Latest/recent DVD movies watched? Part 2

District 9 on Blu-ray. Refreshingly great movie!

 

My doubleheader last night was Cocoon and The Natural on BD's.

 

Men Who Stare at Goats worth a rental

 

Che Part 2
Much bleaker than Part 1

On the Beach
Good movie based on a great book.
Must be my week for sad movies.

 

I watched Sherlock Holmes on Blu-Ray last night. I found it disappointing. I like Robert Downey Jr. and thought he would do a good job as Holmes, but I think the plot dragged the whole thing down. or maybe the direction. I'm not sure Sherlock Holmes needed to be turned into a modern action film.

 

I watched Alien and Blade Runner on two consecutive nights this week, the first with Ridley Scott's commentary and the second with the writers' commentaries. On Alien, Scott talked about always wanting to do a prequel detailing where the Aliens came from, and now I read that he's developing a film along those lines. That's exciting news.

On Blade Runner, the most interesting thing about the writers' commentary was that Fancher and Peoples seem to get along well enough now to rib each other about...well nearly every topic that came up. They disagreed repeatedly, and seemed to enjoy doing so. Very lively.

 

We watched The Informant on Blu last night. Pretty good. Based on a true story makes it even better.

 

Fancher and Peoples never directly collaborated on the script. Peoples was brought in to rewrite Fancher's script and Fancher at one point was brought in to rewrite Fancher and IIRC they never really interacted until the premiere of the movie so it doesn't surprise me that they rib each other and disagree on a fair amount of stuff.

When Peoples first reach Fancher's final draft he liked it quite a bit and didn't think he could improve it a lot.

There's a funny story about how they each thought the other had written the awful narration only to find that a THIRD writer was brought in to pen it on the theatrical version.

 

I caved (I had a gift card for $50) and got "Lord of the Rings" on Blu-ray. If I hadn't paid almost nothing for it I wouldn't have gotten it since I'm waiting for the "SPECIAL EDITION" BD which will probably have both. It looks quite nice.

 

Where The Wild Things Are

 

...and you think your family is strange.

 

Seraphine - A French movie about an artist in the early twentieth century. Pretty interesting. I give it a B, B+ if your an art fan.

 

Enigma on DVD...

 

I watched Where The Wild Things Are tonight. I thought it was really good and I liked it much more than I thought I would.

 

Hurt Locker on Blu-ray - I liked this movie so I give it an A- but I have no desire to watch it again.

 

Failure To Launch...very funny.

 

Julie & Julia

Very good

 

I gave Sherlock Holmes a second run....and liked it a bit more.

 

The Texas Chainsaw Masacre : The Beginning

 

The Big Picture

 

I watched Capitalism: A Love Story a second time. Michael Moore has a point that tastes like Tea.

 

Zombieland, Ponyo & Ride With the Devil, enjoyed all three

 

Just watched Porn King: The Trials of Al Goldstein, a documentary about the publisher of Screw and the legal/financial troubles that took him from millionaire to homeless. Clearly the work of a first-time amateur director, but it's competent enough and the subject matter makes it interesting. Goldstein is nothing if not a character.

 

Usual Suspects on Blu-ray. One of my all time favorites. Keyser Soze is still out there.

 

Lone Wolf and Cub chronicles the story of Ogami Itto, the Shogun's executioner who uses the Dotanuki battle sword. He was disgraced by false accusations from the Yagyu clan and has been forced to take the path of the assassin. Along with his three-year-old son, Daigoro, they seek revenge on the Yagyu clan and are known as "Lone Wolf and Cub".

Working my way through this TV series, not close to the six classic movies with Tomisaburo Wakayama, but they beat the sitcoms.