Netflix Diary
1. Avalon
This is the last of Barry Levinson's 4 Baltimore-based semi-autobiographical period films that I've gotten around to seeing, and it might be just because I saw the others first multiple times, but I'd say it's my least favorite among them (although that group still comprises his best movies with maybe a couple exceptions). It's only got occasional flashes of the great dialogue of Diner and Tin Men, and a lot of the glossy, slow-moving sentimental sequences that occasionally bogged down Liberty Heights. Still, interesting meditation on immigration and assimilation with a few great performances, including an early Kevin Pollack dramatic role.
2. "The Wire," season 2
I've watched every season of The Wire on HBO and On Demand now, and I wanted to Netflix and go through them all again to ramp up to the start of the 5th and final season, but that's only a few weeks away now and I probably won't quite get to it. But right now I'm at least going through 2, probably the most underappreciated, or at least most debated, season of the show. Like a lot of people, I have mixed feelings about the Sobotka storyline and feel like in some ways it's a little divorced from the continuum in which most of the other sets of characters exist, but it's still pretty damn good. There's still some of the tin-eared 'street' dialogue that I don't feel like the show really got totally got good out until the last couple seasons, though, and I cringe at exchanges like "yo, that be the exit," "then take that shit!"
3. Minority Report
This is one of those movies where I'd probably heard the premise so many times that I felt like I'd seen it without actually seeing it. Some really good moments and great visuals, but the whole concept wasn't totally executed in a plausible way, and the chase scenes felt kind of forced and tacked-on. J.G. and I found ourselves laughing at how ill-fitting the grandiose John Williams score was for most of the movie, he's a versatile guy but the way he just slapped an Indiana Jones-type theme over everything really just didn't suit the material or the aesthetic.
4. Magdalene Sisters
Another depressing J.G. pick, this one about the terrible shit that the Catholic church used to, and to an extent still does, put young women through. I appreciate the gravity of the story, and it did provoke me to really think about the subject a bit, but like a lot of these kind of films, I come away from it not really feeling like I learned or was shown anything really important that I didn't know about, and it wasn't particularly well made once you strip away its somber subject matter.
This is the last of Barry Levinson's 4 Baltimore-based semi-autobiographical period films that I've gotten around to seeing, and it might be just because I saw the others first multiple times, but I'd say it's my least favorite among them (although that group still comprises his best movies with maybe a couple exceptions). It's only got occasional flashes of the great dialogue of Diner and Tin Men, and a lot of the glossy, slow-moving sentimental sequences that occasionally bogged down Liberty Heights. Still, interesting meditation on immigration and assimilation with a few great performances, including an early Kevin Pollack dramatic role.
2. "The Wire," season 2
I've watched every season of The Wire on HBO and On Demand now, and I wanted to Netflix and go through them all again to ramp up to the start of the 5th and final season, but that's only a few weeks away now and I probably won't quite get to it. But right now I'm at least going through 2, probably the most underappreciated, or at least most debated, season of the show. Like a lot of people, I have mixed feelings about the Sobotka storyline and feel like in some ways it's a little divorced from the continuum in which most of the other sets of characters exist, but it's still pretty damn good. There's still some of the tin-eared 'street' dialogue that I don't feel like the show really got totally got good out until the last couple seasons, though, and I cringe at exchanges like "yo, that be the exit," "then take that shit!"
3. Minority Report
This is one of those movies where I'd probably heard the premise so many times that I felt like I'd seen it without actually seeing it. Some really good moments and great visuals, but the whole concept wasn't totally executed in a plausible way, and the chase scenes felt kind of forced and tacked-on. J.G. and I found ourselves laughing at how ill-fitting the grandiose John Williams score was for most of the movie, he's a versatile guy but the way he just slapped an Indiana Jones-type theme over everything really just didn't suit the material or the aesthetic.
4. Magdalene Sisters
Another depressing J.G. pick, this one about the terrible shit that the Catholic church used to, and to an extent still does, put young women through. I appreciate the gravity of the story, and it did provoke me to really think about the subject a bit, but like a lot of these kind of films, I come away from it not really feeling like I learned or was shown anything really important that I didn't know about, and it wasn't particularly well made once you strip away its somber subject matter.
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on Saturday, November 24, 2007 at 11:17 AM.
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Mr. Emily : 8:53 PM