A Hodgepodge of Movies
I think my B-movie bender is coming to a close. While I still can’t quite motivate myself to go see Lincoln, I think the quality of my movie watching is going to pick up because of TV reruns post-February sweeps (except for FX’s The Americans, which is amazing and you should watch it then email me so we can obsess nerdishly over it.) and because the last movie I watched, A Dangerous Method, was so disappointing.
A Dangerous Method by Cronenberg with Viggo, and my boyfriend Fassbender. And yet, less than the sum of its parts. As with most Cronenberg films, its about violence, desire, and what are acceptable boundaries, to whom. It came across more salacious than his other movies I’ve liked, though, Eastern Promises and A History of Violence, and seemed more of a snapshot of the relationship between Jung and Freud instead of a story with a beginning middle and end. Not for me.
Then there was Soderberg’s Contagion, which was a solid but unremarkable thriller that played nicely by making Gwyneth unsympathetic, unattractive and then outright disgusting. But I got sick right after and have been since, so my appreciation waned quickly. Maybe watching that movie was like the opposite of the panacea effect?
Guppy couldn’t remember having watched My Neighbor Totoro, so I watched it with him and 9yo Drake, who both laughed and smiled throughout. I love that film.
And then my husband G. Grod and I watched Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid last night. Still great, after all these years. I’m not a big fan of remakes, but I do wonder what Pitt and Clooney might do with it if given the change.
I think our quality of movies is on the upswing. We shall see.
March 8th, 2013 at 4:37 pm
we lurrrrrrv My Neighbor Totoro–we went to the Studio Ghibli museum in Tokyo…there is something so magical about those movies
March 9th, 2013 at 8:47 am
Ginny, I “discovered” Totoro when I was in my late 20’s, in grad school. working at a comic shop where the other geeks told me about it. And became a Miyazaki fan over the years, and am thrilled that he’s gotten more and more awareness outside of Japan. I’m firmly in the “he’s the Kurosawa of animation, NOT he’s the Disney of Japan.” Totoro is coming out on Blu ray soon. Can’t wait. I am jealous of your trip to the museum. Several years ago, they had an exhibition here of some of the stuff that my elder went to, but he was too young to remember sitting on the Cat Bus.