Friday, July 29, 2011

Movies: In Queue

I've posted movies I've seen.
Occurs to me to post my queue of what I haven't but want to.

3:10 to Yuma
Cinema 16: European Short Films: Disc 2
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
High Noon
Scarface
The Snow Walker
Fires of Kuwait: IMAX
Apocalypto
Serial Experiments Lain: Vol.1-4
Pixar Short Films: Vol. 1
Samurai Jack: Season 1-4
Philip Glass: Looking Glass
Untraceable
Hidden Fortress
Throne of Blood
Live Free or Die Hard
Stomp: Stomp Out Loud
Great Expectations
Hulk
Constantine
Underworld
Apocalypse Now / Apocalypse Now Redux
Gods and Generals
Dog Whisperer: Season 3
Gangs of New York
Cold Mountain
Reformation Overview
MirrorMask
Dark City: Director's Cut
The Kingdom
Layer Cake
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Grindhouse: Death Proof
Speed Racer
Iron Man
Strangers on a Train
Chaos
Mongol
Déjà Vu
Revenge
Samurai Trilogy 1: Musashi Miyamoto
Samurai Trilogy 2: Duel at Ichijoji Temple
Samurai Trilogy 3: Duel at Ganryu Island
Aliens vs. Predator 2
The City of Lost Children
Lions for Lambs
Papillon
Red Dawn
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Cinema 16: European Short Films: Disc 1
Resident Evil: Degeneration
Cinema Paradiso
Dawn of the Dead
Inside the Actors Studio: Robin Williams
Don't Say a Word
Guns, Germs and Steel
The Andromeda Strain
Logan's Run
What Lies Beneath
The Others
Open Season 2
Glass: Portrait in Twelve Parts
Fraggle Rock: Season 1
The Spirit
The Postman
Moby Dick
The Leopard (English version)
Barry Lyndon
The Tale of Despereaux
The International
Tales of the Black Freighter / Under...
The Thief of Bagdad
The Thief of Bagdad: Bonus Material
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
Horton Hears a Who!
Kiki's Delivery Service
Dinosaur
Brother Bear Widescreen Version
75th Annual Academy Awards Short Films
Pulse: Stomp Odyssey
Max Payne
Last Stand of the 300
Future Weapons: Season 1
The Ox-Bow Incident
Out of the Wild: The Alaska
Body of Lies
Hamlet
Public Enemies
Rebecca
My Dinner with Andre
True Romance
The White Countess
Sherlock Holmes
Snatch
Robin Hood
The Expendables
Inception
Salt
Star Trek
Up
Defiance
Red
The Secret of Kells
Wallace & Gromit: Loaf and Death
Wallace & Gromit: Three Amazing Adventures
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
The Tourist
The Illusionist
9
Sukiyaki Western Django
The King's Speech
13 Assassins
My Dog Tulip

(This is my current Netflix DVD list. Since Netflix is raising prices by a lot, and separating DVDs from streaming into a separate cost, and most DVDs sit around an average of a month before I get to 'em, I'm copying the list here partly for my own reminding as I'll drop DVD service soon. I hope the DVD industry is paying attention to how many people are doing this.)

Monday, July 18, 2011

Rant: "...but Democrats inherited this mess!"

I keep hearing Leftists complain that the Democrats inherited this economic mess.

The Democrat-dominated Congress inherited the situation in 2007, and continued the domination of Congress for 4 years – the first 2 under a compliant Republican[1] president, and next 2 under a sympathetic Democrat. During that short time, and in contrast to promises to end deficit spending (by whatever means), the debt increased nearly 60%[2]. AFAIK, no substantive spending cuts have been passed by either chamber during this period. To the contrary, the only recurring & earnest deficit-reduction suggestion is “end the Bush tax cuts for the rich”; eliminating the deficit thru tax increase would require a 100% rate on all income over $200,000.
 
At some point the steaming bag on the desk is the current occupant’s responsibility.
Especially when a second one appears during the occupancy.
 
1 – issued 12 vetos, half of which were resolved or overridden, the rest were not significant economic differences.
2 – that’s a 60% increase in 4 years over what debt had accumulated in more than 2 centuries.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Movie: Just Go With It

Better yet, don't.
The two things this romantic comedy lacks are, in large part, romance and comedy.

Enough is injected to attract the genre label and provide cuts for a convincing trailer. The remaining runtime is devoted to setting up embarrassing situations, earned or not, and attempting to laugh at the subjects thereof; for most movies I tend to wander off for the few awkward minutes this occurs, but by starting there and never letting up I'd have been rude to the audience and to my $5 expended for the iTunes rental.

Its hard to sympathize with the romantic leanings of a lecherous protagonist, a doctor whose patients would be wise to walk out upon his bedside manner. That the frumpy babe wants his hand may work out fine and special for her, but there are other romances for us to enjoy on screen. That the hot babe is hot guarantees she will not end this with the marital devotion her kind & patient heart deserves.

The remaining theatrical attributes worth considering evaluate in kind. The cinematography is perfunctory: correct, but not special. Music prolific, but borrowed. Acting, gratuitous. Cast, wasted despite laudable efforts by Jennifer Aniston and Brooklyn Decker.

It is, to wit, an Adam Sandler film.