Early reminder that we're going to watch Cool Hand Luke tonight! Be there!
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962): Kind of mixed feelings on my second viewing. The courtroom scenes still hold up pretty well; they present a clear injustice, Atticus passionately argues Tom Robinson's case and the stand for respect is an iconic scene. But there are other parts of the movie that are just so damn dated and corny, particularly in the first half. (We were joking the whole time in Chat that there was no way in hell this movie could be remade today. It would just be too weird.) I will say that I feel a bit better about how idealistic the movie is than I did last week, though I don't think it comes across perfectly that the whole thing is from Scout's point of view. Adult!Scout chimes in with the occasional piece of narration, but that's about it.
Aim for the Ace! (1979): Interesting to watch because it's obvious what parts of it Gunbuster chose to parody later. (The whole first episode of Gunbuster is basically Aim for the Ace! with giant robots instead of tennis.) I enjoyed the movie, but man, I don't think I could watch the TV series, because the movie is excruciatingly slow, and apparently it's snappily paced compared to the TV series. Dear god. This movie makes 90 minutes feel like three hours. Also, some of the abuse of tennis terminology made me cringe. It's not an ace every time you hit the ball past your opponent, damn it!
Animal House (1978): Wow, how did I go so long without seeing this movie? Absolutely hilarious and holds up amazingly well. You could seriously release this today, and it would probably be the funniest comedy of the last five years. This also reminds me of another talking point in the Mockingbird Chat -- how we watch popular movies and then suddenly realize that movie is where a certain pop culture reference originates. Don't know how I didn't know this is where "Thank you, sir, may I have another?" comes from, but when the cult-like initiation scene for the rigid fraternity came up, it killed me. So damn funny. Some of my other favorite scenes: The horse in Dean Wormer's office (made me roar with laughter and feel guilty), the students hanging out with their proto-hippie English professor ("How long have you been working on your novel?" "Four-and-a-half years." "It must be very good." "It's a piece of shit."), and of course the ending at the homecoming parade.
The Princess and the Frog (2009): Not the second coming of the Disney Renaissance, or anything, but a pretty solid, entertaining animated movie that probably would have fit in fine with the Renaissance. It's just nice to see Disney make a good 2D movie again. Traditional cel animation is already basically dead now with the advent of digital technology; don't kill off movie-quality 2D animation completely, please!
Char's Counterattack (1988): Good movie overall and a fitting end to Char Aznable and Amuro Ray's rivalry all the way back from the original Mobile Suit Gundam. It's kind of weird to see Char as a flat-out villain rather than the gray character he is in MSG and Zeta Gundam, but it doesn't come completely out of nowhere either. And it's a pleasure of course to see these characters in true movie-quality animation rather than cheap 70s/80s TV anime animation, haha. I really hated a couple of characters, though -- Quess Paraya, a powerful Newtype who falls for Char and a fucking annoying, whiny idiot; and Hathaway Noa, the latest in a long line of teenage retards created by Yoshiyuki Tomino, inheriting the mantle from Zeta Gundam's Katz Kobayashi. They almost completely ruined the movie for me. Bleh.
Fun fact: Char's Counterattack is the 1,000th movie I've rated on IMDb. Amazing! No. 1,001? Rookie of the Year. TERRIBLE. (Although The Princess and the Frog would have been No. 1,000 if IMDb had an entry for Aim for the Ace! :|)
On the queue for this week: Date Night (2010), Cool Hand Luke (1967), Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
Total Movies: 129 (The Taking of Pelham 123, The Station Agent, The Final Destination, Silent Movie, The African Queen, Departures, Moon, Bound, Solaris, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rifftrax), Wristcutters: A Love Story, In the Loop, Public Enemies, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (Rifftrax), Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Lagann-Hen, District 9, The Magnificent Seven, Night Moves, My Name is Bruce, Big Fan, Almost Famous, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Nosferatu, Drag Me to Hell, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Kara no Kyoukai 1-7, 9, Zombieland, Ninja Scroll, Primer, Re-Animator, Summer Wars, The Changeling, The Men Who Stare at Goats, Ponyo, Eden of the East: The King of Eden, Porco Rosso, Something Something Something Dark Side, Castle in the Sky, Robot Carnival, Halloweentown, Whisper of the Heart, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, Fiddler on the Roof, Kiki's Delivery Service, Genius Party, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, The Sky Crawlers, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, My Neighbors the Yamadas, THX 1138, The Stepfather, Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks, Tremors, Horror of Dracula, The Brood, Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter, Rabid, Inglourious Basterds, Them!, The Yakuza, Alphaville, Ghost in the Shell, Priceless, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance, Whip It, A Boy and His Dog, Fletch, The Blind Side, Speed, June 17, 1994, Nobel Son, Invictus, Toy Story 3, The Two Escobars, Soylent Green, Up in the Air, Tyson, This Is Spinal Tap, The Proposition, Killer Klowns from Outer Space, The Informant!, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Macross: Do You Remember Love?, Coco Before Chanel, The Vanishing, Inception, Mind Game, Pale Rider, The Hurt Locker, Roujin Z, Broken Blade, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Black Christmas, Crazy Heart, The Man with Two Brains, Ninja Assassin, Panic Room, Mobile Suit Gundam I-III, Casablanca, Stray Dog, Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva, Memories, The Gold Rush, Paprika, Martian Successor Nadesico: The Motion Picture - Prince of Darkness, An Education, Eden of the East: Paradise Lost, Dr. Strangelove, Doomsday, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Natural, Bungaku Shoujo, The Book of Eli, To Kill a Mockingbird, Aim for the Ace!, Animal House, The Princess and the Frog, Char's Counterattack)
