Movies

I saw more than 209 movies in 2009 (since 1 June) some might say I have a problem but I would like to call it a hobby.

Worthy of your time: The acting in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” is very impressive, you rarely see acting like that today. And Elizabeth Taylor is a gorgeous looking woman. I got a crush on her and she have a lot of fun costumes in Cleopatra but I found the movie a little too long and tedious for my liking, but if you want to look at some amazing costumes get some tea and popcorn and watch it.

I’m a sucker for Baz Luhrmann so I had no problem with Australia and it’s a pretty movie visually but I understand why some people hate it so it might not be for everyone.

I didn’t have any expectations what so ever when I sat down and watched “The Wrestler” but it was a pleasant surprise, Mickey Rourke is wonderful and there’s a rumor that Nicolas Cage was at one point supposed to have the leading role and man what suck fest it would have been so good that that didn’t work out.

Maybe it’s more for hardcore movie fans but Metropolis was wonderful, it felt very modern despite being a silent film from 1927. Beautiful but again, not for everyone.

Singin’ in the Rain, easy to like, fun and perfect for a rainy day. Makes you want to sing and dance. And if you like that you will probably like Gypsy too, which also makes you want to sing and dance but also take you clothes of so be careful.

Not sure if I got a director’s cut version or what but at times “Once upon a Time in the West” didn’t make sense but the first half is movie history and a must for everyone who’s interested in movies.

Loved “Rebel Without a Cause”, it was great and I have to get it on DVD. Wonderful movie and again it felt very modern, it could have been done yesterday. I do find it weird that no one has attempted to do a remake, I’m not saying they should (absolutely not) but with such a good story it is surprising that they haven’t, especially when you think about the remakes that have been done over the years.

“The Fall”, a movie I hadn’t heard anything about but after seeing a still from it I knew I had to see it, I like pretty movies and this movie wasn’t only pretty it was good too. Lee Pace was super cute, is he single? Anyway… I liked it and it’s a movie I can see over and over again.

Whenever something sticks out from the standard American movies I get happy. “This is England”, the opening scene and my first thought, “This would never been okayed by an American company”, there’s a charm here. I can’t really put my finger on what it was that I liked about it but I enjoyed it.

“Sunshine Cleaning”, charming and enjoyable. It feels like, if you liked “Little Miss Sunshine” you will like this movie too.

“A Very Long Engagement” isn’t as good as “Amelie” but it’s good and beautiful like usual when Jean-Pierre Jeunet is involved.

101 movies in 1001 days

Didn’t need the 1001 days and I think I’ve seen more than 101 movies but I never remember. I’ll continue to write them down just to see how many movies I have seen when the 1001 days are over.

Movies

Twelve Monkeys: Terry is a weird man… (On Top 250)

Bladerunner: Um… what’s so brilliant about this movie? But Daryl Hannah was kind of hot. (On Top 250)

Heathers: What a weird-ass movie… but Christian Slater was actually kind of cute, and I like vintage Winona too. It’s pretty far from the info at IMDB “A girl who half-heartedly tries to be part of the "in crowd" of her school meets a rebel who teaches her a more devious way to play social politics”

Cheaper by the dozen II: Sucks! There was nothing good about this movie (well, I love Bonnie Hunt, she’s so cute).

Singin' in the Rain: I like it, it was cute! And I feel like dancing. (On Top 250)

Ziegfeld Follies: (Recommended by Dita Von Teese) I have a crush on the pink ballerina, think it's Cyd Charisse.

Found picture here

I always forget to write down what movies I see, I know I forgotten a few. Um, a Russian movie (my first) Night Watch, which I kind of liked, there’s was a mood and atmosphere that I really enjoyed, maybe the story wasn’t that good but… I just know I’ve seen more movies… Oh, Pan’s Labyrinth (On Top 250), which I had high hopes for but I clearly expected too much. Atonement, um… okay I guess but I was mainly checking out the garden and the house.

Last seen movies

Managed to watch some movies between all the books, “Atonement” and “Pan’s labyrinth” and both of them were somewhat of a disappointment. I expected more, I guess my expectations were just too high.

Brazil

Saw my first Brazilian movie, and liked it! "Ciade de Deus", been wanting to see it from some time and then it was on TV the other day. It’s apparently based on a book, maybe I should read the book? I loved that all of the characters had weird nicknames (maybe because I never have had one?). Favorite character, Bené, the nice gangster. If you have the chance to see it, you should.

Three more movies

First I saw “O Brother, where art thou?” and it was okay, reminded me a little of “Big Fish” but it’s not a movie I’m likely to ever see again. I wanted to see what happened but then at the end I was like, “So…?”

I hate to see Johnny in bad movies, I don’t like to hear him say cunt. He wasn’t even good in this movie which he usually is even I crappy movies. The best parts of “The Astronaut’s Wife” was when I squinted and pretended it was Mia Farrow and not Charlize Theron. It was quite recently I realized what a beauty she is, Mia that is.

(Mia Farrow)

Then I watched a Danish movie, a thriller called “Murk” and it was like Swedish movies, dull, grey and “real”. There’s a wedding scene and if it had been an American movie it would have been bright and funny, laugher and spontaneous singing but there it was stiff and dull and people were sitting in rows with pieces of paper with the lyrics on singing along looking bored and uncomfortable. The plot was okay but the execution wasn’t.

First out is Norway

Okay, so Mr Third Wheel, there for the comical relief I wonder… “Cold prey”, silly (and not in a good way) and predictable but hopefully not the best thing out of Norway (of course not, Turbonegro and Espen Knutsen are the best things from Norway).

Half way through and I’m really tired of this movie, feels like a 70’s-80’s crap horror. Slow and dull…

I’ve managed to watch 1h and 10min so I should be able to make it through the last 20minutes.

I made it though… by the end of the movie I don’t remember the person’s name… not good. Best part of the movie, the end where they play Turbonegro “All my friends”. Mr Third Wheel is funny at times, silly name Morten Tobias (what’s with Norwegian people and double names?) He looks like a Norwegian stereotype and since we are on that subject, how more Norwegian can you get when you are trying to escape on skis, hilarious. Apparently they made a sequel…

Mr Third Wheel aka Mr Comical Relief aka Morten Tobias played by Rold Krisitian Larsen. The can opener broke, what are the odds of that?

"She's been chopped to pieces!" Mr Positive

Memoirs of a geisha

My first audio book and I’m not sure I’ll give it another go. To listen to someone reading a story is odd, this one was read by a woman and she would speak with a hoarse voice at times because the character did. Sometimes reading really slow and she put a lot of feelings in things. Sounding mean or angry with there was nothing in the text that said that the person was angry. Story-wise I got a little annoyed with all the similes and such, every other sentence contained some bad poetic description and it was too much.

After I had listen to the book, I saw the movie and there were a lot of changes, some understandable and some just annoying. Since I had “listened” to the book I felt I understood everything that was happening but perhaps it would have been less so if I hadn’t? Love the clothes and the surrounding but the movie was pretty dull. The people I recognized were all Chinese; surely there are some Japanese actresses they could have used? And then there was the language, it was hard to understand what they were saying and again, happy that I had listen to the book so I knew what was going on.

In both the books and the movie the girls virginity was auctioned out and I have always been under the assumption that geishas aren’t prostitutes so I had to check it out and apparently Arthur Golden took that from a similar ceremony held by Oirans.

I should read Mineko Iwasakis “Geisha of gion” instead; perhaps that one will be more accurate?

This weekend

Watched horror movies, but unfortunately only bad ones, but in my opinion good horror movies are hard to find and I get really scared so perhaps it’s a good idea that most of them are so lame?
First it was “The Fog” the re-make and what the… I hate when there are lose ends in movies and the whole thing about the guy cheating with that Stevie girl, what was that about? But it did look nice on that island, I like picturesque islands and I wouldn’t mind living on one someday.
Then it was “When a stranger calls”, also a re-make and come on… loads of loose ends and no real story. The house was pretty cozy though but far too much wooden panels for my taste.
“When a stranger calls” (1979) Oh my god what a piece of crap… The girls voice is irritating and the whole story is just messy and not at all scary. I understand why they changed a lot when they did the remake; I don’t understand why they called it a remake, why not just take the old story with the creepy phone calls to the babysitter and make a whole new thing? I just don’t understand the logic in horror movies. If I was that Jill chick I would take that shotgun and carry it with me at all times, and I would have all the lights on in the house at all times until the guy was caught.

Pumpkins spotted: 5 (but most of them showed up on Saturday, isn’t that like getting a Christmas tree on Christmas day?)
Trick or treaters spotted: Five (two of them on Saturday)
Trick or treaters knocking on the door: Zero
Christmas lights spotted: Five

Movies so far

101 movies in 1001 days

1. Le Amants du Flore
2. Chocolat
3. Exorcist, The beginning
4. Chain of Fools
5. The Tailor of Panama
6. Tur och Retur
7. Becoming Jane
8. The Gathering Storm
9. Van Helsing
10. Gangs of New York
11. Wasabi
12. Prisilla, Queen of the Desert
13. Keeping Mum
14. Cold Creek Manor
15. Kindom of Heaven
16. House of wax
17. Transamerica
18. Bandidas
19. L'Homme du train
20. The Medallion
21. New Police Story
22. The Orphanage
23. One Hour Photo
24. Fever Pitch
25. The Good Girl
26. Saved!
27. Fantastic Four
28. The wedding Banquet
29. The Pacifier
30. Dawn of the dead
31. Hitched
32. Get Smart
33. About a boy
34. Vampire Bats
35. The Royal Tenenbaums
36. Thirteen
37. Casanova
38. The Jane Austen Book Club
39. Lord of War
40. The fog (2005)
41. When a stranger calls (2006)
42. When a stranger calls (1979)
43. Shaun of the dead
44. Memoirs of a Geisha
45. Patrik 1,5
46. Gothika
47. Danny the Dog
48. Cold Prey
49. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
50. The Astronaut's Wife
51. Murk
52. Closer
53. A Very Long Engagement
54. The Libertine
55. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
56. WALL·E
57. Johnny English
58. Peter Pan
59. Cinderella
60. Kung fu Hustle
61. Australia
62. Laura
63. It's a Wonderful Life
64. Nick of Time
65. The Producers
66. Veronica Gueirn
67. Sense and Sensibility
68. Pandora's Box
69. Being there
70. Zatôichi
71. Cashback
72 Dark Knight
73. Bride Wars
74. Der Untergang
75. Ladykillers (2004)
76. Billy Elliot
77. Frost/Nixon
78. Milk
79. Chinatown
80. The Reader
81. The Wrestler
82. Casablanca
83. Babel
84. The Hot Chick
85. The Lodger
86. Metropolis
87. Slumdog Millionarie
88. Twelve Monkeys
89. Heathers
90. Singin' in the Rain
91. Night Watch
92. Atonement
93. Cheaper by the dozen 2
94. Ziegfeld Follies
95. Pan's Laburinth
96. Twilight
97. Hotel Paradiso
98. Being John Malcovich
99. Gypsy
100. Million Dollar Baby
101. Waxworks
DONE! May 31 2009
102. Once Upon a Time in the West
103. Rebel Without a Cause
104. Cleopatra
105. Elizabeth
106. Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf
107. Marie Antoinette
108. The Savages
109. American Graffiti
110. Velvet Goldmine
111. My Own Private Idaho
112. Run Fatboy Run
113. Role Models
114. Sunshine Cleaning
115. Mysterious Skin
116. Slap Her... She's French
117. The Messangers
118. Pee-wee's Big Adventure
119. Igor
120. Black Sheep
121. Murder by Death
122. Rebecca
123. Ringu
124. Professione: reporter
125. The Nanny Diaries
126. The Golden Compass
127. Beetle Juice
128. The Grudge
129. Miracle at St. Anna
130. The Black Balloon
131. Once upon a time in Mexico
132. Love me if you dare
133. La vie en rose
134. The Fall
135. Tristan + Isolde
136. North Country
137. Arizona Dream
138. Whatever It Takes
139. The Kid
140. Georgia Rule
141. Foxfire
142. Serendiptiy
143. Because I said so
144. Sugar and Spice
145. Young Adam
146. Bin-jip
147. It's a Boy Girl Thing
148. Miami Vice
149. The Buried Secret of M. Night Shayamalan
150. The Broken
151. Ritana
152. Casino Royale
153. The Devil Wears Prada
154. The Prestige
155. Lesbian Vampire Killers
156. The Day After Tomorrow
157. V for Vendetta
158. Saw
159. An American Haunting
160. Day Watch
161. My Super Ex-Girlfriend
162. Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
163. The Order
164. The Nines
165. Disturbia
166. Oldboy
167. Knocked Up
168. Just My Luck
169. Four Feathers
170. Mystic River
171. This is England
172. The Machinist
173. Ragtime
174. Crash
175. The Bourne Supremacy
176. The Bourne Ultimatum
177. The Spiderwick Chronicles
178. Hellraiser
179. Sid & Nancy
180. Paris Je t'aime
181. The Frighteners
182. The School of Rock
183. Cops and Robbersons
184. The Brave
185. Benny & Joon
186. Priceless
187. The Other Boleyn Girl
188. Definitely, Maybe
189. Great Expectations
190. Wanted
191. Cry-Baby
192. Miss Pettigew Lives for a Day
193. Lars and the Real Girl
194. Silent Hill
195. The Transporter
196. Tais-toi!
197. An Ideal Husband
198. Mama's Boy
199. My Mon's New Boyfriend
200. Freddy vs Jason
201. The Heartbreak Kid
202. 30 Days of Night
203. Brokeback Mountain
204. Friday the 13th Part 2
205. Friday the 13th Part 3
206. Halloween II
207. The Boondock Saints
208. Dead Silence
209. The Duchess
210. In Bruges

2010
211. The Covenant
212. Ordinary Decent Criminal
213. Harsh Times
214. Terminator Salvation
215. St. Trinian's
216. The Goods: Live Hard Sell hard
217. Mansfield Park
218. Inglourious Basterds
219. A Crime
220. Mansfield Park
221. District 9
222. The Hangover
223. Eight Legged Freaks
224. The Stepfather (2009)
225. Friday the 13th (2009)
226. My Bloody Valentine (2009)
227. I Sell the Dead
228. Dead Snow
229. Black Water
230. Confessions of a Shopaholic
231. House Bunny
232. Das Cabinet des Dr. Galigari
233. The Accidental Husband
234. 1408
235. The Accidental Husband
236. Music and Lyrics
237. Miss Potter
238. Two Weeks Notice
239. Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day
240. Sherlock Holmes
241. The Boxer
242. The House of Mirth
243. Seven Samurai
244. River Wild
245. Per qualche dollaro in più
246. Superbad
247. High Tension
248. Prey
249. Rec
250. Drive Thru
251. Franklyn
252. Harry Brown
253. Repo! The Genetic Opera
254. The Crow: City of Angels
255. The Wolfman
256. Leap Year
257. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
258. To Be or Not to Be
259. It Happened One Night
260. Die Hard 4

Ends at April 2 2011

Three more movies… (busy weekend)

Wasabi: Silly but it was expected, love Jean Reno though
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert: Never got around to see it, just seen parts of it and liked what I saw and finally I got to see if from beginning to end. Loved Bernadette.
Keeping Mum: Maggie Smith (she would be a nice Mrs Marple) is so cute, so was Emilia Fox. Cute family movie with a lot of, “shall I put the kettle on”.

Movies left: 88
Days left: 978

More crappy movies…

“Gangs of New York” was long and blah. Cameron Diaz, don’t like her… Best in the movie…? I don’t know, Jim Broadbent maybe (I really like him). I just realized I have seen three movies with him lately, “Gang of New York”, “The gathering storm” and the new Indi.

Then I saw “Van Helsing”, what the hell…? Best in the movie, easy, Kate Beckinsales corset. I thought it was based on a comic book but apparently it’s not.

Movies left: 91
Days left: 981

The gathering storm

Again, pretty dull movie, eventless. “The gathering storm” (oh, good title though) is about Winston Churchill and takes place just before the war. It would be more fun if the movie started where it ended, just when England went to war with Germany. Good acting but there was very little for them to do.

Favorite… Vanessa Redgrave and Jim Broadbent

Movies left: 93
Days left: 985

Two more movies

Swedish movie “Tur och retur” felt like a “Parent trap” rip-off and a bad one, very predictable. Then I watched “Becoming Jane” and it felt like a cheaper version of “Pride and prejudge” (2005), never really appreciated Keira Knightley before but she is a better actor than that Anne chick, and Rosamund Pike is better than Anna Maxwell Martin (still can’t believe she won BAFTA best actress over Gillian Anderson in “Bleak House” Gillian was way better!). Dull and pretty eventless (like my life), better off watching “Pride and prejudge” one more time.

Best was Julie Waters, but I just started thinking of Brenda Blethyn… All the characters were so similar to P&P and maybe that was sort of the point, to understand where the stories and people in Janes books come from but it felt like they had all sat down and watched P&P and studied it and based every facial expression from it.

Love Maggie but she was barely in the movie…

Movies left: 94
Days left: 987

Next movie I watch better be good.

First I saw “Chain of fools” and what stuck was, A) Steve Zahn looks like Michel J Fox B) Orlando Jones is pretty funny and that was it. Then I watched “The Tailor of Panama” and the only thing was, this movie sucks… Pierce was cursing and being ridicules, Jamie Lee Curtis didn’t get any space at all and somehow Geoffrey was almost invisible.

Movies left: 96
Days left: 989

Exorcist: The Beginng

Has Renny Harlin ever done a good movie? (Except for Christmas classic “Die Hard 2” but that’s not really a “good” movie, just a good old classic so it doesn’t count.) Watched “Exorcist: The Beginning” last night, just a movie with a lame scene where Isabella walks around in the dark with nothing but a towel. Is there like a rule or something that there has to be some sort of nudity in horror films?

I don’t know what makes “The Exorcist” scary but it’s one of the scariest films I have ever seen. Haven’t seen it for years and I have no plans of seeing it again. I got scared when I saw “Jaw” but I was seven so that’s understandable but “The Exorcist” still scares me. Just thinking of that late at night and I imagine my bed shaking. I’m glad this wasn’t anywhere near that because I was sitting all alone watching it with my terrace door open. The scariest thing was when my dog all of a sudden started barking and I dropped the remote in the floor and went searching for the batteries under the sofa.

No one can take Linda Blair and Max von Sydow a wonderful Fader Merrin, Stellan is fine but he’s no Max.

Apparently “The Exorcist” is based on a book… would I dare read it?

Movies left: 98

Days left: 995 (I suck at keeping track of things, I hope it's right...)

Chocolat

I didn’t know the movie was based on a book, maybe I should read it… Johnny Depp was more tempting then the chocolate they were making. The movie was pretty unexciting but it wasn’t bad, but I wouldn’t call it good either. Favorite was Judi Dench

Movies left: 99
Days left: 996

Les Amants du Flore

The movie was pretty dull, life story movies are rarely good. The actors were pretty good though. It's was about Simone de Beauvoir and Sartre, I didn't know anything about them before the movie and now I know where they are Buried. The best thing about the movie was the hairdos and the atmosphere. My favorite was Lolo.

Movies left: 100
Days left: 1000

New Challenge

101 movies in 1001 days. That seems like it’s plausible. Starts today, July 5 2008 and ends… um…2011 April 2, I think…