My Movie Journal

nimh- Have you ever tried:

http://www.mrqe.com/lookup

It is true that often the comments on IMDB can be superficial, but, bottom line, I can usually find an incisive review on MRQE.

Last night I watched a DVD of "Faithless". Written by Ingmar Bergman, and directed by Liv Ullman, it is, at once, both romance, mystery, and morality play.

It tells the story of a woman, who thorough a chance misstep, an adulterous affair, changes the lives of all around her. Lena Endre is luminous as Marianne, the woman who has set the course of chaos.

Although a good part of the film is shot in one room, there is no sense of "staginess". One gets a sense of pain not only from the dialogue, but by the use of many extreme closeups of the facial expressions of the actors.

There is a twist in the film, but I won't spoil it for you by describing it.

I loved this movie!!!


Link to review of "Faithless"

Jörgen Persson who was the cinematographer and also shot "Elvira Madigan" had a lot to do with the look of "Faithless."

I saw Meet the Fockers (we'd gone to see White Noise but the theater had oversold the seats) recently.

It was one of those films that while not bad or anything I would not have missed had I not seen it.

It did sound like one of those disposable comedies that one could just as well wait for cable or DVD. Just saw "Flirting With Disaster" with Ben Stiller and it was an off-the-wall comedy that I could easily see again years from now. It's about a comedy of errors in Stiller "finding" his real parents and takes courses one can't even guess. Lily Tomlin and Alan Alda almost steal the movie at the end.

Today as my nephew has returned from Boston and is a co-subscriber to NetFlix, I saved "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" which I have also seen before. He said we could go to L.A. and see the actual band that the off-Broadway play and this film are based on. It's part "Velvet Goldmine" and part "Rocky Picture Horror Show" but holds up fine on its own due to some really superlative performances both dramatic and musical. I think I'd like to have this one in my collection. Just added "Dirty Pretty Things" because of Phoenix jogging my memory.

I watched The Royal Tenenbaums last night - loved it!

Ah! Big Royal Tenenbaum fan here! Also REALLY liked Flirting With Disaster.

The Tenenbaum soundtrack...mmm.

LW- I have been having such a blast since I joined Blockbuster Online. I don't go out to the movies much. We have a 20 Plex about 20 minutes away from me, but they rarely show anything but the run of the mill mass market movies. There is one movie house in town, that attempts to play some of the "artsy" films, but it is not convenient.

I am looking for the really "good stuff" of which I have been deprived in this cultural wasteland. Up until now, I had been buying previewed movies at Blockbuster. It was not practical to rent, as the store is to far to return stuff easily.

Anyway, I have been scouring lists of award winning films, and my queue at Blockbuster is nearing 100. Then my son gave me an idea. There is a movie house in New York, called the Angelika, which plays indies, foreign flicks, and quality American films:

http://www.angelikafilmcenter.com/newyork/default.asp

So, now I am checking out the archives in the Angelika. I have picked up quite a few good possibilities there.

I saw "Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind" today for the first time.

I really, really truly enjoyed this movie.

My favorite part? Hmm.. the entire movie is a favorite. But the one thing that I felt obsessed with was in understanding this quote...

"How happy is the blameless Vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd."

I did a little research and found the poem "Eloisa to Abelard" by Alexander Pope. I rested it as soon as I saw how long the poem is. hehe

There's no need to understand it. It simply is a beautiful thing. I'll leave it at that.

I have been using Blockbuster Online for almost a month now. I am pretty happy with the service, with one exception. A lot of the DVDs come in looking like that have not been "gently used". I have to clean them first.

I have gotten 15 films in about a month. I am happy with that. The problem is, that two of the DVDs were is such bad shape that they were unplayable. The good part is that as soon as you E Mail them about the problem, they take the defective DVD off your "shipped" list, and send another one out immediately. You can either get another copy of the same film, or opt to get the next film in your queue.

Have other people had that experience with Blockbuster? What about people who use Netflix?

I had spoken to a customer service rep and through some E mails and they recommended if a disc comes in soiled to use Windex on them! Wrong. The acrylic coat will eventually cloud up from the application of ammonia. I have a device called a SkipDoctor which is an extremely fine soft polishing wheel that glides over a disc sprayed with purified water. It works perfectly.

I have had an isolated instance where the disc was damaged enough to let them know and they did send out a new one immediately. This still gigs the user, however, as you've lost a couple of days on your subscription. I think I've had to clean about one disc out of twenty with SkipDoctor. Sometimes I just do it if the surface looks a little suspicious.

LW- I have been using those damp lens cloths made to clean eyeglasses. Is that OK?

Okay for everyday maintenance -- you can even use eyeglass spray to clean them.

The SkipDoctor is at a good price at $23.00 at Amazon and for $5.00 more you can get the motorized version (really would be worth it not to have to crank the dang thing). If anyone orders it, they can go through the Portal Shop on the link above and site will get credit.

THEN SKIPDOCTOR at AMAZON

I'm not sure if the site gets credit when you follow a link here and order. Craven can answer that question. Anyway, I highly recommend it as I've save many, many CD's, DVD's and CDRom with this inexpensive little unit. I'd order and extra polishing wheel while I'm at it. I also will sometimes use a fine abrasive plastic polish (it's actually baking soda in a gel) if I really want to polish them up and their finishing spray adds more of a shiny finish and protection (the wheel leaves some vague tracks on the surface but it doesn't really bother the penetration of the laser).

I used to use a similar material that is on the wheel to polish the ends of plastic fiberoptics in an R&D lab.

We watched "The Big Lebowski" the other night. I had seen this movie when it was first released and didn't think it was that good. It came on the heels of "Fargo", which I loved. I think I compared it too much to that film. Now that I watched it again, OMG, it's a funny movie.

Has anyone one seen "I'm Not Scared" ?
kidnapping drama lo Non Ho Paura (I'm Not Scared) is about a boy dealing with issues he cannot quite comprehend. While playing outside one day, nine-year-old Michele (Giuseppe Cristiano) discovers Filippo (Mattia Di Perro), who is chained to the ground at the bottom of a hole. Michele witnesses town baddie Felice (Giorgio Careccia) nearby and suspects something bad is happening. Michele is unsure whom he should tell about his discovery, eventually spilling the beans to his closest friend. Michele's parents learn of his discovery and warn him to forget whatever he saw. I'm Not Scared was screened at the 2003 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

You should probably ask this on those threads where we are comparing the services, but here's my short answer.

That too, is a proceedure they aped that Netflix has before them. So if you get a damaged disk Netflix has pretty much the same options.

In my experience the damaged disks are much more rare with Netflix (I get up to 50 dvds a month and have only had one that needed replacing).

Watched "Supersize me" recently while working. Not much to say about it, as the whole film fell under the "doesn't the whole world know all of this" category and as far as documentaries go it wasn't very educational.

If not educational I like them entertaining, which reminds me to put "Animals are beautiful people" on my list.

I think what people can learn from "Supersize Me" is not only does fast food make you fat but what even surprized the doctors, it instituted liver damage and other internal problems that really baffled them. After the release of this film, MacDonalds changed several politcies and their menu.

Yesterday, Blockbuster Online sent me Koyaanisqatsi . I already have it on VHS, but wanted to see it on DVD.

It was really worth it! With no actors, or story line, the film is a montage of natural and man made pictures. The score is by Philip Glass, and is mesmerizing. It is the kind of film that you need a large screen, and good speakers, to really appreciate. It's stance is pro-ecology. I am definitely not a "tree hugger", but found the film fascinating, nonetheless.


Link to Koyaaniisqatsi