Desert Island Discs, OR: How I Spent My Winter Vacation

The bride and I just returned home from a holiday in Phoenix where we saw Roger Waters perform "The Wall" (which was amazing) and the hotel we stayed in just happened to be across the street from an AMC theatre. Because of this (and because he had no car and cabs in Phoenix are absurdly expensive) we found ourselves in the (extremely comfortable) theatre on 3 of our 5 nights away! Here are some very quick thoughts about the three films we saw. I doubt I'll bother with full reviews of any of them (especially since everyone in the universe has already reviewed the one which ended up being the best of the three).




"Tangled" - Directed by Nathan Greno & Bryon Howard

Of all the films in the Disney Princesses catalogue, this is surely the most recent. It was fine. I would have preferred traditional 2D animation, but the CG animation was fairly good (though not Pixar good) the supporting cast was more entertaining than the main characters (which is usually the case in Disney fairy tales) and the jokes were pretty funny. Ok, some of them. Quite often a good way to gauge a Disney movie is by how good the music is. This one's music falls somewhere in the middle of the hierarchy of Disney's films. Which is what I'd say about the movie as well.







"Unstoppable" - Directed by Tony Scott

I usually like Tony Scott's movies but HATE the way he shoots and edits them. This movie is no exception. It is in fact better than the majority of Scott's output, but it features his trademark kinetic camera and uber-hip music video style editing. Of all of his films this one might suit that style the best (and it's the least distracting here.) Having said that, I still found myself frustrated sometimes by the way everything spun around and cut so insanely fast. If you like Tony Scott's style it won't bother you here, if you don't like his style it will probably still bother you here. Only real complaints I have are with an unnecessary subplot involving the hero's marriage (which is very tacked on and the stakes are high enough without it) and the overuse of "news reports", once was fine, twice was ok, 4007 times was overkill. But when Tony Scott likes something (like say spinning the camera around someone and then suddenly zooming in VERY VERY fast before cutting away to blurry speed lines like a Speed Racer cartoon) then overkill is usually what he seems to aim for.



"Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part 1" - Directed by David Yates

This was my favorite of the three movies we saw and also the one about which I'll say the least. I thought Yates did an excellent job of setting the tone for the film (spoiler: It's DARK) and setting up for what I am sure will be a hell of a lot of payoff in the next. He does all this without having this film drag, which is surprising given it's 2 hr and 37 min run time. I felt it flew by! How very very lucky we are that these kids grew up to be pretty decent actors! This is definately the best Potter film in the series so far.





So that's it. I saw a few other things on HBO (we had EIGHT channels worth of HBO... it was what I imagine heaven would be like.) but they were all either things I'd seen before or things that came out a while ago so I doubt anyone wants to read about (but if you're curious what I thought of "Whip It" I thought it was alright but not nearly as good as I'd been led to believe. B- ) Tomorrow is the start of December which marks the beginning of my December marathon. I'll be posting about the films in it as I watch them. Feel free to follow along and leave your thoughts in the comments if you're so inclined.

Blind Spots Update

Earlier I posted 5 films that I was somewhat embarrassed to have never seen and I am happy to report I've since caught up with 2 of them. Federico Fellini's "8 and 1/2" and Fritz Lang's "Metropolis."

God I wish I was this cool

I have very little to say about "8 1/2" other than it was amazing I can't wait to see it again because I think there was so much incredible stuff going on that I didn't absorb a fraction of it. Also I found it very funny so I missed a lot because I was laughing. Especially the character of the mistress and all the scenes where a dozen production people are bombarding our hero with questions about the film they're making (and the launchpad for the spaceship which amused me no end.) I'm glad I finally saw it and can't wait to see it again. I encourage you if you've not seen it to do so.

There is no Metropolis, only Zuul

I had the chance to see the restored edition of "Metropolis" at the Uptown Stage and Screen with live accompaniment by the Alloy Orchestra. I absolutely loved everything about the experience (except for the fact that I couldn't finish my popcorn. I foolishly ordered the large and Stefan refused to have some.) The Alloy Orchestra was outstanding and really brought the movie to life and I was blown away with a lot of the images in the film. I would love to see some more silent films in this kind of a setting. The design of everything in the movie was incredible (and since Brazil is one of my favorite films it was very cool to see something that so clearly was a huge visual influence on Gilliam's film.) The entire second half of the movie was more exciting than any hollywood blockbuster action movie I've seen in a very long time.

December Marathon: Lust for Glory

Quite often I decide to watch a movie and can not choose which one because there are so many classic films I've always wanted to see. Then I get flummoxed and just end up watching "Stripes." WELL NO MORE! (From now on I only watch "Stripes" once a month like a NORMAL person) for I have a cunning plan. Each month I'm going to program a little marathon of movies for myself so that when I want to watch a movie I have a shorter list to choose from. Plus coming up with cool themed lists of movies is WAY awesome... plus I do it anyway. Why? Because. I'm different.

Anyway, that leads me to my list for December. There is no real "theme" for this list. The only criteria was that I couldn't have seen it before and it had to come out before 1960. Ok, the truth is there was no criteria I just noticed once I completed the list that all of them came out before 1960.


The Wizard of Oz (1939) directed by Victor Fleming
Touch of Evil (1958) directed by Orson Welles
The Great Dictator (1940) directed by Charlie Chaplin
All About Eve (1950) directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Trouble in Paradise (1932) directed by Ernst Lubitsch
Stagecoach (1939) directed by John Ford
Cat People (1942) directed by Jacques Tourneur
Anatomy of a Murder (1959) directed by Otto Preminger
Throne of Blood (1957) directed by Akira Kurosawa
12 Angry Men (1957) directed by Sidney Lumet
On The Waterfront (1954) directed by Elia Kazan
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) directed by Vincente Minelli
The Paleface (1948) directed by Norman Z. McLeod
Rope (1948) directed by Alfred Hitchcock
The Lost Weekend (1945) directed by Billy Wilder

BOOM! So that's the plan. I'll update as I knock flicks off the list.

NOTE: In the interest of full disclosure I will point out that it's actually 14 movies I've never seen and 1 which I have. However I've not seen "The Wizard of Oz" since I was a wee gaffer (that's the guy who holds the boom mic that records the urine sound effects) so I remember very little of it.