Thursday, December 16, 2004

Ultimate films - yes I AM that stubborn!

Seen!
I cannot believe this - though my memory is hazy on some I know have seen all these films! and many are real treats. Okay, this was described/warned as being the cheesy fest or sentimentality but who cares!

79 My Fair Lady 1965 - blubbed like a good 'un even though Rex Harrison plays a misogynistic so-and-so. Cos when Audrey walks in at the end of "Accustomed to her face" you can't help but let it all go.
78 Reach For The Sky 1956 - another of the saturday afternoon/sunday tea-time films that parents and nana made me watch (shucks, still enjoyed it!)
77 Love Actually 2003 - I do not care how unfashionable it is to admit it, hormonal or not I sobbed all the way through my first viewing of this and even though it was the night I was truly busted for being cranky Rullsenberg when hungry I still think its good at its job. Effective Xmas rom-com. You will like at least one of the story-lines and that HAS to be value for money.
76 Ghost 1990 - Hilariously, given how unsentimental Cloud and Rullsenberg are, this was our first trip to the movies together (one of our next ones was "Wild At Heart" on Boxing Day at Telford's multiplex - which gives you some idea of our eclectic taste!). Still a good weepy.
75 Four Weddings And A Funeral 1994 - Okay, so I have only seen the last half of this but anything that can get Auden's great poetry to the masses has to be good. Sniff...
74 Oliver! 1968 - the death of Nancy. Need I say more?
73 Rebecca 1940 - Mrs Danvers and her "love" for the first Mrs de Winter, the eponymous Rebecca, still gives me the heebees...
72 Bambi 1942 - Bambi's mother dies. Again, need I say more? A child's first brush with mortality. Can never pass a wooded area without saying "bambis live there".
71 The Big Country 1958 - Epic in every sense.
70 The Great Dictator 1941 - Actually rather dull, but then Cloud is more of a Laurel and Hardy fan... (me, I'm Buster Keaton. Cue link to Buffy... )

Final episode of Blackpool tonight

Am very excited. As my friend Helen remarked, David Morissey does angst and death so well you just know it cannot end entirely happily...

Although media interest trailed pretty quickly (too much emphasis on reading it as Potter-lite) it has been a real treat for Thursdays. Good job its Xmas next week! (erm, of course that would make sense if the schedules are any good - I feel heavy amounts of X-files and Buffys being pulled to assist our amusement!)

Current favourite Xmas song...

http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/

Not often that I would promote a product, but Word magazine this month (Morrissey on the front cover) is worth purchasing just for the Tom McCrae track on the CD.

Of course our very special "George" compilation from Xmas 04 has some of the best ever Xmas songs on it, but this is well up there and I wish had been available sooner!

I am the crappest blogger ever...

Though in my defence I have no access to blogging efficiently at home; no time to do it at work (what is a lunchbreak?); and very few opinions...
okay, so that last one is a lie.
Mostly I am just lazy.

Friday, December 03, 2004

I love/heart Huckabees

No idea what the film was about. No idea if I liked it. Except that I did. Well, I think I did but how can we really be sure about anything - even our emotions? What is real? What is life? What is our relationship to each other?
Is this the most pretentious film ever made?
Clearly you have never seen or heard of Russian Ark if you answer "yes" to this rhetorical question.
In summary, besides the fact that I am still struggling with the traumatising image of Jason Schwartzman suckling on the dark hairy breast of a long-haired Jude Law, this was weird enough to be worth seeing; funny enough to be worth staying for; and intellectually stimulating enough to make me want to read existential theory (or at least ask Mr Cloud to explain it).

And as an aside, I was much amused to find that Jason Schwartzman is a cousin to Nicolas Cage (that's a shout-out to you, Christine!), since Talia Shire - of Godfather fame - is JS's mother. That Coppola clan gets everywhere...

Counting down the Ultimate Films: seen and unseen

Call me a pedant (or pendant as I just mistyped) but I like to try and complete tasks set even when they are patently beyond my capabilities... so...

Seen
87 Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi 1983 - yep, certainly did see this one, though whether this was at the time of release...? Mr Cloud takes much pleasure in having not seen any of the Star Wars trilogy when they were originally released, but instead only saw them during a marathon home-viewing group-drinking session in the 1980s (we do not talk about those later made travesties... I'm with Tim Beasley on this one
You weren't there at the beginning, you don't know what it was like!

85 Lawrence Of Arabia 1962 - just 'cos I have seen it, doesn't make it good. It's visually stunning, but rather like spending too much time in the sun. You could be doing better things.
83 Pinocchio 1940 - still freaking out about turning into a donkey...
81 Close Encounters Of The Third Kind 1978 - I like mashed potatoes... but The X-files were better.

Not sure
88 Mr Deeds Goes To Town 1936 - in the distant past I watched many, many black and white movies. The likelihood is that this was one of them
86 The Dambusters 1955 - Darn, I guess we have all subconsciously seen this, but not being a war-loving boy it's repressed from my active memory
84 A Bug's Life 1999 - seen it in parts, would like to see more
82 The Citadel 1939 - another of those "reckon I must have" or "only got a partial memory" films

Unseen
89 The Swiss Family Robinson 1960 - Nah, nadda memory of even knowing about this one
80 Die Another Day 2002 - I gave up on Bond movies as a good investment of my time ages ago. If they get onto TV, generally I see them. Last one I really enjoyed was the Jonathan Pryce one (quelle surprise) Tomorrow Never Dies

More on my movie history next week folks!