I’m on my seond viewing of In Bruges, which was recommended by several Dopers. Thanks! It’s going to be a favorite – it’s even better the second time.
Last night I caught the repeat of the season opener of Nip/Tuck, at Shayna’s urging. I think I’ll keep watching. There was no Julia, and Matt seems to be making a nice character change.
Haven’t decided if I’ll watch Damages this season. I just don’t like the way it’s structured – too tricksie, like the flashbacks and forwards are compensating for the lack of a really engaging story. And I don’t like Rose Byrne. She shouldn’t have a chance against Patty Hewes. It’s not believable.
Big Love starts in a week, and I think American Idol starts this week. Is there gonna be a fourth judge?
Seasons 1 and 2 of Californication
The only season of Undeclared. Another show that shouldn’t have been canceled so soon.
Boy A
The Rocker
Season 3 of the IT Crowd
And will be seeing soon (hopefully or for sure):
Gran Torino
Slumdog Millionaire
Burn After Reading
4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days
Doubt
Revolutionary Road
I’m 2/3s of the way through a Lord of the Rings revisit. I’d originally seen only Fellowship and ROTK in the theatres–I was so disgusted with Fellowship that I skipped TT, and only saw ROTK because I was dragged to it. This time, I’m enjoying the films quite a bit. The difference? When I originally saw Fellowship, I had just finished reading the novels again to prepare. I was able to spot every significant deviation from the source material, and to take offense at it. This time, I can just watch the movies more or less as if I’d never read the books. It helps.
Other than that, I’ve just started working on seasons 4/1 of Buffy/Angel. (No spoilers, please!) I’m having a lot of fun with Leverage and SW: The Clone Wars, and Monk and Psych have both just come back for their winter/spring seasons. I’m also watching Firefly and Doctor Who as the mood strikes me.
My husband and I just watched the documentary God Grew Tired of Us, and were deeply moved. It is a story about the Lost Boys of Sudan, told almost exclusively in their own words, and documents their experiences coming to the United States. One thing I appreciated the most is that the United States was not presented as a kind of panacea for the suffering of the refugees, and the film does a fantastic job of documenting their ambivalence about living and working in the U.S. I am usually intensely uncomfortable with films about such protracted suffering, but the filmmakers do an excellent job of underscoring the gravity of the situation without resorting to excessively shocking imagery. (The film is rated PG.) If you’re feeling down about your situation, this one is a good refresher course in gratitude–and it has some genuinely funny moments.
Finished season one of Pushing Daisies on DVD and caught up with the last of this season of Dexter on On Demand. Liked both - Dexter was solid and PD was appropriately quirky. Might be starting to burn out slightly on Bryan Fuller, though. This one seems a bit weaker than its predecessors and I’m not sure it has the dramatic legs to sustain the storyline. Have to see how the aborted season 2 did when it finally comes out.
Just started Battlestar Galactica 4.0 on DVD. Much as I like the show, I’m always falling behind on it and having to catch up on disc. Like the first two episodes pretty well, which is good because I thought most of season 3 was pretty weak. Then again season 3 started strong too, before sinking into the decent-mediocre range.
After that I’m finally going to try to get through American Gothic on DVD, which I bought about a year ago.
Looking forward to Lost and, eventually, BG 4.5. Otherwise I’m not currently watching any active TV shows.
I love that show. If your DVD set is the same as mine, the episodes aren’t in the correct order. It makes a difference. Here’s the correct viewing order:
Pilot
A Tree Grows In Trinity
Eye Of The Beholder
Damned If You Don’t
Dead To The World
Potato Boy
Meet The Beetles
Strong Arm Of The Law
To Hell And Back
The Beast Within
Rebirth
Ring Of Fire
Resurrector
Inhumanitas
The Plague Sower
Doctor Death Takes A Holiday
Learning To Crawl
Echoes Of Your Last Goodbye
Triangle
Strangler
The Buck Stops Here
Requiem
Yep :). I had started it ( maybe two years ago? ), was enjoying it, then found myself getting confused or distracted and stopped. In retrospect I think that is exactly what happened to me. Stupid incompetent DVD producers ( I’m looking at you too, Judd Apatow! ).
I’ve been on a kick with romantic comedies – Someone Like You (which I think I’ve seen before but which I watched anyway – Hugh Jackman and Greg Kinnear? I’m there), 27 Dresses, Lucky Seven, etc. – so for some reason decided to watch The House Bunny. I don’t know why I thought a movie about a major bimbo becoming housemother of a sorority filled with misfit girls would subvert the conventions of the genre or otherwise have fun with our expectations, but it sure as shit didn’t. It’s really, really bad.
Barton Fink – and I’m sure glad I never saw the trailer; it gave too much away, as often happens with trailers. It’s really hard to choose a favorite Coen brothers film, and the more of them I see, the harder it gets. I haven’t seen Miller’s Crossing yet, or Burn After Reading.
Lucky for me, one of the movies recommended in the dark-dramatic thread was on TV tonight – In the Valley of Elah. It was dark and dramatic, but Haggis (I hated Crash) needs to crank it back a bit. Is “subtle” in his repertoire? Does he have to hit us over the head and spoon feed us at the same time? I feel like I’ve been beat up, just like I did after watching Crash. Next time I’ll check to see who directed before I waste my time.
Finally finished Cashback. A mostly boring movie with a sweet moment at the end. I suppose that this is what happens when you take an artsy indie short and stretch it into a feature-length film. I can’t recommend it.
Burn After Reading was okay, not my favorite Coen brothers film. Funny in a few spots.
Babylon, A.D was terrible. I’m a sucker for sci-fi, I like Vin Diesel, and I went into it with low expectations, and it was still awful. Choppy, confusing plot and bad dialog.
I have The Duchess and The Dark Knight to watch this weekend.
After months of trying to finish it, I finally put down Un Lun Dun. Maybe it was aimed at too young of a crowd. Maybe it is a British/American humor thing - maybe if you liked Monty Python you would like this. I dunno, but it was never mildly humorous and seemed to me the author was just making up odd things because he was trying to make it silly for the kids. The final straw was when
he introduced a character who had a bird-cage for a head - and the bird whistles instead of him talking. There seemed to be no reason for him having a bird cage for a head, other than the protagonist needed to catch a bird.
I’m plowing through Alias for some reason. It’s not great, but it’s entertaining enough that I’ll see it through. I was pleased to note that a lot of the things that really annoyed me about the first two seasons are gone from the third.
Just finished Wanted, a fast, action-filled fun ride. Perfect for what I watch DVDs for (I watch while on the elliptical.) I wanted to see this in the theater but was sick at the time, so I missed it.
I remember people say that Angelina Jolie was too thin in it, and I have to agree. She did not look healthy.
