A friend showed me this short film last night and I can't stop thinking about it. So beautiful, and so well done.


Nuit Blanche from Spy Films on Vimeo.

I rang in the New Year coughing and sneezing and aching. Oops. Guess all that travel and school stress caught up with me. The trip home was worth it.

Today I've been laying low and watching Netflix. But really all I want in the world is You've Got Mail. I'm pretty sure Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan would cure me.

Right? Right.

To be honest, I've never written a film review. I've written thousands (hundreds of thousands, even?) of words about movies, but I've never just written a review. And I don't know that I want to start now.

But I have been watching some really great films late at night, and I thought I would at least share them. So, an abbreviated list of movies I saw this year (on Netflix, in theaters, rented, or in class) and what I sort of thought about them. Most of these reviews are not helpful, unless you and I have the same taste.

The scary thing? There are approximately 91 movies on this list (I got tired counting). It doesn't account for every movie I saw that I'd never seen (it's hard to remember every movie you watched), nor does it take into account movies I watched that I'd already seen (which is kind of a lot). Or multiple viewings (for example, I've somehow seen Source Code three times). Basically, I think I watch maybe 3 movies a week. There was a time (before film school) when I read that many books a week. I kind of miss those days. 

Movies I Watched and LOVED:
A Very Long Engagement - amazing. amazing. amazing.
I Capture the Castle - very sweet story
Limitless - I want those pills.
Dirty Harry - Just as awesome as I was told it was.
Like Water for Chocolate - My parents rented this when it came out and I didn't see it (b/c it's not appropriate for kids) and I'm so glad I finally watched it. Beautiful.
Buck - One of my favorite docs
The Iron Giant - So sweet. Perfect kids movie.
Mansfield Park
Kick Ass - very....interesting. Loved it though. Super violent.
Secretariat - who doesn't love an underdog? Even though I was never into horses I really loved it.
Timer - one of the most interesting concepts I've seen in a film and they pulled it off.
Hugo - Lovely! Enchanting! Charming! (Do I look like a movie poster yet?)
Winter's Bone - rough to watch but really good
To Live - Chinese film that we watched for class. Absolutely beautiful.
O Brother, Where Art Though?
A River Runs Through It
True Grit - I cannot say enough good things about this movie. 
Friends with Benefits - Laughed so hard throughout most of this.
The Hangover - Hilarious. Even though people had built it up a lot.
Flypaper - saw this at Sundance...loved it
X-Men: First Class - Funny nods to 60s Bond films and a lot of hotness in one film.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Crazy Stupid Love
The Descendants - if you cheat on George Clooney you will die a slow, ugly death.

Movies I watched and LIKED:
Wristcutters: A Love Story - interesting. held my attention. I don't like that chick though.
GI Joe: Rise of Cobra
Alice in Wonderland (Tim Burton version) - liked it more than I thought I would
Hot Tub Time Machine - hilarious. Super vulgar. Watch only if you are OK with John Cusack no longer being the nice guy in your mind.
A Knight's Tale - I sort of missed parts of this as I was busy...but it was funny. See above re: that chick
Abduction - I was pretty much there for Taylor Lautner's abs, and they delivered.
The Hurt Locker - sort of built up but I enjoyed it.
The Social Network - took me two viewings to see the whole thing but that isn't a comment on the quality
Source Code - Jake Gyllenhaal being wonderful and brave. Enough said.
The Adjustment Bureau - Matt Damon and Emily Blunt? In New York? With John Slattery and fantastic suits and hats? Sign me up.
I Am Number Four
50/50
Water for Elephants - Gorgeous to look at.
The Help - the book is better
Something Borrowed - the book is worse
Life in a Day 

Movies I feel kind of 'meh' about:
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men - this was a little too loose narratively
New York, I Love You - I like Paris, Je T'aime better
Cherry - an old friend's little brother is in this so I watched it
The Romantics - Katie Holmes, Adam Brody, Elijah Wood, Anna Paquin, Josh Duhamel, Candice Bergen...I'm not sure what went wrong
Muriel's Wedding - a lot of people love this movie, I guess I didn't get it
Once More with Feeling - to be honest I don't really remember what this was about
Breaking Upwards - this movie screams INDEPENDENT!! and also BROOKLYN!! I don't like to be screamed at.
Titan A.E. - Netflix recommended it, and it entertained me during my insomnia
Killers - I'll usually watch a Katherine Heigl rom-com and this was fine.
Hanna
Just Go with It
Beastly - This kind of thing is right up my alley, I expected to enjoy it more.
Contagion - Kind of disappointing. Also - if you cheat on Matt Damon you will die a horrible, ugly death.
The Ides of March
 

Movies I finished that I wish I hadn't:
Dare
Nearing Grace 
My Girlfriend's Boyfriend - Christopher Gorham what did they do to you?!
The Dilemma
Dolphin Tale - it was the first movie in a double feature drive in.

Movies I Started but Didn't Finish (and don't want to):
The Good Guy
Happiness Runs
The Last Song
A Wrinkle in Time
Last Tango in Paris
Take Me Home Tonight
Time Bandits - a bunch of people in my department love this one...I couldn't make it through 15 minutes

Movies I Started but Didn't Finish (and do want to):
Eat Pray Love
The Basketball Diaries
Hannah and her Sisters
Before Sunrise
The Piano

Movies I had to watch for school that I wouldn't have watched otherwise:
Somewhere
Early Summer
Swept Away
Orlando - Tilda Swinton gives me nightmares
Christopher Strong - LOVE! Katherine Hepburn is amazing.
Working Girls (left after 20 minutes)
Dirty Pretty Things
21 Grams
8 1/2
The Searchers - John Wayne...so amazing.
The Kids are All Right
Floating Weeds


A few notes on TV:
Episodes of 30 Rock I watched - all of them
Breaking Bad - wonderful but super stressful
Parks and Rec - continues to bring it

Clearly, this is not possibly a list of every movie I saw this year, but it's late and I'm sleep deprived. And you probably didn't make it through the whole list anyway.

I saw Contagion tonight and had such high hopes. I don't like scary movies, but I like suspense, and I was really looking forward to being kind of freaked out.

Well, the only thing I took away from this movie was that you probably shouldn't mess around on Matt Damon, because you might end up dying a horrible, ugly death and starting a worldwide epidemic. Seriously.

1. I don't like Akira Kurosawa films
2. I've never seen Avatar
3. I'm not really sure what ADR stands for
4. When asked what the most successfully emotional movie was by a student last week, my answer was The Notebook. It was the first thing that came to mind that makes me cry every time.
5. I'm not a fan of The Seventh Seal
6. I've seen a ton of really 'bad' movies several times.*
7. Sometimes, I just put the camera on auto.






*An incomplete list of bad movies I've seen several times:
-Josie and the Pussycats
-Head Over Heels
-Boys and Girls
-Down to You
-Waterworld
-Volcano
-The Core

I missed a week of music monday! I'm trying to be better about blogging this year, but Sundance kind of ate my life for the last two weeks.

Today, I'm sharing one of my favorite videos, ever. It features two of my favorite actors: Zooey Deschanel (who I saw in real life at Sundance) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who is a trustee for Sundance, but I didn't see him).

Zooey Deschanel is part of She & Him (you should check them out) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the Hotness (especially in this video, since he wears a suit). They made this when they made 500 Days of Summer (which I love - if you've never noticed it's very blue, and so is this video) and I just love it, especially the desk-dance off and the end.



Can this please be my career? I'd like to spend my time making movies like this.

Firstly, please note that I am now officially, completely, 100% done with my first semester of grad school! I finished grading finals about ten minutes ago, after blowing through them at lightning speed.

Secondly, I have been thinking about this post for quite some time. And by that I mean a week. I've been mulling over the idea of guy friends (as opposed to boyfriends) and what I think about the whole thing.

That whole thing being whether guys and girls can be friends (tangent: have you ever noticed how there isn't a female equivalent term for guy? boy/girl, man/woman, guy/? gal? Unacceptable. That sounds like I'm in a bad Western).

It started when I was studying for my film history exam and fast forwarding through Rules of the Game, this French film that is supposed to be amazing but which I did not have time to watch. Anyway, this woman and her maid are talking, and the maid says something like:

"Friendship with a man? That's asking for the moonlight at midday."

So I thought about this (while I studied Italian neorealism), and couldn't really come to a conclusion on whether I thought it was true or not. Then I consulted When Harry Met Sally, one of the greatest movies ever made. I'm pretty sure the answers to most of life's questions are in that movie. Remember that scene in the car? It's below if you don't.



Harry and Sally discuss this on and off for the rest of the movie. If you don't know the story, they end up as close friends for several years. But then...they realize they love each other. And they get married at the end.

So, I was still conflicted. On the one hand, I have a ton of guy friends that I am absolutely not attracted to. On the other hand, I have guy friends that are sort of *more* than friends but definitely not boyfriends. Is it more a matter of what the guy thinks of you than of what you think of the guy? I'm beginning to think so.

Now that I'm at the end of this post, I'm beginning to think it doesn't matter.

I saw this Storycorps animated video on A Cup of Jo (a blog that I really like, and not just because she has the same name as me) and had to repost it. It's such a beautiful, bittersweet love story. It reminds me of the 'real couple' interludes in When Harry Met Sally, which happens to be one of my favorite movies.

Enough talk, just watch it.

Danny & Annie from StoryCorps on Vimeo.