As is my tradition, I am starting this thread a day early. Here is a link to last month’s thread.
Just came back from Taken. I went to the first showing and was surprised to see it was packed. I haven’t been to the theater in a while because there have been so few that I wanted to see. This did not disappoint - thoroughly satisfying action film. In ways it reminded me of the Bourne movies - quick fight scenes that were pretty realistic (most of the time.)
Just saw Slingblade, which was brilliant. Also saw Blood Diamond; not bad, but not all that engaging. I plan to watch Pi sometime this weekend, and I watched the first 15 minutes of Zoo the other day (I’ll watch the rest of that after Pi).
I watched Journey to the Center of the Earth last night, and that was fun. James Mason leads the expedition as Professor Lindenbrook. Pat Boone’s lame accent is hilarious and they had to have him sing because he was a heartthrob at the time the movie was made. Arlene Dahl has to remove her stays: hubba, hubba! The rest of it is just a good time with bad science: interior oceans! dinosaurs! Atlantis!! Plus, the way they filmed the ride up the volcano is always a total what the hell is that about kind of thing.
Over the last few months I’ve been watching James Bond movies with my kids. We’re up to Goldeneye, which we watched tonight. Pierce Brosnan and Sean Bean were lovely.
It’s been fun watching the stunts and special effects gradually improve, but the movies are steadily getting more violent and more explicit. I distracted my younger son during several scenes of this one - like when the woman killed her lover by squeezing him to death between her legs.
I am in the middle of Season 2 of **Battlestar Galactica **on Netflix. Frackin’ awesome!
We just started watching House. We’re Netflixing and somewhere near the end of season 1. My husband and I don’t just talk about the show, we argue about the show. We’ve argued about the ethical implications of the staff dining with pharmaceutical reps. We’ve argued about whether certain individuals are too hard on House. We’ve argued about whether Mr. Control Freak Business Dude is a legitimate choice for creating tension, or just a weak plot device. We haggle over the likely motivations for a smile, a wink, a putdown, a wince, a look between characters. We try to predict what’s going to happen next.
We haven’t had such animated television-related discussion since* Star Trek: Deep Space Nine*. We’re losing sleep. This is a damn good show.
Just finished Righteous Kill, which I liked even if it was a little bit predictable. De Niro and Pacino did a great job, better than I’ve seen them in a few years. No scenery chewing.
I did figure it out early - is that why it got all the hate it did?
Just finished Max Payne. It was even worse than I had anticipated. I originally had wanted to see it in the theater but found it was given bad reviews and decided to wait until it came out on DVD. I was wise to do so. Predictable, trite and all the words that go along with said descriptions. Even Mila Kunis, one of my current dirty-old-man crushes, couldn’t brighten the movie. She was totally wrong for the part and her character was a waste. (On the up side, she did make a few appearances in my dreams last night.) I do not recommend you see it, even as a mindless action film.
Finished Babylon A.D.
Another one I wanted to see in the theater, another one that I’m glad I waited. It was just dull. I keep wanting Vin Diesel to do something good, but I guess I’m gonna be disappointed.
I do not recommend you see it, even as a mindless action film.
I saw Coraline in 3D, loved it.
I spent the weekend watching the Bourne trilogy and found them entertaining.
I also watched the first two Friday the 13th movies and found them to be decent slasher flicks.
Tonight, I will be watching The Prestige, as it was recommended so highly in another thread.
Recently started watching Fringe and The Wire. The Wire has me hooked, bad, and Fringe is merely OK. I don’t watch a ton of TV if I’m not at work, so if it stays OK I will bail on it and try something else.
Wasn’t it awful? I wish Vin Diesel would find something good to do, too.
I watched the pilot of Dead Like Me over the weekend. I wasn’t blown away by it, but I’ll give it a couple more episodes. I like Mandy Patinkin.
I just finished watching The Visitor, starring Richard Jenkins, who was nominated for an Academy Award. What a wonderful film!
I saw Frost/Nixon on Saturday. It accomplished the impossible – it made me feel sympathy for Nixon. It was a very good movie. Michael Sheen was great.
The missus and I have also been Netflixing Homicide: Life on the Street. It’s just about as good as I remembered it. We’re in the third season. I keep meaning to start a CS thread comparing Homicide and The Wire – both crime shows set in Baltimore; some of the same actors; Clark Lewis from *Homicide *directed a *Wire *or two, etc. They’re very different shows, but I think *Homicide *holds its own in a comparison with The Wire.
We also just Netflixed After the Thin Man. I liked the original Thin Man a bit better, but any excuse to moon over Myrna Loy is all right by me.
Just finished *Invincible *. I quite liked it. I’m a sucker for chump-to-champ movies. This had a little of everything. Chump-to-champ, a cute little romance (Holy hell Elizabeth Banks is adorable), father-son bonding. It made me forgive Mark Wahlberg for Max Payne.
Just saw Down by Law for the first time. Really well shot, like all of Jarmusch’s movies. Slow moving and mildly comic, but enjoyable if you know what you’re in for.
Saw The Dam Busters before that. World war 2 adventure first about the development of water skipping bombs that could be used to attack German dams, and then about the raid on those dams. A little dry, but the bombing scenes were tense. George Lucas copied them in the Death Star run is Star Wars.
I’m still plowing through Alias, now on season four. It isn’t all that great, but it’s just good enough to keep me watching, which I kind of resent. It’s badly miscast. Jennifer Garner sucks as an actress, though Victor Garber is pretty cool. I think season 3 was probably the high point.
Fargo, over a period of about a week. I love the movie but it’s hard to take in one sitting.
On one of the special features, they talked about having to truck in snow for some of the scenes – it was the second warmest northern Minnesota winter in 100 years. Filmmakers can’t catch a break, can they?
But seriously, if you were asked to describe Steve Buscemi, wouldn’t you be able to come up with something better than “funny looking”? There’s the eyes, the forehead, the teeth. If he ever did want to commit a crime, he’d be ID’d and caught instantly.
I like Fargo, but I almost can’t watch the scenes where they are kidnapping the wife, and where she’s being held prisoner.
I finally watched The Dark Knight, and I’ll be in the minority and say that I didn’t like it very much. Maybe I’m just tired of Batman, or maybe the whole thing was too dark for me. I don’t enjoy watching elaborate, contrived psychological torture scenarios.
I’m a Whedon fan, but I’m disappointed with Dollhouse.
Big Love is having a great season, and I’ve been enjoying The Closer and Flight of the Conchords.
I have the last four Battlestar Galactica episodes queued up on my DVR, and I’ve been trying to get in the mood to watch them. I really hate the entire direction they have taken this series which I used to enjoy.
We just watched *Guess Who’s coming to Dinner?
*We had never seen it before, but watching it in 2009 has some interesting quirks:
It’s a really good movie, and seeing it while knowing what we know now is fascinating.
I’ve just started watching Gilmore Girls, and I’m about halfway into the first season. I’m a fan of snappy dialogue, and though I don’t think it’s the most literate TV ever, it’s pretty damn good. Lorelai can be annoying as hell, but I’m enjoying watching her relationship with her mom develop.