I Was Home, What Happened?
Not well-crafted, but still wanted to get up some of the stuff that I’ve been watching, in addition to a lot of TV (Parks & Recreation, Louie, etc.):
Rise of the Planet of the Apes & Another Earth — Saw these together a few weekends ago. I expected to enjoy Rise of… and love Another Earth. I ended up quite impressed with the former and just liking the latter. I still have a crush on Brit Marling, but it was the other movie that won me over.
The Sand Pebbles — The second in our Steve McQueen marathon. I liked, but didn’t love, this one. I thought McQueen was great. And it looked beautiful. The river and dock/shore shots were beautifully captured. And they did an excellent job with the stuff on the ship. The interior of the ship felt real, unlike in some movies where the inside of a ship just looks like a fabricated set. And a war film released in 1966 is certainly saying something (intentionally or not) about Vietnam, and America’s overall foreign policy, but I haven’t yet developed any conclusive opinions on what this film is saying.
Cracks — Directed by Ridley Scott’s daughter, this one was another take on the all-female boarding school. There are mean teachers and jealous girls and inspirational teachers. Nothing ground-shattering.
I Saw the Devil — An interesting revenge film from South Korea. Very misanthropic. Kind of weird and sick and beautiful in that S. Korean sort of way.
