March 2011 Screening Log

my write up of THE BLACK SWAN drove Ty Power to drink!1-2 Parts of East of Eden but mostly sleeping with flu.
3 Can't recall. I think I went back to reading while super ill with flu.
4 The Sundowners (1960) with Deborak Kerr and "Bob" Mitchum and in a perverse double feature Crank (2006) with Jason Statham. The sight of Kerr with a Kangaroo amused/horrified me.
5-9 Somewhere in here I watched The Black Swan (1942) and Where the Boys Are (1960) on TCM, spurred on by that reader contest. I recorded a few more but haven't gotten to them yet. Also the normal television shows including Glee and RuPaul's Drag Race, which I just wrote about.

10-11 Skimmed through The Black Swan (1942) again for the write-up. Skimming Law of Desire (1987), too, which is one of my all time favorite movies (Viva Pedro!) and prompted this and this. I should also note here that Southland concluded its season and now I am sad. I just really like that show and Regina King is more and more impressive in the lead role.
12 A French flick, Patrick Chiha's Domaine with freaky Beatrice Dalle which I had on screener. It's part of the upcoming Nashville Film Festival which I'm doing Narrative Competition Jury for. More on that movie and the other Nashville films next month, obvs, when the festival takes place. Also on this day I ended up watching lots of YouTube videos. Not by choice exactly. One of my friends has this complete YouTube addiction -- that's his viewing diet -- so ended up watching several of those. He's currently obsessed with this guy Chase who does sign language music videos. Like so...

Hold It Against Me from Michael Chase DiMartino on Vimeo.

Hey, that beats Britney's own terrible music video for this song ;)

13 Spectre (1977) a horrible cheapie occult movie with Robert Culp.
14 The 29th version of Jane Eyre - quite good. I almost went to I Am Number Four the second it ended on account of I was right there but I didn't want to spoil Jane Eyre with something infinitely inferior piggybacking. [HERE'S OUR PODCAST ON JANE EYRE]
15 Copacabana with Isabelle Huppert, Hit So Hard a documentary on the drummer of Hole, and Toy Story (1995). Plus the "Original Song" episode of Glee. It was the first episode I've thoroughly enjoyed without a lot of disclaimers in some time.
16 Tyrannosaur from Paddy Considine. I wish he also acted in it -- love him as an actor. I'm already worried about reviewing this. The performances were incredible but how to recommend something so grim it might even give Inñaritu pause, or turn him green with envy?

17-18 Bits of 9½ Weeks. God, Basinger and Rourke were both perfect physical specimens in 1986, weren't they? Got caught up on Parks and Recreation and 30 Rock, the former of which gets better all the time, the latter has better single moments than any other sitcom but as an overall show it ain't what it used to be.
19 Tom Hardy's introduction scene in Inception just because.

You can rub them together all you like, they're not going to breed.

Later I was trying to drag my bestie to Certified Copy on account of he'd love it and I also want to see it again but timing didn't work out and we ended up at Rango. You know how that happens: Kiarostami vs. Dreamworks Animation. Just your typical weekend box office battle.

20-25 This week was filled with watching pieces of Elizabeth Taylor films (for obvious reasons). I also watched the original Arthur (1981). I think I'd seen it sometime in the 80s but the memory was so foggy it was totally like watching it for the first time. Who knows maybe it was. I know that readers know that I love me some Liza Minnelli but what you might not know is that I think she is a terrific actress, her musical prowess aside.
26 Two Nashville Film Festival screeners: The Wolf Knife and The Last Ride.
27 Mildred Pierce on HBO.
28 Pieces of Mildred Pierce again.
29 n/a
30 Two vignette filled interlocking ensemble dramas, Dogsweat (2011) about troubled young adults in Iran and Kinyarwanda (2011) about the Rwandan genocide. In other words: cheerful night!
31 Psycho (1960) for the Hit Me With Your Best Shot series. I started watching it the night before but got too scared and thought. Don't watch this in the pitch black while the world is sleeping. Don't do it. It scares me like crazy every time.

Thank You!!!

Whether you offered up a single donation or whether you went even further to agree to treat us (monthly) to a virtual cup of coffee, tub of popcorn, movie ticket, or dinner, it's greatly appreciated. The more money The Film Experience earns, the better the blog shall be. It's like the law of cause and effect or something! Money = roof over Nathaniel's head and resources to make the blog better.

WHERE DOES THE MONEY GO? The Film Experience's meager current revenues pay for site expenses like webhosting, movie and dvds that we sometimes have to pay for and a teensy tiny bit left over for living expenses;  In other words, the money is going back into the site. More money, your generous donation, will help pay bigger things like rent (very important) and keep Nathaniel from closing the site down and begging on the street with tin cup in hand or leaping from bridges or his window. (Sadly this is not an exaggeration... well maybe the leaping from bridges part.) 

If enough people contribute, The Film Experience will have money for luxuries like travelling to Los Angeles for better Oscar coverage opportunities, film festival coverage, and better equipment in the form of software or computers and money to lure more writers here or to invest in web series production -- we've wanted to do one forever.  

THANKS AGAIN! MUCH GRATITUDE.