Films in 2012
I'm hoping to watch at least 52 films that are new to me this year. 365 was a bit overambitous but I might hit the 104 mark!Click here to go back to my blog.
Key Cast: Saorise Ronan, Cate Blanchett, and Eric Bana.
Run Time: One hour and fifty one minutes.
Summary: A 16-year-old who was raised by her father to be the perfect assassin is dispatched on a mission across Europe, tracked by a ruthless intelligence agent and her operatives.
Date Watched: January 6th, 2012.
Likes: The music, the villain and hanna are both fantastically acted, lovely cinematography.
Dislikes: I wanted so much more information about the backstory.
Key Cast: Riz Ahmed, Adeel Akhtar, and Will Adamsdale.
Run Time: One hour and thirty-seven minutes.
Summary: Four incompetent British jihadists set out to train for and commit an act of terror.
Date Watched: January 6th, 2012.
Likes: Some truly clever moments and laugh out loud funny bits.
Dislikes: This movie was honestly not quite my bag of tea with a lot of ‘low brow’ moments of humour, but I bet a lot of people would love it.
Key Cast: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, and Bryan Cranston.
Run Time: One hour and forty minutes.
Summary: A Hollywood stunt performer who moonlights as a wheelman discovers that a contract has been put on him after a heist gone wrong. .
Date Watched: January 14th, 2012.
Likes: I loved the way everything is pared down to its essentials, all quite visceral from the violence and intimacy and the key role of sound throughout..
Dislikes: Really only one lady character.
Key Cast: Miranda July, Hamish Linklater, and David Warshofsky.
Run Time: One hour and thirty-one minutes.
Summary: When a couple decides to adopt a stray cat their perspective on life changes radically, literally altering the course of time and space and testing their faith in each other and themselves. .
Date Watched: January 20th, 2012.
Likes: I love the cat and its use as a metaphor for waiting and love, and I really enjoyed what this movie was trying to do.
Dislikes: but I don't think it pulled it off.
Key Cast: Brit Marling, William Mapother, and Matthew-Lee Erlbach
Run Time: One hour and thirty-two minutes.
Summary: On the night of the discovery of a duplicate planet in the solar system, an ambitious young student and an accomplished composer cross paths in a tragic accident.
Date Watched: January 21st, 2012.
Likes: Very moving moments, and the concept of the parallel self is beautiful and weighs throughout the movie.
Dislikes: I wanted more of an exploration of her, beyond the relationship that emerges, or alternatively a stronger sci-fi element.
Key Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Joel Edgerton, and Sarah-Jane Potts.
Run Time: One hour and forty-seven minutes.
Summary: A drag queen comes to the rescue of a man who, after inheriting his father's shoe factory, needs to diversify his product if he wants to keep the business afloat.
Date Watched: January 22th, 2012.
Likes: Lola, lola, lola, lola, lola. also I need those boots.
Dislikes: pretty much the rest of it. trite and 'heartwarming.'
Key Cast: Brigitte Helm, Alfred Abel, and Gustav Frohlich.
Run Time: Two hours and thirty-five minutes.
Summary: In a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.
Date Watched: January 27th, 2012.
Likes: The concept is fantastic, the synchrony between the action on screen and the symphony is incredibly compelling.
Dislikes: WHAT WILL WITH THE HEAD AND HANDS DO WITHOUT THE HEART? WHAT WILL THEY DO WITHOUT WOMEN AND A MIDDLE CLASS? umm...not very many fleshed out characters in this movie, they more archetypes, more about the concept.
Key Cast: Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, and Rufus.
Run Time: Two hours and two minutes.
Summary: Amelie, an innocent and naive girl in Paris, with her own sense of justice, decides to help those around her and along the way, discovers love.
Date Watched: February 1st, 2012.
Likes: Tautou does a fabulous job portray Amelie, and I love the character she crafts. I fell in love with her. The movie's strength lies in the world that it allows Amelie to build and affect.
Dislikes: I wasn't particularly invested in the romantic aspect of the developing relationships, or its focus as the most important of the relationships she was learning to have.
Key Cast: Otto Jespersen, Robert Stoltenberg and Knut Nærum.
Run Time: One hour and forty-three minutes.
Summary: A group of students investigates a series of mysterious bear killings, but learns that there are much more dangerous things going on. They start to follow a mysterious hunter, learning that he is actually a troll hunter. .
Date Watched: February 4th, 2012.
Likes: I just love lore and world building so much.lore. The action was pretty engaging and the trolls are pretty cool.
Dislikes: pretty typical for this genre of pseudo-documentary.Though the troll hunter has some degree of characterization, the rest of the cast is flat and colourless.
Key Cast: Kyoko Fukada, Anna Tsuchiya, and Hiroyuki Miyasako.
Run Time: One hour and forty-two minutes.
Summary: Momoko is a rococo Lolita whose idyllic dreams of Versailles clash sharply with her isolated existence in the Ibaraki hinterlands. When a chance encounter brings Momoko together with head-butting biker chick Ichiko, the quest for a mysterious embroiderer sets the unlikely friends, played by J-Pop stars Kyoko Fukada and Anna Tsuchiya, off on an explosive, pachinko-studded adventure.
Date Watched: February 5th, 2012.
Likes: Close relationships that aren't necessarily easily defined, oh my.This movie is just so much fun with all of its cheese. Also it passes the Bechdel test which is pretty cool. I love the visual style as well.
Dislikes: It succeeds at what it is, but I would have loved more substance in their bonding and chemistry, since the plot itself is just a vehicle for their increasing closeness and interactions.
Key Cast: Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse.
Run Time: One hour and thirty-eight minutes.
Summary: A hapless young Viking who aspires to hunt dragons becomes the unlikely friend of a young dragon himself, and learns there may be more to the creatures than he assumed.
Date Watched: February 18th, 2012.
Likes: Dragons are cool, the dragons were adorable.Astrid was really badass in the first bit of the movie. I am so pleased that dreamworks is willing to do more original plotty children's movies!
Dislikes: I just couldn't grok with this, I just kept thinking of all the awesome fantasy novels I've read (dragonriders of pern, Lackey's Joust) where people ride dragons and getting distracted from the movie.
Key Cast: Steve Carell, Toni Collette, and Greg Kinnear.
Run Time: One hour and forty-one minutes.
Summary: A family determined to get their young daughter into the finals of a beauty pageant take a cross-country trip in their VW bus.
Date Watched: February 20th, 2012.
Likes: This movie is incredibly hillarious. Olive is fabulous and fine. The characters are intriguing and compelling. The first movie I had seen in quite a while where I was constantly laughing (kamikaze girls excepted).
Dislikes: I could have used a few more rainclouds, a little more darkness, a little more delving into the uncle and son specifically, of course the movie is centered around Olive who herself is incredibly fascinating..
Key Cast: Max Schreck, Greta Schroder, and Ruth Landshoff..
Run Time: One hour and thirty-four minutes.
Summary: Vampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter's wife. Silent classic based on the story "Dracula." .
Date Watched: February 21st, 2012.
Likes: The concept is pretty terrifying and I loved the scenes on the boat, and the atmosphere of plague and death is so well compelled in the final acts. I love the town's descent and the effects of Nosferatu's presence. That was the really gripping part of the movie.
Dislikes: Nosferatu's appearance does not invoke fear. Hutter is completely uninteresting and unrelatable. I really wish Nosferatu was the featured character. the first few acts before the action starts are dull and lack tension, making it hard to apperciate the latter brilliance.
Key Cast: John Boyega, Jodie Whittaker, and Alex Esmail.
Run Time: One hour and twenty-eight minutes.
Summary: A teen gang in South London defend their block from an alien invasion..
Date Watched: February 27th, 2012.
Likes: Moses is so great, so so great. I love the the arc of this movie to the neighbor/family identity they all come to share. There are a lot of funny moments, and I have a massive hardon for alien movies. so. also the soundtrack is perfect.Mayhem is precious.
Dislikes: My standard action movie desire for more character development etc. A longer run time would probably helped this out a lot. Standard science fiction desire to know more about the alien other and so forth. Most satisfying, but not exceptional.
Key Cast: Sophie Rois, Sebastion Schipper, and Devid Striesow.
Run Time: One hour and fifty-nine minutes.
Summary: A Berlin-set drama centered on a 40-something couple who, separately, fall in love with the same man. .
Date Watched: February 27th, 2012.
Likes: The beautiful cinematography. The chemistry and the tension conveyed in the sexual scenes.The movie does an astounding job of portraying emotions and dynamics through its lens. There are some lovely bits where many scenes play at once or artistic symbolic bits and so forth.
Dislikes: the angel scene had some strange effects that were out of place.
Key Cast: Nicola Bartlett, James Hagan, and Nina Deasley.
Run Time: One hour and twenty-eight minutes.
Summary: Simple and sincere, celebrating life and the unconditional love of a mother. .
Date Watched: February 27th, 2012.
Likes: the film's non linear passage of time and the focus on each of the daughters in her own story was pretty compelling, ending with advice and hint to the future..
Dislikes: Basically the last 30 minutes or so knocked down this movie a whole star. The cheesy montage with the life goes on message, ruined the film's effect for me. bluh. got a little too preachy and broke away from the format of earlier.
Key Cast: Hedy Lamarr, Aribert Mog, and Zvonimir Rogoz..
Run Time: One hour and twenty-two minutes.
Summary: Eva has just gotten married to an older gentleman, but discovers that he is obsessed with order in his life and doesn't have much room for passion. She becomes despondent and leaves him, returning to her father's house. One day while bathing in the lake she meets a young man and they fall in love. The husband has become grief stricken at the loss of his young bride, and fate brings him together with the young lover that has taken Eva from him..
Date Watched: February 27th, 2012.
Likes: I love that her dissatisfaction her marriage is key, understood, and respected rather than deranged or troubled.She's quite pretty and I actually really enjoyed the ridiculous number of symbols in this movie..
Dislikes: I though the movie really dropped off at the end at the suicide and the ensuing labour camp montage. ugh.
Key Cast: Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis, and Harvey Keitel.
Run Time: Two hours and ten minutes.
Summary: An Arkansas waitress and a housewife shoot a rapist and take off in a '66 Thunderbird. .
Date Watched: March 2nd, 2012.
Likes: I love the interplay between the two women. I love the ending. there are some gratifying kills and action sequences in this movie.
Dislikes: A little hokey. A little slow placed/long.
Key Cast: Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu, and Herbert Knaup.
Run Time: One hour and twenty-one minutes.
Summary: A young woman in Germany has twenty minutes to find and bring 100,000 Deutschmarks to her boyfriend before he robs a supermarket. .
Date Watched: March 3rd, 2012.
Likes: I love how stylized and fast paced this movie. The three different runs is time very effectively, and I love seeing the snippets of how people's lives turn out. I get off on timeline wankery like this though.
Dislikes: I wish there had been more flashforwards in the 3rd run, and that there had either been another animated sequence, or none at all, maybe the credits?
Key Cast: Julianne More, Clive Owen, and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
Run Time: One hour and forty-nine minutes.
Summary: In 2027, in a chaotic world in which humans can no longer procreate, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea, where her child's birth may help scientists save the future of humankind. .
Date Watched: March 4th, 2012.
Likes: This is a marvelous near-future dystopian setting. Haunting, and I felt the political commentary. I was very invested in this movie, regardless of the futility and the limited possibility of the world truly being redeemed.
Dislikes: The standard poster for this movie is horrendous, the ending is very cliche for this sort of film.
Key Cast: Michael york, Jenny Agutter, and Richard Jordan.
Run Time: One hour and fifty-nine minutes.
Summary: An idyllic sci-fi future has one major drawback: life must end at 30. .
Date Watched: March 11th, 2012.
Likes: I am so in love with the concept. dystopian sci fi you are lovely. The scenery is beautiful, both in the dome city as well as in the ruined Washington DC. The malfunctioning food storage bot struck a genuine chord of fear in me. The old man is a fascinating character.
Dislikes: I'm not sure if they hired actors or cardboard cutouts, almost every single character is dull and lifeless, with no hint of personality. The romance is contrived with no genuine emotion. The only actual actor is the old man and his cats as far as I'm concerned. no, this movie does not pass the bechdel test.
Key Cast: Masatoshi Nagase, Keisuke Horibe, and Yoshinori Okada.
Run Time: One hour and forty-four minutes.
Summary:Seven characters, introduced at the start of the film, get thrown together into the same hotel room: a thief who's stolen a suitcase of money from the mob, his ex-girlfriend, her obsessive boyfriend, the mob soldier sent to retrieve the briefcase, another mobster sent to kill them, master voyeur Captain Banana and his new apprentice, The Mister Yellow. Who will end up with the money? .
Date Watched: March 12th, 2012.
Likes: it's a double bottle movie. lovely. the rapid fire silly dialogue is pretty fabulous, and very Quentin Tarantino. The hilarious costumes are pretty fabulous, and I love the two different insuing bottles complete with conspiracy plot and twist ending where no one actually has the money.
Dislikes: This movie just really didn't leave me with much of an impression despite some wacky opening credits and silly costumes and fleshed out characters. I don't know how that happened.
Key Cast: Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Otto Wernicke, and Gustav Diessl.
Run Time: Two hours and two minutes.
Summary: A new crime wave grips the city and all clues seem to lead to the nefarious Dr. Mabuse, even though he has been imprisoned in a mental asylum for nearly a decade. .
Date Watched: March 13th, 2012.
Likes: This movie is a pretty fabulous noir thriller, complete with social commentary and crime terrorism. I think this is the first proper noir thriller I have ever seen.
Dislikes: It drags on a little bit, and beyond the doctor and mabuse most of the characters are not very fleshed out i.e. the romance.
Key Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, and Liam Hemsworth..
Run Time: Two hours and twenty-two minutes.
Summary: Set in a future where the Capitol selects a boy and girl from the twelve districts to fight to the death on live television, Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her younger sister's place for the latest match. .
Date Watched: March 23rd, 2012.
Likes: Lawrence does an amazingly fabulous job as Katniss. damn. I love the setting and the capitol is recreated beautiful. Almost all of the actors are perfect. effie. rue. gale. haymitch. The horror is conveyed an amazingly well with the pg 13 rating.The reality tv bits are harsh and very political.love it.CINNA.I loved the addition of the gamemaster's character, very clever and successful change from the books.
Dislikes: Peeta's actor kruins it for me. oh god. some of the effects are very cheesy re: the dogs which are not nearly as powerful as in the book. I feel like quite a bit of the poltical commentary is detoothed for the big screen. I'm still mad about the whitewashing despite Lawerence's quality acting.
Key Cast: Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, and Shannen Doherty.
Run Time: One hour and forty-three minutes.
Summary: A girl who half-heartedly tries to be part of the "in crowd" of her school meets a rebel who teaches her a more devious way to play social politics. .
Date Watched: March 24th, 2012.
Likes: This movie is completely and utterly amazing. Veronica is an amazing babe, I love her so much and her character arc is fantastic and wonderful.The commentary and meaning is wonderfully articulated. and I just have a lot of feelings about this movie and how it turns the genre on its head.
Dislikes: the lack of quality posters avaialble.
Key Cast: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young.
Run Time: One hour and fifty-seven minutes.
Summary: Deckard, a blade runner, has to track down and terminate 4 replicants who hijacked a ship in space and have returned to earth seeking their maker. .
Date Watched: March 31st, 2012.
Likes: "Is this test to prove I'm a replicant or a lesbian?" I loved her early sass. I find the role of the replicants themselves incredibly interesting and well developed, also this movie has lovely dark visuals. nom nom nom tasty world building.Note: I did enjoy this more than Logan's run.
Dislikes: I was deeply troubled by the sex scene. it's at least dubious consent... I was sad to discover this movie had been overhyped for me as a scifi classic and it was just fun and alright, although I read "Do Androids dream of electric sheep?" which I think I enjoyed a bit more. I suspect I would enjoy it more a second go through, but alas. Also I just found Decker's character incredibly, incredibly dull and not nearly as actiony and badass that would be enough to compensate for his lack of interest.
Key Cast: Su-jeong Lim, Rain, and Hie-jin Choi.
Run Time: One hour and forty-five minutes.
Summary: A girl who thinks she is a combat cyborg checks into a mental hospital, where she encounters other psychotics. Eventually, she falls for a man who thinks he can steal people's souls
Date Watched: April 1st, 2012.
Likes: I would place this in the same category as The Future I think, very conceptual and interesting.The beginning sequence of this movie is very powerful when she attempts to 'power up' and her inital experiences in the hospital. All of the blending of her world and the outside world is lovely, and I really liked our insights into the rules of cyborg hood.
Dislikes: This movie's ending just appeared...very very abrupt. oh its over now? which was really unforunate, I didn't so much buy the more normal aspects of the courtship beyond the bond formed through his assisting and repairing her, it just seemed to happen..
Key Cast: Kristy Swanson, Donald Sutherland, and Paul Reubens.
Run Time: One hour and twenty-six minutes.
Summary: A flighty teenage girl learns that she is her generation's destined battler of vampires. .
Date Watched: April 5th, 2012.
Likes: This movie has a lot of humorous moments and its clever reflection on high school movies and horror films.Its a different approach than the later series to the same concept, and the actors are admirable at the parody of high school films roles.
Dislikes: I really have nothing to say here, I just think it falls flat of its intended goal.
Key Cast: Maria Falconetti, Eugene Silvain, and Andre Berley.
Run Time: One hour and fifty minutes.
Summary: A chronicle of the trial of Jeanne d'Arc on charges of heresy, and the efforts of her ecclesiastical jurists to force Jeanne to recant her claims of holy visions.
Date Watched: April 10th, 2012.
Likes: This movie is beautifully filmed and Falconetti portrays a whole range of emotions on her face. It highlights her faith and the chruch's sexism and status as institution-not a place of religious beliefs beautifully. The criterion collection edition's music fits perfectly, quiet at all the right moments.
Dislikes: Some people might find it slow?.
Key Cast: Javier Bardem, Maricel Alvarez, and Hanaa Bouchaib.
Run Time: Two hours and twenty-eight minutes.
Summary: This is the story of Uxbal, a man living in this world, but able to see his death, which guides his every move.
Date Watched: , April 11th,2012.
Likes: Bardem's acting in this movie is fantastic, and incredibly moving. Alvarez paints an incredibly moving picture of a mother and woman with bipolar disorder and the difficulties that entails for her in particular. There are some incredibly striking visuals in this move that are horrific and pained, especially in the case of the trafficked workers. This film is essentially a piece about death and horror that fills lives, particulary the lives of those who are oppressed or excluded from the nation or citizenship. The magical realist elements are subtle but highlight Uxbal's status as a person inbetween both in his work, in life and death, and as a person. I reccomend this film highly, although the hope in it is slim and left up to interpertation around the role of children in a modern dystopia.
Dislikes: There a lot of side plots here showcasing the underbelly of barcelona, and there isn't time to devote to all of them enough to truly give us a grasp upon them, and perhaps it tries to excuse some behavior which is horrific as merely being a product of circumstance (while it is, that doesn't mean it is not blameworthy) Particuarly in the case of Hai and Li who are not fully explored as the they traffick illegal workers..
Key Cast: Fred Ward, Uma Thurman, and Maria de Medeiros.
Run Time: Two hours and sixteen minutes.
Summary: In 1931 Paris, Anais Nin meets Henry Miller and his wife June. Intrigued by them both, she begins expanding her sexual horizons with her husband Hugo as well as with Henry and others. June shuttles between Paris and New York trying to find acting jobs while Henry works on his first major work, "Tropic of Cancer," a pseudo-biography of June. Anais and Hugo help finance the book, but June is displeased with Henry's portrayal of her, and Anais and Henry have many arguments about their styles of writing on a backdrop of a Bohemian lifestyle in Paris.
Date Watched: April 15th, 2012.
Likes: The chemistry between Anais and June is fantastic, and Thurman plays the role of June as complex and hurting woman wonderfully, portraying a whole range of emotions. Anais's awakening and her turn to not quite straight is easily seen in the film. The voiceovers of Anais Nin's journals convey information quite well, and the role of writers in relation to love is prodded at. As June says "Writes make love to whatever they need."
Dislikes: I just was not feeling either Henry or Hugo. There are pretty muh no likeable male characters in this movie, which is fine and fits with June and Anais as June says "I hate Men. Men" However In the journals themselves I had the impression that while Henry was a slezaball he did have some charms and we do not see those sparks fly between Anais and Henry as we should.As well the film reduces the amount of time June is spoken about by Anais and Henry.
Key Cast: Emilio Echevarria, Gael Garcia Bernal and Goya Toledo.
Run Time: Two hours and thirty-four minutes.
Summary: A horrific car accident connects three stories, each involving characters dealing with loss, regret, and life's harsh realities, all in the name of love. .
Date Watched: April 19th, 2012.
Likes: brilliant interacted narratives and commentary and symbolism around so many incredibly potent issues. This movie comes with a massive TW for violence against women, dogs and other people, but it does a brilliant take on our confusion of love and violence/obsession in our lives and what love puts us through in our pursuit of it. 3 different narratives and 3 different stylistic approaches that condemn distorted views of love but also show the possibliity for redemption or beginning anew.
Dislikes: This movie made me feel a lot of things II did not want to feel, but I suppose that is really a plus.
Key Cast: Sheryl Lee, Ray Wise, and Madchen Amick.
Run Time: Two hours and fifteen minutes.
Summary: A young FBI agent disappears while investigating a murder miles from Twin Peaks that may be related to the future murder of Laura Palmer; the last week of the life of Laura Palmer is chronicled.
Date Watched: April 24th, 2012.
Likes: I love the ever present symmetry of this move. As well I love finally getting to see Laura Palmer in all of her weakness and all of her resistance. I don't feel that the movie shames her for her choices and that is incredibly moving to me. Her relationship with donna is quite queer and moving as the home has no safety. As well I love seeing a dale yet untouched by the case and the prior murder and the greater presence of the black lodge..
Dislikes: I suspect this movie is not as excellent for those not hungering for more clues to Twin Peaks or those who have a connection to the film's material.Honestly, the film could be longer which seems ridiculous to say for a two hour film, but its quite short after two seasons.
Key Cast: Catherine tate, and David Tennant, and some other people.
Run Time: Two hours and thirty-five minutes.
Summary: Its Much A do about nothing in the eighties with the original text.
Date Watched: April 27th, 2012.
Likes: they have so much lovely chemistry and tension, I am getting off on it. THIS PLAY HAS SO MANY HILLARIOUS MOMENTS..
Dislikes: the rest of the plot is pretty sexist and dated? why does she take him back ? someone explain..
Key Cast: Helen Slater, Christian Slater, Keith Gordon.
Run Time: One hour and thirty-six minutes.
Summary: A Texas teenager cuts her hair short and becomes an outlaw martyr with her brother and friends.
Date Watched: May 3rd, 2012.
Likes: Helen Slater is amazingly attractive in this movie. The film really hits upon something withthe way billi jean inspires youth and empowers them, attempting to turn them against the sleaziness of the villain. The movie really picks up in the last 30 to 45 movies, getting deep as opposed to only silly. The other ladies ofthe run away crowd are awesome,and the joan of arc references are enjoyable. The later thelma and louise harkens back to this movie quite a back as a more serious take.
Dislikes: The brother does not act as well and pretty much ruins the whole thing
Key Cast: Richard Serra, Matthew Barney, and Aimee Mullins.
Run Time: thirty-one minutes.
Summary: The third film of a five-part art-installation epic -- it's part-zombie movie, part-gangster film. .
Date Watched: May 5th, 2012.
Likes: So apparently I stumbled upon something far greater when I randomly rented this, this is actually a 30 minute interlude from the art film Cremaster 3, part of the cremaster cycle of five films, which totals slightly under 7 hours. This is the only officially released dvd, you otherwise have to see it in screenings. It is symbolically driven with a moving soundtrack, and follows the stages of sexual development, and inevitable differenitation. I love how androgyny is portrayed here rather than slender 'masculine' figures, it takes a creative approach. As well the symbol of the apprentice having to kill his female self which he longs for to proceed is incredibly evocative. I like symbolism quite a bit so this interludes orders and degrees in the journey of the tower resound with me.
Dislikes: I would kind of like the whole cycle, or at least the whole cremaster 3. I would love to see if the ending offers potential for making a new unity, or surpassing or finding strength in dichotomy, overcoming it.
Key Cast: Carla Besanainou, JuliaArtamonov, and Kerian Mayan.
Run Time: One hour and twenty-two minutes.
Summary: A young princess is the subject of a tug-of-war among witches, as each struggles to find the suitable antidote to a death sentence inculcated by an evil sister.
Date Watched: May 7th, 2012.
Likes: Actual validated queer feelings between a Roma girl and a princess, showing both queer and straight feelings as able to be present in childhood.I do really love that this movie shows how children's sexuality pervades fairy tales and childhood experiences. Anastasia's desire to be a boy is also fascinating, although not further explored. Her obsession with time and its passage is also nicely included and rich with symbolism. The focus on dreams as a way of growing up and combatting issues like sexuality and conflict, losing people are much more interesting than a typical fairy tale. I also like how Brigande and Anastasia want to be the best friends in order to keep real love, rather than the illusory and painful straight relationship with Peter/Johan. Also awesome commentary on French xenophobia. you still grow up even in stasis.
Dislikes: For a movie all about one character she doesn't really have a lot depth. there's also a lot of weird racial decisions in the film re: the portrayal of the Roma and the use of yellowface, which I think is supposed to be 'ironic'. gross. and everyone is there for white girls journey. The ending is also THE WORST. and incredibly unsatisfying, probably should have ended a bit before or kept going. We never really get into her head and see what's going on, and the boy's actor is not convincing.
Key Cast: Emily Browning, Rachael Blake, and Ewen Leslie.
Run Time: One hour and forty-one minutes.
Summary: A haunting portrait of Lucy, a young university student drawn into a mysterious hidden world of unspoken desires.
Date Watched: May 7th, 2012.
Likes: Oh god this film. I love how it is basically the epitome of show not tell. It conveys her trauma, her depression, and her delights so well as well as her relationships all with little true dialogue. There's a particular scene involving her trying to sleep which is haunting. I also feel like it never shames her for her sex work or choices which is always nice. There's some nice commentary on masculinity only feeling safe around unconscious women and power dynamics.I also love that the prince and the witch so to speak are one and the same. There's also a deconstruction of purity and who is viewed as pure, who gets to be sleeping beauty. AHHH SO GOOD.
Dislikes: So instead of dislikes I am going to complain about reviews on imdb. I feel like a lot of people are hating on ladycentric films that criticize men, and especially those that involve dealing with, gasp, FEELINGS. and it really pisses me off. so fuck you sexist imdb movie reviewers.
Key Cast: Tom Cullen, Chris New, and Kieran hardcastle..
Run Time: One hour and thirty-seven minutes.
Summary: After a drunken house party with his straight mates, Russell heads out to a gay club. Just before closing time he picks up Glen but what's expected to be just a one-night stand becomes something else, something special. .
Date Watched: May 16th, 2012.
Likes: These two have lovely, lovely chemistry. The movie also paints a compelling portrait of how we can change each others lives without really knowing each other, and the burden of that.I love Glen's stance on the apathetic gay community and relationships especially in contrast to the aimless main character. very manic pixie I suppose.
Dislikes: I felt like it could have had a bit more depth, but that may be a reflection of their connection. I'm not sure..
Key Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, and Scarlett Johansson.
Run Time: Two hours and twenty-three minutes.
Summary: Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. brings together a team of super humans to form The Avengers to help save the Earth from Loki and his army. .
Date Watched: Ma 18th, 2012.
Likes: The team has so much chemistry as a unit. so delicious. The hulk and black widow are amazing in their roles. Loki is interesting as a villain. There are many amazing and satisfying action sequences.
Dislikes: What is even the deal with the villains? what is even? Some of the team up drama is a little contrived. Maria Hill could have had more air time.
Key Cast: Terumi Mathews, Nicole Zaray, and Belinda Becker.
Run Time: One hour and thirty minutes.
Summary: A writer, Tucker Harding, is hired to cover an article on the hydrogen-bomb test, Nevada, 1952. While there, radiation mutates her code/soul, spawning in her the ability to travel through time by force of will. Not long after she is murdered by a woman from the future, Ofelia, intent on securing her own ability to time travel. However, before her death Tucker travels to the year 1997 where she meets Drew, a failed writer who has been infected with Tuckers original mutation since birth.
Date Watched: January 24th, 2012.
Likes: Some great lines and chemistry between the female members of the cast. I love films that come full circle and all the hidden drama that time travel entails.I also appreciate the increasing irrelevancy of Issac as the film progresses.
Dislikes: The acting is a little off and the low budget shows although it allows time travelling to be pretty free..
Key Cast: Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyo, and, Masayuki Mori.
Run Time: One hour and twenty-eight minutes.
Summary: A heinous crime and its aftermath are recalled from differing points of view.
Date Watched: May 29th, 2012.
Likes: It was pretty fantastic to get to see where this technique comes from. I love episodes and movies in this style! I also quite enjoyed the ultimate point about how truth is completely subjective and we cannot know it, and truths often conflict with the truths of others. I didn't think the wife would go on to get to tell her own segment, and she did. the way she plays to feminine expectations is fantastic.
Dislikes: The end was a little cheesy with the baby, and I'm not sure if the crime of assault was really portrayed as innately terrible.
Key Cast: Robert Howard, Cindy Daly, and Carl Eller.
Run Time: One hour and thirty-four minutes.
Summary: A black high school student is caught dating a white girl by the girl's brother. He and his biker gang beat the boy to death. The boy's brother, who is a member of a black biker gang, hears about it and comes to town to avenge his brother's death.
Date Watched: May 30th, 2012.
Likes: The film is very aware and calls out a lot of shit, and maybe thats part of the genre? but I loved it. Some great sassy scenes and quality lines. The film is just so much fun..
Dislikes: The acting isn't always the best and the low budget feel shows, but the history lesson before the film made me love it even more.
Key Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, and John Hurt.
Run Time: One hour and fifty-seven minutes.
Summary: A mining ship, investigating a suspected SOS, lands on a distant planet. The crew discovers some strange creatures and investigates.
Date Watched: June 7th, 2012.
Likes: This movie cultivates a fanastic atmosphere, not what I was expecting at all. Ripley is fantastic. there is a fucking cat! The alien is gloriously creepy and the special effects are lovely. I especially like that the first half of the movie is just atmosphere. So much comes from this movie.
Dislikes: I wanted to know more about the creature, and we only really got a bit when we saw it had captured and nested some of the crew. So much backstory is teased.
Key Cast: John Hawkes, Miranda July, and Miles Thompson.
Run Time: One hour and thirty-one minutes.
Summary: A lonely shoe salesman and an eccentric performance artist struggle to connect in this unique take on contemporary life.
Date Watched: June 10th, 2012.
Likes: All of the kids stories and characters are fantastic. The brothers and two friends as well as the young girl who desperately wants to be a homemaker. I enjoyed a lot of commentary and the erotic journey of children and the power they enact when as the film points, they don't have their own homes or power. The bits that are more overtly performance art are also quite lovely. I found this an improvement over her second film, the future. The last scene and the relationship between the elderly couple quite compelling. But essentially the children make this movie.
Dislikes: The character Hawkes played was someone whose presence I did not enjoy and I did not enjoy the romance between him and July's character. I just didn't buy it. The best bit is when they first meet and have the performance of the block=the relationship and seeing her on her own caught by all these feels. There interactions didn't invoke the feels that she experienced however.
Key Cast: Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward, and Bruce Willis.
Run Time: One hour and thirty-four minutes.
Summary:A pair of young lovers flee their New England town, which causes a local search party to fan out and find them.
Date Watched: June 11th, 2012.
Likes: Both of the kids do a fantastic, heart-warming job of portraying their characters. I love Suzy. Her demenaor, aggression, and refusal to put up with parental bullshit was lovely. I loved the surrealism and the wonderful sets. This movie is funny and also quite sad if you stop to ponder it. The use of children to comment on the emptiness or stillness of adulthood is quite touching..
Dislikes: The movie goes by very very quickly, and suddenly wraps up, but its not too much of a downer. I would have loved more Tilda, she was fantastic in Hanna.
Key Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, and Carrie Henn.
Run Time: Two hours and seventeen minutes.
Summary: The planet from Alien has been colonized, but contact is lost. This time, the rescue team has impressive firepower, but will it be enough?
Date Watched: June 12th, 2012.
Likes: Ripley continues to be badass, the cat is around, and I love getting to see more into her pysche, the trauma of that first movie. There are some brilliant action sequences towards the end. I love that the android is good this time around, and the political manuvering between Burke and Ripley is a delight.Vasquez is also suitably a badass marine with a big gun.
Dislikes: This is basically the movie I was expecting when I watched the first Alien, and its formula is pretty cliche and trite at this point, which I think is pretty different than when it was first released. I'm also just not generally a fan of Cameron's work. the 20 minutes or so that are supposed to get us attached to the marines are the worst part of the film. Ripley's awakening is excellent, the later tensions are excellent, but fuck that cliche Marine dialogue, which is the kind of dialogue that belongs in a much cheesier film than Cameron ends up playing Aliens as. bah.
Key Cast: Wendy Crewson, Karyn Dwyer, and Christina Cox.
Run Time: One hour and forty-one minutes.
Summary: Two attractive young lesbians, Maggie and Kim, meet in Vancouver, develop a passionate romance, and move in together. Meanwhile, Maggie's well-meaning but naive mother Lila gets divorced and decides to move to Vancouver and join the household. Soon after, Lila is befriended by Judy, a transsexual about to undergo a sex-change operation. Complications ensue as the conservative Lila learns the truth about Maggie, Judy, and their diverse group of friends.
Date Watched: June 19th, 2012.
Likes: Watching a fluffy movie that feels relevant and far more representative of you is pretty powerful. All the ladies are fabulous. Judy is an awesome depiction of a trans woman. This movie is a dreamy romp of dyke fantasy and I heartily enjoyed this fluff.
Dislikes: It doesn't manage to quite feel substantial and the conflict feels pretty contrived due to its dreamy nature. It feels that many of the side characters are far more fleshed out than the main couple who are pretty typical.
Key Cast: Ricardo Darin, Valeria Bertuccelli, and German Palacios.
Run Time: One hour and twenty-six minutes.
Summary: This is the dramatic story of a intersex 15-year-old. She lives with her parents, who have to cope with the challenges of her medical condition.
Date Watched: June 26th, 2012.
Likes: She is a fantastically fleshed out character, and the way she copes with the pressure put on her and her sexual urges and the medical industry is well cast. What really made the movie stand out for me was her refusal to pick within the binary which was the kind, understanding, doing their best parental choice. She rejects the notion of only two choices. There is also a lot of stark portrayal of familial bonds and their sometimes hollowness and the difficulty of building family.
Dislikes: It probably could have gone a little deeper, this is a pretty brief movie. I would also have appreciated it if it more directly referenced the complicated intersections of intersex folk and trans folk instead of just letting them blur together.
Key Cast: Sondra Goodwin, Norma Jean Almodovar, Maria Beatty, Lynnee Breedlove, Catherine Breillat, and Siobhan Brooks..
Run Time: One hour and thirty-two minutes.
Summary: Mutantes is a documentary about pro-sex feminism, a movement that seeks to redefine how we understand pornography and its role in media. Through interviews with sex workers, porn actresses, and other members of the sex industry, the film demystifies and explores the various sexual niches of punk porn, queer porn, S&M, and transgender.
Date Watched: June 28th, 2012.
Likes: This documentary is super relevant and speaks to my own self and my queerness. Some of the interviewees make fascinating points and insights into views of porn and the performance of sexuality and gender. There are quite a few striking art pieces on gender and sex in the mid to last half of the movie. Docs like this need to be made.
Dislikes: I think this doc could have benefited from being more critical, rather than almost entirely stringing interviews together. Instead it could have tried to integrate these perspectives. Especially in relation to one woman who criticizes the lack of intersectionality in regards to race, class, and porn and who is then one of either one or two women of color in the this doc on porn.
Key Cast: Sergio Corrieri, Salvador Wood, and Jose Gallardo.
Run Time: Two hours and twenty-one minutes.
Summary: Four vignettes in Batista's Cuba dramatize the need for revolution; long, mobile shots tell almost wordless stories. In Havana, Maria faces shame when a man who fancies her discovers how she earns her living. Pedro, an aging peasant, is summarily told that the land he farms has been sold to United Fruit. A university student faces down a crowd of swaggering U.S. sailors and then watches friends shot by police when they try to distribute a pro-Castro leaflet. The war arrives on the doorstep of peasants Mariano, Amelia, and their four children when Batista's forces bomb the hills. Mariano wants peace, so he seeks out the guerrillas to join the fight.
Date Watched: July 3rd, 2012.
Likes: There are so many incredibly striking shots in this movie, almost all of them held long and panning. The poetry between each is part is one of the most moving things I've seen in a film of late. I love how the camera became disoriented when disorienting events were happening. Damn this film is well put together.
Dislikes: In the last part it began to drag and feel a little too much like propaganda rather than a powerful criticism of Batista's government. at least to me.
Key Cast: Tomoko Kawakami, Yuriko Fuchizaki, and Leah Applebaum.
Run Time: One Hour and twenty-five minutes. .
Summary: Utena has it all. Beauty. Passion. Faith. A sense of justice. She is the idol of her classmates at the exclusive Ohtori Academy. And yet, she is driven by a childhood memory of a prince on a white horse who comforted her when she was grieving over her parents' death, and who gave her an enigmatic signet ring emblazoned with a rose crest. This memory drives Utena to do the impossible: To become a prince, herself, as she duels the members of the Student Council to protect the mysterious "Rose Bride.
Date Watched: July 3rd, 2012.
Likes: Queernesss, queerness everywhere as far as the eye can see. The art is incredibly beautiful, the roses, the building, the character designs, though obviously nineties. there are some fantastic action sequences, a convoluted plot, and lots of implied sex and symbolism. I like all of these things. she turns. into. a car. Utena is super attractive. the imdb reviews are full of bizarre theories around split personalities, adolescence, and healing. the original title is adolescence Apocalypse.
Dislikes: way way way way too condensed. just because you are a cartoon movie doesn't mean you have to be so brief. the car sequence and its whats and hows did not do justice to the created mythology and symbolism.
Key Cast: Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly and Emma Thompson.
Run Time: One hour and forty minutes..
Summary: Determined to make her own path in life, Princess Merida defies a custom that brings chaos to her kingdom. Granted one wish, Merida must rely on her bravery and her archery skills to undo a beastly curse.
Date Watched: July 4th, 2012.
Likes: beautiful animation and rendering oooh lala. so many emotions. so many. MAMA AND DAUGTHER FEELS. magic. magic. magic. aaaaaa. awesome witch character and things coming full circle.
Dislikes: the fate message was pretty bullshit. I am not a fan of slapstick. the will o wisps clearly had their agenda, nothing to do with fate.
Key Cast: Trine Dyrholm, David Dencik, and Frank Thiel.
Run Time: One hour and forty-four minutes.
Summary: A tragicomedy focused on the relationship between the owner of a beauty clinic and a trans woman.
Date Watched: July 8th, 2012.
Likes: I love the chemistry between the two women, and the I think the movie does an excellent job showcasing Veronika's difficulties and frustrations. I like the way the romance starts building between them. Charlotte's terribleness rings true although it is often painful to watch. The voiceover/recap segments were nice stylistically. Also TW for this movie for depression, suicide, and dysphoric and transphobic elements.
Dislikes: I could deal without charlotte's ex. I am so completely uninterested in him. I think charloette herself could have been far more fleshed out/that we had some access to her internal thought process. She often seems pretty terrible.
Key Cast:John Cameron Mitchell, Miriam Shor, and Stephen Trask.
Run Time: One hour and thirty-five minutes.
Summary: A transexual punk rock girl from East Berlin tours the US with her rock band as she tells her life story and follows the ex-boyfriend/bandmate who stole her songs.
Date Watched: July 11th, 2012.
Likes: I had so many feels about this movie.Hedwig is an amazing awesome diva. The music rocks my heart. The theme of finding your whole true self is powerful, and challenging to the binary. I like the whole montage flashback format.
Dislikes: the narrative loses coherency in the last third and becomes entirely song based. I may have needed a bit of a guiding hand. There's potentially some issue with the writing of Hedwig. I need to do a closer examination.
Key Cast: Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Richard Gere.
Run Time: One hour and Fifty-three minutes.
Summary: Murderesses Velma Kelly (a chanteuse and tease who killed her husband and sister after finding them in bed together) and Roxie Hart (who killed her boyfriend when she discovered he wasn't going to make her a star) find themselves on death row together and fight for the fame that will keep them from the gallows in 1920s Chicago.
Date Watched: July 14th, 2012.
Likes: I saw this from the balcony seats~. They have such a kismesistude. holy shit. I love the energy between the two lady leads. The music is incredibly awesome. Roxy isn't exactly an unflawed or even likeable but she's a fascinating character. I love the all that jazz song and the courtroom song in particular. This movie has so much fabulous energy with awesome ladies been fabulous and manipulative, winning. I really like the real world vs how roxy imagines the world.
Dislikes: Well I was definitely bothered by the casting of a black actor to play the only man to act jealous and aggressive. tropessss? I don't know how much the innocent woman needed to be there? or at least as such a significant plot element.
Key Cast: Drew Deveaux, Tobi Hill-Meyer, Daisy Loveless, Jossalyn Blain, B. Harrington, Gina De Vries, Lucretia Cyanide, and Mz. June Day.
Run Time: One hour and thirty-three.
Summary: Doing It Ourselves is a hot collection of trans women and their partners of all genders engaging in sex the way they want to be represented.
Date Watched: July 19th, 2012.
Likes: so hot, I love how raw this feels. awesome chemistry, adorably awkward dialogue. The second wins it for me with all its dominess. The solo scene is fabulous and I love the room mate walking in. The last scene brims with real understanding and irl chemistry. /swoon.
Dislikes: I don't like inconsistent music in porn. boo hiss. some of the dialogue is a little awkward, or I can't see what's happening. I want more.
Key Cast: quvenzhane wallis, dwight henry, and Levy easterly.
Run Time: One hour and thirty-one minutes.
Summary: Faced with her father's fading health and environmental changes that release an army of prehistoric creatures called aurochs, six-year-old Hushpuppy leaves her Delta-community home in search of her mother.
Date Watched: July 21st, 2012.
Likes: cinematopgraphy. Hushpuuppy's actor was amazing. The father-daughter relationship had a lot of resonance for me. unexpectedly and tearfully. I like the auroch's although I'm not sure I appreciated them to their full extent. I also felt like this really hit on to the perspective of Hushpuppy, not an adult perspective.
Dislikes: The pacing of this film is very inconsistent I think and often unclear. I probably would have appreciated more dialogue/development of the secondary cast? The amount of magical in the magical realism picked up extensively at the end as well.
Key Cast: Jonathan Blow, Phil Fish, and Edmunt McMillen.
Run Time: One hour and thirty-four minutes.
Summary: A documentary that follows the journeys of indie game developers as they create games and release those works, and themselves, to the world.
Date Watched: July 24th, 2012.
Likes: I love hearing game characters talk about how they think about making games and what they intend to convey. Level design and more meta meanings are fascinating. as well as the movie exmaining their support structures and personal lives. The success or the not success of getting players to grok the meaning and the powerful impact of that is pretty cool to hear about.
Dislikes: Not diverse enough, not enough awareness of that. I think the movie tries a little too hard at the beginning to be deep and manufacture depth and drama, as opposed to just talking to creators about this complex, fun, self-pouring thing that is making a quality indie game.
Key Cast: Adepero Oduye, Kim Wayans, and Asasha Davis.
Run Time: One hour and twenty-six minutes.
Summary: A Brooklyn teenager juggles conflicting identities and risks friendship, heartbreak, and family in a desperate search for sexual expression.
Date Watched: July 30th, 2012.
Likes: I had way too many feelings about this movie to not give it five stars at this exact moment. All the actors do a fabulous, fabulous job of conveying gritty real emotion. I love the symbolism and the foreshadowing in the movie. I love that there is a butch/butch pairing. I related to how she experiments to see what is best for her body and her life. I love the family dynamic, the closensss of sibling hood.
Dislikes: It was probably a little predictable? maybe if you are not queer or having a complex family there isn't as much relatble material?.
Key Cast: Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, and Anne Hathaway..
Run Time: Two hours and forty-four minutes.
Summary: Eight years on, a new terrorist leader, Bane, overwhelms Gotham's finest, and the Dark Knight resurfaces to protect a city that has branded him an enemy. .
Date Watched: July 31st, 2012.
Likes: I was not expecting to like this as much as I did. damn. I love the destruction of the world. nom nom nom give me some apocalyptic scenarios to eat up. I love that is the whole oh shit you can't actually assume gender thing in the pit flashback. Catwoman lives with a lady friend.mmm yes robin.bale is more personable in this one.
Dislikes: Weird conservative ideology lurking underneath? Not enough ladies, left me with a craving for supernatural elements and batgirl and batwoman movies burning deep in my soul. lots of love interest stuff.
Key Cast: Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, and Justin Theroux.
Run Time: Two hours and twenty-seven minutes.
Summary: After a car wreck on the winding Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesic, she and a perky Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality. .
Date Watched: August 8th, 2012.
Likes: This movie is a fabulous puzzle box. I love the dream world mirroring where everything becomes clear at the end. I love the subtle supernatural elements, and it manages to be creepy without being scary. I was in love with the complexities of the two women's relationship and how she wanted it to be vs its reality. The idealized world vs the fantasy worlds we make for ourselves is a fascinating theme.
Dislikes: There's some problematic lesbian tropes here I think though I still love the movie. A little more magic would have been appreciated.
Key Cast: Zoe Heran, Malonn Levana, and Jeanne Disson.
Run Time: One hour and twenty-four.
Summary: A 10-year-old girl, settling into her new neighborhood outside Paris, is mistaken for a boy and has to live up to this new identity since it's too late for the mistake to be clarified. .
Date Watched: August 11th, 2012.
Likes: The actor who plays Michael does an amazing fabulous job, and I could relate very well to the feels michael encounters. there is great sibling relationship, and pretty powerful showing of hardships.
Dislikes: FUCK THIS MOVIE FUCK THIS MOVIE FUCK THIS MOVIE. As a trans person this movie is like fucking punch in the gut. the message that girls can be boyish but not boys is the end result and gender roles are hard. which is fine if you don't give a shit about trans people and the way this movie feels to trans folk, but if you do it hurts, its cissexist as hell and physically painful. I cannot even get over what is supposed to be a sympathetic mother figure and the hurt she inflicts on her child. fuck this movie fuck this movie fuck the reviewers on imdb. fuck the lack of giving a shit about complex gender identity or gender performance in kids. fuck the pat ending. fuck the pain this movie inflicted on me for no gooddamn reason.
Key Cast: Bridgit Mendler, Amy Poehler, and Will Arnett.
Run Time: One hour and thirty-four minutes.
Summary: The Clock family are four-inch-tall people who live anonymously in another family's residence, borrowing simple items to make their home. Life changes for the Clocks when their daughter, Arrietty, is discovered. .
Date Watched: August 12th, 2012.
Likes: The art is beautiful, and the world is completely charming. I love the little attention to all the details of the world. The dub is pretty cute. I think it would be a super appealing and engaging movie to a younger set. very solid.
Dislikes: Nothing really happens? there is not enough world building? I just wasn't that engaged..
Key Cast: Lili Taylor, Jared Harris, and Martha Plimpton.
Run Time: One hour and forty-three minutes.
Summary: Based on the true story of Valerie Solanas who was a 60s radical preaching hatred toward men in her "Scum" manifesto. She wrote a screenplay for a film that she wanted Andy Warhol to produce, but he continued to ignore her. So she shot him. This is Valerie's story. .
Date Watched: August 14th, 2012.
Likes: I think it portrays Warhol and Valerie in very well done well way that shows how no one in the film is able to convey themselves in actuality. As well as valerie's world falling apart done well. Candy is amazing. yessss trans characters. .
Dislikes: I think it dragged a little and could have been a little more well rounded. the stars are really just how much I enjoyed it. obviously 90s? not right a bad thing. definitely a lot like characters.
Key Cast: Jane Fonda, John Phillip Law, and Anita Pallenberg.
Run Time: One hour and thirty-eight minutes.
Summary: In the far future, a highly sexual woman is tasked with finding and stopping the evil Durand-Durand. Along the way she encounters various unusual people..
Date Watched: August 18th, 2012.
Likes: The opening credits are awesome and quite suggestive. The imagination on display here is just a lot of fun to watch. Lots of implied sex! The excessive machine. all of the worlds. An angel has no memory.
Dislikes: The plot is pretty lacking. where was my lady hookup? gimme more than brief flirtation please. what a tease.
Key Cast: Shuichiro Moriyama, Tokiko Kato, and Sanshi Katsura..
Run Time: One hour and thirty-four minutes.
Summary: The adventures of a 1920's bush pilot who just happens to look like a humanoid pig..
Date Watched: August 19th, 2012.
Likes: This movie has so much charm! I love how the main characters view on women is constantly being undermined. Fio is fantastic and adorable. the animation and dogfights are super appealing. I like the blend of realism and fantasy.
Dislikes: it could have probably had a better conclusion? Gina could have been far more developed..
Key Cast: Boris Karloff, Elsa Launchester, and Colin Clive.
Run Time: One hour and fifteen minutes.
Summary: Mary Shelley reveals the main characters of her novel survived: Dr. Frankenstein (goaded by an even madder scientist) builds his monster a mate.
Date Watched: August 23rd, 2012.
Likes: The Bride's form of communication is awesome. I love her screech. The scene between the blind man and the monster is very well carried out. The mad scientist is very compelling. Frankenstein himself is frightfully dull and not fleshed out, especially compared to Shelley's novel, where both he and the monster are fascinating and full of dualities. Here is he nothing. This movie has fantastic pacing and tension. I love the drum beating throughout the creation scene, which is iconic.
Dislikes: This film definitely feels a little abridged, a little tv movie. Perhaps because it continues the original frankenstein film? As well frankenstein is a mediocre character. there is a lot of fucked of gender stuff going on..
Key Cast: Jason London, Wiley Wiggins, and Mathew McConaughey.
Run Time: One hour and forty-two minutes.
Summary: The adventures of incoming high school and junior high students on the last day of school, in May of 1976..
Date Watched: August 30th, 2012.
Likes: This movie feels like a lot of fetishes. Hazing. Food. really whacky. I definitely have a soft spot for movies with mentoring relationships c; and the overdramatizing of high school.
Dislikes: I don't know. this movie is just really strange. there are plenty of strange people. Plot? what plot?
Key Cast: Koji Yakusho, Hiari Mitsushima, and Naoto Takenaka.
Run Time: One hour and fifty-six minutes.
Summary: An tale of revenge, honor and disgrace, centering on a poverty-stricken samurai who discovers the fate of his ronin son-in-law, setting in motion a tense showdown of vengeance against the house of a feudal lord..
Date Watched: August 31st, 2012.
Likes: Criticism of the Caste System! gender stuff! this movies few action sequences are pretty fabulous. It does melodrama pretty well. This is apparently a remake, which makes me interested in seeing the original. I love the way it calls out.
Dislikes: Long, a little heavy on the melodrama. where are my epic fights?.
Key Cast: Carmen and Brooke, Andre Christian, and Dorian Corey.
Run Time: One hour and twenty-one minutes.
Summary: A chronicle of New York's drag scene in the 1980s, focusing on balls, voguing and the ambitions and dreams of those who gave the era its warmth and vitality..
Date Watched: September 5th, 2012.
Likes: I love seeing all these fabulous queens, and this very important bit of queer history. how terminology differs and is complicated. It was hard to watch. It was important..
Dislikes: I would have loved more.
Key Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, and Slyvia Miles
Run Time: One hour and fifty-three minutes.
Summary: A naive male prostitute and his sickly friend struggle to survive on the streets of New York City.
Date Watched: September 10th 2012.
Likes: close relations are amazing. I love all the complicated artistic stuff this movie does. it meanders, it paints a beautiful potrait. it implies.
Dislikes: I think there is some complicated potentially problematic stuff here. I wish the flashbacks hadn't petered off.
Key Cast: Kirsten Dunst, Carlotte Gainsbourg, and Kiefer Sutherland.
Run Time: Two hours and sixteen minutes.
Summary: Two sisters find their already strained relationship challenged as a mysterious new planet threatens to collide with the Earth.
Date Watched: September 20th, 2012.
Likes: Depression portrayal and the way others fail you is well done. The value and pain of family, the way family both helps you and completely fails you. I love the space shit and the metaphors. A half where each respective sister fails.
Dislikes: eeeeeeeh? its just not that well done, its as if he's from the school of thought of making the audience endure and feel like the characters in the movie. If so, he is not very clear about it. I didn't feel like it coalesced.
Key Cast: Ewan McGregor, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and Christian Bale.
Run Time: Two hours and four minutes.
Summary: A In 1984, British newspaper reporter Arthur Stuart is investigating the career of 1970s glam rock star Brian Slade, who was heavily influenced in his early years by American rock singer Curt Wild, whose show was quite crazy for his time. .
Date Watched: September 25th, 2012.
Likes: I love seeing the Journalist's dorky journey, and the complexities of performance entangled with reality. REally lovely sexual tension. I love seeing the wife trying to be ok with and not having feelings about the openness. Lots of real emotion. A very sexy film. I like how your sympathies shift throughout.
Dislikes: The timeline is very confused. I think the movie definitely could have been condensed.
Key Cast: Cillian Murphy, Morgan Jones, and Eva Birthistle.
Run Time: Two hours and eight minutes.
Summary: In the 1970s, a foundling lad, Patrick "Kitten" Braden, comes of age by leaving his Irish town for London, in part to look for his mother and in part because his trans-gender nature is beyond the town's understanding.
Date Watched: September 29th, 2012.
Likes: I like the incorporation of the revolutionary aspect, and the focus on the different ways one can explore identity (music, sex , finding family) I love charlie I want to watch a movie about her.
Dislikes: NO one in this movie is a real fleshed out person, lest of all the main character. She's kind of just a caricature I can't buy almost any of her conflict or drama because she just doesn't seem real. I dislike the use of fragmentation in this particular film.
Key Cast: Jessica Alba, Jeremy Piven, and Joel McHale.
Run Time: One hour and twenty-eight minutes.
Summary: A retired spy is called back into action, and to bond with her new step-children, she invites them along for the adventure to stop the evil Timekeeper from taking over the world..
Date Watched: September 29th, 2012.
Likes: This movie is so much fun! There also a surprisingly number of hilarious jokes and gags. The plot and theme are also very engaging. The timekeeper is a sad, doomed fellow. I loved seeing the old spies back. They are awesome, and bring out my siblingcest kink.
Dislikes: ugh the dad ugh the dad ugh the baby ugh some of the gross humor jokes. ugh the dad..
Key Cast: Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina, and Tetsu Sawaki
Run Time: One hour and fifty-five minutes.
Summary: A widower takes an offer to screen girls at a special audition, arranged for him by a friend to find him a new wife. The one he fancies is not who she appears to be after all..
Date Watched: October 1st, 2012.
Likes: There are so many fantastic ways to read this movie! I love the beautiful use of fragmentation and dream imagery to undermine the expected reality. As well I personally love reading it as a deconstruction of the objectification of women whether in reality or in the psyche.
Dislikes: I wanted to know more about her backstory, but I suppose that would defeat heavily the framing of this movie as a piece about the dude projecting upon her both his fantasies, and later fears..
Key Cast: Steve Buscemi, Thora Birch, and Scarlett Johansson.
Run Time: One hour and fifty-one minutes.
Summary:Enid and Rebecca are social outsiders who, after graduating from high school, play a mean prank on a middle-aged geek..
Date Watched: October 2nd, 2012.
Likes: Friendship! Existential crisis! Depression! This movie really resonates, and it doesn't have a pat, satisfying, or particularly inspirational conclusion. It hits that young adult angst I think. I will cling to this film's queer subtext.
Dislikes: Too much focus on finding or protecting oneself through the weird relationship with the middle aged man. I didn't need that. I didn't need it to be such a key part of the movie. gross emphasis straightness when it didn't need to be around. The middle of the film is very bogged down with their interactions. This film best shines in the beginning and the end.
Key Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Geoge Peppard and Patricia Neal .
Run Time: One hour and fifty-five.
Summary: A young New York socialite becomes interested in a young man who has moved into her apartment building.
Date Watched: October 6th 2012.
Likes: She has some sort of depth at least? I like that for the most part she doesn't have to have a romantic relationship is flitty. I like the cat symbolism.
Dislikes: I don't understand why this movie is famous. pat ending with one line of oh shit you're ignoring your real needs or whatever. I dunno.
Key Cast: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, and Thora Birch.
Run Time: Two hours and two minutes.
Summary: Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation for his daughter's attractive friend.
Date Watched: October 7th, 2012.
Likes: I love the way this places with tropes in a pretty engaging fashion. Love the suburbia criticism and the distances in relationships. I love the homoerotic tension throughout this movie. the ending 30 min sequence is just incredibly powerful.
Dislikes: I think we have some problematic shit going on in the het teen romance and in the homophobe is actually gay thing. I also think maybe the film could a bit more sympathetic to the wife? I loved her character.
Key Cast: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli.
Run Time: One hour and forty-four minutes.
Summary: Pulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, black-market opportunist Harry Lime..
Date Watched: October 9th,, 2012.
Likes: MMmmmm delicious well paced noir. I love the interesting triangulation between holly, harry, and anna. The cop is awesome. The political tensions are awesome.
Dislikes: Moar mystery. more lady characters in non related to dudes as only character.
Key Cast: Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, and Anna Hutchison.
Run Time: One hour and thirty-five minutes.
Summary: Five friends go for a break at a remote cabin in the woods, where they get more than they bargained for. Together, they must discover the truth behind the cabin in the woods.
Date Watched: October 14th, 2012.
Likes: I like the extensive labelling of stereotypes and the idea of a machinery producing horror stories for what turns out is a horror story itself.That's a interesting concept! some of the humor is pretty hilarious. If I had been not sober this movie way have been way more enjoyable. I like that the discontinuity between the trailer and the movie is hilarious. the fuck it ending is great. also the movie is short.
Dislikes: it's too bad this movie is only a joke and does nothing with its supposed critique of horror movies, it just says there are tropes. yes, we already knew that, thanks. it's too bad they take this absolutely nowhere. this film does nohting. its not scary, its barely funny (baring personal sense of humor and level of sobriety. aaaaaaa you are a disappointment.
Key Cast: Shea Whigham, Jill Wagner, and Paulo Costanzo.
Run Time: One hour and twenty-two minutes.
Summary: Trapped in an isolated gas station by a voracious Splinter parasite that transforms its still living victims into deadly hosts, a young couple and an escaped convict must find a way to work together to survive this primal terror.
Date Watched: October 16th, 2012.
Likes: This movie is so great! I love the virus and the villain. I love the way everything unfolds in this film. The three leads have great fabulous chemistry. everyone is useful. I love it. great realizations and moments of horror. bottle movie done right. nice editing to hide the budget.
Dislikes: I would like it a little more if it wasn't focused so much around masculinity and reclaiming and owning masculine salvation and authority. more shots of the monster.
Key Cast: Pascale Bussieres, Rachel Crawford, and Henry Czerny.
Run Time: One hour and thirty-four minutes.
Summary: An uptight and conservative woman, working on tenure as a literacy professor at a large urban university, finds herself strangely attracted to a free-spirited, liberal woman who works at a local carnival that comes to town.
Date Watched: October 21st, 2012.
Likes: Lots of pretty intense sex! these two have amazing chemistry. I love the conflict betwen her and her fiancee that feels far more realistic than a massive blow up or tirade. the desperation to stay together. I was into the dog metaphor up until the end. I like that the religion is portrayed in acontradictory matter
Dislikes: so much exocticism. it tries to be realistic for a bit then becomes a fantasy love story, which I was not really into. it got super cheezy at times.
Key Cast: Nathan Baesel, Angela Goethals, and Zelda Rubinstein.
Run Time: One hour and thirty-two minutes.
Summary: he next great psycho horror slasher has given a documentary crew exclusive access to his life as he plans his reign of terror over the sleepy town of Glen Echo, all the while deconstructing the conventions and archetypes of the horror genre for them.
Date Watched: October 28th, 2012.
Likes: This movie is just so incredibly clever, it does successfully what cabin in the woods tried to do. I love the mockumentary style and I love the way it transitions into actual horror. I love the twisted bond between leslie and the journalist. I love the deconstruction.
Dislikes: more please? more backstory explaination.
Key Cast: Kei Fjiwara, Tomorowo Taguchi, and Nobu Kanaoka.
Run Time: One hour and seven minutes.
Summary: A strange man known only as the "metal fetishist", who seems to have an insane compulsion to stick scrap metal into his body, is hit and possibly killed by a Japanese "salaryman", out for a drive with his girlfriend. The salaryman then notices that he is being slowly overtaken by some kind of disease that is turning his body into scrap metal, and that his nemesis is not in fact dead but is somehow masterminding and guiding his rage and frustration-fueled transformation.
Date Watched: October 30th, 2012.
Likes: Awesome use of visuals and sound effects. Metal runs throughout this film, not the music but the imagery of it. I like examining all the queer anxieties that run through this film. Giant metal monster!
Dislikes: completely undeveloped female character. this movie gave me a headache. what even happened here?.
Key Cast: Emily Perkins, Katherine Isabelle, and Kris Lemche.
Run Time: One hour and forty-eight minutes.
Summary: This film uses werewolfism as a metaphor for puberty. One of the Fitzgerald sisters, suburban goth girl outcasts, gets bitten by something in the woods (and it ain't a neighborhood dog).
Date Watched: November 1st, 2012.
Likes: Sisterly love c; I really enjoyed all the metaphorical imagery that this film put in play. I read a fantastic paper about the queerness lurking in this film, which I am in love with. Its very, very witty. The mom ended up being totally different than I expected.
Dislikes: Male characters? trope heavy?
Key Cast: Jennifer Tilly, Gina Gershon and Joe Pantoliano.
Run Time: One hour and forty-eight minutes.
Summary: Corky, a tough female ex con and her lover Violet concoct a scheme to steal millions of stashed mob money and pin the blame on Violet's crooked boyfriend Caeser..
Date Watched: November 6th, 2012.
Likes: I love that this movie is all about violet, the femme. How incredibly powerful and amazing. This is her narrative and her performance. She and Corky make a fabulous pair. Caesar is a great antagonist and seeing him try to puzzle it all out is great.
Dislikes: Corky vanishes for a large section of the movie, only listening in on the action. This isn't necessarily a bad thing though?.
Key Cast: Ashleigh Summer, Jill Bennett, and Cathy DeBuono.
Run Time: One hour and eleven minutes.
Summary: A talented, but distracted photographer, Lola, on the verge of success in both love and work, could lose it all if she doesn't make it to a crucial meeting on time...
Date Watched: November 12th, 2012.
Likes: The parts that are specific call backs to Run Lola Run are great. I love the fantasy fast forwards and the greater use of the animations that were ridiculous and out of place in Run Lola Run. The cast has great chemistry. I love the part that are direct local color of SanFran. the title is a pun
Dislikes: this movie is pretty awful. the pacing and plotting are incredibly off. The crisis has absolutely no urgency to it. too much pointless, unsexy sex shown on camera to pad the time, throwing off the pace. non of the main characters are fleshed out at all in any way. they are all unlikeable.
Key Cast: Hedy Burress, Angelina Jolie and Jenny Lewis.
Run Time: One hour and forty-two minutes.
Summary: The story of five teenage girls who form an unlikely bond after beating up a teacher who has sexually harassed them.
Date Watched: November 13th, 2012.
Likes: Close intimate friendships~ implied queerness is really enjoyable even when I should want more. they built a family! solidarity and closeness~ Tattoos to bound them together. I love the last scene so much and the confusingly close friendship between Legs and Maddy. beating up jerks~
Dislikes: It would be pretty nifty if any besides the main two were developed characters. it would be cool of there was more of a logical plot progression. it would be cool if the movie's plot made sense. they're aren't really a girl gang.
Key Cast: Cory Booker, Margaret Cho, and Katie Couric.
Run Time: One hour and twenty-five minutes.
Summary: Explores the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence in America, and challenges the media's limited portrayal of what it means to be a powerful woman.
Date Watched: November 22nd, 2012.
Likes: Really lovely utilization of video clips from news channels and ads. super important topic! some youth voices.
Dislikes: state solutions. talking down to youth. slut/brains dichotomy. no queer topics included.
Key Cast: Paul McGann, James Corden, and MyAnna Buring.
Run Time: One hour and twenty-six minutes.
Summary: Their women having been enslaved by the local pack of lesbian vampires thanks to an ancient curse, the remaining menfolk of a rural town send two hapless young lads out onto the moors as a sacrifice.
Date Watched: November 27th, 2012.
Likes: the opening 15 minutes was mildly entertaining.
Dislikes: this movie is shit and not worth my time.
Key Cast: Matthew Goode, Patrick Malahide, and Hayley Atwell.
Run Time: Two hours and thirteen minutes.
Summary: A poignant story of forbidden love and the loss of innocence set in England prior to the Second World War.
Date Watched: November 30th, 2012.
Likes: THE CHEMISTRY IN THIS MOVIE. this movie does scenes and montages very well. It knows how to set the tone. the movies of pain and failure are painted very well as are the moments of ambiguity and passion. very quotable. The mother is a fascinating character.
Dislikes: this movie needs to transition better. it needs to do arcs better. I was uncomfortable with the crafting of the love triangle and the vanishing of Sebastian.
Key Cast: Jess Weixler, John Hensley, and Josh Pais.
Run Time: One hour and thirty-four minutes.
Summary: Still a stranger to her own body, a high school student discovers she has a physical advantage when she becomes the object of male violence.
Date Watched: December 2nd, 2012.
Likes: I love her character arc and realizing that she can control herself. consent~~~~ yay! lots of great hilarious powerful scenes.
Dislikes: why the brother part arc? I think we are trying to take freud a little too seriously.
Key Cast: Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, and Amy Irving.
Run Time: One hour and thirty-eight minutes.
Summary: A young, abused and timid 17-year-old girl discovers she has telekinesis, and gets pushed to the limit on the night of her school's prom by a humiliating prank.
Date Watched: December 1st 2012.
Likes: the special effects in this movie for its time are super impressive. I love all the complicated interplay of lady friendships. psychic powers +1.
Dislikes: Gimme better 'bitch' characters. the mom is kind of a completely excessive stereotype. as are most of the characters in isolation. very archetypal story.
Key Cast: Melvil Poupaud, Suzanne Clement, and Nathalie Baye.
Run Time: Two hours and forty-eight minutes.
Summary: The 10-year relationship of a male-to-female transsexual with her lover..
Date Watched: January 24th, 2012.
Likes: This relationship is so well depicted and complicated and intense. Laurence is herself is a fascinating character. I like the ridiculous special effects and convulted metaphors.
Dislikes: I wish the non central two characters were super different.
Key Cast: Aubrey Plaza, Mark, Duplass, and Jake Johnson.
Run Time: One hour and twenty-six minutes.
Summary: Three magazine employees head out on an assignment to interview a guy who placed a classified ad seeking a companion for time travel..
Date Watched: December 6th, 2012.
Likes: questionable time travel! making fun of manic pixie indie films! pretty great humor!.
Dislikes: ugh racist stereotypes ugh all the dudes. ugh still all MPGly.
Key Cast: Nozumu Sasaki, Mami Koyama, Mitsuo Iwata.
Run Time: Two hours and four minutes.
Summary: A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psionic psychopath that only two kids and a group of psionics can stop.
Date Watched: December 14th, 2012.
Likes: the setting~ the powers~ the powers~.
Dislikes: need moar non dude pain things.
Key Cast: Piper Perabo, Lena Headey, and Matthew Goode.
Run Time: One hour and thirty-four minutes.
Summary: A newlywed bride becomes infatuated with another woman, who questions her sexual orientation, promoting a stir among the bride's family and friends.
Date Watched: December 16th,, 2012.
Likes: this movie is so cute! pretty well done depiction of a relationship floundering and failing alongside new infatuations. then it gets super fairy tale
Dislikes: WAY TOO MONOGAMOUS AND ONE TRUE LOVELY BOOOO.
Key Cast: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, and Richard Armitage.
Run Time: Two hours and forty-nine minutes.
Summary: A younger and more reluctant Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, sets out on a "unexpected journey" to the Lonely Mountain with a spirited group of Dwarves to reclaim a their stolen mountain home from a dragon named Smaug.
Date Watched: December 20th, 2012.
Likes: The visuals were, as always, stunning. I love the variety of dwarven body types and the drawing on the appendices.
Dislikes: reallly stretched out? I feel like they did a diservice to Bilbo's character. somewhat uneven attempts to feel epic.
Key Cast: Jim Carrey, Ed Harris, and Laura Linney.
Run Time: One hour and forty-three minutes.
Summary: An insurance salesman/adjuster discovers his entire life is actually a TV show.
Date Watched: December 23rd, 2012.
Likes: short, sweet and to the point. preys on great fears. I love how it doesn't over reach itself. it remains simple and contained, with hints of something deeper like truman's world itself.
Dislikes: no one is really a real character except the director and the wife? I actually like that she was kind of nuanced though. I feel limited by likes and dislikes at this point. I wanted a more thorough painting of the world. I wanted more.
Key Cast: Lizzie Brochere, Pierre Perrier and Karl E. Landler.
Run Time: One hour and forty-five minutes.
Summary: A sexually ambiguous Frenchman tours his native countryside with his naive American lover in pursuit of the ultimate thrill. From the moment they meet, brooding Chris (Pierre Perrier) and the beautiful Aurore (Lizzie Brocherè) fall instantly and passionately in love but it s not long before their intense connection is consumed by Chris s dark obsession with gay men. Before long, the pair embarks on a violent and sexual journey filled with seduction and destruction of young gay hustlers. Hard-hitting, intensely sexy and wildly controversial, American Translation is a twisted Bonnie and Clyde for a new generation. .
Date Watched: December 22nd?, 2012.
Likes: This movie did some powerful things with sound and language with Aurore periodically and especially at the end. It did an apt incredible job at making me feel acutely uncomfortable. like watching porn for serial killers.
Dislikes: The acting is horrendous. I couldn't tell if the above was intentional or merely me making the best of a bad, frightening movie. its frigthening in a way that isn't scary just cruel. poor acting. cardboard people.
Key Cast: Luis Fernando Pena, Leonor Varela, and Jacob Vargas.
Run Time: One hour and thirty minutes.
Summary: Set in a near-future, militarized world marked by closed borders, virtual labor and a global digital network that joins minds and experiences, three strangers risk their lives to connect with each other and break the barriers of technology.
Date Watched:December 26th 2012.
Likes: I love the very real feeling of this dystopian world and the further borders technology creates. the human connections feel genuine and powerful esp re: us exploitation of the Mexico-US border.
Dislikes: I think it veers too much into a fairytale in the last twenty minutes or so. the real pain impacts and consequences vanish.
Key Cast: Shelley Duvall, Sissy Spacek, and Janice Rule.
Run Time: Two hours and four minutes.
Summary:Pinky (Spacek) is an awkward young teen who starts work at a spa in the CA. Desert. She becomes overly attached to fellow spa attendant, Millie (Duvall) when she becomes Millie's roommate. Mille is a lonely outcast who desperately tries to win attention with constant upbeat chatter. They hang out at a bar owned by a strange pregnant artist(Rule)and her has-been cowboy husband. After each of 2 emotional crises, the three woman steal and trade each other's personalities until they settle into a new family unit that seems to give each woman what she was searching for.
Date Watched: December 28th 2012.
Likes: I love the dream like qualities of this and the way relations shift and fluctuate. it captures the way crushes and idolization are complex and ever shifting, oft painful. I was reminded a lot of Mullohand drive. I love how everything shifts and turns around. no truth to be found. I wasn't sure what to make of the third woman at all.
Dislikes: There are no answers. it's based on a dream. we never get to know the mystery of Pinky. everyone's names shift around? someone gets killed?.
Key Cast: Adam Beach, Evan Adams, and Irene Bedard.
Run Time: One hour and twenty-nine minutes.
Summary:Young Indian man Thomas is a nerd in his reservation, wearing oversize glasses and telling everyone stories no-one wants to hear. His parents died in a fire in 1976, and Thomas was saved by Arnold. Arnold soon left his family (and his tough son Victor), and Victor hasn't seen his father for 10 years. When Victor hears Arnold has died, Thomas offers him funding for the trip to get Arnold's remains, but only if Thomas will also go with him. Thomas and Victor hit the road.
Date Watched: January 5th 2013.