Let the water flow...

If you've ever wanted to read an article discussing the theme of baptism in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" then you're in luck.
I would love to hear your comments and thoughts!

January Movies

So February's almost done and I haven't posted  January's movies yet. Oy. My excuse is that we all got sidelined with a nasty stomach virus, but that only lasted a week from first symptom to feeling completely normal, so don't ask me what my excuse is for the other 3 weeks. Totally watched them though, 2 B&W and 2 color (and one extra). For those of you that followed along at all with last year's NYR to watch 2 films per month, this year it's been upped to 4. I'm trying very hard to review the films and give my reactions to them without giving away major plot points or spoilers. If I liked a film, my intention is to make you want to go see it while avoiding discussing enough of the movie that it makes you feel like you've already seen it. Okay? Okay.

Sylvia Scarlett (1935, George Cukor) was a little odd. I recorded it off TCM and Robert Osbourne's intro said that it wasn't well received because audiences were on some sort of Katherine Hepburn boycott. Nothing she did could make her more liked, which from what I've heard about her, might not have phased her all that much. The movie itself apparently bombed. I thought it was cute and flowed well, had an odd chunk in the middle that seemed to take a weird turn, but it evened itself out at the end to resolve nicely. It was fun to see Katherine go from girl to boy to girl, she's one of my favorite actresses and she pulled it off marvelously. A tad annoying in the very beginning because it seemed like she was trying too hard to be girly girl, but that could just be me knowing how girly Katherine herself is not. Was not. Sorry. This was the first film that Katherine and Cary Grant appeared in together, they went on to star in 3 more, including one of my all time favorites "Holiday". If you haven't seen it, go find it. Excellent film, I love it to pieces. Sharp comedy, snappy dialogue, nice solid story with a purpose and a good ending. Totally getting sidetracked, I know. I probably won't watch this one again, but I mostly enjoyed it and didn't feel like I wasted my time when the film was done.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011, Rob Marshall). Um, wow. Can I just say that they have officially franchised the snot out of this series? Oh, and I don't blame Keira and Orlando for not coming back, but that left a huge cliffhanger on what was the best (for me) plotline of the whole story! Not that I don't enjoy seeing Johnny Depp act all crazy-go-nuts or a pregnant Penelope Cruz attempt to look like a pirate's daughter, but enough is enough. Hands down, best part of the film was the relationship between the mermaid and the preacher. Hands down. They could have pretty much cut the rest of the film down to just those scenes and I would have been happy.  I would have had a 45 minute film, but I would have been happy! (just found out from Bogie that they're making 5 and 6. Apparently there is still some snot left to franchise out of the series. maybe they'll get Keira and Orlando to come back for a couple scenes! I like it when stories are resolved.)

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011, Joe Johnston). I am a giant sucker for comic book movies. I just am. They might suck (coughcoughcatwomancoughcough), but I'll watch them all the way through anyway. This one did not suck. I loved it. I haven't the faintest idea how they made him look so puny in the beginning, but it was well done and made his changes (biceps the size of my head, holy smokes) appear that much more impressive. I can't really talk about much else without giving plot points away. It was slightly cheesy (yet necessary for a comic movie), partly funny, sometimes sad and sometimes clever film that one would expect from the guys who write for comic books and the man who directed "The Rocketeer" (another of my favorites, go get that one too! Jennifer Connelly in a white silk dress that I would gladly steal, come on!)

The Help (2011, Tate Taylor). Whoa. I am completely in agreement for everything this got nominated for. Well written, well acted, beautiful scenery, it was very well done. I have no problem liking a film that Bogie doesn't like, because we each have our own tastes, but when we both like a film you KNOW it's good. Go watch it. Find it somewhere, watch it, and then watch the Oscars to see what it wins, because it's going to win something!





Jailhouse Rock (1957, Richard Thorpe) was fun! I've watched several Elvis films but hadn't seen this one somehow. The storyline was a bit cheesy, but I let it slide because hey, it's the 50's. I was sad to read that the woman who plays Peggy died in a car accident several days after shooting wrapped. She never got to see the premiere, and Elvis refused to watch the film. I also read (thanks, IMDb) that the songwriters were locked in their hotel room by their music publisher because they were under deadline, they came up with "Treat Me Nice", "You're So Square", "I Want to be Free" and of course "Jailhouse Rock" in 5 hours! Amazing what a little motivation can do, huh? I wonder if they got room service in those 5 hours, I find it hard to be civil when I'm hungry, much less write songs. If you're an Elvis fan (or a fan of his songs) and you have a couple hours to kill, watch it!

the Resolution to my Resolutions

January- 10 months, and 2.5 years

Happy New Year!

February- Eating mulch.

In the words of my husband, "I think 2012 is going to be our year. Hopefully we don't all die." It was a pretty rough year for us, no lie. January was spent packing our things because my layoff meant we could no longer afford our rent, so we moved in with my in-laws. In March we celebrated the Little Man's First Birthday, June was ZaZa's 3rd Birthday. In July, D broke his left tibia (he lost his balance and sat on it oddly), September saw us with a not-quite-3-day power outage thanks to Tropical Storm Lee that pounded the East Coast. October was a fun month with both my and Bogie's birthdays and a BBQ at my Uncle's house. The end of October saw a several inch snowstorm, and a few weeks later into November it was up in the 60's. We had a lovely Christmas in December and were blessed financially by several different sources. My job search continues and we are now searching everywhere, if the job pays enough to warrant a move, then we'll go there. So if ya'll want us to stick around, pray somebody in the Lancaster area gives me a job or we could potentially move halfway across the country!

March- D turns 1!

In other news, last January I made 3 resolutions and 1 long-term goal. I'm happy to report I'm 2 for 3 on resolutions and underway on the long-term goal.

Resolution #1: To watch 2 films (1 color, 1 B&W) every month that I'd never seen before.
Result: I watched 42 films that I had never seen before, averaging 2 per month minimum until the last couple months where the count steadily increased until I hit 11 films in December. Yowza. I had a ball doing this and I'm going to do it again this year, with some changes.

May- outside bubbles!

Resolution #2: Lose the baby weight.

April- helping out.

Result: This one is a work in progress, but it is progressing! Last I checked (which was several weeks ago) I was down 13 pounds (we started mid-November) and several inches off various limbs. (I should add that although my weight loss has stalled the past few weeks, I'm on a supplement per Doctor's orders that makes me retain water. If you're trying to lose weight, make sure you take your measurements too and not just weigh yourself, as muscle weighs more than fat. The scale may not always change but you might still be losing inches, so measure yourself because you need all the encouragement you can get!) With that being said, these results are only the outcome of a diet change, I have not exercised at all yet. We're still on our diet and going strong, and once I add in some exercises I think it'll make a big difference. Just the diet alone has really helped because we cut out all of the junk and then some. No sugar, no dairy, no flour, no

June- 3rd birthday in SC

August- Mom's day off

July- Little Brother breaks his leg.

calories via drink (water, tea, and black coffee only) and lots of veggies and proteins. It's not the most interesting diet, but we always eat the same things over and over again anyway so we're just transferring from junky food to healthy  food! Plus, we get 1 cheat day a week and that has really helped us psychologically stay on this diet. 1 day a week we get whatever we want to eat & drink, and we're actually at the point where we avoid certain foods on cheat day anyway because they just make us feel too gross. If you're interested in what diet we're doing, go here. We have the book but we're nowhere near doing everything in it, we've really only made it to basic SCD foods so far.

October- family BBQ

September- Tropical Storm Lee.

Resolution #3: Complete my list of films that I've watched.

November- snowstorm

Result: Failure. I totally forgot all about this one until the day after Christmas. I briefly considered pulling a book-scanning/Excel typing marathon and then decided against it. I will be adding it to this year's list, though, because I do want to get my list up to date before I start adding to it again.

Long-Term Goal: Read through the New York Times' List of 100 Best Novels.

December-decorations

Result: We are on book #2. or rather Bogie is, I'm done and ready to start book #3. We randomized the list to remove any bias based on NYT's opinion. I don't care what book they think is #1, I want to read something with a clean mind and be able to form my own opinions without influence. Our first book was Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse 5" which...I dunno, I'm still forming an opinion on that one. Not my favorite anytime soon, but I enjoyed it more than Joyce's "Portrait of an artist as a young man". I won't say any more since Bogie's not done with it, but man...how'd that book get so high on the list??

December- Christmas tree!

That's the outcome of my 3 resolutions from 2011, and my new resolutions from 2012 are to continue with all of the above! I'll add a fourth resolution: get a job. And I'm thinking about adding 2 movies to my movie list because I can easily watch 4 a month. Watch 2 B&W and 2 color movies per month that I've never seen, finish my movies watched list, continue to get healthy and fit, and get a job! Bogie and I set up a schedule/calendar for ourselves so that we will be more disciplined with our time, so we have a set time every week that we have to read for at least 30 minutes, no excuses. I think we'll be reading a lot more than that, but it's nice to know that we have a time set aside for it. It's like restricting ourselves to scheduling a time for it has given us the freedom to do it whenever we want. A paradox to be sure, but it works!

I wish a happy New Year for each and every one of you, I know that 2011 was a very hard year for many of us. Even if my personal circumstances are no more improved this year, I resolve not to let my circumstances determine my moods/emotions. I will choose joy! And if I don't, I have two beautiful little people that get ecstatic over cars and balloons, so it's kind of hard not to!

November Movies

So we're halfway through December and I'm just now posting November's movies. I blame Pinterest. It sucks you in, I tell you! Although it has given me several good ideas for crafts, two of which I've already tried (more on that later). Anyway, movies! I did 5 this month, the 2 that were specifically on my list were Miracle on 34th Street and The Blues Brothers. There are still quite a few movies that I haven't gotten to yet, which means either A) Imma watch a whole lotta movies this month or B) I'm not going to get to them all. Since it's a week before Christmas and not only have I not shopped for stocking stuffers but I also have a toddler and a preschooler, my money's on B. And without further ado, the ones I managed to view:

A Serious Man (2009, Coen Brothers). I think this one hit home a little too much for me to sincerely like it. Loosely based on the story of Job, the main character's wife wants a divorce at the beginning of the film, and then everything goes wrong for the poor guy from then on. Considering we're on quite the unlucky streak ourselves right now, I found myself getting irritated with the man because he wouldn't just speak up for himself or stand his ground. I love the Coen Brothers (Oh, Brother Where Art Thou?) and it was a very well done film, but I just couldn't get into it.

Gnomeo & Juliet (2011, Kelly Asbury). Cute, predictable but amusing, not safe for small children if you don't want them learning quasi-swear words or seeing an elderly gnome in a man thong. Some seriously funny parts if you're paying attention, but mostly standard animated fare geared towards the 10-14 crowd. It's worth mentioning that James McAvoy has a voice like buttered velvet. That is all.

Sleepers (1996, Barry Levinson) This film was on my "watch eventually" list because way back in the day I had a semi-crush on Brad Renfro (Tom & Huck) and I read somewhere that he played the younger version of Brad Pitt's character. I also read that he had to wear blue contacts to do it, since he's naturally brown-eyed. Or was. Poor guy died the week before Heath Ledger and nobody noticed, cared, or even put him in the stinking slide show at the Oscars. Shame on you, Academy! Moving on. I didn't know what to expect of this film, and had I known I might not have watched it, but it was very well done and I'm glad I can check it off my list.

Miracle on 34th Street (1947, George Seaton) With all of the black and white movies that we watched growing up, and with how much I love Maureen O'Hara (redheads unite!) I haven't the faintest idea how this one escaped me all these years. I needed a B&W to fulfill my NYR for this month, and I thought I'd start things off with a little Christmas Spirit. Plus, Natalie Wood as a cute little tyke! Awww. Macy's hires a department store Santa for their parade, but lo and behold he claims to be the real Santa and many adventures in misbelief vs trust ensue. There's also a fake psychiatrist and a handsome laywer, and a lovely ending that has you pondering a visit to Macy's to get one of your own wishes fulfilled.

The Blues Brothers (1980, John Landis). This one has been on my list for a very long time, and I have no idea why I've never seen it. Honestly, I wish I'd seen it sooner because besides the catchy blues tunes, I was kinda bored. Well, the catchy blues and Carrie Fisher wielding heavy artillery with perfectly manicured nails. Perhaps if I'd seen it when I was younger and it was still relatively new, I would appreciate the humor and plot points more. I did enjoy it though, and holy young Dan Aykroyd, Batman! I almost didn't recognize him, at first. "It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark...and we're wearing sunglasses. Hit it."

December Movies

Final Month of my 2011 resolution! I've gone to type this 3 times now, looked at the number of movies on the list and gotten overwhelmed and shut the window again. I watched 11 movies this month. Eleven! I guess I wanted to end with a grand finale. My 2 NYR films were Ghost and Shadow of the Thin Man. I then watched 9 more for the fun of it! Thor, Hellboy, The Adjustment Bureau, Once Upon a Christmas, It's a Wonderful World, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Supersize Me, Warrior, and Morning Glory. Ready?  Go!

Ghost (1990, Jerry Zucker). I've seen bits and pieces of this since it came out, (the penny scene, for one) but never the whole thing (which is why it was on my list). I enjoyed it, I liked seeing how all the pieces I'd already seen fit together, and Whoopi was hilarious. Not gonna lie, the dark-shapes-dragging-bad-men-to-hell was freaky, no special effects needed there to get the point across! Bonus: now I know what scene was being spoofed in Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death! See, this is why I'm doing this in the first place, so I get all those references! Yay.


Shadow of the Thin Man (1941, W.S. Van Dyke) This was the last Thin Man film in the series that I had yet to see. (I thought the last one, Thin Man Goes Home, was on my list too but about 15 minutes into it I realized I had indeed seen it. I watched it anyway because hey, William Powell!) This particular one dealt with murder at a horse-racing track and the ensuing adventures thereafter. In my opinion, not as good as some of the previous ones but still amusing in its own right. The first Thin Man is still my favorite: "If this rampage of respectability keeps up, we'll have to get you a bullet-proof girdle!"

Thor (2011, Kenneth Branagh). I've been wanting to see this since I saw the previews, mostly because I love anything Natalie Portman's in and I'm a sucker for a good superhero movie. The storyline could have used some beefing up, the effects were good but the film as a whole kind of lacked the knockout punch to make it a really great film. I loved that Branagh brought his Shakespearean background to the dialogue, it made for some interesting depth with the immortal characters' speech. The scene (spoiler alert!) where Odin kicks out Thor was pretty emotional, a very lifelike father-son moment and I thought it was very well done. I wanted more character development for Thor, though, they made him go from "banished spoiled boy" to "self-sacrificing hero" a little too fast without enough development between. When he can't retrieve his own hammer, he's clearly upset, and Loki's lies that his father is dead and he can never come back obviously impact him, but in the breakfast scene he nonchalantly serves everyone else breakfast like he knows what he's doing. He's a god, for crying out loud, he wouldn't have the first clue how to do that no matter how depressed he is about his father's supposed death. They should have expanded the scene a bit to show him realizing that he's lost his power, his family, and his life as he knew it, (facial expressions, people! they work!) and maybe he's sitting there waiting to be served (like he has his entire life) and he realizes then that he doesn't deserve to be waited on, and maybe he takes the dishes from Darcy. Yeah, they should have made a slightly bigger deal about him taking the dishes from Darcy. Or perhaps included another scene that shows him realizing (and not just talking about) how horribly he's behaved to get himself to this point. The story line between Thor and Jane, though? Oh my word, so cute. I LOVE that he kisses her hand. And "I'll be back for you, I swear it"......swoon.

Hellboy (2004, Guillermo Del Toro) was pretty much exactly what I expected. Cheesy one-liners, decent special effects, an okay film. Nothing super special but not terrible, plus it had a cute love story between Hellboy and Selma Blair's character. Bogie informed me there was a sequel, I'll probably watch it to see where the story line goes.

The Adjustment Bureau (2011, George Nolfi) had in interesting premise, but it didn't live up to its own potential. Don't get me wrong, the acting was good, the plot was good, everything worked well but it just didn't wow me. The concept of an "adjustment bureau" being in existence is quite intriguing and makes for an interesting topic of conversation, but the film couldn't decide if it wanted to be a sci-fi or a romantic movie. And it couldn't manage to be both. Bonus for Anthony Mackie, though, he's one of my husband's favorite character actors and we were both pleased to see him in this film. Yay for being a good guy! I did like the fact that the movie drove home the point that you always have a choice, regardless of who is telling you what you can and cannot do. You make your own choices.

Once Upon a Christmas (2000, Tibor Takacs). My excuse is that it was December...had to watch at least one cheesy Hallmark movie, right? This one was a bit of a there's-an-hour-and-a-half-I'll-never-get-back. Okay, not a bit. A lot. The Santa's Daughter theme has been pretty overdone, but then you toss in the "saving christmas" plotline and pair it with Santa's oldest daughter is evil (how could she not be with a name like Rudolfa? poor girl) and you have Christmas Cheese to the Nth degree. The acting was meh, I believed I've already mentioned what I think of the plot, and since when is the tooth-fairy a lisping flamboyant cross-dresser? You only wish I was making that up. I cleansed my eyes & brain with White Christmas. And then followed up with A Charlie Brown Christmas. Ahhhh, that's better.

It's a Wonderful World (1939, W.S. Van Dyke) was amusing, standard 30's-40's fare. Jimmy Stewart and Claudette Colbert are thrown together in the midst of a murder-mystery. He's a lawyer for a framed man, she's a poet in the wrong place at the wrong time. There are mistaken identities, disguises, boy scouts, a play, fake accents, and even a Happily Ever After. Predictable but cute.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011, Michael Bay). Let's see...it wasn't as bad as the second one? I figured out why these movies bug me so much (besides the standard Michael Bay Explosions-Are-Way-Better-Than-Actual-Acting). If you know me, you know that I love to watch cheesy sci-fi movies (and if you didn't, now you do!) We're talking the really bad ones, with horrible acting, terrible jokes, cheesy punchlines and laughable special effects. The Transformers movies are exactly that: Terrible B movies with first rate CGI/special effects. Don't get me wrong, I love special effects as much as any movie buff, but they should never EVER (take notes, Bay!) take the place of actual acting and a decent screenplay. They should be a side dish meant to compliment and enhance, not replace the main course. I did find it quite fascinating that everyone got incredibly dirty and bloody except the hot blonde in white. Now that's talent! I was also quite grateful that there were no humping 'bots, or 'bot balls, but slightly less terrible than atrocious still doesn't make a good film.

Super Size Me (2004, Morgan Spurlock). I'd seen bits and pieces of this, and knew the premise but I was still surprised by how quickly he got run down/overweight/sick. I mean everybody knows that fast food isn't good for you, but THAT bad? What in the world do you have to do to food to make eating it hazardous to your health?? The only part that really shocked me was the addiction and depression he experienced. Again, what crap do you have to put in food to make it alter not only your body but your mind? I know he focused on McDonald's, but it goes for pretty much any fast food place. Bogie and I were (and still are) on a diet at the time we watched this, but if we were eating any junk food this film would have been enough to make me quit it for good! Yuck. I think my favorite part was the school for troubled kids that changed their entire menu to fresh whole foods and saw a huge change in all the kids just from changing their diet! I think our diets play a much bigger part on our health that we realize, as evidenced by the change (good and bad) in mental states depending on what is being eaten. I can personally attest to this as we experimented with D-man's diet (to resolve some tummy issues) by taking him off gluten for a week. After 4 days his gut issues resolved, proving it was a gluten sensitivity, but what really shocked me was the change in personality/attitude. He wasn't super grumpy before and we frequently described him as laid back and chill, but once he was off gluten he was much less grumpy and waaaaaaay more feisty and talkative. He's spouting out words left and right, running all over the place, much more alert, has lots more attitude (which occasionally earns him a time-out) and is standing up to his sister more. It's not that he wasn't talking or standing up for himself before, but he's doing it so much more now it's amazing. He's so much happier now and since we had nothing else to compare it to we just didn't know how much better it could get! Moral of the story: cut some crap out of your diet and see what improves!

Warrior (2011, Gavin O'Connor). Fighting isn't really my thing, which might explain why I haven't watched Rocky yet (so much sweat and slow motion....), but I enjoyed this film. There were several factors (including the ending) that kept it from being exceptional, but overall it was well filmed, well acted, and well executed. They went for the fairytale ending instead of the realistic ending, which could have had just as much of an impact, and it seemed to end too abruptly with no follow-through on some of the story lines. I was irritated with how it ended, but after thinking about the ending for a while I decided it was better not to do the follow-through, it made for a better ending by being left open.

Morning Glory (2010, Roger Michell). This was a cute little film with an uncommon plot. Rachel McAdams' character, Becky Fuller, was pushed in our faces a little too much (as Bogie put it, "okay, we get it, she's spastic") but it fit with the story. The story of keeping a struggling TV show on the air definitely kept my interest, and once the film got going I was easily engrossed. Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton were fun to watch, especially when their characters started fighting with each other. Becky's personal life seemed a little out of place because the story didn't do much by way of developing her character except for the spazziness. If they had delved into her character a bit more and eased up on the ditzy energetic bit, the film would have been excellent.

And there you have it! 11 films for December brings my grand total of viewed-for-the-first-time films for 2011 to 42! I loved this resolution for several reasons, it was enjoyable, realistic, and I got to watch movies! I think I'm going to do it again for 2012, but I'll discuss this next year's resolutions in another post.
Star Trek, King Kong, Tangled, and Thor are my favorite films out of the 42. King Kong is just classic, Star Trek and Thor were great (fun fact: Chris Hemsworth, who plays Thor, also played Kirk's father in Star Trek. They did a great job of choosing actors who looked alike, because he and Chris Pine could definitely be related!) and Tangled was oh-my-word-so-cute. I have some of the songs saved onto a Pandora station, and I might have DVRd it just so I could rewatch the lantern scene.

I hope you enjoyed reading my reviews, let me know which films you've seen and which were your favorites! Did I inspire you to watch any films that you normally wouldn't have?

October Movies

Wow, so this is super late. Not that it really matters to the 3 of you that read this, but still.
I watched 5 movies this month, 3 of which were on my list. Paranormal Activity, Paranormal Activity 2, Pretty in Pink, Another Thin Man, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Pretty in Pink (1986, Howard Deutch) was one of those 80's movies that I just missed seeing. I really enjoyed watching it, although I'm pretty sure if I had watched it back when I was still in high school it would have had much more of an emotional impact. I honestly wasn't sure which guy she was going to pick at the end, I was rooting for Ducky because he's just so adorable and protective of her, but I was also rooting for Blane because hey, why should money keep them apart? It was well done, albiet typically Eighties, and I loved that she made her own prom dress by upcycling 2 other dresses. rad.

Another Thin Man (1939, W.S. Van Dyke) is one of the films in the Thin Man series, which is one of my favorite series of all time. How can you not love William Powell and Myrna Loy? I fell in love with the first film, The Thin Man, back in my teens but I never got around to watching the whole series. Now I've seen 4 of the 6, only "Shadow of the Thin Man" and "Thin Man goes home" to go! If you haven't seen any of these films and you enjoy black and white, please watch them! They're full of snappy dialogue and smart jokes, you actually have to watch these films and pay attention to get the humor. They don't make them like this anymore. This film involves murder and intrigue, but don't they all?

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923, Wallace Worsley) has always been on my list because hey, Lon Chaney.  Plus silent films are always fun, not to mention that it's from 1923! I think my exact words were "we don't use the word 'jackanapes' enough nowadays". Having read the book I can say that this did not stick to the book's original ending, but apparently none of the films have (there are 10 so far), even the one that stuck with the original ending changed other parts of the story. I'm not sure why everyone keeps changing the story line and the ending, it's beautiful in its tragedy. No, it's not pleasant but that's what makes the impact! If you can tolerate a silent film, go ahead and watch it! It was quite amusing even from a historical standpoint. Fair warning, do not be expecting the Disney version.

Paranormal Activity 1 (2007, Oren Peli) and 2 (2010, Tod Williams) weren't planned viewing, but it was close to Halloween and Bogie said "hey, scary movies. you in?" The first film was very low-budget and became a huge smash hit. It was done very simply with a single camera, home-video style, and follows the lives of Katie & Micah in their house as they deal with what is apparently a demon haunting Katie. For the budget, the film was very well done. What it lacks in pizazz and special effects it makes up for in creepiness and potential reality. The second film is (plot-wise) a prequel to the first, and continues in the same style, this time following Katie's sister and her family. We get some more background (although it still doesn't really make sense to me, logically) about the whole haunting, and some interesting plot twists which eventually pave the way for a PA 3. Scary movie wise, if you're into that sort of thing, go ahead and watch it. From a Christian standpoint, it's pointless and only serves to needlessly cultivate fear. "You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world" 1 John 4:4


5 movies in October, I've got 2 so far for November but neither are from my list so I've got to get going on that. Anyone want to come watch some movies with me?

September Movies

This month's movies include some bonus films, and I'm having problems finding some of the films I want to watch (y'know, the "you haven't seen that yet??" ones)
My 2 films for the month were Calm Yourself (1935, directed by George B. Seitz) and Desert Flower (2009, directed by Sherry Horman).
Calm Yourself was an odd little film, not much character development and an underbaked plot. The film opens with two people kissing, and when the girl's father walks in and starts yelling we discover he (the father) is the man's boss. Kissing Man gets fired, decides to start his own business and names it (ready for this?) "Calm Yourself". His business is basically taking care of tricky little problems that other people don't want to take care of, like firing someone (his own being his inspiration for the company), pawning jewelry, or retrieving drunken husbands from bars. He takes on some cases that all eventually get intertwined with each other, and in the beginning he professes love for the girl he was kissing in the beginning (they were going to elope at one point), and by the end of the film he's kissing another girl who was actually a client's daughter and we're led to believe they're suddenly all "happily ever after". Maybe I missed a crucial character development scene when I went to keep D from getting in the trash (again), but I don't think so. Toss in some policemen, an angry Great Dane, a baby, and a costume party and that pretty much sums it up. Not horrible, but nothing great.

Waris Dirie

Desert Flower is based on the life of Waris Dirie, a famous supermodel from Somalia and now the UN spokeswoman against FGM (female genital mutilation). I first read Dirie's story in the Reader's Digest, back in the 90's when it first came out, so when Carl said he had the film I was interested in seeing it. Her story is a rather miraculous one and very inspiring (although we can't all have that marvelous bone structure).  I'm not going to go into too much detail about what she went through as far as the FGM, if you can stomach it look it up, but suffice it to say she was subjected to brutal torture at the age of 5 and endured a great amount of pain until she had corrective surgery as an adult. I will also add a warning that there is a very disturbing scene towards the end of the movie that has to do with the FGM. The film itself was fairly well done, it had some amazing cinematography shots that were breathtaking, and then there were other parts that were kind of "meh" (one scene seemed irrelevant altogether, and there were other scenes that belonged but were too short and choppy and could have used a little work.) or maybe the editor needed a little work. I can't say I recommend viewing it because it's definitely very intense in several scenes, but it's a story worth knowing on a topic that is still either taboo or unknown, and if the film raises awareness than more power to it! I had no idea that such a thing as FGM even existed, much less that anyone would actually think it was a good idea!

I had 3 bonus films this month too:
Tangled (2010, dir. N. Greno & B. Howard)- so cute! The classic story of Rapunzel revamped, with some animal sidekicks because hey, it's Disney. A couple scary scenes for little ones, but a lovely story with great animation, cute songs, and the standard Disney love story with a few twists. (and yeah, totally crushing on Zachary Levi now. dude can sing!)


The Conspirator (2010, dir. Robert Redford)- apparently there was a team of people behind Lincoln's assassination and this is the story of one woman who was put on trial for conspiracy and treason. Mary Surratt owned a boarding house that John Wilkes Booth frequented, in addition to allegedly distributing weapons and plans for Booth. I had no idea there was a team of people behind the assassination, much less that a woman was arrested as well. Interesting story, very well done film.


The Next Three Days (2010, dir. Paul Haggis), woman is arrested for murder she didn't commit (or did she?), husband decides to bust her out when they lose the appeal. Tension and drama ensue. it was okay, rather mediocre fare but decent enough that we weren't left disappointed.







I made a partial list of films that I need to see (the aforementioned "you haven't seen that yet??" ones), 4 of them I can view on Netflix watch instantly, and the rest I'm going to browse friends' and family member's DVD collections. If you have any of these, would you be willing to lend it to me? or better yet, bring it to me and watch with me? I'll make popcorn! I'll sell you Mike & Ike's and Raisinettes for $6 a box. It'll be epic.

NETFLIX
usual suspects
blues brothers

2001: a space odyssey

raging bull

Alien

Aliens

16 candles

pretty in pink

ghost

the godfather

goodfellas

silence of the lambs

psycho

apocalypse now

vertigo

bull durham

big lebowski

scarface

groundhog day

stand by me

life of brian

rocky

the truman show

August Movies

My films for August were North by Northwest (which was going to be my black and white film, but was apparently shot in color according to the credits and IMDb. Who knew?) and The Murder Man.

I was pretty excited for North by Northwest, it's one of those films that you can't quite remember if you've seen it or not because you've seen so many clips and parodies and homages that you might as well have seen it! I'm a huge Cary Grant fan, I think he did an excellent job as the lead even if it was pretty much standard Cary Grant fare. This was the second film I've seen Eva Marie Saint in (the first being On the Waterfront) and she did well. Despite the fact that he was in danger, I was actually smiling through the majority of the crop-dusting-airplane-attempting-to-run-over-Grant scene. I mean, it was so iconic, how could I not be happy to finally be seeing it in it's entirety?
My favorite shot was a scene where Grant and Saint's characters were having a discussion in a forest. The tall pines are limbless columns that stand between the characters as Grant is on the far left and Saint is on the far right. They stay that way for several minutes, conversing from afar with a forest in their way. It's a lovely shot, beautifully framed and composed. I would totally have a picture of that on the wall of our man cave/studio (y'know, in our dream house).

Since North by Northwest was in color, I had to find a different film for my black and white, and one of the ones I had DVRd was a Spencer Tracy flick called The Murder Man. It was an enjoyable film, nothing spectacular and an ending you could see coming a mile away, but it was well done and as cheerful as a murder mystery could be. Tracy is a newspaper reporter that earns the nickname "Murder Man" because he somehow manages to scoop all the other reporters on recent murders and is able to churn out well-written articles before the other reporters can phone in their news. Virginia Bruce is his friend-who-wants-to-be-more, I loved how they did her role. Her character was clearly smitten with Tracy's but she wasn't annoying or clingy and was a true friend to him when he needed one. Don't miss a very young Jimmy Stewart in his first film role! (technically second, I suppose, although the first was uncredited and a short, according to our friend IMDb)





I'm seriously considering starting to view what we'll call "Bonus" films, since I'm running out of year 2011 and still have so many to watch that I haven't seen yet. Maybe I'll bump it up to 2 color and 2 B&W, who knows.
Anyone want to come have an old-school film marathon with me?