The Year of Watching DVDs, Part 29: Licking the Pigs

I watched the entire IMDb top 250 list and now I'm watching everything else. All reviews so far.

Here are some things I saw some time ago (months ago, maybe? I can't remember):

Hollywood Ending (2002)
By and starring Woody Allen as an ailing film director. Co-starring Uncle Sammy's favorite actress, the ravishing Téa Leoni!


Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (2005)
Witty dialogue and fun characters - at times super-entertaining but it doesn't hold up all the way. Empty calories.


Knocked Up (2006)
Likable Judd Apatow comedy.


Los Olvidados (1950)
Luis Buñuel thingie about an incredibly stupid boy who deserves what he gets. Watched it mostly because it popped into the IMDb top 250 list for awhile.


Ratatouille (2007)
Animated feature by Brad Bird about a rat who cooks. Popped into the IMDb list.


Wedding Belles (2007)
TV movie co-written by Irvine Welsh, one of my favorite contemporary writers.


The Stepford Wives (1975)
The original. I wrote about the remake in Part 25.


The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) (repeat)
The 39 Steps (1935) (repeat)
Sabotage (1936) (repeat)
Secret Agent (1937) (repeat)
Young and Innocent (1937) (repeat)
The Lady Vanishes (1938) (repeat)
Jamaica Inn (1939) (repeat)
English Hitchcock. Best of these: 39 Steps, Lady Vanishes. Worst: historical action/drama/thriller Jamaica Inn. Weirdest: spy comedy/drama Secret Agent.
Michael Keaton ratings: Between and


Fear and Desire (1953)
Kubrick's first and crappiest feature film (suppressed).


The Ring (2002)
The US remake starring Naomi Watts.


Identity (2003) (repeat)
Can't remember if i wrote about this the last time I saw it. Did I? There are some interesting things to discuss about this film, so it's a shame I don't feel like doing that today.


Undeclared (2001-2002) (17 episodes)
Judd Apatow's follow-up to Freaks and Geeks, with some of the same actors (including Seth Rogen who stars in Knocked Up which I think I mentioned just a few paragraphs above but I can't be sure because my memory is not what it used to be and I absolutely refuse to scroll up). Yeah. Not as good as F&G, but still pretty entertaining. 22 minute sitcom format (no laugh track, though).


Village of the Damned (1995)
Pre-paralysis Christopher Reeve and pre-fatso Kirstie Alley in John Carpenter's remake of the 1960 classic, based on John Wyndham's The Midwich Cuckoos. Not as bad as could be expected. Actually pretty decent.


Karen Sisco (2003) (7 episodes)
I had to download this TV series because it stars SUPERBLOG!! favorite Carla Gugino. (Unfortunately I only found 7 of the 10 episodes online.) It's nothing special, though. Okayish.


Persona (1966)
Bergman angst. Weird fucker of a film, with Liv Ullmann as a mute actress and Bibi Andersson as her nurse. Pretty cool but I'd like to watch it again to properly absorb it. Obvious influence on Mulholland Drive, one of my all-time favorite movies. Popped into the IMDb list.

Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983) (repeat)
The Ring Two (2005)
Cry-Baby (1990) (repeat)
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) (repeat)
Janghwa, Hongryeon / A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)
I have nothing to say about any of these.


Hey Baberiba (2005)
Best-of collection of the first season of a popular Swedish TV series. Most of it sucks, but the "docu-soap" segments about the Royal family are pretty inspired and nicely done.


I manegen med Glenn Killing (1992) (7 episodes)
Not good.


Torsk på Tallinn (1999) (repeat)
Much better.


Jabberwocky (1977)
By Terry Gilliam. Surprisingly dull.


Where the Truth Lies (2005)
Alison Lohman in anticlimactic thriller. I think it could have been very good in another universe.


Boogie Nights (1997) (repeat)
City of God / Cidade de Deus (2002) (repeat)
Very good. In this universe.


Next time: Longer and better-written reviews, I hope.