listersgirl (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
listersgirl) wrote2007-06-25 09:32 pm
listersgirl) wrote2007-06-25 09:32 pm
Entry tags:
Movies
This...is a very long list of movies, some of which I saw so long ago I can barely remember them! Oops.
Another Gay Movie: A parody of American Pie with 4 gay male friends. Despite the complete over-the-topness, I actually thought it was quite funny in parts - completely ridiculous, but definitely funny.
Art School Confidential: Why did everyone think this was so terrible? I mean, it's not a great movie, it's possibly not even a good movie, but it's not the worst thing I've ever seen. And the first half was pretty entertainingly cutting.
Black Books series 1: Funny! Maybe not as funny as I was expecting, given the waxing rhapsodic that has gone on around me, but stick this abrasive book-seller, his neurotic next-shop neighbour, and a stressed out accountant in a shop together, and the results will definitely be amusing.
Brick: I didn't enjoy this as much I as thought I would, which is sad. I loved the idea, and the visuals, and the general concept, but the actual storyline didn't grab me.
Clerks 2: I can't help it, I love Kevin Smith.
Dead Like Me seasons 1 & 2: This is an awesome show. Go watch it now! It's about a 18(?)-year-old girl who dies in a freak accident, and ends up becoming a Grim Reaper, one of the not-quite-dead who take souls and help people to their afterlife. But really, watch it for the awesome interplay between the Reapers. Brilliant.
The Falls: From the Hot Docs festival. A documentary about Niagara Falls and the environmental effects, with a lot of time spent on the horrendous health issues that occurred in neighbourhoods around the area. Not quite what I was expecting -- I thought it was going to be more about the kitsch culture -- but not bad. Depressing, though, which was totally the theme of my Hot Docs festival experience.
High School Musical: Laaaaaame. I mean, I didn't think it was going to be high art, but given how popular it is I thought it would at least be cheesy entertainment. Meh.
Imagine Me & You: A highly entertaining romantic movie about a woman who, at her wedding (to a man), meets and starts falling in love with the woman who did her flowers. Enjoyable.
Kicking and Screaming: There are some movies, movies that define a moment in time, that I think have to actually be seen at that moment in time. Not that I didn't enjoy this movie (which, by the way, is not the Will Ferrell movie), but it really didn't stick with me at all, which was disappointing (by which I mean that I was disappointed in me, because I had high hopes, and I think it might have become one of my favourite movies if I'd seen it at a different point in my life).
Kike Like Me: From the Hot Docs festival. A man travels around the world, trying to discover what it means to be Jewish. The hook is that he is very ambiguous about whether he is Jewish himself, and whenever people ask if he is, he asks them why they want to know, or whether it makes a difference. Some very good bits, some bits where I wanted to smack him, and an extremely annoying audience who felt the need to punctuate every moment on the screen with their own personal stories.
Kinky Boots: Light, feel-good fun. Totally enjoyable, completely forgettable.
Last Call at the Gladstone Hotel: From the Hot Docs festival. The Gladstone Hotel has been an institution in Toronto for many years -- a run-down neighbourhood bar and a long-term live-in hotel. And then it was purchased by a company who specialize in buying up run-down properties and turning them into upscale/trendy/arty locations. The people who bought it didn't know there were long-term residents, though, and this was the story of the many phases, and many owners, of the Gladstone revitalization. It was an interesting piece, not particularly well-filmed, but with a clear vision and purpose (the filmmakers had spent a lot of time in the bar there). It wasn't a cold-eyed impartial look, but it also didn't demonize the new owners, and the interviews with the long-time staff and residents were heartbreaking.
Life on Mars seasons 1 & 2: Hello, awesome. A cop from 2007 is hit by a car and wakes up in 1973, not knowing what happened. So he tries to fit in at his station, while trying to get back to his own time. So much fun, even considering the fact that I'm very over the 70s right now. Also, John Simm is wonderful.
Milk in the Land: From the Hot Docs festival. Oh, I had such high hopes for this. I thought it was going to be a clever expose of the milk and dairy industry, and it was, sort of, except minus the "clever" part. The first half, which looked at the forces that caused milk to become the all-American drink, and how milk was pushed by politicians, was pretty good, but the second half had far too many long, long scenes of cows grazing. With no voice over, even.
MI-5 season 4: Despite the changes in personnel, this show is still awesome. Awesome!
Souvenirs of Canada: Douglas Coupland put together an art installation, creating a house with all things mundanely Canadian. Neat stuff.
Thank You for Smoking: This was excellent. I think it's been long enough since I read the book that I didn't notice any details that were changed/left out, but the snarky feel was all there. Watch this movie!
Winter's Journey: From the Hot Docs festival. This was the first one we went to, and it was preceded by a fantastic short made up of answering machine messages this guy got over maybe 20 years, accompanied by photos of the people from the appropriate time. And then this, which was about a Finnish man who was trying to make it as an opera singer. It was both depressingly bleak (couldn't the filmmaker have included any shots of the guy having fun with his friends, even if it was just him drinking beers and bitching with other opera singers? or even had us meet his family, who were supposedly the reason he was able to keep going?) and not very interesting filmically.
Wordplay: And then after all those docs I watched this one on DVD, which took a potentially boring subject and made it interesting through good filmmaking. Well done! You should all watch this doc on crossword competitions, for real.
Another Gay Movie: A parody of American Pie with 4 gay male friends. Despite the complete over-the-topness, I actually thought it was quite funny in parts - completely ridiculous, but definitely funny.
Art School Confidential: Why did everyone think this was so terrible? I mean, it's not a great movie, it's possibly not even a good movie, but it's not the worst thing I've ever seen. And the first half was pretty entertainingly cutting.
Black Books series 1: Funny! Maybe not as funny as I was expecting, given the waxing rhapsodic that has gone on around me, but stick this abrasive book-seller, his neurotic next-shop neighbour, and a stressed out accountant in a shop together, and the results will definitely be amusing.
Brick: I didn't enjoy this as much I as thought I would, which is sad. I loved the idea, and the visuals, and the general concept, but the actual storyline didn't grab me.
Clerks 2: I can't help it, I love Kevin Smith.
Dead Like Me seasons 1 & 2: This is an awesome show. Go watch it now! It's about a 18(?)-year-old girl who dies in a freak accident, and ends up becoming a Grim Reaper, one of the not-quite-dead who take souls and help people to their afterlife. But really, watch it for the awesome interplay between the Reapers. Brilliant.
The Falls: From the Hot Docs festival. A documentary about Niagara Falls and the environmental effects, with a lot of time spent on the horrendous health issues that occurred in neighbourhoods around the area. Not quite what I was expecting -- I thought it was going to be more about the kitsch culture -- but not bad. Depressing, though, which was totally the theme of my Hot Docs festival experience.
High School Musical: Laaaaaame. I mean, I didn't think it was going to be high art, but given how popular it is I thought it would at least be cheesy entertainment. Meh.
Imagine Me & You: A highly entertaining romantic movie about a woman who, at her wedding (to a man), meets and starts falling in love with the woman who did her flowers. Enjoyable.
Kicking and Screaming: There are some movies, movies that define a moment in time, that I think have to actually be seen at that moment in time. Not that I didn't enjoy this movie (which, by the way, is not the Will Ferrell movie), but it really didn't stick with me at all, which was disappointing (by which I mean that I was disappointed in me, because I had high hopes, and I think it might have become one of my favourite movies if I'd seen it at a different point in my life).
Kike Like Me: From the Hot Docs festival. A man travels around the world, trying to discover what it means to be Jewish. The hook is that he is very ambiguous about whether he is Jewish himself, and whenever people ask if he is, he asks them why they want to know, or whether it makes a difference. Some very good bits, some bits where I wanted to smack him, and an extremely annoying audience who felt the need to punctuate every moment on the screen with their own personal stories.
Kinky Boots: Light, feel-good fun. Totally enjoyable, completely forgettable.
Last Call at the Gladstone Hotel: From the Hot Docs festival. The Gladstone Hotel has been an institution in Toronto for many years -- a run-down neighbourhood bar and a long-term live-in hotel. And then it was purchased by a company who specialize in buying up run-down properties and turning them into upscale/trendy/arty locations. The people who bought it didn't know there were long-term residents, though, and this was the story of the many phases, and many owners, of the Gladstone revitalization. It was an interesting piece, not particularly well-filmed, but with a clear vision and purpose (the filmmakers had spent a lot of time in the bar there). It wasn't a cold-eyed impartial look, but it also didn't demonize the new owners, and the interviews with the long-time staff and residents were heartbreaking.
Life on Mars seasons 1 & 2: Hello, awesome. A cop from 2007 is hit by a car and wakes up in 1973, not knowing what happened. So he tries to fit in at his station, while trying to get back to his own time. So much fun, even considering the fact that I'm very over the 70s right now. Also, John Simm is wonderful.
Milk in the Land: From the Hot Docs festival. Oh, I had such high hopes for this. I thought it was going to be a clever expose of the milk and dairy industry, and it was, sort of, except minus the "clever" part. The first half, which looked at the forces that caused milk to become the all-American drink, and how milk was pushed by politicians, was pretty good, but the second half had far too many long, long scenes of cows grazing. With no voice over, even.
MI-5 season 4: Despite the changes in personnel, this show is still awesome. Awesome!
Souvenirs of Canada: Douglas Coupland put together an art installation, creating a house with all things mundanely Canadian. Neat stuff.
Thank You for Smoking: This was excellent. I think it's been long enough since I read the book that I didn't notice any details that were changed/left out, but the snarky feel was all there. Watch this movie!
Winter's Journey: From the Hot Docs festival. This was the first one we went to, and it was preceded by a fantastic short made up of answering machine messages this guy got over maybe 20 years, accompanied by photos of the people from the appropriate time. And then this, which was about a Finnish man who was trying to make it as an opera singer. It was both depressingly bleak (couldn't the filmmaker have included any shots of the guy having fun with his friends, even if it was just him drinking beers and bitching with other opera singers? or even had us meet his family, who were supposedly the reason he was able to keep going?) and not very interesting filmically.
Wordplay: And then after all those docs I watched this one on DVD, which took a potentially boring subject and made it interesting through good filmmaking. Well done! You should all watch this doc on crossword competitions, for real.