Last Ten Films We've Seen (as of Oct. 9th): Imports; Lots of Imports

A verse from "The Holy Koran," a bus-stop shaped like a school bus in Athens, Georgia, and a Slovenian folk dance are our three images here in reference to: 1) The Reluctant Fundamentalist; 2) I Am Waiting; and 3) Spare Parts, a film from Slovenia. "Spare Parts" was released as part of the Film Movement dvd series, but it appears the company has lost copyright rights for the films as it is no longer listed as one of their selections (we found the film through a local library).

Interestingly enough, Turkish actor Haluk Bilginler is in both "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" and "Innocence."

Here is the list:

1) The Reluctant Fundamentalist. 2012. Director: Mira Nair.

2) Love Crime. France. 2010. Dir: Alain Courneau. w/Kristin Scott Thomas

3) Innocence. Turkey. 1997. Dir: Zeki Demirkubuz.

4) I Am Waiting. Japan. 1957. Dir: Koreyoshi Kurahara

5) Spare Parts. Slovenia. 2003. Damjan Kozole.

6) Wadjda. Saudi Arabia. 2012. Haifaa Al-Mansour.

7) Gone Girl. 2014. David Fincher (excellent movie!) w/ Ben Affleck

8) The Arbor. Documentary. 2010. Clio Barnard.

9) Prisoners. 2013. Denis Villenuuve.

10) Hustling. TV Movie. 1975. Joseph Sargent w/Jill Clayburgh and Lee Remick

http://www.filmmovement.com

http://www.criterion.com

The Last Ten Films I've Seen- Lots of Dark Stuff

We need to put this relatively quickly, so it can get to our loyal readers in Pyonyang, North Korea. Of course, that is a joke. But, for those of you who haven't seen David Fincher's 1999 cinematic adaptation of the Chuck Palahniuk novel "Fight Club," soap figures prominently in the film.

Here is the list:

1. "Contagion" 2011. dir- Steven Soderbergh. With Matt Damon and Kate Winslet

2. "Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge" 1991. dir- David DeCateau...yes, it is awful!

3. "Cold Weather" 2010. dir-Aaron Katz

4. "Ball of Fire" 1941. dir- Howard Hawks. With Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper

5. "Seven Men from Now." 1956. dir- Budd Boetticher. With Randolph Scott and Lee Marvin.

6. "Straw Dogs" 2011. dir-Rod Lurie. With Kate Bosworth. (the 1971 original directed by Sam Peckinpah is much better)

7. "Voices in Wartime." doc. 2005. dir-Rick King

8. "Sarah's Key." 2010. dir- Gilles Paquet-Brenner. With Kristin Scott Thomas.

9. "Fight Club." 1999. dir- David Fincher. With Ed Norton and Brad Pitt.

10. "Guys and Dolls" 1955. dir-Joseph L. Makiewicz. With Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra.

The Next 10 Films in Our Netflix Que- Lots of Foreign Films

The dominance of Netflix among the dvd sales market has been subject of NPR pieces on "Market Place" and written articles in "Wired" magazine, which we really need to read some time (subscribing to eight or nine other magazines has its disadvantages!). Though with its own streaming services, amazon.com is projected to be gradually catching up with the online giant soon.

Since it has been a depressing week lately for a variety of reasons, including the tsunami in Japan as well as the political unrest Bahrain, Yemen, Syria and Libya, I hope some of these films are a bit uplifting. But, then again, I'm in no mood for "Mary Poppins" which is amazingly enough one of the most favorite films of filmmaker David Fincher ("Zodiac," "The Social Network")!


Here are the next ten films I am scheduled to be recieving from Netflix. In case you were wondering, "Lightning in a Bottle" is a 'rocumentary' about blues musicians like B.B. King.

1. "The Class" (France, 2008).

2. "Yi Yi" (Taiwan, 2000).

3. "The Son's Room" (Italy, 2001).

4. "Not on the Lips" (France, 2003).

5. "Undertow" (2004)

6. "The Mist" (2007)

7. "15" (France, 2003).

8. "Lightning in a Bottle" (doc., 2004).

9. "Rivers and Tides" (doc., 2003)

10. "The Yacoubian Building" (Egypt, 2006).