So I spent the holidays in Alabama with the fam. Good times. Had decent success with the online poker. Didn’t really watch that much football. Not enough compelling match-ups in college or pro. Weather was pretty nice down there and a nice touch was that it started to snow the moment we got back to Michigan. Why do we live here again?
Watched The Dark Knight again. It really is a great movie, not just a great comic movie. I now appreciate the contribution of the Two-Face character. Will they continue the renegade Batman storyline? My guess is that the next movie will be about his redemption and how Gotham comes to accept the caped crusader. Who will be the foil though?
Erin got me a 6 month subscription to NetFlix. I had movies waiting for me when we got back and I’ve already loaded up my queue. Right now I’m focusing on soccer and movies that are hard to get a hold of (independent, foreign, etc.). Any suggestions out there?
Finally I finished the second season of 30 Rock. Absolutely one of my favorite shows of all time. Each show is 22 minutes of comedic ecstasy. The interplay of the characters is hilarious and the guest appearances are the perfect accessory. Greenzo!! How great was that? And James Carville giving Cajun style advice to any and all?
This week I’ll be watching the first season of Monk and Burn After Reading. Maybe even the BCS Championship game. Not too much soccer on TV this weekend, but a huge clash between Manchester United and Chelsea that should influence the destination of the Premier League trophy.
Ta Ta.
Watched The Dark Knight again. It really is a great movie, not just a great comic movie. I now appreciate the contribution of the Two-Face character. Will they continue the renegade Batman storyline? My guess is that the next movie will be about his redemption and how Gotham comes to accept the caped crusader. Who will be the foil though?
Erin got me a 6 month subscription to NetFlix. I had movies waiting for me when we got back and I’ve already loaded up my queue. Right now I’m focusing on soccer and movies that are hard to get a hold of (independent, foreign, etc.). Any suggestions out there?
Finally I finished the second season of 30 Rock. Absolutely one of my favorite shows of all time. Each show is 22 minutes of comedic ecstasy. The interplay of the characters is hilarious and the guest appearances are the perfect accessory. Greenzo!! How great was that? And James Carville giving Cajun style advice to any and all?
This week I’ll be watching the first season of Monk and Burn After Reading. Maybe even the BCS Championship game. Not too much soccer on TV this weekend, but a huge clash between Manchester United and Chelsea that should influence the destination of the Premier League trophy.
Ta Ta.
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5 comments:
Season 3 of 30 Rock has been just as good so far. It's almost hard to keep up.
I look forward to hearing about Monk. My mom gave it raves back when it premiered, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.
As to off-the-beaten-path flicks, here's a few for you:
-Anything directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. The best known one would be Amelie, which I loved, as well as the one he made after, also with Audrey Tautou, A Very Long Engagement, but if you want out-there, go for The City of Lost Children, so weird, but so good. I love all three films.
-Dark City-If you haven't seen it, this would make a good companion piece to the City of Lost Children.
-Spirited Away - This was recommended to me by my less-fearful-of-anime brother, and I'm glad for it--great story, with such a great sense of child-like wonder at a world full of magic. This would also be appropriate, I think, to watch with Larry, FYI.
-Heist - Written by David Mamet, with appropriately snappy dialogue and a great um, heist plot. Hackman and DeVito are great in it also. And if you like that you'll also probably love State and Main, also penned by Mamet with Phillip Seymour Hoffman and William H. Macy.
- Paris Je t'aime - I dont' have any paritular love of the French language, despite the Jeunet films above, but anyway, I mainly like the short story feel of this collection of 20 short (real short) films all based in different parts of Paris...directors include the Coen Brothers, Wes Craven, Gus Van Sant, Alexander Payne, and Alfonso Cuaron and others. Also a big cast of recognizeable names as well. You'll love Buscemi in the Coen Bros. directed segment.
Having just seen Slumdog Millionare (awesome, by the way), brings up two other suggestions:
Also by Danny Boyle - Shallow Grave, his first film--a great closed-space thriller starring Ewan McGregor.
Also set in India - Monsoon Wedding, great flick and if Erin likes foreign films (slightly foreign, there's plenty of English, but also some subtitles throughout) a nice love story.
Lastly a couple Ed Burns films, his first two, actually, and I haven't like anything else he has done nearly as well as these two: The Brothers McMullen and She's the One, which actually share a handful of the cast members as well. Similar setting, similar characters, even, but both fun and funny looks at the dynamics between brothers (and their father in She's the One) and their pursuit of love and happiness in New York.
Let me second a few of JDs comments. Monk is quite good and I have seen all of the seasons. Dark City, if you mean the one 1998 version is outstanding. It is kind of like the Matrix on LSD.
Finally, I loved "The Heist" with Hackman. The dialogue was strange at times, but intriguing nonetheless.
Oh, and I forgot one other one--Waking Life...it's directed by Linklater (Dazed and Confused) and really it's an extended discussion about what dreams are and what life is about, which is all fascinating stuff, particularly when candy-coated with the visual style Linklater employs called rotoscoping, which is taking digital film and then kinda' drawing over the video, so it's this weird wonderful fusion of video and animation, and also the soundtrack, as I recall it, is largely done by a string quartet with a lot of really great cello music. Check it out.
monk, i plan to give comments next week.
shallow grave is tremendous.
dark city is good as well. have that on dvd.
heist i stayed away from even though it was mamet. maybe i will give it a chance. i did see state and main but need to see it again.
i'll try to check out some of the others as well.
thanks,
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