Talkies - 2007 to 1959 - A Lifetime List
This is my video diet since about mid-2003. We rarely go to a movie theater.
Further below is a list of every moving picture or TV show I can remember seeing.
In recent years we have had no cable or TV antenna so I have almost no idea what goes on in the vast land of television.
I suppose you might call this list "my history as a consumer of popular culture."
Recently Viewed Moving Pictures - 2007
Devil's Playground
Amish teenagers on Rumspringa making the decision to join their church or live an English life. July 3 2008
Melinda and Melinda
Dear God, please, if I ever start to watch another self-absorbed, boring, badly written, (did I mention self abosrbed?) Woody Allen flick filled with stupid upper east side stick figure characters, all in the performing arts, yet living in huge apartments, mouthing utterly familiar Woody Allen lines and mimicking Woody Allen mannerisms, then just strike me down right then and there and spare me from wasting another 2 hours of my precious time on this earth. Your humble and obedient servant, Miles. (One interesting thing about this film was the way he got the conversations that people have on staircases... the staircase as a real-life stage. But it was hardly worth watching the movie just to see that.) With Leora, on a Wed. while the kids had a sleepover at their cousins' house. June 18 2008.
Rocky and Bullwinkle
A few episodes from the third season with my children, Father's Day morning. June 14 2008
Idiocracy (2005)
Blade Runner meets Sleeper. I thought this was just great. I don't recall ever seeing a dystopian future comedy. June 13 2008
Porco Rosso (1992)
Beautifully animated story of a heroic Italian seaplane pilot cursed with the face of a pig. With the children and my son's guest, May 31, 2008
Hot Fuzz (2007)
Kids at sleepover, so it was mindless movie night for Leora and me. We enjoyed. May 29 2008
Robin Hood by Larry Blamire (The Blue Monkey Theater Co.)
The four of us enjoyed an afternoon of light comedy and slashing sword play. Leora had bought tickets, wondering if she could even persuade me to go, but I went and greatly enjoyed being there with my kids and her. It's been a long time since I saw a play. Afterwards I declared that I never want to see anything but comedy again... no dark tragedies for me. May 11 2008
Frisco Kid
An oldie but a goodie. Watching it I realized I knew every scene like an old friend. Here and there were a few surprises or forgotten moments that were also enjoyable. May 3 2008
The Apple Dumpling Gang
Family movie night, March 29 2008
Horatio's Drive
The story of the first transcontinental car trip in 1903, with Leora and the children, March 23 2008
Lie with Me (2005)
March 21 2008
Hide and Seek (2005)
Very moving and thought provoking. March 6 and 7, 2008
A Bit of Fry and Laurie (circa 1988)
More Fry and Laurie, late February, early March 2008
A Bit of Fry and Laurie (circa 1988)
Random episodes, after kids were finally asleep. January 29 2008
Who Killed the Electric Car?
January 24, 2007
Who the Fuck Is Jackson Pollock? (2006)
January 23 2007
Commune (2006)
A very enjoyable tale of 1967 to 1987 counter culture living at Black Bear Ranch, in Siskiyou County, California. "Free Land for Free People" was the slogan, the money came from rock stars and welfare checks, and the result was a beautiful mess, and some children who seem to have come out alright. See pictures of naked dancing in the 1960s and then watch what happens when hippies get old and move on, or not, as the case may be. Very relevant to my own thinking about how to live and very enjoyable. January 20 2008
Green Acres
A few random episodes from the first season with my children. My son particularly likes this. January 1 2007
2007
Ratatouille (2007)
Family movie night, evening of December 31, 2007. We were all asleep by 11.
A Scanner Darkly (2006)
With Leora on a Friday evening. Creepy, but also boring, in the way that stoners are always kind of boring. Still, I enjoyed this. It sort of requires a second viewing to fully comprehend. December 29 2007.
Mulan
With my daughter on a Friday afternoon, vacation days. December 28 2007
Green Acres
A random episode with my son and daughter on a Friday afternoon, December 28 2007.
Lady and the Tramp (Disney)
Family movie night - all the pleasure for Leora and me was in our children's laughter, and that was more than enough. Evening of December 24 2007
Absolutely Fabulous (random episode)
Leora's choice, amusing but I get a little tired of their shtick. December 21, 2007
Hogan's Heroes (Episode 1, Season 1)
Memories of childhood, checked out from the library. Absurd, barely funny, but eminently watchable. December 21, 2007
All in the Family, Episodes 1 and 2, Season 1
The last time I saw this it was in black and white! I'd probably never seen these early episodes before, and I certainly never knew that Archie Bunker's chair was orangey brown. There are many cute anachronisms here, but it is thoroughly enjoyable to see these familiar characters just starting out their story. With Leora, after the kids were asleep, on the evening of December 19 2007
Green Acres, First Season, Episodes 9, 10 and 11 (1965-1971 TV Show)
I never watched this as a child. My parents didn't approve. It was just right for my daughter and me on a lazy Saturday afternoon. December 15, 2007
A British TV comedy from 1961 to be named...
With Leora, December 14 2007
The Pink Panther (1964, Peter Sellers)
With my daughter while my son played soccer. It was interesting trying to explain the love scenes and other plot twists to a 7 year old girl. She was fascinated. I think I did a pretty good job. November 16 2007
The Prisoner (1967-1968)
James Bond meets the The Truman Show - Curious paranoid fantasy adventure from 1967. November 8 2007
John Cleese's Personal Best
Rusty and I watched, occasionally getting up to give candy to trick-or-treaters, while Leora and the kids went trick-or-treating in another neighborhood with their cousins. October 31 2007
Shortbus
October 29 2007
Conspiracy (2001)
The Wanasee conference re-enacted. Quite gripping. I re-read the original transcript just now to see how closely the script stuck to it, and it makes a very interesting comparison. The authors clearly interpolated from the material and from statements made by the officials in other contexts, but they definitely captured the essence of this evil. The soulless corporate-governmental mindset sounds pretty much the same no matter what "problem" it is trying to solve. Those Nazis and their intermingled legalist and racist thinking don't sound so different from the voices we hear every day in public life today. In making a drama out of the bureaucratic process that led to the Holocaust, this film in some ways gets much closer to the root causes of the German genocide than other films like Shoah, Schindler's List and so on. This takes us right into the belly of the bureaucratic machine that defined people in or out of life. The setting is mundane, but the thing that is pictured is remarkable, and perhaps all the more remarkable because it is so mundane. Friday evening, October 12 2007
Simpsons
The four of us watched one episode (Krusty the Clown and his Rabbi father), but Leora has to jump up to block and skip through the completely child inappropriate "Itchy and Scratchy" satires. September 23 2007
Black Snake Moan
Sometime in September 2007
Seinfeld (4th season)
With Leora, three episodes from 15 years ago. Dated but amusing. September 20 2007.
Jackie Brown (Pam Grier, Samuel Jackson, Quentin Tarantino, 1997)
August 24 2007
Day at the Races, Marx Brothers
Watched the first half with my children. My son laughs heartily at this stuff. August 20 2007
Our Daily Bread (1934)
Depression era communal fantasy/propaganda. Interesting, particularly in light of contemporary Peak Oil speculations. August 15 2007
High Art
Not watchable. Smack snorters depress me. August 15 2007
Amateur (1994)
Pointlessly violent (that was the point) and deeply adolescent (whole virgin/whore contast is just a little tiresome), it was nonetheless quite watchable and enjoyable on a night of insomina, August 14 2007
Anne of Green Gables
My daughter is in love with this and I have watched snippets and fragments with her. It is a world in which people speak precisely and carefully about subtle gradations of emotion. I completely understand its attraction for her. August 11 2007
Fifty First Dates
Drew Barrymore is a cutey, but this is no "Groundhog Day." The medical implausibility and ethical ickiness of the condition and the romance are the least of this film's problems. August 10 2007
Borat
First 20 minutes only. I found it unfunny and unwatchable. August 10 2007
The Big Lebowski (1998)
You know, I'm just not this serious anymore. I get the "stoner dude does Raymond Chandler LA" joke, but I don't get any pleasure from angry people exorcising their angry emotions. It's fine film making and very creative, but the film doesn't really hang together very much as a story. Three shrugs. August 6 2007
John Cleese - Wine for the Confused (2004)
Don't ask. I'm not even interested in wine. But we watched it, if only to see what John Cleese had made of himself in retirement. There are 6 varieties of grapes, a considerably larger set of adjectives to describe their flavors following fermentation, and by the second glass there isn't a bit of difference between the $900 bottle and Two Buck Chuck. August 4, 2007
Bill Maher, Comedy Sketch, HBO
Caught this while on a business trip in a hotel room on HBO. Maher is one delightfully angry SOB. August 2, 2007
Sicko (2007)
Let's go with the superlatives. Certainly the best movie of the year, and possibly the best movie I've seen in a decade. Michael Moore takes stuff I've been living, personally and professionally, and brings it all home. He makes you want to make a revolution, and makes it clear just how hard that would be. There are many areas where he shades the picture and neglects important qualifications. This is not a balanced piece of reporting. It is a call to action. But then the current insurance and healthcare reality in the U.S. is not a balanced situation either: it is an active and ongoing assault on our collective health. This amusing counter-attack is well deserved. Viewed with the folks at the office, July 30 2007
The Boy With The Incredible Brain (BBC Documentary)
Incredible documentary on a guy with relatively normal affect and impressive cognitive capabilities. Via StumbleUpon, July 29 2007
Lyrics and Music
Could not possibly be lighter. July 25 2007
Color Me Kubrick
July 24 2007
The Falling Man (9/11 documentary)
July 22 2007
Bill Moyers Journal, Tough Talk on Impeachment
July 15 2007
Scrubs
Episodes 9 and 10, July 14 2007
The Librarian: Quest for the Spear (2004)
Incredibly juvenile and a complete waste of time, I enjoyed it nonetheless. Think of it as Indiana Jones lite. Leora was analyzing it for images of Librarianship, but even that was pretty thin pickings. Not a lot to think about here. Friday evening, June 13 2007
Scrubs
Episodes 3 to 8, July 7 2007
Scrubs
Very amusing TV series. Episodes 1 and 2, July 6 2007
History Boys
The queer rituals of British schooling. Feels very much like the play adapted for a movie that it is. Interesting. July 5, 2007
Garden State
Visually beautiful and very enjoyable for its characters and setting (New Jersey) until it got lost in the self-absorption of its lead character and director and wound down to a predictable and boring happy ending. June 1 2007
Little Miss Sunshine
Very enjoyable. June 26 2007
The Long Goodbye (Robert Altman, Elliot Gould, 1973)
I recognize many of the places in which this film was shot. Classic evil gangster line, to threaten the hero he slashes his own girlfriend's face and then says to him "That's what I do to people I love and I don't even like you..." June 21 2007
Various Film Advertisements and TV Content at Sears
My son and I want to Lloyd Center and wound up in the TV department of Sears looking at large screen TVs and the content displayed thereon. It was nice spending time together. We stopped in a toy store, and I bought him a rainbow sherbert in a waffle cone at the food court afterwards. Father's Day, June 17 2007
Around the World in 80 Days
My son has been talking about this flick for several days following. He didn't want to watch it, and now he can't stop talking about it. The ninja fighting made a big impression on him. With my son and his friend on a Sunday afternoon, June 10 2007
Happily Never After
Family pizza night on the couch, the four of us, Saturday evening. Cute and ironic rendition of old favorites. June 9 2007
Masked and Anonymous
Flawed, as widely reported, but quite enjoyable for its look and feel and, of course, because Bob Dylan isn't always interesting, but he still retains the ability to fascinate in odd ways and unexpected moments. June 8 2007
Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself (2002)
Leora's idea... I watched a little. It was terrible. June 3 2007
Following Sean (2005)
Following Sean was one of the most rewarding and fascinating films I've seen in a long time. Ralph Arlyck, revisits a film he made about a 4 year old boy named Sean living in Haight-Ashbury in the Summer of Love, circa 1968, and then proceeds to track down many of the people in Sean's life and his own from that distant time and place. The result is a spare and deeply satisfying study of how people change over time, and come to view themselves and others through the perspective of time. The footage from 1968 is fantastic, and gains depth as the seventies and later decades are layered on top of it, and as the film-maker's changes are mingled with those of his subjects. This one blew me away. It's subtle, quiet, and completely engrossing. Highly recommended. June 2 2007
Mulberry (UK, BBC, Sitcom, 1992)
First three and the fifth episode of a British series about the dance with an apprentice Grim Reaper. Amusing. Circa May 27 2007
Spiderman (2002)
Empty silly candy, but kinda clever in places, in that silly sweet empty way. With Leora on the couch, May 22 2007
Strangers with Candy (Amy Sedaris)
Sorta kinda almost funny, May 10 2007
Trembling before God, 2001
In my youth I lived on the edges of the ultra-orthodox world in Israel. My place was in the "modern-orthodox" world, an oxymornonic term that has little practical meaning, since there is, in the end, little that is modern about modern-orthodoxy either, although at the time the distinction meant a great deal to me. In this film the familiar voices in Hebrew and Hebrew-accented English sounded like friends of mine from long ago. The people and the attitudes are echoes from my personal past. Furthermore, my aunt Elenore introduced me to her world of gay and lesbian Jews in the 1980s in New York, when she took me to her synagogue, although she was too uncomfortable to actually explain to me that it was a gay synagogue. I had to deduce that myself. (It wasn't hard.) Then, later in life my realization of the injustice of orthodoxy's attitudes toward gays was one of the (many) issues that led me away from any effort to live a "modern" religious Jewish life. So watching this movie, I was tempted to yell at these pained Jewish gays and lesbians "you don't have to live like that", but who am I to say such a thing? Who am I to tell someone what community feels like home? I myself went home to my real home in America, and left Israel behind, so I fully understand the desire to live in a place and community that feels like home. Most of the people in this film feel that their cultural home is in the religious world, even though it rejects their sexuality. From other Jewish gays and lesbians for whom their sexuality becomes their new homeland, we are unlikely to hear further, for they have migrated away completely, and no longer associate with the Orthodykes or other Jewish gay groups. But this movie focuses on those for whom their religious culture remains their true home. They are in pain, unable to reconcile their cultural home with their psycho-sexual home. This movie is the story of their pain. It would facile to suggest that they reject the world that rejects them, even if that would seem to be the obvious choice. With L., May 8 2007
Do Not Adjust Your Set (1967)
Early Monty Python, shades of Laugh-in, humorous in parts but basically boring and not very watchable. Turned it off after 20 minutes. May 8, 2007
Gran Tourismo, Play Station 1
Played several races with my son. May 6 2007
Gabby
A series of cartoon shorts from 1940, with my children on a Saturday afternoon. May 5 2007
Star Beauty (Claire Danes, 2004)
Flawed but enjoyable. To represent the change from female impersonators to actresses on the post-Elizabethan stage, a combination of Kabuki and 19th century acting styles is used for the early period, and a naturalistic style for the first actors and actresses of the new era. This was an inspired and fascinating choice. Unfortunately some of the dialogue was so modern, or off-kilter, that the illusion of 17th century-ness was broken on many occasions. With Leora, May 4 2006
Cold Comfort Farm
Second viewing, most charming. May 2 2007
Veronica Mars (2004)
We watched the first two episodes. It was Leora's idea. Moderately interesting, fairly annoying. It is possible to view it ironicly or from a critical perspective, but doing so is kind of more trouble than it is worth. April 28 2007
When do we eat?
Passover on ecstasy. Plays annoyingly on Jewish stereotypes (can't anyone make a Jewish film that doesn't do that?), but this was nonetheless enjoyable and amusing. April 26 2007.
Breach
The Robert Hanssen story, enjoyed on a date with Leora at the Laurelhurst theater, with pizza, popcorn and beer. This was interesting and had some well-acted moments. April 21, 2007
Parenthood (Steve Martin)
Viewed over two evenings with Leora, mid-April 2007
For Your Consideration
The legendary "Home for Purim" story, April 12, 2007
Fry and Laurie
Multiple clips, with Leora, on YouTube, April 10, 2007
Nathalie (2003)
Does anybody do adultery quite like the French? April 9 2007
Confetti
Very very light. Guffmanesque, but not quite funny. April 8 2007
Everything is Illuminated
Watched the out-takes this time, and every one of them was a good choice for removal, but it was interesting to see how the movie was first conceived, with a much more fantastical side, like the novel, than was seen in the final version. With Leora, on a Thursday evening, exhausted on the couch. March 22 2007
Intimate Stories (Historias Minimas) 2005
Very enjoyable and gentle stories from Patagonia, March 12 2007
Blow Up, Michelangelo Antonioni, 1966
I remember my parents reporting having seen this movie in the early 1970s, when they were just a little younger than I am now. My mother explained the business of blowing up a photo to find the crime in great detail. The lack of music telling you what to feel is quite enjoyable. The pretentiousness of the movie making itself is annonying. The protaganist is not a likable man... but he's not really intended to be. The glimpse of mod culture of London in 1966 is fascinating. The accompanying commentary track is very interesting. March 9 2007
Saving Grace
Fun! March 3 2007
Lost in LaMancha
Great disaster story. Late February 2007
Leap of Faith (Steve Martin, 1992)
After a sushi birthday dinner for Leora, an old film and a night without children. February 17 2007
Third Rock from the Sun
Three episodes from the first season, each one inappropriate for a 6 year old and 10 year old child in its own way. Not sure why I let my children watch this with us (and my son in fact squirms and covers his ears) but they want to watch it so we did. February 11 2007.
Very Annie Mary (2001)
This is a surprising little gem, the story of a small town girl/woman (played by Rachel Griffiths, from Murriel's Wedding) trying to get her life started and escape a domineering father. Lots of Welsh countryside and local, almost incomprehensible, accents. Very enjoyable. Leora found it for us. February 8 and 9, 2007
The World's Fastest Indian
Enjoyable. Anthony Hopkins might be a philosophical and human improvement on the real-life speed demon named Burt Monroe (to judge from the accompanying documentary), but no matter. Art sometimes improves upon reality, or become more real than reality. Early February 2007
Third Rock from the Sun
Will I regret these wasted evenings one day? I think we enjoyed 3 to 5 of these cartoons from the 1990s. January 29 2007
Under the Tuscan Sun
What a ridiculous chick flick. Not five minutes into the thing and already the happy endings start, and then it's happy endings all the way through to the end. But oh to live in Italy. In spite of this film's ridiculousness you can't help but be forced to confront the fact that you live in Portland Oregon while other people live in Tuscan villas. Sigh. OK, so then Leora and I had a long conversation about how we could make our lives more like Italy, or more like the imaginary lives in Under the Tuscan Sun. More gatherings with friends? More community? (A different neighborhood? Get out of the city? But where... not out to suburbia... not out to fundamentalist land.... move downtown? But with kids?) Better cooking? More wine, etc? I really don't feel a need to move to Italy, but it makes you think. January 27 2007
Jon Stewart, Daily Show
I often watch this online and it makes me happier. I don't list all internet content here yet, but in the future I may have to figure out how to integrate material viewed via computer with that viewed on other devices. I watched it tonight. I love Jon Stewart. January 26 2007
Analyze This
Slightly and lightly amusing. January 23 2007
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown (1966)
This evening my son made me watch these two cartoons again. They are still terrible. He had to stay up late so he would be sleepy for a medical test tomorrow. So I read a novella by Carson McCullers and looked up at the screen when he told me to look. It was nice sitting snuggled on the couch together. January 17 2007
The Crime of Padre Amaro, 2002
A great flick, and very enjoyable in parallel with Gershon Winkler's recently read autobiography. In these two works we see parallel takes on the relationship between piety and passion, or community norms and sexual deviance, or tradition and desire, as worked out in very different Christian and Jewish contexts, by, respectively, priests and rabbis. As far as I know my reading and watching of these two parallel works was conincidental. I'm not conciously choosing these themes, beyond trying to find movies and books that generally sound interesting. But as soon as I say that it is apparent that there may be an inherent selection bias. Anyway, no matter the source, sometimes life really does grant us the gift of intertexualty. January 17 2007
Sideways, 2004
It took 3 evenings of viewing, but we finally got through it and kind of enjoyed it. Jack and Miles frendship was plausible, but it was difficult to imagine what Maya was supposed to see in Miles. Oddly I found it difficult to watch a movie about an uptight guy named Miles. I can't imagine why. January 15, 2007
Pirates of the Caribean: Dead Man's Chest, 2006
Every bit as vapid and unengaging as you'd expect a sequel to a movie based on a theme park ride to be. Harmless I suppose. And I can't deny that I did watch most of it. January 13 2007
3rd Rock From the Sun
We numbed our minds after I had a bad day of grant writing with 2 episodes from first season. January 12 2007
The Carol Burnett Show: A Reunion (1993)
A few very amusing memories from the mid-1970s, Leora's choice, a few minutes worth, January 7 2007
The Little House on the Prairie, Season 1, Episode 1
Let's start by acknowledging how embarrassed I am to admit that I even watched this show. When I was growing up this was forbidden television -- forbidden by my parents, on the grounds I believe (not 100% sure) that it was too low brow, too romantic, too "traditionalist." I'm not sure of the exact reasons. As a result this was the first time I'd ever seen it. It was recommended as a solution to the problem of what to watch with a 6 and 9 year old child. It is certainly more child appropriate than 3rd Rock from the Sun. It is amusing to see 1970s haircuts transposed on to a 19th century prairie setting. It is notable how many hills there are in this ostensible prairie. It is notable how fine the furnishings and finishings are inside the dwellings of these new dirt poor immigrants. The material culture isn't exactly right (and as you may know from my past writings I'm more interested in the material culture of period films than anything else.) On the other hand the diversity of accents seemed real. The prairie is portrayed as a place of immigrants not only from the east but overseas as well. That seems plausible. Overall, the show is banal, but in fact interesting for the children and possibly worth watching as a family. This is a mythological version of the reality that many actual ancestors of mine lived in Illinois and Iowa. Even though it is a completely fantastic rendering of that reality, it is interesting for that reason too. I don't think I will ever not feel slightly ashamed of recording the fact that I watched it however. Four of us, while eating veggie chicken nuggets and spaghetti, evening of January 7 2007.
The Opposite of Sex, 1998
Many similarities in tone and feel to Happy Endings, also with Lisa Kudrow, who turns out to be quite a good actor. I like narrated movies. January 5 2007
2006
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown (1966)
This is really terrible stuff, pretty much unwatchable. I have vague memories of Peanuts features being special television events in my childhood, and it is hard to understand why we felt that way about them back then (beyond the obvious fact that we were small children... but even accounting for that, it is hard for me to understand.) Charles Schulz is a completely depressing comic writer, and his depression is unredeeming. This is not good blues, it's just depressing. But my son is into this so I sat with him through large parts of it on a Friday afternoon. Then we spent hours cleaning his room, which was much more satisfying. December 29 2006
All the Real Girls (2003)
Evening of December 24 2006
Third Rock from the Sun
Three episodes with my children (Hotel, Angry Virgin and Fourth and Dick), Sunday December 24 2006
Third Rock from the Sun
Two episodes with the kids, after a day with Leora's family. Not really child appropriate, but they mostly don't get the parts that I worry about. Not really funny. This may be getting old. We need to find a new trick. December 23 2006
Third Rock from the Sun
Two episodes with the kids. Less funny. December 22 2006
Hetty Wainthropp, Missing Persons, 1990 Yorkshire Television.
Leora found this at the library, and I thought she was going to make me watch some boring investigational detective bit with an aging female busybody turned detective. That apparently is what the series based on this became, but this movie surprised us with its side characters, and became much more than that.. It's a fascinating look at getting really old and dying and coping with the deaths of others. I loved the detail of English flats and the sense of regional culture. I loved the way the film handles the passage of time... suddenly people are saying something that makes it clear that months have passed since the previous scene. This was a fascinating surprise. Late evening, December 21, 2006
Third Rock from the Sun, Gobble Gobble Dick Dick
Another not quite child appropriate episode, with our children, 7:30 pm, before bed and after going out to the Rose and Thistle for fish and chips, burgers and bread pudding and lighting Hanukah candles for the seventh night, December 21 2006.
Do Jump
Leora and I greatly enjoyed an evening of theater by Do Jump, a local Portland ensemble that does beautiful dance theater, juggling, trapeze, music... hard to describe but huge fun. Children and extended family also came, and our son was particularly enthusiastic. December 20 2006
Citizen Kane
Wow. I think this Orson Welles guy could have a big future in the movies. I'd never seen this before and it really was quite impressive. Having visited Hearst Castle last month and seen the hagiographic movie there added to my appreciation of this film. Viewed by myself, 10:30 pm, December 19 2006
Third Rock from the Sun
Leora and I watched two episodes with my children who are now, apparently, huge fans. We watched a gay bar episode and one involving a baby. There was nothing here I felt uncomfortable having my children see, and they sure do like it. I enjoyed the show too. We watched after lighting Hanukah candles, opening a Monopoly game (second time they've every played, they loved it) and eating dinner. The Monopoly game was very much like playing driedel, very Hanukah appropriate ... a little roll of the dice. Then we all watched Third Rock together before bed. I don't think we've ever before this watched TV in the evening together as a family. It was a nice experience, four of us together on the couch. December 19 2006
Third Rock from the Sun, circa 1996
I'm not sure I should have watched this show with my 6 and 9 year old children.... adult references and all... but my son laughed and laughed. He loved the physical comedy and other aspects of it. I think my daughter was overwhelmed a little. It really wasn't appropriate for her, but it also mostly went over her head. Yet on another level, of course, children absorb everything, and there were definitely some attitudes and words that I'd prefer that they not have heard. Now, of course, my son is begging to watch more of it. December 18, 2006
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969)
Ah 1969. I remember that year well. I was 10 years old, and had just moved to Hollywood California. I even remember my parents telling me that they had gone to see this movie sometime in the early 1970s. It's an amusing little artifact from the world of adults, when I was still a child. December 16 2006
Third Rock from the Sun, 1996 (second season)
We used to watch this on TV, but it is very different to watch 5 episodes in a row without commercials. It's still funny, but it doesn't make me laugh as it used to. Coincidentally they made a joke about Homeward Bound (below). Viewed with Leora, evening of December 11, 2006
Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey
An amusing voice over for an English Bull Dog puppy, with my daughter, Sunday afternoon, December 10 2006
George Best
An entire hagiography devoted to a British soccer player from the late 60s and early 70s of whom I had never heard until now. What do I know about football? But he was good. The 70s styles were the most fun part of the flick. That and some incredible soccer play. With Leora, December 02 2006
The Borrowers
This children's film is beautifully photographed and rendered, and quite enjoyable. As usual, the film makers spent too much time making things "exciting" and "scary" with loud music and sudden surprises. All that was unnecessary and detracted from the pleasure of the film. It is the material culture and performances that make this film fun. My daughter enjoyed it twice, and my son once. November 18 and 19 2006
Syriana
November 16 2006
Kinky Boots
Amusing diversion. November 15 2006
Memoirs of a Giesha
Not a bad rendition in movie form of a detailed and well remembered novel, but I'm not sure the Japanese accented English works. I would have preferred Japanese with subtitles. The accented English makes the whole thing seem like a bunch of American actors pretending to be Japanese, which of course is exactly what it is. November 13 2006
Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price
Circa October 30 2006
Duck Soup
With my children, late October 2006
The Insider
Very good. October 26 2006
Wallace and Grommit
We tried Day at the Races (Marx Brothers) but that wasn't right, so then we watched this together. With my daughter on Sunday afternoon, October 21 2006
Absolutely Fabulous
Reasonably fabulous, after Prairie Home Companion. October 21 2006
A Prarie Home Companion
Got bored. Couldn't finish. October 22 2006
French and Saunders
October 17, 2006
French and Saunders
October 15 2006
Marx Brothers, The Big Store
With my children, on a weekend afternoon in October.
A Night at the Opera - Marx Brothers
It turns out that the Marx Brothers are perfect for a 9 year old boy, and amusing if slightly perplexing for a 6 year old girl. As for we parents, I found them historically interesting and we both enjoyed our son's laughter. Saturday afternoon, October 7, 2006.
Firefly
Episodes 3 and 4, with A and L. Still fun. October 3, 2006
Firefly
Great visual science fiction, particularly the dirty dusty space port. Re-watched the first episode with A and L, September 27, 2006
Songcatcher (2000)
Very enjoyable imagining of the intersection of 2 worlds and multiple cultural codes, surrounded by music, at the dawn of the 20th century. September 26, 2006
Thumbsucker
Like many movies about being a teenager I found this one almost unwatchable. The high school debate theme made it worse. Too many painful memories I guess. Later in the evening, I went back and watched the parts that made me get up and leave. On further reflection, this was a worthwhile and interesting movie, kind of rambling with too much jammed in, and not tightly organized, but admirable for the themes and feelings it wrestles with. September 23, 2006
Broken Flowers
Quite slow, annoying and dull. I did find myself thinking about it the morning after, trying to rewrite the movie, to imagine alternative actions and words for Don, to puzzle out what really happened, and so on. So I'll give it "thought provoking." But I'm also sticking with slow, annoying and dull. September 20 2006
House M.D.
A third episode was less annoying. The character is interesting, but the endless parade of extremely obscure disease mysteries solved by physicians talking to each other in dumbed down layman's terms stretches my boundaries of credulity to the breaking point. September 18, 2006
House M.D.
Watched first 2 episodes of season 2. Nice images, well acted, but I'm feeling no love. Is this House guy supposed to be a lovable meany, so clever you have to forgive? Cause I'm seein' only the mean part. With L and A, September 17 2006
Nine Songs
Real sex, sensibly acted. Mid-September 2006.
The Little Mermaid (1989)
Sometimes fatherhood means sitting on the couch and watching a Disney film with your children. September 17 2006
Happy Endings
I thought this was an unusually interesting and enjoyable film. I loved the use of written narrative titles, and the characters played by Kudrow and Gyllenhal. I loved the self delusion and confusion. I loved the way the movie assured you that there would be a happy ending... but didn't quite mean what you thought it meant when it said that. August 23 2006
Supersize Me
August 18, 2006
Brokeback Mountain
Yep, gay cowboys. Pretty good flick. August 7, 2006
March of the Penguins
With my kids, August 3 2006
You Can't be Neutral on a Moving Train - Howard Zinn
Early August 2006
Office Space
Surprisingly unfunny on reviewing. I remembered just about every funny part... but that was all there was. Beyond what I remembered... kind of empty. The feelings this movie explores were raw when I first saw it. Now I have a job that I like, my mid-twenties seem a long long way away (like two decades instead of just one). The movie is nicely constructed, well acted, but it feels like something from a long time ago. It's funny, but no longer quite so true or important. We've assimilated this. We know it now and have moved on. July 26, 2006.
Reduced Shakespeare Company.
Marvelous. July 22 2006
Walk on Water
Enjoyed this film for the problem it is wrestling with, and for the fact that the cinematographer is my second cousin, Tobias Hochstein. July 21 2006
Grey Gardens
I listened with a half an ear and read a book, while Leora watched. http://www.greygardens.com/ July 15, 2006
The Terminal, Tom Hanks
What is it about Spielberg? Or about "big stars"? Once you know their shtick you can see them doing the same tricks they always do. Yes, this was moderately amusing, but not really the least bit satisfying. Tom Hanks never stops being Tom Hanks big movie star playing another everyman in a big production movie. The airport administration bad guy is just another stereotypical meany because every Hollywood movie has to have a bad guy who the good guys can fight. The humble characters are there because every movie needs humble characters acted by humble character actors. Shrug. I watched and sometimes laughed so I guess they won, but it wasn't really worth my time. July 14, 2006
Transamerica
Very good but I couldn't watch to end, too painful. July 13, 2006. PS: Then a few days laterI screwed up my courage and, skipping the scene in the New Mexico bar where I was afraid he/she'd get beat up, was able to watch the rest of the film and enjoy it greatly. Excellent film.
Start the Revolution Without Me, 1970, with Gene Wilder, Donald Sutherland.
I vaguely remember this one, but had forgotten it sufficiently to experience it as new. It was consistently almost funny, but not very. July 10, 2006.
Andromeda Strain, 1971
The novel was the first adult novel I ever read (in 1970?), and the movie was a memorable viewing experience when I was about 12. I saw it at an old theater on Hollywood Blvd. (the Paramount?) with my father (who would have been about my age today, 46) and with my 8 year old brother, and my father had to take my brother out because it was too scary for him at the end. When viewed again 35 years later in 2006 the Andromeda Strain is all but unwatchable. The technology (teletypes! very slow, very round computer screens!) was amusing, the acting terrible, the pseudo-scientific dialogue transparently nonsensical, and the vision of futurity hopelessly dated. You really can't go home again. And yet I remember so well when all this was shockingly plausible, new and dramatic. I watched it for about an hour on July 4 2006 before giving up.
Barton Fink
Good historical material culture renditions, great performances, some enjoyable emotional ambiguity, but too many plot ambiguities to be fully enjoyable. Friday night with Leora, June 23 2006
Ice Age 2
We went for a rare family outing to the Badgad Theater. This flick was much too scary for our daughter, and even a bit much for our son, age 9. What were we thinking? It is also even more incoherent than Ice Age 1... not that you should require coherence from a movie like this... but still. The Bagdad Theater is nice however. Sunday afternoon, June 18, 2006.
An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore
A powerful statement of things you already half knew about global warming. It also puts Al Gore in focus as a person and politician. It's also a subtle (or not so subtle) application for the status of secular prophet, and if things turn out as he predicts, his application will probably deserve to be approved. As with all prophecy, if he manages to change what we do and divert the catastrophe, this too will be a great accomplishment. The success of a prophet is measured in the failure of his prophecies, is it not? Leora and I went to a downtown theater for a Saturday night date, June 17, 2006
The Trouble with Harry (1955)
I'm so proud that guessed the year exactly, based on the cars mostly. A Hitchcock flick, "Introducing Shirley McClain"). With Leora, Saturday night, June 9, 2006
Ice Age
My daughter had to be held very tight during the scary parts, but she made it. With my children, Saturday afternoon, June 3, 2006
Behaving Badly
Watched two hours with my wife and kept expecting something to happen to justify my time. In the end nothing did, Judi Dench notwithstanding. May 28 2006.
Aristocrats, 2005
Disgusting! A crack up! Revolting! A good laugh! It is what it is. Interesting how people's personalities seem to shine through when they go to these places. May 24, 2006
The Princess Bride
May 2006
Dead Man, 1995, Johnny Depp, with soundtrack by Neil Young.
I'd have to call this movie one of my all time favorites. I loved it when it first appeared in theaters 10 years ago, and I enjoyed it a second time this evening. Surely no film has ever been better served by its soundtrack than this one. Young's guitar is unforgettable. I love good renditions of material culture from other eras, and while I'm not certain how authentic this rendition is, I often find it persuasive. Similarly, I don't know how people really talked in the 1850s, but these lines are often delivered in ways that are persuasively and plausibly fractured. I'm not sure what the point is, or the theme, except perhaps to observe one man's struggle to come to grips with his own demise, but the process is glorious and gripping to watch. This is simply a great movie. April 29, 2006.
Un long dimanche de fiançailles / A very long engagement.(2004)
A powerful and enjoyable film. Bingo Crepsculo is unforgettable. April 22, 2006
Babe (1995)
With my children, April 15, 2006
Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
The rendition of life and material culture in 1940s Los Angeles is wonderful. April 1 2006
Bring It On (2000)
I'm going to justify the fact that I spent an evening watching a cheerleader movie by saying (1) it was my wife's choice... I just sat there and watched, (2) it helps if your wife can explain the roles that each actress goes on to play in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and (3) this was actually a pretty good cheerleader movie! Still, I'm embarrassed. March 28 2006
Caligula (1979, unexpurgated version)
I had previously complained about the incoherent and insufficiently pornographic expurgated version which I accidentally rented. I can now say that the version with the porn is a much more watchable movie. The porn itself is interesting. For one thing, it is so redolent of a seventies porn film. You might think that the more naked you get the more timeless you get, or that in nakedness there is some kind of timeless human reality that is revealed, but this is not the case here. No, these naked bodies seemed thoroughly modern and their grindings and gruntings didn't seem ancient or Roman in any interesting sense. Has a kiss always been just a kiss? Would Roman lesbian sex be different from 21th century lesbian sex? Have the private moments between men and women always been characterized by these conventions of romantic love? I have no idea, but I have my doubts, and this film certainly didn't create a plausible version of ancient sex. Is it ridiculous to complain about unhistorical sex in a fancy porn film? Perhaps the point should be simply to get off on the porn, but hey, good porn is easy to find. In contrast, good representations of historical sexualities, even as acts of the imagination, are much rarer. Well if you'd hoped that this film had something to contribute in that area, I'm sorry to say that it does not. Still and all, if you're going to watch Caligula the version that includes the porn is definitely the one to watch. March 24 2006
And still more Desperate Housewives
In the last week Leora and I polished off the entire first season, over several evenings. We're not proud, but it had to be done. Enjoyed every minute. March 20-24, 2006
Desperate Housewives
Still More Disparate Housewifery on Hysteria Lane. After the kids were asleep, I sat on the couch with Leora and watched three episodes until midnight. March 17, 2006
Rush Hour 2
Turned it off after 15 minutes. Unwatchable. March 17, 2006
Desperate Housewives (DVD, middle of first season?, from library)
Hey, this is funny! I'd heard about this, and now I see what the fuss was about. Light and empty and most amusing. March 16, 2006
Meet the Fockers
I laughed... but it was laughter without pleasure, at jokes without humor. We watch big stars pretending to be people, but unable to be anyone other than their familiar overly-well-preserved movie star personas, caricatures of human beings. Ho hum. Post Script: Two days after I wrote the previous words, the taste this movie leaves just keeps getting worse. Why? I'm not sure, but the stereotypes of Wasps and Jews aren't just unfunny and they don't even seem related to any reality that I know of. Now let's grant that I'm a little over-sensitive on that particular cultural divide, but when all you can come up with to say about Jewishness is that it's both a state of constant uncomfortableness and sexually liberated at the same time.... Oh, I don't know, but this movie is just beyond dumb, and SO last generation. March 12 2006
Kandun
Ommmmm, Ommmmm, good. March 5, 2006
The Civil War, 1865
I know that we're supposed to feel empathy for the south, and a sense of the tragedy of war, but as the voice-over of a southern lady mourned the destruction of the South and the good life that she had known on her plantation I could think only of the cruelty of slavery that her good life was built on. I felt little empathy, pretty music notwithstanding. The American South was, and, given the politicians it produces today, still remains the geographic locus of evil in American political life. It was deservedly destroyed in 1865, and, were it not for the many good southerners who would be hurt in the process, it could probably do with a good destoying again today. Must spend more time on my nonviolent meditations. It's just that W is making me crazy. March 3 2006.
Jon Stewart - The Daily Show
Lately, I've taken to watching every scrap of this show I can find on the internet. It is the only thing that stands between me and madness in these dark times. March 2006
The Odyssey of Captain Healy (1999) by J. Carlson
February 26 2006
How to Live in the German Federal Republic
Germans busy training for life as opposed to living it? We watched every minute, expectantly waiting for some pattern or purpose to appear. Interesting and dull at the same time. February 25 2006
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Starts out charming, and ends up utterly empty. What a waste of time! January 27 2006
Ushpizin (2005)
A mostly realistic movie about the Israeli ultra-orthodox world, this film brought back some bad memories of Israel, and my recurring "can't organize a flight out of Israel" nightmare after I went to sleep, but I enjoyed it, sort of. Hollywood Theater, January 21
Donnie Darko (2001)
Watch out for very large bunny rabbits named Frank. If things seem wierd in your life maybe you are already living a reality that was never meant to be at all. Delightfully ambiguous. January 20
Best in Show (2000).
This was wonderful. January 14, 2006
Return to Neverland.
My children have seen this dozens of times, but this was my first complete viewing. Watched with my daughter on my lap, Saturday afternoon, January 14, 2006
Happenstance (Audrey Tautou, Le Battement d'ailes du Papillon / The Beating of the Butterfly's Wings, 2001)
Fun, interesting, thought provoking, lighthearted flick, that makes one marvel at the comparative vapidity of American films. Leora and I went out for Sushi and Saki and then came back home for a video on the couch. January 7, 2006.
It would appear that I viewed about 70 films, TV shows on DVD, and assorted miscellany in 2005. No more than a very few are missing from this list -- I was a very dutiful reporter. They appear, for the record and for all time, in reverse order below.
2005
Save the Green Planet
Very Korean and completely... different. One of the most oddly enjoyable flicks I've seen in a while. December 18, 2005
City of God (Cidade de Deus, 2002)
Liked this one a lot. December 8, 2005
Iris (Iris Murdoch bio, 2001)
December 5, 2005
Hair
November 2, 2005
But I'm a Cheerleader (Natasha Leone)
.Ten years later, on second viewing, this was still fun. Late October 2005
Kill Bill 2
Late October, 2005
Kill Bill 1
October 25, 2005
Born into Brothels
October 24 2005
Heavenly Creatures
23 October 2005
Kids in the Hall
October 2005
Swimming Pool
October 2005
Dirty Pretty Things
October 2005
Serenity
Pretty good sci-fi. Actually went to local movie theater to see it. A, L and me, October 11, 2005.
My Own Private Idaho
Early October.
Kids in the Hall, various episodes
Early October.
Bionicle: Mask of Light
My son wanted to watch this lengthy advertisement for the Lego Bionicle toy. He thought it was boring, but he didn't want to stop. Afterwards, of course,he went and spent his saved allowance on a new Bionicle. Advertising works. October 1, 2005
Zoolander
Cute. September 31, 2005
No Direction Home -- Bob Dylan documentary by Martin Scorsese
A great pleasure. Doesn't it just rub you the wrong way when some nudnick says "Dylan was a great writer or poet, but a lousy singer." Hello? Dylan was first and foremost a great performer, singer, chanter, ranter. He could sing the telephone book and make it sound like prophecy. He may have been the greatest performance artist of the twentieth century. He understood how the negativity could pull you through, but it must have gotten to him in the end. So on to the next century. Viewed with Judith and Andrea, next door, September 26 and 27, 2005
Firefly - Serenity episode
This was a good one. Too bad the series was cancelled. Beautiful ending. "Here I am." September 25, 2005
Better Off Dead (1985>
So juvenile that it hurt, Cusack makes it almost watchable. September 24, 2005
Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
This must have been very funny to watch 20 years ago, stoned. As for us, we gave up after about half an hour. September 24 2005.
Firefly - Heart of Gold episode
Unsatisfying conventional morality tales, but caused no pain. September 23, 2005
Magdeline Sisters
Too painful. Turned it off after a few minutes. September 23, 2005
Everything is Illuminated
This book made such a strong impression on me that I'm essentially unable to see the movie for itself - I can only see it as a reflection or derivation of the novel. I can't imagine how this movie would seem to one who hadn't read the book. I enjoyed this, although more for its comedy than its drama. It faithfully captures many elements of a really great novel. However the ending didn't match my memory of the novel and was not very satisfying to me. I would recommend this film very highly, if only to refresh your Ukrainian accents. September 22 2005, preview showing at the Hollywood Theater.
Coffee and Cigarettes
Sort of watchable, offering moments of pleasure, and considerable boredom. About as interesting as sitting around drinking coffee in a cafe oneself, and listening to conversations going on all around. September 21 2005
Galaxy Quest
Much needed laughter. September 15 2005
The Corporation
Shrug. THIS is news? September 14 2005
Artemisia
Viewed after dining well at Cameleon, a local restaurant, on our 10th wedding anniversary. September 10, 2005
Firefly (episode 1)
Pretty darn good TV science fiction. September 8. 2005
Fawlty Towers
Much needed lightness from the first four episodes, September 1 2005
In America
Turned it off. Too painful. Couldn't watch. Late August 2005
Fahrenheit 911
August 27, 2005
Star Wars, Episode II
Unbelievably boring, watched with my son, at his behest. Even he was bored. Late August 2005
Amelie (2001)
I was disappointed by this film. The filmmakers were having fun, no doubt, but it didn't feel psychologically or emotionally real to me. I preferred "My Life Without Me", for example, with its more gritty and honest documentary feel. August 15 2005
The Manchurian Candidate (1964)
You can certainly understand why they didn't release this film after Kennedy's assassination - different in details it nonetheless captures some essential possibilities and proclivities in American politics. I was interested in it as an historical document. I noticed that in 1964 they never surprise you with a gunshot. There is always enough time to turn down the sound and avoid waking the children. The implicit anti-maternal misogyny was also interesting to watch, and try to interpret. August 14, 2005
Bowling for Columbine
Yep, that's America. August 11, 2005
My Life Without Me
I enjoyed this greatly. Began Netflix subscription, so the quality of movies is going to improve around here. August 10 2005
The Incredibles
I saw the last few minutes with my children.
Sponge Bob Square Pants
I viewed various episodes with my children, Sunday July 31 2005
The End of Suburbia
A very powerful documentary. I attended a public screening on July 27 2005.
Monthy Python's Flying Circus, episodes 7, 8, 9
With the exception of the Dead Parrot sketch this was some of the worst Python I've ever seen. July 17, 2005
Kinsey
With Leora, Saturday Evening, July 9, 2005
Rocky and Bulwinkle, (first tape in series, 1959)
With children, early July 2005
Spy Kids
With Leora, early July 2005.
Six Feet Under (second episode)
Late June 2005
Six Feet Under (pilot and first episode)
With Leora. Sat. June 26 2005
Aristocats
Disney. My daughter's choice. Sat. June 26 2005
Monty Python's Flying Circus, episodes 15 and 16, Spanish Inquisition and more
Friday evening, June 17, 2005
Monty Python's Flying Circus, episode 14, Ministry of Silly Walks
June 16, 2005
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
I watched parts with my children, May and June 2005
Monty Python's Flying Circus, episodes 23, 25, 25, 26 (aprox.), 1970 Fish license. Spam.
Watched with my children, on Friday night after their mother went to class, before bedtime. Probably not a good idea. Daughter got nothing, son thought bits of physical humor were funny, but "all the talking" (the best material) was hard for him to take. June 3, 2005
Monty Python's Flying Circus, episodes 40, 41, 42, 1974
You can see how the show became more sophisticated toward the end, more filmicly referential. It was not quite as funny, particularly without Cleese, but it was dealing with bigger issues. The cartoons are better executed and thankfully shorter. The Vietnam war lurks in the background with lots of antiwar themes. You can see the fashions have changed since the early episodes. London looks less post-war in the outdoor skits. The world begins to look like the world of my adolescence, 1974 in California. Notable were the German list making citizens and a little throwaway item about a philosophical soccer game between Greeks and Germans. May 21, 2005
Mrs Helmut -What shall we do, Helmut?
Helmut - We must ring the Government.
Mrs Helmut - This is the Government, Helmut.
Helmut - Oh dear.
Mrs Helmut - It is a great honour to have so many members of the Government dead in our sitting room.
Helmut - Drawing room.
Mrs Helmut - Ja, well...
Helmut - There are no members of the Government dead in our sitting room.
Mrs Helmut - Ja, you know what I mean.
Helmut - Perhaps I should make a little speech or something?
Mrs Helmut - Not a speech, Helmut no...
Helmut - Shall we make them a cup of tea?
Mrs Helmut - It would be a waste of tea.
Helmut - But we must do something - so many important people in our drawing room - we must do something.
Mrs Helmut - We could sort them out.
Helmut - And make a little list.
Mrs Helmut -What shall we do, Helmut?
Helmut - We must ring the Government.
Mrs Helmut - This is the Government, Helmut.
Helmut - Oh dear.
Mrs Helmut - It is a great honour to have so many members of the Government dead in our sitting room.
Helmut - Drawing room.
Mrs Helmut - Ja, well...
Helmut - There are no members of the Government dead in our sitting room.
Mrs Helmut - Ja, you know what I mean.
Helmut - Perhaps I should make a little speech or something?
Mrs Helmut - Not a speech, Helmut no...
Helmut - Shall we make them a cup of tea?
Mrs Helmut - It would be a waste of tea.
Helmut - But we must do something - so many important people in our drawing room - we must do something.
Mrs Helmut - We could sort them out.
Helmut - And make a little list.
Monty Python's Flying Circus, episodes 22, 23, 24 (maybe), 1972
The Cheese Shop, Mr. Pithers, the Absurd Olympics (Olympics presented as out take, perhaps because of the 1972 Munich terrorism disaster?) and others. Fine evening entertainment. Good God, the cartoons are boring. But it doesn't seem fair to skip them. May 18, 2005
Customer: It's not much of a cheese shop, is it?
Owner: Finest in the district!
Customer: Explain the logic underlying that conclusion, please.
Owner: Well, it's so clean, sir!
Customer: It's certainly uncontaminated by cheese....
Customer: It's not much of a cheese shop, is it?
Owner: Finest in the district!
Customer: Explain the logic underlying that conclusion, please.
Owner: Well, it's so clean, sir!
Customer: It's certainly uncontaminated by cheese....
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Didn't do anything for me. When my son woke up from the TV noise we turned it off, just as some boring demon was sucking the joy out of someone's face. Creepy. But dull. 6 May 2005
Spanglish (2004)
Just the name "Adam Sandler" would put me off any movie, but to my surprise this was quite amusing, on many levels, as well as having a certain integrity and dealing with actual issues of class and wealth in America. Well, it didn't really address the class line, and in order to work as a story it had to portray class as a more permeable membrane than perhaps it really is. But for a Hollywood movie this was a surprising effort. And of course the girl in the end does at least apply to Princeton, suggesting that being bumped from the fancy school and the fancy neighborhood didn't matter in the end. But I enjoyed it. April 21, 2005
Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle (2004)
Pleasant entertainment. April 8 2005.
Napolean Dynamite
This is a wonderful film, celebration of adolescent nerdiness. We loved it. 26 March 2005
Caligula
Either we got an expurgated version, or what constituted pornography in the 1970s was incredibly mild. Stripped (I think....) of the sex you have some decent acting on incredibly cheesey sound stage sets that look like something from ... a 1920s sound stage. It was just ridiculous, on so many levels. The only exception was the scene in which Caligula wandered the streets. There you get something that might be considered to be a reasonable representation of the streets of ancient Rome and its citizens ... maybe. 26 March 2005
The Railway Children
Too painful, didn't finish. March 2005
Monty Python's Flying Circus, 17, 18, 19 and others dating to about 1970
Early March 2005
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, 2001
February 27 2005
P.S., Topher Grace, Laura Linney, 2004
This was an enjoyable flick with a very good sex scene, but you could never quite figure out where the two characters were coming from, or why they were attracted to each other or whether he was just working an angle, or whether she was nuts, or whether it was a supernatural theme. But when you play the extra scenes on DVD and hear the commentary on the basement scene, everything is explained in a completely different way from the movie you just watched. You suddenly realize that they destroyed a fairly coherent movie to make the one that you just watched, and that they probably did it just because they were embarassed by the oedipal theme and needed their boy man to become a man of steel... which he wasn't and could never plausibly be. It's a mess. But not a waste of time exactly. February 14, 2005
Waiting for Guffman, (1996)
One of the funniest and most enjoyable flicks I've seen in a long time. Even the outtakes were great. I would call this one a real classic. It's curious that although I'm sure I've never seen this film, I know that I have seen bits and pieces of it. How does that happen that we absorb fragments of films? February 11, 2005
Shirley Valentine
A total chick flick (not that there's anything wrong with that.) Dated in its attitudes (1989). Disparaging and simplistic about men. But very enjoyable in spite of it all. February 7 2005.
Shrek II
Hardly worth commenting on, full of pop culture references that don't interest me and full of itself, visually richer than the first Shrek but completely unininteresting and unengaging as a story. Late January 2005.
ET (Rereleased version)
This was the first time I had seen it. I had briefly thought it might be appropriate for my 7 year old son. Of course it was not. Good thing I screened it. But I sat through to the end. The part that rang truest was the kids on bikes... that's just what it looked like when I was a kid in the 70s. Same bikes, same empty lots against the hills to race over. That was neat. Late January 2005.
Music Man, Robert Preston
I wateched about half of it, enjoyed its Iowa stereotypes. The Iowans it pokes fun of were my ancestors, and they wore the very same hats we see in the film. January 8 2005
Secretary, Spader and Gyllenhaal
Very interesting. January 6, 2005
Pirates of the Caribean
Why were two undead and unkillable pirates battling each other with swords? Oh well, at least and at last we have the back story to the Disney ride. January 4, 2005
Bourne Supremacy. January 1, 2005
Shrug. Whatever. Crash, bang, boom. No connection to any reality that I can imagine. We learn that there is corruption in high places, and men are turned into killers by governments... but we are also asked to believe, or hope, that there is justice in high places, which of course is absurd.
2004
Mean Girls. December 31, 2004
10 pm to midnight. First flick I've seen in almost 2 months.
Benny and Joon
A mildly enjoyable and mildly annoying flick that seemed to be trying to make a point about how even the mentally ill have feelings and can fall in love, but the real issues of mental illness seemed so glossed over and the character played by Depp so enigmatic that it was difficult to care. However, the children spent the night at their grandmother's house and Leora and I could eat at a Vietnamese restaurant and watch this video. It was just like being newly married. November 7, 2004.
Presidential Debate 3: Bush v. Kerry
October 2004
Goodbye Lenin! (2003)
Saw only the last third of this story of an East German party official who, upon awakening from her coma after the fall of the wall, is assisted by her family in avoiding all awareness that East Germany is no more. Looked interesting. 2004
Presidential Debate 2: Bush v. Kerry
I watched this on 3 hour tape delay the evening it took place, and then again on Saturday online (cspan.org). Then I watched the first debate a second time online too. I posted my impressions on various blogs. In general my first impressions are that Bush and Cheny did "better than I expected" and I feel depressed. On second viewing my estimate of Kerry's performance tends to rise. 8 October 2004
Vice Presidential Debate: Cheney v. Edwards
October 2004
Presidential Debate 1: Bush v. Kerry
I went over to my mother-in-law's house (she has TV) to watch this bit of theatre. September 2004.
Love Actually
Shrug. Some nice characterizations of relationships and love, and yet wrapped in a treacly sweet and sentimental package that makes your teeth hurt. September 2004
Law and Order
While visiting my parents in Cambria California, I watched 2 episodes, which seemed to be somewhat old, perhaps from the early 90s. When we reached Los Angeless we also viewed a few events from the Olympics for perhaps an hour total over several days. I then returned to our blissfully TV free home in Portland, Oregon. August 2004.
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
My seven year old son made me do it. First time I'd ever seen it. Slightly better than the original, and even more inappropriate for a seven year old. Mistake. July 2004
Walk on the Moon
Excellent music... this is just how I remember Woodstock, the Summer of Love and the sixties. Oh wait, I was only 9 years old. July 2004
Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (Gregory Peck)
July 2004
Don't Look Back - Bob Dylan
You know, I was ready to be disappointed, but although Dylan was young and glib, he was also smart and self aware and charismatic (and thin!), even in 1965. I found this fascinating. July 2004.
Star Wars IV
Digitally enhanced version of the original film. Viewed with my seven year old, and for him. I found this movie, so amazing to me in 1976 at age 17 or so, to be boring, wooden and violent. Star Wars was amazing in its day because the future was made grimey, perhaps for the first time ever. Later films developed that dimension more deeply. Shots that seemed unforgettable only lasted seconds. My movie diet sucks. July 2004
Das Boot
I had insomnia, so I stayed up until 2 or 3 watching it. Shrug. Pretty much as I remembered it - the movie is a German struggle to find a Second World War that Germans can feel good about. Not sure I'm willing to give that, even if I understand the human need. July 2004
Atonia's Line (1995)
Time flows. Seasons change. Sex is had. Women become pregnant. Babies are born. Meals are eaten. Death approaches. Joyfully eligiac and well worth my time. Apparently it was an Academy. Award Best Foreign Film for 1995. Dutch, subtitled. Viewed July 2004.
Miss Congeniality, Sandra Bullock
Enjoyable flick, no regrets for the 2 hours. June 2004.
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
The worst Star Wars movie ever and this was the second time I sat through it... this time because my 7 year old son really wanted to see a Star Wars movie (his first) and this was what they had at the video store. I enjoyed hugging my son through the tense parts... but even he was a little bored by it, although he talked about it for days afterwards. June 2004.
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
. Realistic ships and tactics (perhaps), but unrealistic in almost every other dimension, and for me not very enjoyable. June 2004.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
You see, my spouse likes to watch whole seasons of it on DVD... and it's really very sophisticated in a semiotic way.... May-June 2004.
Lost in Translation
Viewed May 2004
School of Rock
Viewed May 2004.
Groundhog Day
Viewed May 2004
The Goat, Pierre Richard, Gérard Depardieu
Viewed April 2004
Deadwood (2004)
While visiting a friend who has cable, I saw half of an episode in which Wild Bill is killed. In general I liked the "gritty authenticity", but, I'm sorry, the cursing was just all wrong. You just know they didn't use those words, in that way, in the 19th century. Viewed April 2004.
Ready to Wear (1994)
Leora and I caught the last 2/3 of this on our friend's cable. It was cute. Viewed April 2004.
Les Compères (My Father the Heros), Pierre Richard, Gérard Depardieu, Anny Duperey, Directed by Francis Veber (1983)
Lightly amusing fair, viewed April 2004.
Lucía y el sexo (2001)
Viewed March 2004.
Freaky Friday (2003)
Viewed March 2004.
The Grass is Greener, (1961) Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum, Jean Simmons
Viewed February 2004.Once again more surprisingly frank situations from the early 1960s, but only a mediocre flick.)
The Station Agent (2003)
Viewed January 2004. This is a first rate meditation on seperateness and despair, light and serious at the same time. I highly recommend it.
The Americanization of Emily. James Garner, Julie Andrews (1964)
As I watched this film I guessed that it must be from some time in the Kennedy Administration, 1960 to 1963. Good guess Miles! I was amazed by what you were allowed to imply sexually in 1964, and really amazed by the antiwar statement of this film. There are some ethical issues that are glossed over, but this comedy did a better job of portraying the terror and insanity of war than many more serious films. This was a gem, completely unexpected and a pleasure to discover, 40 years after its release. I recommend it. Viewed January 2004.
Finding Nemo, (2003)
Viewed, for five minutes, on January 2004. I momentarily lost my mind and sat down to watch it with my 3 and 6 year old children. What a mistake! In the first minutes a mother and 300 babies are violently killed, a child is left orphaned, and is then kidnapped from his father. I find it incredible that this is considered a children's movie. I quickly, but not quickly enough, turned it off and comforted my little girl. I have only myself to blame for allowing my kids to view this drek. Have you ever noticed how Disney movies always kill the mother? I'm sorry children.
Down with Love, (2003)
Amusing, in the lightest possible way. Viewed January 2004.
The Good Thief, (2003), with Nick Nolte, Ralph Fines. Viewed January 2004
It was on someone's Top 10 list for 2003, but this formulaic crime caper (with its technological howlers) only ellicited a big shrug from me. I know some people find gambling, guns, robbery and addiction to be compelling topics, but I don't. That the laws of physics were breached just added annoyance.
2003 or Earlier
The Bridge with Gerard Depardieu, Carole Bouquet, (2000)
Viewed 12/2003
Mystic River, (2003)
Viewed 11/30/2003. A police procedural, and it was nothing to write home about. Lost in Translation was sold out, so this is what I saw when my mother visited in Portland instead.
A Mighty Wind, (2003)
Viewed 11/2003
Shooting the Past, (1999)
Viewed 9/2003.
Who has time for video or TV?
The Good Stuff
Prior to late 2003 my memory is vague. This is what I remember, in no particular in order.
Prior to late 2003 my memory is vague. This is what I remember, in no particular in order.
Leaving Normal, Meg Tilly.
Days of Heaven
Being John Malkovich
Grosse Pointe Blank, John Cusak.
Groundhog Day, Bill Murray.
Office Space (1999), Jennifer Aniston.
Matrix
Zentropa
Fargo
The Return of Martin Guerre (1983)
Glengary Glen Ross (1992), Jack Lemon, Al Pacino.
My father said of Jack Lemon's character: "that's my father." Sam Hochstein, my grandfather, knew the agony of selling.
Pulp Fiction
Chicago
Memento. The backward film.
Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997) Mira Sorvino, Lisa Kudrow
Life of Brian (Python)
Apocalypse Now
Dog Day Afternoon (Al Pacino)
The Graduate
Beetlejuice
The Crying Game
Sex, Lies and Videotape
Dead Man. Delicious Neil Young soundtrack.
American Beauty (1999)
The Big Chill.
I'm embarassed to admit it. I even saw it more than once. But you have to understand, Meg Tilly is in it with some other supporting actors too. I used to have crush on Meg Tilly.
Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood)
Shoah
The Truman Show
Shakespeare in Love
Schindler's List
The Vanishing (1988).
This is one of the scariest films I've ever seen. Don't under any circumstances see the American remake. Find the original Dutch with subtitles. Then put aside some money for the necessary psychiatric treatments.
Kadosh (Sacred). dir: Amos Gitai (1999)
Solomon and Gaenor
3rd Rock From the Sun (TV Series)
The Frisco Kid, Gene Wilder.
Blazing Saddles
Young Frankenstein
Party Girl
The inside scoop on library science.
Sunshine
Tadpole
Boogie Nights, (1997) Mark Wahlberg.
Slums Of Beverly Hills, Natasha Lyonne.
That's where my wife grew up.
But I'm a Cheerleader, Natasha Lyonne, (1999)
Kiss of the Spiderwoman
Witness, Harrison Ford
Blade Runner
Mad Max
Cinema Paradiso
Horse Whisperer, Redford
Like Water for Chocolate
Tin Men. Devito sells aluminium siding.
Black Robe.
Film set in New France in 1634, describes missionary work of the Jesuits in Québec, under the governorship of Samuel de Champlain.
Silent Running
Soylent Green
Lone Star
Pi
Easy Rider
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
My Fair Lady
Guys and Dolls
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)
Bananas
Sleeper
Annie Hall
Slaughterhouse Five
The Accompanist (1993)
My wife and I think that this was the movie we saw on our first date. We plan to rent it and try to see if we can remember it.
The Amateur (1994)
My wife and I think that we saw this movie on one of our early dates.
A la Mode (1993)
My wife and I remember seeing this light comedy about fashion when we were first dating.
Ridicule (1996)
Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
Crimes and Misdemeanors
This is Spinal Tap
The Producers, Mel Brooks
High Fidelity, John Cusak
Red Rock West (1993) Nicholas Cage
Fried Green Tomatoes (at the Whistlestop Cafe)
Grifters, John Cusack
Enemies: A love story, Anjelica Houston
Bound for Glory, David Caradine
Sorcerer (1977)
William Friedkin with still memorable music by Tangerine Dream. A little known classic about transporting leaking unstable dynamite in trucks through the Columbian jungle.
Muriel's Wedding
Midnight Express
Eat Drink Man Woman. Director, Ang Lee (1994)
Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
A River Runs Through It
All of Me, Steve Martin
Novocaine, Steve Martin
LA Story, Steven Martin
Dirty Rotten Scoudrels
Grand Canyon
Cabaret, Liza Minnelli
The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe (1972)
My Life as a Dog (1987)
Howard's End
Remains of the Day
The Dove (de düva) (1968).
An unforgettable Bergman parody.
Animal House
Au revoir les enfants (1987)
We are defined by our patterns of consumption, but it may not be a very good definition.
Memorable, but many of the memories are annoying...
The Wedding Singer
Godfather (I, II, III, whatever)
Lord of the Rings
Castaway
Star Wars, this and that
Dances with Wolves
Sleepless in Seattle
Crossing Delancy, Amy Irving.
About Schmidt
Truely forgettable... but unfortunately I have remembered.
Crocodile Dundee (1986)
Indiana Jones etc.
Matrix Reloaded.
Load it in the trash please.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
It was intended to be endearing, I presume. I was not endeared.
Good Will Hunting
A blackboard in the hallway? I'm sure! Psychologists who let guardians in the therapy session? Please! I only made it half way through.
Agnes of God.
Starring Meg Tilly, yet inexplicably bad.
Platoon (1986)
The unrelenting pointless violence of the Vietnam is portrayed in unrelenting scenes of pointless violence, which might have been the point, but left me asking the question "what's the point" about the movie, not about the war. Saw it in Israel with my girlfriend at the time, long ago. Memorably not a good date movie.
Smilla's Sense of Snow (1997)
Yawn.
Moulin Rouge (2001)
Loud and boring.
1970s
Other Remembered Films from My Early Adolescence and Teenage Years
Escape of the Birdmen (1971).
This was a memorable television movie about a glider escape from a German castle/prison camp in World War II. Turns out that in real life it didn't turn out quite as well as in the movie.
Thunderball, Goldfinger and other James Bond movies.
These were seen in early adolesecence, usually at a movie theater on Hollywood Blvd. with Eric and other friends.
The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming! (1966)
Tora Tora Tora
Airplanes! Explosions! I loved it at the time, when I saw it as a young adolescent in a Hollywood Blvd. movie theater.
French Connection
This was an ugly movie, in my memory. Nothing to love.
The Andromeda Strain
I loved this movie. I saw it when it came out on Hollywood Boulevard with my father and my brother, and my father had to take my younger brother out of the theater because it was too intense for him.
Fiddler on the Roof
The only movie that my family ever saw together with all four of us present, and, odd to say, the first time I ever had any idea about what "Jewish" meant.
The Great Dictator (Charlie Chaplin).
My father took me to see this, remembering it fondly from his adolesence. It is the only time I recall the two of us going to a movie together.
Hot Rock (Robert Redford)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid DeliveranceBlow-Up (1966) David Hemmings, Vanessa Redgrave)
Day for Night (1973)
A movie about making movies. I remember it as being lots of fun.
This is a map of where I've been ... or else a map of where I remember having been. In the landscape of the mind it amounts to the same thing.
Childhood Movies (1960s)
Movies were not a big part of my childhood up to the age of 10,
and I doubt that I saw many more than these listed here.
and I doubt that I saw many more than these listed here.
Sounder
2001: A Space Odyssey
I saw this before the age of 10. It was quite baffling. Then I saw it years later, and it remained equally baffling, and had become considerably more annoying.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Mary Poppins
The Blue Max
Television
1970s TV
Like you, I grew up watching TV. This, I am embarrassed to say, is what I remember from the late 60s and early 70s. After 1977 when I went to college I more or less stopped watching TV, and then I left the US, and never really went back to TV. However I did watch a bit in the late 1990s, from which I remember primarily Ali McBeal, The Drew Cary Show and 3rd Rock from the Sun. I then remembered that life was too short to spend any more of it in front of the TV and we threw away the antennae and never got cable.
It's About Time.
A very realistic show about what happens when two spacemen land in caveman times. My parents hated it. Fortunately for them it only lasted a season. (1966?)
Disney
I remember watching The Wonderful World of Disney with my parents in North Carolina in the late 1960s. The show presented children's movies on Sunday night.
Kennedy assasination
I remember watching and waiting endlessly for the train carrying the body of Robert Kennedy. (1968?) Our black and white television was made of red plastic.I remember not being able to see the landing on the moon, which was visually incomprehensible on the static filled TV set in our Arizona hotel room, as we migrated across the country to California in 1969.
Saturday Morning Cartoons, early 1970s
Saturday mornings in the early 1970s meant it was time for cartoons, including my favorite: Space Ghost (he had power wrist bands that could shoot beams!), the Flintstones, and a few others... Was there something called Scoobeydo?
The Partridge Family, Early 1970s?
The Brady Bunch, Early 1970s?
Giligan's Island
I probably watched reruns in the mid-1970s.
Get Smart
Eric and I watched the reruns in the middle 1970s after school.
The Monkeys.
I only caught this in reruns sporadically.
All in the Family (middle 1970s)
MASH (middle 1970s)
Maude (middle 1970s)
The Rockford Files (middle 1970s)
Kung Fu (middle 1970s)
Hawaii Five O (middle 1970s)
I enjoy film, but I'm seldom moved by it in the way that I am by the written word. It seems ultimately to be ephemera, like a web page, a thing composed entirely of shadows and technology and light, already decaying, moving by so quickly that it can never really be seen or grasped or savored. The written word in contrast seems as solid and timeless as a rock, and moves at exactly the same speed as the human mind.
