Big Trouble in Little China-Great looking catalogue title.

Role Models. Awesome movie. Great PQ/AQ.

François Truffaut's The 400 Blows (1959). On first viewing this one left me cold at the end ('is that it'? I thought after the famous final frame faded to black) and not just because the high-def transfer didn't look significantly improved over Criterion DVD's from that era (like Truffaut's own "Jules and Jim"). The personal and autobiographical nature of the misadventures of Truffaut's on-screen doppelgänger Antoine Doinel and friend Rene appeared to this viewer as insignificant and predictable. In the days after first seeing it though "400 Blows" stayed with me; couldn't get Jean Constantin's piano theme off my head so I had to put it on my MP3 player just to soothe me senses. Repeat viewings, the last one over the weekend (in which I learned to appreciate more the fine details of 1080p B&W Cinemascope), have finally shifted my opinion of "400 Blows" to 'masterpiece.' So much so that I bought a new BD from amazon.com ($12.99) to give to my father, who was about the age of Doinel around the same time the movie takes place (late 50's), as the first BD movie he will watch on his brand-new Black Friday acquired Blu-ray player.

It's almost disappointing to know Truffaut and Jean-Pierre Léaud went on to do more movies about the Doinel character because the power of this movie's last shot (like the 'cut-to-black' "Sopranos" ending) seems that would be more lasting if we didn't know what ever became of the character. Oh well, Netflix here I come to keep track of Truffaut's other Doinel movies!

Cujo

Miracle on 34th Street. This is the original 1940's classic, and it holds up as well today as it surely did then. A true holiday masterpiece.

I Love You, Man. Decent movie - moderately entertaining. Some good laughs and it was a sweet romantic comedy essentially. With straight dudes.

Confessions of a Shopaholic. Also a decent movie that was moderately entertaining. It had the benefit of the gorgeous, funny, and charming Isla Fisher though.

Dexter: Season 1, Disc 1. I'd never seen the show before and on a whim, really, finally decided to give it a shot by netflixing the first disc. What an amazing series this is turning out to be so far... by the end of the disc I already felt addicted to this show. Great cast, excellent writing, solid direction, and all fueled by it's great premise. I can't wait to see what happens next!

Top Gun

Cool Hand Luke. It has a nice transfer and is a very good movie too.

Star Trek - excellent PQ. Not a perfect movie, but better than I expected. Better than Trek 9 & 10 at least.

Final Destination (2000) - Average PQ to say the least. I was really expecting more.

Casino Royale - Collector's Edition, which I treated myself to with birthday money. ($14.96 at Walmart!) It was great, especially since I hadn't watched it in about a year so I was really paying close attention.

Gimme Shelter......if you're on the fence about getting this disc go ahead and get it you won't reget it[it's that good imho].

Wallace and Gromit in A Matter of Loaf and Death
Dug's Secret Mission

Trying to make up my mind really is too hard to find.

Red Cliff Part II -

The Departed Blu-ray Disc. I could actually read the serial number on a $5 bill in the beginning of the movie!

I've watched Charile and the Chocolate Factory up to chapter 12 with the 'in movie experience' and it's funny that one of the questions it asks is one that bothered me about the scene where Charlie buys the chocolate bar with the winning, last golden ticket - it asks "whaaaaat, no change??'

The Police: Certifiable... WHAT AN EVENT!

The concert was great!

Bruno...watched it last night. Maybe Borat was just so original that Bruno just seemed "already done." And he didn't let the unsuspecting others be the stars, it was all about Bruno.

Four Christmases I like Vince Vaughn so I found the movie amusing when I saw it in the theaters last year. I will say though that it is the Vince Vaughn show with tons of situations so Vince can do his monologues. Also Reese was too short for the role. The height disparity was too obvious, then there were times she must have been standing on a egg crate. In one scene she was below his shoulder in the next above. It's an OK rental and a good watch once a year. I wouldn't own it until it dropped below $10. I can just rent it once year until then. PQ and AQ were good as one would expect but nothing jaw dropping.

our traditional Saturday Night ritual, triple feature of unwatched dvds & pizza has changed to unwatched blu-rays and pizza, a new era begins!

tonight:

the Searchers
Bullitt
400 Blows

Congratulations. Have fun

And what a fine era this will be if these titles are any indication of your tastes. A classic Western, a classic action flick and a classic B&W foreign flick (sorry if you expected it to be... something else based on its title ). That and pizza will make for a fine evening treat. Have fun.

Striking Distance Decent AQ and PQ however a really crappy picture. I remember seeing this on VHS years ago, the Blu is a better presentation yet doesn't help the crappy material. It was 10 minutes in and I lost track of the continuity errors and mistakes. It was filmed a lot like cop shows in the 60's and 70's. Glad it was a rental.

Enjoy

Yesterday the kids watched High School Musical and last night I watched Gone In 60 Seconds.

Today we watched Kung Fu Panda and I finally got the Mrs. to watch Vantage Point.