The Daytrippers

Ah, good value for money in the 99c iTunes movie rentals for once!  The real upside in these movies is that in addition to being cheap, they also get me to exercise longer -- 90 minutes today. 

The Daytrippers was a 90s indie thing with the kind of typical pointless scenes & characters and Parker Posey - and a scene where the Twin Towers dominated which is always weird for me.  I liked it - a solid B.  Definitely not the kind of film my husband would enjoy, which is the primary criteria I have for movies & TV at the gym.

Lovely & Amazing

Lovely & Amazing was a good 99c iTunes rental, a solid B, even B+, chick flick, good actors, amusing.

Rome - Season 1

We live without a TV, but do have DVDs & a screen, and sometimes during the week we have the time to watch something short, so we watch an episode of a TV series.  We've done Law & Order (early seasons), Hercule Poirot, 24 (first season) and last year started to watch Rome.  We finished the last episode of the first season on Jan 3rd.  We both really liked this series - exceptionally well done - great acting, beautiful filming, good story and VERY IMPORTANT for E, it's historically accurate.  I think we'll move to another series before trying season 2, but I'm looking forward to the next season as well.

Night of the Iguana, John Huston

We watched Night of the Iguana by John Huston, and loved it!  Raw emotion that Tennessee Williams can always be counted on to deliver, and some amazing acting by Burton, Gardner & others, along with really masterful direction & subtlety.  A real gem, A+.

Wedding Daze

Wedding Daze was a 99c rental on iTunes.  I rarely feel ripped off after watching a 99c movie, but this one was close.  Lousy, lousy, lousy.  Only upside is that it made workout time pass.

La Double vie de Véronique, Krzysztof Kieslowski

The haunting music, strange story line and mysterious atmosphere work to create strong emotions in La Double vie de Véronique by Kieslowski.  I saw Blue when I was a teenager and don't remember much, but our recent DVD cataloging exercise showed me how many films we have by this director, and many of them look really interesting, so I suspect we'll slowly work our way through them.

I give this movie a B. 

Transsiberian, Brad Anderson

Another 99c rental on iTunes, I found Transsiberian a moderately entertaining movie.  I suspect had I put more attention into it I wouldn't have cared much for it, but as I was doing other things while watching it, it worked fine.  Woody Harrelson seemed less arrogant and better able to stay in a small role than I'd ever seen him.  I found the actress good and I'd be interested to see more movies by Anderson.

Get Well Soon

Get Well Soon was a forgettable movie that would have been better off staying forgotten.  Plot was stupid, almost non-existent, not amusing, not funny, not well-acted.  Really nothing redeeming except helped me through an hour on the elliptical machine (and was only 99c on iTunes).

Le vent nous emportera (The Wind Will Carry Us)

In the process of organizing our DVDs I sometimes come across things that look like they'd be good, and Le vent nous emportera was one of them.  The movie didn't live up to the box, however.  Screaming with awards won & with a poetic, beautiful photo on the front we thought we were about to discover a new favorite director, but that was not to be. 

We both found the movie beautifully filmed, and it while the documentary-style filming & lack of score was interesting, the story, frankly, was not.  We liked the off-screen-ness of several of the surrounding characters, but E fell asleep several times watching it, and neither of us enjoyed it very much. 

People Will Talk by Joseph Mankiewicz

My mom & I watched People Will Talk after going to dinner at L'Ourcine.  It was a good Cary Grant movie with a racy-for-the-epoch plot & was quite a good movie.  I give it a B.  I'll probably see it again, as my husband had left it in a pile of things he wanted us to see together (I thought it was the pile of stuff he'd already seen...)

Mona Lisa Smile

I watched Mona Lisa Smile as a  99c rental from iTunes on the train today.  As is often the case w 99c movies, I feel I got a good deal.  It was at least 3$ worth of entertainment.  I enjoyed seeing a chick flick that kept me occupied for 2 hours.   Grade : B

Tchao Pantin

We watched Tchao Pantin, a 1983 French film about a young drug dealer & his neighborhood gas station attendant who is befriends him.  Great acting, interesting filming, but the story lacked spark.  One of those French character films.

Borsalino - dir. Jacques Deray

Last night we watched Borsalino, which is a 1970s gangster movie which was mildly amusing.  The clichés of mobsters were in full effect, but Alain Delon was his usual suave self.  The movie apparently was a sequel to a pretty good movie -- but as is often the case, the sequel didn't live up to the original.

For a Few Dollars More - Sergio Leone

We watched another Western last night.  Actually I slept for a good portion of it, but I still liked it.  It was the second Sergio Leone spaghetti western.  Excellent acting, great cinematography, score was awesome.  Story was not the best. 

Goodbye Girl

The Magnificent Seven

I've loved you so long - movie

Gods & Monsters

La Horse

E had the idea that this short 1970 film, La Horse, would be a good family film for us to watch w A. I'm not sure a film about an errant grandson who gets his family wrapped up in a heroin deal (and his sister gang raped) is really family material, but the movie was interesting, and Jean Gabin was terrific. E was at least able to warn A (and me) of the violent scenes. Although I'm still having nightmares of the poor cattle hit by the car over and over to injure them. Don't think steak is on the menu for the upcoming days...

Almost Famous - movie

I should have tried to sleep, but instead I played with the video on demand on my flight and found Almost Famous, a movie I'd missed in the theatres and that I knew I'd never buy on DVD. It was an enjoyable film, the best of the 3 I saw on planes that day... granted, 20-odd hours into my trip, I wasn't very picky...