October Screening Log

1 "Terranova" (the pilot)... boy. Battlestar Galactica really wrecked the sci-fi genre didn't it? Everything else just seems, well, dumb in comparison.
2 Birthday Party for my bestie. No movies although a game was played in which you had those stickies on your forehead (like in Inglourious Basterds) and I was The Creature from the Black Lagoon. 
3 THE IDES OF MARCH. Then caught up on DVR goodies... I have mixed feelings about both "Pan Am" and "The Playboy Club" They're both obviously inspired by Mad Men but the lack of originality is not really the problem because the concepts and milieus are pretty solid. It's more the lack of period nuance and some of the casting (on each show). 

4 Okay so tonight's "Glee" was like the best episode in forever. It felt just like the lower key first half of season one, with humor, drama, dreams and good songs intermingling peacefully.
5 MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE believe the hype. Also watched that new show "American Horror Story" which was... odd. I'm glad Connie Britton's getting work but it was all over the place... as in several continents all over the place. 
6 SHAME and PINA hmmm. the hype may be a problem. but strong films nonetheless.
7-8 I attended a private party for Shame at the top of the Standard. Glitzy! I also finally caught up with WINWIN.
9 MY WEEK WITH MARILYN (reviewed)
10 HUGO (i wrote a quick note) and the latest episode of "Pan Am" (i'm absolutely in love with the actress who plays Colette)
11 THE SKIN I LIVE IN - Pedro was adorable in the press conference that followed. The film is *much* different than I was expecting. 
12-13 no movies. rough days for various reasons. I decide halfway through the second episode of American Horror Story that it definitely wasn't for me. I just don't care. at all. about the story of any of the characters and it's so messy. removed from DVR.

14 THE ARTIST and THE DESCENDANTS my last two screenings of this year's NYFF 
15 A BETTER LIFE with Demian Bichir. Has anyone seen that? I thought it clumsy in its underlining of all of its points and even worse in telegraphing all of its plot points (a shot of the lead character dropping the keys to the truck he just bought to change his life. [GROANNNN]. But Bichir is really affecting in that final scene. Tears! Also was in a light comedy mood last night so put in YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. "PUTTINONDAAAAAARIIIIIITTTTTZ"  

P.S. The best parts were all actressy. Terri Garr (♥) Cloris Leachman (♥) the late great Kahn (♥♥♥) Moment I laughed the hardest: Madeline Kahn's ♫oh sweet mystery of life i've finally found uuuuuu♪

16-18I think mostly Showtime shows (switched from HBO after watching pilot of "Enlightened" which I liked but not enough to justify keeping expensive HBO for a whole new year while waiting for True Blood) so catching up on Nurse Jackie and Dexter. 
19 WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN.
20 ANONYMOUS 
21-31 -- the longest i have gone without keeping this up. Oops. But i did kind of play hookey from the movies after the NYFF.  

September Screening Log

01-04 Spent the weekend finishing up DEXTER Season Five on DVD. Very strong season overall. I keep thinking this show should wrap up given how repetitive it HAS TO BE given its concept. But I will say this for the team: they're definitely finding many backroads to journey on to prevent it from being as monotonous as the concept suggests it could be. Dexter's characterization in general is really a strong longform arc... what television is essentially made for.
05-06 True Blood penultimate Season 4 episode "Soul of Fire" and Martin Scorsese's PUBLIC SPEAKING, a documentary on the super quotable writer who doesn't write Fran Leibowitz. Totally worth watching. Ended the night with the Norwegian faux documentary TROLL HUNTER which was fun but my god my Norwegian is rusty. I had to read subtitles the whole time. [sniffle]

07 Melancholia ... still mulling it over. But von Trier "gets" actress personae in a way too few filmmakers do; he uses Dunst's Dunstness superbly. And, yes, she's wonderful in it, too.
08-23 September has been weirdly anti-movie... I think because I vacationed and also got sick and also it's just a transition period from summer season to fall.  In this time frame I did see The Loneliest Planet (very good) and Dangerous Method (disappointing but interesting) and I saw Weekend again before interviewing the  director. 
24 MONEYBALL which really surprised me [REVIEW] but then i've always been kind of a sucker for Brad Pitt. He's not underrated as a celebrity of course but as a film star, way underappreciated. So many fine characters created over the years. Also Close Encounters of the Third Kind for some reason. 
25-28 Lots of TV. Weird that Glee swung so far back to Broadway music this year, huh? It's all Broadway all the time. Which is fine by me but I'm assuming that many of its mainstream fans are missing its top ten radio feeling. Feeling weirdly disconnected to the world this week. Also took in CARNAGE (review) and ABDUCTION (review) and A SEPARATION from Iran which is both an Oscar submission and a big ol' "wow". 
29-30 MISS BALA,  50/50 (reviewed at Towleroad)