Sunday good movie bi-fecta

[Denim Gremlin]

yesterday I saw Wendy and Lucy, it was really good but super sad and a documentary called Scott Walker: 30th century man, it was interesting but super hard to listen to.

[Martin]

Watched Baraka in full HD. Good lordy. But tone down the wailing newage bullshit next time, will you, Fricke?

[SJK]

I watched Malcolm X by Spike Lee yesterday. It was an adaptation from the autobiography of the same name. The book was amazing, I couldn't put it down. The movie was good...not as powerful as the book. The story of Malcolm X should have been made into a mini series or something along those lines. The account of his life is too difficult to squeeze into three hours.

[Emily]

I saw New Jersey Drive - which is worth adding to the list of good movies set in Jersey.

I also rented Inside Deep Throat from Netflix, thinking it was about Watergate. It was not. But, it was historically interesting nevertheless.

[iAmBaronVonTito]

i watched Summer of Sam and Fellini: I'm A Born Liar.

[Gagneaux]

I watched Malcolm X by Spike Lee yesterday. It was an adaptation from the autobiography of the same name. The book was amazing, I couldn't put it down. The movie was good...not as powerful as the book. The story of Malcolm X should have been made into a mini series or something along those lines. The account of his life is too difficult to squeeze into three hours.

that's one of my all-time favorite movies.

[dave from knoxville]

I had a nice bifecta between peeking in at football games; Walter Matthau, beautifully understated in the noir-y Charlie Varrick, followed by Stanwyk and Henry Fonda in The Lady Eve.

[Chris L]

I had a nice bifecta between peeking in at football games; Walter Matthau, beautifully understated in the noir-y Charlie Varrick.

I watched another movie on Sunday where Matthau is one step ahead of everybody the whole time:  Ronald Neame's Hopscotch, where he plays a CIA agent who goes on the run and starts mailing out chapters of his tell-all memoir one at a time to get back at his boss (Ned Beatty).   It's pretty much as breezy a comedy-thriller as you'll find and probably one of Criterion's most minor releases, but it's worth a look. 

[Sarah]

Is The Lady Eve the one where she says "on account of because" all the time?  Or the one on the boat?

EDIT:  I see it's the one on the boat.  The other is Ball of Fire, which I've always liked.

[samir]

My (Saturday) bi-fecta involved Frost/Nixon which I mentioned elsewhere, and Religulous, which my parents wanted to see, and we all agreed afterwards was a bag of shit.

[Sarah]

Today so far I have watched The Golden Compass (2007) and The Brain Eaters (1958).  I impressed myself by recognizing Ian McShane's voice (as the bear king) inthe former and correctly identifying the star of the latter, Ed Nelson, as the actor who played Dr. Rossi on Peyton Place.  I did not, however, recognize Leonard Nimoy (as Nemoy) in The Brain Eaters, though I noticed the name in the opening credits and meant to look out for him.  In my defense, I did fall asleep repeatedly during the movie's running time of an hour and a quarter (with commercials).   

[buffcoat]

I watched The Killing Fields yesterday.  Good movie - back when a strongly anti-war movie could still be restrained and tolerable and didn't feel the need to be so smugly self-righteous.  Sad coda learning about the fate of Hang S. Ngor.

Is it just me or are there no good, thoughtful movies aimed at a large audience anymore?  All of them have to dig into the bag of hack tricks - it started to come on in the late 90s maybe and is now entirely omnipresent. 

For just two examples, see Crash and Babel.  Valueless as executed.

[theyellowchair]

I watched The Killing Fields yesterday.  Good movie - back when a strongly anti-war movie could still be restrained and tolerable and didn't feel the need to be so smugly self-righteous.  Sad coda learning about the fate of Hang S. Ngor.

Is it just me or are there no good, thoughtful movies aimed at a large audience anymore?  All of them have to dig into the bag of hack tricks - it started to come on in the late 90s maybe and is now entirely omnipresent. 

For just two examples, see Crash and Babel.  Valueless as executed.

You're absolutely right. Well put.

[Sarah]

So I watched Babel today.  What a heavy-handed, manipulative, contrived, pointless, portentous piece of crap--and, yes, very reminiscent of Crash.  I mean, last week I saw The Darjeeling Limited, and, while it didn't particularly impress me, I think it dealt more meaningfully with alienation, cultural difference, grief, and stupidity.

On a brighter (?) note, I also watched The Proposition today.  It was good.  And very handsomely photographed.  Must say the rape scene reminded me a lot of Clockwork Orange.  Although it was way more funny, of course.

Tomorrow, I tackle Ghosts . . . of the Civil Dead.  And perhaps This Is Britain.

I'm starting the new year off jolly.

[erika]

I watched Back to the Future. Again.