confessions of an amateur cineaste

* Swimming was lovely and -true- in a way that a lot of movies are not. And Lauren Ambrose is lovely. Obviously.

* I’ve had Down to the Bone in my queue since Jeff Wells raved about Hugh Dillon’s performance in it, and he was absolutely right. Vera Farmiga is brilliant too. Not an easy movie to watch, but powerful. I wish it had gotten more attention.

* Galaxy Quest is just perfect.

* I had never seen Tootsie all the way through. it’s totally an 80s film in a way that only 80s films can be, with the hair and the music. The IMDb tells me that it was originally rated R, and was re-rated PG on appeal. I wish I had time to research that right now.

* I think Out of Sight is one of my desert island movies. Flawless and woefully underrated.

* Six Feet Under, Seasons 1-4. Shut up. By the end of next week I’ll be finished with it. Sadness!

* Sugar Rush, Series 1-2. This was great. Thanks to Emilie for giving me the first series and the Intarwebs for the second. I’m going to have to obtain a legal copy soon

* The Blair Witch Project still scares me. There, I said it. I knew everything about the making of it when it first came out, and I still was a little jittery coming back to my apartment after seeing it last month. I don’t know -why-. It’s not -rational-. I don’t -really- think that the Blair Witch is going to show up in Seattle and *spoiler* me in the *spoiler*. But I still turned on all the lights.

* Halfway through Singles I asked myself “Self? Why don’t you own this?” And I did not have a good answer to that. So I will have to remedy that situation. (Also, does anyone know what Cameron Crowe is up to these days? His newest credit on the IMDb is still Elizabethtown.)

* I tried to watch A Prairie Home Companion on my flight to London last month, but the sound was fubar, so I had to wait and Netflix it after all. I had heard really mixed reactions to it, but I really enjoyed it. Altman was just the perfect choice. No one does it like him, with the large, intertwined casts and the realism of sound and dialogue.

* Saving Face was a rewatch, fast on its way to being a middle of the night comfort movie.

* and Big Fish did nothing for me. It was very pretty and all. I just didn’t -care-.

I am so behind on this journal because at the end of October I saw The Fountain and I haven’t been able to decide what to write about it. Mostly, I am not sure if I liked it. I do know that Hugh Jackman was amazing in it. I know that it was beautiful. It was cool to have Aronofsky there for a Q&A after to clear up things and address criticisms. It was one of those movies that makes me really sad that I don’t know anyone in this city who cares about film, because it really would have benefited from having someone to discuss it with, and by the time it comes out here it’ll have been a month and will anyone even see it? Probably not. But you -should-, because even though I can’t make up my mind about it, I’m still -thinking- about it, its successes and flaws.

I mostly went to Copying Beethoven because it was free. Also because it had Matthew Goode, and I quite like him. The movie was not good, and yet better than I had expected it to be. No one else should bother seeing it, though.

And finally, A Good Year is the movie that everyone loves to hate on this week, but -I- enjoyed it. Damnit. It was exactly what I needed to see on a Friday afternoon in Seattle: it was sunny and sweet, and Russell was excellent in it, despite what all the reviewers are telling you. I had forgotten what a great comic talent he is, and I left the theater with a smile on my face. Lord knows it’s not earthshattering or original, but I am okay with that.