Donnie Darko: It's just a little strange

Donnie Darko, 2001
Donnie Darko - The Director's Cut (Two-Disc Special Edition)



I don't know a single thing about this movie. It was recommended to me by a friend, so I'm anxious to see what the movie is about.

After having watched the movie:
(Possible spoilers below)

It took me a while to finally realize what this movie was getting at, but once I figured out which road we were traveling down I was on board. Although in all fairness to the movie, I had like a million interruptions when I first sat down to watch the movie today. It wasn't until later in the day that I wasn't able to really sit down and solely focused on watching the movie.

Final thoughts: I didn't imagine the movie would be this dark, and maybe that's not the right word for it, but it leaves me feeling a little empty and asking, "is that all?" Even though I really liked the movie, I just think it's one of those movies that I'm going to have to revisit again once I finish the 365 Movie Challenge.

OFFICIAL COUNT 101 DOWN 264 TO GO

Next up: Hotel Rwanda

Week 16 Announced!

The titles for week 16 are:

Beetlejuice, 1988
Beetlejuice (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)



The Big Lebowski, 1998
The Big Lebowski (Widescreen Collector's Edition)



The Hurt Locker, 2009
The Hurt Locker



Best in Show, 2000
Best in Show



National Geographics: The Photographers, 1998
National Geographic's The Photographers



My Fair Lady, 1964
My Fair Lady



Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, 2009
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (Single-Disc Edition)

Movie 100: Cleopatra

Cleopatra, 1963
Cleopatra



Before watching this movie, I was a little excited to start the movie. I thought surely it would be epic, and I had kind of been in the mood to watch either this or Spartacus. It just so happened that Cleopatra came up on Encore before Spartacus reached a watched instantly status on Netflix. I was even a little excited to see Elizabeth Taylor in such a large and leading role.

After having watched the movie:
(Possible spoilers below)

No on told me this movie was going to be four hours long! And quite honestly, it was probably for the better, because 365 Movie Challenge or not I don't think I would have ever watched the movie if I had known it was just over four hours long. Interestingly enough though, and I learned about this after the fact, the movie was meant to be done as two independent movies that ran three hours long each. The first of the two movies would have focused around Cleopatra's relationship with Julius Ceaaer, and the second of the two movies would have focused around Cleopatra and her relationhip with Mark Anthony.

At the very least, the movie had a lot of great and rather epic things to look at and I'm being completely serious. All of the work and construction that went into making set pieces and props that had to be done twice when production was moved from London to Rome. It just kind of blows my mind and I can't help but think it's a little ridiculous to do things twice. But when your lead actress, Elizabeth Taylor, gets sick during production you sometimes have to work around things.

Even after reading over the numbers a couple of times there were still a couple of gray areas for me, so lets put this into a better perspective and crunch a couple of numbers. After adjusting for inflation in the year 2007, the movie cost $297 million to make. Almost $200,000 of the budget was spent on wardrobe expenses for Elizabeth Taylor, who wore a record number sixty-five costumes to include one piece made of 24-carat cloth. Not that I think the wardrobe Elizabeth Taylor wore was ridiculous, I really just like that she has sixty-five costumes for the sake of having sixty-five costumes. I even fell in love with the majority of the pieces, which doesn't happen often, and I just really want to touch the piece made out of 24-carat cloth. If that isn't enough to catch your attention though, reportedly a total of 26,000 costumes were constructed and pieced together for the movie. Which is incredible and anyone who sews or works with fabrics knows that yardage and cost adds up quickly given that all the senators were wearing togas.

Wardrobe costs aside, at the height of production this became the only movie 20th Century Fox was working on. It became a massive financial burden and a lot of pressure was put on the producer to create a hit. The movie would eventually break even and turn profit after six years, but in the mean time I'm sure it was an incredibly long six years for the producers responsible for the film.

Final thoughts: Even after it's all said and done, I much more would have preferred watching the two separate movies that just shared a character who would link the events together. The movie was an epic, as I had expected, and even though it was four hours long there are a lot of small things to really appreciate about the movie. I tend to be drawn to wardrobe which explains why I tend to rattle on about it most, but even the photography in the film was incredible. If ever you have four hours to kill, this movie has a lot to offer.

OFFICIAL COUNT 100 DOWN 265 TO GO

Next up: Hotel Rwanda

P.S. All of those kids who have been on MTVs Sweet Sixteen, you're entrances will never be as grand as the entrance Elizabeth Taylor arranged in this movie. Her parade, moving at such a slow pace so the crowd has the best opportunity to enjoy the show, will always top anything you could dream up. Sorry, but facts are facts.

Oh and for the record, I wouldn't turn away any gifted fabric or clothing made from a 24-carat material.

Good. Will Hunting

Good Will Hunting, 1997
Good Will Hunting (Miramax Collector's Series)



I don't really know what I had expected this movie to be. I thought I had seen part of the movie once, but instead I realized as I was watching the movie that I confused this movie with another. Overall though, I expected the movie to be fun and kind of light hearted.

After watching the movie:
(Possible spoilers below)

I got from this movie exactly what I had expected it to be. It was a light hearted movie that makes audiences feel good, something completely different from The Deer Hunter. There aren't really many things to be said for the movie. I thought Robin Williams did an amazing job, I tend to prefer him in more serious roles although that being said there is always a bit of comedy even in some of his most serious roles. Watching him in this movie and having a general idea about how much Robin Williams likes to go off script, it makes me wonder if he has to make a conscious decision to turn his comedy on and off in normal day life.

Final thoughts: This was a fun movie to watch. It was a great way to end the week I had, which was kind of crazy.

OFFICIAL COUNT 99 DOWN 266 TO GO

Next up: Donnie Darko

Caddyshack

Caddyshack, 1980
Caddyshack

I realize this is a campy, cult classic movie from the 1980s and I added it to the week as a way to kind of lighten things up.

After having watched the movie:

(Possible spoilers below)

I was a little worried that the movie wouldn't be funny, because I had expected the majority of the comedy from the movie to have been parodied in other comedies made after the fact. So I was pleasantly surprised when I realized I hadn't seen or heard most of the punch lines from other movies.

When I read about all the things that were improvised for the movie, as a Script Supervisor it makes me cringe a little. I mean, how do you match and takes notes of something an actor completely makes up and has gone completely off script for. Yikes! You know, if I have to Script Sup on a show like this I'd want to throw in the binder. That being said though, I'd be a little excited about working on a fun comedy like that just in a different department. For instance, the scene when Bill Murray went on a little rant about Cinderella was completely improvised and done in one take.

Final thoughts: The movie has so many memorable lines like, "So I've got that going for me, which is nice," and "Cinderella story. Outta nowhere. A former greenskeeper, now about to become the Masters Champion. It's like a mirac... it's in the hole, it's in the hole. It's also no surprise to me that the movie remains to be a favorite among many golfers. If you're more like me, and have only golfed once it's still fun and doesn't require any real golf knowledge.

OFFICIAL COUNT 98 DOWN 267 TO GO

Next up: Good Will Hunting

My name is Brittney; I'll be the one taking on the 365 Movie Challenge: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, 2005
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (Widescreen Edition)



I don't know what to really expect with this movie. It's one that is on the list because it was recommended by a couple of friends, and I kind of thought that if two or three people recommended it then it can't be too bad. Right?

After having watched the movie:
(Possible spoilers below)

I like going into movies blind. I like not knowing what a movie is necessarily going to be about or all of the plot points. I mean, nothing is worse than having to watch a movie to know in the end the character is going to die anyways. So with that in mind, I just kind of jumped right into this movie without knowing anything about it. After having watched the movie though, I wish I had been warned about how much happens in such a short amount of time. I felt like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was like episode of Medium where time is such a a big concern that we're not left on a shot of Cate Blanchett staring out a window of a bus for an entire minute. I'm looking at you Bable. The thing about Medium and movies like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is that the writers will never spend time telling you things that are not important to the story, and I love that.

Although in an ironic twist what I liked most about the movie was also the only real problem, and it's minor, that I had with the movie. In this case, roll your eyes in my direction because I realize how ridiculous that may seem to some people. It took me a minute to get use to having all of these things kind of thrust upon me. I loved the way the movie was narrated, breaking the fourth wall and bringing people more into the movie, and I think it was an incredible tool to set the pacing for the entire movie. Although once I was able to get on board and realized it was a go-go-go paced movie, I loved it.

Of the movie though I loved the introduction we had to Harmony, "Harmony Faith Lane wasn't your typical LA girl, which means she didn't grow up here. She grew up in a burg in Southern Indiana. When in doubt, cut up a pig. That was the towns motto. Like most soon to be fucked up girls, Harmony was wicked smart..." I almost wish more stories utilized this kind of narrating, it saved screen time. In a few words we knew exactly who Harmony was and we could move on with the rest of the story.

I want to be best friends with these writers and the other creative minds responsible for this movie. Relax die hard fans, I know there was another movie made in the 1970s but this is the one I've seen at this point. I also have to confess my new love found like for Val Kilmer, who was responsible for making his character gay. It was brilliant, he was absolutely right, it added a lot of color to the screenplay and then there was that whole kissing Robert Downey Jr that he had insisted upon. I mean, there are people who would line up around the block with any reason as to why they would need to kiss Robert Downey Jr. so it's no surprise to me to find out Val Kilmer would be near the front of that line.

There's one last thing though that kind of drives me crazy about movies lately, and that's when I feel like certain movies are set up to fail. Clash of the Titans is the best example of setting a movie up for failure. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was screened at Canes and received a standing ovation. The film even made more money outside of the United States, and was never in more than 169 screens at one time. Which I mean, come on! The movie would have made more money if it could have been screened on at least 200 screens at one time.

Final thoughts: Do yourself a favor. Prepare yourself to have this very quick paced movie thrown at you and buy this movie from Amazon. Do it, or you'll never die in this town again.

OFFICIAL COUNT 97 DOWN 268 TO GO

Next up: Caddyshack

P.S. I can't take credit for that last line, it was actually set to be the title of the movie. Which I think is brilliant given the undertones of the LA and the cities culture throughout the movie, so can I just be friends with Shane Black and Brett Halliday already? 

What a week!

You wouldn't believe the week I had. I worked really hard to get caught up with all the movies I've missed in previous weeks, and was just on the cusp of getting caught up until Sunday. Well on Sunday I started feeling sick and tried to get someone to cover my shift at work. Of course because it was Sunday, no one was able to come in and cover my shift for me, basically because it was Sunday no one wanted to work that day. I had no choice but to suck it up and left early enough to stop by a drugstore to pick up some medicine before work. I made it to the interstate, just a few miles away from work when my car just stopped running.

What do you mean it just stopped running, Brittney?

Well thanks for asking. Apparently it's a thing that just happens with the 2003 Ford Taurus that Ford has yet to recall. The butt of the whole thing though is that there is no warning as to the problem. One day your just driving and suddenly without warning your car just stops. And for me, it happened to just stop working working when I was on the interstate on a Sunday afternoon, which equated to there being a lot of traffic on the roads.

Luckily I was able to get to the shoulder of the road, and there was no major accident. The car is in the shop and as soon as I'm able to get the money over to the mechanic today, they're going to start working on the car. In the mean time, I've had to ask friends to transport me to and from work each day. It's officially day five without having a vehicle and I'm going mad. I'm super behind now in the movie challenge and I don't know that there is really going to be a light at the end of this tunnel until after October. Regardless of how far behind in the challenge I get, I will have finished watching all 365 movies in 365 days even if means taping my eyes open on day 364 and watching six movies back to back.

Today I'm going to try to get at least three movies in, which means I will only have seven more movies to watch this week now. Wish me luck!!

Week 15 Announced

The titles for week 15 are:

Donnie Darko, 2001
Donnie Darko - The Director's Cut (Two-Disc Special Edition)



Cleopatra, 1963
Cleopatra



Good Will Hunting, 1997
Good Will Hunting (Miramax Collector's Series)


Laura, 1944
Laura (Fox Film Noir)



American Graffiti, 1973
American Graffiti (Collector's Edition) (High School Reunion Collection)



Hotel Rwanda, 2005
Hotel Rwanda



Caddyshack, 1980
Caddyshack