the groundhog day project

A thought: I spend so much time in this blog on older movies... It used to be for practical reasons; if I had previously seen the film (and prior to this recent deconstruction, I didn't have to have seen the film numerous times) it made it easier to write about it while the movie was playing. Saved a lot of time that way. More recently, the premise has been films I have seen multiple times, especially when I was young. So, aside from the occasional new film that really offers something to add in the context of this blog, I don't say much about new films. But, I like talking about movies, old and new. I liked doing my YouTube reviews while I was doing them (and I have described before how the frustration with getting views timed badly with me getting better at editing the clips together). And, I'd like to do something like that again. I'd prefer a slightly different format (or maybe a bit of both), discussion with another person, but I never made an effort to find some...

Today, I watched Mudbound . Today I watched Columbus . Right now, I'm watching Brigsby Bear for the second time. I avoided doing any teaching work--it's technically finals week, but my classes' final speeches/debates were finished last week. I stayed home, watched some TV, those movies, and had leftover chili for dinner that I made yesterday. It was a mostly relaxing day. There was also talk of the special election in Alabama. I won't get into the details on that. It didn't go how I thought it would go, and that's a good thing. Instead, movies. These three. All of them, ever. Movies. Take Brigsby Bear , for example. It's a really dark concept that twists its way into a surprisingly optimistic, upbeat story. Guy who has been held captive his whole life, who has had one tv show to watch, produced by his abductor father, and out in the real world, all he wants is to have more of that show. Because, the fantasy that was central to the only reality he knows i...

          My daughter is in the room as I'm watching Groundhog Day --it's the 2nd of the month (and it's also her birthday today). She's reciting lines along with the characters and proclaiming that she hates the movie. Methinks she doth protest too much. Me--I'm reciting some lines, but I'm not thinking much about anything to write. Hoping for something new... And then I notice a tiny new thing; right before the snow shovel hits Phil when he's in the gas station, it hits the phone on the wall. New, sure. But, not substantial...           I'm watching, and waiting. Not in the mood for politics. Didn't see any other movies today. (I did have a stray observation about The Room , though, as I turned it on while I was writing about The Disaster Artist yesterday . The way The Disaster Artist presents the production, it's entirely inept, like they filmed scenes from only one angle, barely managed multiple takes, and in one in...

The last recap was Day 942 - what we got here is a little game of show and tell . Today is Day 1000. So, how about a quick reminder of where we've been lately. Day 943 - the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth took Murder in the First as its jumping off point, ended the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon month and was maybe the thematic end to this blog because that's where every movie was every other movie and the message was on repeat. Day 944 - i'm going out to punxsutawney was a thing I wrote for class about my pilgrimage to Woodstock, Illinois and meeting Danny Rubin, and Danny Rubin later sent me a lovely message about it on Facebook. Then I drifted. The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them 945 946 947 The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him 948 949 950 The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her 951 952 953 The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them 954 955 Antichrist 956 The Squid and the Whale 957 958 959 Mrs. Doubtfire 960 961 ...