01-14-2005

Rough night. I came home and fell instantly asleep during The Lady Eve so that set me back, and then I had to run up to my parents house because the gas company changed their meter and then didn't turn the gas back on and my dad didn't want my mom there alone when they got there so I was there for awhile waiting on them and then dealing with their stupid regulations about combustion air or some stupid crap concerning the water heater and how the guy couldn't light the pilot because it was underneath the stairs and didn't get enough air and we were going to have to cut a hole in the door and whatever so after all his bs I lit the pilot and just left the door open, screw their stupid regulations and the stupid ass EPA, we like carbon monoxide in the house and it's none of their business if we all suffocate in our sleep! So anyway, tonight was the first night that I totally resented this whole deal. I was in no mood to watch a movie, much less two to put me back on schedule or the three I had planned to get me ahead. I would have liked to have gone to On Tap with everyone and eat wings but I just can't afford to lose the time. I'm also pretty set on watching the Steelers game tomorrow and I'm going to work for a few hours in the morning so I really need that extra movie. This is also the first night that I watched movies I didn't particularly care about, I just watched them to see them. I've seen a few that I flat out didn't like and a few that I was benignly indifferent to, but I had no desire whatsoever to see these and it colored my whole take on them. It's not like I was watching the movie, I was just watching the TV screen and counting down the minutes until the movie was over and I could start a new one. I don't even really feel like saying anything about them. I watched them and that's that.

39) The Lady Eve.
40) The Heiress.
41) Railroaded.

41 down, 959 to go.

01-13-2005

37) The Pink Panther. After watching the Life and Death of Peter Sellers I resolved to watch more of his movies and I'm glad I did. How have I gone my whole life without seeing this? It wasn't really what I expected, but Sellers doesn't disappoint. The scene with him playing violin in bed was absolutely hysterical. He definetely stole the whole show, but I felt so bad for him at the end. I can't wait to watch the sequels.

38) Adam's Rib. Two Hepburn's so far this week. TCM was showing a George Cukor run the other day so I recorded them knowing they'd have to be good. Yet another quick witted, dialogue driven comedy, but the whole gender politics theme got on my nerves for most of the movie. When the jury brought back a not guilty verdict I was so mad I was ready to turn the movie off and not even bother saying I had watched it, but the denouement was satisfying enough so whatever.

Random Observations:
So a straight-jacketed bear puts a stigma on the mentally ill? And what stigma would that be? That they are cute and cuddly? That the mentally ill are suitable harbingers of love and affection? I'd be embracing this, being all "see, there is nothing wrong with the mentally ill that a little bit of love and affection and maybe a straight jacket can't fix."

I swear I saw Sophia Bush on the way to work this morning. Or maybe I just wanted to see her so bad I created her with my mind. Oh man, that would be so awesome!

If what is being implied on the scenes from the next OC really happens, I'm going to be pissed! Not Lindsay! Also, far be it from me to be all down on hot girl on girl action, but why Alex? I mean, I hate Seth and all and if he gets hurt I could really care less, but I was just starting to like her and now she's turning into this bad girl ratings grabber cliche. I hate The OC.

38 down, 962 to go.

01-12-2005

35) Gunga Din. Clouds so swift and rain fallin' in, gonna see a movie called Gunga Din, put up your money, pack up your tent McGuinn, cause you ain't going nowhere....
I never thought I'd be getting movie recommendations from a Dylan song (and the third version recorded on a greatest hits album no less), but here we are. Yeah, so for some reason I could not keep my eyes open at all watching this. It took me forever to get through it because I had to keep backing it up to figure out what was going on, which is a real shame (and kind of weird) because I was really enjoying it. I was expecting an old adventure movie, but what I got was a crazy "buddy" action/comedy sort of deal and it was awesome. Cary Grant was genuinely silly in this one instead of the usual charming wit he deploys in later comedies and the whole thing was just amazing. Very pleasant surprise. I'll revisit this later and watch it when i can manage to stay awake through the whole thing and not have to worry about missing something. Just excellent. Oh yeah, Steve spotted what looked like one guy peeing in another's mouth and that was pretty funny too, because I am 8.

36) The Terminal. Was I initially drawn to this movie because of the prospect of Catherine Zeta Jones as a saucy stewardess? Yes. And it totally paid off. I really like movies where the idea is so ludicrous (though I understand this is loosely based on a real incident) that you can kind of see the thinking behind the story. So where's a crazy place to set a movie? An airport! Why would the whole movie be set there? Cause the main character can't leave! Why not? Because his country no longer exists! And etc. Very Bad Things was one that I feel terrible for liking but the reasoning behind the story (take a simple situation and make the absolute worst thing that could happen happen and go from there) was so ingenious you have to love it. I feel the same way about this. Excellent storytelling is what really makes a movie enjoyable and the writers took a bunch of tired themes (fish out of water, cold hearted beuracracy vs. the little guy, the other woman, yadda yadda) and placed them into a fantastic and original situation to make them new again. A great idea that definetely panned out.

Foolish Side Project Update: I've pretty well given up on the idea of watching Alias. I finished off the first season and I just haven't been able to bring myself to start in on the second. It's not that the show is bad or anything. In fact, I think it's a very well done series, but I just really don't care. Nothing has really inspired me to want to keep watching and find out what happens next. Maybe I'll pick them back up later but for now the Foolish Side Project will have to wait.

36 down, 964 to go.

01-11-2005

Okay, can we all just agree that Todd Rundgren isn't classic rock? There's nothing wrong with the Rundgren, per se, but Bang the Drum All Day? Really? Yeah, so 99.5 keeps playing him all of a sudden, and today they followed him up with Free For All, which completely put the complete and total lack of rock inherent in the Rundgren's music into glaring perspective. "When in doubt, I whip it out, I got me a rock 'n roll band, it's a free for all" vs. "I don't wanna work, I just wanna bang on your drum all day." Clear winner? The Nuge. And you can't even be all "yeah, but no one can make a song about percussion cool, not even Gloria Estefan!" to which I would have to say "T. Rex? Bang a Gong? You're built like a car you've got a hubcap diamond star halo? You're dirty sweet and you're my girl? Get it on? Bang a gong? Get it on? Remember that one?" Yeah. They've also started playing Bowie a lot which totally pisses me off too, cause Sufragette City? No. Fame? No. Golden Years? No. Rock 'n Roll Suicide? Okay, but only because it sounds like a Queen song. Of course they never play that one. Ever. I hate 99.5.

32) City of Ghosts. As I suspected, the editing could have been tighter to avoid the whole "look at me, I'm directing my first real movie" kind of feeling, and the story could have used a little more work, but as a first effort? Kudos to you Matt Dillon.

33) Along Came Polly. There was a time when Ben Stiller could never have made a bad movie. But had I known that Alec Baldwin would be making his odious presence felt I probably would have skipped this one. It was kind of lame, and my total lack of information concerning the Anniston/Pitt breakup made me kind of weird about whether or not I should be rooting for Polly. It just seemed like a very poor substitute for There's Something About Mary. Philip Seymour Hoffman was the only bright spot in the whole movie.

34) The Philadelphia Story. One of the few Cary Grant comedies that I hadn't seen. Absolutely loved it. It fits right in with all the other Hepburn/Grant screwballs with it's quick dialogue and absurdist wit. I was thinking about why old black & whites are so different to me while watching this and I guess it's just because it's black and white that it doesn't seem real. New movies are just acting caught on film. You can picture the actors working on the movie and and know it's not real, but trying to picture these being shot in real life is just beyond me. It's like they're total fabrications and it makes them more fantastic. I don't know, whatever. So yeah, Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant in one movie? Excellent.

34 down, 966 to go (and back on schedule!)

01-10-2005

Eventful night. First I come home to discover that my cable channels have been re-arranged to fit my new HBO/Cinemax package, which now includes HBO Latin. Because I watch a lot of movies in Spanish. Without the benefit of subtitles. Because I speak Spanish. So anyway, after being mad about that I started in on Stoked - The Rise and Fall of Gator. It was an excellent documentary on the rise of skating in pop culture during the 80s (why oh why don't I still have my Vision Street Wear Shirt? Emo kids would pay so much for that on Ebay!) and the subsequent downfall of a big name skater. At least for the first forty-five minutes. See, Charity came over she had made me Jello since I had had such a rough day (which is a totally different story that I really don't want to get into) and then Sarah came by because they were going to play tennis in the park across the street. At about the 45 minute mark the phone rings and Charity says Sarah dislocated her shoulder, what do they do? Note to self: never play tennis. So anyway, I ran over to the park in my flip flops and track pants (if you know me, you'll know why that is funny) and we got her to the emergency room where I spent a good four hours (even though she was in and they had her shoulder back in in like ten minutes). Note to the weirdly tall man-nurse: Asking someone walking the halls in the emergency room "How's it going?" probably isn't wise. What if I had said "Not very well, my mom just died!"? Anyway, in my haste to get to the park and headed to the ER I hadn't realized that Lee had left so I went off with the door unlocked, TV blaring and my wallet and everything just sitting on top of the TV in my room. By the time I got back Lee was home and in bed, but without my keys I couldn't get in so I had to go around and knock on his window to get him to open the door. It was all very fun. So it's a good thing I was one movie ahead of schedule. The new #32 is City of God. I watched about an hour of it before I had to turn it off so it won't be finished until tonight. So far it's pretty good. I've already spotted the presence of quite a few great character actors and the story is pretty intriguing. I suspect I'll be claiming that Matt Dillon could learn to use a heavier hand in the editing room, but we'll see.

Johnny English Update: While I was waiting for Lee to get out of the shower this morning, I noticed it was on the all espanol "Cinema Latina" channel. Why dost thou taunt me, English?

01-09-2005

28) Bad Boys II. Big summer action movies get such a bad rap. I mean, I know the story is ludicrous and all the action is totally overblown, but it's fun to watch and when you really think about the logistics and technique required to film such elaborate sequences it's pretty incredible that these things get made. And the H2 product placement definetely worked cause I so want one now.

29) Haiku Tunnel. This was the first real test of my commitment and it took all the strength within me, plus a lot of screaming and cursing at the TV to get through this utter piece of shite. I absolutely, 100% hated this movie with every fiber of my being and am quite certain it will go down as the absolute worst movie I have ever seen in my whole life. And I've seen The Net people. Josh Kornbluth, shame on you. Shame on you for wasting 90 minutes of mine and what I imagine are the other seven people who actually watched this's time and for wasting the time of all the people associated with this movie. Your movie is filled with wholly unlikeable and, in your case, morally reprehensible, weirdly neurotic, disgustingly slobbish and so completely and totally and miserably stupid people that I would rather open both my wrists than even think about this movie again. FOR! THE! LOVE! OF! LITTLE! GREEN! APPLES! MAIL! THE! STUPID! LETTERS! If you are so totally neurotic that you can't even manage to do one simple task you shouldn't be in the work force AT ALL! NO! You should be in a psych ward somewhere! You are a danger to yourself and others! But really, it's not that you are too neurotic to function! It's that you are a fat, lazy, and irresponisble loser! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU AND I HAVE NOTHING BUT CONTEMPT AND ILL WILL FOR YOU! IF WE EVER MEET, I'LL MORE THAN LIKELY HIT YOU! Oh, and let's not forget that after 90 minutes of nothing but one cock up after another, your boss forgives you and you are square with the co-workers that you COMPLETELY DICKED OVER after they, for no good reason other than the goodness of their hearts, attempted to HELP YOU! DID YOU WRITE THIS MOVIE JOSH? WHY YES YOU DID! I HATE YOU!

30) You're Never Too Young. I had to watch something seriously funny after the Haiku Tunnel fiasco, and who better than Jerry Lewis to chase the angries away? The French might be utter failures in all things not involving pastry, but I can get on board with the whole Jerry Lewis is a genius thing. This had a lot of plot similarities with The Major and the Minor, but this time you could see how Jerry Lewis could be confused with a twelve year old whereas Ginger Rogers was clearly a full grown woman. About three too many Deano musical interludes, but Lewis was on top of his slapstick comedy game and it all worked out pretty well.

I watched You're Never Too Young off and on during the Packers/Vikings game (screw you Randy Moss) and then got ready for...DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES! Oh man, it's hands down the best show on TV. Why am I not a pharmacist? Marcia Cross is my everything! I'd even put up with those jerk kids of hers. But alas, it can never be. My heart belongs to another.

31) Key Largo. Didn't we almost have it all? Just like Bogey and Bacall? Yeah, so I went to bed watching this one and it's well deserving of it's "classic" label. Great story, great direction, great performances, just about everything you could ask for from a movie. And I loved the crazy drunken girlfriend. She played it just over the top enough and stole every scene she was in.

31 down, 969 to go.

01-08-2005 Part II

26) Kid Galahad. One of the better Elvis movies, this one features Elvis as an amateur boxer fresh out of the army and just looking to settle down in the town where he grew up. Some songs, some romance, some fighting in and out of the ring, and Charles Bronson! Not an original, but at least a coherent, story and Elvis pulls it off all right. I'm always kind of amazed at his natural comic timing and that sort of likability is always what saves him no matter how ludicrous the drama gets.

27) The Tall T. Great western. Not much more to say.

I interrupted The Tall T to go to Steve's birthday party. We fried a turkey and it was excellent. I don't even like turkey but I loved it, and a good time was had by all. I finished it up when I got home and then tried to watch Sphere, but Robin called and interrupted as per usual and I lost track of what was going on so I just gave up. I usually don't watch Dustin Hoffman movies because he annoys the crap out of me and Sam Jackson is in it and I remember when it came out because a friend from high school was all about the Michael Crichton and he was reading the paperback with the movie cover for the poster so I figured I'd give it a shot. It had some promise so I'll try to finish it up later on.