With part II of our Woody on Blu-ray mini season, we managed to win over a few Woody-haters. This 78 year old director  just keeps on going! (Energizer Woody?)

Of course, there are a few annoying things about Blue Jasmine (I watched it three times in one week, so started to notice a bit of stilted dialogue), but Cate Blanchett’s performance was simply wonderful. She brought Blanche DuBois into the twenty-first century, Xanax and all. Bobby Cannavale’s Stanley Kowalski-esque turn was also nicely modernized… real men are considerate these days it would seem.

Thanks again to our popcorn chefs, Julienne and Mike 😉

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This week saw the start of our 3-part mini-season, “Midwinter Nights Mini-Season: Woody on Blu-ray”. Sleeper was a fine way to start. Sure, you’ve heard the gags before, and if you’re like me, you might have gone through periods of your life when one more Woody joke would have been one too many. Mr. Allen’s film-making, while still exploring similar themes, has become rather more nuanced over the past several years (have you noticed anyone getting hit on the head with a rubber mallet?), and now, going back to visit the old schtick was rather like catching up with a good old friend. Apparently you thought so too 🙂

And c’mon… silver-painted pumpkin as orb? Pretty funny, even if I say so myself!

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One couldn’t accurately describe this week’s MovieNight screening as jam-packed… nevertheless, it was great to have some long-missing guests back in the house for Sarah Polley’s touchingly public revelation of a deep family secret. The Stories We Tell adds yet another feather to the cap of this talented Canadian woman.

BTW, might I just take this opportunity right a wrong that annoys the heck out of me and my fellow Canadians? We do not pronounce “out and about” as oot and aboot; it’s more like owt and abowt. So there, eh?

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A relatively compact group of MovieNight guests enjoyed the quirky black comedy, If…. this week. This sixties British classic, set in a fictitious public (read “private”) school, is not widely know on these shores, but it introduced the Michael Shannon-esque (the eyes have it!) Malcolm McDowell to the world. As we promised in the MovieNight email, there was plenty of sex (some imagined, and some implied, often homo-erotic) and violence: lots of older being very nasty to the younger ones, the youngest being referred to as “Slime”. In addition, we delivered some fairly gratuitous nudity, and lots of bare-ass boys. Don’t you wish you’d been here?

Thanks to Olya for (once again) making it so easy for us to stay focused. KnowwhatI’msayin’?

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As is usually the case, our Friday night, post-turkappocolypticâ„¢ screening was well attended (might one say “swamped”, as in “Hey Swampy?!”?) by a lovely crowd. Thanks to Julienne for reminding me how sharp and entertaining Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf  is (there are many updates pending on the Successful Suggesters page, when I get a chance, in case you’re wondering). I happened to stumble upon the Benny Hill spoof, Who’s Afraid of Virgin Wool, in the course of making the teaser for MovieNight this week and, of course, had to show it as the pre-movie short. FFS!

As is also usually the case of late, the ‘teen Acres Curried Apple Chutney partnered up with crackers and blue cheese for a late night feast.  Sadly/happily (take your pick), no leftover turkey made it to MovieNight this year. Thanks awfully to Sloan (he of the perfect beard) for making the olive dash. Much appreciated!

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