This weekend, we watched the first disc of Gormenghast. The BBC production included all sorts of familiar British faces, including Christopher Lee, Stephen Fry, and Zoe Wanamaker. I've only met one other person on this side of the ocean who knows of the trilogy who isn't of British descent, so have no concern if you've never heard of it, but it's ( Read more... )

Despite the aforementioned back trouble, I saw three movies yesterday. By curious coincidence, two of them included Marlon Brando and Eva Marie Saint. I saw:

1. Superman Returns
2. The Enforcer
3. On the Waterfront

I enjoyed all three of them, but I'll only cover the first in this post.
I liked Superman Returns, but with reservations. Please keep in mind ( Read more... )

Despite a few flaws, Ghosts of the Abyss may be one of the better IMAX movies I've seen. While there were times that I found myself wishing that the crew would just shut up and experience the wonder and awe of what they were seeing, not to mention desiring a little less screen time for James Cameron, I still found myself whispering "Wow," at the ( Read more... )

Finally got around to watching Dog Day Afternoon this past Sunday. It was interesting, but despite Pacino's excellent performance, I found it fairly dated. Coincidentally, the last movie I saw was 12 Angry Men, also directed by Sidney Lumet. It's the older of the two, and yet I found it to be much more timeless ( Read more... )

Juror #11: I beg pardon...
Juror #10: "I beg pardon?" What are you so polite about?
Juror #11: For the same reason you are not: it's the way I was brought up.

I completely and utterly loved 12 Angry Men. I'm astonished by how well it has held up over time. I wouldn't mind owning that one.

Watched Ocean's Eleven (2001) last night. I really liked it. George Clooney, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Elliott Gould, Casey Affleck, Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, Andy Garcia and Julia Roberts star in this very stylish vault heist from director Steven Soderbergh ( Read more... )

We've been having problems with our 'net connection off and on for over a month. Comcast had been out multiple times, but things just kept getting worse and worse. Sunday was the breaking point: we were down, we called Comcast, and we finally asked for a credit on our account because we felt like we'd been very patient ( Read more... )

We watched The Animatrix this past weekend. I'd seen several episodes a while back, but I'd never seen the full thing. I kind of wish that I'd seen it sooner, because I suspect that some of my feelings of anticlimax stemmed from having already seen The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, both of which were released after The Animatrix. Most ( Read more... )

Finally got around to watching North Country. It was good. Not great, but decent. One thing I liked in particular was the lack of over-the-top histrionics, for the most part. I mean, instead of scenery-chewing bits like Nicholson's famous bit in A Few Good Men, it was a little more understated, which I appreciated. Yes, there were some manipulative ( Read more... )

We watched The Big Lebowski on Wednesday night. I was underwhelmed. I've seen quirky humor done better, both before and after 1998 (the year of its release). My primary entertainment while watching this film came from playing the "Hey, that's So-and-So!" game while recognizing stars like Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi, David Thewlis and Phillip ( Read more... )