12.06.2009

Crazy Movie Lady 45

November 29- December 5, 2009
We're so close to the end I can almost taste it!  About 2.5 films to watch per day but the amount of transcription I have to do is about to go through the roof!  Yikes!  Last week of class this week!  Yay!
668. The Fugitive.  Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones, Sela Ward take this thriller about a doctor wrongly convicted of murdering his wife to awesome heights.  Very very thrilling.  I loved almost every minute.  The music right before the credits rolled was lame, though.  4.8 stars
669. Life and Debt.  Documentary about the negative effect of the International Monetary Fund & international money & banks on Jamaica's economy.  Some beautiful scenery in contrast to the hardship.  I can see people liking this film as a sort of privileged guilt.  Some very complex concepts were covered with mixed results, sometimes well, sometimes poorly.   It would have helped to re-identify the main speakers throughout the film.  The mix of black and white and color shooting current video was seemed haphazard.  There was some great material here.  The best sections of the film were the ones talking to actual people impacted like the dairy farmer.  Because the early part of the film was heavy on tourist guilt, some of the best material was buried too far in.  3.4 stars
670. Final Destination.  Devon Sawa, Ali Later star in this horror movie about a group of people who cheat death because of one guy's premonitions but then find themselves having to constantly outrun death as a result.  I'm gonna have to call that the best bus accident EVER!!!  Lolol.  Hilarious.  There were some very cheesy things in this movie but I loved the skipping around killings.  2.9 stars
671. Love Affair. Classic film about a famous man and an engaged woman who meet on a cruise ship and fall in love.  When they disembark, they decide to meet back in 6 months to see if they still feel the same.  This movie has been done many times.  The female lead is amusing and engaging (Irene Dunne) but the male lead (Charles Boyer) is less so though it's not really fair to compare him against Cary Grant in "An Affair to Remember."  The words are almost exactly the same in both movies so deja vu is the order of the day.  4 stars
672. Arthur.  Oh bad 80s music, will you never stop?  An irritating drunk playboy (Dudley Moore) gets enamored with a poor girl played by Liza Minelli.  I was surprised to be amused throughout.  Moore made me giggle.  The end was pretty badly predictable, though.  Bah humbug.  3.4 stars
673. The Business of Being Born.  Scary documentary about midwifery executive produced by Ricki Lake.  I'm so terrified to possibly ever have a child now!  Lol.  Haha nervous laughter.  Don't get any illusions that this film is not heavy on midwifery propaganda.  There were lots of women who were very upset about their birthing processes.  The production values left something to be desired particularly the music.  There was some good info absolutely, but the film needed some balance.   It would've helped the film to hear from people who had positive and negative experiences in home birth and hospital birth instead of all glowing reports from the home birth side and negative on the hospital side.  The first home birth was cool to see.  The director entered the film when she got pregnant... she didn't really seem to add anything in the first third of the film or even the second third.  She really worked in the last act. 3.3 stars
674. Laura.  Film noir classic starring Gene Tierney (glaaaaam!) & Clifton Webb & directed by Otto Preminger.  Awesome plot and story line.  Every 20 seconds I was changing my idea of who I thought the murderer was.  LOVED IT!  5 stars
675. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.  Marilyn Monroe stars in a musical about a show girl engaged to a rich man.  She goes on a cruise with a chaperone (Jane Russell) who's her flirtatious friend.  The friend ends up attracting the attention of a detective hired to watch Monroe's character.  Some awesome clothes in this film!!  I loved the music, too!  Mr. Spofford is HILARIOUS!  "Square cut or pear cut these rocks don't lose their shape!"  I know that's right, girl!  Lol.  Cute.  4 stars
676. Paper Heart.  Part documentary, part scripted comedy about love featuring comedienne Charlyne Yi, who's dating Michael Cera.  Both are in the movie as themselves.  It's cute and funny.  Avocados were 3/$.99 Guess who's jealous?  But the ending?  Left a little to be desired.  3.6 stars
677. The Adventures of Robin Hood.  Errol Flynn stars in the classic version of this film.  Lots of music-only fight scenes.  They made me want to learn how to fence!  3.4 stars
678. Love Me If You Dare.  French film starring Marion Cotillard about two kids who constantly one up each other getting in trouble to trade a toy back and forth.  Funny.  Then things change when they grow up.  Has a sort of 'Amelie' look and feel.  I was amused that La Vie En Rose was the principle song and that's the role she's most famous for.  I'm really not sure how to feel about that ending... Still 4.1 stars
679. Feast of Love. Greg Kinnear, Morgan Freeman, Selma Blair.  There was some completely unnecessary nudity.  The intertwining of the lives at the end was strange and not needed.  Another film where the ending was disappointingly underwhelming.  And primarily because the events leading to it didn't progress properly.  There will be people who will love this film.  The characters were likable, their roles for the most part well-acted.  But everything concluded too neatly even if somewhat sadly for some.  Strong start, weak meandering end.  3.3 stars
680. Duck Soup.  Classic Marx Brothers comedy about a nut job who finds himself the head of a country.  Hijinks ensue.  Some funny moments but decidedly not my kind of movie.  3 stars
681. Beyond Belief.  Documentary about two 9/11 widows who were pregnant at the time and are now trying to help Afghan war widows.  The dramatic music and lack of on camera presence was unnecessarily dramatized.  The subject is dramatic without making it cheap.  Really depressing at times.  The women's stories were very interesting, more interesting than what they were actually doing at some times.  That was partially because the film took too much time building to the trip to Afghanistan.  There was some cultural ignorance I wished they had overcome at least a little of before they went there.  3.4 stars
682. The Shop Around the Corner. Margaret Sullivan & James Stewart are shop keepers who can't stand each other in person but are beginning to fall in love as pen pals.  The film upon which 'You've Got Mail' was based.  Cute.  I enjoyed it.  4 stars
683. The Good Son. Young Macaulay Culkin & Elijah Wood are cousins and one of them is absolutely a bad seed.  WOW!  I loved the end.  The narration was pretty lame and unnecessary but still a great thriller.  4.7 stars

5 comments:

Ladynay said...

You just now seeing The Good Son? I peeped that in the theaters when it came out and remember liking it.

Who knew Ricki Lake did something other than act in movies. Hmph!

Liz Dwyer said...

Wow, you watched some good movies. I still am amazed by how many you saw in one week. Wowzer.

Don't worry about childbirth. I have friends who had all the drugs under the sun & those who gave birth at home alone in a room - no one else in there with them - and everybody's baby turned out just fine. Nice thing about our lives now is we have choice and can educate ourselves about all our options. ;)

Ginae said...

Love Me If You Dare is one of my fav movies..not too sure about how I felt about the ending as well.

The Good Son was a trip...just watching McCauley Caulkin look Elijah straight in the eye and say "don't f--- with me" was worth it. LOL...no but seriously the ending was interesting. Makes you wonder what you'd do if you were the mom in that situation. Have you seen The Bad Seed? It's the same concept but a female child.

Jameil said...

lady... i don't know if you know this, but the reason i started this little exercise is because there are a lot of movies "everyone" has seen that i haven't! lolol. this was ricki's pet project.

liz... i did! thanks! i'm not worried about that aspect of childbirth really. i don't like pain (who does) so the thought of birth makes me nervous! but i thought for balance sake they could've shown that people have babies in tons of different ways and it's a personal choice. (obviously) instead, it was like, home birth is really the only way, esp. if you want to bond with your baby. ridiculous.

ginae... that ending was crazy. that part of the good son was insane! lol. i def. can't imagine letting my child act in that! the ending was what got this film that high rating! lolol. nope, haven't seen the bad seed.

Adei von K said...

I watched the Good Son a couple of weeks ago (random). Not a fan of Macauly's character. or how stupid everyone was acting when Elijah was trying to hip them to the game. I HATE that in movies/shows!! so frustrating!!!!