Another movie catch-up post
Sep. 15th, 2011 04:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cwfilmbuffIn honor of my 31st birthday, I'm actually catching up on my 2011 movie list:
Movie 80: Toy Story 2
Technically Audrey watched this while I installed lighting fixtures, but I kept finding myself getting sucked in.
Movie 81: Alice in Wonderland
The animated classic, not whatever it was Tim Burton put out last year. Still fun to watch, even if the borders that were added for 16:9 TVs are a little distracting.
Movies 82-86: Pixar Shorts
We watched Knick-Knack, For the Birds, Boundin', Lifted, and Mater and the Ghost Light. I'd seen them all before, but they're all very rewatchable.
Movie 87: The Ballad of Nessie
Cute short narrated by Billy Connolly about the formation of Loch Ness by its resident monster. Apparently mini-golf and rubber duckies were involved. This one played before...
Movie 88: Winnie the Pooh
While it was a little weird hearing voices that didn't quite match the characters I grew up with, the performances were all very well-done (especially Craig Ferguson and Bud Lucky), and it was refreshing to see the care that was taken to maintain the animation style of the classic Disney Pooh films. The story is thin, but it fits the characters and works with the short runtime.
Movie 89: Another Earth
The science in this movie is as absurd as anything Roland Emmerich ever dreamed up, but it works because the sci-fi element is only a backdrop to drive the character interaction. What results is a compelling take on grief and personal responsibility that just happens to involve a second Earth appearing in the sky. It's also one of the best movies I've seen this year.
Movie 89: Monty Python and the Holy Grail
I've lost track of how many times I've seen this, but watching it outdoors in a Boulder parking lot, following the first episode of a web series I've been working on as cinematographer, was a new and enjoyable experience.
Movie 91: Attack the Block
When a movie opens with a mugging you don't expect to find yourself rooting for the muggers, but the movie is so well written and executed that it works. I don't remember the last time I had this much fun in a movie theater. If you have the chance to see it, do yourself a favor and go.
Movie 92: My Neighbor Totoro
Sharing great movies with my daughter is one of my favorite parts of fatherhood. I love that at not-quite-three (when we watched this) she's able to follow the story, grasp what the characters are going through, and react to the emotional beats. Miyazaki doesn't go out of his way to spell things out just because it's a movie for kids, and it's still perfectly accessible to a toddler. Other filmmakers aiming at younger audiences could learn a lot from that.
Movie 93: Super High Me
I don't usually care for marijuana-based comedy, but I like Doug Benson enough that I was willing to give this a try. It has its entertaining moments, but in the end doesn't quite work as a documentary.
Movie 94: Love and Other Drugs
There's about an hour of good movie here; unfortunately the runtime is twice that. The biggest flaw is that once the two main conflicts driving the action early in the movie are resolved, they have to stretch to find new ways to move the plot along, most of which don't work.
Movie 95: Happy-Go-Lucky
It's far from being Mike Leigh's best work, but Sally Hawkins makes the otherwise weak story entertaining with her performance. I just wish her character had been in a more interesting movie.
Movie 96: The Hit
The cast alone (Terrence Stamp, John Hurt, and Tim Roth, with Jim Broadbent in a small role) was enough to make me want to see this. The fact that it's a great take on hit man movie cliches is icing on the cake. Stamp's zen attitude toward his impending death is almost as enjoyable enough to watch as Hurt and Roth's confusion over whether he's really this calm about being taken to his death or if he's up to something they (and we as the audience) can't see.
Movie 80: Toy Story 2
Technically Audrey watched this while I installed lighting fixtures, but I kept finding myself getting sucked in.
Movie 81: Alice in Wonderland
The animated classic, not whatever it was Tim Burton put out last year. Still fun to watch, even if the borders that were added for 16:9 TVs are a little distracting.
Movies 82-86: Pixar Shorts
We watched Knick-Knack, For the Birds, Boundin', Lifted, and Mater and the Ghost Light. I'd seen them all before, but they're all very rewatchable.
Movie 87: The Ballad of Nessie
Cute short narrated by Billy Connolly about the formation of Loch Ness by its resident monster. Apparently mini-golf and rubber duckies were involved. This one played before...
Movie 88: Winnie the Pooh
While it was a little weird hearing voices that didn't quite match the characters I grew up with, the performances were all very well-done (especially Craig Ferguson and Bud Lucky), and it was refreshing to see the care that was taken to maintain the animation style of the classic Disney Pooh films. The story is thin, but it fits the characters and works with the short runtime.
Movie 89: Another Earth
The science in this movie is as absurd as anything Roland Emmerich ever dreamed up, but it works because the sci-fi element is only a backdrop to drive the character interaction. What results is a compelling take on grief and personal responsibility that just happens to involve a second Earth appearing in the sky. It's also one of the best movies I've seen this year.
Movie 89: Monty Python and the Holy Grail
I've lost track of how many times I've seen this, but watching it outdoors in a Boulder parking lot, following the first episode of a web series I've been working on as cinematographer, was a new and enjoyable experience.
Movie 91: Attack the Block
When a movie opens with a mugging you don't expect to find yourself rooting for the muggers, but the movie is so well written and executed that it works. I don't remember the last time I had this much fun in a movie theater. If you have the chance to see it, do yourself a favor and go.
Movie 92: My Neighbor Totoro
Sharing great movies with my daughter is one of my favorite parts of fatherhood. I love that at not-quite-three (when we watched this) she's able to follow the story, grasp what the characters are going through, and react to the emotional beats. Miyazaki doesn't go out of his way to spell things out just because it's a movie for kids, and it's still perfectly accessible to a toddler. Other filmmakers aiming at younger audiences could learn a lot from that.
Movie 93: Super High Me
I don't usually care for marijuana-based comedy, but I like Doug Benson enough that I was willing to give this a try. It has its entertaining moments, but in the end doesn't quite work as a documentary.
Movie 94: Love and Other Drugs
There's about an hour of good movie here; unfortunately the runtime is twice that. The biggest flaw is that once the two main conflicts driving the action early in the movie are resolved, they have to stretch to find new ways to move the plot along, most of which don't work.
Movie 95: Happy-Go-Lucky
It's far from being Mike Leigh's best work, but Sally Hawkins makes the otherwise weak story entertaining with her performance. I just wish her character had been in a more interesting movie.
Movie 96: The Hit
The cast alone (Terrence Stamp, John Hurt, and Tim Roth, with Jim Broadbent in a small role) was enough to make me want to see this. The fact that it's a great take on hit man movie cliches is icing on the cake. Stamp's zen attitude toward his impending death is almost as enjoyable enough to watch as Hurt and Roth's confusion over whether he's really this calm about being taken to his death or if he's up to something they (and we as the audience) can't see.
