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.
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.