Jandy, over at her wonderful blog The Frame, talks about a survey / meme entitled "My Movie Confessions", where you answer a series of questions about possibly controversial subjects. I figured I would give it a try myself.
My Movie Confessions
Which classic movie don't you like/can't enjoy and why?
I'm not sure if you could consider them "classics" but they are movies
that are very well thought that I just really disliked. And those are
Martin Scorsese's two "Mafia" movies, Goodfellas and The Departed.
The latter one I almost couldn't finish watching while the former one I
found hackneyed and boring. Neither of them made much sense and, to me,
included some laughably over the top performances. Blech.
And as a bonus, I will throw in the "modern classic", Tree Of Life. Even without its annoying religious overtones, it was slow and dull.
Which ten classic movies haven't you seen yet?
Well, leading the list is Sight & Sound's Best Movie of all time,
Vertigo. Not really all that familiar with the Hitchcock oeuvre, and
that one has just slipped by me. Listing the first ten in the S&S
list that I
haven't seen, it would be:
Obviously, I have to get better at the foreign language films! But the oddest one in this list is The Searchers, as I am a huge fan of Westerns, especially John Ford Westerns. Not sure why this hasn't shown up in front of me.
Have you ever sneaked into another movie at the cinema?
I've never sneaked into a cinema but I have sneaked into a drive-in
movie theater. A friend and I slipped in the exit at a showing of David Cronenberg's Rabid, featuring the adult film star Marilyn Chambers. Wow, was that movie ever bizarre, about a woman who kills her
lovers via something weird coming out of her armpit, and they turn into
zombie's. Yikes. Good thing it was free!
Which actor/actress do you think is overrated?
Never been a real big Meryl Streep fan, as it always seems like it is Meryl Streep acting. And Marlon Brando pretty much overacts every chance he gets.
From which big director have you never seen any movie (and why)?
Despite not listing Breathless as a classic I haven't seen yet, I'm
going to include Jean Luc Goddard here, as I haven't really sat down and
watched Breathless, nor any other Goddard movie. What pieces I have
seen of Breathless seemed to me to be triumphs of style over substance
and never resonated, so I haven't been in a big hurry to see it or any
other. And that pretty goes for all of "French New Wave", really.
Which movie do you love, but is generally hated?
Not sure I can think of any in this category. My movie watching is
pretty limited, so I don't generally waste it on movies that aren't that
highly considered. Maybe the closest would be the Adam Sandler movie Happy Gilmore. Maybe it's because he wears a Boston Bruins uniform,
but I find it pretty funny. The sound the golf ball makes when he tees
off (by running up to it!) with his hockey stick just cracks me up. What
a brilliant sound!
Have you ever been "one of those annoying people" at the cinema?
Never. Just never would occur to me.
Did you ever watch a movie, which you knew in advance would be bad, just because a specific actor/actress was in it? Which one and why?
Going back to the previous question about watching movies that aren't very good, I just don't have enough time dedicated to watching movies to watch a movie generally thought of as bad, or will be bad, just because it stars someone in specific. Again, just not enough time to focus on an actor as opposed to a movie I'd like to watch.
Did you ever not watch a specific movie because it had subtitles?
As Jandy says, while I have never not watched a movie because it has subtitles, I have definitely put off watching one because of it. If I'm tired or just need a more passive experience, I will skip a movie with subtitles.
Are there any movies in your collection that you have had for more than five years and never watched?
These "collection" questions (this one and the next one) are a little odd in this day and age of streaming movie content. I do have a fairly extensive collection of DVDs (and a few VHS tapes, although I don't even have anything that will play them any more I don't think!), but I just don't buy too many of these any more because lots of what I want to watch is available in other places, like the Amazon Prime Instant Video or, of course, Netflix. And so for that matter, most of my DVDs are at this point at least 5 years old, because, as I said, I don't really buy them much any more. But let me take a minute to scan through my collection that is here, in order to do this literally, and see what I come up with.
My mom gave me Harvey and, while it is a "classic" Jimmy Stewart
movie that I would like to watch at some point, I just have never gotten
around to putting it in the player. I think I'd like it, but maybe
because I don't have the emotional attachment of having actually bought
it, means I haven't watched it yet. I should do that soon though!
Which are the worst movies in your collection and why do you still own them?
Probably the Heavy Metal discs. The original Heavy Metal was
something I watched a lot when I was a teenager but the DVD doesn't
really hold up quite as well. One reason is the fact that the Devo song
"Working In A Coal Mine" isn't on it, which is a drag. And most of the
humor (tits, sex and misogyny), just doesn't appeal to me any more. But
there are still plenty of interesting animation styles and stories so I
keep it around. But I don't think I have ever watched Heavy Metal 2000 -
I just happen to have bought it in a set withHeavy Metal.
Do you have any confessions about your movie watching setup at home?
I still have my HD DVD player. I put an early bet in on HD DVD, bought a dozen or so HD DVDs and then, just as I was getting interested in the format, it folded. I still say Unforgiven on HD DVD is the finest looking disc I have in my collection. I have the player but it no longer is even hooked up, as I ran out of HDMI inputs on my A/V receiver. But I have some of my favorite movies on HD DVD (the aforementioned Unforgiven, The Sting (my final HD DVD purchase), Bladerunner, Pan's Labyrinth, one of my nearly infinite copies of Casablanca), so I'm loath to get rid of it, as I haven't replaced all of those.
Any other confessions you want to make?
I don't like the "classic" musicals. Not interested in seeing Singing
In The Rain, or pretty much any other Kelly/Rogers musical. Cabaret -
si. Meet Me In St. Louis? Non.
Prospector Cocktail
We followed that up with a pretty special beer. My friend brought over a big bottle of Eisenbahn Lust, which is a "champagne style" beer from Brazil. Pretty special. I'm not usually a big fan of extremely carbonated beers, but this one went down very well, even despite (or maybe because of?) the 11.5% ABV. Plenty of sediment, but a pretty light taste with plenty of feel. Really enjoyed it, although at over $30 for a 750ml bottle, it probably won't get bought very often.
We didn't do a cocktail last night. I managed to find 3 of the "Must-Try" beers on my list of beers from my 365 Bottles Of Beer For The Year calendar (chronicled on my Pinterest board), so we had just beer instead. I decided to serve them up in rising ABV (Alcohol By Volume) order. They are all pretty strong beers, though.
So that meant first up was the Founders Cerise Cherry Fermented Ale,
made from real Michigan Montmorency sour pie cherries. I am not a big
"fruit" beer fa, although oddly enough I had the Wachusetts Blueberry Wheat
beer for lunch and really enjoyed it, despite the bar insisting on
floating 3 blueberries in it (I really abhor putting foreign
objects and food in my beer). It was fresh and crisp, with very nice
blueberry aromas but the blueberry taste itself was very very slight.
And so it was with the Cerise (the most repinned and liked post on my 365 Beers Pinterest board). I really didn't have any hope of finding it, as not only is it a seasonal beer, but one from a Michigan brewery that I hadn't remembered seeing around here. But I was very excited to find it at the local "big" liquor store and anxious to give it a try.
It pours very nicely. I've taken to being very aggressive at pouring,
since reading about it in my Tasting Beer book. It gave up a nice head and the
color is really spectacular. A very nice deep red color, with a nicely
red-tinged head. It had a fine light cherry aroma, with some interesting
hops or something.
Unfortunately, one of the bottles that I poured wasn't right. I didn't really notice anything when I opened it or poured it, but after pouring both, one had a very nice head and the other was flat. And it tasted flat. So I think the bottle cap seal wasn't good. So I tossed it out and opened a new one and it worked very nicely.
Again, it tasted great, with a very crisp taste and only a hint of cherry, although more than the Wachusett had of blueberry. This is a very refreshing beer.
Then we cracked open a Rochefort 6, a beer the calendar called
possibly "the best beer in the world". At US$6 for a 120z bottle, it had
better be! I actually had one a few weeks ago at a local beer bar and
thought it pretty excellent. But maybe because it followed the unique
taste of the Cerise, it felt a little lacking. Mind you, very nice and
quite crisp for a Belgian. It poured with lots of carbonation and a big
aroma. At 7.5% ABV, it is pretty strong. I enjoyed it, but I think I
will try the 8 and 10 next. This one may be more of a lunch beer.
To top the evening off, we jumped into a Widmer Bros. Nelson Imperial IPA. At 8.6% ABV, it may have been just a little much for the end of the evening, but it sure had no problem standing up to the fine beers that preceded it. And excellent pour, with a big head and big aromas. Both malty and hoppy, a really great beer. Very drinkable and thus probably pretty scary. I had another one tonight and it gets another big thumbs up.
And for gaming, we had our second night of Dead Island, the co-op
zombie shooter. Last week's game session wasn't too impressive. The
three of us wandered around, usually not together, and beat up, easily,
on random zombies. There is a little bit of a skill tree, and you can
work on your weapons, but that's about it for RPG elements. I've never
been too keen on the games that have your weapons "wear out" - my least
favorite party of System Shock. Not sure why after hacking on a few
zombies my machete would just explode into dust.
But this time we adhered to the main story quest, worked together, and had some fun. We all went up a few levels and added some more skills. I read online where the game gets a little tougher once you get off the island and into the city, so that's good. And we also got to drive cars, which is always fun. Chasing down zombies and blasting into them with a car is always a grand time.
One oddity caused by the weapons wearing out is that you hit the zombie to knock it down and then proceed to kick the shit out of it to avoid "wasting" your weapon. So it gets pretty gruesome really. But we played for almost 3 hours and had a pretty good time. At this point, the three of us have played together about a year, so we have plenty of history. I'm the one that can't be trusted with a thrown weapon or anything with splash damage (although that's not really a bad shortcoming in this game, as there doesn't seem to be friendly fire). Michael is the one who just charges forward, no subtlety. And Chris pushes us forward like a drill sergeant. It's a blast and we got into the game's rhythm, so I'm looking forward to next week's session.
First The Money
- 1 lime
- 1 tsp. white creme de menthe
- crushed ice
- 1 oz dark rum (I used the old standby, Myer's)
- 3/4 oz Toussaint coffee liqueur (I've never seen this so I do as the book suggests and substituted Kahlua)
- Cola
Cut the lime into wedges and muddle in a highball glass with the creme de menthe. Fill the glass with crushed ice and add the rum and Toussaint. Top with cola.
Our beer tonight was Bell's Oberon Ale, which my friend had "imported" from Pennsylvania. I enjoyed it - a little fruity and a little fizzy but a very nice drinkable 5.8%ABV summer ale.
A drabble is a very short story of exactly 100 words. Feel free to join in and write your own drabbles on Fridays and tag them with "friday drabble" and on Twitter with the hashtag #fridaydrabble.
New Classic Cocktails by Allan Gage : 
The beer was from New Belgium Brewing, the 1554 Enlightened Black Ale. It was a very nice "session" (5.6% ABV) ale, very malty and smooth. We let it warm up a bit while we drank our cocktail and it was perfect. This was an "imported" beer, as New Belgium beers aren't found 'round these here parts. But my buddy has in-laws who come up from PA and they brought him a couple six packs. Very nice. 
City of Thieves by David Benioff
Ron Perlman
A college professor walks into a bar. "Bring me a martinus," he says.
The bartender smiles politely and says, "You mean martini?"
"If I want ore than one," snaps the professor, "I'll order them."
en a beer that was recently added to my "365 Beers" Pinterest board - an O'Hara's Irish Stout. And this too was very very good. A real drinkable stout, with great flavor and only 4.3% ABV, so it went down really well while playing Serious Same 3: BFE
Source: oskarblues.com via Jonathan on Pinterest
Image by Getty Images via @daylife
Image via Wikipedia
Image via Wikipedia
Image by sdfbss via Flickr
Spoilers abound ahead - hard to write a critical review without disclosing the action and the ending...
"Inglorious Basterds" is a story of a guerrilla operation, run by Brad Pitt and a motley collection of Jewish fighters in World War 2. They wreak havoc upon the Nazis, showing no mercy, and, in a typically Tarantino fashion, graphically in some cases, including the brutal baseball bat beating (too many b's?) of a Nazi officer who refuses to divulge the location of another patrol. It also follows the story of a Jewish girl who escaped a brutal murdering of her family at a French farm house. She escapes to Paris and runs a movie theater(!). There she accidentally befriends a Nazi officer who is sort of a German Audie Murphy, who supposedly single-handedly cuts down over 100 Allied soldiers from a church steeple. He then stars in a movie based upon his exploits and the Nazi high command wants to debut the movie in her movie theater. All the German high brass, from Hitler on down, attend, drawing the attention of the Allied high command, who promptly begin plotting an attack on the theater. Can they pull it off and end World War 2 in one blow?
Cover of The Shot
Another problem with "Basterds" is that really, not much happens, at least for the first 90 minutes or more of a 250 minute film. There is no real story building, just a few episodes that paint in the background of the two major stores, but in such broad strokes to make it kind of boring and uninteresting, despite the graphic violence.
Image via Wikipedia
Brad Pitt is just fine as the scene chewing leader of the Basterds. Mélanie Laurent was enchanting as the bitter Jewish survivor who plots the destruction of the German high command. Her ending was just so over the top Tarantino-esque as to be amazing.
But all in all, a 2.5 or maybe 3 out of 5 star movie. I just wasn't invested in the characters or the story, and I still don't understand the ending.
On Monday, we also did one of the water parks - Blizzard Beach. We got the whole shebang when it came to tickets, adding the dining plan, park hopper and water parks. I'm not sure we got our money's worth the the "water parks and more" option, although it really wasn't all that much more. We were so busy with the regular parks, and the pool at the resort was so nice, we hardly had time for the water parks.
But we headed over to Blizzard Beach for a few hours. It was, not surprisingly, packed. We barely found a single chair to toss our towels onto. And the lines for the various "rides" were pretty long - no FASTPASSes here! We tried a couple and, to be honest, were not all that impressed. I found the toboggan run to be hard on the neck. You go down on your stomach using this polyurethane "sled" but you have to keep your back arched and your head up, which put a strain on my neck and back.
There was a group ride down on a big raft that was fun, but hardly worth the long wait. And the huge water slide actually was tough on the tailbone. Even my girls complained of it hurting their back and butts after coming down it. And that was the shorter of the two, as Blizzard Beach claims to have the highest water slide in the country. But its extra long lines discouraged us from trying it and getting banged up enough of the shorter makes me think I'm pretty glad we didn't try that one.
But the big wave pool was fun, as was the lazy river ride that went all around the park. Just grab a tube and float along. For obvious reasons, that was my favorite. So it was a fun few hours and, as it turned out, the only time we went to a water park.
For dinner, we had another late night meal, this time over at EPCOT. It was nice to walk around the park at night, with lighter crowds. We ate at the Marrakesh, in the Moroccan ""quarter" and had a lovely "chef's choice" meal, with a bunch of courses and delicious chicke, lamb and vegetable dinners. The girls enjoyed their ribs (they have become real rib fans) and another busy day drew to a happily stuffed ending.
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