moviefilm - longest!

New name!
"netflix barrage" was already gettin old
+ I get my movies from many sources ^^

Long list this week... shouldn't put off blogging so long hehe
Hope I remembered them all... definitely not in the order of viewing...
At least it forces me to be brief, and I admire brevity in any kind of review.



Sex Drive (2008)
I had actually forgotten about seeing the trailers for this movie, but you may recall a smarmy, amish Seth Green and a giant, mexican donut wielding a pistol, this is that movie. A very enjoyable variation on the teen road movie - an updated, wackier Road Trip with a splashing of Girl Next Door elements? Features the best "girl who is just a friend" character since Euro Trip. Intriguing how the "friend who is a ladies man" character is melded with the (admittedly usually one note) "pudgy friend." Satisfying buildup, climax and resolution. Many laughs. I watched "unrated version" which actually added loads of extra comically gratuitous nudity - a new standard is set!


Step Brothers (2008)
Whenever a new Will Ferrell movie comes out, it always looks stupid and I always hear that its stupid and therefore don't go out of my way to see it, but somehow I always eventually seeing them and end up enjoying them very much (even Semi Pro). This is no different. The chemistry with John C Reilly is enthralling. The struggle to grow up is no stranger to any of us, especially in this day and age of chic nostalgia (largely enabled by the internets) allowing us to relive and bathe in those childhood memories with our new sea of e-friends. From the trailers I had thought that Ferrell and Reilly would actually be pretending to be 10 years old, but the script gracefully portrays two 40 year old man-children staying at home with the perfect balance of realism.


North By Northwest (1959)
My Hitchcock pilgrimage continues with this delightful tale of spies and evil dudes and a man who gets caught up in between! Cary Grant fills the role perfectly, and the film is great at making you feel ostracized and crazy and alone when his character does. Plenty of big, crazy, iconic, thrilling scenes. Not as deeply psychological as some of the later movies I've seen but more enjoyable IMHO.


The Science of Sleep (2006)
Michel Gondry has made some of the best music videos ever, but his films are hit or miss. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was of course excellent, but the script in Be Kind Rewind - while having some great moments - was definitely lacking. I'd say Science of Sleep errs more towards Eternal Sunshine, with the keystone relationship to focus on and the juicy, chaotic surrealism Gondry does so well, though never so crazy and surreal that I lost track of what was happening. Just do not watch when sleepy! Lots of subtitles (in parts) and overall sleepy tone (title, duh!). Most of the film is in English, though, and much is made of how English is kind of a common language today in the world, in this case amongst those mainly fluent in French and Spanish. I had heard some trash talked about this film, but I enjoyed it overall.


Watchmen (2009)
Controversy enwraps this huge, long awaited graphic novel adaptation's release, and for good reason. Many said it was unfilmable, and to some extent they were right. Many say it could only have been done justice with a TV miniseries, but then could it have gotten the budget it needed? Will the alleged extended cut destined for DVD/Bluray be enough? Perhaps it will have to do. Did the script wrongly stick too close to the novel's dialogue, many times ripping lines right out of speech bubbles? Yes, though sometimes it was tear swellingly awesome to hear, film and print have different standards of dialogue and storytelling. Was the gratuitous, overlong, possibly blasphemous sex scene completely ridiculous & unneccessary? Entirely, though it was straight out of the novel (though I don't remember reference to that terrible, inappropriate song). Can't say I minded the added violence though - kept up the pace, woke the audience up. Glad I didn't see any kids at my viewing like some said they did (this is not your ordinary summer superhero blockbuster!) - I did see at least one couple walk out during the infamous sex scene though.

I did try to read the novel before the film came out, but was held up by shipping delays and moving and many digital distractions, so I only got to about 2/3 of the way through. Supposedly the ending in the movie is actually better than the end of the novel, and from what I know I concur. Though the film was (some would say) bogged down by trying to develop too many characters in one sitting, at least the introductory montage was AMAZING, and I think we can all agree than Rorschach kicks some article-omitting, human bean-juice spilling ass.


Fistful of Dollars (1964)
The first of the Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns, this film is probably just one of several heralded classics that I tried to watch several decades too late. There is definitely something cool about a stonefaced dude just arriving in some dusty, sun-bleached town in a poncho to kick some wrongdoer ass on both sides of two warring factions with questionable motives (cash? simple valor?), but the lazy pace of direction (perhaps conveying the oppressive desert heat?) just bored me. The jovial coffin-maker was one of my favorite characters.

Maybe I'm spoiled by modern gems like 3:10 to Yuma, but I know even more modern offerings such as Tombstone and Deadwood bored me too, so maybe I'm just living in a post western age, a genre so caked in the sands of the desert of time that trying to scrub it off isn't worth the effort to me unless it has been radically reinvented. Interestingly, this is supposed to be an unofficial remake of some old Kurosawa film, another director I've been meaning to check out, but only when my threshhold for tinny sound, subtitles, and grainy, washed-out black and white is high enough.


The Haunting in Connecticut (2009)
Ah, the haunted house, a familiar genre that when suspensefully paced correctly can produce quite an entertaining Friday night. Besides some cheesy "OMG DID YOU SEE THAT" schoolgirl scares for the kids to have a good time, this "based on a true story" slowly reveals the secrets behind the shadows of the old house at a satisfying rate, and ends well enough (though the sadist in me would have not made the ending perhaps so happy). Some medical elements hit a little uncomfortably close to home, but thats just me.


Big Fish (2003)
Tim Burton turns down the creepy a little bit for this heart-warming celebration of tall tales and storytelling - enriching our reality while not necessarily living life in a completely imaginary turtle shell. After being told so many times to check this one out, and even ignoring it while roommates were watching it once in college, I ended up enjoying it a whole lot, though it takes til the end to completely figure out where everybody stands. Features some great appearances from Danny Devito, Steve Buscemi, real-life giant Matthew McGrory (who died only 2 years later at age 32), Deep Roy (the Oompa Loompas in 2005's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and a tiny Miley Cyrus!


thatsallformethanks...