the last ten films i watched, pt. i

in order to fill this blog with some content (it looks very naked,) i’ve decided to have a recurring segment that will go up roughly once a month titled “the last ten films i watched” which, oddly enough, is about the last ten films i watched.

now, i am by no means a film buff or anything like that, so i won’t be bothering you with in depth analysis or anything like that. but honestly, who wants to read that anyway?

basically, i’ll just give you a sentence or two about what i thought of the film and whether or not i recommend it. i’ll be using theyshootpictures‘s recommendation scale because it’s simple and intuitive.

amores perros – i’m a sucker for films that tell parallel stories about strangers whose lives are intertwined, so i had high hopes for ‘amores perros’. but parts of this film reminded me of krzysztof kieslowski’s ‘trois couleurs: rouge;’ i liked that film better, so ‘amores perros’ left a bit to be desired. it was still a good film and i would definitely say it’s worth a look.

the bad sleep well – i can’t help but think this film influenced the coen brothers to make ‘no country for old men.’ if you’re a fan of kurosawa and haven’t seen this film yet, definitely put it on your queue. recommended.

an education – i’m not gonna lie, i like “girly” movies. i own dvds for both ‘clueless’ and ‘the devil wears prada.’ now, ‘an education’ is a definitely a more thoughtful film than those two, but it still has a very “girly” feel to it. either way, i would recommend this, or at least say it’s definitely worth a look.

sexy beast – an ok film with great acting and great dialogue. worth a look simply for the fact that you’ll be quoting ben kingsley for days after you watch it.

a history of violence – viggo mortensen awesomely kills people. what else do you want? it’s worth a look.

my neighbor totoro – it’s no ‘spirited away’, but as long as miyazaki has cute animals in his movies, i’ll be watching. though the catbus was a little creepy. worth a look.

fantastic mr. fox – if you like wes anderson, you’re probably going to like this film quite a bit. if you think he’s pretty hit or miss, then you should probably approach this with caution. i’d say it’s worth a look, but i wouldn’t put it high on my queue.

wendy and lucy – i’d say it’s pretty hard not to fall in love with michelle williams here. a nice sad little movie that’s definitely worth a look.

ratatouille / monsters, inc. – these two aren’t related or anything, but i watched them back-to-back so they’ll be forever linked together for me. anyway, i love pixar so it’s no surprise that i would recommend seeing both. ‘monsters, inc.’ is definitely the better movie, but if you watch ‘ratatouille’ afterward, you’ll be amazed at how far pixar’s animation has gone in less than a decade.

brick – if ‘the maltese falcon’ and other 40s/50s noir featured high school students instead of private dicks, you’d have ‘brick’. if you’re into modern semi-noir films, then i’d recommend seeing this. it also helps that the score was really nice as well.