What's Happened Since Christmas...

Well folks, it appears no one really does give a damn about this blog... including me.

Since my Christmas Day post on Rebel Without a Cause, I have watched several other movies from my original movie list (still continuing to watch the movies out of my original order). But, I haven't really had the motivation to write about any of them... and now for many of them it has been so long that I can't remember the movies well enough to write about them.

So, just to satisfy myself, here's a list of the movies from my list I have seen (because I'm sure you give a damn):

Blade Runner: I remember liking it at the time, despite half-falling asleep at the end.... But now I have no memory of it other than the film's production design since I happened to be in a production design class at the time and was paying close attention to that.

Kill Bill Vol. 1 & Kill Bill Vol. 2: I liked it more than I expected, but I really think it should have been one movie, but crazy Quentin had to make it a long two part epic and not cut anything out. But, I am glad I finally saw it since folks in film school talk about Tarantino constantly and his pastiche. I was very proud of myself when I recognized the few shots he stole from the opening of The Searchers (which I haven't seen all of because I fell asleep, but I did see the opening), when Uma Thurman exits the wedding chapel.

Vertigo: This was a very strange movie. It was introduced in my production design class as a movie about Necrophilia...

Psycho: I had already spoiled the ending to myself by accidentally reading too far in a Creative Screenwriting magazine article (don't worry I won't spoil the end here). So, I enjoyed it, but I would have liked it a lot better if I hadn't already known the ending since so much relies on that bit not getting spoiled. This also an unfortunate and oftentimes inevitable circumstance of watching a movie over 50 years after its been made. I was able to watch it on the big screen in a theater though!

Little Shop of Horrors: I frickin' loved this movie. What can I say? Frank Oz is a fabulous director and this was a perfect segue from the Muppets to live action. I loved Death at a Funeral (the original, not the Chris Rock one made five seconds later), and I loved Little Shop of Horrors even more. I had absolutely no idea what it was about... I didn't even know it was a musical! Where have I been? Apparently one of my good friends here at USC played Seymour in his high school's production of Little Shop of Horrors which I didn't find out until after I watched the movie. Even more of a reason to be a big fan of this movie! (Oh, and I was also excited that Ellen Greene, who I know from one of my favorite TV shows, Pushing Daisies, was in the movie, along with Steve Martin as a crazy dentist... and I can't forget to mention Bill Murray as his bizarre patient!)

The Fly: DON'T EAT LUNCH WHILE WATCHING THE FLY! I made this mistake. Don't worry, there weren't any gross barfing incidents... but it was still a terrible idea. The Fly is one of the grossest movies I've ever seen. Don't get me wrong- I loved it and it was amazing, and it's still a movie I think about long after I've seen it. But, I'm warning you, don't watch this movie if you have a light stomach. There were a lot of parts I had to turn away from (fortunately I was watching it with my boyfriend and I could make him watch the gross parts and tell me when it was okay to look again).

Zelig: I love Woody Allen. And my dad has been recommending Zelig to me for years it seems. So, I've finally seen it! And I liked it (of course)! Even though in general Woody Allen's movies run about a half hour too long for me, and would be best as forty-five minute to hour long productions, I still can't help but like them. He comes up with such funny, simple ideas! Zelig was very similar to some of his other earlier films that I've enjoyed including Take the Money and Run and Sleeper. They're all about a guy with a quirk that causes problems: in Zelig it's a human chameleon, in Take the Money and Run it's a criminal who always gets caught, and in Sleeper it's a modern guy who's woken up in the future. Simple and hilarious! Every time I watch Woody Allen I get inspired to write, and Zelig was no exception.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: I really enjoyed this movie! And now I'll no longer mix it up with A Clockwork Orange because I've finally seen one of them! Now to watch A Clockwork Orange...

Raging Bull: After a string of movies I really liked, I finally hit one that just wasn't my cup of tea. I watched Raging Bull over the winter break with my boyfriend and had to pause it halfway and have him summarize what had happened in the whole movie leading up to that point. Perhaps if I knew more about boxing I would have been able to understand the plot better. Perhaps if I were a man I would have been able to understand the film thematically. Perhaps if I hadn't been just wishing I was watching The King of Comedy the whole time I would have liked it better. It's been the one movie I couldn't put aside my personal taste and look at it just from a film student point of view. Oh, well. I've done well with that so far in this little challenge of mine.

Sex, Lies and Videotape: I liked this movie, and I think I would like it even better watching it a second time. The only problem I remember having with it was that I found all of the characters so believable and well developed, etc. etc, except for the husband's character. Of course, it's been so long since I've seen it that I can't remember specific examples to back up my point... so that's pretty useless.... I suppose I'll just have to watch it again, which is fine by me!

Labyrinth: This movie gets an F for Jennifer Connelly, and an A for David Bowie, which averages out to about a C... which I think is about right for this silly, cheesy 80s extravaganza.

The 400 Blows: I watched this in my International Cinema class here at USC. Watching it made me realize that this was an incredibly strange movie that wound up on my movie list... but I'm really glad that it was on my movie list because I really liked it. Art house films and French New Wave can be kind of hit or miss for me, but I really like this one. I suppose I connected to it emotionally or something like that. I could go on and on about how much I liked this movie and why, but then I would have to tell my whole life story, which I think is a silly thing to do on the internet. The point is that I really liked this movie.

The Third Man: I was just about to write a whole thing about Touch of Evil when I realized that The Third Man is not the same as Touch of Evil and that I have seen The Third Man but really remember nothing about it... or it has become so intertwined with Touch of Evil that I can't remember what part went with what movie. I suppose that means I should watch it again... although I don't remember particularly liking it (which is a shame since I consider myself such a Film Noir fan).

Lawrence of Arabia: And last but not least in what has become a much longer post than I expected, Lawrence of Arabia. My boyfriend has been talking about how amazing this movie is since I started going out with him it seems, and my sound design teacher has mentioned several times in class what an amazing movie this is, so of course when they were screening it on the big screen here at USC, I just had to go and see it (and listen to it). It's a Gone with the Wind type epic that runs 3 hours and 47 minutes, but I really enjoyed it. I would still put Gone with the Wind above Lawrence of Arabia if I were ranking them, but I still really liked Lawrence of Arabia. It made me incredibly thirsty and I've been drinking water ever since. That's a sign of a good movie, right?


So, I believe those are all the other movies I've watched since I last posted back in December. That pushes me just over the halfway mark of this darned list I meant to finish last summer. But I will finish watching all of the movies on my list! I will! I will not be like that sad New Year's Resolution Blog I wrote about in my first post! I will not!

I have His Girl Friday sitting on my desk from Netflix. I will go watch it so I can attempt to get my money's worth from the silly subscription, and it will put me one movie closer to finishing this silly challenge!

COMING SOON: His Girl Friday... hopefully...