#159

Hello all

I honestly thought this week would be a step-up (or a rather a step-down) from last week in terms of workload but it really has not been the case. I am in the middle of my thirtieth film this month (Slackers for that matter, I had forgotten how hilarious it is). As you will see once I finally find some time to write some more reviews that I am slowly working through Steven Soderbergh’s filmography (what’s available at least be it through my own collection or Netflix). All I have been listening to lately is Elvis Perkins’ fantastic album, Ash Wednesday, thanks to a recommendation from my cousin John.

Tonight we are celebrating my Mom’s birthday (which is actually tomorrow) at our place so that should be a nice break from studying. I do not have time to write a real update but I thought I would go ahead and share a few pictures.

This is Wiggles’ time-honored tradition of rearranging the pillows on my bed immediately after I make it.

Those are some pictures of my collection, I believe the majority of it is there. I will update again in the near future, thank you for reading.

#158

Hello all

I finished my third (out of four) midterm an hour or so ago, and I am glad to be done with that particular exam. Lack of updates this week was expected, hopefully I will update tomorrow (depending on my work schedule) and throughout the weekend to catch up. I saw Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen last night, and it was exactly what I anticipated it would be, and more importantly, I loved it. The film was jammed pack with action from start to finish and that’s all I really expect on a film based on Transformers and directed by Michael Bay. Other film news, I have to wait until July 10 to see Moon, two more weeks. Also, the trailer for Richard Kelly’s latest, The Box¸ was released today. Check it out…

I have one more class to get through today, and then I will hopefully go home and watch I Heart Huckabees (it was this week’s entry into the New Cult Canon) with Michael. I do not have too much planned this weekend, I have another paper due early next week and my last midterm is next Thursday which will hopefully alleviate stress. I skipped my second class yesterday so that I would be able to watch USA play the number one team in the world (Spain), and as most of you all hopefully know by this time, USA shocked the world and won the game.

That’s about it for now, I will leave you all with a couple of links. I hope this next class flies by (even though it’s my current favorite), thank you for reading.

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#157

Hello all

This is just a quick update in between my study time in the library this morning and the start of my first class. Unlike last week, I doubt that I will be able to post much at all due to the fact that I have an exam every day this week besides tomorrow. I had a typical, work-filled weekend with nothing too noteworthy taking place outside of USA soccer. What an amazing turn of events for them, managing to advance despite the near-impossibility of the situation.

Still trying to get to my thirty films a month goal even with excessive school on top of it, and I have to say I am fairly impressed with my ability to keep up. I think I have roughly nine more movies this month to meet my quota. We are seeing Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen on Wednesday night, which should be a great time. There have been no showtimes announced for neither Moon nor Whatever Works, which is beyond frustrating. I suppose I have too much work to do as it is so I should be focusing.

I hope everyone had a great weekend, and the start of the week is going well. Thank you for reading and I will try to update whenever possible this week.

#156

Hello all

My goal for this week was to write blog entries in the morning, time I normally spend browsing the web, cleaning up my inbox, or catching up on work from the night before. Unfortunately the last two days have been used to keep up with various readings and a paper that I just finished (not a very good one at that, but that’s beside the point). There is nothing too noteworthy going on right now, work has been roughly the same and I will have a good deal of schoolwork to keep up with.

I am keeping a running list of ideas for blog entries over the next few weeks, hopefully I will knock a few of them out this week.  I have never been very successful at keeping up with lists, a habit that I wish to change. Here are eight more reviews, enjoy…

148. (revisit) Ratatouille (Brad Bird & Jan Pinkava, 2007) – 9/10 <- – Reviewed before.

149. (revisit) WALL-E (Andrew Stanton, 2008) – 6/10 <- – Reviewed before.

150. (revisit) The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974) – 6/10 <- – I probably had not seen this since I was about eleven or twelve, and I honestly did not remember much of it. I have never been a big fan of horror (which is not that obvious considering about half the movies I have watched as of late could be considered horror) and this film is no exception. I appreciate and enjoy the gritty feel of this film and I do find some entertainment in it; ultimately horror is just not my thing.

151. Drag Me to Hell (Sam Raimi, 2009) – 8/10 <- – This rating is based solely on the level of fun I had while watching it, this was my first experience with any of Raimi’s horror films and has since convinced me I need to see his Evil Dead trilogy. It possessed a near-perfect mixture of both laughs and gore, and to reiterate my main point, it was so much damn fun going and seeing this. It’s strange that I enjoy a movie that most of the horror-dedicated people I know hate, with some exceptions here and there. The hatred is surprising due to the fact that it is currently an astounding 93% on Rotten Tomatoes.

152. He’s Just Not That Into You (Ken Kwapis, 2009) – 3/10 <- – Nothing can be said of this film, Scarlet is beautiful but this is one of the worst written movies I have seen in the last year.

153. Bram Stoker’s Dracula (Francis Ford Coppola, 1992) – 8/10 <- – This film is absolutely brilliant, I am extremely upset with myself for letting this slip through my hands for such a long time. I picked up a pretty decent version of it for five dollars a couple months ago and am really glad I did so.

154. (revisit) Choke (Clark Gregg, 2008) – 6.5/10 <- – Reviewed before.

155. Land of the Lost (Brad Silberling, 2009) – 4/10 <- – I was expecting this film to be an absolute disaster but I actually ended up enjoying it quite a bit. Will Ferrell and Danny McBride together both produce a good deal of laughs, and it was far from a bad experience seeing the film in theaters. I would not recommend you run out and see it right away, but it should not be completely disregarded like most people are saying.

That’s it for now, more reviews on the way. Lately, I have been mostly watching TV shows and sports (which will change thanks to the culmination of both the NHL and NBA seasons). On that topic, I was happy that my prediction (since the All Star break for that matter) of the Lakers winning held up but was honestly surprised that the Pens could stick it out seven (!) games with a strong Red Wings team and eventually beat them in Detroit. One of the blog topics I have on my list is a discussion on the unpopularity of hockey (the topic is a bit different than that but it does incorporate it), so maybe I’ll knock that out first. I finished John Adams, the entire series was incredible. I am roughly two episodes into Mad Men, and am loving it thus far. Still working through the fourth season of Weeds, I need to pick up the pace on that. Thank you for reading, will update tomorrow morning with any luck.

#155

Hello all

My apologies about not updating this morning, I was catching up on a few school things already plus just a bit too tired to post. Exciting news today, a trailer for Shutter Island was released, check it out…

I have had a primarily lazy day thus far, probably not too far from bed. I saw a video this morning that I thought I would share with y’all, I have watched it about three times today.

That’s it for now, I will be posting again soon. Thank you for reading.

#154

Hello all

I am currently sitting in the GSU library getting some random little work done that I have otherwise be incapable of doing thanks to the internet still being down at my house. I am fairly sure it will be repaired today, thankfully as today is my second day back at school. The first two classes of my new semester were excellent, the workload is going to be rough (I am finally having memories rush back from last summer when I was taking one less class and the work was challenging at times) but I think with working less hours at Mimi’s, it should not be as hard as last year.

I am just about finished with John Adams, fantastic miniseries, I am glad I picked it up all those months ago and have been able to enjoy it when I have free time. Mad Men is next, thanks to John who just loaned me the first season. I have really stopped reading altogether, I will pick up Revolutionary Road every once in awhile, plow through about eighty or ninety pages, swear I will pick it up the next day, and never do so. I plan to get through it in the next two weeks or so. The last two days I have actually been getting up on time, if not early, like today, in order to get some work done and I hope I can stick with this for the less than seven week summer session. I will quite rambling and move on to eight more reviews…

140. (revisit) Brick (Rian Johnson, 2005) – 8.5/10 <- – I originally gave this film a 7.5, but after a couple more viewings I have to rate the film higher. I watched it because I thought I would be seeing The Brothers Bloom the next day, but that never worked out so I will more than likely catch it on DVD. If you have never seen this film, immediately do so. It’s a rare film that every time I recommend it to someone or loan it to them they absolutely love it.

141. The Jacket (John Maybury, 2005) – 7/10 <- – I have rented or received this movie roughly four or five times but never got through it. This time I was determined to do so, and I am glad I did. Brody is such a good actor, and it was a really interesting story that the acting only made better.

142. (revisit) Låt den rätte komma in (Tomas Alfredson, 2008) – 6/10 <- – I am dropping this score 2 points, I am not sure why but this film did not have the same effect it had on me when I originally saw it back in January. Interesting and far from bad, and I do enjoy it, just not the best horror release of this decade as I previously labeled it. Well it might still be for me personally as to the fact that I do not enjoy horror films for the most part.

143. Monsters, Inc. (Pete Docter, 2001) – 7.5/10 < – – Watched this in preparation for Up and due to the fact that it is one of the only Pixar movies I hadn’t seen. I thoroughly enjoyed it, the film possessed a great story and evoked plenty of laughs.

144. (revisit) No Country for Old Men (Ethan & Joel Coen, 2007) – 10/10 <- – One of the maybe three or four tens I have ever given to a film, just wanted to note that the new Collector’s Edition is absolutely gorgeous and worth every penny (although I do not own it thanks to my own personal feelings about double dipping)

145. (revisit) The Signal (David Bruckner, Dan Bush, & Jacob Gentry, 2007) – 6/10 <- – reviewed before

146. Up (Pete Docter, 2009) – 8.5/10 <- – This film was absolutely fantastic, I loved every second of it. I do not quite understand the complaint people are having with the end being rushed, it did not feel that way at all to me. Pixar really creates quality films and have now earned my faith, meaning they could literally come out and say they are making some film with a ridiculous plot and I would still go see it. I am hoping to see Up again, but next time in 3D.

147. (revisit) Superbad (Greg Mottola, 2007) – 7/10 <- – Reviewed before.

The exciting news yesterday is that the rumors of new Futurama episodes should be no longer considered a rumor, which is excellent news. That’s it for now, thank you for reading.

#153

Hello all

Finally got my internet to work (although the connection is terrible, at least it’s something), someone is coming on Tuesday to try and figure out what the problem is. It was essentially a coin flip in regards to what movie we were going to see last night and it ended up being Land of the Lost, which fell sort of in between amazing and terrible, a good deal better than I expected. I am attempting to catch up on reviews this weekend; and with any luck (and my shift getting picked up tomorrow night, lazy I know) I will knock them out. Here’s the first batch…

132. (revisit) The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (David Fincher, 2008) – 4/10 <- – Reviewed before. My thoughts are still the same only this time I enjoyed the actual story even less.

133. (revisit) Bottle Rocket (Wes Anderson, 1996) – 7.5/10 <- – I cannot believe I have never reviewed this film before, guess it had been that long since I watched it last. It’s just a great film, I actually had the privilege of seeing this at a pretty young age (ten or eleven I believe) and even at that age enjoyed it quite a bit. I always understand viewers’ problems with Anderson and his films, but I do not think that those “reasons” apply here. That is to say that, although this may be a bit simple to say, being Anderson’s first film it is the least like his style in my opinion. Given this is coming from someone who adores his films (I literally CANNOT watch The Royal Tenenbaums anymore due to the number of times I have watched it), so maybe you should not take that previous statement too seriously.

134. (revisit) Ratatouille (Brad Bird & Jan Pinkava, 2007) – 9/10 <- – Another film that I cannot believe I have never reviewed before, the best Pixar film in my opinion and fairly close to my all-time favorite animated film (I would need to give that some serious thought). The beauty of this story as anyone will tell you lies in its simplicity. I assume one could, and I suppose as one should, make certain metaphorical assumptions (which I have found is not only possible, but probable with all of Pixar’s films) but I think Ratatouille is a great exception in the sense that these assumptions really should not be made at all. Beautiful film from start to finish, the viewer has a personal stake in what happens to the main characters, and finally, a great expected finish that should only follow such a unsophisticated story.

135. Permanent Vacation (Jim Jarmusch, 1980) – 5/10 <- – First time ever seeing this, Jarmusch’s first film. It’s pretty boring but not completely bad, you can definitely see some of Jarmusch’s stylistic techniques in the film but overall this film was a waste of time. Well not a complete waste of time in the sense that I am attempting to get through all of Jarmusch’s and Soderbergh’s films by the end of summer, which should prove to be an extremely difficult task.

136. The Opposite of Sex (Don Roos, 1998) – 7/10 <- – Recommendation from my Aunt Sharon, I absolutely loved it. Ricci does a fantastic job narrating and some of the best writing for an under-the-radar “comedy” I have seen in awhile. I thoroughly enjoyed the film and I would recommend it to just about anyone.

137. (revisit) Troll (John Carl Buechler, 1986) – 2/10 <- – I was recently shown a trailer for an upcoming documentary entitled Best Worst Movie or something to that effect and I realized how long it had been since I had seen either Troll or Troll 2, so I rented them. They were just as bad as I remembered but the type that are so bad that they are entertaining.

138. (revisit) Troll 2 (Claudio Fragasso, 1990) – 1/10 <- – Read the previous, only keep in mind that this film is far worse.

139. Terminator Salvation (McG, 2009) – 5.5/10 <- – From all that I have read about this film, the reviews really are a mixed bag, with the more intellectual people I know and critics I love to read all seem to hate this film and the other side of the spectrum seeming to really enjoy this as it is, purely an action film. I fall on the non-intellectual side here, I loved it, going and seeing it was a great, great film experience. A film experience that I actually enjoyed more than seeing Star Trek, which is obviously still the superior film but I had much more fun seeing Terminator Salvation. It was strange that the weakest part of this film was what I had originally expected to be the film’s savior, Christian Bale. He was downright terrible during particular scenes and Sam Worthington blew him away.

Another batch coming soon, thank you for reading. I hope everyone has a great weekend and the Braves turn it around against the Brewers because they did not look so good tonight.

#152

Hello all

RIP David Carradine, strange he passed away on a day we were planning on watching both of the Kill Bill films

You will be missed.

Another update coming soon, thank you for reading.

#151

Hello all

End of May/ beginning of June has arrived, so it is time for the monthly round-up. I watched exactly thirty films this month (thanks mostly to a couple of days where I watched four or five films), my goal of thirty-five for my month away from school was unfortunately not reached, but I am happy with thirty. I had a typical work-filled weekend, nothing too noteworthy other than the fact that the Lakers won in six games (as I predicted) and the Magic won in six (I thought they would do it in seven), and the Stanley Cup Playoffs began last night.

Today, after work, I went out and picked up the first two seasons of American Dad (for a combined price of $14.99) and I finally re-purchased Amores Perros, a film I loaned out awhile back that I have been missing. It was only five dollars so I figured it was well worth it. Up was absolutely fantastic, have yet to see Drag Me to Hell (hopefully will go tomorrow before/after work) but I am looking forward to it. In the next couple days I would like to set out some points concerning my thoughts on animated films and horror films. I am only writing this as a reminder, hopefully I actually do it.

120. Meet Bill (Bernie Goldmann & Melisa Wallack, 2007)
121. Fanboys (Kyle Newman, 2008)
122. Blindness (Fernando Meirelles, 2008)
123. Semi-Pro (Kent Alterman, 2008)
124. Careful (Guy Maddin, 1992)
125. Star Trek (J. J. Abrams, 2009)
126. Mission Impossible III (J. J. Abrams, 2006)
127. Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996)
128. Deja Vu (Tony Scott, 2006)
129. The Big Lebowski (Joel Coen, 1998)
130. Anvil! The Story of Anvil (Sacha Gervasi, 2009)
131. Talladega Nights (Adam McKay, 2006)
132. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (David Fincher, 2008)
133. Bottle Rocket (Wes Anderson, 1996)
134. Ratatouille (Brad Bird & Jan Pinkava, 2007)
135. Permanent Vacation (Jim Jarmusch, 1980)
136. The Opposite of Sex (Don Roos, 1998)
137. Troll (John Carl Buechler, 1986)
138. Troll 2 (Claudio Fragasso, 1990)
139. Terminator Salvation (McG, 2009) 
140. Brick (Rian Johnson, 2005)
141. The Jacket (John Maybury, 2005)
142. Låt den rätte komma in (Tomas Alfredson, 2008)
143. Monsters, Inc. (Pete Docter, 2001)
144. No Country for Old Men (Ethan & Joel Coen, 2007)
145. The Signal (David Bruckner, Dan Bush, & Jacob Gentry, 2007)
146. Up (Pete Docter, 2009)
147. Superbad (Greg Mottola, 2007)
148. Ratatouille (Brad Bird & Jan Pinkava, 2007)
149. WALL-E (Andrew Stanton, 2008)

The fifth month of the year has come and gone, this year is flying by, which surprisingly is a good thing. 2009 may be the only year of my life that I want to be over as quick as it possibly can be. This is the case for the sole reason that I will be finished with my undergrad at the end of the year and 2010 will be a huge year for me. I owe a ton of reviews, and with any motivation I will wake up in the morning and go knock a section of them out, and try to be all caught up by Thursday. Thank you for reading, hope everyone’s week starts off the best that it can.