So, what happened, was:
– A couple months ago, we lost our internet, and I was riding the rails of rogue internetting, which is, by my estimation, the most dangerous game
– I didn’t stop watching movies, nor did I drop out of my poor man’s book club
– I moved. Then I got internet again
– I got a hand-written letter from who I’ll kindly describe as a “Glass City super fan” (and it wasn’t even a death threat!)
– I remembered I had a blog
So, welcome back me!
Unlike some folks, I *can* go home again.
God, how to begin? I’m not gonna like, review everything I’ve seen in the last 2 months. That’d be insane (even by normal metrics). But, I do feel obligated to keep up with keeping up, so, I’ll do this instead:
SHOTGUN REVIEWS (titles in red = film club):
| Looper | B | 2012 | Rian Johnson | Not as good as Brother’s Bloom, still well done |
| Evil Dead | B | 2013 | Fede Alvarez | Way more fun than it should have been |
| My Left Foot | B+ | 1989 | Jim Sheridan | Doesn’t hit you over the head that it’s Oscar bait |
| Wreck-It Ralph | B | 2012 | Rich Moore | About as good as “Tangled” |
| The Master | A- | 2012 | P.T. Anderson | Need to see it again, but definitely good times |
| Prometheus | B | 2012 | Ridley Scott | Better than I thought it’d be, not as great as I wanted it to be |
| Paranormal Activity 4 | D | 2012 | Henry Joost | Hilariously awful. They’re not even trying anymore. |
| The Man with the Iron Fists | C | 2012 | RZA | Sadly not great |
| Frankenweenie | B- | 2012 | Tim Burton | Better than “Corpse Bride”? That’s about as nice as I can be. |
| Midnight Cowboy | A- | 1969 | John Schlesinger | Really great, obviously |
| ParaNorman | B+ | 2012 | Chris Butler | Better than “Frankenweenie” |
| Argo | B | 2012 | Ben Affleck | Yeah it’s fine and stuff. |
| Dredd | C+ | 2012 | Pete Travis | Solid action for the budget it had. Might be more lenient ’cause I watched it while folding laundry |
| The Host | C+ | 2006 | Joon-ho Bong | Not sure why this is so highly rated. Seemed schizophrenic but had some decent aspects |
| Square Grouper | C+ | 2011 | Billy Corben | Really should’ve been more engrossing given the subject matter |
| Naked | B | 1993 | Mike Leigh | Preachy and personal, but great performances and well structured |
| Ponyo | B+ | 2008 | Hayao Miyazaki | Really charming. Ponyo > The Little Mermaid |
| The Amazing Spider-Man | C+ | 2012 | Marc Webb | Everything that wasn’t him in high school was fine. Which was about 55% of the movie |
| The Long Goodbye | A | 1973 | Robert Altman | Brilliant subversion of 40’s noir, really a must-see |
| The Imposter | B+ | 2012 | Bart Layton | Surprisingly very good, the only draw-back was the use of some re-enactments and style choices |
| Afro Samurai: Ressurection | C+ | 2009 | Fuminori Kizaki | I’m sure the series was fine, and at least it was pretty to look at |
| Election | A | 1999 | Alexander Payne | Glad I finally saw it, very funny, layered film |
| All-Star Superman | C | 2011 | Sam Liu | About as average as average things get. |
There, win-win. I guess.
But yeah, the important take-away here is that I moved, which for the time being, means I have way too much time on my hands. Being isolated away from my friends and extended family living here in northern Illinois, I’m pretty landlocked. What helps keep the cabin fever at bay, though, is my new assortment of movie choices. We have cable TV again, which means some movie channels, plus On Demand. Oh and we got Netflix back (we were missing it for a while). So, too many choices.
Oh in case you were wondering, my choices in the film club there were Midnight Cowboy and The Long Goodbye. I’d say I won this thing a long time ago, but this past stretch has really sealed the deal. Not that it’s a competition.
Sometimes, you get a winner even when there’s no competition, if you know what I mean.
The Glass City 