Sorry my posting frequency has slowed down. I started writing a post yesterday, and the window froze after I was two movies in. Work has been too busy to spend inordinate amounts of time writing about the inordinate amount of time I spend watching movies. Here is a super express post with what I’ve been watching over the past 3 weeks.

A Shot in the Dark (1964)

Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau is hilarious, though for the amount of slap-stick humor the film feels a bit slow.

-Watch It on TV or rent Being There instead

Contact (1997)

Directed by Robert Zemeckis (Back To The Future, Forrest Gump, What Lies Beneath, Castaway, Who Framed Roger Rabbit)

Entertaining despite Jodie Foster. I love how the premise of humans communicating with aliens is grounded in actual theoretical science (Screenplay was written by world famous astronomer Carl Sagan). Has the distinction of joining The Fugitive, The Truman Show, and A Few Good Men, amongst other films, in the category of “If I see ten minutes of it on TV then I can’t stop watching until the end.” As a complaint, I will say that it is excessively long for this kind of movie.

-Watch It on TV and its usually on a lot.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Directed by Michel Gondry (Science of Sleep, Be Kind Rewind)

Amazing film. Visually incredible and inventive. Insightful. Emotional. Funny. Smart. That’s all I have to say about that. Oh and…

-Rent It

The Steel Helmet (1951)

Movie about the Korean War, which was produced while the war was still going on. Very interesting movie. It was also shot for a very low budget (especially for a war movie). The coolest part though… the name of the young south korean boy who follows the US soldiers around? You guessed it: “Short Round.” Always cool to see the influences of today’s great films.

-Watch It On TV

Role Models (2008)

Funny moments, though the premise felt a bit contrived to me. The ending was very funny and satisfying, but overall not very impressed.

-Don’t Go Out of Your Way though maybe watch it on TV eventually… I don’t know. Do what you want.

West Side Story (1961)

Interesting movie. I kinda watched it while cleaning my room (Read: “dance cleaning”), so I did zone out for a few of the songs, but overall it was actually pretty entertaining, and shot in a very interesting way. The ending was handled really well I thought too.

-Watch It On TV if the idea of a musical doesn’t make you want to jab a fork in your eye. If that is the case watch Rebel Without A Cause instead (for netflixers its on Instant)

Angel-A (2005)

Directed by Luc Besson (The Professional, The Fifth Element)

Interesting French movie about an angel who comes down to earth to help a small-time criminal sleazbag turn his life around. Did I say “interesting”? I guess strange might be a more fitting description, though not necessarily in a bad way. I had wanted to see it for awhile since I love most of Besson’s work, but this one quite in the same vein as those. I liked that it was more mature and thought-provoking than the other stuff, but it also felt a bit more stiff and boring as well.

-Don’t Go Out of Your Way