<p>Lincoln is having a special screening on Monday at the NY Film Festival. Deff going to try and get tickets.</p>
<p>Saw Arbitrage. I have to say – no one in the movie was having any fun. Not Richard Gere, or Susan Sarandon, whose blue sweater was almost falling off her shoulder exposing way too much flesh in her “work out with daughter” scene; not Tim Roth who was chasing after Richard Gere; and not Brit Marling who refused to sit down because she’d get dirty or wrinkled. There was no “greed is good” moments where you love/hate the villain. For pure NY sexy drama, Perfect Murder (Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow) was much more fun.</p>
<p>Tree of life just arrived at my house. I didn’t order it, but D puts random things in the Netflix queue and before I remember to cancel it, another one has arrived.
I like Malick though.
& I have even liked Sean Penn on screen on occasion.
He was good in the Falcon & the Snowman.</p>
<p>Oh God no, not Tree of Life. In fact, Sean Penn is probably the worst part of the movie. Though of course the entire movie is atrocious.</p>
<p>Except for… [Universe</a> Tree Of Life (2011) Universe Sequence HD Movie Clip - YouTube](<a href=“Universe Tree Of Life (2011) Universe Sequence HD Movie Clip - YouTube”>Universe Tree Of Life (2011) Universe Sequence HD Movie Clip - YouTube)</p>
<p>^I liked The Lives of Others a lot. And nice to have an excuse to listen to something in German.</p>
<p>^ check out North Face (not to be confused with the clothing brand). A movie in German about two climbers ascent of the Eiger in the '30s.
[Amazon.com:</a> North Face (English Subtitled): Benno Furmann, Florian Lukas, Johanna Wokalek, Georg Friedrich: Movies & TV](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/North-Face-English-Subtitled/dp/B003V9OCIS/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1349404487&sr=1-1&keywords=north+face]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/North-Face-English-Subtitled/dp/B003V9OCIS/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1349404487&sr=1-1&keywords=north+face)</p>
<p>Has anyone seen the ad for Sean Penn’s new movie “This Must be the Place”? He looks like a cross between Robert Smith of the Cure and the lady from Coffee Talk on Saturday Night Live. I must see it. </p>
<p>I loved him in several films, especially Milk and Mystic River.</p>
<p>It’s fun sharing the Netflix queue with D though. She watches a lot
More documentaries than I do.
The Quantum Activist ( Amit Goswami)
Beyond Belief, about an adopted teen trying to contact her bio mom.
Et al
& Dr who.</p>
<p>We rented The 5 Year Engagement. Not an unpleasant waste of time, which is faint praise. Emily Blunt is good but the material is not worth the effort. Jason Segel and his writing partner didn’t manage to create a connection between the audience and the characters. </p>
<p>BTW, I loved Tree of Life, except for the silly dinosaur sequences. I love Malick’s movies, from Badlands through Days of Heaven to Thin Red Line. The internal monologues in Tree of Life first showed up in Thin Red Line. In the earlier picture, they helped capture the mixed emotions the soldiers on Guadalcanal felt as well as the artistic point that you can only capture a small portion of what happens, both on the surface and on the inside. I love the final scene with the surviving men heading off in a landing craft as the camera moves from man to man each thinking his own thoughts that you can hear. Tree of Life gets into the heads and emotions of people. You hear the thoughts. I thought those scenes were wonderful though I had issues with Jessica Chastain’s youth and beauty as the mom. This is Malick’s way of taking the pictures from Days of Heaven, which had minimal dialogue, and expanding it without adding dialogue because the words are not spoken.</p>
<p>Shoot, I thought “The Lives of Others” was going to be on netflix instant. I’ll add my thumbs up. D1 and D2 were far too young to see it when it came out, but they’d be ready now. D1 is taking German at school, so this might be a good care package for her. </p>
<p>Oldies and goodies: the spouse and I just watched “Bullitt” (Steve McQueen). Worth it just for the 100 mph car chase through San Francisco. I can’t imagine that any movie production would be able to have its star do his/her own stunt driving nowadays. Not as oldie: “The Bank Job”, about the 1970’s era vault robbery in London, supposedly carried out in part to retrieve compromising photos of a member of the British royal family.</p>
<p>A couple of weeks ago, I saw a preview of The Oranges, which is getting released today. It is a dumbed-down, TV-sitcom version of American Beauty – all about the search for happiness and meaning in the emotional wasteland of America’s suburbs. And of course the search for happiness and meaning translates into an affair between a 50-something man and a woman in her early 20s. To make things a little creepier, she is the daughter of his neighbors and best friends, the former best friend of his living-at-home daughter, and the crush-object of his successfully launched son. But, since this is TV sitcom-land, the movie (unlike American Beauty) does not embrace that creepiness at all, and the lovers are presented sympathetically as kindred souls misunderstood by pretty much everyone else around them.</p>
<p>I really hated the movie, in case you can’t tell. One cliche after another, and filmed so as to come across perfectly well on a smartphone screen, all alternating head shots.</p>
<p>In the interest of fairness, I will say that the people with whom I saw the movie – not including my wife, who would have walked out of the theater at the first kiss – were a group of single women ages 28-50, and they all liked it a lot more than I did. They didn’t mind the central premise, because the 50-something protagonist is played by Hugh Laurie, and all of them said they would be happy to have an affair with him if given the chance. They were disappointed that the movie shied away from presenting any steamy sex involving Hugh Laurie.</p>
<p>It is also fair to note that the TV-like script had some funny scenes and clever laugh lines, and that the famous TV actors all did a great job. It IS a great cast, not just Laurie, but also Catherine Keener, Oliver Platt, Alison Janney, Leighton Meester, Alia Shawkrat, and Adam Brody. Meester especially impressed me – I had never seen her do anything more difficult than looking pretty, and she made her completely nonsensical character almost believable as a substantial human being.</p>
<p>If you really want to see Laurie and Meester making out, wait for the video – that’s its natural state.</p>
<p>I second the vote for “Looper”. I usually don’t go for super violent movies but the sci fi premise was interesting and I am a sucker for Bruce Wiilis movies. It was really entertaining without being silly. Cast was great. A fun ride.</p>
<p>I didn’t like American Beauty, but although the premise of The Oranges sounds yucky, it also sounds believable.
I like Hugh Laurie, but having seen him as Bertie Wooster so often it is pretty hard to see him as a sexpot. ( I enjoy & was familiar with most of other actors except Leighton, so I had to look her up, did you know she was in two episodes of House, in which she played a young girl with a crush on him? )</p>
<p>Saw “The Master”. Pretty tortuous to sit thru.</p>
<p>DH says it’s about the start of Scientology. Whatever.</p>
<p>Going to go see “Won’t Back Down”.</p>
<p>Whenever the NYTimes instructs me not to see a film I am always sure to go see it.</p>
<p>I saw the preview of The Oranges – it looked dumb, and I don’t find Hugh Laurie all that appealing. JHS – what made you actually see it? Thanks for the review – just confirms what I thought.</p>
<p>We’re going to see the Diana Vreeland movie, then tomorrow, I’ll try to see Pitch Perfect.</p>
<p>During the week, at night, I watch instant movies that cost $0.00 on Amazon Prime. I watched 7 seconds of Morning Glory; turned it off. Watched 10 seconds of True Grit; decided to watch it another day. Ended up watching Mean Girls (for the 2nd time). It’s probably the last movie where Lindsay Lohan was appealing, and I like Tina Fey (as a writer and actor). </p>
<p>sewhappy – tell us how Won’t Back Down is – I liked the preview – it’s on my list.</p>
<p>Looper sounds interesting & I really like Joesph Gordon Levitt. ( Ive seen him in everything except Dark Knight rises, and although i didnt care for 500 days of Summer, I liked everything else ) However the same theatre is also showing Pitch Perfect and while I don’t usually see " chick flicks" in the theatre, I love Elizabeth Banks.
Searching for sugar man, about an " unknown" musician who is a huge star in South Africa also sounds interesting.
Have to see what we are in the mood for by the time we get done with chores.</p>
<p>Saw Searching for Sugar Man at a film fest a few months ago. It’s an amazing story, and Rodriguez’s story is really an interesting one. I had been living in Australia at the height of his South African popularity (70s) - I was a teenager; my mom was dating a South African man who had albums by Rodriguez in his vast collection. As the documentary was unfolding I was able to sing the lyrics to several songs (amazing my friend) and I never realized THAT was who this film was about. It came full circle for me. I only wish my mom was alive so I could share the film with her.</p>
<p>Not a movie actually, but a concert. Went to see Blondie this weekend, and more anachronistic than the spirited Debby Harry were the legions of us Medicare and near-Medicare-its frolicking in the pit. No Woodstock aromas permeated the air, though. While not as great as the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac performances I went to in the last few years, the concert itself was pretty good, but they should have kept the drums, guitars, and keyboard a bit lower so that Debby’s voice wasn’t overshadowed.</p>
<p>Blondie sounds fun!
We went to a show Friday night, ( for my birthday and because the venue had seating, even though otherwise I don’t like it as it is very overpriced- one drink- one coffee & valet parking was $35) our table ran along the stage, so great seats, but it was very sad because outside of playing with the Seattle symphony, this was the bands last show as the lead singer is going to try a solo career. It was a good show, but my leg was hurting and as we were all the way in front, the servers didnt make it down there too much. Also being right in front at a seated show, made me feel self conscious about standing up very often. I did however get a set list, & had fun bantering with the band. ( I’ve been
following her and the Dogs for about six years)
She is soon going to be in Ca.</p>
<p>[Star</a> Anna](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Anna]Star”>Star Anna - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>H and I didn’t go to a movie, we went to bed early and watched an episode of Sherlock, that H hadn’t seen from the first season. ( the blind banker)
Maybe we will go see Looper today, but the weather has been so gorgeous that it is hard to do anything inside!</p>
<p>Interesting, I see that Star’s original lead guitarist left to go back to school, now he is a prof at Central Washington University!</p>
<p>I used to see Blondie in clubs. Very professional. The shortest band ever. I mean heightwise. Debbie sang right on the pitches and the band listened to each other instead of bashing away. The behavior of guys in the crowd was often disgusting; alcohol and a very attractive woman on stage a few feet away with no security in between was not a good combination. One could argue they had the first hip hop hit on the charts.</p>