Yes, it's true. In addition to the many, many SLIFF movies I saw, there were others. Witness:
The Princess Bride: ahh, a classic. We watched this one over Thanksgiving. Nothing like Billy Crystal as Miracle Max, young Fred Savage, and lovely Robin Wright all in a movie together. With sword fighting. And a giant. It doesn't get much better than that.
3:10 to Yuma: Russell Crowe is a pretty good actor, it turns out. He plays a good tough guy, with or without a soft side. And I've loved Christian Bale forever - from Empire of the Sun to Little Women to Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. (He even voiced characters in Pocahontas and Howl's Moving Castle!) Winner.
Roots, episodes 1-4: working my way through these, but I still have a long way to go. Quite an impressive undertaking by Mr. Haley, I must say. As well as by me, for watching them!
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Recap Part I - SLIFF
Lots has happened!
For starters, SLIFF was going on a couple weeks ago. I saw lots and lots of movies!
The Pruitt-Igoe Myth (with K): varied oral histories are good to hear, but I would have liked a little more analysis.
We Need to Talk About Kevin (with K): starring Tilda Swinton, this is a super-serious film about a woman's attempt to understand herself and her troubled teenage son. Probably would have won the Audience Choice Award, if it had been up to me.
9:06 (with K): a Slovenian detective who comes to inhabit the life of the man whose suicide he's investigating. Weird.
The Welcome (with K and M): inspirational and intensely personal story about a group of vets from various wars coming together to heal, and being welcomed back to society by the town of Ashland, Oregon (home of the famous Shakespeare Festival).
Circus Dreams (with K): great movie about Circus Smirkus some really dedicated and hardworking kids whose dream it is to run away and join the circus.
Hell and Back Again (with K and mom): another story about a vet returning to society, this time after major injury. The Welcome is less intense, but I think I liked it better anyway.
The Athlete (with T): the story of the perseverance of Ethiopian marathon runner Abebe Bikila. Q&A session with the filmmaker/lead actor afterwards.
For starters, SLIFF was going on a couple weeks ago. I saw lots and lots of movies!
The Pruitt-Igoe Myth (with K): varied oral histories are good to hear, but I would have liked a little more analysis.
We Need to Talk About Kevin (with K): starring Tilda Swinton, this is a super-serious film about a woman's attempt to understand herself and her troubled teenage son. Probably would have won the Audience Choice Award, if it had been up to me.
9:06 (with K): a Slovenian detective who comes to inhabit the life of the man whose suicide he's investigating. Weird.
The Welcome (with K and M): inspirational and intensely personal story about a group of vets from various wars coming together to heal, and being welcomed back to society by the town of Ashland, Oregon (home of the famous Shakespeare Festival).
Circus Dreams (with K): great movie about Circus Smirkus some really dedicated and hardworking kids whose dream it is to run away and join the circus.
Hell and Back Again (with K and mom): another story about a vet returning to society, this time after major injury. The Welcome is less intense, but I think I liked it better anyway.
The Athlete (with T): the story of the perseverance of Ethiopian marathon runner Abebe Bikila. Q&A session with the filmmaker/lead actor afterwards.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Turkey Day, loyal readers! In case you're finding yourself short on things to give thanks for, here are some ideas!
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Wrap-Up
A few loose ends to tie up:
Went to Game 7 with T and his friend. It was awesome.
Finished Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Liked it a lot. Even went to a book club.
Read The Sunset Limited. Interesting. I think there's a lot more in there that I just haven't thought about yet.
Tried to watch Secretariat, but fell asleep. Don't blame that on the movie - I've had extreme narcolepsy lately. Going to give it another shot at some point.
In other news, I think I'm going to take a little break from blogging. Not sure how long it'll be; if I were interested in reading this blog, I'd probably check back every few weeks to see if I'm at it again. It might be two weeks; it might be two years.
Went to Game 7 with T and his friend. It was awesome.
Finished Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Liked it a lot. Even went to a book club.
Read The Sunset Limited. Interesting. I think there's a lot more in there that I just haven't thought about yet.
Tried to watch Secretariat, but fell asleep. Don't blame that on the movie - I've had extreme narcolepsy lately. Going to give it another shot at some point.
In other news, I think I'm going to take a little break from blogging. Not sure how long it'll be; if I were interested in reading this blog, I'd probably check back every few weeks to see if I'm at it again. It might be two weeks; it might be two years.