New stuff and re-watches:
21 GRAMS: *Insert the same questions that everyone's mentioned about the merits/problems with the film's structure, yet qualified by saying that the actors are all great here* Also, um, wasn't the Watts/Penn plot an R-rated version of 'Return to Me'? Benicio's story was my fave.
THE HUNTED: What a strange strange movie. So underwritten and simple that I actually found myself searching for *some* messages and meaning, disbelieving that the story couldn't be this threadbare, that Friedkin had another agenda. My conclusion? Nothing. But the knife fight was amazing. Connie Nielson needs to stop being 'the chick' in the action movie.
THE MISSING: Almost as threadbare as The Hunted (I'm beginning to see connections between the films I got here), and ultimately even more pointless. And what an awful, stupid ending. Ron Howard is the prime hack-extraordinaire... only this asswipe could find a way to under/mis-use Cate Blanchett. Ugh.
THE SHAPE OF THINGS: Hadn't seen it since release, and loved it even more than the first viewing. When the two birds come on screen, I want to applaud.
RUNAWAY JURY: A friend summed this up as 'good as a really great episode of 'The Practice'. Sadly, I hate The Practice, and all tired-legal-hogwash thrillers. It's a shame that Hackman and Hoffman finally got together not to act, but to get paychecks.
ED WOOD (the new dvd): Hadn't seen it in years, and now is definitely my favorite Burton film. Why wasn't the world jumping all over Depp's jock when this came out? The dvd is great too, a lot of nice features, here's hoping the mouse house don't screw the pooch on the eventual release.
NORTHFORK: Sure, it's pretty to look at, but I got as much from this movie as I would have if I spent an hour staring at some Ansel Adams. Someone call the Coen Brothers and tell them that the Polish boys are going through their garbage.
PEOPLE VS. LARRY FLYNT: This film's message is more important and poignant than ever. Watch it again. Now.
MAN ON THE MOON: I still don't like it. After watching this and 'Flynt,' I actually thought, "man, they really underused Courtney Love." And she's a crack-ho! Also, if I want to see Kaufman's works, I'll watch the originals, not 2 hours of re-creations.
POOTIE TANG: Okay, some friends rave about this movie (of course qualified with the admission that is awful), and the Onion recently ran a piece about Louis C.K. and what happened to the flick since release. So my curiousty was piqued. At 82 minutes and at times non-sensical, this movie is a studio abortion. But... that being said, I know for a fact that there's SOMETHING going on... a film hiding somewhere behind the tacked on VO and mis-mash editing. There are some amazingly inspired moments, and I can't help but believe that (dare I say) the director's cut of this flick would be really terrific. It's now my goal to find the original version of Pootie.
EDIT: forgot to mention the 'Tang.