A huge film update

Greetings from San Antonio Texas!

Lots of transition time... and a pretty light movie watching schedule. The top 10 films of 2011 will have to be continued at another point.

There have been some adjustments to my entertainment budget and multimedia setup...

1) No longer have cable. Comcast OnDemand movies are no longer an option for me.
2) Continue to be a Hulu Plus subscriber... in fact with the lousy bunny ears I have on my TV, broadcast TV is a lousy option
3) CinemaNow is a pay per view service through my PS3 that will provide cinema options
4) With the money saved I have now upgraded to the 2-BluRays a month Netflix plan!

Enough semantics... got to catch up.

BAMAKO (2006)

This movie travelled from Rockford to Texas with me in a Netflix envelope. It was the first new movie I watched upon my big move and transition. I'm ashamed to say I dozed off multiple times and had to watch it in 20-30 minute spurts. I was probably pretty exhausted from my move, but it isn't exactly the most engaging cinema. The movie's device is a mock trial of the World Bank with various testimonials from Malian citizens. It's interspersed with a personal narrative (and a cameo by Danny Glover)... it's difficult and definitely one of those alternative films to dabble in occasionally.

BE LIKE OTHERS (2008)

WIFF 2008 selection - watched via Hulu Plus

This documentary is centered on how people deal with such a warped religious doctorine regarding transexuality... but I also had a undercurring feeling that when it comes to the Iran regime, their doctinairre is barely less brutal than what is the operation philosophy in most American conservative circles. In Iran, you see, homosexuality is a sin punishable by death. Sex change operations, however, are condoned, as way for people to fix their bodies to fit their desires. So homosexuals can only follow their desires without getting completely harassed by undergoing incredibly invasive surgical procedures. It's a brutal emotional and physical situation these people are put in, and it's riveting from start to finish.

ABDUCTION (2011)

Watched via CinemaNow

I should definitely explain. One of the Comedy Podcasts I've been listening to is How Did This Get Made? where a few cool comedians tear apart (or giddily praise) a bizarre/crazy/so-bad-its-good movie. It's a very satisfying update of the whole mst3k formula... usually covering mainstream movies that were really really terrible. It's the only way I ever want to "watch" Smurfs or the Twilight Movies for example. There's a preview episode every other week, and these podcasters were having so much fun that I really wanted to see one of these movies for myself before the main episode. So there's this movie with the Wolf from Twilight, which I watched late one night. The tricky thing is.. for a few moments I was compelled by this movie, which I think defeats the purpose of watching a movie because it's "terrible". Fortunately the podcasters really tore apart the stupid parts of the movie, and it was a very satisfying experience. I'm ready to see one of these really awful movies though... this one was a little bit too good for this podcast.

THE HUNGER GAMES (2012)

Watched at Quarry Theater - San Antonio

Yes, after 5 years I am living in an incredibly exciting City in a really interesting job, so there's no reason whatsoever to spend my time indoors in a movie theater. But this movie's marketing campaign could not let me out of its talons, and I absolutely had to see it. It was actually really solid, but I knew that the PG-13 going in would mean that this brutal event wouldn't be depicted with the blood and violence that it might have deserved. And the "rules" of the game seemed a little more tighter than the one depicted in the Japanese movie Battle Royale (which I had discussed). I think the characters carried the movie through it's weak points, and I might have to read the books to see where the whole saga goes from here.

Whew... all new movies covered (might as well let you know I watched my Blu-Ray of A Clockwork Orange and a Netflix Blu-Ray of Where the Wild Things Are in the interim). Talk more soon!