Friday, March 30, 2012

What I’ve been watching:

Bill Cunningham New York
This is a film about a man who is obsessed with fashion and who just happens to have the perfect job in which to indulge this obsession. It’s a wonderful film and I’ve never seen a happier person than Bill seems to be.

Drive
This was a fantastic film—violent but really good. It has a calm, quiet, slow pace matching the personality of the main character. Gosling is great, Bryan Cranston is practically unrecognizable, and Albert Brooks as the bad guy is surprisingly believable. I loved it!

My Week with Marilyn
I don’t normally like bio-pics so I didn’t see this one in the theatre even though I am a fan of Marilyn Monroe. However, unlike most bio-pics, this one is about Colin Cook with Monroe as a secondary character. This gave it an interesting perspective which I really liked. Michele Williams did an incredible job portraying the fragility, changeability and sadness of Monroe. The music was fantastic. I loved the film!

Take Shelter 
The sky is doing very strange things. Is it a sign of a coming apocalypse? Or is our hero going insane? This was a quiet but respectful film showing the effect of a possible mental illness on a man’s life and that of his family.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

New this week (3/28/12):

Broken Tower
Hart Crane was one of the most important voices in American poetry, but lived a life with as much turmoil as passion. From his early life to his journeys from New York, Cuba and Paris, Crane's story and that of the loves that defined him is told with imaginative empathy, and with a no holds barred performance (by James Franco), in a film as introspective, rebellious, heartbreaking, and honest as Crane himself.

Dangerous Method
The relationship between fledgling psychiatrist Carl Jung and his mentor Sigmund Freud is torn apart when Sabina Spielrein, a troubled but beautiful young woman, comes between them and forever changes the face of modern thought. Directed by David Cronenberg and starring Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender and Keira Knightly.

J. Edgar
J. Edgar Hoover was head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for nearly 50 years. Hoover was feared, admired, reviled and revered, a man who could distort the truth as easily as he upheld it. His methods were at once ruthless and heroic, with the admiration of the world his most coveted prize. But behind closed doors, he held secrets that would have destroyed his image, his career and his life. “…masterful.”—Roger Ebert. Directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Naomi Watts.

The Killing
Following a shocking murder, the lives of the police, suspects and victim's family are intricately woven together in this 'spellbinding' (TV Guide) story. This engrossing series has earned huge acclaim, as well as a Golden Globe nomination and multiple Emmy nominations in its first season.

Single-Handed, Set 2
Transferred from Dublin to his hometown on Ireland's windswept coast, Sergeant Jack faces challenges he never expected: winning the villagers' respect, escaping the shadow of his father and predecessor, solving baffling crimes, and exposing dirty secrets.

A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas 
Following years of growing apart, Harold Lee and Kumar Patel have replaced each other with new friends and are preparing for their respective Yuletide celebrations. But when a mysterious package mistakenly arrive at Kumar's door on Christmas Eve, his attempts to redirect it to Harold's house ends with the 'high grade' contents, and Harold's father-in-law's prize Christmas tree, going up in smoke.

Monday, March 26, 2012

New this week (3/21/12):

Adventures of Tintin
Racing to uncover the secrets of a sunken ship that may hold a vast fortune -- but also an ancient curse -- Tintin and his loyal dog Snowy embark on an action-packed journey.

Carnage
Two pairs of parents, one of whose child has hurt the other at a public park, meet to discuss the matter in a civilized manner. However, the evening becomes quite chaotic as the parents become increasingly childish.

Empire of the Sun (1987)
This is the story of a boy, James Graham, whose privileged life is upturned by the Japanese invasion of Shanghai, December 8, 1941. Separated from his parents, he is eventually captured, and taken to Soo Chow confinement camp, next to a captured Chinese airfield. Amidst the sickness and food shortages in the camp, Jim attempts to reconstruct his former life, all the while bringing spirit and dignity to those around him.

Game of Thrones, the Complete First Season
Set in a world where summers span decades and winters can last a lifetime. From the scheming south and the savage eastern lands, to the frozen north and ancient Wall that protects the realm from the mysterious darkness beyond, the powerful families of the Seven Kingdoms are locked in a battle for the Iron Throne. This is a story of duplicity and treachery, nobility and honor, conquest, and triumph. In the Game of Thrones, you either win or you die.

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hoping to distance himself from the fallout of a libel conviction, journalist Mikael Blomkvist retreats to a remote island in Sweden's far north where the unsolved murder of a young girl still haunts her industrialist uncle forty years later. Ensconced in a cottage on the island where the killer may still roam, Blomkvist's investigation draws him into the secrets and lies of the rich and powerful, and throws him together with one unlikely ally: tattooed, punk hacker, Lisbeth Salander.

Skin I Live In (Spanish)
Since his wife was burned in a car crash, Dr. Robert Ledgard, an eminent plastic surgeon, has wanted to create a new skin with which he could have saved her. After twelve years, he cultivates a skin that is a real shield against every assault. Now, besides the years of study and experimentation, the unscrupulous doctor needs to find an accomplice, and a human guinea pig. Marrilia, the woman who looked after him from birth, is his most faithful accomplice. But where will they find the human pig?

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
At the height of the Cold War, a former agent for the British Secret Intelligence Service is called back to root out a Russian spy who has infiltrated the organization's highest levels.

Women on the 6th Floor (French)
Paris, 1960. Jean-Louis lives a bourgeois existence with his neurotic socialite wife Suzanne while their children are away at boarding school. The couple's world is turned upside down when they hire Maria, a Spanish maid who introduces Jean-Louis to an alternative reality a few stories up on the sixth floor. Befriending a group of sassy Spanish maids, the women teach him there's more to life than stocks and bonds, and their influence on the house ultimately transforms everyone's life.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

New last week: (3/14/12)

Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things! (1999)
A group of five young actors, led by their decidedly bizarre director, Alan, go to an abandoned burial island to act out a satanic ritual with a freshly exhumed corpse.

Stephen King's Bag of Bones
A novelist goes to the family summer house in Maine with the hope of completing his book. Once there, he is haunted not only by his wife's death but other inhabitants at Dark Score Lake.

The Warrior (2006)
Prepare for an epic tale of honor and loyalty when Korea's Koryo warriors band together for the ultimate war against the Yuan to save the dynasty.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

New this week (3/8/12):

Descendants
Matt King is an indifferent husband and father of two girls, who is forced to re-examine his past and embrace his future when his wife suffers a boating accident off of Waikiki. The event leads to a rapprochement with his young daughters while Matt wrestles with a decision to sell the family's land handed down from Hawaiian royalty and missionaries.

Melancholia
In this beautifully filmed movie about the end of the world, Justine and Michael are celebrating their marriage at a sumptuous party in the home of her sister Claire, and brother-in-law John. A planet called Melancholia is heading directly towards Earth and threatening to collide. Meanwhile, tensions are mounting and relationships are fraying as the family deals with their fears.

My Week with Marilyn
In the summer of 1956, 23-year-old Colin Clark, determined to make his way in the film business, worked as a lowly assistant on the set of The Prince and the Showgirl, the film that famously united Sir Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe. When his diary account was published, one week was missing. This is the story of that week: an idyll in which he escorted a Monroe desperate to get away from Hollywood hangers-on and the pressures of work.

Three Musketeers
The hot-headed young D'Artagnan joins forces with three veteran Musketeers to prevent the villainous Cardinal Richelieu from seizing the French throne and engulfing Europe in war.

Young Adult
Mavis Gary is a writer of teen literature who returns to her small hometown to relive her glory days and attempt to reclaim her happily married high school sweetheart. When returning home proves more difficult than she thought, Mavis forms an unusual bond with a former classmate who hasn't quite gotten over high school, either.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

New this week: (3/1/12)

Downton Abbey, Season 2
Season two returns as the Great War rages across Europe, and not even the serene Yorkshire countryside is free from its effects. The men and women of Downton are doing their part both on the front lines and the home front, but the intensity of war only serves to inflame the more familiar passions of love, loss, blackmail, and betrayal.

Footloose
Ren MacCormack moves from Boston to the small town of Bomont, where he experiences a heavy dose of culture shock. A few years prior, the community was rocked by a tragic accident that killed five teenagers after a night out. Bomont's councilmen and the beloved Reverend Shaw Moore responded by invoking ordinances that prohibit loud music and dancing. Not one to bow to the status quo, Ren challenges the ban, revitalizes the town, and falls in love with the minister's troubled daughter, Ariel.

Hugo
Tells the tale of an orphan boy living a secret life in the walls of a Paris train station. When Hugo encounters a broken machine, an eccentric girl, and the cold, reserved man who runs the toy shop, he is caught up in a magical, mysterious adventure that could put all of his secrets in jeopardy.

Immortals
In this epic tale of vengeance and destiny, power-mad King Hyperion threatens to destroy all of humanity on his maniacal quest to obtain the ultimate weapon - the legendary Epirus Bow that gives the power to unleash war on both Heaven and Earth. But Theseus, a heroic young villager chosen by the gods, rises up to stop Hyperion's brutal rampage. With supernatural help from the beautiful oracle Phaedra, Theseus embraces his destiny and leads a fierce band of warriors.

Like Crazy
Like Crazy beautifully illustrates how your first real love is as thrilling and blissful as it is fragile. When a British college student falls for her American classmate, they embark on a passionate and life-changing journey only to be separated by circumstances beyond their control. Like Crazy explores how a couple faces the real challenges of being together and of being apart.

London Boulevard
An ex-con hired to look after a reclusive young actress finds himself falling in love, which puts him in direct confrontation with one of London's most vicious gangsters.

Puss in Boots
A story about the events leading up to the sword fighting cat's meeting with Shrek and his friends.

Summer Holiday
During a blissful seaside vacation with his adorable wife and young son, Boogie bumps into his best friends from high school. They soon begin reminiscing about their 'glory days' of drinking binges and outrageous sexual escapades. Frustrated with his job and the constraints of his life, Boogie decides to indulge in one wild night of boozing and chasing women with his old pals. But he soon realizes that a life of marriage, parenthood, and responsibility might be the best fate of all.

Swan Lake  
At his 21st birthday celebration, Prince Siegfried is dismayed to learn that now he is of age, his marriage is to be arranged. He goes hunting, and sees beautiful swan wearing a crown. As dusk falls, she is transformed into a beautiful woman. She is Odette, the Swan Queen, and the other swans are other enchanted girls. The spell will be broken if a man, pure in heart, pledges his love to her. Prince Siegfried's mentor, Von Rothbart, is responsible, for he is an evil sorcerer. At a ball, Von Rothbart disguises his daughter Odile as Odette, and the Prince is captivated, and confesses his love. Odette, spying through a window, rushes away in despair, certain that she is doomed to be a swan forever. Will Prince Siegfried betray her, or find some way to free his beloved?