A Year of Movies

Week 5: Jan 29, 2010 to Feb 4, 2010
Total number of movies watched: 11

48. A Scanner Darkly -- A friend recommended this to me. I didn't know what to expect with this movie-though since it was based on a Philip K. Dick story, I assumed it was going to be strange. I was not disappointed. What a bizarre, bizarre movie--dark, twisted (I tend to like these kinds of movies!). An interesting story with some nice twists.

49. Strangers on a Train -- After hearing about this movie for years, I finally watched it. This was my fourth Hitchcock movie in the past week and a half. I like his style quite a bit (shocking, huh?). A good story, quirky characters, and honestly, I wasn't sure how it was going to end.

50. The American President -- An idealistic portrayal of a noble president. Does such a politician exist? Did such a politician ever exist? I don't want to get into politics here--too much discussion about politics exist elsewhere. In general, I like this movie.

51. Father of the Bride -- Funny movie with heart. I really like Steve Martin in this movie and I can't imagine anyone else playing this part. He makes making movies look so easy.

So ended the month of January. 51 movies in one month. At this rate, I'll end up watching 600 movies in 2010. Crazy! I don't think I can keep this pace up all year...

52. On the Waterfront -- Brilliant movie. I watched this for the first time about twenty years ago, but I didn't really appreciate how good it was back then. The scene with Brando in the back of the cab with his brother -- the 'I could've been a contender' scene was spectacular. What an incredible scene--what an incredible actor. This movie also introduced us to Eva Marie Saint--I'd forgotten about that. I love her in North by Northwest (another movie I'll have to watch again this year).

53. 30 Days of Night -- I really enjoyed this movie. Vampires in Alaska. What a cool idea. Or would that be 'cold'? I haven't read the graphic novel that this movie was based on, but a friend suggested this movie to me a while back. Watched it last year, had to watch it again. A good scary movie.

54. Groundhog Day -- I had to watch this movie on Groundhog Day. I love this movie. I've watched this movie dozens of times. I love the city where this movie was filmed. Woodstock, IL is a beautiful city with a beautiful Town Square. I'll stop myself now before I start to gush.

55. Twister -- This is the last movie I saw at a Drive-In and if memory serves, the weather wasn't all that great that night which made the whole drive-in getting destroyed by the tornado scene within the movie just a tiny bit scarier. I've always liked this movie--nothing like having a mile-wide tornado as your villain...

56. Hancock -- When I first saw this movie I thought it was two halves of two different movies mashed together somewhere in the middle, but now that I've seen if a few times, I think it works. I like the attempt the filmmakers made to make up their own superhero mythology. Will Smith looked like he was having a lot of fun making this movie.

57. The Omen (the original) -- This movie scared the hell out of me when I was young and it still creeps me out now. A great, scary movie.

58. The Omen (the remake) -- I hadn't seen the remake before, but since I was able to get both DVD copies from the local library at the same time I thought I'd watch the two movies back-to-back. The remake had a few changes in it--but what I liked is that the filmmakers didn't add a lot of CGI work to the remake--they just relied on the creepy story and for me at least, it worked.

Another week down. Only 47 more weeks to go!

I can't decide on a single favorite film this week either (I should really try to watch some bad movies with just one good movie some week--though, on second thought, that doesn't sound like a fun week of movie watching to me....!) There's just too much variety--some really good horror movies in there, a couple of excellent classics, and of course my sentimental favorite, Groundhog Day.