I’ve managed to catch up on quite a bit of to-do’s while the wife and son were out of town. Netflix is probably scratching their collective skulls at the amount of movies I’ve returned. I had three of them for over a year and suddenly I’ve not only returned three of them, but now I’m returning three more. What’s going on here? Surely he must be *gasp* copying the movies?
Sadly, I just don’t have that kind of time. I’d much rather spend two hours watching the movie than wasting a DVD-R to copy it.
So far I’ve watched some interesting flicks and I’ll share some mini-reviews with you. These are listed in no particular watching order.
The Departed: A truly tense and engaging Martin Scorsese flick that deserves every bit of attention that it garners. This drama ratchets up the pressure with each passing frame and builds to an unforgettable, twisty climax that left me wanting more. This has become my new favorite Jack Nicholson performance as well. His fancy enjoyment of the role shined in every scene.
Gangs of New York: Not sure how I ended up with two Scorsese flicks, but I did. Yet another wonderful period piece. Daniel Day Lewis really delivers a compelling performance in this one. Again, it was over before I knew it. There was this very terrible, unprofessionally bad edit at the end of the film just before the credits roll. It occurs on the last few frames when the skyline of New York is changing from the 1860’s to modern day. The music just SLAMS into existence for some bizarre reason that can only be explained as a bad edit. Intentional or not, I want to take Mr. Scorsese and his editor to court over the edit. Tofu the cat was sitting in my lap purring happily at the time the bad edit came about. I had my speakers up fairly loud because my DVD player is incapable of putting out a decent audio signal. The sudden SLAM of the music caused Tofu to jump up and use his back claws to launch from my lap to the other side of the room. Those claws tore open my flesh like the lightsaber ripping open a tauntaun. Through some miracle of reaction speed (or a saving throw, whichever) I managed to spare the family jewels from becoming exposed to the unkind, unforgiving world. Damn you, Scorsese. Damn you.
Pan’s Labyrinth: I’ve been meaning to catch this one for quite some time. It was pretty much what I expected… that is until the end. Holy shit, the Spanish can rival the Chinese for sad flicks. Bring a box of tissue.
Amelie: Fabulous French flick that has given me plenty of ideas about other stories as potential spinoffs. The French have an unusual style of filmmaking, but it’s fun.
The Missing: I think I said it earlier – this was a rare misstep for Grazer and Howard. Too bad, it had potential. Pass on it.
Something I saw at the theatre this weekend, thanks to Daughter: Across the Universe. I’m afraid the era of the Beatles has past, because this one just didn’t do much for me. The music is great, but as far as understanding the 60’s and its relevance it was just way over me. My daughter was enlightened by the music, so perhaps the Beatles will enjoy a second coming. Hopefully there’s less drugs this time.
I’ve also been reading quite a bit of Stephen King’s On Writing. I’ve been trying to soak that one up to psych myself up for what I want to get into… argument: do you REALLY want to get into it, or are you just talking big?
Oh how I wish I could just think of something and it would sprout out of my head and have a life of its own. Why must it be laborious?
Feh, that was off topic. Back later while I flog my grey matter for straying.