I had planned to give you details of my viewing in the week or so since I last wrote, but evaluating the 24 (yes, that's right: 24) films I saw during this period, there is not a lot to inspire me to do so. These were made up as follows:
5 films that I've seen before including one good seasonal television movie "Christmas Eve" (1986) -- a late return to the screen for Loretta Young and a nice weepy conclusion. Of the others only "Sin City" (2005) kept me enthralled on its second viewing; I still find it a tour de force and a visual feast, despite what all the nasty critics think.
5 other television movies all equally forgetable and only watched "because they were there".
3 animated features new to me: the rotoscoped "A Scanner Darkly" (not my bag) plus "Hoodwinked" and Pixar's "Cars". Of these it is no surprise that I preferred the last, although not as satisfactory a movie as other Pixar efforts.
4 foreign movies including one horrendously-dubbed Jess Franco abortion (of which the less said the better). Of the others, "Joyeux Noel" (2005) didn't quite meet expectations despite its very moving middle section (too long and too much padding on either side), "The Score 2" (1999) a follow-up to the first Japanese heist movie with the same cast and suitably violent (just about everyone died brutally), and "Taxi 3" from Luc Besson's French franchise which was definitely a case of diminishing returns.
6 recentish movies including "Babel" (2006) -- interesting, but not the masterpiece that it thinks it is, "Ice Princess" (2005) -- far more entertaining than it had cause to be and an unexpected supporting role for 'Save the Cheerleader' for you "Heroes" buffs, and "The History Boys" (2006) which started slowly but evolved into a totally satisfactory experience -- well-acted and ultimately emotional. The other three have already descended into the "why did I waste my time" category.
That leaves one golden oldie which I had not viewed previously, "My Dear Secretary" from 1948, a would-be screwball comedy which was absolutely and totally charmless. The early Kirk Douglas just couldn't play comedy and the latter one only just managed an acceptable tongue-in-cheek.
So that's it for another year. With best wishes to all for a wonderful 2008...
2 comments:
I didn't manage to see any movies over the xmas period.
Health and happiness to you in the New Year JP.......and a comfy chair for all the films yet to come :) I liked Sin City, it's different. Rache x
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