February Summary

February Summary

05/10 - Quel maledetto treno blindato (The Inglorious Bastards)
10/10 - Groundhog Day
05/10 - Black Caesar
06/10 - The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans
07/10 - Coraline
07/10 - Oldboy (Old Boy)
06/10 - An Education
10/10 - The Deer Hunter
02/10 - Quelli che contano (Cry of a Prostitute)
03/10 - Trick 'r Treat
10/10 - Dog Day Afternoon
08/10 - Kung fu (Kung Fu Hustle)
07/10 - Black Dynamite
07/10 - Sabrina
10/10 - Almost Famous
03/10 - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
02/10 - Terminal Island
07/10 - The Blind Side
05/10 - The Fifth Element
04/10 - Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
06/10 - The House of the Devil
07/10 - Solyaris (Solaris)
06/10 - The Hills Have Eyes
08/10 - In the Loop
05/10 - District 9
05/10 - Love in the Afternoon
06/10 - The Crazies
05/10 - Fantastic Mr. Fox

Quick Facts:
Movies seen in February: 28
Time spent watching movies in February: 3111 minutes (51 hours, 51 minutes)

Best Movie Seen (Overall):
Almost Famous
This is probably in my Top 3 of films I've ever seen. The extended edition is even better than the already amazing standard version so this was a natural selection for this spot. Dog Day Afternoon is in my Top 5 films so it's really not that far behind.
Runner-up: Dog Day Afternoon
[Almost Famous and Dog Day Afternoon were repeated viewings.]
[Note: These two films will not be included in the next two rankings.]

Best Movie Seen (First Viewing):
The Deer Hunter
Pretty obvious choice here, really. It got a 10/10 from me for how incredibly tense and well acted everything was. In the Loop might be a shocker for this spot but it's high quality vaults it into second place here.
Runner-up: In the Loop

Best Movie Seen (Repeated Viewing):
Groundhog Day
Here's the final 10/10 movie I saw this month. I love Groundhog Day more and more on each watch and I find this hilariously ironic because of its subject. Kung Fu Hustle was about 100x better on a second viewing, finding a good balance between action and humor. I really liked it.
Runner-up: Kung fu (Kung Fu Hustle)

Worst Film Seen:
Quelli che contano (Cry of a Prostitute)
This movie was simply terrible. None of the characters were likable here and overall there was poor acting all around. Terminal Island had potential but failed on just about every account. Two really bad films.
Runner-up: Terminal Island

Most Surprising Film Seen:
In the Loop
Reading what this film is about makes it sound really boring. However, I compared it to Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb in my comments, so it's actually of an incredibly high quality. What I thought would be a complete miss turned into a really great hit.

First runner-up: The Deer Hunter
Second runner-up: The Bind Side
In the Loop and The Deer Hunter switch places from up above. The Deer Hunter gets second because I expected quality but a 10/10 film was completely unexpected. Coming in at third is The Blind Side which I expected to be a really bad Best Picture nominee but which really played up its strengths to perfection.

Most Disappointing Film Seen:
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
I expected a quirky movie that I would like, but I was instead treated to a quirky movie that was stupid just to be stupid. It had potential with a pretty good cast, but just took itself in a terrible direction in my opinion.

First runner-up: Trick 'r Treat
Second runner-up: The Fifth Element
I expected more from Trick 'r Treat. I wanted a cool overarching story that tied all the other little parts together. Instead, I got four short, weak stories that just didn't allow me to care for any character. The Fifth Element I was hoping for an over-the-top crazy thrill ride with tons of fun action and fun effects. Instead I got an overall bland film that was over-the-top but for all the wrong reasons.

Most Enjoyable Film Seen:
Almost Famous
As I described in my (long) comments for the film, Almost Famous has a magical quality to it. I feel like director Cameron Crowe poured his heart out onto the screen and we get to see him showing what he loves most. This provides an immense joy to me as a viewer.

First runner-up: Kung fu (Kung Fu Hustle)
Second runner-up: In the Loop
Kung Fu Hustle provided me tons of laughs and some amazing and fun action. It strikes a good balance between this while it pays homage to the kung fu movies of old. For third place, In the Loop gave me more laughs than any other film this month. I haven't actually laughed out loud at a movie this much in what seems to be forever. However, there's some flaws in it and I felt that Kung Fu Hustle was a more enjoyable watch.

The Film More People Need to See:
Black Dynamite
This film came out just this past year and it's hilarious in what it does. It wants to be like the old 1970s blaxploitation flicks and it succeeds tons of times. The ending is pretty weak and there's some bad moments here and there, but it's a fun movie from 2009.

First runner-up: In the Loop
Second runner-up: Solyaris (Solaris)
I've recommended In the Loop to tons of people already after only seeing it about a week ago. It's a film that doesn't sound at all interesting but is 100x better than I anticipated. I imagine most viewers would feel the same way. Solaris is picked next because it's a classic foreign film that I hadn't seen. It brings up a deep philosophical discussion about love that is very thought provoking.

Best Scene Seen:
Almost Famous - the final interview
This was my second favorite scene of all of 2009 so it's no surprise it's number one here. The film wraps up everything so superbly when Russell answers what he loves about music.

First runner-up: Dog Day Afternoon - Sonny and Leon's phone interview
Second runner-up: Groundhog Day - the second snowball fight
In my notes for Dog Day Afternoon I gave why I think that phone interview is the most well acted couple of minutes that I've ever seen. It's Pacino at his complete best. The second snowball fight in Groundhog Day is so over-the-top and hilarious I laugh every time. Phil Connors goes way overboard as you can see him just completely fed up with reliving this day and trying to impress Rita.

Voting Update:
06/10 --> 05/10 - Ghost Busters
The more I think about Ghost Busters the more I just remember it as being average than good.

Only one voting change this month.

February Comments:
I way exceeded my goal of 10 films this month by hitting 28. I also watched four 10/10 movies so that was great. However, most of the other viewings were Oscar based and not what I typically check out. Because of that I didn't really enjoy a lot of what I saw (besides the few surprises in things like In the Loop or The Blind Side). This is odd because these are supposed to be the best of the entire year. On my Audrey Hepburn front I only got in two movies. I have a few more from her I want to check out, but these two were good. I feel it was an overall good month for movie watching, but probably not as good as January.

March Outlook:
For March I want to check out some monster and horror movies. I'd also like to check out three remaining Oscar nominated films in Invictus, The Messenger, and Star Trek along with the short film nominees. I think school will actually start picking up this month and with Spring Break, I figure to watch far fewer than 28 films. We'll see how it goes, but hopefully I'll still get some quality watches.