In an attempt to stick to our movie-related New Years resolutions, Jess and I plan to keep a weekly record of our progress towards our goal. See if we hit our goal this week and what movies we watched. You can also check out our initial resolutions post here.
My big goal this year is to watch three types of movies a week:
- 1 New Movie (anything that has come out in the last 3-4 months)
- 1 Movie From My Netflix Queue (it has to be from the list I cemented in stone at the beginning of 2014 to count)
- 1 Movie I’ve Been Meaning to Rewatch
Lets take a look at what was watched this past week.
New Movies:
- Beyond the Lights – A nice, grown up romance, which you don’t see a lot of these days. Finally got to see the beautiful Gugu Mbatha-Raw in action, and she really is great, paired with a nice performance from Nate Parker. It’s a little predictable, but felt unique enough as a whole to be quite enjoyable. Ditching the Kaz career plot-line would have been a good (and streamlined) choice though.
Re-watched:
- The First Wives Club – I remember watching this in elementary school, which seems like an odd choice but it is goofy fun. Not many comedies go all out with the feminism so it was actually really refreshing to watch as an adult.
- Wet Hot American Summer – A favorite of mine growing up, that I always pick up on new (or forgotten) little details each time I watch. I haven’t seen it in full since high school so this was a very welcome rewatch.
Off the Queue:
- Heartbeats – Finally foraying into this Xavier Dolan guy I’ve been hearing so much about. His performance really struck a chord with me. It’s a pretty simple story, but I really liked the style and characters (even though the characters are sometimes unlikeable as people). Some of the direction is very artsy and laid on thick. Some choices (slo-mo, music) I appreciated much more than others (interview segments). Overall though, it definitely made me want to watch more of Dolan’s work.
New Movies:
- About Alex – A cast including Maggie Grace, Max Greenfield, Aubrey Plaza, Max Minghella, and Jane Levy piqued my interest. It’s essentially a White People Problem movie that never reached above to gain anything more than that status. Performances are pleasant but the overall film leaves nothing to rave about.
Re-watched:
- The Ides of March – I appreciated this immensely on rewatch. It’s a simple slow burn but a master class in acting. Also, I really enjoyed Clooney’s subtlety as a director. It matches up quite nicely with the story and even offered up small insights I didn’t notice on the first pass.
Off the Queue:
- Antichrist – Just, lame. I know that isn’t a terrible fair assessment and it does have its moments but I cant get past the Von Trier pretension that smothers every scene. Also, the ending – what am I supposed to glean from that?! It better not be what I think!
- Undefeated – Breezy, well paced doc that hit directly at my heartstrings. It’s basically a real life version of all those annoying sports dramas but never cheesy, always classy.