<p>Saw Quartet yesterday. Really enjoyed it. Since I’m not an opera fan, I didn’t realize until the end that the actors were real life opera singers/musicians from years ago. That made the whole thing more cool. There was a lonnnnng line waiting to buy tickets when we got there. DH and I (early 50’s) appeared to be the youngest in attendance!
Maggie Smith…great as usual.</p>
<p>Finally saw David Lynch’s “Eraserhead” - after all these years. It was on HuluPlus, so figured, what the heck…</p>
<p>How it got to be even a cult ‘classic’ I have no idea. Idiotic.</p>
<p>Talk about a flash from the past. I remember Eraserhead. One of the few movies I walked out on over 30 years ago.</p>
<p>Saw “Arbitrage” this weekend and found it disappointing, though Richard Gere was excellent. It just didn’t draw me in, so I was more aware of holes in the plot and minor flaws.</p>
<p>Also saw “Cabaret” again. It’s out in an excellent Blu-Ray edition for its 40th anniversary. What a great film, ahead of its time in many ways. I hadn’t fully appreciated it when I was younger. I was annoyed 40 years ago when Joel Grey won the Oscar for supporting actor instead of one of the three guys from Godfather (Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall), but now I think the Academy had it right. Same thing with the directing Oscar that year, when Bob Fosse won instead of Francis Coppola. I was surprised then but now I get it.</p>
<p>Speaking of Oscars: it’s fun that Ben Affleck is winning so many other directing awards for “Argo” after being overlooked for an Oscar - BAFTA, Golden Globe, and especially the Directors Guild award. I thought those were the guys who nominated directors for Oscars?</p>
<p>My two favorite movies that I’ve seen in 2013 so far are both love stories but couldn’t be more different!
Amour - honest and heart-wrenching
Warm Bodies - heartwarming zombie love story</p>
<p>Saw the preview of “Safe Haven” tonight. Its an adaptation of the novel by Nicholas Sparks, but there was some seriously bad editing, errors, bad set production, etc’, that made what could have been a cute movie at times downright laughable. Julianne Hough and Josh Duhamel were easy on the eyeballs, though (my DH was one of the few males in the theater). Gotta give it that.</p>
<p>Saw Amour last weekend. It might seem slow to some - true, but it is not intended as an action movie. Very honest, very moving story of a couple struggling with aging and approaching death. It makes you think about life and what love really means.</p>
<p>Saw Life of Pi Friday. Since I know Pondicherry very well, it was fun to recognize all the places.</p>
<p>[Red</a> Band Movie Trailers | You Must Be Over 17 - Yahoo! Movies](<a href=“http://movies.yahoo.com/trailers/red-band/#trance]Red”>http://movies.yahoo.com/trailers/red-band/#trance)</p>
<p>Hayyyyy</p>
<p>I saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie the other day, and it was the funnest movie I had seen in a very long time. I haven’t seen the first one, but I need to now.</p>
<p>I also watched Looper the other day(I watch old movies:)) and it had great concepts, but was stagnate for way to long in the middle of the movie.</p>
<p>Okay have now seen Pi and Amour and all the others and . . . . I think Bigelow’s was the best movie of the year that I have seen. Why? Because it is so taut and so focused and so extremely truthful to what we have at this moment about moment that changed us forever. </p>
<p>That is important and not trivial.</p>
<p>It is not a “feel good” movie as the others all are in some sense. It is honest.</p>
<p>And the hullabaloo over the waterboarding is just absolutely ridiculous. If anything, the “torture” seemed absurdly tame in proportion to what was at stake.</p>
<p>The shame here is not on the filmmakers but on the senators who really are repeating the McCarthyism . . . much as they think not.</p>
<p>Ranking the Best Pic nominees-</p>
<ol>
<li>Les Mis</li>
<li>Life of Pi</li>
<li>Zero Dark Thirty</li>
<li>Django Unchained</li>
<li>Argo</li>
<li>Silver Linings Playbook</li>
<li>Lincoln</li>
<li>Beasts of the Southern Wild</li>
<li>Amour</li>
</ol>
<p>But it’s Argo’s to lose. And I’m totally fine with that.</p>
<p>Well Ive seen Argo, Amour,Life of Pi,& I will probably see Beasts of the Southern Wild soon.</p>
<p>Bunsen, I and a friend just saw Amour at the Egyptian.
From the content of the previews I do not think we were the audience they were looking for.
But that wasnt as bad as when the young man at the box office contemplated giving us a senior discount!
;)</p>
<p>My D made the mistake of seeing Amour. I told her I didn’t think it was a great choice for her, but she wanted to see it. I think it’s the only movie she has ever left before the ending. It’s not on my radar either.</p>
<p>Maybe more fartsy than artsy, but I really enjoyed Identity Thief.</p>
<p>I only saw three of the movies nominated for Best Picture. I’d rank my three like this:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Zero Dark Thirty</p></li>
<li><p>Argo</p></li>
<li><p>Silver Linings Playbook</p></li>
</ol>
<p>
</p>
<p>I agree.</p>
<p>I’ve only seen three of the movies nominated for best picture (Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, and Beasts of the Southern Wild). I guess I will catch the rest when they come out on DVD or Netflix. I’m hoping that Lincoln wins.</p>
<p>Saw “Like Someone In Love”. Critics we generally agree with loved it. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a high score. We found it beyond boring. Walking out of the theater, pretty much the entire audience was saying “What the ****?” </p>
<p>The only best pic nominee I’ve not seen yet is Django. Seeing the nominees for best foreign film didn’t go so well, just Amour so far (though I’ve seen the trailer for War Witch enough times to make me feel like I’ve seen the film :)). Likewise documentaries–both Five Broken Cameras (on Netflix streaming) and The Gatekeepers were excellent. </p>
<p>Anyone know any buzz on The Great and Powerful Oz?</p>
<p>We loved Quartet. Directed by Dustin Hoffman with a large cast of accomplished actors, including Maggie Smith (mentioned because of Downton fame). </p>
<p>It’s set in a retirement home for musicians. Quite a bit of humor, mostly provided by Billy Connolly. Many short bits of music, mostly worked into the backgrounds. </p>
<p>Hoffman really gives his actors a chance to act within the confines of a scripted, not improvised movie.</p>