tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7877371347086447490.post5538788332728703557..comments2024-03-28T20:37:08.491+11:00Comments on The Audient: Don't make me go back!Derek Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13750747272647975591noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7877371347086447490.post-26077983734094324412012-02-12T03:19:03.190+11:002012-02-12T03:19:03.190+11:00I saw it. It was fine. Even pretty good, I'd s...I saw it. It was fine. Even pretty good, I'd say, though I liked Janet McTeer's performance more than that of Glenn Close. <br /><br />Mike, that's a very wise kind of maturation. I secret look forward to the February-July period of the year, so I can really watch whatever I want. In fact, my wife is going out of town this week, and I have the good TV all to myself on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights. I'm going to do a double feature each night: One movie I've seen, one movie I haven't seen. And I don't even know yet which movies these will be. I couldn't be more excited.<br /><br />However, I don't think I can break my enslavement to new releases just yet. Fortunately, that's now a problem I can put off dealing with until the summer. ;-)<br /><br />Travis, yeah, a person can get hung up on the idea of needing to see movies in the theater. I'm really interested in studying the effect it has on our appreciation of a movie if we see it at home for the first time vs. in the theater for the first time. However, it's difficult to put the necessary scientific controls in place -- I mean, you can't see the same movie for the first time twice, can you?<br /><br />Good advice on points with the wife. I don't specifically feel like I earned points -- there was no explicit thank you for having gone with her suggestion (or even any surprise when I came home from work and announced the start times for Albert Nobbs, even though our last word on the topic was that we were exploring the possibilities of 2012 releases). However, earning points is not about being patted on the head -- sometimes the process is cumulative and generally invisible.Derek Armstronghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13750747272647975591noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7877371347086447490.post-30405328562536621412012-02-10T20:56:28.176+11:002012-02-10T20:56:28.176+11:00For the longest time, if I didn't see a movie ...For the longest time, if I didn't see a movie the night it opened, I was statistically unlikely to ever see it. I can't tell you how many movies came out from 1996-circa 2003 that I wanted to see, but still haven't. It wasn't even anything conscious on my part, like your devised schedule. It was just that I thought of it as trying to keep up with new content and I'd rather see something new than something everyone else saw last week.<br /><br />On that level, then, I certainly appreciate your quirks. However, years of playing catch-up on movies I missed has made me wince at how many movies I <i>could</i> have enjoyed in their natural environment but didn't. One nice thing for me is that a local theater has a biweekly midnight movies series that has screened a handful of the ones I've always wanted to catch on the big screen but didn't; of course, I've missed several of those one-off showings, too, so it's not a perfect system. Stupid Crohn's.<br /><br />My advice: Just go see <i>Albert Nobbs</i>. If it sucks, you can always use it to negotiate getting your way later. You pick your battles. This one doesn't seem worth it to me.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06381792002836474683noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7877371347086447490.post-62175821318247588302012-02-10T04:47:40.693+11:002012-02-10T04:47:40.693+11:00I used to understand why the rules had to be the w...I used to understand why the rules had to be the way they are but now I'm starting to not get it. <br /><br />Maybe I'm growing up a bit but let me paint you a picture. Canada's version of HBO is TMN (until HBO Canada came along that is). TMN comes with an ondemand service which is where I watch my movies because I can't be bothered with the hassle of renting and, at least at this time, TMN still has a better selection than Netflix Canada.<br /><br />So, beginning of every month, I go on the TMN website, and make a list of the titles coming to ondemand, which order them come on and which order I have to watch them in before they expire and I need to wait another month or 2 for them to come back. <br /><br />This has, needless to say, consumed my life. I need to see all of the new releases so I can have an opinion and whatever. Last night I had a realization. I was watching Casino Jack, which is good, but, to be fair, should have been a made for HBO movie, and I realized that, watching this movie is not changing my life in any way. All it's doing is allowing me the knowledge to say that Casino Jack would have played better as made-for-TV drama. <br /><br />On the weekend I broke from the list and watched The Royal Tenanbaums and was staggered by how, for so many years, I've been giving Wes Anderson the benefit of the doubt without ever liking his movies but how much of a masterpiece this movie is. I could write a whole essay on it's visual style alone.<br /><br />A couple weeks before that I broke from the list again and watched Mulholland Drive. Holy crap I knew I liked it, but what a masterpiece. I could write an essay on how it's one of the definitive LA movies and a brilliant explotation of film style in order to unearth the hollowness of the movie industry. <br /><br />Last night I stopped Casino Jack at about the 45 minute mark so that I could pluck Enter the Dragon off my shelf (I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, I was home alone and stoned) and holy crap, say what you will about kung fu, but now I get why Bruce Lee was such a huge star and connected with people where other matrial artists didn't.<br /><br />So now I'm thinking: why am I burdening myself with lists so I can watch forgettable current movies when I'm doing so to miss older, better movies. Movies that I could write passionate criticism about. Movies that also inspire the cultural critic in me as well. Movies that force me to explore myself.<br /><br />Does this mean I don't want to see current movies? Nope, but it just means if I don't see Casino Jack this year it'll still be around next year and if I just so happen to see it good for me, and if not, not the end of the world because I'm using that time to the utmost.<br /><br />I'm not a paid critic, I should be focusing on the stuff that inspires me most as a writer and ties most into my specific film interests. That's my new outlook anyway.<br /><br />PS - I read Albert Nobbs and it's not that good ;)The Taxi Driverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04352371911592068643noreply@blogger.com