{"id":118564,"date":"2016-08-01T07:53:49","date_gmt":"2016-08-01T11:53:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=118564"},"modified":"2022-07-02T08:36:38","modified_gmt":"2022-07-02T12:36:38","slug":"july-2016-viewing-diary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=118564","title":{"rendered":"July 2016 Viewing Diary"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Great Gatsby<\/strong><\/em> (2013; d. Baz Luhrmann)
\nWatched 3 times. Never written about it before. I think there’s a genius in it. <\/p>\n

The Great Gatsby<\/em><\/strong> (1974; d. Jack Clayton)
\nNever written about it before. I DON’T think there’s a genius in this one. <\/p>\n

Supernatural<\/em><\/strong>, Season 2, Episode 23, “All Hell Breaks Loose, Part II” (2007; d. Kim Manners)
\nPreparing for next re-cap. Season 2 finale!<\/p>\n

The Great Gatsby<\/em><\/strong> (2013; d. Baz Luhrmann)
\nWatched again. Hmmm. I wonder if maybe … I might be working on something. <\/p>\n

The 25th Hour<\/em><\/strong> (2002; d. Spike Lee)
\nWhat a brilliant film. A “9\/11 film”. Filmed when New York City was still reeling from what had happened. Yes, all of America was reeling, but it was different for us here, with the smoke rising from downtown, and the dusty trucks roaring up and down the Avenues carrying debris away from the gigantic hole downtown. This movie isn’t about<\/i> 9\/11. But it feels like what New York felt like in those days … because it was filmed in those days. Brilliant performances too. <\/p>\n

Supernatural<\/em><\/strong>, Season 11, Episode 23, “Alpha and Omega” (2016; d. Philip Sgriccia)
\nI forced myself to re-visit the disastrous last three episodes of the last season. It was even worse the second time, because I had critical distance and could actually attempt to examine how it all fell apart. It’s shocking, actually. <\/p>\n

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof<\/em><\/strong> (1958; d. Richard Brooks)
\nI returned home after seeing the play done in the Berkshire Theatre Festival<\/a>, and felt the desire to re-visit the film. <\/p>\n

Advise and Consent<\/em><\/strong> (1962; d. Otto Preminger)
\nIt’s been a long time. With our current presidential “campaign” (sorry, quotes are necessary in this case), the film – a wonderful and complex and honest look at the political process, and the compromises, and the cutthroat nature of it all – was a welcome tonic. Also, Charles Laughton’s final film. <\/p>\n

Compulsion<\/em><\/strong> (1959; d. Richard Fleischer)
\nWatched 3 times. Hm. Maybe I might be … working on something? Dean Stockwell! Orson Welles! The Leopold and Loeb story. I love Stockwell’s intense wound-up-tight and yet fragile performance in this. <\/p>\n

Supernatural<\/em><\/strong>, Season 11, Episode 21, “All In the Family” (2016; d. Thomas Wright)
\nWHAT have you done with SAM. Because I don’t know WHO that guy is. So tone-deaf. So unbelievably tone-deaf. The whole thing … Ack. No. I don’t care about ANY of those people and why are they clogging up the screen in the three final episodes? Makes no sense.<\/i><\/p>\n

Supernatural<\/em><\/strong>, Season 11, Episode 13, “Love Hurts” (2016; d. Philip Sgriccia)
\nTo refresh myself, I went back to one of the Season 11 episodes I love … but it just highlighted how much the season tumbled off the cliff as though a bridge collapsed at the last second. The final confession of Dean about “deepest desire” … how compelling and bizarre it all was … and how it came to …. nothing. Oh, hi Chuck. Why don’t you take over the whole damn series? Amara wants Dean so she can get to Chuck? Wow, what a cop-out.<\/p>\n

Home Alone<\/em><\/strong> (1990; d. Chris Columbus)
\nMy niece and nephew are obsessssssssed<\/i>. Watched with them when I was home. I don’t think I’ve seen it since I first saw it in a movie theatre and was amazed at how I still knew practically every scene and dialogue. It was so much fun watching my niece and nephew watching it. They’re so cartoon-oriented. I guess most kids are – especially now. This – and Princess Bride<\/i>, which I gave my niece for her birthday – are the only movies starring real live humans that have caught their attention. <\/p>\n

Terriers<\/em><\/strong> all 13 episodes (2010)
\nOh my God, I love this one-season series and I can’t thank Jessie enough for recommending it. It’s streaming on Netflix, just FYI. After seeing Michael Raymond-James as “Brick” in the production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof<\/i> in the Berkshires, I thought: “Man, I have to catch up on what else he’s done.” Yes, True Blood<\/i>, AND he played Paul Revere in a TV movie or something like that, but then Jessie said her favorite M-R-J was Terriers<\/i>. Raymond-James and Donal Logue star as unlicensed off-the-grid private investigators, living and working in Ocean Beach, a beach town near San Diego (I think? It felt a lot like Venice Beach.) There’s a season-long Arc about a shady real estate developer up to no good, and then there are one-off “cases” (like, neither of these guys have any business investigating cases, since they are not real PIs) … but it’s really about their relationship (as well as each guy’s relationship with the woman in his life). Really in-depth-full stuff, AND a beautiful example of a male friendship that is open, honest, and quite tender actually. Highly recommended. I watched it all in the space of 36 hours. I recommend Noel Murray’s wonderful re-caps on The A.V. Club as well as (and I can’t believe I’m saying this) the comments section. Everyone loves the series so much, and everyone has excellent observations. <\/p>\n

Don’t Think Twice<\/em><\/strong> (2016; d. Mike Birbiglia)
\nLoved it. Reviewed for Rogerebert.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Legend of Tarzan<\/em><\/strong> (2016; d. David Yates)
\nAbsolutely loved every second. Beautiful film. Epic and emotional. Good performances. <\/p>\n

Little Men<\/em><\/strong> (2016; d. Ira Sachs)
\nOpens this Friday. Will be reviewing for Rogerebert.com. The follow-up to the extraordinary Love Is Strange<\/i> (which I also reviewed for Rogerebert.com.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Into the Spiral<\/em><\/strong> (2015; d. Konrad Aksinowicz)
\nWonderful film. I moderated the QA with the two lead actors<\/a> at a recent screening (its first in the US) at the Tribeca Film Center. <\/p>\n

The Bachelorette<\/em><\/strong>, Season 12 in its entirety
\nI got hooked after reading one of Ali Barthwell’s laugh-out-loud funny re-caps on Vulture. One episode and I was hooked. Clearly.<\/a> Finale next week. But I lost interest the second she sent Chase home. Oh, Jo Jo, no. <\/p>\n

Quitters<\/em><\/strong> (2016; d. Noah Pritzker)
\nReviewed for Rogerebert.com.<\/a><\/p>\n

Disorder<\/em><\/strong> (2015; d. Alice Winocour)
\nWow. Will be reviewing for Rogerebert.com so I won’t say anything else. It opens in 2 weeks. Directed by the co-writer for the amazing Mustang<\/i><\/a>. <\/p>\n

The Bachelor<\/em><\/strong>, Season 16 (2014)
\nWas recommended to me as peak reality TV especially Courtney. Courtney was a terrible human being (as quoted by my sister), and a great reality TV villain. Maybe the best. She wrote a book about it. Skipped around in this one. One of the most awkward kisses I’ve ever seen with one of the contestants. I almost turned it off. Poor girl. She seemed to think men like it when women take charge – and yes, they do on occasion – but not like THAT. She also kept saying to the camera, “I am prude.” No, honey. The phrase is: “I am A prude.” OR you could say “I am prudish.” Not “I am prude.” <\/p>\n

The Bachelor<\/em><\/strong>, Season 18, (2014)
\nMy friend Nate who dominated in the FB thread about these shows recommended Juan Pablo, due to the sheer craziness of it all. Juan Pablo is a DREADFUL person. Worst boyfriend ever. And you could SEE the women ignore their intuition and ignore the red flags, which was painful to watch, because most of us have been there. Andi calling him out on his bullshit was extremely satisfying. <\/p>\n

The Bachelor<\/em><\/strong>, Season 20, (2015)
\nI got interested in Jo Jo’s journey as a contestant, because of course I did, so I skipped around in Season 20, watching her in action. I wanted to get a further line on her, what she seemed to want, etc. To try to understand why Robby – ROBBY – made it as far as he did. (And yes, people, I KNOW the whole thing is manufactured. I KNOW. But I find the whole thing entertaining as well as interesting in a sociological and practically anthropological and zoological way.)<\/p>\n

Blue Crush<\/em><\/strong> (2002; d. John Stockwell)
\nI wrote about this favorite for the Favorite Uplifting Movies piece on Rogerebert.com<\/a> and it made me hunger to re-visit it. Yup. Still works. <\/p>\n

Supernatural<\/em><\/strong>, Season 9, Episode 7, “Bad Boys” (2013; d. Kevin Parks)
\nA favorite. <\/p>\n

Supernatural<\/em><\/strong>, Season 9, Episode 8, “The Purge” (2014; d. Philip Sgriccia)
\nAnother favorite. That final scene<\/i>. I’m never “over” it. It’s so good. <\/p>\n

Love & Mercy<\/em><\/strong> (2015; d. Bill Pohlad)
\nMy God, I love this movie<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Great Gatsby (2013; d. Baz Luhrmann) Watched 3 times. Never written about it before. I think there’s a genius in it. The Great Gatsby (1974; d. Jack Clayton) Never written about it before. I DON’T think there’s a genius … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2627,4,31],"tags":[2665,1593,2518,1319,66,2493,2206,107,2392,2205,2273,2263,652],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118564"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=118564"}],"version-history":[{"count":40,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":158410,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118564\/revisions\/158410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=118564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=118564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=118564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}