 pages of the book turn faster than any I've ever read), but less ok with the choices for what they made to keep/cut. It was more of an homage to the book than it was an adapted screenplay.

      Go read the book though. You'll love yourself for it.

    3. My wife and I watched it on Sat evening. You three all nailed my feelings about the book, miniseries and movie.

  2. 21 Jump Street - I don't know what I expected from this, but "hilarious" wasn't it. Channing Tatum found something he's halfway decent at.

    The Hunger Games - Decent enough, would probably have benefited quite a bit from an 'R' rating (though that would've cut pretty heavily into profits, I suppose). In lieu of actually showing anyone how dire anyone's straits are, we gets jump cuts and shakycam. There's never any real danger, and half the supporting actors give phoned in performances. I suppose that's what I expected going in.

    Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life - The object of 'bad movie night' a week or two ago. It didn't disappoint. I think a lot of early-2000's movies are going to end up even more unwatchable than some of their 80's and 90's counterparts, because of the terrible CGI in them. I would've loved to have seen a third movie in this series - I mean, it's not as if they had a lack of hokey world-endangering artifacts they could nudge Lara Croft towards. It's not as if Angelina Jolie was the only one who could play the role. They are essentially just SciFy channel movies with a bigger budget.

      1. They're both terrible, but that is, after all, the point of bad movie night. They're both better than xXx (though not nearly as good sources of unintentional comedy), anyway.

  3. Also, we're ½ way through season 2 of "The Wire". The last episode had two of my favorite scenes in it:

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    2. New Gal just finished up season 3. I think she enjoyed it, but I also think she just raced through it in order to get to season 4. Ever since she found out that it focuses on the school system, all she's said about The Wire has been "I can't wait to watch season 4."

        1. New Gal is weird in that she is a cheerful, upbeat, enthusiastic young lady whose favorite genre of movies is bleak, depressing dramas in which people are hopeless and miserable and lead short, tragic, pointless lives. The Wire might actually be too optimistic for her.

          Needless to say, with the exceptions of The Wire and Breaking Bad, we have a lot of trouble finding things to watch that we will both enjoy. I can't stand depressing dramas, and she can't stand the goofy sci-fi and action films that I love.

          1. I may have that in common with her. My entire existence, in person, revolves around amusing and entertaining people, and being happy and comfortable all the time, but some of my favorite movies and shows can be characterized simply: "Nothing good happens."

          2. Perhaps you and New Gal should tackle the '86 BBC miniseries: The Singing Detective*. By turns, dreary and depressing, and spiked with flights of whimsy and droll humor. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll get seriously bummed out. Michael Gambon is brilliant in the lead role.

            *not to be confused with the disappointing film adaptation starring Robert Downey Jr.

            2. I'll look into it as well, but I dunno... the singing aspect might be a sticking point for me.

              1. The singing is used sparingly, and often to lighten what may have been some heavy duty angst. It's a non-issue, as far as I'm concerned.

                Doctor: I know it's an embarrassing question, even between husbands and wives, but what do you believe in?
                Philip E. Marlow: Malthusianism.
                Doctor: Come again?
                Philip E. Marlow: Malthus, but mandatory. Compulsory depopulation by infanticide, suicide, genocide or whatever other means suggest themselves. AIDS, for example, that'll do. Why should queers be so special?
                Doctor: I see.
                Philip E. Marlow: I also believe in cigarettes, cholesterol, alcohol, carbon monoxide, masturbation, the Arts Council, nuclear weapons, the Daily Telegraph, and not properly labeling fatal poisons, but above all else, most of all, I believe in the one thing that can come out of people's mouths: vomit.

                Gambon drops misanthropic lines like this throughout, and yet still manages to inspire sympathy for his character.

              2. This LTE reminds me of Paint Your Wagon for some reason. Specifically The Simpsons commentary on it.

                "Lee Marvin is dreamy."

  5. I watched Following over the weekend, and thought it was a rather good (under 70 minutes) little film. Recommended for anyone who enjoys neo-noir or wants to see more of Nolan's work.

    1. That was my movie of the month a year ago or so!

      To paraphrase what I said then, I think it's a pretty fine little tale (and I still wonder why a couple of the leads haven't continued in film; they're well-cast and give nice performances). My quibble was the same as it is with every Nolan movie: there's a lot of plot, and not enough character. He's so good at plot that sometimes it doesn't matter, but if I really cared about the characters in his films he might be my favorite director.

  6. As mentioned the other day, started Veronica Mars (now one disc in) to go along with our continued slow journey though Battlestar Gallactica. Finished season 2 of Justified last month and I now fully appreciate kg's apple pie.

    Also watched Diner which I didn't think has aged particularly well, but YMMV. I'm guessing I've seen so many knock-offs that I can't appreciate that it was fairly "ground-breaking" at the time.

    1. One of the weirdest operations in my time in the Corps took me to the set of Veronica Mars. I had no idea what the show was until I got back and checked the Repository, but nevertheless it was a truly bizarre experience.

      I love Diner, but haven't seen it in a few years. I'm hoping to give it another watch once the semester's over.

  7. So Mad Men last night . . .

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  8. Wife and kid were gone for two different weekends in last month, caught up on a lot of movies wife wouldn't be interested in:

    1. Swingers
    2. Trainspotting
    3. Pearl Jam 20
    4. The Bicycle Thief
    5. The Man Who Knew Too Much
    6. You Weren't There: Chicago Punk 1977-84
    7. Sugarland Express
    8. Drive

    1. Meh, I thought this was suppose to be a lot better than it was.
    3. I'm not a big Pearl Jam fan, but I've always respected the band, great docu on the band.
    4. Classic, that hasn't aged that well
    5. Hitchcock's original 1930's version. As someone said in IMDB reviews: Best. Chairfight. Scene. Ever!
    6. Another music docu, my friends band (DA!) gets a two minute shout-out
    8. Got decent reviews but ok.

    1. Swingers did uncomfortable comedy at a time it just wasn't being done in America. I think so much of its punch was just for that fact, and that's something that doesn't hold up so well now that we see that all the time, particularly on TV.

      I love Favreau's character and performance. The script is...fine but nothing that blew me away. I saw it for the first time last year, so I too initially had the "What's the big deal?" response.

      I haven't seen the entirety of any other movie on your list. I watched some Trainspotting years back, but I'd just recently cleaned myself up and it was too difficult for me to watch. I'd be fine now...I've just never gotten back to it.

      1. i was younger and more impressionabler when i first saw swingers, so i loved it back then. i still cannot watch the voice mail (does that term work with an answering machine message?) scene though.

        i thought, because i enjoyed swingers, that i would likely enjoy made. i think i turned it off after about 15 minutes.

        1. Swingers was a first-year of college flick for me. A bunch of guys on our floor pretty much worshiped the flick, quoted it relentlessly, etc. I thought it was alright, but got annoyed by the devotion the others showed for it. I saw it a few years later without that obsessive culture around it and it was an enjoyable enough film. I have no need to ever see it again though.

          1. It had that same devotion by my closest group of friends, but I happened to miss it the night they all caught it, so I was subjected to quotes I didn't know for years. That's fine and all, but I did feel like I'd seen half the movie when I finally saw it.

            Plus, the iconic answering machine scene was ruined for me.

        2. i thought, because i enjoyed swingers, that i would likely enjoy made. i think i turned it off after about 15 minutes.

          Hahahahaha I did the exact same thing. It was unbearable.

    2. which version of The Man Who Knew Too Much?

      The 1956 version features Doris Day singing Que Sera, Sera, but the 1934 version has Peter Lorre (not singing). Both have their charms.

      [ed: I guess I should have read the whole LTE. I see that you answered the question]

  9. I went to see The Cabin in the Woods last night. I don't really go for horror movies very often, but it was tremendously entertaining. The final third was absolutely bonkers, in the best way. I enthusiastically recommend it. And one of my friends from high school was in it! He didn't do anything other than mug for the camera for a few seconds as an extra, but it was hilarious to see him on the big screen.

      1. I've heard only good things too. I haven't seen a horror movie in the theater since Final Destination 3 (consider that series my guiltiest pleasure), and have seen a lot of bad ones in the past few years, so I'd like to catch one that isn't supposed to suck.

  10. I rewatched the first season of the short lived tv show Better Off Ted not too long ago. Its too bad that show never took off (or a cable channel didnt pick it up) because its satire and absurdity of corporate life is top notch. I guess its free to watch on Netflix, so if you like that kind of comedy check it out.

    I saw the movie The Public Enemy. James Cagney play the ruthless gangster so well and even though the movie was made in 1931 it holds up well today

    1. I love "Better Off Ted". I have the first season on my external HD. I can watch 3 or 4 episodes in a sitting no problem. Phil and Lem play well off each other.

      1. yes they do.
        'Racial Sensitivity' is an episode I can watch every day and laugh.

      2. I saw the pilot episode and didn't like it, but Netflix's predictive scoring thing has always said I'd like it a lot, so I've just assumed it was a meh pilot. Maybe someday, but there probably aren't enough hours in this lifetime to see everything on my list.

  11. It wasn't a great month for movies for us. Philosofette is working on some grad school applications and we had a few other projects in the works. It's been all TV watching for us, and even then it's basically just keeping up with NBC's Thursday night comedies, most of which have been disappointing this year.

    Also, we've been watching The Muppets nearly every night because Aquinas has been insisting on it.

    I guess I've watched some Iron Chef and River Monsters too. Those'd be my guilty pleasures.

  12. Season three of Game of Thrones is official. Season three, however, will only be part of Storm of Swords. At this point it's likely a fourth season will happen, but it would be an awkward ending point.

  13. Dr. Chop and I went to see lockout yesterday. We enjoyed ourselves because the movie didn't take itself seriously.

    We started and finished the first season the United States of Tara this week. Thus far I'm really enjoying the family dynamic. The only character I have a problem with is Tara's sister. I don't quite buy her detachment or lack of understanding, but whatever.

    1. Wow, I feel exactly the same way you do. The sister definitely sticks out in a show full of otherwise believable characters (Tara's extremes notwithstanding).

      Otherwise, the show's pretty good about dealing with hot-button issues without making the opposition too cartoonish. At the very least, the viewer understands the motivations of each character, even if the viewer can't stand them at times.

  14. I caught Candyman: The David Klein Story while in Minnesota. It's a doc about the creator of Jelly Belly, and his weird rise and fall. It's a tough one to crack, because Klein lost most of what he had, but he just doesn't seem to mind all that much. His son, the filmmaker, does.

    I saw The Secret of Kells again, a beautifully animated Irish film.

    Archer: Season Two was somehow different from the first. I didn't LOL a lot like I did in the first season, but I still dug it a lot.

    I watched a few more episodes of Monk (I've only seen the first five or six). I might bail on it. Shalhoub is fantastic as always, but the jokes are forced, and the plots are even worse. Furthermore, it's always easy to pick out the culprit about 15 minutes into the episode, which makes Monk seem a lot less brilliant than he's supposed to.

    H.H. Holmes: America's First Serial Killer is a documentary about a serial killer I'd barely even heard of for some reason. I thought it would be easier to detach myself emotionally because it was all so long ago, but he was truly disturbed, and the final minutes are so sick and horrifying the viewer wishes Holmes could be executed again.

    I saw the first episode of Don't Trust the B____ in Apt. 23, mostly because I loved Krysten Ritter as Jane in Breaking Bad. It's fairly amusing, and I have to say I'm surprised ABC is being so ballsy with the jokes.

    Bent is the new show starring Amanda Peet that's sold on the "Bad boy - good girl" dynamic. The thing is, the bad boy is "made for TV" bad boy. He's not bad enough to make it a big deal. By the end of the first episode, you're already done thinking of him as a bad boy. It's just a safe, cutesy sitcom.

    Battlestar Galactica: I'm through season 4, episode 8.

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    Now at home: Rashomon. It's been a long time. I don't normally re-watch movies anymore unless they're the real comfortable ones in my smallish collection, but Kurosawa's an artist whose work deserves a second look.

    1. Watched the first season of Monk a few years back. Bailed after that. It was the right call.

        1. the Mrs. has become a devotee. She prefers the later seasons (after Bitty Schram left).

          the OCD stuff is over the top at times and, yes, the "mysteries" tend to be pretty obvious. But it's pleasant, forgettable entertainment.

          still, it is hard to believe that this Tony Shaloub also played Primo.

          1. But it's pleasant, forgettable entertainment.

            I just don't do pleasant, forgettable entertainment, for the most part, and the occasionally horrible lines and unbelievable twists pull it away from pleasant, for me. At the end of one, a guy is caught when his female partner in crime gives him away, and he yells something like "I'll get you, you bitch!" and lunges after her in a room full of armed cops after five minutes of being level-headed and trying to talk his way out of it. I get that the show wanted a moment of action, but it was so tough to buy out of the character that it was an entirely lost episode.

            1. But it's pleasant, forgettable entertainment.

              Have you all seen Aziz Ansari's stand-up about his cousin Harris? If not, go check it out (with some NSFW warnings).

              1. Bahahahaha! I love the one about Harris' class assignment. I don't know remember the "pleasant, forgettable entertainment" part though. Might have to check it out again.

                1. I don't know remember the "pleasant, forgettable entertainment" part though.

                  *Stares at hands.*

            2. spoons, the show is ridiculous. It is a police procedural/sitcom mashup. Getting all bothered about ridiculous moments like the Big Reveal and the "I'd have gotten away with it if it weren't for you meddling kids" moments...I'm shaking my head. EVERYTHING about the show (except Randy Newman's theme song) is ridiculous.

              1. My expectations were different, and that's probably the problem. Plus, the big moments where characters act this way are ridiculous in a different manner. I want the show to be silly - that's what I love about it - but I still have to buy the characters, in the end.

                1. For the record, I am aware that I react to everything - both the positive and the negative - too strongly. This is the stuff I care about most, and even if I have a tempered reaction while watching it, I end up obsessing over every line, every character moment and every detail afterward for so long that I can't have anything but unmitigated adoration or disgust for most projects.

                  It's a pain in the ass. I don't suggest getting involved in film, or even learning a lot about it. It makes the whole process the polar opposite of magical, and leaves you so cynical.

                  1. That was what my brother said about being involved in the CGI aspect. Once you've painted some digital blood onto the Rock's face in a fight scene, you notice every effect in every movie.

                    1. Yep. I try to figure out where video village is, where the boom mic is, how they lit such a small space without light bouncing everywhere, which lines are ADR...everything. If a boom mic pops into a shot, I'm bound to see it, because I'm looking. Not because I want to...because I have no choice.

                      I don't feel this way when I see a stageplay. I can get wrapped up in it completely, so long as I don't see some idiot in the wings who thinks he can't be seen dancing along to the music that's going on (this has happened...on a national tour, no less).

                      It's weird, because I've done a lot more onstage than onscreen. Somehow, though, I still find live acting to be this romantic thing, while film is cold and distant and depressing.

                    2. Heh, I feel the same way as spooky except when I'm watching a soccer game. I spent so long refereeing and reach a high enough level, that I always end up watching a totally different game - the interaction of the players and officials - than most fans. Mags could vouch for me as I'm sure he was a little annoyed by my seemingly esoteric comments when we went to the US-Trinidad game together.

    2. I am going to try to convince New Gal to watch Battlestar Galactica with me after she finishes with The Wire. It will take a good amount of prodding, but if she can get over the spaceships and robots it's certainly dark enough to appeal to her morbid fascination. I am slightly concerned about how much I will enjoy it the second time around, but odds are that I will get right back into it.

      I learned about H.H. Holmes from the book Devil in the White City, which is a fantastic read. What a chilling figure.

      1. The show's fairly light on robots, really. I've had a couple people respond to my fascination with the show saying "I'm not really into sci-fi," and I always say "Neither am I, particularly." This show is hardly sci-fi...it's just a heavy drama that happens to take place in space.

        1. It's light on robots, but heavy on cyborgs. I guess that's a better formula than cowboys in space.

          1. Heavy on cyborgs, sure, but the terminology shouldn't scare people off. A few cyborgs are hiding in plain sight among people, and it's of the utmost importance that the people figure out who they are. It's a giant game of Werewolf.

                    1. Aren't all itterations of Number 6 fairly awesome? Are we voting for characters we dislike? I'm just sayin' she seems damn foxy wolfy.

                    2. This wouldn't be the first time I happened to think it was the humans who needed to get, ahem, "voted off" that show.

          2. Is this a dig at Firefly? Because if so, I don't like you any more. That show was awesome.

            I still need to see Galactica. It's possibly gonna happen this summer.

            1. Firefly love is a requirement here. I actually managed to catch an episode when it was on TV. Amusingly, it was the episode where they actually were cowboys in space. Instead, it's a dig against it not lasting because of the setting.

                    1. Well, when in doubt, try to make yourself sound like something that's done a good job of staying on the air (even if it is on the CW).

                      Love the choice of pic here. So very...MySpace.

      2. I've been wanting to get into BS:G for a while now. But the initial investment is overwhelming me. Watchign that first miniseries to kick it off just seems like too much for me to fit into the schedule. That and I'm playing video games again (after giving them up for lent) and as such just don't know if I'll get to it.

        1. Obviously, I'd suggest taking the plunge. The miniseries is three hours long when you adjust for commercials, and there's a clear stopping point in the middle if you can't watch all of it at once. I held off for a long while because of the initial investment, but I've been nothing but rewarded, outside a bit of a slog in the second season.

    4. Spoons, I take it you've seen this: (Dont' worry no spoilers)

      httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw-SvzkMqhI

  15. I haven't really watched any movies this month, but have been catching up on a lot of tv. I finished season three of Parks and Rec and am now just waiting for the next season to become available on Netflix. I'm thoroughly enjoying the show.

    I also finally started watching The League through season 2 (stupid Netflix again). There's so many laugh out loud moments that even my wife thinks its funny, despite the crude nature of the jokes. The end of the Vinegar Strokes episode made me nearly pass out.

    Finally, I've obviously been watching the second season of Game of Thrones which is, again, terrific.

    1. I think "The League" is unfortunately overshadowed by "It's Always Sunny" and "Archer", both of which is has followed in the FX lineup. I too find it insanely funny.

      1. Since I gave up my dish, I'm not bound by the laws of program scheduling, so I basically have no excuse for not watching it sooner.

  16. Watched a bunch of stuff on Netflix-

    Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog- another Joss Whedon project, with Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible and Nathan Fillion as his nemesis. Short (about 45 minutes), semi-funny and semi-dark. I could have seen this being a Spookymilk Survivor entry- it's got that kind of flavor to it.

    Ironclad- Knight Templar plus band of rogues fights with Evil King John and his bad men. Pretty gory, and not much plot after the first outline of what's going on. I liked it, but my wife quit watching after the second or third dismemberment.

    Burn Notice- spy show, I like the voice-over descriptions and the action. The back plot drags pretty badly sometimes, but the single-episode stuff clicks along pretty well.

    Archer- I'm partway through the second season, and I agree with spooky that the first season was better. It's still funny, but there's too much Pam and Cheryl in the second season.

    Warehouse 13- Yup, I like sci-fi stuff. This series is pretty ridiculous, with lots of strange artifacts and unexplained effects, but it was something that my wife and I could watch together and enjoy. The actors do a great job of making it seem somehow realistic. We finished the episodes on Netflix and found the tie-in with Eureka, so we started on that series, which has so far been enjoyable.

    1. Pam, Cheryl, and Krieger all get fleshed out at lot more in the end of season 2 and season 3. Pam and Krieger are now my favorite characters.

      1. I like Pam and Cheryl a lot, actually, though yes, Krieger is now possibly my favorite. This is like choosing between my children, though. I think they're all a lot of fun.

    2. I've gotten pretty enamored with Burn Notice. I have 30+ episodes DVR'd (we get two re-runs per week on one of the local channels). The main battle is whether the Mrs will let me watch one in the evening, because (1) she likes the show but (2) she typically falls asleep by 9:30 or so. Hence, if I don't start one before about 9:15, I'm SOL.

      This is pretty much the same reason I never got to finish the first season of Deadwood. She liked it, but didn't let me start episodes when the kids were up. Well, the kids stay up later than she does....

    3. I remember watching Dr. Horrible when it actually was a blog. Writers' strike material. I love it.

      2. I've watched it several times. It's pretty funny, but in the end, also an interesting commentary on the nature of good and evil. Layers upon layers.

    4. I need to go back and watch Archer. I just started to watch it this season and cant believe I wasnt watching that show before. Same with Justified.

      I have watched more FX this year than I have in 10 years because they are one of the few cable outlets that pump out original scripted programming instead of 'reality' type shows.

  17. 1. Finished the last two movies on my Studio Ghibli collection
    1a. My Neighbors the Yamadas, which must be taken from a comic strip. It reminds me of the parts of the Garfield show that would take old strips and animate them. The short bits are strung together a little bit, but there's no overarching story. I found it a bit interesting to see what might be on the comics pages of Japan, but I wouldn't ever want to buy it on its own, and I doubt I'll ever watch it again.
    1b. Grave of the Fireflies, a chilling look at the lives of an orphaned brother & sister late during WWII and in the early postwar period. I had been warned about it, and might have hardened myself up ahead of time, but the impact wasn't as hard as I expected: it wasn't Toy Story 3. I think I might have most enjoyed seeing how they tried to make things work.

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    Also, my kids aren't at those kids' ages. We'll see what I think when HPR is 10 and LBR is 4.

    Of the now 13 Ghibli films I own on DVD, these will definitely be the 12th and 13th most-viewed, but for different reasons.

    2. Snow White. I hadn't seen this since I saw it in a theater as a child (maybe it was the 50th-anniversary rerelease in 1989?). I don't know how that could have happened. It is really fantastic, and might be immediately my favorite of the early Disney films. There's so much detail and care put into everything (background, forest characters, wardrobe).

    This was Disney's first feature, and they've done it better in it than they've done in any of the shorts I've watched, but it's got a lot of that energy (and the story is actually tighter), blended with the grand "movie-ness" that live-action films from the time have as well. I guess it might make sense to compare to Pixar's shorts and Toy Story, which was more of a jump, but also didn't result in Ratatouille, The Incredibles, or Finding Nemo. Plus, I think there were a lot more Disney shorts before Snow White.

    I think Alice in Wonderland was the fourth Disney feature, and it seems like the studio may have grown complacent in its own abilities by that time. (Nevermind, that was much later than fourth, 14 years afterwards, but making it more likely they were complacent.)

    Was it the first major animated feature from any studio? (Looks it up, first drawn, first English-language.)
    I'm surprised it didn't win the Best Picture Oscar. (Looks up the list...Not even nominated, except for score.)

    1. Animation has only recently started to be taken seriously among the conventionally thinking Academy. I believe Beauty and the Beast was the first animated movie, ever, to get a Best Picture nomination.

      TV's even slower. I think frigging "Family Guy" was the show that finally broke through and got a nomination for best sitcom, which is so wrong for so many reasons. There's still a feeling among people, too, ingrained from the media or their childhoods or god knows where, that animation = kids stuff. I saw an otherwise intelligent commenter online say that The Simpsons shouldn't be considered a sitcom, because it's animated. He couldn't, and didn't, expand on this feeling. He just said he thought that was fair, even though he didn't know why.

      1. Going with the "Crash" theory: not enough insiders involved in the making of cartoons.
        BTW, I haven't watched "Family Guy" the same way since South Park destroyed them.

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        1. That's pretty much the way I saw Family Guy from the beginning. I watched the first season when a roommate of mine had it, and he said "it's too bad the show goes downhill from here." I wondered how much further down it could possibly go. There were maybe two or three episodes I liked.

    2. Watched Snow White 1 1/2 times again last night (first: selected scenes, second: first half with Walt Disney's "commentary track," pieced together from interviews).

      Would it be ridiculous for a grown man to list this as his favorite movie? Because it's moving there.
      I think Pinocchio should be my next Disney DVD. I've seen that many more times though.

  18. I also went to The Cabin in the Woods this weekend. I definitely enjoyed it, but I'm not sure how much of the crowd got it. I'd like to watch it again. This is definitely more my style of horror film than... most of what's out there as horror films today. If I want gore there's decades worth of Troma films I can watch!

    Also watched a bunch more anime this month. J & I watched the entire series of Princess Jellyfish which was wonderful. It's about a house full of weird NEETs who all have an obsession. The main character has an obsession with jellyfish. It's sort of a coming of age tale, even though it seems like a "makeover show." It's definitely not. It's really fun and I definitely enjoy having anime to watch that isn't aimed at 12-17 year old boys. The series is streaming at the link I provided if you're so inclined.

    While I'm discussing anime that's streaming I'll also link to Puella Magi Madoka Magica. This is one of the best shows I've seen in years. It's a very... unique take on the magical girl trope. The production values are incredibly good. When I watched it, we watched the entire thing in one sitting. I recommend it highly. The first nine episodes are up, and the last three will be added one each week on the next three Wednesdays.

  19. Let's See...

    I watched This Film is Not Yet Rated after discussing it on here a few weeks ago. I was looking forward to a good discussion on how movies are rated. What I got was an obscenity-laced diatribe of whining directors complaining that their NC-17 "art" was not appreciated by the MPAA and they were being censored by the group (when it really should be the theaters and distributors that are censoring). And the scenes where they're trying to find the identies of those on the MPAA were just ridiculous and painful. Get over it people.

    I saw The Expendables which is the second most boring action movie I've seen. Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever is still #1.

    Finished Walking Dead Season 1. Waiting for Netflix to show Season 2. Also waiting for Netflix to get S4 of Breaking Bad and Sons of Anarchy.

    Now pondering Battlestar Galactica and even S1 of Damages (I've already seen S2 and S3).

  21. So mostly because people on here won't shut up about it, along with Dr. Seuss and stories about dinosaurs, I picked up Season 2 of Breaking Bad at the library tonight.

    2. I haven't read through the gamelogs much, are they really all about Dr. Suess and Dinos?

      Green Eggs and Willingham!
      Would you could you with men on base?
      I would not could not with men on base.

                1. No, that's where Edwin Jackson is from (the city in Bavaria across the river from Ulm).
                  I'm from the town in Minnesota, USA.

              2. No, it's just a thing I picked up in high school. Our German teacher would assign "zwei punkte" to people. Somewhere along the line I modified it to "two" or "double" punktes. Sometimes I keep the "zwei." It just happens. It's like giving points, only it's a double points.

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