Category Archives: MovieNight stuff

Boy A adds a few more tears to a week full of crying.

Giving a shit, Love and Life, MovieNight stuff, Movies

Jack in the sack

Can a child who committed a heinous act at age 10 be rehabilitated? That is the underlying question posed (and unanswered) in Boy A. We had been keeping this one locked up in our box of overlooked gems, and after the previous week’s action-packed block-buster screening, it seemed like a good moment to pull it out and pop it in the player. Just when that decision had been made and the email had been sent out, the horrific details of the Haiti earthquake started coming into clear focus. For a while, we thought of just canceling MovieNight for the week, but then that started to feel silly. What purpose would that serve?

Although Boy A had what most would consider to be an unhappy ending, and it is inconceivable that a happy ending is even a remote distant possibility for the people of Haiti, our lovely MovieNight guests stepped up to the plate (tip jar, actually) and we made a nice donation to the American Red Cross. Thanks everyone.

The Apartment (with a few square feet missing)

MovieNight stuff, Movies

Run Fran Run

I can remember loving this film for about as many years as I can remember loving any movie. It is an unusual mix of comedy and drama, which just works somehow. Well, it would have worked a lot better if it weren’t for about 12 missing minutes. In what we can only hope is the last of a current string of technical snafus, somebody (me) didn’t pay attention to the little voice asking, “Why does the DVD player say this is 1 hour and 53 minutes, when the film is supposed to be 2 hours and 5 minutes?” Ah, the little voice… it’s the one that’s ever-so-quiet when it initially asks the question, but ever-so-loud when you remember it asking the question post f**k-up.

As a result, we missed three scenes (which I call, “How many martinis?”, “Tennis racket spaghetti toss”, and “Brother-in-law punch”). This is pretty unacceptable, and if anyone wants, I’m happy to rescreen the intact work, on, say a Wednesday night. Let me know.

The Class. A class act.

MovieNight stuff, Movies

Unruly Souleman

Taking our third foray into the classroom this season, we found ourselves in suburban Paris, with a bunch of unruly and yet somehow adorable children (I was tempted to make a comparison to the MovieNight audience for a minute, but you guys have been pretty well behaved of late). Of course, Esmeralda was eminently strangleable, but then, so am I sometimes, I hear.

The Italian, but no Russians

MovieNight stuff

Little Vanya learns to read

Another deeply touching movie that got the Kleenex box off the shelf. We seem to like them deep this season.

The funny thing… we hadn’t shown a Russian film for a long, long time (the last was Vozvrascenje, or The Return), and given the usually high turn-out of Ruskie folk to MovieNight, this seemed like it would be a crowd-pleaser. Would you like to guess how many Russians were here? None. I know that a few of them were a party that night, but still… I wonder, did I choose something that struck too clear a chord?

This irony reminds me of my mother making lunch for the crew of Italian bricklayers who were working on our house when I was little. Even though she was of German descent, she thought it fitting to serve them up some of her non-authentic spaghetti and meat balls. She meant well… so did I.

Into The Wild, out of the ordinary

MovieNight stuff, Movies

Hello nature!

So much has been written about this film… the critics pretty much gave it a ‘B’ even though they seem to have felt compelled to write at great length about it; try finding a short review!  Viewers, on the other hand overwhelmingly give it an ‘A’. We thoroughly enjoyed watching this masterpiece again, in glorious HD (except for when the disc froze and had to be re-started. What a pain!), and appreciated the presence of those who made it here.

Particularly Misha, who managed to keep his review quite brief: “Long movie.”