The Last Movie You Saw On DVD or VHS or TV.

I guess its a movie although it really is a television show. I watched Hugh Laurie, who most of us know from Black Adder, Jeeves and Wooser and House as an actor but who is also a very good piano player. The program is cinema veritie and show Laurie on a quest for the music he loves in New Orleans and Texas, playing blues and roots jazz with some fabulous and famous musicians.

http://video.pbs.org/video/2146104923

The last one I saw was Saw 3D.

I finally got to see "The Black Swan", and what a disappointment that one was. Portman was fine, given the limitations of her dialogue and character, but I fail to see the appeal of this overly melodramatic, overly gimmicky, overly clichéd film. I was really hoping for more, based on all the hype and Portman's Oscar win. Given the fact it was directed by Darren Aronofsky, whose "Requiem for a Dream" and "The Wrestler" also left me cold, I should have known better. Either you're a fan of his work or you're not, and you can count me out on that score.

I really wanted it to be as good as the first one (which I liked a lot). I'm so disappointed...it did, indeed, suck.

Watched Tales from Earthsea (2006), an anime directed by Hayao Miyazaki's son, Goro Miyazaki.

It was well produced. Great animation! Beautiful score! Solid voice acting! And intriguing characters! The problem was the story itself ... or better put, the story's construction.

The single movie is a somewhat underwhelming adaptation of a five book series with the same name. Names and places were namedropped as if the viewer knew the geography and the history of the entire series.

Admittedly, I hadn't read a single book from the legendary Ursula Leguin series. I could follow much of what was going on but I had to take a lot with a grain of salt while ignoring odd references that were spoken and never explained or places that must have had key events taken place but the associations left untold.

If they made this into two or three films. It would have been an awesome epic. But alas it falls away as an ambitious failure. Rating it an ambiguous 7/10.

Catfish (2010): I was so expecting to hate or strongly dislike the documentary due to its misdirected marketing and the rumors that it might be a staged mockumentary.

Mockumentaries are fine as a genre of fiction. In fact, they can be great even: A Mighty Wind (2003); Best in Show (2000); Waiting for Guffman (1996); and the most famous of them all, This is Spinal Tap (1984). But these films don't try and bull the viewer into thinking it could ever or should ever be considered reality and pure fact. Any attempt to pull the wool over our eyes and have the producers and filmmakers claim a film as pure fact AKA documentary and it isn't? That gets my hackles up. So when there were early charges against said film, I became too cynical against the filmmakers claims that this wasn't a work of fiction in guise of a tell all documentary.

Cynically watching the first half, I looked out for obvious flaws or a bit of revealing evidence that would clarify the film's status. But with the second half, (without spoiling anything), the meetings seemed far too genuine. And the controversial twist was far more banal yet still so very moving to be faked.

A pleasently unexpected 10/10!

We saw a great little movie Saturday night, Blue Valentine, a well developed, emotionally wrenching story about a failed marriage, and the circumstances that led to its failure. It was doomed from the very beginning.

I watched the Laurence Olivier Richard III. I am just not a fan of the late Larry. I saw the play on stage last summer and I'm just about ready to say that I prefer live theatre to film. I think Olivier, who also produced and directed, did a good job of "opening" the play up in terms of the battle scene at the end but I thought the women's costumes were too pat and the indoor scenes looked a tad cheesy. The weird thing is most of the movie seemed claustrophobic to me.

I am introducing my teenager to the old movies.....saw Rebecca last week and now we're onto the Hitchcock series. Yesterday it was the Birds. She likes the old movies!

Intra -- I thought I hadn't heard of Blue Valentine, so I looked it up and then remembered having seen the trailer in the theatre. I had made a mental note to see the movie, but, I forgot about it. Looks good. Thanks for the recommendation.

got a copy of CATCH 22. I read the book while I was laid up and I gotta admit that I missed a lot when I read it in HS

Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams are stunningly genuine in Blue Valentine.

The Lion King! WooHoo!!

Once I saw the trailer on line, I clearly remembered having seen it in the theatre, along with the trailer for at least one, possibly two, other movie(s) that looked interesting. I wish I had remembered it. The problem is we all think we will remember these things. Right.

Cheryl and I just watched "Everything Must Go", starring Will Ferrell. It's all about a man who lives on his front lawn after losing his job, his wife and his sobriety all in the same day. It's billed as a comedy, but there isn't much funny in it. In fact after seeing it, I commented that if there was a section in the video store labeled "Tragedies", this movie would belong there - both to describe the story content, and the entertainment value. It had potential to be a reasonably good movie - characters you cared about, dilemmas both practical and moral to unweave. But it ends up being a very emotionally unsatisfying movie with all the loose ends it leaves dangling. It seems to be a trend in modern story telling - nontraditional endings where no one wins, no one accomplishes anything and you're left wondering WTF you spent your money for.

Though the format of the lose lose ending does work on a rare occasion I'm glad I intentionally missed out on this one due to reading a half a dozen mixed reviews. It looked like Will Farrell had Oscar buzz in his eyes when he saw the script offered to him.

The Girl and i were looking through a bin of discount DVDs at the grocery store, and i went right past one that she spotted--a four-pack of Billy Wilder movies. I watched The Apartment the other night, and i'm now watching The Fortune Cookie (i don't usually sit down and watch a movie straight through--i'll watch 15 or 20 minutes at a time).

If I followed your example, I would likely see more movies to the end. All too often, I walk away after the first fifteen minutes without coming back.

Well, EB, i got in this habit because i would be fixing some sammiches, or getting some coffee, and it was just more convenient to watch while waiting for the water to boil, or while eating the sammiches. Now it has become a habit. The Girl also found a three DVD set of old Groucho Marx You Bet Your Life episodes. They're perfect for that.

sounds like most of real life, what's the problem