I don't rent movies, I buy them, but I'm watching How to Steal a Million, and I love love love this movie. (In the commentary, Eli Wallach goes, "that's a very sexy car, that Jaguar" when we see Peter O'Toole's car, and it cracks me up).

Tonight we watched Keeping Mum which was adorable and entertaining. Of course anything with Maggie Smith is awesome. It was like a twisted Mary Poppins.

Notes on a Scandal - There is nothing like watching actors at the top of their games and damn if Dame Judi and Cate didn't bring it in this one. It was light on plot, but great on characterization, but not the bash-you-over-the-head kind that you often get in character-driven movies. And I liked that, given the subject matter, the movie stayed pretty damn believable in terms of the reactions of the characters.

I'm having a Cate Blanchett weekend, so next up is Heaven with Giovanni Ribisi.

I think this weekend I will do nothing but curl up on the sofa and watch movies. So now I am eating breakfast (tea and toasted bacon-cheddar-scallion cornbread) and watching Cold Comfort Farm, one of my favorite movies. How awesome are Eileen Atkins and Ian McKellen?

I recently rented Hostel and I was surprised that a) I enjoyed it as much as I did, b) that the film has a depth to it that is often overlooked because of its genre.
That said, I slept really badly right after watching it.

I love that movie. I own it. That is how much I love it. My sister and I could talk about that movie for hours.

I also own it. I quote it constantly.

"Something nasty in the woodshed."

The cast is awesome but I wish someone would do an adaptation that kept the sci fi parody in like the videophones and the air-taxis. To me it misses something if you only get half the parody. And you could do very funny things with the sequel (Conference at cold Comfort Farm) which is all about Brit art.

I enjoyed the original TV version so much, I never bothered with the remake.

McKellen is someone I've actually quoted, and I never quote movies. "Quivering masses." "You'll burn".

I saw the original 1968 version of Cold Comfort Farm a few years ago. (Bought it in fact) It was good but came across as dated with some of the artistic cinemagraphic bits. Though that might have a bit more to do with production budget constraints. (A number of adaptations of books from that period were a bit stagey)
But I think it is difficult to truly compare the two adaptations. They both have their merits and actors who gave personable performances.

It would be great if they brought back the other Cold Comfort books into print. Right now they are supremely expensive to get a hold of out of print copies. (I am not quite ready to throw down a few hundred pounds for a book)

Good grief! I worked at a library that had them so I had no idea about the price. It's a shame because the sequel is funny and really quite topical as it's all about the world art market being dominated by hip but essentially shallow young Brits who hold a convention at the farm for reasons that escape me. But it's not $200 worth of funny!

I watched The Invisible Man (the Claude Rains one). The effects still look absolutely awesome and it made me nostalgic for the days when horror films didn't last 140 minutes and have buckets of blood in every scene. It came with a documentary about James Whale and other Invisible Man films and an excellent commentary by Rudy Behlmer who seems to know everything there is about 1930s Hollywood. Well worth renting especially if you've seen Gods and Monsters and want to know more.

There was a ton of gore in that movie. It was just invisible.

And don't even mention the nudity (which there really are some sly jokes about).

I rented La Dolce Vita and watched it last night.

I want to look like like a woman in a Fellini film. I want to look like a man in a Fellini movie! That was a guy who knew beauty. And having just gone to Rome to visit in the last month, I enjoyed it even more because I recognised places, and after having been there, the idea of Italian men >>trying to hit on women from a hovering helicopter<<actually doesn't seem far-fetched.

I really need to see more Fellini movies now.