I stopped posting Netflix stuff at some point last year because, really, I saw a lot and it was impossible to keep up with. I do want to still post some things I see on DVD, because they are interesting or lesser-known or just old or perhaps really terrible and you should be warned away. Basically, if I have something to say about it, I’ll post, but you don’t need to know that I watched In Her Shoes for the third time this month. For example. Not that I would do that. Do de do.

* Away From Her was a brilliant directorial debut for the astonishingly talented Sarah Polley. I heard a lot about Julie Christie in the (American) press, but Gordon Pinsent’s performance is what I took away from the film. Beautiful.

* The Lives of Others. Gorgeous. See it.

* Children of Heaven. This was so great! It’s an Iranian film about a brother and sister who have to share a pair of shoes (he lost hers, and they can’t afford a new pair). A lovely small film about a family trying to protect each other.

* Rope. Somehow, I had never seen this before! It was pretty cool to see John Dall again so soon after watching Gun Crazy. What a delicious role. I really loved the interview portion of the special features. It’s rare to watch a behind-the-scenes and have people be critical of a film. The screenwriter (if I recall correctly), thought that the murder should not have been shown (so as to increase tension as to whether or not there was a body), that Jimmy Stewart was miscast (his part should have had a sexual undercurrent with at least one of the murderers), and he also questioned the way it was shot. That point is interesting to me, because I think the illusion of seamlessness increased tension. It’s something that could be done better now, but was an interesting experiment then.

Finally, I saw some collections of shorts:

The Third Annual Science Fiction Short Film Festival showed in two parts at the Cinerama.I feel like the lineup was weaker this year. My favorites were Operation: Fish (I have no idea if that link works, because YouTube is blocked here, but it’s a stop-motion piece involving goldfish, a criminal mastermind, and a time displacement gun. AWESOME) and Four Corners (a live action short where a bicyclist encounters a mysterious red light in the desert). The festival prize apparently went to “Forecast”, which I didn’t think was all that great. I can’t find who got the Audience Prize. Fail, Internets.

I also went to the Oscar nominated short films, both Animated and Live Action, and I thought they were all pretty mediocre. Some of the animation was cool, but the stories were unimpressive.

And then are the movies I saw for free:

* In Bruges. Hated it. I was excited, because I loved “Six Shooter”, but no. Brendan Gleeson was really great, but the high point for me was probably the scene where the background music was Townes Van Zandt. Also, Bruges is a really pretty town, on film anyway.

* The Band’s Visit was disqualified from the Oscars because more than 50% of the dialogue was in English. Which is tragic. It’s a charming as hell little movie, funny and gentle and true, with, hands-down, the best courtship scene I have ever seen.

* Paranoid Park just didn’t do it for me. It’s gorgeous — how can it not be with Christopher Doyle lighting it? — but what should have been meditative felt repetitive.

* Young @ Heart was freakin’ FANTASTIC. It’s about the Young at Heart chorus, from Northampton, and it follows their rehearsals and lives leading up to a performance. I loved it to tiny bits, and if it doesn’t make you laugh and cry you have NO SOUL. I’m just saying.

Being in Seattle, I also get to see Old Stuff on the Big Screen. It RULES.

The Prowler was part of this season’s Noir City festival. I enjoyed it a lot. It’s a corrupt cop story, and I particularly liked that I never knew where it was going, right up to the end. That happens less than you’d think.

It was a double feature with Gun Crazy (with a young Russ Tamblyn in the prologue!) A forerunner to Bonnie & Clyde, with two fantastic leads, and some really great camerawork for the time, particularly with the getaway scenes.

Another night of noir featured Richard Widmark in Night and the City and Road House, the first of which is pretty much the ultimate noir role, and the second of which was a rather strange movie but totally engaging.

Finally, Cinerama ran Lawrence of Arabia again, and how could I resist? The first time I saw it for the whole package, this time I saw it for the visuals. Maybe next time I’ll watch it for the dialogue. It was best not to do that this time, as the sound dropped out for a bit near the intermission. Fail, Cinerama, fail.

I saw a bunch of stuff in between when I stopped posting on LiveJournal and when I finally managed to get this space up. Let’s discuss, in brief and also in four parts!

Here are movies I paid to see, which actually came out more-or-less recently. Like in the past three months.

* There Will Be Blood. I don’t think I can add anything to the conversation about this movie. I enjoyed it thoroughly, and I think Paul Dano’s performance was fantastic and sadly overlooked.

* The Savages. Messy & real & difficult to watch for anyone who has a turbulent relationship with their parents. Which is basically all of us, yeah?

* Persepolis. Gorgeous. See it. Go! Now! It was totally robbed by fucking Ratatouille at the Oscars.

* Girls Rock! When it ended, a woman in the audience said, “I want to go to Rock Camp!” Me too, man, me too. Loved it to bits.

…more soon!