Someone asked me recently why I haven’t posted a DVD Roundup in a while. Well, the answer is that I haven’t really seen anything worth writing about.
I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve been caught up in other things (Euro2008 in June?, work?, tech crap?) or if I was just watching more TV from the DVR. Or maybe I’ve just been negative about everything. . .
I have a theory about the movie-watching-slowdown, but I’ll save that for a future blog post.
But I tell you what, I’ve gone through my Netflix rental history and my stack of borrowed items. Here’s what I’ve seen recently:
I Am Legend – CRAP movie. Okay, so the antagonist is smart enough to figure out how to rig up a trap just like the one Will Smith rigged up, but he’s not smart enough to open up the lab door at the end? Btw- that door operated from the outside in the earlier parts of the movie, so shhh you.
There Will Be Blood – I really really really wanted to like this movie. I thought everyone in it was great, but in the end I just couldn’t give a crap about the story. And I’m usually pretty forgiving about that. Well, I did give a crap actually now that I think about it- I just thought it kept taking weird turns . . .
The other thing about this movie is that when Daniel Day Lewis was on screen, I kept thinking he sounded like John Huston. Don’t believe me? Check out this clip, then watch this great old interview (skip to 9:20 if you’re impatient).
(Jet Li’s) Fearless – Meh
Live Free or Die Hard – Compared to I Am Legend this was high-art.
Lucky Number Slevin – This one was okay. A bit too self-aware if you know what I mean, but I thought it was interesting and clever.
Shooter – Escapist fare . . . but I bet it came from a much better series of books that I should look for to add to my commute reading stack. The movie was a bit(!) predictable.
Miami Vice – holy crap this sucked . . . so many plotholes. . . Oh, btw, on the DVD extras, they talk about how into “the art” and “the look” Michael Mann is and the lengths he goes to to get things a certain way in the movie. He should’ve paid more attention to the storytelling.
Mi3 – Was much better than Mi2. But what does that tell you?
Grind House – Wow, the first Tarantino movie I didn’t really get into . . . and I’m a fanboy!
WAIT WAIT- there was one movie that I thought was clever–
Shoot ‘Em Up – It was like a live-action cartoon with Clive Owen and Monica Bellucci. It was even strangely political. But I really was able to get back into escapist movie watching mode and enjoy this.
Other than that, you know what I’ve (still) been watching? The Shield. Season 5 wassodamngood zomgwtfbbq. And I’m getting ready to start watching The Wire. I hear The Wire is a great time suck and is very entertaining.
