1933. dir. Leo McCarey, starring the Marx Brothers, Margaret Dumont.
Seen it before? I don't think so
Going way back in time here. This one has Grouch Marx as Rufus T. Firefly, who becomes dictator of Freedonia. There's a plot, I think, but it makes little sense. It's mostly just an excuse for a bunch of funny sight gags and one-liners. It's short - only 1 hour and 8 minutes - but there's still some padding (I could have done without the musical numbers). Also Zeppo is total dead weight.
Position on the list: 209
Interruptions: 2: one when I stepped on the remote, and another when a certain party pooped himself. I won't name any names.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
#2 Monsters, Inc.
2001. dir. Pete Docter. starring Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi.
Seen it before? Too many times to count.
We were supposed to be at UIC watching the Flames play basketball but it wasn't meant to be and so we ended up sitting at home with Daniel eating popcorn and watching what is probably Daniel's favorite movie while he's two years old.
Disney movies tend to always have some sort of message, political or otherwise...even now the movie can be deemed relevant with the energy crisis we are facing. It's not high on my reasons for watching the movie...again and again and again and surprisingly neither is Daniel. I like the characters, Mike and Sully. I especially like the amazing way that Pixar created a world of monsters that lives in tandem with our world and turns the tables around making monsters afraid of children. I find it hilarious that Daniel picked up on one line uttered by the little girl "Boo" --->BUCKET!
My favorite scene is, well, I have two. The first is the scene where Mike and Sully are at home with Boo and have to figure out what to do with her; the second is the moving door segment. Leave it to Disney to make each door a different country. Personally I would love to go to Disney World and ride a roller coaster of the doors...but if it's all animated I think I'll have to pass...when Disney Quest was opened in Chicago I got terribly ill from motion sickness on the Hercules ride.
The movie is great. The outtakes, which we did not watch but I have seen, are even better, proving once again that even cg movie actors screw up. It's amazing the difference between the original written version and the version that ended up in the final movie. The 2-disc dvd set has made it so the extras in the cinema version are on the second disc. You don't get to see the musical Mike created. Definitely get the 2-disc set and watch the second disc to see Mike's new car and John Goodman and Billy Crystal singing the song that plays during the end credits.
Would I see it again? And again and again and again...
Would I make it part of my collection? It already is....hey, put that thing back where it came from, or so help me!
Seen it before? Too many times to count.
We were supposed to be at UIC watching the Flames play basketball but it wasn't meant to be and so we ended up sitting at home with Daniel eating popcorn and watching what is probably Daniel's favorite movie while he's two years old.
Disney movies tend to always have some sort of message, political or otherwise...even now the movie can be deemed relevant with the energy crisis we are facing. It's not high on my reasons for watching the movie...again and again and again and surprisingly neither is Daniel. I like the characters, Mike and Sully. I especially like the amazing way that Pixar created a world of monsters that lives in tandem with our world and turns the tables around making monsters afraid of children. I find it hilarious that Daniel picked up on one line uttered by the little girl "Boo" --->BUCKET!
My favorite scene is, well, I have two. The first is the scene where Mike and Sully are at home with Boo and have to figure out what to do with her; the second is the moving door segment. Leave it to Disney to make each door a different country. Personally I would love to go to Disney World and ride a roller coaster of the doors...but if it's all animated I think I'll have to pass...when Disney Quest was opened in Chicago I got terribly ill from motion sickness on the Hercules ride.
The movie is great. The outtakes, which we did not watch but I have seen, are even better, proving once again that even cg movie actors screw up. It's amazing the difference between the original written version and the version that ended up in the final movie. The 2-disc dvd set has made it so the extras in the cinema version are on the second disc. You don't get to see the musical Mike created. Definitely get the 2-disc set and watch the second disc to see Mike's new car and John Goodman and Billy Crystal singing the song that plays during the end credits.
Would I see it again? And again and again and again...
Would I make it part of my collection? It already is....hey, put that thing back where it came from, or so help me!
Cure your tinnitus once and for all. May have some side effects.
RE: Children of Men: this is why you should always research the name of your product very carefully before bringing it to market. heh heh.
#2 Monsters, Inc.: That is the weirdest thing you have ever said.
2001. dir. Pete Docter. starring Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi.
Seen it before? Many times.
We were supposed to go to a basketball game today, but there was a scheduling mixup, so we're staying home and watching movies. stupid UIC.
This is Daniel's favorite movie, and the first of seven(!) Pixar movies on the list. Pretty entertaining, and very timely: they mention rolling blackouts... this thing came out in 2001 when the whole Enron thing was happening. hmm. More political subtext than you usually see in a kid's movie.
Question, why didn't Sully just go into the door, instead of grabbing the door next to it and going on an incredibly dangerous roller-coaster ride? It was a cool sequence, but didn't make any sense. In Children Of Men, which we just saw, all of the action sequences were totally organic. One flowed right into the next. ehh. small nitpick I guess.
I think we'll watch one more after the kid goes to bed. Something older probably.
BUCKET!
Position on the list: 239
In the neighborhood: 237: Mulholland Dr. 238: Barry Lyndon 240: Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?
Seen it before? Many times.
We were supposed to go to a basketball game today, but there was a scheduling mixup, so we're staying home and watching movies. stupid UIC.
This is Daniel's favorite movie, and the first of seven(!) Pixar movies on the list. Pretty entertaining, and very timely: they mention rolling blackouts... this thing came out in 2001 when the whole Enron thing was happening. hmm. More political subtext than you usually see in a kid's movie.
Question, why didn't Sully just go into the door, instead of grabbing the door next to it and going on an incredibly dangerous roller-coaster ride? It was a cool sequence, but didn't make any sense. In Children Of Men, which we just saw, all of the action sequences were totally organic. One flowed right into the next. ehh. small nitpick I guess.
I think we'll watch one more after the kid goes to bed. Something older probably.
BUCKET!
Position on the list: 239
In the neighborhood: 237: Mulholland Dr. 238: Barry Lyndon 240: Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?
#1 Children of Men
2006. dir. Alfonso Cuaron, starring Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine.
Seen it before? No
Let's face it, a world without children or laughter is down right creepy...the single shots by Cuaron were done really well but this movie was too violent for me....weird considering I can sit through a Bourne movie with no problem. No explanation of if it was only women who were infertile or if men were infertile too but it seems to be implied that women were the ones who carried the burden of the worldwide issue.
Clive Owen and Julian Moore were terrific, though the latter was out of the movie pretty early on. Michael Caine was unintelligible so we had to turn on the captions. I didn't know what Jasper's relationship to Theo was. Comedic moments did exist in Syd the crooked cop, Maricka the eccentric gypsy woman, and the mouth-to-mouth ball popping exchange. I'm not quite sure if I like how the movie ended but I suppose there was enough of a resolution for me. Clare-Hope Ashitey was excellent...I loved her humor with the names she thought of for her unborn child...Froley and Bazouka...and how the baby was "annoyed" due to all the gunfire and bombings.
Would I see it again? Sure
Would I make it a part of our collection? No
Seen it before? No
Let's face it, a world without children or laughter is down right creepy...the single shots by Cuaron were done really well but this movie was too violent for me....weird considering I can sit through a Bourne movie with no problem. No explanation of if it was only women who were infertile or if men were infertile too but it seems to be implied that women were the ones who carried the burden of the worldwide issue.
Clive Owen and Julian Moore were terrific, though the latter was out of the movie pretty early on. Michael Caine was unintelligible so we had to turn on the captions. I didn't know what Jasper's relationship to Theo was. Comedic moments did exist in Syd the crooked cop, Maricka the eccentric gypsy woman, and the mouth-to-mouth ball popping exchange. I'm not quite sure if I like how the movie ended but I suppose there was enough of a resolution for me. Clare-Hope Ashitey was excellent...I loved her humor with the names she thought of for her unborn child...Froley and Bazouka...and how the baby was "annoyed" due to all the gunfire and bombings.
Would I see it again? Sure
Would I make it a part of our collection? No
#1 Children Of Men: Last one to die, please turn off the lights.
2006. dir. Alfonso Cuaron, starring Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine.
Seen it before? No
So it's the future, and nobody can have children anymore for some reason that is never explained. The entire world has basically gone to shit, but this one woman is pregnant, so there's lots of gunfights as she tries to escape government attention. The director seemed to be showing off a bit here with the shots lasting several minutes (like the scene where Julianne Moore gets shot) but it's pretty awesome.
Current position on Top 250: 180
I think that's: About right
Seen it before? No
So it's the future, and nobody can have children anymore for some reason that is never explained. The entire world has basically gone to shit, but this one woman is pregnant, so there's lots of gunfights as she tries to escape government attention. The director seemed to be showing off a bit here with the shots lasting several minutes (like the scene where Julianne Moore gets shot) but it's pretty awesome.
Current position on Top 250: 180
I think that's: About right
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Movie nights...
in the Bell household for these last few days of 2009 have become pretty obnoxious. With this list of 250 movies we have to watch (and blog about) in 2010, we can't touch the stack of 25 DVDs of those 250 that we actually own until 2010 which pretty much means I'm going out of my mind trying to pick what to watch that Sam won't mind. Let's face it, most of MY collection are chick flicks. Most of Sam's are ones I wouldn't touch ("Borat") or would put me to sleep ("Donnie Darko", and yes, I realize this is part of the 250 movies on the list!)
In the past few days we have watched "Love Actually" (okay truthfully I watched 98% of this myself and Sam came in to the last 10 minutes and mocked the entire movie), "Ocean's Eleven" (Pitt/Clooney), and "Catch Me If You Can" because we can't watch "Kill Bill 1 or 2", or "Back to the Future", "Up", or "Star Trek"...and I can only get Sam to watch movies that are NOT romantic comedies though he'll tolerate "Two Weeks Notice" or movies where Hugh Grant plays a jerk. In the end it's not so bad. We seem to be leaning toward old stand-bys such as "Coming to America" and "Tommy Boy" but because we watch those so often we can practically speak the script verbatim, it's almost like, 'what's the point?' So for my sanity I can't WAIT until January 1, 2010...because I can FINALLY re-watch "Bourne Ultimatum", "Amelie", "Batman Begins" and my current favorite "Star Trek" with Chris Pine!
In the past few days we have watched "Love Actually" (okay truthfully I watched 98% of this myself and Sam came in to the last 10 minutes and mocked the entire movie), "Ocean's Eleven" (Pitt/Clooney), and "Catch Me If You Can" because we can't watch "Kill Bill 1 or 2", or "Back to the Future", "Up", or "Star Trek"...and I can only get Sam to watch movies that are NOT romantic comedies though he'll tolerate "Two Weeks Notice" or movies where Hugh Grant plays a jerk. In the end it's not so bad. We seem to be leaning toward old stand-bys such as "Coming to America" and "Tommy Boy" but because we watch those so often we can practically speak the script verbatim, it's almost like, 'what's the point?' So for my sanity I can't WAIT until January 1, 2010...because I can FINALLY re-watch "Bourne Ultimatum", "Amelie", "Batman Begins" and my current favorite "Star Trek" with Chris Pine!
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