My movie of the month, had I been able to get this together yesterday or the night before, would have been either Miller's Crossing or Barton Fink, both of which I saw for the first time this month. I've got four more movies before I've seen everything the Coens have done, although a couple of them are Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers, which are generally referred to as skippable.
Have at it, Citizens.
So, this is here. It's another non-convenient day for me, but they're not getting convenienter anytime soon.
I watched half of "Shame." I knew what it was about but I just couldn't get through it. It wasn't the graphic nature that got to me. It was the bleakness.
I have a stack of extremely bleak movies I really, really want to watch but just cannot bring myself to start. Some day. Some day.
Wreck-It Ralph - It wasn't as good as I anticipated, but I had video game-related dreams for a few days afterward.
Argo - Yeah, this was good. Really just solid pacing and all-around story. The execution was certainly Best Picture worthy, though I'm not quite convinced the material was (or... something. It just seemed to be missing a little something.)
Futurama - Burned through Season 4 pretty quickly. I need to get more seasons of this show. It's so much awesome. I've seen 'em all before, but the replay value is tremendous.
Wreck-It Ralph -- It wasn’t as good as I anticipated
I had the opposite experience. So, clearly, you're wrong or something. Snoo snoo!
Well, I had pretty high expectations from some of the things I'd heard. It didn't capture me in the moment as much as I wanted it to, but I've actually thought about it quite a bit since. So... I was probably too harsh on it above.
i actually quite enjoyed intolerable cruelty. sure, it's the most "hollywood" coen bros flick (which they readily admit), but it's still an undeniable coen brothers screwball comedy (and clooney #pmki). the ladykillers, on the other hand...
I watched The Fortune Cookie: not quite as envelope-pushing as most of Billy Wilder's work, but enjoyable. The legal profession is not portrayed too kindly.
Sure, but how many movies do portray the legal profession in a positive light? Erin Brockovich perhaps, but I'm not sure lawyers generally come across that well even in that one. Seems like the heroic lawyers tend to be those who are rogues going against the mainstream à la To Kill a Mockingbird. (Now, granted, it makes for a more compelling movie to have that rogue figure as your hero.)
I'd say that there are a lot of legal profession movies where lawyers are shown in a pretty good light. Hell even The Lincoln Lawyer revered the roles of what a "good" and "bad" lawyer are. Off the top of my head, Inherit the Wind, Micheal Clayton, A Few Good Men seem to fit the bill.
YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!
Oops, sorry, got distracted. I knew I was forgetting something more positive-ish, though. Inherit the Wind is it.
TKAM?
See above. Incidentally, I just discovered that a book called Tequila Mockingbird: Cocktails with a Literary Twist releases today. Not sure whether to laugh or cry.
I thought Michael Clayton was really good.
One of my favorites.
For some reason, that movie did nothing for me. Maybe I should give it another chance. Of course, there is no dispute that the greatest legal movie of all time is My Cousin Vinny.
Reese Witherspoon's 180 on the LSAT was the single greatest moment in a legal movie.
What, like it's hard?
No dispute here. Hey, it's an Oscar winner.
We watched Looper. I made this, since I'd watched the corresponding Archer episode earlier in the day. This was seriously the only thing that came to mind while watching the climatic scene. Though that speaks more to my messed up thought processes than the movie. Every movie with time travel will have problems, but I thought they handled them well. Over all, it was a pretty good movie.
.
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Runner daughter and I also like Looper.
Watched The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which was good entertainment for both Mrs. Runner and me. Also watched The Life of Pi; Runner daughter and I enjoyed it, but Mrs. Runner skipped it knowing the ocean scenes would make her motion sick.
I can't wait for Venture Bros new season to start
Babe: Yeah, that'll do.
This is 40: Has the standard Apatow laughs. Completely empty, but good chemistry among the cast. I love Lithgow.
Safety Not Guaranteed: Possibly the worst ending of any time travel movie ever. I was so intrigued until...ugh, it just makes me angry.
We started watching Lost 16 days ago, and have made it through 41 episodes already. So, we should be done in about a month at this pace. Glad I waited until the show was over. Waiting a week would be awful.
Waiting for each episode was excruciating. And still one of my favorite TV experiences ever.
Lost really drags in the second and third seasons (except for Mr. Eko who rules!) when they are sort of drifting aimlessly. Then Cuse and Lindelof negotiated their contracts at the end of the writers' strike with the agreement to end after six seasons. With a light at the end of the tunnel, they regained focus and it became outstanding again.
Oh, and Philo totally missed a Lost reference that I threw into a PWTP story just for him. Just thought I should point that out again.
Quiet you. I'm still kicking myself for that.
Also, yes, exactly, on the seasons 2 - 3 vs. the last couple.
It's ok. I wouldn't be surprised if neither spoons nor Melissa caught it either. That's what I get for trying not to tell.
I did catch it, Phyllo, if that makes you feel any worse.
Nah. I still kind of like my interpretation.
But you know what does make me feel worse? Giving Margaret another gold.
I have noticed Season 2 dragging a bit. Glad to hear it picks up.
I strongly disliked a lot of season two. The writing was tiring and they seemed to be running in place. Season three was running in place too, but there were a lot of very good small arcs along the way, at least. People rag on that season and if they watched it at the time I'm sure it was brutal, but as a guy who watched it over the course of a few weeks, I liked it just fine.
The best is all still to come, though.
Plus, season 3 had the joyride in Tricia Tanaka is Dead. The joyride might be my single favorite moment in the entire show.
I think the biggest problem with Season 2 wasn't so much that it actually ran in place, as it was that you had storylines you wanted to get to that they were preventing you from seeing because they were running in place.
We left three episodes into season 2. We planned on watching it after it was done, but it hasn't happened yet. I'm not sure if we'll get back sometime soon or not, TV has changed so much lately.
Not sure if I had watched it for the last movie day, or not, but I finally watched The Hobbit. I thought it was very enjoyable, but obviously not as good as the LOTR movies. The performances were all pretty good, and I really didn't have any issues with the pacing, which I had heard a lot of grumbling about. Its a set-up movie, so its going to be slower. I'm reserving my overall judgment until the entire trilogy is complete.
I also finished up season 3 of Justified. It has to be one of the most entertaining shows on tv and makes me sad I don't have FX anymore so I could have been watching season 4.
That's about it, I think, other than more Sesame Street and Super Why than I'd like.
If it makes you feel any better, Truck Tunes is probably the only DVD I've seen in the last month. "Front end loader, you're as good as gold!"
I own the first two seasons of Justified but have still only seen about the first six episodes (this is an ongoing problem for me; if I buy something before watching it, I may go years without seeing it because "I can see it anytime"). It's too much about the single-episode arcs and there's not enough of a through-line for my liking yet, but insofar as it's about single-episode arcs, they've all been pretty great.
That changed with season 2. There were still some smatterings of single episode arcs, but there was the one long, and really, really good season-long arc with one of the best "bad guys" ever. Basically, season 2 is completely great.
Yes, the single episode arcs practically ended after season 1. You're doing yourself a huge disservice by not taking a ride in the Wynnebago to learn about Quarles, Mags, and Shelby.
Oh, I'll definitely get there, should I ever feel like I have free time again.
Dude, season 4 was awesome. Not quite season2, but better than 3.
I have a pretty decent list of stuff I watched this last month.
Wreck-It Ralph - This was fun and charming. I know a lot of people liked it more than Brave, but I don't think it was quite that good. I will definitely watch it again.
42 - J & I went to this this last weekend. I was pleasantly surprised. I really wish there was a bit more of a focus on how hard this would've been for Jackie, but I think everything else about the movie was good. Even the baseball scenes were enjoyable.
Jurassic Park 3D - J & I went to this two weekends ago. I hadn't seen the movie probably since it came out, but I had fun watching it again. The 3D basically added nothing to the film for me, but it was fun to see it on the big screen again.
And of course Spring Breakers. I went to this three times while it was in the theater. I'm genuinely sad I didn't get to go another time or two. I was making a list of my favorite films post-2000 recently, and while this is really new and I struggle putting something so new in a list like that, I'm positive it will end up in that list. I feel like everything about this movie was tailored to my tastes. The mood, the pacing, the cinematography, the casting (Gucci!), even the soundtrack. And I hate Skrillex! The first two times I went, some joker said it was the worst movie they'd ever seen. Hell, I love this about it too. The movie is advertised as some stupid, fun in the sun, spring break romp when it's really a movie about our shallow modern culture and the ways in which our true selves manifest. It's seriously brilliant. Blu-ray comes out in July. Watch it.
Should have a pretty busy month next month too: Oblivion, The Place Beyond the Pines, and Upstream Color are all high on my watch list.
has anyone been watching The Americans?
Sheenie and I have (although I haven't watched last week's yet). Pretty entertaining and I'm happy they stopped waffling in each episode about whether they were in love. That was getting frustrating to follow.
yes. more 'KGBFelicity'.
I have never seen Felicity, but Sheenie has long known that I am slightly attracted to Keri Russell.
We are, but are behind by several episodes.
Am I the only soul around here watching Vikings?
I'm into the subject material, but I don't think I currently have a way to see it.
Yes you do.
Weeeeeellllll, look at that.
Actually, that's just the last four episodes.
I am probably going to get around to watching it, but havent checked in.
History Channel has gone off my channels I flip to since its Swamp People and Pawn Shop shows and Ancient Aliens (which I have dubbed 'the best comedy on television') all the time.
'ancient astronaut theorist'.
How did this show ever hit the airwaves?
I know several people (work acquaintances) who admit to watching it. Every single one of them say they watch it for the idiot factor, which I suppose is good news.
I watch it. They go to a lot of interesting prehistorical sites, some of which I've never heard of. That alone makes it more historical than History's whole 'reality' lineup.
I haven't. But I've read several Icelandic Sagas (loved 'em. Everyone should read some someday.) and I'm curious how the show would compare.
Game of Thrones. The ending scene with the Unsullied was quite satisfying.
The Hunger Games- I get why people say it's a Battle Royale ripoff, but I thought that was underselling the depth that the futuristic setting adds to The Hunger Games. Futuristic dystopia trumps high school rebellion for me anytime. I was not a fan of the ending, though. Seriously, the best "twist" the author could come up with was
I was not impressed.
Wreck-it Ralph- watched this after listening to it two or three times while the kids watched it while I was driving around the countryside. Enjoyable, and pretty action-filled for a kid's flick, I thought. Good voice cast, though the characters were drawn a little too similarly to how the actors look in real life for my taste.
Brave - also listened to this while the kids watched, and the Scottish accents drove me nuts then. While watching, it wasn't nearly so bad. Also bugging me-
I thought this was more amusing and the plot ran deeper than Wreck-it Ralph. I'm probably getting cynical in my advancing age and the whole "adults don't understand kids and are too controlling" theme that I have really started to notice in a lot of shows doesn't do much for me.
Also, more Netflix; re-watched Earth2 (well, I saw maybe half the episodes when it originally aired- as a whole, I can see why it didn't make more than one season), and the new Breakout Kings episodes- surprisingly good, especially considering the direction the writers decided to go with in the first episode.
Having read The Hunger Games I can tell you that your spoiler isn't even the most frustrating part of things. It was a great idea put into the hands of a middling author. Kind of sad.
I do want to read the books eventually, but I'm not in any hurry- mostly because I gleaned from various comments that they aren't the best written stories ever. The movie helped to confirm that.
they get worse after the first. the idea could've been done much better if a) not written by a middling author, and b) not written for the YA crowd.
My sister reads a lot of the YA genre, and really enjoys them, but they do nothing for me. It might have something to do with the fact that I never read any of that style when I was a young adult- heck, I read The Hobbit for the first time when I was in fifth grade, and I read Moby Dick when I was in seventh grade. I'm not saying all YA stuff is bad, but it just seems... limited.
yes, limited, exactly. i'm in the same boat as you as a once and future king and stephen king (no relation) were among my reading choices in 5th grade.
I know a few people who like reading YA because it can be a welcome antidote to the bleakness found so often in contemporary adult fiction. This semi-recent blog post has a nice roundup of some interesting recent YA.
In my day, YA fiction was written by Robert Heinlein, and it was good.
yep. free love is particularly appealing to teenage boys. 😉
At times reading through the series, it felt like "middling author" was putting it kindly. I have multiple issues with the series, but overall, I still enjoyed them, because it is an interesting concept done at least competently.
I have no comments about the quality of the writing, but I want to note that it wasn't put into the author's hands. She came up with the idea for the books herself.
This discussion reminds me a bit of books like The Da Vinci Code, in which lots of people complained about the writing but were drawn in by the plot all the same.
i don't think that's how phil meant it. at least i don't think so...
Gotcha.
That's an interesting comparison to The Da Vinci Code- I've read a couple Dan Brown books, and that's the way I felt about them. See also Crichton, Michael.
Hunger Games >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The DaVinci Code
Suzanne Collins is nothing special as a writer, but Dan Brown is one of the worst writers I've ever read.
I liked the Hunger Games better when it was called Logan's Run
I saw Chupacabra Vs. The Alamo. It's title should've been a warning as there are in fact thousands of poorly rendered goat suckers.
I do not recommend this movie.
Watched Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One the other day. It was interesting to see, it was pitched to me as a movie that does a good job of blurring the line between the reality of a film and actual reality. It does that, I had to focus to remember that the director was in on the conceit of the movie. I enjoyed it.
The setup is that the director auditions various couples for a movie. The dialogue he has them use for the audition is not inspiring, and the direction the actors receive is unhelpful. There is a camera filming the actors, a camera filming the camera that's filming the actors, and finally a camera that's filming all of that. Eventually, the crew breaks makes use of that camera to discuss the direction of the film (in all senses of the word).
free weekend on one of the cable "premium" channels two weekends ago. So I availed myself of Mommie Dearest in tight leathah.
also watched the pilot episode of the new Syfy series, Defiance. Seems promising. Plus, it's got Darla, and the lovely Stephanie Leonidas for eye candy.
Oh ya, I forgot about that free weekend. Sheenie and I watched The Loving Story. It was very narrow and, while interseting, could have been a lot better with more context. It basically relied solely on one daughter, the lawyer, and an old interview with Mildred Loving. I really, really wish they could have humanized Mr. and Mrs. Loving even more because they only scraped the tip of the iceberg of what I was hoping they would do.
Edited to add: I also joked with Sheenie that we are probably the only two people who took advantage of a free HBO weekend solely by watching a documentary.
free HBO weekend? I wish. I was watching Encore or summat.
Not many movies this month.
Jurassic Park 2D: Didn't see it in theaters the first time it came around, so this was a treat. I had forgotten how truly bizarre some of the plot points are. Why are *all* the necessary things like docks and fuse relays and whatnot on the opposite side of the freaking island? Either way, the movie is lots of fun still.
Looper: This is time travel sci-fi the way I want it done. The ending scenes are fantastic.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower: This was close to being a movie I'd really like, but something left me cold. Part of it seems to be pacing, part of it is that it's harder every year to put myself in the shoes of an angst-filled high schooler. The casting was solid.
Wreck-It Ralph: You may have heard that this movie did not live up to expectations. These people are lying. I loved this movie.
I also watched a bunch of Battlestar Gallactica while home sick yesterday. My opinions remain unchanged - it's a very interesting show with sizable holes that *constantly* wants to crawl up its own butt about who's happily married (nobody) and who's sleeping with who. Does that get better in the last season? I'm a couple episodes from the end of season three. It's definitely good enough for me to press on (I'll probably watch a couple more episdoes and get done with season three tonight), but the episode-long ship teases with Apollo and Starbuck are about to drive me batty.