I realize that films are conceived and designed with a great big screen in mind but I rarely "go" to the movies, because I'm easily disappointed and it just makes me angry to pay $10 or more to subsidize over-hyped and overrated productions, not to mention the fact that I get way irritated by talkative or rowdy audiences (except for ROCKY HORROR, where the audience "is" the show). But when peace reigns in a theater I often fall asleep -- don't ask me why -- so it's usually a lose-lose proposition for me.
That said, I watch at least six or seven films a week because I work from home and typically have the TV muttering away in the background, so when something catches my attention I just go with it unless I'm writing to a tight deadline. Or, if something piques my interest -- not "peaks," Liam
-- I get it from NetFlix. "Recently watched" isn't too relevant to me 'cuz when I have to choose between a movie I already know I like and a brand-new one, I'm apt to go with the tried-and-true. Sooner or later I usually see just about everything, but rarely on first release or on a big screen.
TOY STORY is a case in point, and since it's getting a lot of attention here, let me put in a good word for some of its peers/competitors. I was surprised by how much I liked it when I got around to it, but I really much preferred FINDING NEMO: more original, IMO, as well as much more unexpected and engaging. I understand the parody/cliche argument in favor of TOY STORY, but to really enjoy it you have to "get" the references, whereas NEMO speaks for itself.
I also love Miyazaki -- his genius for animation is bewitching all by itself regardless of content -- and although my personal favorite is PORCO ROSSO, any of his
oeuvre is well worth watching ... head and shoulders above
anything Disney has produced since the 1930's.
But far and away my favorites are the first three Wallace & Gromit shorts. The train chase in THE WRONG TROUSERS is better than any live-action car chase ever filmed -- breathtakingly funny, suspenseful, and above all, brilliantly imagined and concise, without a wasted frame. Until I saw that sequence, I had thought the chase was an obligatory but exhausted trope -- f'rinstance, I thought RONIN was a pretty good thriller which was utterly destroyed by about six too many car chases. Yawn ... forget "cut
to the chase;" my feeling is just "cut the chase" completely. Or simply flash a two-second title reading [INSERT CHASE HERE] and save the aggro for something less hackneyed. Nick Park, Gromit, and the Paying Guest have retired the cup once and for all. A CLOSE SHAVE is a close second to TROUSERS, and the feature-length animations are very good but not in the same class as the shorts.
As I write, I'm watching OPERATION PETTICOAT, which before I first saw it I expected to dislike. I'm older and wiser now and have learned that Cary Grant can turn even the worst sow's ear into a genuine silk purse -- I defy any of you to cite a single Grant performance that is less than stellar. I feel the same way about Alec Guinness -- from THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT and THE LADYKILLERS to STAR WARS and the Smiley mini-serieses, he almost never put a foot wrong.
Finally, a shout-out to my favorite American actors -- Robert Duvall and Gene Hackman, who IMHO have more talent in their little fingers than any ten "big stars" of today put together.
I know this is a long and mostly OT post, so I'll end with a genuine "recently watched movie" which I felt was extremely good: THE LIVES OF OTHERS, whose low-key exploration of loyalty and betrayal I found truly exceptional. I thought it captured a thoroughly human mixture of despair and hope that speaks softly but eloquently to the truths of modern life. If you haven't seen it yet, you really should.
Kthxbye
BRocket
