Saturday, January 31, 2009
Movie watched: Easy Rider
Connection to Pillow Book: a bit of a stretch but we'll go with it. Cross-country Buddy Motorcycle Rides: Ewan (star of Pillow Book), has done Long Way Round and Long Way Down with Charley Boorman. In Easy Rider, Peter Fonda tours with Dennis Hopper.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Movie watched: Big Fish
Connection to The Shining: both films feature twins. There are the creepy ghost twins from The Shining and in Big Fish, there are young twin girls in the audience at the circus and of course, the conjoined twins in the circus.
Movies watched
Milk (C)
Happy-go-Lucky (C)
Vicky Christina Barcelona (C)
New releases, no connection required.
Happy-go-Lucky (C)
Vicky Christina Barcelona (C)
New releases, no connection required.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Movies watched Last Week
The Changeling (C)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (C)
Slumdog Millionaire (C)
Revolutionary Road (C)
Since these were all new releases in the theatre, I don't have to find a connection; however, you'll notice that as of this morning all four of the above films were nominated for at least one Oscar, as was "A Few Good Men" (4 noms, no wins).
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (C)
Slumdog Millionaire (C)
Revolutionary Road (C)
Since these were all new releases in the theatre, I don't have to find a connection; however, you'll notice that as of this morning all four of the above films were nominated for at least one Oscar, as was "A Few Good Men" (4 noms, no wins).
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Movie watched: A Few Good Men
Connection to Hannah & Her Sisters: J.T. Walsh was in both films.
Sent from my iPhone
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Film Watched: The Seventh Seal
Connection to Casablanca: Bergman. Although Ingrid and Ingemar are not related, they were both Swedish of course. Further, Ingemar was once married to a different Ingrid.
Sent from my iPhone
Sent from my iPhone
Film Watched: Casablanca
Connection to Adaptation: twin screenwriters - both films were
credited to twins (even if there is no Donald Kaufman). This
connection is also mentioned in the film Adaptation.
credited to twins (even if there is no Donald Kaufman). This
connection is also mentioned in the film Adaptation.
Sent from my iPhone
Film Watched: Adaptation
Connection to The Deer Hunter: Meryl Streep starred in both films.
Sent from my iPhone
Friday, January 02, 2009
2009 Movies Blog: A Year of Connections, Tenuous and Otherwise
This year, instead of just tracking the films we see, Gina and I decided that every movie we watch must have some connection to the movie we watched before it (with one caveat, that is we don't have to link TO new movie releases in theatres because we wouldn't want to not see a new movie just because there was no connection). Still, we'll do our best to connect to those as well.
The connection can be pretty much anything, from simply having the same actor or director (or Key Grip!) to similar settings, shooting styles, props, etc. In fact, the more tenuous the connection the more fun it will be. Each time we see a movie, we'll post it along with an explanation to its connection to the previous film.
We started off 2009 by watching The Deer Hunter on New Year's Day. We figured it was okay to begin with something fairly easy (like a huge cast) but it also just happened to be one of the movies recently arrived from Zip.
Feel free to help us out. Each time we post a movie watched, comment on the film, how cheesy (or absolutely perfect) our connection is and give us some suggestions on what to watch next (making sure to tell us the connection, of course). If we choose your suggestion, we'll make sure to give you credit.
Since we receive several movies from Zip every month, I'll be sure to post what we've got to choose from. Also, you can check out our movie library. We'll be using that and the Calgary Public Library to fill in the gaps.
The connection can be pretty much anything, from simply having the same actor or director (or Key Grip!) to similar settings, shooting styles, props, etc. In fact, the more tenuous the connection the more fun it will be. Each time we see a movie, we'll post it along with an explanation to its connection to the previous film.
We started off 2009 by watching The Deer Hunter on New Year's Day. We figured it was okay to begin with something fairly easy (like a huge cast) but it also just happened to be one of the movies recently arrived from Zip.
Feel free to help us out. Each time we post a movie watched, comment on the film, how cheesy (or absolutely perfect) our connection is and give us some suggestions on what to watch next (making sure to tell us the connection, of course). If we choose your suggestion, we'll make sure to give you credit.
Since we receive several movies from Zip every month, I'll be sure to post what we've got to choose from. Also, you can check out our movie library. We'll be using that and the Calgary Public Library to fill in the gaps.
2008: A Year of Movies - That's a Wrap
It wasn't really a resolution but at the beginning of 2008 I started keeping track of all of the movies I watched. It came about in response to Gina's question at the end of 2007, "what was your favourite movie of the year?"
I don't think it's particularly amazing that I managed to actually do it for the entire year. For the most part it was easy, as each time I watched a movie I wrote it on a calendar (yes, the old fashioned way with a pen). Most weeks I would remember to transfer the data into this blog but sometimes I would add two or three weeks at a time.
So what was my favourite movie of 2008? Well, I should note that I had said I could only select either new movies that I saw in the theatre or new on DVD. Just going by the stats, there were five movies that held the top spot over the course of the year. Here's a breakdown of those:
Those 31 weeks that Lars & the Real Girl were at #1 are more indicative of the movie season than of it's status. The best movies typically come out in December-January (to make the Oscar eligibility deadline) and the Spring Summer is typically the dead zone (unless of course Blockbusters are your thing). So Lars & the Real Girl just happened to be the last movie from the season. From these 5 films, I would likely say that Water was my favourite. However, since it was actually released on DVD in 2006 it shouldn't count, I guess. So, I will settle on Everything is Fine (Tout est parfait). It's a small, indie feature from Quebec that most people likely won't get to see; I was lucky enough to catch it at the Calgary International Film Festival.
Other notable films of the year were Before the Devil Knows You're Dead and not just because the first five minutes are filled with a hardcore full frontal Marissa Tomei sex scene. Born into Brothels was an excellent documentary, High Falls a great short with Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard (they had a baby together in real life) and The Visitor was a beautiful, touching indie feature.
Statistics
I don't think it's particularly amazing that I managed to actually do it for the entire year. For the most part it was easy, as each time I watched a movie I wrote it on a calendar (yes, the old fashioned way with a pen). Most weeks I would remember to transfer the data into this blog but sometimes I would add two or three weeks at a time.
So what was my favourite movie of 2008? Well, I should note that I had said I could only select either new movies that I saw in the theatre or new on DVD. Just going by the stats, there were five movies that held the top spot over the course of the year. Here's a breakdown of those:
| Movie | Weeks at Number 1 |
|---|---|
| American Gangster | 2 |
| Everything is Fine | 14 |
| Lars & the Real Girl | 31 |
| The Savages | 2 |
| Water | 4 |
Those 31 weeks that Lars & the Real Girl were at #1 are more indicative of the movie season than of it's status. The best movies typically come out in December-January (to make the Oscar eligibility deadline) and the Spring Summer is typically the dead zone (unless of course Blockbusters are your thing). So Lars & the Real Girl just happened to be the last movie from the season. From these 5 films, I would likely say that Water was my favourite. However, since it was actually released on DVD in 2006 it shouldn't count, I guess. So, I will settle on Everything is Fine (Tout est parfait). It's a small, indie feature from Quebec that most people likely won't get to see; I was lucky enough to catch it at the Calgary International Film Festival.
Other notable films of the year were Before the Devil Knows You're Dead and not just because the first five minutes are filled with a hardcore full frontal Marissa Tomei sex scene. Born into Brothels was an excellent documentary, High Falls a great short with Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard (they had a baby together in real life) and The Visitor was a beautiful, touching indie feature.
Statistics
| Format | Movies Viewed |
|---|---|
| Movie Theatre | 24 |
| Free Premieres | 3 |
| DVD | 90 |
| Shorts | 49 |
| Blu-Ray (Hoo-ray!) | 1 |
| Television | 15 |
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Movies - Week of December 29
Gregoire Moulin contre l'Humanité! **** (D)
Stage Fright ***½ (D)
Bell, Book & Candle ** (D)
Isis in Darkness **½ (D)
Breathless **** (D)
Sunrise ** (S)
For legend, see Week 1
Best Movie of the Year so far (Cinema or new DVD releases only included)
Everything is Fine
Stage Fright ***½ (D)
Bell, Book & Candle ** (D)
Isis in Darkness **½ (D)
Breathless **** (D)
Sunrise ** (S)
For legend, see Week 1
Best Movie of the Year so far (Cinema or new DVD releases only included)
Everything is Fine
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