This week I caught three movies in theaters, two I’ve already reviewed — The Lego Movie and The Monuments Men — and the other is Winter’s Tale, which I don’t think I’m able to review just yet, but I will say I was expecting something terrible and that’s not what I got… I’ll say more next week when it hits theaters.
At home I watched Francois Truffaut‘s Jules and Jim on Criterion Blu-ray, which Foreign Correspondent this coming week. I watched the new Criterion Blu-ray this week as well.
Also, I finally saw Paul Thomas Anderson‘s Hard Eight, which played Sundance and Cannes in ’96 before being released in the States in ’97, the same year Anderson’s Boogie Nights was released. In fact, with a year that also contained the likes of L.A. Confidential, Good Will Hunting, The Game, Titanic, Jackie Brown and The Ice Storm, among others… it’s conceivable a top ten list of films from ’97 could include two Anderson features. I will say this, however, I’m pretty sure a top ten of mine from that year would have to include Face/Off and perhaps even Howard Stern‘s Private Parts. I mean, that’s ten right there… not a bad list.
Finally, at least in terms of movies, I watched Len Wiseman‘s Underworld, a guilty pleasure of mine that I caught on Encore this week while flipping through the channels. I wasn’t a huge fan when I first saw it, but it’s continued to grow on me… I enjoy all the sequels as well… Well, not that one with Rhona Mitra, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, but the others are very entertaining.
[amz asin=”B004GUSG4M” size=”small”]I also wanted to mention I finished reading S.J. Watson‘s “Before I Go To Sleep“, an adaptation of which is expected to hit theaters this year starring Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth, Mark Strong and Anne-Marie Duff and I really enjoyed it. It’s a Memento-esque story about a woman suffering from amnesia, waking up every day not knowing who she is and her journey to get answers. I don’t want to say more as it has its twists and turns, and even if you see some of them coming the writing is compelling enough to make it a real page turner.
Up next for me is Mark Harris‘ “Five Came Back“. I just received a review copy and for anyone that’s been paying attention to my journey through books on film you’ll remember me mentioning Harris’ “Pictures at a Revolution” a lot lately and if “Five Came Back” is anywhere near as good as that one then I should have it finished sooner rather than later. It will hit store shelves on February 27.
Now it’s your turn, what have you been watching (or reading) lately?
