Maupins' Music And Video: November 2009

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Older Movies That We Just Got In

The Insider--Nominated For 7 Academy Awards

The Limey--Just A Good Movie

Howards End--Won 3 Oscars

The Class--French Film Nominated For An Oscar That Comes Highly Recommended

Arthur (1 And 2)--The Original Arthur Won Two Oscars And Was Hilarious

True Romance--I Haven't Seen It But Another Recommended Movie

On The Beach--Based On The Great Book And Nominated For Two Academy Awards

The Jacket--Starring Adrien Brody And Keira Knightly

Hope Floats--Starring Sandra Bullock And Harry Connick Jr.

Four Elvis Movies--Kissin' Cousins, Live A Little, Love A Little, Girl Happy, Tickle Me

Monday, November 2, 2009

Movies I've Seen Recently

In no particular order:

I enjoyed Whatever Works. Watching a Woody Allen film isn't like Forrest Gump's "a box of chocolates." You know what you're going to get. It isn't going to be sweet. It isn't going to be dark. It is going to have a few nuts in it. But when you're finished, you're going to say "that wasn't too bad." You are also going to laugh.

I also enjoyed The Assassination of a High School President. Both it and State of Play openly plagiarized All The President's Men. But at least Assassination and Bruce Willis had a sense of humor. State of Play had better actors, but no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't make it a fictional All The President's Men. I have never liked when a fictional movie tried too hard. All The President's Men was true, and that is what it made it so good. State of Play wasn't true, and that is why the twists and turns kept me watching but didn't impress me in the end.

I really liked Management. I thought it was funny and also spoke to the struggle of "home" versus "the world" and "ramblin'." Life, love, charity, and moving forward isn't simple. And neither is being part of a family business.

Like Assassination, Adventureland impressed me. A "coming of age" story that uses Lou Reed's "Satellite of Love" reminded me of listening to U2's cover version on their "One" single and marveling over "I love to watch things on TV." Like the characters in Adventureland, I soon realized that watching things on TV and dreaming about things on TV and looking up to guys like Ryan Reynolds' character did not get you closer to "being on TV." In fact, all it did was keep you stuck.

I did not like Transformers 2. I slept through a 1/4th of it. I liked Transformers as a kid. I usually like cartoon super-hero movies, but no matter how much action and noise Transformers 2 had, I didn't care about what happened to any of the characters including my friend Optimus Prime. It was disappointing.

My wife made me watch Confessions of a Shopaholic. I will never get that hour and forty minutes back.

Observe and Report was absolutely crazy, a manic movie about a bi-polar person. It was funny and deeply sad at the same time similar to Swimming With Sharks. A demented world can be entertaining to watch, and I couldn't wait to see what happened at the end of Observe and Report or Swimming With Sharks.