Dead Ringers

This movie is a psychological thriller starring Jeremy Irons as twin gynecologists.

So.

As Jeremy Irons is never one to do things half-assed, and there's DOUBLE the Jeremy Irons in this movie, it's full-assed crazy times two.

My main problem with this movie is that I could not tell the two apart, pretty much from the start, so they might as well have been the same character.

It was nuts.  I had asked my stepmother to watch with me, and the two of us were kind of appalled at a lot of it.  Other parts were okay, but the whole thing was kind of ridiculous.

If you like the Jeremy Irons brand of crazy, you might like this?  I don't know.  It's nowhere near as good as, say, Lolita, or the one where he puts his wife into a coma and is acquitted.

Watch...if you want to.

Availability: DVD
Released: 1988
Added to my queue: 2/12/2008
Reason added to queue: who knows

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (#6)

My first impression of this film was pulling the DVD out of its sleeve, seeing the actors printed on it, and realizing "Man, these kids have really grown up!"

And it was wonderful.

*Spoiler Alert*

In case you don't remember the book, this is the one where:

• Hermione is jealous that Ron has a girlfriend for most of the movie
• Harry is jealous that Ginny has a boyfriend for most of the movie
• Both get their intended mates by the end of the movie
• Harry finds a potions book that used to belong to "the half-blood prince" and uses its cheat-sheets all the way through the movie until nearly the end
• The book ends up being Snape's
• Snape makes an unbreakable promise to protect Malfoy / finish any Dark Lord business Malfoy may need him to do 
• Because of this, Snape kills Dumbledore
• Helena Bonham Carter is terrifying, as usual

See it!  See them all!  Read all the books!  Love love love!  I was late to the game because the whole premise of the whole series sounded idiotic to me.  But I loved all of it as soon as I succumbed.

Availability: DVD only (Boo!!!!)

Released: 2009

Reason I watched it: It's Harry Potter, dude.  It's good stuff.

Panic in the Streets

This is a film noir about an outbreak of pneumonic plague in New Orleans.  Directed by Elia Kazan, it stars Richard Widmark as the doctor and Paul Douglas as the police captain; these two spend the movie trying to find everyone who was exposed to the disease in time to inoculate them.  Barbara Bel Geddes (Dallas), plays the doctor's wife, and a young Jack Palance (as Walter Jack Palance) plays "bad" guy trying to elude police because he (bullied?  killed?  I can't even remember, it was so boring) Patient Zero.

My thoughts:

• This movie is ridiculously low-action for a movie called Panic in the Streets (which has a poster depicting people running for their lives in horror).  Let's call a spade a spade: there can't be a panic if the Department of Public Health refuses to let anyone know (or the press reveal) that there is an epidemic.  Secondly, worst thing about Jack Palance's "Blackie" is how very bizarre Palance looked as a young man.  He definitely peaked in his later years, in my opinion.  
• And while I'm on the subject of Blackie: watching his stooge and him evade the police was like watching my dog avoid letting me near him to give him a treat: a lot of drama for absolutely NOTHING because all they wanted to do was give him a shot to keep him from dying.  Nobody, but NOBODY, cared about his relationship to Patient Zero.
• The impact of this movie is certainly lessened by my having seen movies like Outbreak and Contagion.  Maybe it was terrifying in its day, but it really doesn't pack a punch in the 21st century.

I don't really recommend it.  

Availability: DVD

Released: 1950

Added to my queue: 9/5/2007

Reason added to my queue: Who knows

Tiny Furniture

This is the premiere commercial work of Lena Dunham, the wunderkind behind HBO's hit series Girls.  Months before seeing this movie, I read articles lauding it as the voice of its generation (people who are graduating from college now-ish).

The premise: Aura (Dunham) graduates from an unnamed Ohio college and moves home to Manhattan, to live with her artist mother (Lauri Simmons) and sister.  Her "best friend" from childhood, Charlotte (Girls's Jemima Kirke) is also hanging around the neighborhood (Tribeca), living at home.  The movie basically shows Aura's awkward life, as she tries to fit back in with her family, tries to make new friends and stabs at romance, and essentially hopes her art (YouTube videos) will pan out as a career.  She also has plans to get an apartment with a friend from college, Frankie (Merritt Weaver, whom I recognized from Law & Order: Criminal Intent).

I can sympathize with moving back into my parents' house after they expected me to be gone forever; and living in Manhattan with no money; and the weird romance part.  I guess that's enough.  This is a weird generation, growing up feeling entitled and then coming out of college with no prospects.  I don't really know any of them or like thinking about any of it.

I mean the movie was pretty good though?  I don't know.  I was going to have to see it eventually.

Availability: DVD and Streaming
Released: 2010
Reason I watched it: Netflix said so

Butter

This is a quirky, darkly funny movie about an Iowa City woman (Jennifer Garner) whose husband (Modern Family's Ty Burrell) is forced into retirement from entering area butter-sculpting competitions (which he has won for 15 years).  The woman decides to take his place in the competitions, so there's that aspect of the plot.  Another entrant is a 10-year-old foster child, who is sweet and talented.  I won't ruin the story for you, but it was a decent movie.

The cast was kind of outrageous - so many famous people, yet I had never heard of this movie before I watched it. Thus goes the indie comedy.

Availability: DVD and Streaming
Released: 2011
Reason I watched it: Netflix said so

Louie

This is the second show to star comedian Louis C.K.; Netflix streams Seasons 1 and 2 (a total of 27 episodes).

The premise is that Louie is a stand-up comedian who is a divorced father of 2 girls, which is also true in real life.  There are essentially 3 components to the show:

• The stand-up segments: These are generally a little too masturbation-focused for me.  However, I like them because this is the part of the show where you can see him genuinely smile - it's clear that he really likes his job.  And he's very - - I don't know how to say it - - unprepossessing?  Un-self-possessed?  Something about possess.  Or not about possess.  He's just interesting to watch.  Sometimes this veers into cringe-worthy moments, which is hard but generally worth watching.
• The regular-guy life segments: These often involve Louie trying to date, or somehow stumbling into a potential sexual experience, and are very very often cringe-inducing, but still generally worth watching.  He befriends the mother of one of his daughter's schoolmates (Pamela Adlon, from Californication) and develops an awkward crush on her, which she totally does not reciprocate (and yet I still found myself convinced they would get together).  She's funny.  Except her character's son is named Serge, which every character on the show pronounces "Serj" but she pronounces "Sir".  It's weird.  The most interesting thing about the real-life segments is what a good person he is, which always kind of surprises me for some reason. 
• The segments with his daughters: These are the best part of this show, as far as I'm concerned.  Lillie is 8-9 and Jane is 4-5 during these seasons, and they're really cute - but Ursula Parker's Jane is, hands down, my favorite character on the show.  First of all, she's totally adorable.  She can't say her "R"s, which adds to the hilarity of everything she says.  Her best work is seen on the family trip to see great-aunt Ellen; the Halloween episode; and Duckling, Part 1.

I really didn't think I'd like this show much, but it definitely grew on me.  

Availability: DVD and Streaming

Released: 2010-

Reason I watched it: Netflix said so

Queen of Versailles

This is a documentary about David (74) and Jackie Siegel (43) - he is the owner of Westgate Resorts, which is apparently the largest privately-owned timeshare company in...the US?  The world?  I don't know.

The movie begins with the couple talking about their new house that is being built, the largest single-family, single-building home in the US, which is modeled on the palace of Versailles in France.  It's stupid big.  $75 million.

Both David and Jackie come from humble means, and this was intended to be a rags-to-riches kind of a thing.  But during the filming, the 2008 real-estate tumble occurs, and banks stop backing sub-prime investments, which is pretty much exactly the definition of time-shares.

It's a great documentary (a darling of Sundance, etc.) and very interesting (and not a little sad to watch all those time-share employees lose their jobs).  Among other things, David has a bizarre and distant relationship with his grown children from his first wife, and is "closest" to the son (Richard) who is a VP at Westgate, who shows the business side of matters to the documentarians.  They are closest because they work together, but it's not at all a father-son relationship. Also interesting is wife Jackie, toward the end, saying she doubts they will lose the house, and simultaneously realizing that the documentary crew spends more time with her husband than she does and may be privy to information that she doesn't have.

All this is BEFORE David Siegel sued the filmmaker, Lauren Greenfield, claiming he didn't let her make the film and she did it against his wishes.  That's a completely asinine accusation - he gave interviews to the filmmakers!  he totally knew what they were doing and was fine with it! - and he lost the first court battle.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/queen-versailles-lawsuit-filmmaker-wins-415325

Anyway, check it out if you like documentaries or watching rich people having to cut down on their domestic staff.  The couple's 8 children (who are being raised as responsible citizens who can't bother to keep pets alive) are just another source of intrigue.

Availability: DVD and Streaming
Released: 2012
Reason I watched it: Netflix and New York Magazine said so