Monday, January 18, 2010

Sound Off

What's on your mind ... BESIDES film awards? (I'm unfortunately knee deep in deadlines so I won't be able to get back to mine just yet. Hopefully tomorrow)
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36 comments:

Robert Hamer said...

Two things are swimming in my mind:

How awful The Book of Eli was (please, for your own sake, Nat, just skip it).

My PFT tomorrow.

NATHANIEL R said...

What's a PFT?

The Pretentious Know it All said...

Physical Fitness Test.

Anonymous said...

That I have to pack my things, so I can travel!

OtherRobert said...

I just resubscribed to Netflix, which I'm doubting is a good idea. The last 4 times I've been a member, they started charging me for DVDs that never arrived to my door and I had to fight them for months afterwards to get my money back. Someone (read: the rotating cavalcade of trainee mail carriers in my neighborhood) steals them (and my magazines - what do you need with my Ellery Queen and Analog and Asimov's and Weird Tales?) and I get the bill.

However, the expanded streaming section excites me. I'm at this very moment deciding whether or not to tackle Otto: or, Up with Dead People tonight. It's a film that's haunted me ever since the phrase "gay zombie orgy" first passed my eyes a good six months ago. Chances are my inner prude will come out, clutch his imaginary monocle, turn it off while saying "Well I never," and promptly be hit in the face with a banana cream pie. Or something like that. Or maybe I'll embrace the quasi-porn foreign satirical indie semi-horror film and fall in love. Who knows?

Cameron L. said...

I'm changing schools and so I'm very nervous, also when my classes begin I'll probably not have much time for my tv shows and films.

Off-topic, but Nathaniel have you ever watched HBO's Big Love? I'm so happy Sevigny won and I would like to know what's your opinion 'bout it. And if you haven't you should watch it.

Notas Sobre Creación Cultural e Imaginarios Sociales said...

That seven hours of procrastinating my workout are more than enough and I should move my lazy butt from this computer and stop fantasizing about that Tiramisu in the fridge.

Robert Hamer said...

@ Jose: I know EXACTLY how you feel.

Peter Chan said...

Two things in my mind as well:

- Jeremy Renner
- Jeremy Renn....

Crap. I guess just the one thing then.

NATHANIEL R said...

otherrobert -- i love Netflix. but htat's a shame about the mail

cameron l -- i like big love but i've only seen a handful of episodes and i think all of the actors are good on it (particularly Tripplehorn)

Bryan said...

I think I've fallen in love with OtherRobert:

"quasi-porn foreign satirical indie semi-horror film."

Need I say more?

Anonymous said...

BIG LOVE:
- Tripplehorn is amazing, very deserving of an award one of these days.

Calum Reed said...

I'm still a bit hungover from yesterday, so it's all still hazy. Watching Bronson which is somehow close to being as abstract as Hunger.

Andrew S_ said...

Final Exams.

Volvagia said...

One: Am heading my way down both the Empire "500 Greatest Movies" list and this "1001 movies to see Before You Die" list. In total, the sources probably equal around 1100 cinematic experiences to see. Currently in the midst of Leon.

Two: Playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. On that note, video games are the reason I, largely, dislike action cinema. Why watch the movie, a disassociated, boring stew, when you can actually be someone else. I PREFER watching the stuff video games CAN'T do, or, at least, not well. (Slow, teasing, careful cinema and comedy. There has not, yet, been a well executed pure comedy video game, because, well, either the comedy or the game suffers.)

Calum Reed said...

The Hurt Locker kind of felt like being in a video game...

brandz said...

the US senate race in massachusetts is heavy on mind. i live in boston and vote tomorrow. i'm hoping and praying for the democrat to win. yikes!

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2010/01/james-cameron-jason-reitman-anthony-minghella-avatar.html

Jason Reitman is a dick, dude. AND... he CAN'T write women. I don't know if anyone noticed but he didn't write JUNO. And I don't know if anyone ALSO noticed that the women are the harbingers of negativity and soulless-ness in UP IN THE AIR. So...

Amir said...

school's on my mind and tests.
film-wise, i'm really upset at last night's golden globes. it really does feel like avatar's gonna take the best picture oscar and that makes me disappointed.

George P. said...

It's been a dark and rainy day today.

Watched "Fantastic Mr. Fox" today and wondered how the original children's books are.

Sooo glad I watched "The Young Victoria" one week ago and was able to get a free movie theater poster of it to take home (Yes, Emily Blunt stares me in the face whenever I wake up).

George P. said...

Oh yeah, I got a flu shot back in December and ended up getting the full blown-out flu on New Year's Day (lasted a whole terrible week).

Got an H1N1 flu shot last Saturday, and it feels like I'm sick again...

Unknown said...

I'm listening to Madonna's "Secret" as I contemplate doing school work but will eventually decide not to do it until 2am for the sake of movie blogging, tweeting, and possibly some Facebook and Gold Derby posting

And Sleepless in Seattle was on today. Greatest romantic-comedy IMHO...

OtherRobert said...

Bryan, the film didn't even deliver what it promised. Sure, there was a lot of naked men acting as zombies rolling around each other at the climax of the film, but there were substantially more lingering shots of open roads and abandoned amusement parks than zombie on zombie action. Still worth watching. I actually rather enjoyed it.

Beau said...

New York on Saturday.

'Free for All!' the Joe Papp book by Kenneth Turan.

Kyle said...

Tobey Maguire as Bilbo Baggins sounds pretty interesting if the rumors are true, though my vote has always been for Colin Firth.

Matt T said...

My semester starts tomorrow, followed by four months of school. Boo.

The Pretentious Know it All said...

I'm so over "The Hangover" and its aggressively heteronormative politics.

Lara said...

I still can't believe what a piece of boring drivel It's Complicated was (saw it Thursday).

Janice said...

Avatar - saw it Sunday. The racial politics (a la Dances with Wolves redux?) yeah, uncomfortable. But....

WOW. Ok, it's bits of every other sci-fi actioner you've ever seen, but still the most fun I've had at a theater since - since what? The Empire Strikes Back in 1980? I kid not. Lots of "how did they do that?" , oohing, gasping.

And the WOMEN. I think a lot of guys who see the movie may not get this, but if you're a female filmgoer, finding an interesting, complicated female character in an action film (actually, in almost any film nowadays except heavy dramas) is like finding that gold doubloon on the beach. You can hope for it but it's not damn likely. Cameron may treat his wives (ex-wives) like shit, but thank goodness for the rest of us he knows how to include well-rounded female characters in his films. The strong and bitchy but ultimately loving and fiercely dedicated scientist? Check. The warrior women (human and Na'vi) who manage, unlike the men, to not lose their humanity? Check. The mother figures? Not one but three (if you count the unseen collective deity referred to as mother)? Check again.

How crazy is it that Zoe Saldane gives a much fuller, more interesting performance here (as essentially a digitally animated character) than she could as the one-dimensional Uhura in Star Trek? (who seems like a nod to strong women but ends up just functioning as a love interest to the two men?)

And of course - SIGOURNEY forever.

Don't wait so long the next time, James, ok?

gduncan said...

Does anyone else think that these Ellen Page Cisco ads are ridiculous? She just got her oscar nod and now she's doing commercials for a tech company?? It breaks my heart :( It's waaay to early in her career to be doing these types of commercials. I hope that she'll able to continue having a successful acting career.

Paul Outlaw said...

Making theatre on a shoestring budget. Can suck.

TylerPratt1 said...

three things are on my mind right now

1. Alec Baldwin is amazing in Malice, that "I am God" speech has to be one of the best film monologues off all time.

2. Whatever happened to Peter Krause? He was so wonderful in Six Feet Under, yet has done nothing of note since? And while on Six Feet Under, Im confident in saying it is the best television drama of this last decade.

3. Am I the only person who thought George Clooney was phenominal in Up in The Air? It seems like everyone is rooting against him in favor of Bridges, when I think we all know that Crazy Heart is not his greatest role, nor is it the best acting showcase of the year.

www.theoscarhut.blogspot.com

Paul Outlaw said...

2. Whatever happened to Peter Krause? He was so wonderful in Six Feet Under, yet has done nothing of note since?

Broadway, Dirty Sexy Money, and Parenthood. which premieres on NBC on March 2.

NATHANIEL R said...

Janice -- you've hit on another reason i've been a fan of James Cameron since 1984. I L-O-V-E that he loves strong women. I'm not trying to be an ass and dumbly assume that most hetero men have no use for women at all... but it boggles my mind sometimes how marginal they are to so much storytelling. It's as if they aren't part of the (hetero male) imagination which brings us stories.

I'm speaking very generally of course. I just find it really weird.

Mat said...

Soomething a bit different from awards season: Quarantine and The Strangers. The connection being that they're both horror movies that got fairly well reviewed, but I despised both of them. I'm usually fairly close to critical consensus (apart from with obviously divisive movies, like Hard Candy and Dancer in the Dark, which I love), but I just can't understand what people loved about them. Can anyone explain?