It’s been a rough week, I’m not going to lie. My patience has been tested more than once and I’m starting to feel the grip loosen on a lot of things. I’m just going to leave it there and hope this 4 day weekend I’m facing will help calm me (and things) down.

OPENING NIGHT (1977)

If there ever was a film that focussed on acting and the process of acting it would be this. A great performance by Gena Rowlands and an intriguing perspective on how an actor develops a character from page to stage. Read my full review here.

THE GIANT MECHANICAL MAN (2012)

The perfect example of where indie romantic comedies can be stated to be unequivocally worse than ‘normal’ romantic comedies. Charm and quirk is injected randomly but never seems to be enough to elevate a boring film above its sad state of existence.

A LATE QUARTET (2012)

A great drama about what happens when a group (a quartet) of people are forced to bring all their repressed confrontations to the forefront after it’s discovered that the oldest member of the group is being forced to leave after discovering he has an illness that will not allow him to play much longer. I can’t articulate how great I feel the acting, writing and execution this drama is in such a succinct form, but please understand that it’s a great movie and I’ll be writing further in coming days.

REWATCHED

With me still churning through a few blu rays I purchased from last year I decided to spend a evening with an old cowboy returning for one last job to get a bounty in Unforgiven. It’s just as great as I remember it and it still surprises me that it’s directed by Clint Eastwood. While I know he’s made good films before this is definitely one that shines above the rest and will forever be the reason why I will be willing to give his movies a chance, in hopes he returns to this height.

With more time to spare this weekend I decided to have a Ving Rhames double feature with Mission: Impossible III and Out of Sight. Both of these films are movies which use kinetic filmmaking and snappy dialogue to keep it flowing in ways that I wish more filmmakers would take note of.

My count for the year of 2013 is updated to 26 First time watches (3 from 2013); 13 Rewatches; 39 Total Films