It's crunch time at Drive In '77!!! With only two months left and a yearly count under 300 come November 1st, I had to kick it into overdrive!! Anything less than 365 by New Year's would be failure, but I want 400. I've done it in the past, far more really, so I knew what had to be done; at least 60 movies this month. Mission is A to the complished!
I started off the month with a three pack of soccer movies and slowly slipped into some old favorites before ramping up for Holiday movie season which has already included three of my Top 10! Sidenote: have you watched the original Dirty Dancing lately? I forgot how smoking Jennifer Grey is in that thing. Just me? Anyway, highlights of the month include documentaries Indie Game: The Movie, Hit So Hard, PressPausePlay, and Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam. All of them should be watched, but PressPausePlay raises some great questions about the state of digital media and the way it has altered, both good and bad, the entertainment industry. I for one find it really odd how quickly we've abandoned film after perfecting it to take up digital cameras and software that can be painfully incompatible and require post production processes that are unreliable at this time. The doc also covers music and is a wonderful conversation starter.
On the scripted side, I was pleasantly surprised by the latest Spider Man and Wreck It Ralph was a great time. Zack Galifianakis was awesome in both Visoneers and The Campaign and Arthur Christmas is a new Holiday fav. A trio of small budgeters to check out include Stay Cool, the twisted serial killer tale Lucky (with a great performance by Ari Graynor), and the ensemble movie A Good Old Fashioned Orgy which has too many actors to name and was pretty funny. But the stand out discovery for me was Drones. A delightful indie romantic comedy that mines it's humor from an unexpected source. The film's description is a bit of a misdirect, so I won't spoil anything, but everyone is so deadpan and wonderful in their roles, it's the kind of thing I wish I'd written! And then there was the 8th, which should speak for itself as a day of comfort food;)
One word, no, two words, no..... two words as one word: ThanksKilling. See it.
Oh yeah, then there's Moonrise Kingdom, the current leader on my board for film of the year. Like most people my age, I adore Wes Anderson's work, but this could be my favorite of all of them. Embarassingly good.
Bring on December 2012, I'm in fighting shape and, with Christmas movies abound, ready to take you down!! List'd:
11-1: The Four Year Plan, Rise and Shine: The Jay DeMerit Story, The Football Factory
11-2: In The Crease
11-4: Dirty Dancing (1987)
11-6: The Billionaires' Tea Party, Mansome, Comedians of Comedy, Answer This!
11-7: Mouth to Mouth, Adult Entertainment: Disrobing an American Idol, Indie Game: The Movie, The End, Le Cirque: A Table in Heaven
11-8: Zack & Miri Make A Porno, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Superbad
11-9: The Amazing Spider Man
11-12: Wreck It Ralph
11-14: Last Days Here, Birdemic, Until the Light Takes Us, PressPausePlay
11-15: Hit So Hard, Daydream Nation
11-16: Prometheus, Arthur Christmas
11-18: Snow, Snow 2: Brain Freeze, Christmas Cupid, Snowglobe, Holiday High School Reunion
11-19: Star Trek Insurrection, The Girl, Rope, Philadelphia
11-20: Chelsea on the Rocks, For The Bible Tells Me So, Winter's Bone, MST3K: The Movie, ThanksKilling
11-21: Wallander: The Dogs of Riga, Wallander: Before the Frost, Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam, Stay Cool, Palo Alto CA, Lucky
11-24: Santa Claus (1959)
11-25: Visioneers, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter
11-26: The Campaign, Love Actually, Bridget Jones's Diary
11-27: Pink Ribbons Inc., A Good Old Fashioned Orgy, Orgasm Inc., My Future Boyfriend
11-28: Bernie, Fubar: Balls to the Wall
11-29: Drones, Finding Bliss
11-30: Barney's Version, Trading Places, Jerry Maguire, Magic Mike, Mirror Mirror, Moonrise Kingdom
Total Film: 67
Films to Date: 353
Fav. Film: Moonrise Kingdom. I sort of spoiled the lead here on my favorite movie, but I can't say it enough how magical and amazing Moonrise made me feel. Notice how I put that, "made me feel." This wasn't some passive film going experience, it affects you, it puts it's arms around you and leads you down a sweet path of emotion. It makes you smile. The film is gorgeous, perfectly cast, perfectly written, are you sensing a pattern here? I love movies, even mediocre ones, but when you see something like this, it just diminishes all other attempts at story telling. Not intentionally, it is just so... "elevated." And Robert Yeoman, sheesh, master your craft much?!! Google this guy, he is the best DP working today and remember my comment about the move to digital above? Yeah, watch Moonrise and you'll understand my stance. Super 16 my friends... film stock'd!
Fav. Poster: Moonrise Kingdom.
It's a sweep!! When you Google "Moonrise Kingdom Poster" there's like a million awaesome images that come up and while the theatrical release one sheets are also amazing, I love this one from artist Alex Quinn that graces the Criterion release. It jumps on the minimalist style so many after market artists are creating for films these days, but instead of simplying outlining an iconic image it depicts a truly touching moment between our young lovers. I loved that he made her these earings and the piercing scene is one of my favorites in the whole film. Hence, this poster;)
Alright, November was truly epic, so let's hope I can keep it up in December to close out 2012 and my first full year of actually keepiing an accurate film log!!
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