Crazy Movie Lady 49

December 27-31, 2009
The final week!  I did it! :)
732. Once.  Musical Irish indie film about a street guitar player who meets a pianist and decides to record with her.  The music was pretty good.  The story was... um... barely auxiliary.  I wasn't terribly interesting for me but I didn't hate watching it.  3 stars
733. Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging.  British film based on a popular teenage book series (which CRACKED ME UP!!) about a girl named Georgia Nicholson who is crazy funny with her group of friends and crush on a new cutie at her school.  Amusing and a fun watch.  3.8 stars
734. Mystic Pizza.  1988 Julia Roberts & Vincent D'Onofrio film about pizza parlor workers with dreams of bigger things  The plot was telegraphed from a mile away and had a Lifetime feel.  Not fun.  And not even a semblance of being my kind of movie. 2.9 stars
735. Lord of the Flies.  Classic 1963 film based on a book about a bunch of prep school kids stranded on a deserted island.  The longer they're there the more things unravel.  It started to become incredibly irritating in the last 30 minutes or so.  And disturbing.  3.3 stars
736. The Princess and the Frog.  Super cute Disney movie starring the company's first black princess!  I was so excited to see it & can't wait to learn all the songs!  Yay!  I was also really glad it was set in New Orleans!  4 stars
737. Moonstruck. Cher & Nicolas Cage star as moonstruck people among many Sicilians who all know each other in some way or another.  Kind of cute with enough action to hold my attention.  3.5 stars
738. For All Mankind. 1989 documentary about space missions.  Kind of a boring start with the JFK speech.  Yes I know it's historic but it went on a little rambly.  Beyond that, pretty dramatic and really cool to see the astronauts preparing for the first space missions.  Wonderfully edited with some crazy great footage!!!!  This would be so awesome in Imax!  This film made me wonder why there's no gravity in space but gravity on the moon.  Like why don't you float off of the moon?  But I also loved that the filmmakers didn't explain any of that kind of stuff and just let the astronauts, Earth, space, the moon & "Houston" be as caught on film.  The part on the moon dragged on a bit too long.  Overall though worth watching.  4.3 stars
739. Sherlock Holmes. Robert Downey, Jr., Rachel McAdams, Jude Law star in a Guy Ritchie film about the famous detective and his sidekick as they solve a perplexing crime.  Interesting and a nicely-paced watch (though my sister thought it was slow).  The love story started off as mildly interesting but devolved and was definitely the weakest point of the film. 3.8 stars
740. Taken. Liam Neeson stars as the "skilled" father of a teenage daughter kidnapped in Paris.  He has less than a week to find her before she disappears for good.  AWESOME thriller.  Loved it.  5 stars
741. At Close Range with National Geographic. Documentary about a National Geographic photographer.  I ordinarily feel like people can and should narrate their own stories... this isn't always possible.  Because sometimes like in this case in the opening moments, it felt overly scripted and false.  Some awesome pictures, though.  Bad and unnecessary sound effects.  They sound silly and cheapen the effect of some pretty good stories.  I can't say I wanted any extensive background on the photographer.  I just wanted to know about his pictures and the process of the pictures.  Those parts were the strongest.  I definitely wanted to re-read a NatGeo mag with the insight provided by this film. 3.3 stars
742. Max Dugan Returns.  Comedy starring Jason Robards, Donald Sutherland and Matthew Broderick.  Costumes by Bob Mackie!  Can't wait.  They weren't anything to talk about though.  Quick dialogue in this story about a single mother reunited with her long lost father.  Hmmm... I'm not sure about that ending, though.  A bit underwhelming.  3.3 stars
743. Picture Perfect. Jennifer Anniston, Jay Mohr Olympia Dukakis & Kevin Bacon film about a woman passed up for a promotion because she's single and therefore 'unstable.'  Some really bad 90's outfits.  Mildly interesting but something just didn't happen with this film.  And it was a bit longer than it should've been.  3 stars
744. Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi. Israeli coming of age film (spoken in Hebrew) about a teenage boy taking care of his crazy family.  I enjoyed it.  3.8 stars
745. Dog Day Afternoon. Film directed by Sidney Lumet starring Al Pacino about two guys who rob a bank to pay for a gay lover's sex change operation but don't do very well with the getaway.  This is a day in the life essentially.  Very entertaining.  4.3 stars
746. Child's Play.  Horror movie about a doll possessed by the soul of a serial killer that goes on a killing spree.  There was some really bad acting but the psycho doll was pretty hilarious.  Funnily bad but a classic probably for precisely that reason and the fact that my generation saw it as children and were promptly afraid of all their toys.  Not me!  3 stars
745. A Family Undertaking. Documentary about Americans who prepare and/or bury their own dead.  Kind of creepy to see the dead people laid up in their cardboard coffins.  Rashan refused to watch this one.  Too creepy for him.  I found it interesting.  There was one particularly grotesque description of the embalming process but for the most part, the film was pretty benign.  I don't know why for these sorts of films, there is the ubiquitous convention.  It's a cliché and pretty boring.  I wonder if there was a conscious decision to shoot up in the convention stage video.  There were some really moving moments like the mother who now runs a home funeral business and the couple they followed.  I can see why this aired on PBS' strand, POV because there is a definite point of view in this film though gentle on the side of home burials.  The funeral home side was skirted in a way that it almost made its inclusion a waste of time.  Give it real time or leave it out altogether.  Still I know I would have asked for its inclusion had it been left out.  What I liked most about this film is that it made me think.  Nicely edited film for the most part.  The ending felt abrupt.  3.8 stars
746. The Three Faces of Eve. Classic 50s film based on a book about multiple personality disorder (now known as dissociative identity disorder (you can see who took abnormal psych in undergrad lol)).  The "this is a true story" explanation for 3 minutes at the beginning was overly long.  Just start the movie!!  Once the movie got going, it was fantastic!  I'd read the book but it was cool seeing it on screen.  The end was a little lame.  3.8 stars
747. Bad Day at Black Rock.  Spencer Tracy stars in a 1954 Western about a man mistaken for a law man in a deserted town and finds himself in a lot of trouble.  Great score.  Intriguing story line.  Bad day is an understatement!  Lol  3.9 stars
748. The Way We Get By.  Documentary (I read about in the NYT) about a group of elderly people (including the filmmaker's mother) in Bangor, Maine who welcome soldiers back from war.  Pretty good start, nicely edited, but early on it could've stood to include other people than the original man.  Some really great and moving stories.  This film would've been more effective if it was shorter.  It was at least 30 minutes too long.  3.2 stars
749. In a Lonely Place.  Humphrey Bogart movie about a screenwriter in need of another hit who police are now beginning to suspect of murder.  Bogey like I've never seen him before.  Wow!  4.2 stars
750. Ella Fitzgerald: Something to Live For.  Awesome documentary about the legendary jazz singer with tons of footage of her singing, which made up the bulk of the film.  Her life story was a supplement to her music, which actually, intentional or not in terms of the film, is very true.  She gave her music her all at the expense of personal relationships and even her health.  Some fantastic editing-- particularly in a road travel sequence.  Riveting.  A fitting end to a year of movie-watching.  4.4 stars

**Don't worry, I'll continue watching and reviewing movies and posting every Sunday!