Catching up on movies

Cafe Society
1

Since August of 2001, I’ve been going to school full-time and working full-time. That meant that many, many movies went by unwatched. That wasn’t exactly a tragedy, but it was a source of some frustration for me, since I really love movies.

I graduated in mid-August of this year, and had to sleep for a month. But since then, I’ve started slowly catching up on movies. It’s kind of sad–some movies that came and went (that I wanted to see while they were out) have made it into the general section of the video store. They’re not even on the wall anymore.

At the theatre:
Prisoner of Azkaban (okay, I cheated on this one, because I saw it at 12:01 a.m. opening day and have since watched it about 10 times) - loved it

Taxi - ugh. bad.

The Forgotten - I liked it, but I have a habit of liking movies that a lot of people don’t

The Village - see above

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow - loved it

From the video store:
The Cat in the Hat - meh. Wasn’t good enough to like and wasn’t bad enough to hate.

Gothica - I enjoy a good creepy scare, and I was totally wrong about the bad guy!

Peter Pan - loved it! It was so much better than the Disneyfied cartoon version

Hellboy - loved it

The Triplets of Bellville - I think I wasn’t in the right mood when I watched it. I’ll try it again and think I’ll probably like it.

So, for you videophiles out there, gimme some more to watch! My video store has a great deal right now; for $9.99 (for the first three months; then $14.99) I get unlimited rentals of all but the newest releases. So I want to watch me some movies!

I did manage to see LOTR at the movies (and have been buying the extended versions on DVD) and the Matrix movies. I also saw (one night when I skipped class) The Perfect Score and a few fluff movies (again when I was skipping class–think Win a Date With Tad Hamilton and Mean Girls). But those are truly few and far between. For the most part, I’ve seen virtually nothing over the last 3 years.

2

Anger Management. Hilarious.
The Day After Tomorrow. Cool graphics - sucky plotline.
Man on Fire. Denzel. 'Nuff said.

3

Do you like westerns? Do you like Tommy Lee Jones or Cate Blanchett? If you can muster at least a little bit of enthusiasm, I recommend The Missing. Tommy Lee plays a father who walked out on his family twenty years earlier to live with Apaches. Cate plays his bitter daughter who reviles him except when she needs him to help get her daughter back when the girl is kidnapped by renegade soldiers to be sold into white slavery in Mexico. The movie is set in the late 1800’s and I really enjoyed it. Hope you like it.

4

netflix rules I love it.

here is the most recent list from netflix. I could start to review each one but…there not many losers

A Boy and His Dog (1975)
Flesh Gordon (1974)
Spike and Mike’s Sick & Twisted Festival of Animation (1997)
Less Than Zero (1987)
The Acid House (1999)
Blowin’ Smoke (1999)
Candy (1968)
Chemistry: Disc 3 (2004)
Something’s Gotta Give (2003)
Chemistry: Disc 2 (2004)
Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy (2001)
South Park: Season 1: Disc 3 (1997)
Chemistry: Disc 1 (2004)
Drunken Master (2000)
South Park: Season 1: Disc 2 (1997)
Pink Panther Cartoon Collection: Jet Pink (1997)
South Park: Season 1: Disc 1 (1997)
Bonus Material: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1981)
Shanghai Knights (2003)
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1981)
South Park: Insults to Injuries (2001)
Mr. Show: Season 2 (1996)
The Prisoner: Disc 1 (1967)
50 Years War: Israel and the Arabs: Disc 2 (1999)
The Fog of War (2003)
A Boy and His Dog (1975)
50 Years War: Israel and the Arabs: Disc 1 (1999)
Mr. Show: Season 1 (1995)
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Welcome to the Dollhouse (1996)
Go (1999)
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
The Kids in the Hall: Season 1: Bonus Disc (1989)
River’s Edge (1986)
The Kids in the Hall: Season 1: Disc 3 (1989)
The Last Supper (1996)
Big Fish (2003)
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
The Kids in the Hall: Season 1: Disc 2 (1989)
Caligula (1980)
Yngwie Malmsteen: Live! (2000)
Caligula (1980)
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
The Kids in the Hall: Season 1: Disc 1 (1989)
The Shield: Season 1: Disc 1: Episodes 1-4 (2002)
I, Claudius: Disc 4 (1976)
I, Claudius: Disc 5/The Epic That Never Was (1976)
Futurama: Vol. 1: Disc 3 (1999)
Futurama: Vol. 1: Disc 2 (1999)
I, Claudius: Disc 4 (1976)
God Told Me To (1976)
I, Claudius: Disc 3 (1976)
Futurama: Vol. 1: Disc 1 (1999)
I, Claudius: Disc 2 (1976)
I, Claudius: Disc 1 (1976)
Vampirella (1996)
Bonus Material: Band of Brothers (2001)
I, Claudius: Disc 1 (1976)
Fantastic Planet (1971)
Band of Brothers: Disc 4 (2001)
Band of Brothers: Disc 5 (2001)
The Tick: The Entire Series: Disc 2 (2001)
Band of Brothers: Disc 3 (2001)
The Tick: The Entire Series: Disc 1 (2001)
Band of Brothers: Disc 2 (2001)
Band of Brothers: Disc 1 (2001)
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

5

I’m really bad at remembering when things came out, so some of the following might not fall into the window you’re talking about. Anyway, here are some of my favorites from recent years:

**Magnolia ** - unusual structure, lots of improvisational acting, really interesting non-linear story line: I’ll watch this again many times

**Garden State ** - still in theaters (?)

**Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind ** - Jim Carrey gets his mind wiped

**Being John Malkovitch ** - John Cusack finds a door into, yes, John Malkovitch’s brain. About as weird as it sounds.

**Dogville ** - more like watching a play than a movie. Depressing (think Lord of the Flies) but effective.

Almost Famous - middle-school kid goes on the road with a rock band. Funny and sweet.

Ghost World - based on some graphic novel or other. Sort of a slice-of-life movie. Terrific acting.
Adaptation- OK, this was by no means a great movie, but it was at least a DIFFERENT movie. Same director as Being John Malkovitch

**Lost in Translation ** - Bill Murray in a low-key, but funny, role. The opening shot alone is worth the rental price :wink: