Movies and movie interests

When I met dukedom (Michael), I was pleasantly surprised to discover that we both liked art, independent and foreign films. While not a passion, we still enjoy films of this type mostly obtained now through Netflix. We seem to be watching a fair amount of Iranian films lately, but have enjoyed others from India, Iceland and Israel recently (oh dear, there seems to be an "I" thing going on here. . .). These aren't the only movies we watch, there is a bit more variety but it is rare that we go out to the movies anymore.

Last movie seen in the theater however was "Australia". Despite the non-stop cliches, we enjoyed it. We laughed and cried when we were supposed to. I can't help but think that the director is winking at us about the whole 'epic' thing. We were in Oz for three weeks in August and enjoyed the revisit the movie offered (although it didn't seem quite Australia without amandameale in it).

Prior to that my daughter and I went to see "W" when I was visiting her in St. Louis. OK, all I have to say in my defense is that my impressions from the trailers was that it was supposed to be funny (or I never would have gone).

Did anyone see the Eastwood-directed movie starring Angelina Jolie whose son was missing? I forget the name of it now.

A new thread, Avaland?

"On MOVIES," he said, thrilled beyond belief?

Foreign movies? The BEST kind?

I recently saw and loved "La graine et le mulet," about an immigrant Arab family in France.

Among other recent highlights for me were "The Visitor", which feels like a foreign film though it is not, and about which Roger Ebert, my favorite critic, said "Richard Jenkins is an actor who can move his head half an inch and provide the turning point of a film." And just three days ago I saw and loved "Synecdoche, New York".

Is there supposed to be a direction in our musings, Avaland?

Whoops polutropos, I accidentally hit the flag as abuse message for your message. Sorry :-(

I don't even know what that means, urania.

I guess I was too effusive and thereby abusive? Too sexist? Too eurocentric? Perhaps did not respect the Great Vowel Shift? Refused to acknowledge the supremacy of Kant? Found Kafka too humorous?

I am at the end of my tether with Christmas cheer.

Vodka, waiter.

Leave the bottle.

My Christmas cheer is wearing thin as well. Go read "White Nights" by Dodo. It's a short story, a quick read, funny as all get-out, and if you buy into a couple of interpretations of Dodo - one of his sublimated ménage à trois stories. Almost better than vodka.

>2 polutropos: Like the music thread, just a general thread - who knows what we may discover:-) Of course, general threads are often the breeding ground for more specific discussions, yes?

For Christmas cheer we watched Priscilla, Queen of the Desert..again last night. Really wish Criterion would do editions of both Priscilla and Velvet Goldmine. Their edition of The Harder they Come is terrific.

I love Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. I didn't know about the other two titles.

The whole Soprano's thing--but I always viewed that as kind of a comedy. Syriana made an impression on me. Taxi Driver, Matewan, Breaker Morant, Full Metal Jacket, Southern Comfort, Repo man, Reservoir dogs, Cool Hand Luke, Land and freedom are a few off the top of my head. I liked the version of Flannery O'Connor's Wiseblood as well. One of these days I should take a look at Cormac McCarthy's No country for old men.

well...if Priscilla (among other things) celebrates the Aussie obsession w/ Abba then..The Harder They Come was the movie that broke Reggae music globally. Filmed in Jamaica ~ 1972(?) it stars Jimmy Cliff as a country boy coming to the big city to become a star and who becomes both a musical and criminal hero of sorts. Absolutely terrific music - among other bits, there's a live session w/ Toots and the Maytels recording in a crude studio. The film was huge in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa - and got a good bit of play in the US - I saw it originally i a cinema. There have been several rereleases of THTC - and, sadly, Criterion no longer has their version which has commentaries both by Jimmy Cliff and the director, Perry Henzell.

Velvet Goldmine is a movie which totally divided its viewers - one either loved it (as our family did) or disliked it intensely. Focuses on the early glam rock era in GBritain with characters very loosely based, for instance, on David Bowie, Eno, etc. It's framed as a mystery w/ the protagonist going back in time trying to solve the mystery of a star gone missing. Another great soundtrack. Directed by Todd Haynes who did the recent mythic film centered around Dylan's personas, "I'm not there." Iggy Pop basically plays himself; Eddie Izzard is terrific as Brian Slade's (bowie/jobriath's) manager; and i thought Toni Collette was excellent as Bowie/Slade's ex-wife trying to make it in music 10+ yrs on. Good deal of sex, drugs and rock and roll.

I've been watching the 11-part German version of Buddenbrooks. Excellent, and as an added bonus the actors look a lot like the way I envisioned the characters from reading the book.

#11
Do tell, please, rebeccanyc. German means IN german? And if not, he said pleadingly, how and where is it available?

avaland, the Angelina Jolie movie is "The Changeling." (Haven't seen it; reviews were not favorable.)

Since I live in the boondocks, I tend to wait for movies to come out on DVD, but I watch a LOT of them. Generally, I don't watch action, fantasy, or crime movies (although there are exceptions). I'm a sucker for the Merchant-Ivory type. One of my all-time favorites is still A Room with a View. I have all of the Jane Austens in my collection; I have both the Colin Firth version of P&P as well as the more recent one. Love to rewatch them. I rewatched A Passage to india and also Gandhi a few months ago; they are both still wonderful.

I saw "The Duchess" at a conference last month; it was just OK (but great costumes!).

A Christmas favorite: "Love Actually." I generally don't like rather sappy, feel-good movies, but I really enjoy this one and watched it again on Christmas Eve.

I confess to being a Last of the Mohicans junkie--mainly because I am also a Daniel Day-Lewis junkie.

And an Alan Rickman junkie ("Truly, Madly, Deeply," anyone?)

And I also confess to liking "The Piano," which seems to be another of those love it/hate it films. I think partly it was the place my life was in when I first saw it that got me hooked.

For something totally different, 'The Professional' with Jean Reno was awesome.

Anyway, I watch an eclectic mix of movies and many of them, so I'm sure I'll think of more to post.

I'm not a big movie-goer - I read the reviews in movie magazines like "Empire" so I don't need to go to the movies! But when asked recently what my three favourite movies were, I replied (after some thought) 1) Werner Herzog's Aguirre, The Wrath of God (touchstone goes to the soundtrack, which is also brilliant), 2) Kurosawa's Dersu Uzala, 3) David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia. All "adventure in the wilderness" movies, of varying sorts!

Although this is true, it hardly reflects my recent movie-going, which is more likely to be family films - "Mamma Mia", for example, or the collected works of Pixar and Dreamworks. Of films I've seen comparatively recently, I especially enjoyed Pan's Labyrinth and "The Queen".

I see I haven't listed any SF movies - favourites there include 2001: A Space Odyssey, Bladerunner and "The Stalker" (based on Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky brothers).

"Truly Madly Deeply" was both great fun and ..umm haunting.

This has been a rather, no, a REALLY sucky yr for new movies. Last year we had: Michael Clayton, Eastern Promises. I'm not There, Atonement, Juno, Persepolis, Sweeney Todd (which i disliked but WAS v. well done), Casino Royale, Across the Universe, The Bourne Ultimatum, Ratatuille (sic)..

Sadly, i've probably enjoyed Mamma Mia and the Quantum of Solace as much as anything else this year; i REALLY wanted to see "Cadillac Records" in the theater but it came and went w/out coming close to us. Actively disliked the Bat-thing movie and Indy redux (one of the chase scenes went on for so long and so tediously I fell asleep during a matinee).

>13 Cariola: loved "Truly, Madly, Deeply", have you seen the young Rickman in Trollope's "The Barchester Chronicles". He's just wonderful (and hilarious in "Galaxy Quest"). I am also a costume drama fan and have a library full. These I like to 'watch' while sewing or knitting or whatever...

Maggie and I did the whole 'foreign movie/art house' scene back in the days Before Parenthood; but since then, actually dinner-and-movie dates have been pretty scarce.

(If I never see another children's movie again as long as I live, that would fine with me. (I imagine I may re-examine this opinion if and when grandchildren happen.)) We theoretically have a Family Movie Night once a week, but that seems to be pre-empted more than it actually happens. And there's a narrow range of stuff that's acceptable fare for both the adultas AND our kids.

We make a feeble effort to keep up with Grown-Up movies on DVD, but even then it's still rare for us have an uninterrupted block of time for viewing.

Another vote for both "Velvet Goldmine" and for "Love Actually".

"Control" was terrific.

And yay, "Last of the Mohicans", which not only has DD-L*, but is also a distinct improvement over the book. I showed the kids the movie, and then took them to a reenactment up at Fort William Henry.

(*I'll save my DD-L story for another time.)

>16 avaland: Yes, I own a copy of "The Barchester Chronicles" on DVD. I also had the pleasure of seeing Alan Rickman on stage in Stratford in two plays: as Achilles in Troilus and Cressida, and as Touchstone in As You Like It.

>17 AsYouKnow_Bob: What a cool experience for your kids!

#12, In German, for German TV (presumably their equivalent of PBS or the BBC) but with English subtitles (essential for me). I got it from Netflix; it's 11 episodes on four discs, and I just have the last episode left, which I'm dreading, both because it's the last and because I know what happens. The producers have done an amazing job of really capturing the characters, key plot points, and mood. Here's the link to it on Netflix.

#18: >17 AsYouKnow_Bob: What a cool experience for your kids!

Well, you'd think so. Remember the ambush scene as the British abandoned the fort? We stood there. The trip included a visit to Cooper's Cave, too. (The real place is rather smaller than it is in either the movie or book....)

But the kids, being kids, were obligated to denounce the day as "boring!" The road south out of Lake George leads right past The Great Escape amusement park, and that wasn't on the schedule....

16, I loved Galaxy Quest
17, I also loved Control

I also enjoy documentaries - or rather, filmed editorials. I have no need of balanced reporting. I like it when someone passionately argues for or against something. Over Christmas I watched Maxed Out , an exposé of credit debt in the United States, and re-watched Who Killed the Electric Car? about the politics behind government and industry commitment to the combustion engine. In the past, I have also enjoyed The Corporation and Enron: Smartest Guys in the Room. The list goes on...

I like the Coen brothers, some of the Jane Austen adaptations, Blade Runner, Brazil, Night of the Hunter, Fingersmith, Amelie, the re-mastered Killer of Sheep, early Roman Polanski films, silly movies with Simon Pegg ( Hot Fuzz and the like) and things of the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovich ilk.

Has anyone seen The Curious Case of Benjamin Button yet? I like time travel and time paradox stuff, but am slightly fearful that this one is just going to be a big letdown...

Patty and I agree more completely on movies than on any other art form. While i like most of the music she likes, there's a good deal of music i like that she doesn't. We're in closer accord on books - probably an 75% agreement. But with movies, it's almost freaky..we're very close to 100% agreement on what we like and don't like - irrespective of genre. We're not quite so good as predicting what movies the couple we usually go to see flics will like..pretty good but we miss some. We really thought Clare would go for "I'm not There" as she's a life long mega Dylan fan - but the "mythic" vs "real life" thing bugged her; We know that movies that get preachy bug Richard..but we just tell him to get over it and enjoy the movie and pass on the message (ie "V for Vendetta" which we both liked much more than friends or most reviewers).

Recently we've been watching Almodóvar movies - Penelope Cruz radiates in his flims; hell, she even made Woody Allen bearable in Christina Victoria barcelona

22, Hey! - I like Woody Allen. Sometimes, anyway. Mighty Aphrodite was very funny, as was Love and Death, and even Manhattan Murder Mystery... Somehow, I have failed to see some Woody Allen classics, like Annie Hall. Not sure how that happened...

I went on an Almodovar jag in my teens and twenties: films like Matador, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!. It's been a while though, and I haven't seen that much of his newer work. Any recommendations?

#s 16, 17, 21: I second both Galaxy Quest and Control.

I mention family movies in #14: as well as liking popular kids' movies, my son (now 12) likes movies such as The Yes Men, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Who Killed the Electric Car? and An Inconvenient Truth. My wife, who works in the trade union movement, is interested in economic and environmental issues too, so this type of film counts as a "family movie" for us.

I don't watch a lot of movies, for some reason. Movies I have seen and loved: Brazil, Memento, LA Confidential.... (I am a little outdated.) Recently I have been watching a lot of Japanese animation series on DVD (Netflix instant viewing!). Like cocoafiend, I love "things of the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovich ilk."

>21 cocoafiend: Instead, read The Confessions of Max Tivoli which is the same story as Benjamin Button, imo. I no longer have the book on the shelf but I believe Greer credits the Fitzgerald story also as his inspiration. I suspect the movie credits Fitzgerald and not Greer because it saved them a lot of $.

>21 cocoafiend:, 25 yes, I like that quirky stuff also ...

#25 - we really like the cowboy bebop series anime, as well as Miyazaki's films. I really liked "serial experiments Lain" which remains the most intelligent film/anime series about "the internets" and AI to date. It DOES (to some extent) exhibit the not atypical anime fetishism of teenage girls - tho hardly to the extent that much in the genre. But it was enough to annoy Patty.
http://www.cjas.org/~leng/lain.htm for a good intro to Lain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtxDGXS7BLQ features Yoko Kanno and her band live - she's the keyboard player and arranger who is responsible for the terrific soundtrack to the Bebop series. "Tank" is more or less the general theme song for the whole series.

#23 We REALLY liked Volver - for a recent Almodovar commedy; Talk to Her was also v. good, but bleaker. I liked Woody Allen up thru Love and Death..then really liked Vicky Christina Barcelona a lot.

>27 bobmcconnaughey:, Bob - love, love, love Cowboy Bebop. Check out my current profile page picture - its Ein doing Abbey Road, more or less. ;)

26, I've been hearing a lot about this book. I read the Fitzgerald story which was good, but not amazing. Perhaps I will try Max Tivoli instead...

27, Thanks, I will have to check out Volver.

Does anyone have any opinions on Jane Austen adaptations? For instance, is it just me, or are there no particularly good adaptations of Persuasion? I haven't done a lot of research on this, but have seen two versions...

>29 cocoafiend: My favorite Persuasion adaptation is the Amanda Root, Ciarán Hinds one. The newest adaptation is not very good, imo. I haven't seen any others.

I am partial to the Firth (1995) P&P adaptation but I also very much like the 1980 adaptation written by Fay Weldon (stars David Rintoul and Elizabeth Garvie). I don't care much for the latest Hollywood version that crams the story into 2 hours.

I like the 1983 BBC adaptation of Mansfield Park; the newest Northanger Abbey (2007). I did like the Emma Thompson Hollywood Sense and Sensibility (1995) but also liked the new one (except for the pug-faced Willoughby) (2007). Not sure I saw the one from the 80s. And finally, Emma. Liked the Gwyneth Paltrow adaptation, and liked well enough the newest. That's probably more than you wanted to know, eh?

I will also put in a good word for the Amanda Root/Ciarán Hinds version of Persuasion. It's very low key--but then so is the novel and its heroine.

Like almost everyone, I'm also partial to the Colin Firth P&P. I haven't seen the earlier one, and I did like the new one with Kiera Knightley and Matthew MacFayden, although I agree that it misses a lot in comparison.

Don't--repeat, DON'T--watch the newest BBC version of Mansfield Park. It was truly awful and did much damage to the original. The one with Frances O'Connor as Fanny Price isn't perfect, but it's MUCH better.

Since I have a thing for Alan Rickman, I like the Emma Thompson version of Sense and Sensibility, but I also enjoyed the newest BBC.

>31 Cariola: oh yes, he plays a fine Colonel Brandon, doesn't he?

I'll third the nomination for the 1995 version of Persuasion - it captures the tone of the novel perfectly.

On a point of clarification - BBC didn't make the recent versions of Mansfield Park & Persuasion; they were made by ITV, which used to make excellent period drama like Brideshead Revisited but now longer believes there is such a thing as a lowest common denominator and is subsequently plunging into new uncharted depths - on the other hand, they did make Lost in Austen which (surprisingly) turned out to be very enjoyable.

So I am doing one of these retrospective shows, thinking back on 2008. Subject to revision, here is a list of memorable films I saw in 2008. Many of course are not made in 2008.

They are not ranked.

In Bruges
Synecdoche, New York
The Visitor
Le Graine et Le Mulet
A Stone Angel
Rachel Getting Married
Pauline at the Beach
La Vie en Rose
Country Teacher
Volver

In Bruges--Martin McDonagh's first major film. An excellent playwright.

Loved "In Bruges" which we initially watched because we had spent a week or so there in 2000.

Oh, I will have to watch "In Bruges." I love McDonough. I saw the first run of The Lieutenant of Inishmore at The Other Place in Stratford.

I love movies too, but rarely find time to see them. Like Deborah, I'm a fan of the Merchant&Ivory type films.

McDonagh is hilarious. Small town and/or rural Irishers bored out of their minds and everybody spending their time undermining and/or hating each other. A bit over the top sometimes but always worthwhile. He reminds me a bit of Dario Fo or vice versa.

You all have great taste in movies. My Netflix queue grew by about 15 discs today.

I liked the Amanda Root/Ciaran Hinds Persuasion, too. I don't love it the way I do the other Austen adaptations, but I think that may be because I'm not as into Persuasion as I am into her other novels. I have a little bit of a crush on Ciaran Hinds. He's also great in "The Mayor of Casterbridge" and "Amazing Grace".

I just saw Ciaran Hinds in a Catherine Cookson adaptation, "The Man Who Cried." He was great--as usual.

Thanks all, for the Jane Austen feedback!

I'm okay with the Ciarin Hinds and Amanda Root Persuasion, but don't love it or the newer version. I agree that the Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth Pride and Prejudice is the best. I thought Keira Knightly was fine in the newer one, but I wanted to slap that lame Darcy for failing absolutely to create any sense of underlying passion or character. And anyway, P&P can not be adequately communicated in such a short screen time...

I saw Lost in Austen last weekend, which was wonderfully silly intertext, though I gather from online reviews that the BOOK was a pretty awful Choose your Own Adventure...

polutropos, I really liked In Bruges and The Visitor too.

My favorite movie of the last several years (I don't watch many movies) was Northfork. Visually stunning, witty and surreal, this movie recounts the death of a small town as the authorities prepare to open the new dam. Set in the 50s during the heyday decades of dam building, this movie is well worth watching. If you get a copy, it is well worth watching a second time with the directors' comments. And since I'm on the topic of dams, for those interested in environmental nonfiction Cadillac Desert is a must read.

I can second urania's endorsement of Cadillac Desert. It's been years since I read it, but I thought it was brilliant (and well written too, which doesn't always go along with serious nonfiction, alas). And not just for dams, but for the total dependency of much of the US west on water from elsewhere -- as relevant today as when it was written. Back to the movies -- Chinatown!

Patty and I were pleasantly surprised at how much we enjoyed "the curious case of Benjamin button." Much better than a movie w/out a plot and a silly premise had any right to be, largely due to the excellent acting of all involved. We had rewatched Michael Clayton the night before, in which Tilda Swinton has a major role, and i had to ask Patty during the CCBB if that WAS Tilda Swinton as the "plain as paper" wife of an English diplomat. As this last year was so sucky for movies in general, a movie that has some virtues (and missing others) stands out. The couple we went w/ had similar reactions (mostly we just wanted to go to a movie and have dinner..and movies of even vague interest were hard to discern).

Like AsYouKnow_Bob, living with my three year old pretty much has taken me out of the arthouse or even the commercial thrill-a-rama house and put me into CarsShrekLittleMermaid misery.

However, a month or so ago my partner and I watched Once after having it from Netflix for about 6 months. It may have been the sheer joy of having time without the kidling, but I really truly loved every second of it. Anyone who has read of my love of The Idea of Perfection knows how enamored I am of what I call grown up love stories. Once delivered that in movie form for me.

I just watched Once a few weeks ago, too, and I absolutely loved it. Loved the story, loved the soundtrack, loved the acting, love love love. Oh! And I loved the accents.

ETA: a little present for Cariola

>47 jfetting: Thanks, I needed that! (He's got to have the world's sexiest voice ever--even as a Yorkshireman.)

>47 jfetting: I'm a 10 year veteran of Sesame Street myself. But it does end. Really. And you can put me in the Grenville club (and I also enjoy offbeat, middle-aged love stories - like the one I'm living:-)

Oops, sorry! message 49 is in response to >46 nancyewhite:!

urania1, I also enjoyed Northfork. Mesmerizing. Haven't seen Cadillac Desert though...

we watched "In Bruges" last night; i think we (patty and i) both think it's the best movie of the last year (not a good year in general).

So...would like to recommend the very dark, but very funny and even sweet gangster comedy(?) "In Bruges." Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleesen are Irish hitmen sent into hiding by their boss (Ralph Fiennes, working hard on his Valdemort face) in the Belgian town of..Bruges. Gleeson REALLY loves sightseeing, the lovely, aged cityscape and features while Colin Farrell, burdened w/ guilt over a hit gone wrong, mostly just wants to get drunk. So you have an odd couple of hitmen; their family loving psychotic boss and a menagerie of odd players, including a film crew setting up in different portions of the city. Lots of cussing,if that might offend; but this might be my favorite movie of the year. There aren't that many original plots and the director/screenwriter came up w/ one his first time out. (Martin McDonnagh). The crew got the run of the town for their shooting..so when the hit men are visiting the Church of the blood of Mary..or examining one of Bosch's paintings..that's exactly what they're doing. The crew reports the beers in Bruges were excellent.

mmmm I found it boring and a waste of time.......
different strokes I guess...

Although the photography of Bruges was ravishing.

#53
Great taste, Bob. Back in #34 I have it at the top of my list of top movies of the year, too.

So what else did you see in the last few years that is worth seeing?

I watched a great movie from Netflix the other night. "The Edge of Heaven" was a Cannes prize winner and tells the story of three families whose lives intersect in unexpected ways: a Turkish father and son and mother and daughter, some of whom live in/travel to Germany, and a German mother and daughter. There's something about Turkish political conflicts and the politics of immigration, but it's really about people's relationships and how they change. It is also lovely to look at.

#55 netflix made one of their few mistakes ..got 2 copies of the 2nd dvd of the 3rd season of Lost, so wait a day or two more before playing catchup.
Last year was a relatively bleak yr for us in re movies (2007 in contrast was excellent). Just how bleak? Until we saw "In Bruges", i'd have had to say that "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" - a movie w/out plot or suspense..but w/ very good acting to cover over the weak links..had been the best of a poor year. "Dylan at Newport" was the best documentary we saw. The transformation before one's eyes and ears of Dylan from a slightly self-effacing folkie in 1963 to the guy attacking the audience w/ the aid of Mike Bloomfield and the rest of the Butterfield Blues band in 1965 w/ Maggie's Farm. I was taken by surprise at the excellent sound quality.

Volver got us hooked into Penelope Cruz/Almodavar (sp). "Talk to Her" was excellent and Cruz saved Vicky Christina Barcelona (well, so did the cinematographer and the city itself). And . well back to 2007~ Eastern Promises (we are waiting for a dvd w/ the director's commentary; Cronenberg did a great job on the History of Violence commentary track). Michael Clayton which we just rewatched on DVD w/ great performances from all the leads. Because we're both Dylan and Beatles fans we very much liked both "I'm not There" and "Across the Universe." "Persepolis" could've been best picture, not just best animation. Although it was too close to being a slasher film for my tastes, Sweeney Todd was v. well done. Liked "Atonement" a great deal. The Golden Compass was better the 2nd time round on dvd. Juno was v. sweet.

I'll have to go into our Netflix history/queue to see what else we've watched over the last couple of years. Netflix has saved us so much money in late fees, it more than paid for itself the first year we subscribed. I don't mind paying a $10.00 fine at our local library for a late movie-but i'd much rather not.

If you feel like getting angry at GM-food monster Monsanto and their "roundup ready" grain takeover... The Future of Food was interesting. Especially if you like filmed editorials, as I do, as opposed to neutral documentaries. Much more entertaining to get an opinion.

I recently enjoyed a dvd rental of Starting Out in the Evening, about an aging novelist trying to access his last great work - amazing performances by both Frank Langella and Lauren Ambrose (of Six Feet Under fame).

#53--quite a coincidence bob--my wife and I watched In Bruges today. Martin McDonagh is just about my favorite playwright. The Beauty Queen of Leenane and The cripple of Inishmaan. He has a very adept comedic sense that often plays personalities against each other and there's always some gratuitous violence simmering in the background.

I've been working my way through MI-5 ("Spooks" in the UK) and am up to season three.

>53 bobmcconnaughey:, 59 I saw McDonagh's The Lieutenant of Inishmore in its premier season at The Other Place, Stratford, back in 2001. He has a way with the grotesque humor.

have any of McDonnagh's stage productions been filmed? I hadn't realized that he was quite a major playwrite until reading about him after watching "In Bruges"

I don't think so . . . I checked on imdb and he's only listed for two screenplays, Six Shooter and In Bruges.

I think I read somewhere--some time ago--that McDonagh was giving up on writing dramatic plays at least for a while with the idea of writing screenplays. The beauty queen of Leenane was a huge hit and a Broadway hit as well. I think the rest of his plays were very well recieved. The last one Pillowman was the first time he got out of his Irish milieu.

As far as any of them being filmed I don't think so.

"In Bruges" got an Oscar nomination for best screenplay. Certainly deserves it.

In the past few days, I've seen two fascinating films. The first was Frost / Nixon which was (surprisingly, to me) completely gripping. I am even more amazed by Frank Langella - who I recently saw in Starting out in the Evening, and who was fantastic as Nixon! It is worth seeing the film for his performance alone.

The other interesting flick was Zidane, an experimental film portrait by Douglas Gordon and Phillipe Parreno. I'm not particularly into soccer, but this was nothing like a sports documentary. It had a very intimate perspective of Zidane, ground level, following him rather than the action. So you get a sense of the game as a real-time experience, with lulls and stoppages, instead of the sports highlights reel. You also get a sense of Zidane's reactiveness or (as was often the case) unflappability and even inscrutability. It was all set to a soundtrack by Scottish band Mogwai - and the stadium roar.

#65--As it happens I've been listening a lot lately to Mogwai--though I don't have that particular cd.

i'd like to see the Zidane film! going on our queue.

In this week's email Roger Ebert reviews favorably The Secret of the Grain which was one of my top films of 2008. His review is titled Of love, death and couscous. After reading that review a few here may be interested in putting that on their list as well.

Roger Ebert's reviews can be read at RogerEbert.com as well as at imdb.com.

>68 polutropos: I'll take the love and couscous, but I prefer to put Uncle Death off for the moment.