Mistermix and I are off to see “The Master” tonight. Have you guys seen it? I love P. T. Anderson.
What other movies have been good this year? I loved “A Kid And His Bike”, best movie I’ve seen in years. But I don’t see many movies.
by DougJ| 63 Comments
This post is in: Movies, Readership Capture, Blogospheric Navel-Gazing
Mistermix and I are off to see “The Master” tonight. Have you guys seen it? I love P. T. Anderson.
What other movies have been good this year? I loved “A Kid And His Bike”, best movie I’ve seen in years. But I don’t see many movies.
Comments are closed.
R-Jud
I am DYING to see The Master, but it doesn’t come out over here for a few more weeks.
BGinCHI
I loved “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia.”
Streams on Netflix.
(Child born on 1/5. Movies seen at a theater this year: 0)
Mark S.
I haven’t been paying attention to movies lately, but that sounds like an interesting premise.
Mark S.
And at first I thought you meant Wes Anderson, and I was like no thanks.
R-Jud
@BGinCHI: Child born 3/3/09. Movies seen in the theater since then: 3.
piratedan
thought that moonrise kingdom was pretty nice escapist fare. Actually enjoyed MIB 3 too.
Tim from AZ
It is NOT about Scientology! I swear. All the actors say so and the Director. So don’t think its about Scientology. No matter how much it seems its about Scientology it absolutely is not. It’s just a coincidence. I swear. On L.Ron Hubbard’s grave. And Suri.
Walker
I actually really enjoyed seeing Dredd last night. Solid B movie the likes of which Hollywood just does not make anymore (this is a UK/South African production).
JustAnotherBob
@R-Jud:
All Disney or has there been a Barney release?
ranchandsyrup
Saw this article on Anderson from a few years back. A good read. http://www.esquire.com/print-this/paul-thomas-anderson-1008-5?page=all
I also too have a child (just turned 2) so only one trip to the movies. The bad news is that it was one of the twilight thingies. The good news was that we went to cinepolis so there was booze. http://www.cinepolisusa.com
hildebrand
When I realized it wasn’t a Dr. Who movie, I lost interest.
Eric U.
theater attendance of movies is way down for everyone. It’s gotten so bad they actually go out of their way to serve fresh popcorn at our local theater.
O.T., I haven’t convinced my browser that I want to use U.S. english instead of the bastardized U.K. form. I changed it, but it didn’t stick for some reason. Annoying. Knew they misspelled ‘theater’, but apparently, ‘movies’ is not a word in U.K. English.
patrick II
I was taken by Wes Anderson’s “Moonrise Kingdom” a story of innocent young love set among a cast of some of today’s greatest character actors — Murray, McDormand, Willis, Norton, Swinton, Keitel, etc.
I also enjoyed ‘Premium Rush’, a chase movie reduced to essentials — a bicycle (no gears, no brake), the crowded streets of New York, a bad cop and a remarkably beautiful girl (Dania Ramirez).
Chris
I really want to see that movie set during the Iran hostage crisis, but I’m blanking on its name…
Also if it hasn’t been seen yet, Expendables 2 is got loud and dumb fun in the eighties tradition. (Still wish the A-Team movie had gotten a sequel, speaking of that).
raven
Think I’ll mosey over “Tween the Hedges” and watch the “dore’s” get slapped.
TaMara (BHF)
You and mistermix are an item? I miss everything good here.
raven
@TaMara (BHF): I was gonna say that!
notesoncamp
Moonrise Kingdom, Bernie, and Turn Me On Dammit were the best movies I have seen this year. Moonrise and TMOD the best I have seen in a long time.
vawolf1974
Saw Robot & Frank last weekend and it was pretty good.
Tim from AZ
Is the word “Scientology” something that triggers moderation of posts? I made a joke because every interview I’m heard about the Master include a question about whether its about “The S word”.
Just so I know. Either that or David Miscavige has his tentacles in B-Juice too! Spooky.
raven
I thought the The Intouchables was pretty decent.
Yutsano
@Chris: Argo, I believe. And yeah saw a couple previews and it looks…intriguing.
barath
Samsara was very worth seeing. During the first third I wasn’t sure I would get into it, but it was really compelling as it built momentum.
Dennis SGMM
Philip Seymour Hoffman is currently my favorite actor. I “Capote” again the other day and then “Owning Mahowny,” just to enjoy the contrasts in the way that he played two such different protagonists.
YellowJournalism
I am dying to see “Argo” with Ben Affleck. When the kids were gone, hubby and I tried to go to the movies as much as possible. “Total Recall” was a waste of a trip, IMO. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t worth wasting my precious movie-going time. More of a forgettable rental for me. “Dark Knight Rises” was absolutely worth it, because that is a movie probably made better by seeing it in the theatre. I really wanted to see “Moonrise Kingdom,” but I know hubby doesn’t like Wes Anderson films too much, so I didn’t push it.
I would really like to see “The Master” for the cast and subject matter, let alone the fact that it’s PT Anderson. “Boogie Nights” will alway be one of my favorite films. It will be awkward one day sharing that one with my kids.
The boys are just now at the age where we can take them to the movies, and what happens? Turns out we’re expecting number three just in time for the summer blockbuster season next year! Ha.
DougJ
@TaMara (BHF):
It’s New York State. We have full equality.
Lev
Saw The Master yesterday. Greatly enjoyed it. The L. Ron Hubbard parallels are definitely there but it’s more a character study than an expose. Some incredibly beautiful shots in there, even for Anderson, and for my money, the most devastating moment (no spoilers, I promise) is seeing Dodd/Hubbard’s son in a suit near the end.
@Dennis SGMM: Love Owning Mahowny. I love any movie where people just go full speed into a batshit insane idea like ripping off $4 million dollars from the bank they work for. I wish Kwietniowski would make another film already–that guy’s even less prolific than Whit Stillman.
Stephen1947
Saw the Master last night, and will see it again tomorrow – a 70mm print, which was lovely. Don’t expect to have total comprehension of what it’s about at end of first viewing. Hoffman was amazing – put me in mind of Orson Welles playing Charles Foster Kane. But J. Phoenix is even more amazing. And Amy Adams is pretty potent as the power behind the throne.
Also, do you mean The Kid With a Bike by the Dardennes brothers? It was pretty excellent, but my favorite of theirs is still their first – The Promise.
Ejoiner
Caught “The Cabin in the Woods” last night – excellent, fun and totally crazy. Lots of good laughs and creeps!
Chris
@YellowJournalism:
Argo, that’s the name! Thanks.
Yutsano
TunchWP eted my comment.Gin & Tonic
Redundantly adding that Moonrise Kingdom was really great. Yeah, I know, wrong Anderson.
And there was a one-day re-release of The Birds this week. It doesn’t age as well as I thought, but good God, Tippi Hedren was gorgeous.
peter
incendries
mai naem
Y’all know that movie theaters have bed bugs right? That’s what I read in the intertubezz anyways.
R-Jud
@JustAnotherBob:
Hee, no. Three grown-up movies. We did see Brave with kidlet, though. We thought she’d want a bow and arrow; instead she spent the next several weeks either roaring like a bear or shouting in a Scottish accent like Billy Connoley.
SiubhanDuinne
@Chris: Argo
Hob
@Tim from AZ: I believe the idea is that there are a lot of extremely dedicated, combative, and verbose people who spend all their time Googling the name of their chosen thing, finding blogs that seem to be disrespecting that thing, and filling the comments of said blogs with flaming dogshit. The S word is one of those things– see also the Ron P word.
prufrock
I’d like to see The Master, but only as long as I can be assured that it’s more Boogie Nights, and much less Punch Drunk Love. That Adam Sandler abortion was the only movie I’ve ever walked out on.
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one to have that reaction. My wife and I got a full refund with the apologies of the management, and I didn’t even have to raise a stink. And yes, I know the theater already got their cut from the concessions.
Amir Khalid
The Judge Dredd movie looks promising. I think I’ll go see that. It’s got to be better than that Stallone piece of crap. I hear Karl Urban doesn’t take his helmet off. (Stallone kept his helmet off for most of the movie, just so we could all see it was Himself playing Dredd.)
dance around in your bones
@BGinCHI:
I remember when theatres had a special ‘parent and baby room’ behind glass, so parents (well, moms, really) could watch movies, breastfeed, let the kids cry, and not bother the other patrons.
What ever happened to that?
kansi
@dance around in your bones: Are you sure you’re not talking about church?
dance around in your bones
@kansi: Heh. I’m sure.
That was back when theatres were more than six or eight shoe boxes with shitty leak-through sound.
Heh heh – I said leak-through.
NotMax
Haven’t been to a movie theater in probably 20 years.
Not for lack of desire, but because when the multi-screen gargantuas were built here to replace the old single screen theaters, every single one of the new places I attended had a seriously deleterious affect on me.
Something intrinsic in the buildings themselves – on entering the theater I’m assailed (nearly overwhelmed) by a sharp metallic (almost acrid) stench which no one else in my party says they can smell. The day afterwards, am so horribly sick that can barely sit up.
After the second time this happened (once in each of the new multiplexes in town), swore off setting foot in them.
Since then, have met a few others who have experienced the same thing and agree about the powerful odor. Whether it is the carpet adhesive or the seat fabric or whatever is sprayed for insect control I don’t know, but have never had so severe an unhealthy reaction to anything before or since.
Ripley
The Tall Man is pretty great, if you can find it. Sold as a horror flick, and it is, but it’s agit-prop more than conventional horror.
And the restoration of Wake In Fright (1971) is something to behold. Moral terror in the Australian outback, with more beer-drinking than even I thought was possible.
Maude
@NotMax:
Could also be the flame retardant in the carpet and fabric. There’s a lot of chemicals in some new places. In office spaces it’s called building sickness.
Slamhole
I was forced to watch Cabin in the Woods last night expecting a Jason/Freddie slasher film but was somewhat surprised to see Joss Whedon in the opening credits. It was all uphill from there! It was an hour and a half mindless escape that was sorely needed. Thanks for the tips of Owning Mahowney and The Kid with the Bike.
YoohooCthulhu
@NotMax:
Sounds psychosomatic.
robertdsc-PowerBook
I liked Act Of Valor, so far the only movie I’ve seen in the theaters in the past 5 years.
But I’m also a SEAL observer and student, so that was in my wheelhouse.
Corner Stone
@robertdsc-PowerBook:
Biting..down…so hard…too…much…
Brachiator
The Norwegian thriller “Headhunters” was twisty fun.
You can get more info and see the trailer here
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1614989/
Check it out before the inevitable US remake.
Brachiator
@Gin & Tonic:
I have seen The Birds a number of times and always thought it was vintage Hitchcock. I might check it out again.
Agree that Hedren was gorgeous. I think I may also rent her first film with Hitchcock, “Marnie,” with Sean Connery as the male lead. I think this was definitely weaker Hitchcock, but again Hedren was lovely in it.
BTW, I think there is some current film in production about Hitchcock’s supposedly unhealthy obsession with Hedren. I think Sienna Miller plays Hedren in the film. It would be unfortunate if Hitchcock were to be reduced to a bag of neuroses with a camera.
robertdsc-PowerBook
@Corner Stone:
Spit it out.
Joseph Nobles
@Brachiator: I thought you were talking about Anthony Hopkins’ portrayal of Hitch during the making of Psycho (and that would be Janet Leigh, of course) out in November, but Toby Jones is doing Hitch in “The Girl” on HBO (coming in October) which is about Hedren.
http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/alfred-hitchcock-and-the-making-of-psycho
According to this article, when Tippi Hedren first heard Toby Jones’ voice as Hitch, she froze.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/hbos-toby-jones-as-alfred-hitchcock-the-girl-365450
Brachiator
@Joseph Nobles:
yep, yep, the Toby Jones film is about Hitchcock and Hedren. I had almost forgot about the Anthony Hopkins movie. Thanks very much for this.
I confess though, that I am not that interested in seeing either film unless I hear that they are truly special in some way. And I don’t see much point in a film about the making of Psycho, which may end up as bland and heartless as the shot by shot remake of the film by, I think, Gus Van Sandt.
BobS
@robertdsc-PowerBook: what the fuck does that even mean?
robertdsc-PowerBook
@BobS:
It means that I was pre-disposed to like a film featuring Navy SEALs, which Act Of Valor does. The film chronicles some of the missions they perform and little bits of SEAL life. I collect and read materials on SEALs as a hobby.
Brachiator
@robertdsc-PowerBook:
How do you feel about the SAS?
YellowJournalism
@Brachiator: I have a great affection for Marnie, despite its status as one of the worst Hitchcock movies and the *spoiler* rape.
The scene at the beginning with Marnie breaking into her boss’ office is one of Hitchcock’s best in terms of suspense and humor. Plus, I just crack up when the mother calls out her name in that shaky, broken voice. “Marnie!” I would love to get a copy of the novel it’s based on.
robertdsc-PowerBook
@Brachiator:
I don’t know very much about the SAS. I’m primarily interested in the SEALs, then the rest of the US special operations community.
Funny, I hadn’t seen a movie in several years when a co-worker showed me the trailer for Act Of Valor. It was the first time I’d been inside a theater in a long time. The Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker) film Zero Dark Thirty (about the Bin Laden raid) will be the second film I see this year.
I’ve mostly left the movie-going thing behind. Even some of the DVDs I have at home to watch are gathering dust. I mostly play games or read books.
dance around in your bones
The price of the tickets are too damn high!
Not to mention the popcorn.
mclaren
For those of you who haven’t seen THE MASTER yet, just watch the Romney campaign’s press conferences. Same thing.
Andrew J. Lazarus
Do I belong on this blog any more? Best movie I’ve seen this year has been Ruby Sparks.
NotMax
@YoohooCthulhu
Not to be contrary, but it is hardly psychosomatic when multiple other people, unprompted, report the exact same sensations and reactions when in the same space.
fact is, a friend who at one time was a top class certified guy at Terminix told me that what I experienced is practically textbook for adverse reactions to certain nerve gas-related chemicals they sometimes use.