11.1 ~ #19

"Clue" (1985)

From Netflix: "Director Jonathan Lynn's board game-inspired campfest finds six colorful dinner guests gathered at the mansion of their host, Mr. Boddy -- who turns up dead after his secret is exposed: He was blackmailing all of them. With the killer among them, the guests and Boddy's chatty butler (Tim Curry) must suss out the culprit before the body count rises. Lesley Ann Warren also stars in this hilarious whodunit (filmed with three different endings)."

This movie is SO a classic!

I've loved this movie FOREVER and I used to play it OUT on VHS, when I recorded it off of HBO as a youngin' LOL

Fantastic cast, fun story, laugh out loud jokes that STILL make me laugh after hearing them at least 50 times in my life...just all out awesome! it might be that it's one of those movies that's so bad, it's good, but I'm biased. I grew up loving this film!

The movie as I remember it always had three endings, the first being "what ifs" and the last one being the "actual" ending...but I found after watching the DVD that apparently when it was originally released, you'd see a different ending (of the three) depending on which theater you went to. I appreciate how that's kinda cool...the board game always had a different ending, so why not the movie? But at the same time, imagine going to see the flick, then discussing it with a friend that saw it at a different theater, and being entirely confused when you guys can't agree on the whodunit? Fail.

Still, great movie, awesome cult classic, a real taste of my childhood...and it bothers me immensely that they're remaking it for next year. Boo. So much for cult status, every douchebag on earth will think themselves a "fan" just cuz it's the cool thing to do.

I hate when things I love are raped by the masses. LOL

If you haven't seen this, GO WATCH IT! You won't regret it!

7.3 ~ #11

"Back to the Future" (1985)

From Netflix: "In this classic sci-fi adventure from director Robert Zemeckis, eccentric inventor Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) turns a DeLorean into a time machine that inadvertently sends his young friend, Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox), 30 years into the past. While stuck in the 1950s, Marty disrupts his parents' destiny and risks throwing the time-space continuum completely out of whack. The only way back to 1985 now is to get mom and dad to pucker up."

so, I'm finally back! I was met with apprehension when I told my family I'd be doing this project, everyone told me I wouldn't have time..."it's just three movies a week!" said I. "Who doesn't have time to watch three movies in a week?!"

Well, apparently I don't.

Between birthdays, funerals, a full time job, a husband, a room remodel, and running my own business...three movies a week is hard work! Especially considering that most of them are over 2 hours long, or even double-disc sets!

In any case, I am armed with a list of ten movies I need to watch ASAP in order to get back on schedule, and here I go, aiming to watch at least one a day till I'm on track again.

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Back to the Future is a classic. I don't think I know ANYONE that hasn't seen the original at least once. Even the now defunct ride at Universal Studios kicked ass! We own it on VHS, I remember buying it at Burger King when I was a kid, some sort of promotion I guess...

This is movie is all sorts of funny, the soundtrack kicks ass (I love Huey Lewis and the News, and I LOVE that Huey has a cameo early in the film), and the movie really makes you think about and appreciate all the things that had to fall into place just so that your life would be at the place it is now...

Christopher Lloyd is always brilliant, but I think this might have been his best role yet, and Micheal J. Fox could pretty much do no wrong in my eyes (up until Spin City) so he, of course, is awesome in this as well.

Definitely one of those movies that you can watch over and over again, to the point of being able to recite the movie word-for-word (like I and a lot of people I know can) and still be totally cool with watching it again!

NOTE: Tomorrow would be the 54th anniversary of the date Doc Brown discovered the secret of time-travel, the flux-capacitor.

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So, here's the list of movies I have to watch in order to get up to speed...

Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State
Braveheart
Casablanca
Maxed Out
Chocolat
Citizen Kane
Indie Sex
Clerks
Clockwork Orange

PLUS I'm still waiting on Netflix to send me Apocalypse Now, which has been available for a couple of weeks, yet for some reason they keep skipping it in my queue and sending me the rest of the movies on my list...

Thanks for being patient with me, and I'll be back VERY soon!

4.3 ~ #6

"Amadeus" (1984)

From Netflix: "F. Murray Abraham earned a Best Actor Oscar for his imperious performance as Antonio Salieri, a mediocre composer whose churlish young rival, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce), wins immortality with his musical genius. Not happy to see his talent eclipsed, Salieri dons a disguise and deviously plots revenge, obsessed with muffling Mozart's maddening laughter. Milos Forman's masterful drama also won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director."

Longest movie yet, clocking in at 2 hrs, 40 min. Good thing it was interesting, otherwise that would have sucked. It was actually a very enjoyable movie.. I watched it with my little brother and my father, both of whom had seen it before (I told you I was doing this project for a reason LOL).

The story is told in flashbacks by a character by the name of Salieri, a colleague of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The character of Mozart is a braggart, arrogant, dirty-minded and selfish...an eternal child in the worst sense. He has a grating laugh and a sense of entitlement that is understandable from a child star, but irritating nonetheless. He is forward with his thoughts, salacious with his words, and thinks only of himself and his music. After watching this movie, I'd love to read a biography of him, just to see which of his traits were exaggerated, if any.

Salieri grows up wanting nothing more than to have the musical talent to praise God through music, and to be known by the people around him for his talent. He lives a chaste and humble life, so that God may reward him with the gift he craves. He is obsessed with Mozart's talent, and thinks God sings through his compositions. So when he meets Mozart and discovers he is a vulgar brat, he wonders why God would "choose such an obscene child to be his instrument". He takes this, among many other happenings, as personal slights against him from God himself, and decides he must do drastic things to have even half the glory of Mozart, whom he considers an enemy.

Mozart is admirable in that he lives as pure ID in a time where everyone else ran on pure superego. He just lives his passion and ignores any societal responsibility that interferes with his good time. Salieri seems to suffer from severe delusions of grandeur, as he seems to look at everything that happens in the world around him, from deaths to the failures of his colleagues, as something that God is doing directly as a favor to him or in order to spite him. This movie also shows the amazing things that people are capable of doing and thinking of when they allow themselves to truly be overcome by something.

Very good movie, overall :)

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For next week:

DOTW: "Modify"
#7: "Amistad"
#8: "Apocalypse Now"

Watch along! Discuss! Tell your friends! And thanks for reading! :)

3.3 ~ #4

"Aliens" (1986)


From Netflix: "In this acclaimed sequel, the only survivor from the first film, Lt. Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), finds her horrific account of her crew's fate is met with skepticism -- until the disappearance of colonists on LV-426 prompts a team of high-tech Marines to investigate. This release features an introduction by director James Cameron, commentary by cast and crew members and both the theatrical and special edition versions of the film."

This was the first movie on the list that I was COMPLETELY blown away by! What a badass movie! I hate Sci-Fi (as I've mentioned before) and I haven't been a fan of horror movies since I was in high school, though admittedly this was a pretty tame version of a horror film...it still managed to elicit SCREAMS from me and even more jumps...which reminds me, a special thanks to my husband for letting me crush his hand for over 2 hours! LOL

Yes, this movie was over 2 hours as well. I think they've all been so far except for "12 Angry Men"...this one didn't feel that long though, probably because I was so into it.

I was wondering why the creator of the list would make me watch a sequel instead of the original (this is the second movie in a quadrilogy), but at least according to my husband, this was the best of the series. I think that might have been the reason why I was so into it; as a sequel, the movie didn't bog down the first hour with backstory and character setup, it just dives right into the story assuming you've seen the first film and you already KNOW these people. That could be a bad thing, but this film does such a good job at getting you up to speed in a concise way that even not having seen the first film, I never felt lost or confused by what was going on.

Seriously, AMAZING movie. BADASS, even. highly recommended, and from someone that isn't even a fan of the genre.

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ok, well obviously I'm a little late with this one, and I only have 4 days left in this week to receive, watch, and write about week 4's movies to catch up. In case you'd like to watch along, these are this week's films:

#5: "American Beauty"

#6: "Amadeus"

DOTW: "Chain Camera"

Thanks for reading guys! and tell your friends! I'd love to get more people involved in the film discussions!

And feel free to follow me on Twitter!

-D

3.2 ~ #3

"Akira" (1988)

From Netflix: "Based on the popular anime series, Akira is the story of two childhood friends, Tetsuo and Kaneda, who are pulled into the post-apocalyptic underworld of Neo-Tokyo. Kaneda is a bike gang leader, and Tetsuo is a member of a tough motorcycle gang who becomes involved in a covert government project called Akira. On his way to save Tetsuo, Kaneda runs into a group of anti-government activists and corrupt scientists, and a bloody battle ensues."

WOW.

I did NOT want to watch this. I HATE anime, I HATE sci-fi, I HATE apocalyptic type movies. This is ALL of the the above.

I had to watch this movie in two parts, as my electricity went out during my initial attempt. I saw the first forty minutes one night, then the last 90 minutes another afternoon (yep, another one that's over 2 hours long).

Here's some initial notes I took during those first forty minutes:

"dubbed" (I really dislike dubbed movies. I prefer subtitles over dubbing ANY DAY)

"fluid animation, almost like live action" (the animation really is superb, crazy to think this was released in the 80s)

"reminiscent of 'Cool World'" (great movie, if you haven't seen it. And story-wise, this movie is nothing like Cool World. The animation and movement reminded me of it, though)

"horrifyingly bloody"

"we're spoiled by CGI but the work of these animators really should be appreciated" (what can I say? I was REALLY impressed by the animation)

"Anarchy."

"130 minutes long" (<--- I found out while I was watching, and that kinda took my enthusiasm down another notch) "watching movie made me really anxious for seemingly no reason" (it did. I'm glad it got shut off when it did. The suspense of the first half hour was physically affecting me.)

"Hard to follow" (I learned later this was by design)

"female violence and nudity" (only one incidence of this, but it wasn't as graphic as it could have been. I guess I just noted that in case it was a recurring theme)

"kind of a mindfuck" (true.)


These are the notes I took in the last 90 minutes:

"don't find out what Akira is until an hour and 11 minutes in. Don't see it until an hour and a half in" (also true.)

"He's our friend, not yours! If someone if gonna kill him, it should be us!" (<---I just really liked that line)




That's it.


I hardly wrote throughout the last 2/3 of the movie because it actually got interesting enough that I wanted to pay attention. Also if you blinked, you'd miss something important, so it was in my best interest to not distract myself. The first 40 minutes were so hard to follow that I didn't even care enough to try to pay attention, which I guess would have obviously helped me out later on in the film.

At the end of the movie (I'm keeping this entry spoiler free) I had a simultaneous feeling of "Oh Em Gee I GET it!" and "What the HELL did I just see?!"...My husband, who watched the movie with me and is a great fan of the film, says that my reaction is a pretty normal one. I told him that the movie is good enough to GIVE you a feeling when you're done seeing it, but that it seems like the kind of movie that one would enjoy more the second time around. He says that even as a fan, he thinks the movie is too long to rewatch very often. I think I have to agree. Maybe I'll watch it again at some point to see if I was right.

Overall, I'm glad I watched this, though I left overall a bit dazed by it. It's very violent, and pretty confusing, but if you have a couple of hours to spare, it's definitely worth a watch.

-D