It’s Not Me, It’s Him, Right?

Long Delayed Netflix Update

Well, life’s been more than should be allowed crazy the last few months, but I’ve finally seen some movies.  Let’s see where we stand.

Moving On:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Susan) – Fine movie.  Have to have a heart of stone not to be at least a little touched.

Sneakers (Mark) – A little bit dated, and a little bit hard to believe, but good enough to get a third choice.  I was supposed to see this for a class back in 1991.  Glad I was finally get that assignment done.

Absence of Malice (Rodgers) – Surprised Sally Field didn’t get lung cancer in the first ten minutes.  And I always find it hard to believe Paul Newman would be blue collar for anything, but it works.

Son of Rambow (Perry) – See this movie.  See it now.  I still have a problem with the concept of “80’s nostalgia”, but it works.

Hot Fuzz (Craig) – Except for the ending, it was a great movie.

Saved (Mike P.) -Liked it better when it was called Mean Girls, but still good enough.

Thanks for Playing:

Sorcerer (Greg) – Setup took way too long, and the action scenes were rushed.

Guns of Navarone (Phil) – Opposite problem, way too much action with unsympathetic characters.

Still to Go:

Tokyo! (Jim)

TBA (Dwight)

Manchurian Candidate (David R.)

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Round One is Complete

First up, some reviews:

Cat Ballou — Normally, I hate musicals.  Detest them.  Nobody walks around in song describing what happened.  And to think this is the last visual evidence of Nat King Cole.  However, wasn’t bad.  Barely 3 stars.

The TV Set — Every joke can be seen coming a mile away, but they were still OK enough to move on.  3 stars.

Free Enterprise — Wow, great movie.  Definitely a keeper, surprised it never had a theater release.  4 stars.

Interstate 60 — When Gary Oldman is on the screen, it’s a great movie.  When it’s just James Mardsen, with his pretty boy looks and no ability to act, it’s bad.  However, there’s enough Oldman to save face.  3 stars by a sliver.

Round 2 (with already selected movies listed)

Susan – Dark Knight (has picked The Curious Case of Benjamin Button for Round 2)
Mark – The Shawshank Redemption (has picked Sneakers for Round 2)
Phil C. – The Verdict (has picked Absence of Malice for Round 2)
Jim M. – Frozen River
Rogers – Barbarians at the Gate
Perry – Man on Wire (has picked Son of Rambow for Round 2)
Greg – Grizzly Man (has picked Sorcerer for Round 2)
Craig – The Dish (has picked Hot Fuzz for Round 2)
Snowed – Cat Ballou
Dwight – The TV Set
Carey – Free Enterprise
Michael – Interstate 60

For those of you who haven’t picked yet, let me know when you can.

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How does this happen?

Admittedly, I’m not high up on the maintain the lawn scale.  But I do try, and today’s attempt involved edging the front lawn to the curb by the street.  How does a lawn rise out of the ground?  Look at that, the soil base is three inches higher than the curb.  This doesn’t happen to my neighbors.

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Netflix Update

Sorry this has been slower than anticipated.

The Movie Hero: Boring with a capital ‘B’.  It’s the story about how movies can be overly cliche, which it managed to be way too meta.  1 star.

The Dish: Cute film, nothing objectionable.  4 stars.  Craig moves on.

Moving On:
Susannah – Dark Knight
Mark – The Shawshank Redemption (has picked Sneakers for Round 2)
Phil C. – The Verdict
Jim M. – Frozen River
Rogers – Barbarians at the Gate
Perry – Man on Wire
Greg – Grizzly Man (has picked Sorcerer for Round 2)
Craig – The Dish

Yet To Watch:
Snowed – Cat Ballou
Dwight – The TV Set
Carey – Free Enterprise
Michael – Interstate 60

Not Moving On:
Joe – A Lion in Winter
Chris – Hamlet II
Matt Z. – The Movie Hero

Movies I’ve Seen Since But Not on the List (to help you with your next choice)
The Room – 0 stars, but is simply the best worst movie ever made.  It’s never boring.  See it if you get a chance, your life is incomplete without it.
Thank You For Smoking – well, it was a slow Saturday and it was on Comedy Central.  It was OK.

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Count Chockula would have been more appopriate…

Sign at the entrance of the Acme Market, Wayne PA:

Just because you have access to clipart does not mean you should use clipart.

Movie update:

Barbarians at the Gate: I forgot I had seen portions of this before, but only about 10 minutes, so now I can say I’ve been through the whole thing.  Funny how buying on debt repeats itself.  4 stars, Rogers moves on.

The Lion in Winter: If my genealogy is correct, this would be the story of my 23-great-grandparents.  The story begins with Henry II, Eleanor of Aquataine, the three kids and a stepson bickering.  Two hours later, they’re still bickering.  The performances are strong, the writing is witty, but there’s a problem.  I couldn’t care about the story.  I’ve since been told this was a movie I needed to watch during the day on full rest, rather than using it as a cuddle movie where I fell asleep.  Unfortunately for Joe, he is placed back on the royal canoe and set adrift from the game.

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Just another surreal night

Some of you know that I moonlight doing game stats for the Michigan hockey team.  Part of that details getting the starting lineups, because we all know that first 45 seconds of a one hour game are really crucial.  One step in this process is to make copies of the lineup for the two teams, the refs and the announcer.  So I go into the hockey office to make the copies and who is there but none other than Mr. Hockey himself, Gordie Howe.

Apparently, he is here signing autographs, but getting few takers, because there is a cost involved.  At this point, he is bantering with his daughter and one of his grandsons, bemoaning the fact that he doesn’t play hockey, he plays “soccer” (imagine Gordie Howe with much disdain/sarcasm saying the word “soccer”).  At this point, the copier jams on me.  If I had any cojones at all, I would have interrupted the conversation and asked Mr. Howe to elbow the copy machine just for hilarity’s sake.  And if I truly was in a sitcom world, the copier would have magically worked after the elbow.  Alas, it’s not a sitcom world, I did not bother Gordie, and used a different copier in another part of the building.

Netflix Update: Saw both Shawshank Redemption and Frozen River, both awesome movies, both get 5 stars.  Mark and Jim M. move on to round 2.

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One of these things…

One of these things is not like the other. One of these things isn’t the same.

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Netflix update/Travels by Arbitrary Squares

Some people collect countries visited.  Some people collect states.  Apparently, you can collect counties.  I gave it a try.  Although 21% is impressive, it’s a long way to go.

In non-geographical news, I watched a few more in the queue.

Hamlet II – Really tough one to call here.  Great concept, and there were moments, but it seemed to drag.  The story wasn’t long enough for a movie and the actual Hamlet II play wasn’t that funny.  2 stars.  Sorry Chris.

The Verdict – It pains me to see a movie that was made in my lifetime and seems horribly dated.  Fine performances all around, although it does drag.  David Mamet saves the language for future endeavors.  4 stars.  Phil C. moves on.

The Shawshank Redemption – Postponed.  Netflix sent me an e-mail that I have returned it and wanted to know my rating.  However, I never received it.  Try again next weekend.

One more movie has been added for Round 1: Encounters at the End of the World (via Walt).  If you haven’t entered — it’s not too late!

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Netflix Update #1

So far, two movies watched, both 4 stars:

Dark Knight (Susannah): Only two complaints.  One, too violent.  I’m not a fan of violence.  Second, Christian Bale while playing Batman.  He sounded like our first ever constipated super hero.

Grizzly Man (Greg): Had some reservations watching this, thinking that they would lionize Timothy Treadwell.  Instead, it was a very fair portrayal of someone who felt he was doing the greater good, but was probably insane.

You can still enter if you haven’t, just look at the post below.  Susannah and Greg move on to the second round.

From water polo this weekend.  Apparently, the zubaz craze has finally hit Bloomington, and was immediately transferred to swimsuits:

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I cave yet again…

If it’s really that important to you, I am on Facebook now.

Movies picked so far in the Netflix Survivor Challenge:

Susannah – Dark Knight
Mark – The Shawshank Redemption
Phil C. – The Verdict
Jim M. – Frozen River
Rogers – Barbarians at the Gate
Snowed – Cat Ballou
Chris – Hamlet II
Perry – Man on Wire
Greg – Grizzly Man
Craig – The Dish
Matt Z. – The Movie Hero
Michael – Interstate 60
Dwight – The TV Set (added 1/28)
Joe – A Lion in Winter (added 1/28)
Carey – Free Enterprise (added 1/28)

I have a pretty busy weekend, so I don’t know if I’ll be able to see any, but they are in the queue.  And if you haven’t entered yet, feel free to.  It will probably be March before I get through all of these anyway, there are more selections than I thought I would be getting.

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