Sunday, January 2, 2011

100 in 2010! Holiday Inn (1942)

This was a re-watch but a watch nonetheless. Sweet holiday song and dance movie with incredibly racist moments (a black face number celebrating Lincoln's birthday).

Quick 2010 Catch Up!

I haven't posted since October! It's not like I haven't seen any films in those two months--just busy busy with life and the other movie blog. So, here's a quick rundown of the last films I watched in 2010 before I start my first film of 2011:

Dance Girl Dance (1940): Interesting enough but, eh. Lucille Ball is super though.

Legion (2010): Ugh. Stay away. I love Paul Bettany but this film just isn't worth it.

Christine (1983): Maybe if I'd seen it years ago, I'd be creeped out.

Frailty (2001): Er. Yeah. Little transparent.

When in Rome (2010): Why does everyone hate romcoms all of a sudden? This one is perfectly cute and enjoyable.

Lost Boys: The Tribe (2008): Who greenlighted this project? And why did I watch it?

Drag Me to Hell (2009): Ah! Yick! Good but YICK!

The Warriors (1979): Just a TAD dated.

Tangled (2010): Brilliant.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (2010): I just wanted this to be a complete movie in and of itself and it's not.

Santa Claus (1959): Oh. My. God. Import from Mexico complete with racism, the Devil (and devils), and creepiness unlike anything in any other supposedly Christian-leaning Christmas movie I've seen.

Valhalla Rising (2009): Gorgeous. But, what?

The Proposal (2009): Seriously, why do people hate this movie? Singing? Dancing? Betty White? I laughed out loud at it.

The Bounty Hunter (2010): Ok people. THIS is a bad romcom.

The Snow Creature (1959): A pair of American botanists go to Himalayas (Japan) and are guided by Sherpas (Japanese people who speak Japanese), find a Yeti, bring it back to LA, and loose it on the city accidentally. Not as fun as it sounds.

True Grit (2010): Brilliant. But I want the girl to get higher billing rightnow.

The King's Speech (2010): Genius. I adore Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush. Helena Bonham Carter is lovely and restrained. And there's a whole scene of yelling obscenities.

Black Swan (2010): So, yeah. Not what I expected. Good but a tad misguided in it's metaphorical thread perhaps. Gorgeous in a lot of places. Hideous and cringe-worthy in others.

I also watched these (since Sept but I forget which I mentioned here) but talked about them on the other blog: Umberto D (1952), In the Year of the Pig (1952), The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), La Strada (1954), The Battle of San Pietro (1945), Trouble in Paradise (1932), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), An American in Paris (1951), Last Year in Marienbad (1961), Gandhi (1982), and White Heat (1949).

That makes for 99 films in 2010. (A few might have slipped through the cracks in the past two months because I wasn't keeping  a good list but I was also busy so I doubt many slipped through if any.)

Starting off 2011: The Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Red (2010)

I have no clue why this is getting lukewarm reviews. In what world do you give a movie in which Helen Mirren saunters around in a white fur coat with an automatic weapon, in which Bruce Willis simply steps out of a spinning car to shoot a guy, in which John Malcovich carries around a stuffed pig and accosts people, and in which Mary-Louise Parker and Morgan Freeman are utterly charming a lukewarm review?

It's a funny, amusingly action packed little love story of a movie.

The Young Victoria (2009)

My only complaint is that I would have liked the movie to have more of Victoria and Albert's relationship. I loved them together and the end was heart-wrenching so I can only imagine there was more to their love story. Beautiful movie with great acting and an interesting look at how Victoria came to be Queen.

Easy A (2010)

Fun, campy, 80s referencing, update to the teen high school drama genre. Emma Stone is cute and hilarious. The story is cute and hilarious. All in all, yep, cute and hilarious (while dealing with some very real issues of bullying, teen sex, etc.) How can I not love a movie that includes a scene combining John Cusack with the iconic boom box and Patrick Dempsey on the lawn mower?

Watchmen (2009)

I will admit that I don't think I was in the mood to watch this film but it didn't help get me in the mood either. I've not read the graphic novel and have only limited knowledge of this world. I found the movie too insular. It operated much too much within itself without explaining enough to get me involved. I was lost at 15 minutes in and basically gave up understanding what was happening and surfed the internet while J watched. Maybe I'll give it another try now that I have some base knowledge. Maybe.

I Married a Witch (1942)

I'm fairly certain that I've seen at least parts of this film before. I only remembered scenes, not the plot as a whole--but that's not usual for my memory. Anyway, this is an odd little Halloween appropriate film with Veronica Lake as a witch who at first wants to get even but falls in love with her target. A tad madcap, a tad absurd, totally watchable.