Sunday, March 25, 2007

2007: The Year of Watching DVDs, Part X: Themeless


Welcome to the tenth weekly installment of the extremely popular and award-winning SUPERBLOG!! feature in which we watch me trying to watch all the movies on the IMDb top 250 list plus a lot of other movies. All installments.

Roman Holiday (1953)
Princess Audrey Hepburn escapes her royal duties and runs into journalist Gregory Peck who's trying to get a news story out of her running away but finds himself falling for her. Charming but inconsequential.


L.A. Confidential (1997)
Very good throughout but never really takes off. Synchronicity of the scariest fucking kind: In one scene some of the characters watch Roman Holiday. Which, you know, I watched for the first time in my life a couple of hours before I watched this one. What does that mean?


Hable con ella / Talk to Her (2002)
Girlfriend in a coma times two. So gosh-darn poignant.


The Departed (2006)
Scorsese's best in at least a decade, Nicholson's best in at least two decades. A tad overlong but pretty enthralling nonetheless. It's based on some Hong Kong shit I haven't seen but probably will see at some point time in the future if you people remind me. (Please note: I assume all movies are shit until I see them. That way I'm never disappointed.)


Sling Blade (1996)
Billy Bob Thornton as a disturbed but kind person who befriends a boy. Skillfully avoids most clichés. Also, it made me realize John Ritter actually was a pretty great actor.


Children of Men (2006)
Dystopian science fiction in which everyman Clive Owen defends a pregnant African against overwhelming forces. Super-impressive set design and cinematography. I may not like long movies but I really like the long takes. Unsubtly told story; the first half hour is one big info dumb after another.


Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Jazzy courtroom drama directed by Mr Freeze. James Stewart plays a witty lawyer, Lee Remick plays a slut, George C Scott plays his own cool self.


House, M.D. Season 1 (2004) (22 eps)
Dr House is the coolest TV physician since Dr Cox. Almost all episodes in the first half of the season are very similar, and then it starts to develop soapish tendencies. I was concerned that it jumped the shark as early as at episode 15 (contrived Mafia story) but it seems to have recovered. There's still a real possibility that it may turn out crap if House mellows further. He's definitely less of an asshole than he was at the start and "humanizing" him could be a mistake. By the way, I have a couple of questions I would like to have answered immediately. Question #1: Why are they constantly breaking into people's houses? Do doctors do that nowadays? Question #2: How many patients will Dr House almost kill before he realizes that his first diagnosis - and prescribed treatment - is always wrong? I'm thinking, just about one in every episode.


Small Time Crooks
Something by Woody Allen.


Superman Returns (2006) (repeat)
The 1978 Superman is one of my 17 favorite movies of all time. Which may well be a requisite for enjoying this one. There's certainly a few (smallish) flaws. Flaw #1: Kate Bosworth's age. She can't have been much more than 12 years old when Cyclops started screwing her. Flaw #2: Brandon Routh looks a lot like Christopher Reeve but he isn't Christopher Reeve. Still, Spacey is excellent as a slightly more sinister Gene Hackman, and Parker Posey and most of the rest of the cast is very good.


Patton (1970)
World War II Alert! George C Scott stars as unstable super-general George S Patton Jr. Apparently this was one of Nixon's favorite films and Oliver Stone is convinced it led "directly" to the bombing of Cambodia. It deserves at least four Keatons but I'll give it three in case Oliver is correct because wouldn't that be horrible?!?.


The Ladykillers (2004)
Haven't seen the original (but I probably will next week, now that I think about it). This is a remake by the Coen Brothers. Slight but amusing. Tom Hanks should get an Oscar. No, wait. He already has too many. Give it to JK Simmons instead.


The Aviator (2004)
Scorsese's biopic about Howard Hughes. I'd have a lot more to say about it if I wasn't tired about writing about movies so I'll see you next week or probably before that but not with a movie update.




Twofifty update: 218

7 comments:

Scott said...

I must say that was boring

Somebodyiusedtoknow said...

I know! Scott never says anything nice. And when he says something mean, it's not even funny.

I don't like you Scott. Now THAT is funny.

KM, have you ever seen Blade Runner? I wonder if it's on your list. It's one of my all-time favorite movies.

Scott said...

I get it from KM

Koala Mentala said...

Goo: Nah, I'm sorry I insulted Scotty. I should be more like Jesus and take Scotty's abuse with good humor and dignity.

I've seen Blade Runner a bunch of times. And I've read like twenty PKD novels. Yes, I'm a Dickhead.

Scott said...

I am so sorry superblah, I did not mean to hurt your feeling. I know I will pay you a tribute on my blog to make up for it!

Afe said...

I happen to enjoy your film reviews, Koala boy. Therefore Scott is gay.

Koala Mentala said...

I love you for enjoying my reviews, Afe! (In the platonic sense, not the gay sense.)