and in that year since I've seen ten movies--
The delightful DECOY BRIDE directed by Sheree Folkson and starring Kelly Macdonald, David Tennant, and Alice Eve about a decoy bride in Scotland and well, you know what happens. The actors, the set, the concept, all of it is adorable and funny and smart and a perfect hommage to Powell and Pressburger's I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING! starring Wendy Hiller and Roger Livesy. I highly recommend it. 
MEN IN BLACK III did not pass the Bechdel Test and now that I think of it perhaps this is why I've only seen ten movies in the last year--I decided to boycott all movies that didn't pass the Bechdel Test. My son rightly said upon hearing my vow, "Well, then, you won't be seeing many movies." I'm not sure though that this is the reason I've seen so few films this past year. I make a lot of vows I never keep. In any case, I went to see MIBIII with another, younger son and we were thoroughly entertained. Josh Brolin and Emma Thomson were brilliant casting choices. Ellen Chenoweth is to casting directors as Edith Head was to costume design. And Etan Cohen, really? Or is this a doppleganger?
Vincent Minelli's MADAME BOVARY. I love Vincent. I'm devoted. His films are always that weird mixture of trying hard to sell and trying hard to be artistique that I empathize with but oh, if he'd only had Ellen Chenoweth to do his casting. Jennifer Jones is just so wrong. Otherwise, fun to watch.
KEEP THE LIGHTS ON. A film a clef and I know the real life characters somewhat. I had fun. And the casting was spot on.
LOOPER. I so wanted to love this film. All the back to the future, science geek physics stuff, but I can't even remember it now. Casting made this one viable too. I love that Joseph Gordan-Levitt but I don't think he's the next Ryan Gosling.
TWO WEEKS IN ANOTHER TOWN, definitely Minelli at his best.
Okay, there was no way I wasn't seeing HITCHCOCK, no matter how bad or boring or wrong everyone said it was and they were right but I didn't really mind. The casting was great. The script was the problem.
GAYBY, if only I'd been watching Bringing Up Gayby. A film about two best friends, a gay man and a single straight woman who have a baby together. Actually, it wasn't that bad. I went to see this with a bunch of London mums who know the producer (American) at a Gay and Lesbian Film Festival and that was interesting. The film wasn't bad at all. It had a good enough script but the lead comedienne, Jenn Harris, had something terribly wrong with her make-up. It was very weird and distracting.
THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED is a 1926 German animated film by Lotte Reiniger, based on one of the Tales from the Arabian Nights. It is the oldest surviving animated feature film and is totally stunning. I saw it with a live score by contemporary composer Bushra El-Turk as part of the Bird's Eye View Festival celebrating Arab women filmmakers.
THE HAWKS AND THE SPARROWS by Pier Paolo Pasolini with Toto. Utterly sublime. Sorry the picture is so small here but this is one of the most extraordinary scenes in the film which is full of extraordinary scenes.
Vincent Minelli's MADAME BOVARY. I love Vincent. I'm devoted. His films are always that weird mixture of trying hard to sell and trying hard to be artistique that I empathize with but oh, if he'd only had Ellen Chenoweth to do his casting. Jennifer Jones is just so wrong. Otherwise, fun to watch.
KEEP THE LIGHTS ON. A film a clef and I know the real life characters somewhat. I had fun. And the casting was spot on.
LOOPER. I so wanted to love this film. All the back to the future, science geek physics stuff, but I can't even remember it now. Casting made this one viable too. I love that Joseph Gordan-Levitt but I don't think he's the next Ryan Gosling.
TWO WEEKS IN ANOTHER TOWN, definitely Minelli at his best.
Okay, there was no way I wasn't seeing HITCHCOCK, no matter how bad or boring or wrong everyone said it was and they were right but I didn't really mind. The casting was great. The script was the problem.
GAYBY, if only I'd been watching Bringing Up Gayby. A film about two best friends, a gay man and a single straight woman who have a baby together. Actually, it wasn't that bad. I went to see this with a bunch of London mums who know the producer (American) at a Gay and Lesbian Film Festival and that was interesting. The film wasn't bad at all. It had a good enough script but the lead comedienne, Jenn Harris, had something terribly wrong with her make-up. It was very weird and distracting.
THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED is a 1926 German animated film by Lotte Reiniger, based on one of the Tales from the Arabian Nights. It is the oldest surviving animated feature film and is totally stunning. I saw it with a live score by contemporary composer Bushra El-Turk as part of the Bird's Eye View Festival celebrating Arab women filmmakers.
THE HAWKS AND THE SPARROWS by Pier Paolo Pasolini with Toto. Utterly sublime. Sorry the picture is so small here but this is one of the most extraordinary scenes in the film which is full of extraordinary scenes.
