The Social Network

This was good. A little surprising it has garnered so much acclaim though. Very well done movie. One of those movies where I don't have many complaints, but it's not anything I'd consider as my favorite of the year.

True Grit
Jeff Bridges is one of those actors that kinda started out as just another Hollywood family member. Lloyd's kid and Beau's brother. But it seems like, year after year, he just keeps getting better and better. He's become one of the best film actors that we have and is always a ton of fun to watch. It's come to the point where I will go to just about anything that he is in, just so that I can watch him. And I think that this was one of his better roles.
Everyone else was great, too. But, Bridges owns this one.

Michel Gondry directed. It'll probably be more like "Gondry's quirky style saves the movie from the over-exposed Canuck buffoon Rogen"

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. i think maybe some of the overhype took away a little of my appreciation for this movie. the first half's non-linear scenes were a little difficult, but then i'm the type of person who likes to be able to rearrange scenes to think of it in order at some point. eh, a minor complaint. tommy lee jones and barry pepper are pretty good in this. the soap opera angle was a little hokey and i thought the ending bait/switch could've been done better.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. i shouldn't be too surprised that the score really distracted me from this. it's only one of the best film scores of all-time. when i could remove that, this was very enjoyable. i didn't expect it to be so amusing and i didn't realize it was so tied to the civil war. lee van cleef was a seriously bad dude here and eli wallach played a really good crazy bandit.

The Fighter. i wasn't so into this for the first half-hour or so, but i turned into it based on some of the really well-done training sequences. i still don't think mark wahlberg is much of an actor. at least he picks good movies. christian bale straight owns this, though. amy adams and melissa leo weren't too bad either.

Lavender Hill Mob. ealing comedies don't get nearly the credit they should. this is simply a hilarious heist movie. as with anything, this picks up big time once the plan starts falling apart and seeing the hijinks to steer it back on track, whether intentionally or not. it's just a shame that the threat of not being allowed to show them in the US kept them from having better endings. (although, kind hearts & coronets is at least ambiguous.)

saw Black Swan today. better than I thought it would be. really enjoyed it...more than I did True Grit.

Quite possibly the most disturbing film since Irreversible...

I submit A Serbian Film.

Great Expectations. the one directed by david lean. i was not familiar with this story at all. i'd not read the book or seen an adaptation. while this was fairly enjoyable and kept me entertained, it's difficult to do a movie like it since a critical element hangs off to the side and clearly has implications you're just waiting to see play out. so what should be a surprise to the viewer (identity of the benefactor) really isn't. or maybe that's just obvious to someone watching it in 2011. even still, i liked the story.

otherwise, i thought valerie hobson was a poor choice for estella as an adult. now, this brings up something that i've thought about a lot recently. when a character is played at two different times by separate actors (with comparable screen time), who should typically be the template? i thought jean simmons played estella wonderfully and i expected that personality to more or less continue with the adult estella, but hobson didn't remind me of simmons very much. i just can't fathom that there wasn't a better choice available.

I don't know if I would go that far Chris. I liked it, didn't love it. It certainly falls under the "horror" genre.

On a somewhat lighter note, I saw Barney's Version with Paul Giamatti. Same story, liked it, didn't love it. One thing for sure is Giamatti is one hell of an actor.

Wait, so you didn't enjoy this movie as much....because of the score? For me, it just makes a fantastic film even better.

great movie. but every time one of those stone-cold classics came up, i was like, "damn, this is just terrific scoring" and i'd think on that and watch and not necessarily let any dialogue get through to me. (i've owned the score for years.) minor issue.

this just got added to streaming netflix

I really didn't know much about this going into it. I guess sometimes living in a small town has its ups, because when you finally do get to see a film you are so far removed from all the critical hoo-hah, that you go in with a relatively clear mind. That said, I'm well-versed in Ginsberg so there was some factual grounding.

Overall, I really liked this. I think the elements that the film makers used (actual dialog acted out, animation) were well-placed and utilized in the perfect way. First and foremost, this isn't a Ginsberg biopic, but rather an exploration into a piece of literature which, despite its storied genesis on publishing scene, has survived and remained relevant for the past 50 years. So, if you're the filmmaker how do you adequately pay homage to this piece? Well, in my opinion they did it incredibly well by skipping between Ginsberg explaining the work to a faceless interviewer, the obscenity trial, a public reading of "Howl", and the fantastic animations of Eric Drooker. All said, its a great tribute to the piece and a film which hopefully will work not just as a visual tale, but also in cooperation with the original work.

Interview with Eric Drooker, who did the artwork for the animation sequences

A Serious Man. did i miss somewhere that being jewish was a prereq to watch this? eh, it was ok. i just felt like i was missing something major.

I'm typically not fazed by anything in film, but there are two scenes in Irreversible that are excruciating to watch.

I think being somewhat versed in Old Testament history would explain some things. However, yeah not being Jewish I felt like there was a certain subtext that I missed. I did some research (mostly because I really liked the film) and piece-mealed some things together and enjoyed it even more. Its actually probably one of their deepest films, imo.

Cyrus

This was ok. It began pretty funny and then just kinda petered out.

Nicely said- my sentiments exactly.

ZEITGEIST, YOU DUMBIES

Favorite of 2010.
I'm not Jewish;
but I do live in Minnesota.

In short,

You're surrounded by a world of retards with intents completely different from yours
Your decisions have been made
You can't do a fucking thing about it

Try to define it
Try to find a reason to smile about it
Try to find some comfort in your definition of what is
Try to make the best of it

And you're fucked.
And no one cares.
And you have to deal with it
And you're still fucked.

When you do everything right and still fail.
Great fatalistic movie.

//please reference the bible or some other piece of shit literature

I'm a big fan of Ealing Studios. Kind Hearts... is one of my favorites.

I also have this vintage poster:

What a bizarre doc. Doc film crew follows 2 obsessive Tiffany fans and eventually unites the two. One has asperger's, and the other is a hermaphrodite. Quite a pair. Streaming on netflix and I think its like an hour long.



Really, really liked this. It was just a simple, straight-forward "against the odds" type of film. Nothing more, despite what some critics may say about it.

Recent viewings:

Black Swan - good. Wanted to see Mila Kunis nude. I'm sure some more introverted people watching this movie would be able to relate to Natalie Portman's Swan Queen more than I did. It was a nice acting job though.

Social Network - good. Screenplay dialogue was very Sorkin. LOTS of dialogue, but none of it without a purpose. Wouldn't be surprised to see this as a Adapted Screenplay Oscar winner

Saw Inception last night...

I'm sure there are a million holes in it if you really take it apart, but as a Friday night, end of a long week, turn off your fucking brain for a couple and a half hours movie, I thought it was pretty great. File under suspenseful mind fuck.

I don't really keep up with who acts or directs in this or that movie so my wife thought it was pretty funny when halfway through I was like "is this the guy who did Memento?

Easy A - Liked it quite a bit, but was I bothered by the whole talking to the camera narration through a webcam. 3.5 stars

Runaway Train - This was pretty awesome...Eric Roberts was really annoying and distracting though, as was John Voight's eye. 4 stars

The Woman in The Window - Great film Noir, really liked it. 4 stars

Dogtooth - The cinematography and photography was excellent, but I did not enjoy this at all. I don't know if this was supposed to be funny, but I didn't laugh once. I like bizarre movies, but this just made me hate the parents, which could be the intention...Ugh, 2.5 stars.

Winter's Bone

I really liked this. It's basically a mob movie updated as a hillbilly clan story. Seemed much more relevant in 2010 than any mob movie could be. Had all the hallmarks of a mob movie: drugs, violence, honor codes, burying dead bodies, and exploration of what it means to be part of a family. Enjoyed the acting. My only complaint is that it seemed like the director didn't know how to end it.

Haven't seen Toy Story 3 yet, but this is now my personal favorite of the Oscar contenders.