1. The Act of Killing
2. Gravity
3. Blue is the Warmest Color
4. Rush
5. Captain Phillips
6. Stranger by the Lake
7. A Touch of Sin
8. The Great Beauty
9. Before Midnight
So, that brings the total on that list to 1000 and now that list will lie in wait, until I'm ready for it. Anyway, on with the show...
1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die - As seen in November 2013
1) Short Cuts (1993 - Robert Altman) 9/10 - Still not committed enough to go full monty on this one, but it's being pegged for a prime spot in the upcoming TOP 20.
2) The Long Goodbye (1973 - Robert Altman) 7.5/10 - Pegging this one for, at least, a "Ten Worth Mentioning" nod. Still got that "curry brand cat food" scene still fresh in my mind - loved that.
3) Nashville (1975 - Robert Altman) 7/10 - Let's just keep on right on talking about each and every one of these movies and their chances at TOP 20/Ten Worth Mentioning. This one I can't see making any waves. I'll give it the '7' nod, but not really a personal favorite, more of a technical favorite.
4) The Player (1992 - Robert Altman) 7/10 - Big MAYBE at a Ten Worth Mentioning, otherwise nothing.
5) Three Colors: Blue (1993 - Krzysztof Kieslowski) 7/10 - Would really like to fit this one into the Ten Worth Mentioning section. Better than the two previously mentioned '7' rated films.
6) Three Colors: Red (1994 - Krzysztof Kieslowski) 6.5/10 - Definitely a great candidate for a rewatch. Can't see it making any list waves though.
7) Man Bites Dog (1992 - Belvaux, Bonzel, Poelvoorde) 5.5/10 - Grew on me a little, actually and surprisingly.
8) Farewell My Concubine (1993 - Kaige Chen) 1/10
9) The Double Life of Veronique (1991 - Krzysztof Kieslowski) 6.5/10 - I've been told I didn't understand this properly...
10) Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1990 - John McNaughton) 8/10 - Definitely can see this one getting something come TOP 20 time.
11) Thelma & Louise (1991 - Ridley Scott) 5/10
12) The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994 - Stephan Elliott) 6.5/10 - Just now noticing that a lot of my ratings have slightly risen since my initial thoughts. I guess that's a good thing...
13) The Beautiful Troublemaker (1991 - Jacques Rivette) 7/10 - If they'd just shaved an hour off of this, it could've been GOLD! As it is, call it bronze.
14) The Rapture (1991 - Michael Tolkin) 3/10
15) The Blue Kite (1993 - Tian Zhuangzhuang) 4/10 - The Chinese kicked my ass this season.
16) Delicatessen (1991 - Jeunet, Caro) 6/10 - Good, but disappointing.
17) Boyz N' the Hood (1991 - John Singleton) 6.5/10 - Opinion goes down on this one, for now. Still deciding just how much I liked this one.
18) A Brighter Summer Day (1991 - Edward Yang) 1/10 - Screw it, I'm going all the way down, because I just could NOT get into this one, at all.
19) Total Recall (1990 - Paul Verhoeven) 8.5/10 - Call it a guilty pleasure, if you want, but I'm determined to fit this one into my TOP 20.
20) Raise the Red Lantern (1991 - Yimou Zhang) 9/10 - And after the Chinese kicked my ass, this film consoled me. Great movie and almost guaranteed a TOP 20 seed.
And that's all I watched in November, so let's talk about some TV and then I'll get outta' your hair. By the way, I think I'm canning the TOP 20 Tracker thing, because I like taking a fresh look at the movies, as opposed to continuously looking at them all season.
ME vs. TV
Family Guy, right? We gotta' talk a little bit about the....
SPOILER ALERT!
...death of Brian. I have mixed opinions. On one hand, I was recently thinking how weird it is that NOTHING ever changes on animated shows. Marge Simpson never gets a new haircut, Bob doesn't start selling hot dogs, characters RARELY die and even then, their ghosts are always subject to an appearance or two. So, in that respect, I like it. You have the pen in your hand, you can mess with these characters and that's what sets animated series' apart from live action series'. On the other hand, why get rid of a beloved character if you don't have to? Imagine a world where Steve Carell never left The Office and where Will Smith forever resides in Bel-Air. It's the main advantage that animation has over live action - that none of their characters are ever gonna' go anywhere, get better job offers, die or what have you. So I'm mixed, but I know most people are pissed and I can see their points.
Hostages - In a way, I can't wait for this to just end. I love it while I'm watching it, but when I see it waiting for me on the DVR, I find myself putting it off for as long as possible.
The Blacklist - I'm a little behind, but I still like this. I don't like the whole thing where literally EVERYONE knows for a fact that Ray is Keane's father. I think they should've kept that under wraps. I say, you have to let that cat out of the bag by the end of the season. If they're thinking of saving it, I think it's gonna' lose the impact after a while.
END SPOILER ALERT!
American Horror Story: Coven - Compared to "Murder House" I'm not liking this near as much. I have yet to see Asylum, but am wondering what the general consensus on this current season is. It's good and all, but "Murder House" spoiled me. I'm waiting for this to get better.
Dads - I quit watching this, because I heard it's basically been canned and because I had like three of them on the DVR and no real desire to watch them.
Mom - I'll stick it out through the season, but unless this gets worlds funnier, I think I'll quit after that. My wife loves it and at this point, I'm basically just watching it so that we have yet another show that we watch together. However, we just watched this week's episode last night and I don't think I laughed once - not even a teehee.
The Millers - It's a fine sitcom and I can only see this one getting better with age, once everyone settles into their characters. Best new comedy by a mile.
Quit watching Night Court DVDs and took a break from Two and a Half Men DVDs. The wife and I have been watching American Dad, however, from the beginning and laughing our asses off. Seriously that show is hilarious. Decided to rewatch them, since my viewing of the show got really sporadic during the fourth or fifth season and I've missed quite a few episodes since then. I'm a stickler for being up to date and all caught up with my TV.
We also quit watching Coupling and The Killing too. Coupling due to time issues and The Killing just didn't hook us.
Rumor has it that Santa Claus will be bringing me the complete series of the original Twilight Zone - an all-time favorite show of mine.
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That's that mattress man. See ya next month.
December 4, 2013 8:56pm
OOOhhh.. original Twilight zone?? I've only ever seen 2 or 3 of those, plus clips.. but I've always wanted to see more.
ReplyDeleteAlmost all of the TV you mention I've never heard of.. but Brian's demise... now tat is an issue.
We haven't had the episode yet, but it cropped up as a mention on the BBC website, and a quick Google search soon gave me the actual clip. I hear he is t be replaced by a stereotype Italian-American dog. (In fact I think it was you who told me that). No, not impressed.
Look, in the great divide, i am very much a C-A-T rather than a dog person, but Brian.. well, he was the most interesting character in the show. I could happily have a D_O_G if it was Brian.
It's a gutsy move on their part; maybe a stupid one. However, I think it would make them look even more stupid if they brought him back, which I've heard is the plan. If you pull that trigger, deal with it.
DeleteOh, your list looks nice! I'm sure I haven't even seen a third of all those movies.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I put it on IMDB in case anyone wanted to check it out.
DeleteLove your alternate list!
ReplyDeleteGlad you like it!
Delete