Friday, July 19, 2013

Weekend Round-Up

I haven't posted consistently, at this blog, in a while. I'm navigating a couple of life transitions and even more erratic and unfocused than usual. :-)




Movies Watched This Week:

Cronos by Guillermo del Toro (Sarah's Review) -- Both Sarah and I were disappointed in this one, which began with promise then seemed to devolve into a cheap horror flick. But it was del Toro's first feature-length movie, and it was interesting to see some of the imagery and themes that would be explored in later, better, films.

P.S. (My Review) -- I'm still not entirely sure what I thought of this movie. I didn't fall in love with it, but it seems to have improved upon reflection. The thing I appreciated most was the way it explored our tendency, in intimate relationships, to project our needs and desires onto another person. I think this is the basis for many -- if not most -- relationships in their earliest stages. It isn't until we finally shed those projections that things start to get real.

The Sessions (My Review) -- I enjoyed this movie a lot. It had a bit of a "typical Hollywood" feel, but it managed to rise above that. Of course with such a talented cast, including the magnificent John Hawkes (Winter's Bone, Martha, Marcy, May, Marlene), that isn't surprising.

Next Up: Side Effects and The Hit.

We started watching Side Effects but ran into a schedule conflict and had to turn it off. I was liking it a lot -- the characters and cinematography hooked me right away. This is good news, since I was skeptical going into it. Anything that may be capitalizing on the evils of psychoactive meds triggers a negative knee-jerk reaction in me. Negative knee-jerk reactions can be kind of fun, especially when there are a few drinks involved, but ... well. We'll see. :-)



I'd never heard of The Hit -- it was one of Sarah's picks. She's been on a roll with watching Tim Roth movies lately, which is all good. It looks promising. What's not to like about a story of a hit man and his protegee? And young Tim Roth off the chain can be pure pleasure.

Television: We've been watching Frasier on Netflix streaming (we're on Season 3). This is a sit-com I never got into until recently. It has the same problems I see in most sit-coms, such as predictable, repetitive humor, but I'm really enjoying it. The dialogue is witty and these actors/characters are a lot of fun to watch together.

The Hubby and I are also watching Grimm: an urban fantasy loosely based on traditional fairy tales. It's pretty cheesy, and I'm not all that impressed with the character development. But it is imaginative, and I enjoy seeing what they'll cook up in each episode. Plus the series seems to be getting better as it goes along. I really dug the soccer mom who morphs into a spider-thing and eviscerates her prey. ;-) Never count out us soccer moms.



Next on our Netflix queue: Oz. I'm definitely looking forward to that.

Some Posts I've Enjoyed:

11 comments:

  1. I hope you'll like Side Effects more than I did, but I agree about cinematography - that was one good looking movie.

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    1. I remember skimming your review of Side Effects -- I wanted to form my own opinion before finding out why you didn't like it. :-) I will definitely be back to read it.

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  2. Thanks for the mention! The other posts you've mentioned sound great, and I'll be sure to schedule a read of several (or even all...)

    I still haven't watched Oz, perhaps it could provide this weekend's entertainment!

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    1. It sounds like Oz might be a bit brutal -- we'll see. :-)

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  3. Thanks for the link! That's very nice of you. I should start doing something like this too, if I weren't such a self-absorbed jerkface.

    Well, and the whole about-to-have-a-baby thing. Total timesuck, that.

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    1. YW! :-) Yup ... that procreation thing. Quite the time suck! ;-)

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  4. Great round up here! So glad you're giving Oz a chance, just so long as you know that it is In.Tense.

    Thanks for the link :)

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    1. YW. :-) About "Oz" ... that's good to know. If it doesn't traumatize me a little bit, I'll be disappointed. ;-)

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  5. Thanks for the link! I liked What Richard Did, so interested in your thoughts on that

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  6. Thanks so much for the link! :)

    The Hit looks interesting, and I need to check out Oz as well. Hope you like it!

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  7. Thanks for the link! I'm glad you and your son liked End of Watch. I think that's why I was so disappointed in the ending, because I liked it so much and it didn't go the way I wanted it to.

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