Brief Encounter
A married woman and a married man briefly meet at a train station in a chance encounter. However, they agree to meet again in a week. This weekly meeting leads to another, and things escalate from there. The story is told as a flashback with the woman recounting her experiences as if she were telling her husband. The film was well down, with a few shots that I liked, but the story did not grab me. I was going along for the ride, but did not care how things would end.

1. That was not the only reason the film was made, as the modern story arc was planned before Birth of a Nation was started.

This year was busier than last year, so I was only able to watch 155 movies (18 fewer than last year). This means I watched a movie every 2.4 days. However, it can still be considered productive. I watched 48 movies from the list, beating last years record by 3 movies. Something I didn’t point out last year is that these numbers do not count movies that I re-watched. Those are harder to keep track of as I generally not using Netflix when re-watching a movie. So the total count is higher, but not by a substantial number.

Here is the list of all the movies I watched in 2011. Same set up as before, but for those that need a refresher: The ratings are on a 5 point scale with no half points. Within the rating group the movies are alphabetical. List movies are in bold and movies released in 2010 are italicized.

5

13 Assassins (2010)
A Tale of Two Sisters (2004)
Barbarian Invasions, The (2003)
Boys Don’t Cry (1999)
Descent, The (2005)
Dinner Game, The (1998)
Drive (2011)
Exiled (1907)
Get Low (2009)
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The (2009)
Gone with the Wind (1939)
Good, the Bad, the Weird, The (2008)
Graduate, The (1967)
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)
Hole, The (1960)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Ip Man (2008)
Killer Inside Me, The (2010)
Like Stars on Earth (2007)
Misery (1990)
Muppets, The (2011)
Omen, The (1976)
Paris, Je T’aime (2006)
Peeping Tom (1960)
People Under the Stairs, The (1991)
Persona (1967)
Rabbit Hole (2010)
Rope (1948)
Shutter (2004)
Sin Nombre (2009)
SLC Punk (1999)
Terribly Happy (2008)
Thin Blue Line, The (1988)
Toy Story 3 (2010)
Wait Until Dark (1967)
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)

4

2046 (2004)
American Zombie (2007)
Attack the Gas Station! (1999)
Au Hasard Balthazar (1966)
Ballad of Narayama, The (1984)
Beauty and the Beast (1946)
Best Years of Our Lives, The (1946)
Cape Fear (1962)
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
Catfish (2010)
Cloverfield (2007)
Color of Money, The (1986)
Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop (2011)
Cook, Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, The (1989)
Creep (2004)
Dances with Wolves (1990)
Day of the Dead (1985)
Dead Snow (2009)
Delicatessen (1991)
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
Fantasia (1940)
Felon (2008)
Fighter, The (2010)
First Snow (2007)
Four Lions (2010)
Ghajini (2008)
Good Hair (2009)
Grapes of Wrath, The (1940)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011)
Heathers (1989)
Hudsucker Proxy, The (1994)
Hustler, The (1961)
Jackie Brown (1997)
Jerk, The (1979)
Kick-Ass (2010)
Kids Are All Right, The (2010)
Kontroll (2004)
La Belle Noiseuse (1991)
La Jetée (1961)
Le Samourai (1967)
Last Picture Show, The (1971)
Man in the Iron Mask, The (1998)
Man with the Golden Gun, The (1974)
Manic (2001)
Messenger, The (2009)
Moneyball (2011)
Natural, The (1984)
Network (1967)
Nine Queens (2000)
Ocean’s Eleven (1960)
Once (2006)
Pandorum (2009)
Paris, Texas (1984)
Piano Teacher, The (2002)
Prodigal Sons (2008)
Pusher (1996)
Rachel Getting Married (2008)
Ratcatcher (1999)
Restrepo (2010)
Sans Soleil (1983)
Up in the Air (2009)
Winter’s Bone (2010)
Woodsman, The (2004)
X-Men: First Class (2011)

3

American Pie (1999)
Atlantic City (1980)
Babes in Arms (1939)
Babette’s Feast (1987)
Bad Santa (2003)
Barefoot Contessa, The (1954)
Belle de Jour (1967)
Birth of a Nation, The (1915)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Days of Being Wild (1990)
Days of Heaven (1978)
Dreamchild (1985)
Election (2005)
Femme Fatale (2002)
For Love of the Game (1999)
Friday Night Lights (2004)
Hangover Part II, The (2011)
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)
Home (2005)
In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
Last Year at Marienbad (1961)
Local Hero (1983)
Long Goodbye, The (1973)
Manhattan (1979)
Moonlighting (1982)
New York, I Love You (2008)
Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
Prince of Darkness (1987)
Rebecca (1940)
Red State (2011)
Scanners (1980)
Secret Agent (1936)
sex, lies, and videotape (1989)
Soldier’s Girl (2003)
Sucker Punch (2011)
Table for Three (2009)
Thor (2011)
Ushpizin (2004)
Withnail and I (1987)
You, the Living (2007)
Zero Kelvin (1995)

2

Band Wagon, The (1953)
Black Dynamite (2009)
Double Take (2009)
Easy A (2010)
Exit Wounds (2001)
Expendables, The (2010)
Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)
Mortal Kombat: The Movie (1995)
My Dinner with Andre (1981)
Over the Top (1986)
Parking Lot Movie, The (2010)
Return of the Living Dead, The (1985)
RoboCop (1987)
Sleepaway Camp (1983)

1
No movies were rated 1. A step in the right direction, despite there being more movies ranked 2 or lower than last year.

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
As the title suggest, the movie is about a serial killer named Henry. Michael Rooker provides a haunting depiction of a man that kills without remorse and without reason. The film was done with a small $110,000 budget with produces a raw depiction of violence and abuse.

Nine Queens
A day in the life of two con artists that happen upon a job that will make them both rich. Juan is a young independent who runs smaller spontaneous scams as opportunity presents itself. Marcos, on the other hand, works bigger jobs and has a number of conspirators who can help him out in bit parts. Over the course of the movie, the two get a feel for how the other works and band together to make the job a success.

The Last Picture Show
It’s small town Texas in the early 50s. High school seniors are attempting to figure out what they will do with their lives when they graduate. Since getting out of the little town is a hard feet to accomplish, the kids they look at their relationships and where that will lead them for the rest of their lives.

Last Year at Marienbad
A french film from 1961 that paints a picture of three people at a resort hotel. A man pleads with a woman to convince her that they had met a year ago at the same hotel and had a love affair. Another man is also at the hotel and repeatedly beats the first man in a series of logic games. That description may make it seem like everything is straight forward, but the plot is far from that. The entire film has a dream-like feel in which any scene may not have happened. The possibilities of false-memory, lie and dream sequence are all options. The first act is tough to watch because there is so much ambiguity. However, as things progressed, I got a feel for how things were being presented and what the point of the movie might be.

The Thin Blue Line
A documentary about a man convicted for a murder and sentenced to die for a murder he did not commit. Over the course of a number of interviews, the story is told that described all the events that lead up to Randall Dale Adams being convicted of killing a police officer. The documentary features a number of reenactments of the crime. As new information is presented to the audience, the reenactment is presented again with minor alterations based on details that have come to light.

The Hole
A prisoner is transferred into a new cell with a number of men who are planning an escape. The men have no choice but to include their new cellmate in the plan. As the men dig to freedom, they must rely on each other to watch their back and keep the guards at bay.

Delicatessen
The sky has been blacked out, crops are scare and meat is a privilege only the rich can afford. That is, unless, you are willing to partake in some of the world’s less used meats (mainly human). The film follows a butcher who is willing to take such steps and his tenets that live in the apartments above his shop. The film was Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s debut, of Amélie fame. In the same vain, the film features quirky antics and unusual relationships between the cast of characters.

Withnail & I
Two unemployed actors live in a rundown apartment as they wait for their big break. Eventually, they hit a boiling point and Withnail decided they should take a vacation at his uncle’s cottage in the country. The vacation is far from restful as neither man is used to the country life and feel at odds with a colorful cast of characters living in the near by town. Things only escalate from there when Withnail’s uncle joins them and has taken a liking to Withnail’s friend.

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
A theatrical depiction of a gangster who has made a lavish restaurant his place of business and entertainment. The thief is an oaf and is at odds with his wife, the chef and many of the other patrons on the restaurant. Tired of being berated, the wife begins a love affair with another regular guest of the restaurant. All of these actions begin to build up and lead to the eventual conclusion of the patterns depicted earlier in the film.

The Beautiful Troublemaker
A retired artist is convinced to return to work and attempt to complete his masterpiece that he had given up on years ago. However, this is not an easy process as tries to use a woman who has never modeled before as the inspiration for his painting. The two must come together in order to achieve the full potential of the work. The film is quiet long, as it includes a number of extended takes the just show the artist’s hands as they sketch or paint. Another aspect of note is that the model, played by Emmanuelle Béart, does not wear any clothes for the majority of the film.

Days of Heaven
Bill is a poor labor who travels to Texas with his younger sister (Linda) and girlfriend (Abby) to work harvesting for a rich wheat farmer. Bill and Abby claims to be brother and sister in order to prevent gossip among the field hands. As the farmer watches over the harvest, he begins to have feelings for Abby and unforeseen tensions arise. The movie has a distinctive feel as little artificial light was used and a number of scenes were shot during the magic hour (after the sun has set, but before darkness takes over).

The Grapes of Wrath
The Great Depression hits the Midwest and farmers all over have been pushed off their land. Tom, having just been paroled from prison, find his family just before they head to California in look for work. The story stays fairly close to that of the book, as the audience follows the family as they struggle to stick together and survive.

Rope
Brandon and Phillip are educated young men and former classmates. Being men of character, they decide to commit a murder to prove that they could get away with it. After killing another classmate, they hold a party with the body still hidden in the room. The film is edited in a way so that each scene is a long take (with most of the cuts being hidden by having the camera move behind an object in the room).

Doctor Zhivago
The epic tail of life, love and war in Russian in the early 20th century. Yuri Zhivago is a doctor and a poet. His medical skills keep him occupied during the wars, but his poems are scene as a threat during the rise of communism. The film is similar to Gone With the Wind in a number of ways: opening to a still image and music, extended running time and following a tale of romance during years of military unrest.

Zero Kelvin
Two men (Randbæk and Jakob) work as trappers in a remote part of Greenland when a they are joined by another man (Henrik) in order to achieve the increased demand for the next year. Living in isolation and harsh conditions, the men must find a balance as they must survive together over the next year. Henrik and Randbæk clash with each other immediately as Henrik aspires to be a poet and Randbæk has been hardened by years in the arctic.

Rebbeca
Joan Fontaine plays a young and innocent woman who is a paid companion to a rich woman, Edythe Van Hopper. While together in Monte Carlo, they meet Maxim de Winter, a rich widower. While Edythe tries to gain favor and Maxim, his interests turn instead to the younger woman. They are wed and return to Maxim’s estate where the new Mrs. de Winter learns that the previous Mrs. de Winter (Rebecca) is still very much a part of Maxim’s life and the care-takers of the estate.

Alfred Hitchcock is one of my favorite directors. I like the way he shoots scene and how he is very deliberate in building tension during a scene. And I enjoyed how he did that in this film. However, my issue is with the plots points that occur as part of the climax and the scenes following. So much of it is a twisted tail explaining all the events that lead to the current situation. I don’t mean twisted in the scenes that disgusting. Instead I mean we are lead in one direction, then there is a turn in a different direction. This repeats a number of times so that when you get to the end, you are trying to see how everything pieces together and what the run around added to the story.

Note: As I prepared for the business trip, I made sure to have a number of movies I could watch while traveling to keep myself occupied. In addition to these two, there was one additional film that I brought with me. However, that film was in French. That by itself is not an issue, but the fact that I did not attach the subtitles to the video file when compression from the DVD made my efforts to watch it futile. My review for La Belle Noiseuse will arrive when I have time to watch it with the English subtitles.

An actress has been hospitalized because she has stopped speaking, despite not having a diagnosable ailment. A young nurse is assigned to take care of the woman. Based on the doctor’s advice, Elisabet and Alma head to a beach house so Elisabet can rest and recover. Despite the conversations being heavily one-sided, we learn a lot about the two woman and watch as their relationship changes while at the beach house.

The film is very minimalist. There are only a handful of characters, few props and the costumes are either white or black. All of this comes together to provide a very powerful package. Despite a lack of flashiness, I enjoyed the movie a lot and was struck by a few of the shots. My favorite was when Elisabet slowly walks in to the bedroom from the darkness, but that moves to another room that is washed with light.

Three men return from WWII and head back to their families they left behind. Each of them were in different places in their lives at the start of the war and have their own issues to deal with now that they are back. While the film does seem long, running almost three hours, this is due to the depth of the story. It would have been possible to make two separate films, but allowing Homer’s struggles to intermingle with the story about Fred and Al makes a better package. The Best Years of Our Lives won 7 Oscars including Best Picture, Director and Actor.

Peeping Tom

Mark Lewis works for a film studio, but wants to do more and make his own films. He also has a hobby that no one knows about. He films people as he murders them and watches the footage afterward. This psychological thriller builds immense tension as the audience watches Mark (often through the lens of his own camera) try to live his life and control his urges from taking over his life. The film was controversial when it was released, however after a cult following for years, it is now seen by many as great and appears a number of to 100 horror movies.

Despite the title of the movie and this post, the movie has very little blood. Rémy is a professor of history, a man who cheated on his ex-wife multiple times and a man dealing with terminal cancer. His son, Sébastien, is a successful financial analyst and strongly dislikes his father.

As the film progresses, Rémy and Sébastien are forced to spend time together as Sébastien works to get his father the best care possible. The film is all the audience learning about the characters’ histories and seeing them interact in the current situation. At times some of the conversations get a little heady, but Rémy and his friends spent their lives pursuing knowledge, so it is not surprising that they would still talk philosophy now. In the end, we watch as a dying man presents ideas on how to live life and it comes together well.

Belle de Jour
Séverine Serizy is a young housewife who has trouble being intimate with her husband. After hearing of another woman who worked at a brothel, Séverine becomes curious and decides to become a prostitute. She is very shy at first, but begins to open up (at work and at home). However, when a gangster becomes a regular customer, the job begins to have a more direct effect on her life.

The Natural
Robert Redford plays Roy Hobbs a man with a natural talent to play baseball. The movie tells the story of his journey to the majors and what happens to him along the way. I was expecting the beginning that dealt with his childhood to last longer. It came of as “There are there things you need to know about his childhood. Check, check and check, moving on.” After that, the movie flows well through the story it is actually trying to tell. The story isn’t that complicated, but I enjoyed going along for the ride. And surprisingly,

Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
Wow! And I thought Assassination of Jesse James was a long movie that was slowly paced. I understand the story it was telling why that means it needs a slow pace, but Assassination at least looked amazing along the way. You really don’t need 80 minutes to show that her life is uneventful and routine. Followed by 80 minutes of things slowly becoming more out of place. The last 40 minutes were not bad because I was waiting for the point when she breaks. In the end, the climax of the film was just as quiet and sedated as the film.

Manhattan
Proportional to his catalog, I have only seen a few Woody Allen movies, but of those, none of them have done it for me. The ones I have seen all seem to be telling the same story of him being an awkward jewish man and dealing with a sexual relationship. And it makes me uncomfortable to have to think about Woody Allen and sex at the same time. All that being said, I think I enjoyed this the most of the movies of his I’ve seen. I like how he used the black and white in various scenes, especially the one in the planetarium.

You would think that not showing actual movement would make it feel like there is no action. However, the pictures shift within the scene just as the camera would if it were a motion picture. The transitions between shots are now even more important than a cut in a normal movie because it is one of the biggest tools available to the director. The story being told is great piece of science fiction fits perfectly into the short story format. La Jetée was the inspiration for another good science fiction movie from the 1990s that I will not mention by name to prevent spoiling this movie for others.

This review has been pushed back almost a week after viewing the film. Partially because I was busy with work, but more importantly because I did not know what to say. The film did not stand out in either direction. While I would not say I didn’t like the movie, I’m also not really sure I enjoyed it either. It just was. After almost a week of thinking, that is all I’ve come up with.

The film has historical significance because it had a major influence on the wave of independent films that were released in the 90s.

Yeah, I just don’t have much to say about the film. It just was.

Paul Newman and Robert Redford team up to play the classic western outlaws. As is true with many of the movies I watch, I knew very little about this movie going in. In fact, the first sentence sums up the total information I had about the movie when starting. I was expecting a serious western and the opening scene delivered that. However, it became immediately clear that this movie was going to be something much different. I can’t classify what the movie actually is. Butch and Sundance are continually making jokes between one another. But at the same time there is lots of serious exposition that develops the characters. There is also a three minute scene where Newman and Katharine Ross ride around a farm on a bicycle as Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head plays. If I hadn’t spent the first half of the movie trying to figure out what it was trying to accomplish, I think I would have enjoyed it more than I did. The standout part for me was photo montage that works as an intermission of sorts between the two halves of the film. You could have had an entire movie based only off what was presented by the montage.

The city is dieing. Prohibition has been over for decades and the mobsters that gave life have left. What they left behind was a number of deteriorating hotels, boardwalks and society. There is also Lou. He used to work withe the guys that ran the town. But now he is just an old man living in a building that is waiting to be torn down, looking out his window. Through that window is Sally. Sally came to Atlantic City to get her life together by becoming a dealer at one of the new casinos that just opened up. What will the future hold in a city that looks so grim?

Atlantic City has the honor of being one of the few films to be nominated for the big five (Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and Screenplay), but not win any of them. Burt Lancaster plays the role of Lou well. He seems to genuinely enjoy the excitement that has come into his life and remember the days of old. Susan Sarandon seemed a little awkward at time. However, this could be attributed to the fact that Sally did not belong in Atlantic City. Sally saw this place has her gateway to the future, but it was not the place for her.

Clocking in at almost 2 and a half hours, the slow paces seems intimidating at first. But as Travis begins to open up and you learn more about his past, you are pulled in. You need to see what the resolution will be. I’m not go into details about the end of the film, but I think the climax is done very well. It does exactly what it needs to do and I don’t think there could be a better way to handle it.

Nosferatu the Vampyre
A remake of the original Nosferatu by Werner Herzog. The remake was very faithful to the original. A number of the scene could have easily been shot for shot remakes of the source material. The beginning of the film is very unsettling and kind of hard to watch. I say this from a film perspective, not from a horror perspective (I will expand on this later). However, once Jonathan makes it to Transylvania and meets Dracula things get much better, becoming creepy and unsettling from a horror perspective. Klaus Kinski joins Herzog again (Aguirre: The Wrath of God) to play Dracula and does a great job of it. These two work together very well to produce characters that draw you in and see something that is out there.

After finishing the film, as I do with all the movies on the list, I went to Wikipedia to read up on the film. This lets me learn fun facts about the production and read some input on why the film was added to the list. The fact I learned this time directly related to why the start of the film felt very stiff and uneasy.

At the request of distributor 20th Century Fox, Herzog produced two versions of the movie simultaneously, to appeal to western audiences. Scenes with dialogue were filmed twice, in German and in English, meaning that the actor’s own voices (as opposed to dubbed dialogue by voice actors) could be included in the English version of the film. However, many consider the performances in the German language version to be superior, as Kinski and Ganz could act more confidently in their native language.

The beginning of the film contained most of the dialogue and felt poorly acted. However, coinciding with the arrival of Dracula, the dialogue becomes a second player to the visuals and the acting improves.

(As usual) 2010 had 365 days. In that time, I watched 173 movies. This means I watched a movie every 2.1 days. Of those 173 movies, 45 of them brought me closer to me goal and 12 of them were released this year.

Here is the list of all the movies I watched in 2010. The ratings are on a 5 point scale with no half points (I don’t agree with it, but it’s what Netflix provides). Within the rating group the movies are alphabetical. List movies are in bold and movies released in 2010 are italicized.

5

(500) Days of Summer (2009)
A Prophet (2010)
A Single Man (2009)
African Queen, The (1951)
Amelie (2001)
An Education (2008)
Apartment, The (1960)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Black Swan (2010)
Blindness (2008)
Blue (1993)
Brothers Bloom, The (2008)
Cashback (2006)
Chasing Amy (1997)
Cold Souls (2008)
District 9 (2009)
Doubt (2008)
Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)
Fall, The (2006)
Gilda (1946)
Great Dictator, The (1940)
Great Muppet Caper, The (1981)
Host, The (2006)
Inception (2010)
Ink (2009)
It Might Get Loud (2008)
Jaws (1975)
Malcolm X (1992)
Man on Fire (2004)
Memories of Murder (2003)
On the Waterfront (1954)
Pixar Short Films: Vol. 1 (2007)
Scent of a Woman (1992)
Social Network, The (2010)
Special (2006)
Spun (2002)
Street Fight (2005)
Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005)
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Third Man, The (1949)
Timecrimes (2007)
Touch of Evil (1958)

4

21 Grams (2003)
All About My Mother (1999)
Angel Face (1952)
Artists and Models (1955)
Ascent, The (1977)
Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
Asphalt Jungle, The (1950)
Awful Truth, The (1937)
Babel (2006)
Better Luck Tomorrow (2003)
Big Fan (2009)
Blast of Silence (1961)
Blow (2001)
Boys on the Side (1995)
Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001)
But I’m a Cheerleader (1999)
Caché (2005)
Champion (2005)
Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) (2000)
Crazy Heart (2009)
Days of Thunder (1990)
Don’t Look Now (1973)
Eddie Izzard: Dress to Kill (1999)
Empire Records (1995)
Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
Europa Europa (1990)
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
Following (1998)
Frozen River (2008)
Gold Rush, The (1925)
Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
Harvey (1950)
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)
Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, The (2009)
In the Loop (2009)
In the Mood for Love (2001)
Interview with the Vampire (1994)
Into the Wild (2007)
Iron Man 2 (2010)
Irreversible (2002)
Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)
La Strada (1954)
Labyrinth (1986)
Lady from Shanghai, The (1948)
Laura (1944)
Man Who Knew Too Much, The (1956)
Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005)
Mean Girls (2004)
Mighty Ducks, The (1992)
Muppet Movie, The (1979)
Notorious (1946)
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
Please Vote For Me (2007)
Poltergeist (1982)
Puffy Chair, The (2005)
Red (1994)
Red Shoes, The (1948)
Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962)
Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)
Run Lola Run (1998)
Salton Sea, The (2002)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Seven Year Itch, The (1955)
Seventh Seal, The (1957)
Shutter Island (2010)
Sling Blade (1996)
Stranger, The (1946)
Swimming Pool (2003)
Syndromes and a Century (2006)
Thelma & Louise (1991)
Thirst (2009)
To Be or Not To Be (1942)
Top Secret! (1984)
True Lies (1994)
Virgin Spring, The (1960)
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
Whip It (2009)
White (1994)
Youth of the Beast (1963)
Zach Galifianakis: Live at the Purple Onion (2006)

3

A-Team, The (2010)
Amarcord (1974)
Anvil: The Story of Anvil (2008)
Ariel (1988)
Baghead (2008)
Beautiful Losers (2008)
Bodyguard, The (1992)
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (2009)
Carlito’s Way (1993)
Closet, The (2000)
Count of Monte Cristo, The (2002)
Death of a President (2006)
Fletch (1985)
Game, The (1997)
Gangs of New York (2002)
Grand, The(2007)
Hellraiser (1987)
Invictus (2009)
Latter Days (2004)
Life After People (2008)
Machete (2010)
Minus Man, The (1999)
Monster (2003)
Paranormal Activity (2007)
Performance (1970)
Pickpocket (1959)
Red Dawn (1984)
Repulsion (1965)
Ridicule (1996)
Risky Business (1983)
Russian Ark (2002)
Sex Is Comedy (2002)
Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
Slacker (1991)
Timecop (1994)
To Be or Not To Be (1983)
Touchez Pas au Grisbi (1954)
Warriors, The (1979)
Wordplay (2006)

2

Drag Me to Hell (2009)
Even Dwarfs Started Small (1971)
Hamlet 2 (2008)
Hard Boiled (1992)
Knightriders (1981)
Ponyo (2008)
Quiet City (2007)
Unstoppable (2010)

1
Betty Blue (1986)
Gerry (2002)

For those keeping track, all one of you, as of this review, I’m at 325. This fall I slacked off and fallen to a movie from the list every 4 days. This was mostly due to class and The Sopranos. There was also a wave of non-list movies, but the pendulum is about to swing back in the other direction.

Gone With the Wind
A picture of the South spanning from just before the Civil war through Reconstruction. We watch as southern high society deals with the changes of the times and the people they interact with.

This is classic Hollywood. The movie is almost 4 hours, but does not drag. The back and forth between Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler always keeps you waiting to see where they will go. The colors jump out and grab you because of all the scenes with fancy dresses and ornately decorated rooms.

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002)
Ryu is deaf-mute who works in a factory to support himself and his sister who needs a kidney transplant. As Ryu attempts to raise the money for the transplant by any means necessary, things start to go wrong. The story is one of doing what is necessary to make things right, even if that means bringing more violence into the world. The violence is raw and uncompromising, but is done through great storytelling and cinematography so you are pulled in and don’t want to look away.

Oldboy (2003)
Oh Dae-su is a everyday business man with a wife and daughter. One day he is kidnapped and locked in a run down hotel room. He has no contact with the outside world, except for a television in the room and a small slot in the door through which fried dumplings are delivered as meals. Fifteen years later he is set free, given a new suit, a cell phone and the diaries he kept while imprisoned. He beings his journey to find out who took 15 years from his life and get his payback. The story is a psychological journey that explores what happens to a man in dire situation and what it will cause him to do.

Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005)
Lee Geum-ja is a newly released prisoner who was convicted of killing a young schoolboy when she was only 19. As she goes and meets a number of her former cellmates we learn that is innocent of the crime she was convicted of and gave a false confession. Though a series of flashbacks we are presented a better understanding of her evolution while in prison. This helps explain her actions since her release and how she goes forward with her plan to seek revenge.

I was introduced to trilogy the by first watching Oldboy two years ago and was blown away by the story and how it was all presented. It remains my favorite, but that may be in part because it was a purer experience and I went into the others ready to compare. I enjoyed Oldboy on many levels and really enjoyed the hallway fight scene and the chase scene towards the end.

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance does not have all the twists and turns of Oldboy, it does what Park Chan-wook set out to do and present a story of escalating violence and murders. The film included some of the most bad-ass killings I have seen in a film as Chan-wook always has individual characters working for their end goal and they get creative as guns are rarely present.

Sympathy for Lady Vengeance felt much different than the other two films. Revenge is presented in a much more emotional light. This is about more than just getting revenge. This is a calculated process that all fits into place in order to bring closure. The fade to black and white is an amazing effect. The change is so subtle at times you forget it is happening and are drawn into the scene. Then in the back of your mind, it represents the slow and deliberate way in which the mood changes.

SUNDAY
The Legend of Drunken Master
This film is the non-sequel to Drunken Master as there is not much that links the two beyond the fact that it stars Jackie Chan and he does drunken boxing. I liked Drunken Master better as it is more of a pure martial arts film. Legend had much stronger action movie influences and does more group battles than one-on-one fights.

Dazed and Confused
All around awesome movie. Has a lot of actors in it before they got big. Tells a number of good stories about kids growing up in the 70s.

The TV Set
The story of writer/director trying to film his TV pilot and get it picked up by the network. It is a story of creativity, deaspiration and compromise.

MONDAY
The Postman Always Rings Twice
Good story of a woman who married for the wrong reason and is now looking for a way out. I wonder how this will turn out?

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
LOUD NOISES!! But seriously, it’s a really good adaptation of the play were a two couples spend an evening making each other feel extremely awkward and pissed off. Interesting note: When the play opened, people said they thought writer had purposely tried to write something that would be so offensive and lewd that it could not be filmed. The film was extremely faithful to the play and kept almost all of the original dialogue.

Eyes Wide Shut
An interesting journey through sexual exploration and guilt.

TUESDAY
Point Blank
A simple story but done very well. Walker is a thief who is double crossed by his partner and left for dead. While the world thinks he did, Walker did not die and is now on a mission to get his money.

Chariots of Fire
You’ve all heard the song, now you can see where it came from. While it was well done, the story did not grab me that strongly. It was only 2 hours but it felt longer. Also, the 1924 Olympics only had running events, there was no need for athletes in other disciplines.

Get Carter
Point Blank, but British. Instead of money, Jack Carter has returned home to investigate the events that lead to his brother’s death. While, Get Carter is less of an action movie than Point Blank, it leads with mystery of not knowing where this information will lead Carter once he finds it.

WEDNESDAY
Zach Galifianakis: Live at the Purple Onion
“I hate celebrities, all of them. I think that’s the poison … in this country is celebrita. [pause] I know the irony in saying that when there are five cameras on me.”

Good Night, and Good Luck
I had actually already seen this movie, but forgot. This is more of a comment on how many movies I watch and not the quality of the movie.

Ronin
The Italian Job except the double cross doesn’t happen at the beginning and Jean Reno is in it.

THURSDAY
The Karate Kid II
Just a fun film to watch despite the fact that there are no surprises throughout the plot. There were some really nice landscape shot after Mr. Miyagi’s dad dies. It’s kind of sad that Ali turned into a huge bitch between the end of the tournament and the start of the prom.

Up
I’m still amazed that Pixar had the balls to do what they did in the first 10 minutes of the movie. I saw it in 3D in theaters and Squirrel! …really enjoyed how they used it just to add depth and not as a gimmick. I think this helped a lot in making it still look phenomenal in 2d. I just realized that Russell is Asian.

FRIDAY
I drove to New Jersey and took the day off.

SATURDAY
This is Spinal Tap
You don’t need to do more than see the tag line to completely understand this movie. ‘Does for rock and roll what “The Sound of Music” did for hills.’

Avatar
Complaints: 1) The planet is called Pandora. 2) The mineral is called Unobtanium. You waited 10 years to start making the film and you couldn’t spend another 5 minutes to find something more subtle? Beyond that, I really enjoyed the movie. The plot is just Fern Gully plus Pocahontas, but the point of the film was not the plot. The opening scene where they are coming out of cryogenic sleep does a great job of setting the tone for live action 3D in cinematic setting.

12 Angry Men (1957)
1900 (1976)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
39 Steps, The (1935)
400 Blows, The (1959)
42nd Street (1933)
8 1/2 (1963)
A Christmas Story (1983)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
A Dog’s Life (1962)
A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
A Hard Day’s Night (1964)
A Man Escaped (1956)
A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
A Night at the Opera (1935)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
A One and a Two (2000)
A Passage to India (1984)
A Place in the Sun (1951)
A Room with a View (1986)
A Star Is Born (1954)
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
A Touch of Zen (1969)
A Trip to the Moon (1902)
A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Accidental Tourist, The (1988)
Ace in the Hole (1951)
Adam’s Rib (1949)
Adventure, The (1960)
Adventures of Robin Hood, The (1938)
Age Of Gold, The (1930)
Age of Innocence, The (1993)
Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)
Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer (1992)
Airplane! (1980)
Akira (1988)
Alice (1988)
Alien (1979)
Aliens (1986)
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
All That Jazz (1979)
All the President’s Men (1976)
Alphaville (1965)
Amadeus (1984)
Amelie (2001)
American Beauty (1999)
American Graffiti (1973)
Amores Perros (2000)
An Affair to Remember (1957)
An American in Paris (1951)
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
Animal Farm (1954)
Annie Hall (1977)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Audition (1999)
Babe (1995)
Back to the Future (1985)
Bad and the Beautiful, The (1952)
Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
Badlands (1973)
Bank Dick, The (1940)
Barren Lives (1963)
Barry Lyndon (1975)
Batman (1989)
Battle of Algiers, The (1965)
Battle of San Pietro, The (1945)
Battleship Potemkin, The (1925)
Beat the Devil (1953)
Beau Travail (1999)
Being John Malkovich (1999)
Being There (1979)
Ben-Hur (1959)
Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
Big (1988)
Big Sleep, The (1946)
Bird with The Crystal Plumage, The (1970)
Birds, The (1963)
Blade Runner (1982)
Blair Witch Project, The (1999)
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Blowup (1966)
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Boogie Nights (1997)
Boyz ‘n the Hood (1991)
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
Braveheart (1995)
Brazil (1985)
Breakfast Club, The (1985)
Bridge on the River Kwai, The (1957)
Candy Man (1992)
Carrie (1976)
Casablanca (1942)
Casino (1995)
Chinatown (1974)
Citizen Kane (1941)
City of God (2002)
Clerks (1994)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Clueless (1995)
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Crumb (1994)
Crying Game, The (1992)
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Day the Earth Stood Still, The (1951)
Deer Hunter, The (1978)
Deliverance (1972)
Die Hard (1988)
Dirty Harry (1971)
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Dracula (1931)
Duck Soup (1933)
Dumbo (1941)
E.T.: The Extra-Terestrial (1982)
Easy Rider (1969)
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Elephant Man, The (1980)
Eraserhead (1977)
Evil Dead, The (1982)
Exorcist, The (1973)
Fantasia (1940)
Fantastic Planet (1973)
Fargo (1996)
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1981)
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
Fight Club (1999)
Fly, The (1986)
Forrest Gump (1994)
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Funny Games (1997)
Gandhi (1982)
Gangs of New York (2002)
Ghostbusters (1984)
Gimme Shelter (1970)
Gladiator (2000)
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
Glory (1989)
Godfather Part II, The (1974)
Godfather, The (1972)
Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, The (1966)
Goodfellas (1990)
Graduate, The (1967)
Great Escape, The (1963)
Great Train Robbery, The (1903)
Groundhog Day (1993)
Halloween (1978)
Happiness (1998)
Independence Day (1996)
Jaws (1975)
Jungle Book, The (1967)
Jurassic Park (1993)
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Life of Brian (1979)
Lion King, The (1994)
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The (2001)
M (1931)
M*A*S*H (1970)
Mad Max (1979)
Magnolia (1999)
Man Bites Dog (1992)
Man Who Fell to Earth, The (1976)
Matrix, The (1999)
Meet the Parents (2000)
Memento (2000)
Metropolis (1927)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Mulholland Dr. (2001)
Muppet Movie, The (1979)
Naked Gun, The (1988)
Natural Born Killers (1994)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
North by Northwest (1959)
Nosferatu, A Symphony of Terror(1922)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
Once Upon a Time in America (1983)
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
Patton (1970)
Philadelphia (1993)
Pi (1998)
Pinocchio (1940)
Planet of the Apes (1968)
Platoon (1986)
Pretty Woman (1990)
Princess Bride, The (1987)
Producers, The (1968)
Psycho (1960)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Raging Bull (1980)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Rain Man (1988)
Raising Arizona (1987)
Rashomon (1950)
Rear Window (1954)
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Ring (1998)
Rocky (1976)
Rocky Horror Picture Show, The (1975)
Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Royal Tenenbaums, The (2001)
Rushmore (1998)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Scarface (1983)
Scarface: The Shame Of A Nation (1932)
Schindler’s List (1993)
Serpico (1973)
Seven (1995)
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
Seven Samurai, The (1954)
Shawshank Redemption, The (1994)
Shining, The (1980)
Silence of the Lambs, The (1991)
Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
Sixth Sense, The (1999)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Sound of Music, The (1965)
Spirited Away (2001)
Star Wars (1977)
Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983)
Strangers on a Train (1951)
Taxi Driver (1976)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The (1974)
There’s Something About Mary (1998)
Thing, The (1982)
This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
Three Kings (1999)
Titanic (1997)
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Top Gun (1986)
Toy Story (1995)
Traffic (2000)
Trainspotting (1996)
Unforgiven (1992)
Usual Suspects, The (1995)
Vertigo (1958)
West Side Story (1961)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
Wizard of Oz, The (1939)
Young Frankenstein (1974)

Tonight I watched Primer a second time, I still don’t know how everything pieces together quite yet. However, some one has documented it. Don’t read through it if you haven’t seen it, but you can look to confirm it’s confusing-ness. It’s very well done and the actors are the people actually making the movie too.

In other news, work is going well. The thing I’m working on is very likely about to become much larger and will keep me very busy. While working I’m making some good progress on my For Review folder of music. However most of the progress has been bands I’ve decided not to keep around. One of the non-ill-fated bands is Ozomatli. Think Flobots, but take the string instruments and replace them with Latin influences. I also have a place to live for the next year, so that’s good

Like I said, I’ve been watching movies, but have seen more off the list than on.
For the on category we have:
Crumb
The Thing
Ben-Hur
Angles with Dirty Faces
Happiness
Badlands
North by Northwest
Harold and Maude

For the off category we have:
Sukiyaki Western Django
Dial M for Murder
To Catch a Thief
Dan in Real Life
Star Trek
The Killing
Mean Creek
Dear Zachary
Synecdoche, New York

Ok, I thought it was much less balanced, but I didn’t lie to you. A lot of these were hard to watch. Not that I didn’t enjoy them, more that they were extremely emotional or twisted, or both.

Crumb – It is about the underground comic artist Robert Crumb, but ends up being depiction of all the mental disabilities of him and his brothers.

Happiness – Despite the title, there is not a single happy person in this movie, very twisted and dark.

Harold and Maude – A really great movie about an unlikely relationship between a 19 year old boy and 79 year old woman. The hardest part of this was that the film opens with a fake suicide by Harold that I didn’t know were fake at the time. Once things were explained and I had a better feel for the movie, I enjoyed it.

Dan in Real Life – This movie stars Steve Carell and Dane Cook, it is not a comedy. You need to know this before you start or else you will not enjoy this film and you should.

Mean Creek – It’s Deliverance, except no banjo kid or squealing and everyone is younger then 18. What it lacks in original story it makes up for in performances and cinematography.

Dear Zachary – Wow, I still don’t even know what to say. A documentary about a woman who kills the father of her unborn child, flees to Canada, and how the legal system (mis)handles everything. Seriously hard to watch because just when you think you have gotten a handle on how messed up things are, something more comes. It is very well done and worth watching, just be ready.

On that note, we’ll turn back to me and talk about progress. I’m at 199 and chugging along. The first milestone of 250 will be just about in time for my birthday. I’ve also managed to bring the projected completion date into late 2015 instead of early 2016.

EDIT: I forgot about 8 1/2, which is on the list. So I guess I did lie, but it’s a lot of movies and hard to keep track of them all.

12 Monkeys
Beau Travail
A Scanner Darkly
RocknRolla
The Karate Kid
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Ultimate Avengers
The Exorcist
Layer Cake
The Maltese Falcon
Fahrenheit 451
This is England

Beau Travail, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and The Exorcist are the only movies from that group that helped me along my way towards 1001. Kind of surprised The Maltese Falcon wasn’t on the list, but then again, it wasn’t as good as Casablanca or Beat the Devil. Fahrenheit 451 was very good. Never read the book, but it is a very good story, so the movie worked well.

My favorite of the group is This is England. A 11 year old boy befriends a group of skinheads. Shaun had just lost his father in the Falklands War, and the gang fills this hole. Every part of the movie comes together well and you feel for the characters in it.

Beau Travail
My least favorite of the group, not saying it was very bad, just the least enjoyable for me. I can see why it is on the list because the cinematography and soundtrack were very well done. However, the entire story is very subtle and you get a feeling that nothing has happened when you are halfway through it. Much of this comes from the dullness of the soldiers’ post, but it was hard for me to get a feel on anyone beyond the 3 main characters.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Awesome. There is something about old-school horror movies that I really enjoy. These movies didn’t rely on huge budgets or lots of special effects to make you cringe. To me, having someone walk down a hallway, with eerie music, not knowing what is around the corner beats a person being tortured on camera any day. This is part of the reason I thought The Exorcist was not as good as Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The Exorcist used special effects, that were good at the time, but when you see them today, the same effect isn’t there.