February 2011 Screening Log

1-3 Mostly TV. Must get back to the movies. Cannot consist on diet of random clips from Oscar nominees for research and writing much longer.
4-10 Wow. I've done a terrible job of keeping up these screening logs. I've mostly continued to watch clips of Oscar nominees to refresh those writeups. But I also watched 101 DALMATIONS (1961) for the first time in well over 2 decades. Fun but I forgot how slim it was.

Tahar checks out Channing's parts. Yep, still gorgeous.

11 Went to see the boys in THE EAGLE (my review at Towleroad) at a matinee. And by boys I mean Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell and Tahar Rahim all of whom I am somewhat fond of. and I was surprised at how many people were there. Full house. So I'm a little surprised the box office wasn't better.
13 Grammys and BAFTAs click on the titles for the related live and tape delayed posts.
14 I gave the American version of Being Human a few chances but it's almost as boring as the British version so I've dropped it from the DVR.

15 Switched cable service from Time Warner to Verizon. The picture quality so much better. Inaugural watching included No Ordinary Family which is till terrible and yet I love three of the characters -- two of the girls and the reformed (?) supervillian -- it's that damn weakness for superheroes!) and then Glee's horrifying Bieber Fever episode. Can I just say right here and now that it's GROSS that the nation keeps trying to tell me that a 16 year old who looks like he is 12 is "sexy". G-R-O-S-S. Glee, please stick to Broadway showstoppers and fun pop songs like Cee lo's or retro classics like Journey and stop trying to chase every-single-thing that's popular at any given moment. I mean the best moment was totally the Rachel/Mercedes "Diva Off" with "Take Me As I Am" from Rent. Glee, you're a fun show but you REEK of desperation, which is so weird since you're more popular than any high school football quarterback or head cheerleader ever was. Please relax and enjoy yourself! Just let Lea Michele's jawdropping voice, Harry Chum Jr's amazing (physical) grace, and Heather Morris's comedy do their collective thang -- i name check those three because they always seem to be the things that take my breath away -- and step back and breathe.

16-18 TV but actually not much of it. 30 Rock of course with a Murder on the Orient Express joke episode and Southland which is so vastly underrated. I love Regina King more and more on that show.
19 Tried to watch Strange Interlude (1932) with Norma Shearer and Clark Gable. The Boyfriend got 5 minutes into it and he was shooting me death glares like... 'I am not watching one more Norma Shearer movie. What's wrong with you?' So instead...

Double Feature: Gun Crazy (1950) which was crazy exciting and The Planet of the Apes (1968) which was just crazy. This is an actual shot from the movie!

LOL. Charlton Heston is so camp.

20-21 Watched Liza Minelli, Gene Hackman and Burt Reynolds in Lucky Lady (1975) for the first time. I'll have more to say on this one for sure. It was fun and then sexy and then incoherent but always a time capsule of 70s filmmaking attempting 30s light farce. Also watched RuPaul's Drag Race and had the terrible misfortune of seeing the WORST impressions of Cher and Joan Crawford that I've ever seen. Yes, I'm having a week that's a bit... uh... light in the loafers. I mean, moreso than usual.
22-23 The regular TV shows. Loved the Glee drinking episode and description of types of drunks but I feel like I blacked out right in the middle of the last episode of No Ordinary Family or was swallowed hole by the largest plot hole of all time. The writing is always sloppy but there was no explanation for how they finally figured out that whatshisname was a bad guy and had erased memories. Totally out of the blue.
24 Xavier's Dolan's Heartbeats for the second time (liked it even more) which really should have kept the French title IMAGINARY LOVERS. Reviewed for Towleroad.
25-28 Hmmm. The only thing I remember is OSCAR NIGHT - LIVE BLOGGING.

January 2011 Screening Log

This is probably ill-advised but I thought I'd record what I watched every day this year. Just as an experiment or a diary in list form.

1 Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy, 2010) B+
2 True Grit (Coen Bros, 2010) second viewing up a tick to "B"
Cyrus (Duplass Bros, 2010) second viewing B-
Solitary Man (Brian Koppelman & David Levien, 2010), partial viewing. Shut it off when Michael Douglas started an affair with an 18 year old and referred to Mary Louise Parker's body as "thick". Not for me. (I had no idea until I just typed this that the theme of the day was two. As in all films were watched on the second day of January, there were two second viewings and all three films were directed by duos.)
3 n/a
4 No Ordinary Family "No Ordinary Friends" C- I don't know why I watch this show. I couldn't tell you.
5 The Comeback "Valerie Does Another Classic Leno" B+ (I'm still on that Lisa Kudrow binge)
Modern Family "Slow Down Your Neighbors" A/A-
It just occurs to me that in a couple of seasons they're going to have to find a gifted Asian child actress to take over the role of "Lily". That's not going to be easy. This cast has no weak spots so the child will have to be hilarious.

6 n/a
7 cabaret show at The Duplex
8 The Princess Diaries (Garry Marshall, 2001). D+
First half with back turned (was computering). Julie Andrews and Anne Hathaway have such distinct voices. What was Marshall smoking while directing? Bizarre everything: camera work, acting, staging, blocking.
9 Tangled (Greno & Howard, 2010) 3rd *partial* viewing for this writeup.
Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, 1975) A-/B+
Unsettling/gorgeous. But reminded me most of inchoate Lynchian dread through a hazy Sofia Coppola so it must have been an influential film.
10 When We Leave (Feo Aladag) B
Germany's Oscar submission

11 Rabbit Hole, The Ghost Writer, A Prophet *partial 2nd and 3rd viewings* for these writeups
No Ordinary Family "No Ordinary Brother" D
12 Downton Abbey (Pt 1. PBS Miniseries) B
Modern Family "Our Children, Ourselves" A-/B+
(the bit about the 3D movie was priceless)
13,14 More partial 2nd and 3rd viewings for most of the top ten writeups.
14 BFCA (for live blogging)
15 For Colored Girls (Tyler Perry, 2010) A/C/F (sometimes all at once!)
A total schizo mess -- whose bright idea was it to keep flipping between the dynamic theatrical verse and banal dialogue you might hear on subpar TV? -- but a couple of A grade performances rescue it. I have to echo what Guy Lodge has been saying: someone get Macy Gray her own Precious level "Mary Jones" part. Let's see what she can do over 2 hours.

16 Golden Globes (for 5 hours of live blogging)
17 Golden Globes ...2nd viewing (I'm not ashamed!)
Downton Abbey (Pt 2 PBS Miniseries) B+
This is surprisingly involving -- The Lovely Laura Linney is presenting each episode. Anyone watching?
18 No Ordinary Family "No Ordinary Detention" D+
This show is so... WHY CAN'T I STOP WATCHING IT? It's hopelessly stoopid.
19-25 Wow, I am doing a TERRIBLE job keeping up this screening log, right? Usually around this time of year I take a break from moviegoing after the glut of Oscar and top ten list prep work and Oscar nominations fervor. Otherwise still watching all the same TV shows

Benjamin Thys & Eugene the Poogene in "Immortal"26 Immortal: The Gilgamesh Variations This is playing in Bushwick, Brooklyn until Sunday night if anyone wants to make last minute theater plans! 

I'll admit up front that I was a biased audience member as two friends of mine were involved behind the scenes (including Gabriel Shanks who you may remember from the blog ModFab) but I marvel at their talents. It's so creatively staged and cohesively executed despite being written by several different playwrights and having a few shocking shifts in tone as the Epic of Gilgamesh is retold. I wasn't familiar with most of the cast but the lead actor Eugene the Poogene (who plays the wild man of the forest Enkidu and Gilgamesh -- since that's a rotating part) was terrific in a disciplined highly physical performance.

Here's some rehearsal footage.

27 Caught up on TV viewing, Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock and Ru Paul's Drag Race. Sadly, regarding the latter, I wasn't grabbed by any of the queens. I need someone as cool as Raven but such people are hard to come by.
28-31 Lots of TV. Including catching up with Southland. I hate procedurals so I have no idea why this one appeals to me so much. Can't figure why.