Despite the inactivity on the movies page, I have actually been watching quite a few of them over the past couple of weeks. In the morning, I’d take Henry downstairs to let mom sleep a little while longer, and we’d sit and watch whatever the TiVo had picked up for us.
Saw a bunch of cool silent films starring Lon Chaney. Best of which were The Unholy Three and The Unknown, as well as West of Zanzibar, which was good, just not as good as the others.
Son of Frankenstein impressed the hell out of me (might be my new favorite of the Monster’s films), while The Wolf Man disappointed.
The Last Man on Earth was good, despite Vincent Price, who I’m not a huge fan of. I couldn’t make it through all of Madhouse.
Also saw 49 Up. The best moments are still flashbacks from 7 and 14 Up, but it’s nice to get reacquainted with some of those folks again. Funny thing is, these movies always seem to start with the most interesting people, then slowly fade. Sorry to say, but Neil isn’t half as intriguing when he’s not homeless or showing signs of impending mental collapse.
Father Goose was a hell of a nice surprise. Hilarious.
Joyeux Noel was good, but with far too much singing. It always looked like bad lip sync too, which never helps the cause.
I’m currently watching The Dirty Dozen, which is good but long, so I don’t know when I’m going to be able to finish it up.
With the kid’s sleeping/eating/changing habits still irregular and me back at work without the time in the morning to watch anything, Laura and I have switched over to TV series in our Netflix queue, which offer viewing in more manageable chunks. Started “Lost” this week, which we’d managed never to see until now, and have “The Wire” next up, should the first disc ever get out of “Long Wait” status.
So the long and short of it is, there might not be a lot of reviews upcoming anytime soon. Watching a movie and having the time to sit down and write about it demands a time premium I can’t afford right now. Perhaps in a few months things will change when Henry starts falling into a more sound schedule, but until then, the road to review #500 will have to wait.
edit: totally forgot a whole slew of movies
Kieran January 3rd, 2007 at 3:13 pm
We had the same “long wait” problem with Battlestar Galactica season 1’s disc 1. (And before you yell “neeerrrrrrrrrds!” I should tell you it’s much better than your average sci-fi stuff — and better than most TV in general.) Luckily, it was available on iTunes so we just bought the 4 episodes there and we were through the Netflix logjam!
John January 3rd, 2007 at 3:48 pm
That’s a good idea, getting the first disc’s equivalent somewhere else.
Not sure about iTunes though, would have to think about how to get that over to the TV. Connect360 could stream WMV/WMA to my 360, but something tells me that they don’t sell in that format.
I keep hearing about this Battlestar Galactica thing, but I resist. I’d prefer The $#!@ Shield would just start up again… Hell, I’ll even take a preposterously new “24″ at this point.
At least I’ll have Mike Rowe and “Dirty Jobs” next week.
Manny Sucks January 3rd, 2007 at 5:11 pm
I’m glad you enjoyed Joyeux Noel and that you watched it promptly. Newborn Henrys don’t come along that often.
John January 3rd, 2007 at 7:46 pm
In all honesty, I fell asleep for the ending, but Laura was able to fill me in once I came around.
At least now when I doze off during a movie, I have the “baby kept me up all night” excuse. Before, not so much.
Peter January 7th, 2007 at 10:09 am
I clicked view comments with the intention of telling you to get all over Battlestar Galactica, but I see I was beaten to the punch.
So, yeah, get all over it! Make absolute sure you start with the mini-series before jumping into season 1. The mini is a bit melodramatic as its all set up, but believe me it is worth it. The show will blow you away, I guarantee it above all us. It contains many episodes I consider to be some of the best hour long television I’ve ever seen.
John January 7th, 2007 at 11:46 am
OK, fine. You guys win. Added the miniseries to the top of my queue.
Happy now?
By the way, BET is going to start showing the first season of The Wire starting this Wednesday. I’m going to use it to skip the first disc of the series and get to the ones that are actually available on Netflix.