Because I want to go to one. Tonight, even. What's playing, anyway?

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

Answers

I'm way too deeply involved in making a schedule for the Toronto festival to know what's playing locally. But I'll be sure to run back after the festival and report on everything I saw!

I did start to watch Sexy Beast last night from Netflix, but I'm having trouble getting into it.

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

I saw Possession and The Good Girl last week and really enjoyed both of them.

Possession is just a good solid interesting love story. And I love both Aaron Eckhart and Jeremy Northam, so it wasn't too difficult for me to enjoy.

As for The Good Girl, it's been billed as a comedy, but I gotta tell you, that although there was some funny stuff in it, it most certainly was NOT a comedy. It's pretty dark. And if Jennifer Aniston doesn't annoy the crap out of you (I know some people feel that way, though I am not one of them) then I think you'll be impressed with the fact that she can actually act. She's good in this. And Jake Gyllenhaal is just lovely.

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

That's interesting, Stacey. I couldn't get into Sexy Beast either, so I returned it before I let it lie around our house for weeks. By the way, did I tell you all how Netflix rocks? There is a warehouse in Minneapolis now, and my turn around on movies is two days. It finally makes it worth being a member.

As to the real question, I have a small child. I haven't a clue what's playing in a theater because I haven't been to one in months. Whenever we can get out, movies don't seem appealing.

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

I'm looking at what's playing in the theatres Blake and I go to -- your mileage may vary. So out of what's playing... "Lovely and Amazing" looks good, if you haven't seen it yet. And I think Blake wanted to see "Trembling Before G-d" but I'm not really interested; it's about the trials and tribulations of orthodox Jewish gays (and lesbians? I can't remember).

We saw "Monsoon Wedding" a while ago and I really enjoyed it. Fluff, but foreign fluff. "Lan Yu" will have pretty Chinese boys, but apparently it's just a standard romance, only gay. "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" has been getting good reviews but I think it looks pretty predictable and lame.

There's a German movie out called "Mostly Martha" which looks pretty interesting, and got good reviews in last week's "Globe and Mail". Oh, and I really enjoyed "The Good Girl".

And then there's "Blue Crush".

Quite a lot of stuff, really. Summer must be over...

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

amiable, have you seen Blue Crush? Has anyone? I'm wondering if it's enjoyable fluffy dreck or torturous hairpulling dreck.

My slightly shameful confession is that I really like Jennifer Aniston. I'm totally going to see The Good Girl this weekend.

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

We saw "Blood Work" last weekend. I liked it. It wasn't TOO predictable (although some bits were), and in fact when all was said and done I had to admit that it was a damn good, quirky storyline. Downside: yet another geezer/babe subplot.

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

I'd second Lovely & Amazing, but I think you've seen that one already, right? Also playing in the area is The Fast Runner: Atanarjuat, which my sister saw and loved... but warns it's not for the attention-impared 'cause it's very slow and 'beautiful'. Of course Big Fat Greek Wedding, for a comedy. Lilo & Stitch is still playing for lighter fare.

If you're looking into rentals, The Rookie just came out and that's a pretty good film.

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

Blue Crush is definitely enjoyable fluff. Worth going to see in a movie theatre for the amazing surfing shots.

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

I saw My Big Fat Greek Wedding recently. It was moderately entertaining mindfluff. The rest of the audience apparently thought it was uproarious. Eh, me? not so much. It was OK. I like the actor who I will always think of as Chris-in-the-morning from Northern Exposure. I don't remember his name but he's adorable here as well.

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

I haven't been out to a movie in way too long. But I have Your Friends and Neighbors and The 400 Blows arriving today from Netflix.

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

The Fast Runner only played here for a week, and it was the week that the board crashed so we missed it even though we had plans to see it.

I might actually go see that Jennifer Aniston movie. It's not the sort of thing I usually see but it might be what I'm in the mood for.

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

Atanarjuat:The Fast Runner

Oh, dear lord, was that a slow movie. I didn't even really enjoy it, and it seemed to go on and on and on. I think that if it was edited down to about half its length, it would be much better. I have heard quotes from many reviewers, who all think it's excellent, but I never did find out why they thought so. Can anyone help me out here?

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

Beth,

I checked out areas in Sacramento using Moviefone and it looks like The Fast Runner is still playing, which is why I suggested it in the first place.

My sister said it was great because it was the storytelling style was very different from anything else she has seen. She said something like, "If you can imagine the way Hollywood and European filmmakers tell their stories are lumped together, you can tell that The Fast Runner is from some other place." Then again, note that my sister is a photographer and tends to get more engrossed in the aesthetic than the regular Joe (like me).

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

I've seen Goldmember the other day, that had a lot of jokes I already knew for some odd reason.

More interesting was Goldmember itself, clearly based on the almost naked rollerskater/body builder who's been been riding through Amsterdam since the late 1980's. He used to visit the university library to read the evening papers when I studied there, and always left huge vaseline stains on the furniture. As far as I know vaseline is still banned in that particular library.

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

Have to admit, I was one of the laughing uproariously at My big fat greek wedding. I also liked Monsoon Wedding very sweet movies both. I think the month I watched those, I also watched Muriel's Wedding on cable, so I'm all about liking the quirky wedding flick it seems

The reason the Austin Powers jokes mostly seemed familiar? Did you see 1 and/or 2? Same difference. I snickered a couple of times, but no big belly laughs. I like the soundtrack, retro fun, but the movie was a little disappointing.

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

Crap. I want to be able to preview my posts again, dammit! Sorry about the unclosed tags.

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

Thank you, Iko. Very weird -- it was supposed to close two weeks ago. They must be drawing a crowd.

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

Blue Crush was the first movie I've seen in the theatre in ages, and I loved it. Ridiculously silly, but well-done silly, absolutely enjoyable despite some awful amateur actors. Lots of girl power going on, and yes, gorgeous surfing, gorgeous girl surfers. Wanna be a surfer when I grow up.

Obviously still in Fluff Mode, I went ahead and let Netflix send me Summer Catch, the Freddy Prinze Jr. extravaganza, and Coyote Blue, the tits-and-ass extravaganza. Both were awful. Like, not just "oh, it's fluff" awful, but "oh dear god, what were they thinking? this is so very very terrible" awful. Badly written and terribly acted and horribly filmed. But still...liked both in a really ashamed-of-myself kind of way.

I think I am making up for it by having Sexy Beast (is it bad? or just hard to settle into?), The Apartment and House of Mirth sent to me next.

And! I just sent back Love and Death on Long Island -- had to watch it twice. Such a great movie -- subtle and funny and heartbreaking and just perfect. John Hurt is phenomenal, and you almost love Jason Priestley, too.

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

Go see Signs if you haven't already. I know it's being touted as a horror flick but it's *not*, not in the slightest bit. There's some quite startling scenes, and I certainly wouldn't recommend taking kids to see it, but it's beautifully done. I've seen it twice - the second time I was crying by the end even though I knew what would happen.

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

I liked "Blue Crush" a lot, too. Better than "xXx" or "Goldmember," even.

The next movie I'm going to see is "24 Hour Party People," which I'm going to on Tuesday. Everyone I know who's seen it has liked it.

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

I saw My Big Fat Greek Wedding on a plane last week, and I thought it was cute, but not very funny. I rented Nora and The Cat's Meow to watch this weekend.

As far as what Beth should see...have you seen Road To Perdition? I haven't, but it's been accoladed amongst my friends.

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

Blue Crush it is, then. Yay for well done surfer girl fluff - it's exactly what I need.

Sexy Beast, despite the amazing Ben Kingsley, left me somewhat cold. That may be because I only understood half the dialogue. Closed captioning would have been a big help.

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

I didn't like Sexy Beast much either, even though I understood every word. I just wanted to tell Kingsley's character to shut the fuck up.

Australia's best movie reviewers (yay David and Margaret) said similar things about The Fast Runner (or whatever it's called) as you did, bwinton. Basically, that it was a decent movie but way too long and a little indulgent and also that it suffered from being shot on video rather than film.

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

Stacey - You're going to the Toronto Film Festival? Are you by chance planning on seeing 'Once Upon a Time in the Midlands'? If you are, i would love to hear a review. I'm really wantind to see that movie, but i doubt it'll be anywhere near me this year. Robert Carlyle! Shirly Henderson!

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

Stacey's going to review it all when she gets back. Right, Stacey? I seriously considered going to the Festival this year, but alas, it just didn't work out. So I, for one, am planning to live vicariously through Stacey.

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

Tabaqui -- Yup, Len and I go to the TIFF every year. We're making up our film list now, and Midlands isn't anywhere near the top of the list. Westerns aren't really our thing. But if we do wind up seeing it, I'll report back. And you guys can probably expect a full report of whatever we do wind up seeing; I recall last year a few people found that interesting.

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002