A Year of Movies

Week 13: March 26, 2010 to April 1, 2010
Total number of movies watched: 11

133. St Elmo's Fire -- This is one of those movies I've seen over the years on TV piecemeal. I've seen the middle and the end, but rarely (if ever?) the very beginning. So, finally, thanks to this years movie quest, I watched this movie, not on TV, from the very beginning to the very end. It makes a little more sense that way! Go figure. I liked the story even if some of the characters were a bit cliched. A decent coming-of-age movie.

134. The Game -- Michael Douglas and Sean Penn star in this mind-twisting thriller. The very first time I saw this movie I really enjoyed all the twists and turns and even now, after I know what to expect, I still enjoy watching this one. A great thriller all the way to the end.

135. Dangerous Liaisons -- Another of those movies I just love to watch from time to time. John Malkovich is incredibly good in this movie, as is Glenn Close. It is a fascinating story with a host of deeply intense and passionate characters and I am never bored watching this movie.

136. Synecdoche New York -- An ambitious movie unlike anything I've ever seen before. Memorable. Haunting. Moving. Darkly real. Philip Seymour Hoffman again proves what an amazing actor he is. I knew nothing about this movie going into watching it--and I was just blown away by the intricate plotting and attention to detail and the oddly bizarre cast of characters.

137. State and Main -- While I truly enjoyed watching Synecdoche New York, I had to follow it up with something a little lighter and funnier and this one is a witty movie with Philip Seymour Hoffman also in it. Boy can he act. Have I said that before? I'll say it again. He's just a very talented man. Alec Baldwin, William H. Macy, Sarah Jessica Parker...this movie is just filled with great actors and snappy dialogue.

138. Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark -- My little guy recently got the Lego Indiana Jones game for Playstation, and he had only seen the most recent (4th) Indiana movie, so we decided that we should sit down and watch the first three together. I love this movie--and so did he. I was a little worried about a couple of the scenes--especially near the end--but as he has told me so many times in the past, it's okay dad, I know it's not 'real'--it's just a movie. This is a great action adventure movie, and one of my all-time favorites.

139. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom -- Of the four, this is the one I think is the weakest. So did my little guy. He thought they added a lot of 'gross stuff' just for the sake of having 'gross stuff' in the movie (such as the dinner scene and the insects). He liked the coal-car chase scene near the end of the movie though (as did I). For a 'prequel' (this movie is set in 1935 while Raiders is set in 1936), it's not bad.

140. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade -- A great movie and a great sequel. The addition of Sean Connery to this movie was genius. I loved the whole father-son relationship they developed in this movie. My little guy loved this movie too. Another of my all-time favorite movies.

141. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull -- After almost twenty years, Harrison Ford proves he still can wear the fedora and crack the whip. I know the critics didn't like this one as much, but I truly enjoyed this movie. It had most of the fun of the action adventure of the original trilogy that I liked, plus it had the father-son relationship banter I liked in the last movie (though it wasn't quite as good as the Ford-Connery banter). While not quite as good as Raiders or Crusade, I liked it better than Temple. The little guy liked it too.

NOTE: This was the last movie I watched in March 2010. 'Only' watched 41 movies this month. A little less than the previous months, but I also got more writing and reading done in March. Okay, back to the list...

142. 3 Days of the Condor -- This is one of those good spy thrillers I've heard about over the years, but I'd never seen it--until now. I thought it was pretty good. Robert Redford wasn't just the typical spy--he worked for the government by reading and analyzing books. And maybe it's just me, but Jessica Biel looks a lot like a young Fave Dunaway. Maybe it's the cheekbones....

143. The Fugitive -- Harrison Ford in another great movie. No big surprise there. Tommy Lee Jones is quite good in this too. Every year around this time, I watch U.S. Marshals (and I'll explain why in my next blog post), and this time since I'm on this crazy movie-watching quest, I figured I might as well watch the first movie of this 'series' too. Why weren't more movies made with the 'U.S. Marshal Sam Gerard' character?

Favorite movie? Ha. How can I pick just one from five Harrison Ford movies, two Philip Seymour Hoffman movies and a John Malkovich movie? Impossible. Now, if they were to make a fifth Indiana Jones movie with Harrison Ford, Philip Seymour Hoffman AND John Malkovich in it.....well, that would probably be the one....