Movies in March

Still working hard to polish off the WIP so I can move on to other things. Hoping to be done sometime in June. In the meantime, let's do this last March post, shall we?

In the world of Charlie Chaplin: The Circus feels like a minor work, but still engaging. City Lights was wonderful. Chaplin knows just where to end a movie. Monsieur Verdoux was strange, a talkie and a dark comedy. I didn't think Chaplin did dark. It's interesting to see this after reading his autobiography; some of what he talks about regarding the stock market becomes a plot element here, and I think a rather well done one.

In the world of Hitchcock: Rear Window and To Catch a Thief. I particularly liked the ballsy female character in the former, who's willing to show just how useful she can be and willing to do the dirty work to help out the photographer she wants to marry, but that doesn't mean she isn't still interested in fashion all the same.

Some modern films: Couples Retreat I liked better than I had expected, Up in the Air I found disappointing. I kept wishing it were a Cameron Crowe movie. Crowe wouldn't have let so many opportunities go unexplored. A Serious Man was awesome. It was shot locally in a suburb that had just had a tree-uprooting wind storm (and I think a tornado) whip through, so with new little trees in the yards it was very convincing for decades-past St. Louis Park. Extra props for the clever use of Schrodinger's cat. Yep, awesome. Last Chance Harvey isn't a great movie - it's a rather generic one - but it's worth a see just for the improv feel between Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman. Sherlock Holmes? Everyone already knows that was awesome; I eagerly await the sequel.

Cinematic Titanic released another live DVD, The Alien Factor. Very funny. I rather like the live DVDs, with the split screen so you can see all their faces while they do the commentary.

Animated films: The Fantastic Mr. Fox has a title that says it all. The Princess and the Frog has one of the best Disney villains in a long time. Alas, I wished I had liked this more. To me, every Randy Newman song sounds like a Randy Newman song; the New Orleans jazz elements were secondary to the Randy Newman elements. Quin says that every Danny Elfman song also sounds like a Danny Elfman song; I guess the difference is I like Danny Elfman.

Saw in theaters: Alice in Wonderland. Another movie I wanted to like more. It was visually cool but story-wise didn't blow me away as much as I would've liked.

Bollywood: Jeans has a very young Aishwarya Rai. I have a soft spot for movie plots involving twins, and this movie has every twin cliche, plus some cool dance numbers. Kyun Ho Gaya Na was horrid. I think the success of the movie depended on finding the male lead charming. I didn't. Armaan was interesting for Preity Zinta playing a no-holds-barred psycho woman. Gumnaam and Teesri Manzil are both films from the 60s with lots of bright colors, high energy dance numbers, and Helen. Helen rocks.

Lastly in TV was Doctor Who, season 4, which left me with a raging hunger to see season 5. Alas, that's not out yet. And as I'm halfway through the rewriting process, I watched season 4 of Lost. When I'm completely done I get to watch season 5. I'm working as fast as I can.

I think this month in lieu of a Bollywood number, I'll leave you with this Russian TV sketch of Charlie Chapin in The Matrix: