January 2014 MVPs

With no particular criteria in mind, I present to you the inaugural list of monthly movie MVPs.

Gents of the month
Marlon Brando (On the Waterfront)
Robert Cummings (It Started with Eve)
Jack Kelly (To Hell and Back)
Burt Lancaster (Separate Tables)
Warren William (Lady for a Day)

Ladies of the month
Penelope Allen (Dog Day Afternoon)
Talullah Bankhead (Lifeboat)
Deanna Durbin (It Started with Eve)
Jean Arthur (The Whole Town's Talking)
Eva Marie Saint (On the Waterfront)

Movies I Watched at Home in 2014, List #1 (January)

I am continuing my list of movies I watched (from start to finish, no matter how boring). Same deal as before -- chronological order of watching with a comment or two. 

• The Master (2012) A-  /  I think I'd put Joaquin Phoenix on a list of all-time great performances. I went back and watched that "don't blink" scene three times at least.
• Dog Day Afternoon (1975) A+  / Thanks to my general aversion to Al Pacino yelling, I've repeatedly put this off. Well, I am an idiot.  As others have said, it is a masterpiece (so is he).
• Raging Bull (1980) B /  Fat Robert DeNiro lived up to the hype.
• I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) B- /  Could someone please find a way to guarantee that veterans have jobs when they return home?  This movie is 80 years old for crying out loud.
• Lifeboat (1944)  A / Like Rope, it is so much  more than the gimmick (but the gimmick works too).
• Donnie Brasco (1997) B / Two annoying but amazing actors being nothing but amazing.
• The Last Detail (1973) B+  /  Potentially annoying premise that is mostly amazing.
• The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) A+ /  Ticket for one, please.
• Patton (1970) B  /  See below.
• Saving Private Ryan (1998) A- / The bookends of this movie are everything I feared. And see further below.
• The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) C- /  I wish we had just gone to Tijuana with Madge.
• On the Waterfront (1954) A+  /  I'm gonna use the M word! 
• The Third Man (1950) A- / I have watched this at least three times in my life and my memory of it is always similar to how you can but can't remember a dream. So I will watch it again, and probably again. And enjoy it again. But then forget why.
• Side Effects (2013) B+    Preposterous, precise, efficient, fun. I was actually giddy.
• Interiors (1978) B+   Good grief, Geraldine Page is the best. Devastating.
• Tom Jones (1963) C-  / I think the lesson here is I do not enjoy romps.
• Stardust Memories (1980) B / Charlotte Rampling. Did anything else happen? I seriously don't remember. 
• The Whole Town's Talking (1935) C+  This started off cracking. Then someone left Jean Arthur at the office and it turned into a snoozer.
• Separate Tables (1958) C /  Oh man, Deborah Kerr was horrible! I can't get enough of that pathetic look she's working. And I can't believe David Niven (and I love him) won an Oscar for this. I should have gotten worked up over that old biddy and her bullshit but I've saved all that particular emotion this month for The Children's Hour. Let's have a redo: This whole movie should have been about fantastic Miss Meacham seducing Pat, while Burt Lancaster and Rita Hayworth sexed it up in the background. <-- A+
• My Favorite Year (1982) C+ /  Pretty much a romp. But a romp with Peter O'Toole. But also with the guy from Perfect Strangers.
• To Hell and Back (1955) A- /  To Hell and Back (50s) and Patton (70s) and Saving Private Ryan (90s) make for a fascinating trio in portrayal/perceptions of WWII.  Watch 'em!
• Lady for a Day (1933) B+ /   This movie could best be compared to standing in a long, sometimes slow-moving, frustrating line waiting for something entirely satisfying (e.g., Pork-Chop-on-a-Stick line at Wurstfest).
• Carnal Knowledge (1971) A- /  Rita Moreno, siempre viva!
• The Children's Hour (1961) A /  That little bitch has got to be an all-time top-10 villain. Flames.
• It Started with Eve (1941) A / To quote myself talking about Ball of Fire  last year --  "Considering my favorite movie ever is What's Up, Doc?, it's pretty ridiculous I just now watched this. Check it out and count the homages. With that fancy word I will conclude this nonsense."

Who We Are on P & R

Julie - 60% Leslie, 20% April, 10% Ben, 5% Ann, 5% Ron
Blaine - 80 % Ben, 10 % Leslie, 8% April, 2% Chris
Austen - 70% Tom, 10 % April, 10 % Andy, 5% Ron, 3% Donna, 1% Jerry, 1% Perd
Derek - 80% Ron, 10% Andy, 10% April
Karen - 70% April, 20 % Ron, 10% Donna
Candice - 40% Donna, 40% April, 10 % Ann, 10% Chris
D.J. - 50 % Ben, 30% Leslie, 10 % Ron, 10% Chris
Susan - %50 Ann, %50 Chris
Me - 35% April, 25% Ann, 20% Ben, 20% Andy
Mia - 80% Chris, 15% Ann, 5% Andy


* Susan, I do not know you very well but I did the best I could.  Also, I would love for anyone to correct me and, especially, tell me what my percentages actually are.

Things that are WAY BETTER and WAY WORSE than I thought they would be...

BETTER

1. The Book of Eli - On the surface this movie is a big budget action film in the same vein as Road Warrior - the preview looks as though we've seen this a few times before.  Post-apocalyptic landscape where a man does whatever he can to survive, bla bla bla....but oh no.  This movie is so much more than that.  Yes, it has Gary Oldman doing what he does best -- yelling at people.  And yes, it has an aging Denzel beating up multiple bad guys at once, but when you finally get to the end it makes up for any wrong doings that came before.   A clever twist doesn't hurt either.
2. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip - Yes, Julie sang the praises of this show way back when but I just re-watched it again (especially after watching The Newsroom) and it's really really enjoyable.  Better than a lot of shows on tv right now.  Interesting characters, the usual fast-paced dialogue from Aaron Sorkin (love him or hate him) and genuinely funny skits written for a show about a show that writes skits.  Yes, it has its moments of hitting you over the head but once you fall in love with the characters you go with it.
3. Juicing - I, like most Californians (said in the SNL accent), would buy the occasional juice for a few reasons; it made me feel better about myself and juicing places were EVERYWHERE.  But now that I'm living back at home, I started juicing here and it's great!  Now, it's true that I don't work and have time on my hands but it's fun to throw different veggies and fruits together and find out which combos work and which don't (ginger and pineapple work with everything).  But the real reason I like it is it keeps me on a routine where I take my vitamins and cut fruit and veggies every day so I have them to snack on.
4. Green Day - yeah, I said it.  Ever since I saw American Idiot (the musical) I think their music is pretty damn good.  I can't listen to it all the time but it's pure in the sense that they play their own instruments, write their own music, and it sounds good.  Better than what I thought it would sound like before I gave it a chance. * please note I am not recommending anything to the 'list anything' crowd since I already know you are all music snobs but rather, ahem, making a list.
5. Michael Connelly - I have a confession.  I have probably read 16 books by this guy in the past year.  You will most likely only know him as the author of BLOOD WORK (which was made into a Clint Eastwood movie - not a very good one) and THE LINCOLN LAWYER (which was made into a Matthew McConfxolefiuwfedf movie and a mediocre one),  but what got me started was his series on a character named Harry Bosch.  The Bosch books are great and a huge influence on this novel I started.  Also, in case you have Amazon Prime, check out the pilot for BOSCH.  It's pretty damn great.
6. Matthew McConaughey - I don't know about you people but this guy was THE WORST just a few years ago and for as long as I can remember.  We all loved him in Dazed and everything he did in real life made us laugh but his movie choices and his acting were...not good.  But then something happened.  He hit his head - I don't know.  He had a role in a small film called Bernie.  Not the first time he took his acting seriously (watch Frailty or Lone Star).  Then another indie film, Killer Joe.  Then another, The Paperboy.  And again, Mud.  Then he flexed his muscles in Magic Mike, now he's nominated for an OSCAR with the Dallas Buyer's Club, has another small but memorable role in The Wolf of Wall Street and oh yeah, stars in the phenomenal True Detective on HBO.  He will, however, go back to being a movie star in Interstellar next year but for now, he makes the better list.

WORSE

1. Elysium - Oh my god this movie suuuuuucked.  I loved District 9 and I think we can all agree that Jason Bourne is awesome.  But wtf? With every cliched minute I watched this movie you can picture my face descending toward the ground.  I started with a smile - my eyebrows lifted (not really but just go with it) and after thirty minutes I had to stop watching.  Oh, and further proof that it is a horrible movie, my mom loved it.  And Jodie Foster puh-lease.

2. The Killing - I know, I know, I was the only one of us who praised this show.  But to be fair that was only because, at the time, I put my faith in the writers and thought they would lead us somewhere great (i.e. the second season of Homeland).  But they didn't.  And to make matters worse they began season 3 with yet another tease of greatness only to piss all over my face by the end.  You were right.  I was wrong.

3. Neko Case's last album - barf.

4. Steve's wireless internet - I have to pause HBO go every few minutes just so it can buffer.  I cannot watch a single episode of Family Guy on Hulu without it constantly stopping to reload.  Horrible.

5. The Hobbit - Don't even get me started.