It all started last Saturday when I returned to Boston after a wonderful Christmas. I went online to catch up on the internet and stopped over at Netflix to see what movie would be coming next. To my great dismay, I saw that a large number of movies in my watch instantly queue would be expiring on the first of the year. This left me with no choice, I must watch them now. On Sunday the work began. Five days later, I had streamed 12 movies from Netflix. In addition, I watched two movies the old fashioned way. I then went home for the weekend and watched two more movies on Saturday. Seven days, 16 movies, let’s get started.
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.