The Second Shelf

The next shelf is a bit bigger, containing 45 DVD's, so I'm going to give myself a little bit more time on this one. I would like to finish these selections by Friday, October 29. That gives me 21 days to watch 45 movies. Now that I know I can do a few a day on rainy days, I won't panic if I need to skip a day here or there and take a break. If I can make the last goal, I can do anything, right?


So here's what's on the shelf:

• Anchorman
• Anchors Aweigh
• Angels & Demons
• Apocalypto
• The Aristocats
• Armageddon
• Art School Confidential
• As You Like It
• Assassins
• Atonement
• Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
• Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
• Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
• Austin Powers: Goldmember
• Australia
• Away We Go
• Baby Mama
• Back to the Future
• Back to the Future, Part II
• Back to the Future, Part III
• Bad Boys
• Bad Boys II
• Balls of Fury
• Baseketball
• Basic
• Batman
• Batman Returns
• Batman Forever
• Batman & Robin
• Batman Begins
• Batteries Not Included
• Battle Royale
• Be Cool
• Be Kind, Rewind
• Beauty & the Beast
• Becoming Jane
• Bedazzled
• Beerfest
• Beetlejuice
• Beowulf
• Best in Show
• Big Fish
• The Big Lebowski
• Big Trouble in Little China
• Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

If you want to catch any of these flicks with me, you'll have to time your visit! Let me know :)

Recap: The First Shelf

I made it!! I finished all 26 movies in 7 days, as promised. And I'm pumped to keep going... this is actually kinda fun. Plus, I'm learning to watch movies while doing other things around the house, so the process is going by much faster. Hooray!

On this shelf of DVDs, in case you were curious, I watched 46 hours 13 minutes of movies.
Holy crap. When you break it down like that, it makes me look like I have no life. Truth be told, movies go by quickly when you're multi-tasking. Also when it's rainy. This week, there wasn't much to do but watch movies. I'm sure other weeks will be different.

The shortest movie here was a tie at 1 hr 15 min for Alice in Wonderland and The Adventures of Milo & Otis. The longest movie was a snore-inducing 2 hr 47 min for Alexander.

As for actors that I saw frequently, there were a lot of double-acts on this shelf. These actors appeared in at least two movies apiece:

• Christopher Plummer
• Bruce Willis
• Catherine Keener
• Jim Sturgess
• Kevin Spacey
• Chris Cooper
• Crispin Glover

The oldest movie was Alice in Wonderland (1951) and the newest movie was also Alice in Wonderland (2010). Doubt that'll happen again!

And since that's what this project is all about, I'll mention that I had to open a whopping SEVEN sealed DVDs of this 26-movie list. That's an unacceptable 27% !!!

Anyway, onward to The Second Shelf!

Movie #26 - Anaconda

Anaconda
Columbia Pictures
1997 - Rated R - 1 hr 29 min
Director: Luis Llosa
Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight, Eric Stoltz, and Owen Wilson

Say it with me, everyone, J-Lo can't act. But if you can get past that, the bad CGI snake, and Jon Voight's ridiculous accent, you're all set to enjoy this late 90's thriller. It's action-packed from beginning to end. Honestly, there's never been a fiercer snake lurking in any body of water, anywhere. This thing is ruthless and wants to eat everyone. It gets all manner of things done to it and still won't die. (Maybe that's because it's clearly robotic, but no one told J-Lo and friends.)

It's not very high quality, sure, but Anaconda still remains a guilty pleasure.

Movie #25 - American Dreamz

American Dreamz
Universal Pictures
2006 - Rated PG-13 - 1 hr 47 min
Director: Paul Weitz
Starring: Hugh Grant, Dennis Quaid, Mandy Moore, Willem Dafoe, Chris Klein and Jennifer Coolidge

"Imagine a country where the president never reads the newspaper, where the government goes to war for all the wrong reasons, and where more people vote for a pop idol than their next president."

That's the tagline for this one, and it pretty aptly sums up the premise. On one hand, you have a hugely successful pop idol selection show (sound familiar?) and on the other, you have a bumbling president who suddenly decides to start learning about foreign policy (ahem). Anyway, what happens when these two collide on one night of television? Did I forget to mention the terrorist cell that has a plant on said pop idol selection show?

It sounds overly satirical and too tongue-in-cheek to be funny, but the political undertones are well hidden. Subtle, even. You just get to sit back, relax, and pretend this stuff would never happen in the US. Right?

Good times.

Movie #24 - American Beauty

American Beauty
DreamWorks
1999 - Rated R - 2 hr 2 min
Director: Sam Mendes
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Mena Suvari, and Chris Cooper



Now here's an Oscar-winner I can get behind. I love this movie, from beginning to end. Well written, great cast, spot-on dialogue, artistically filmed (without going overboard), and all those rose petals. Really, after watching this movie, can you ever look at rose petals the same way?

I first saw this movie in the theater and loved every thing about it. From the instant knowledge that Lester Burnham is not long for this world, to the disintegrating marriage right before your eyes, to the damn plastic bag. I'm not sure I get the whole plastic bag thing, but whatever. Wes Bentley and Thora Birch play some of the world's first emo kids and that's pretty cool, okay? Let them be emo however they like.

The suspense is beautifully crafted in this movie. You know he's going to die, so you spend the first half of the movie trying to figure out how. By the time you get to his narrated line about "the day I died," you've forgotten. Oh my God! It's going to happen soon! And then even up to the moment it happens, you're still wondering when, when! How? And then - holy crap! And of course, you can't figure out who it was until that helpful montage uncovers the killer. So many people have motives... it could've been any one of them!

And still, this movie is not a thriller or a mystery. It's just a story about the last year in a man's ordinary life. It's just about him. And it's so enjoyable to watch, even when you do know what's going to happen.

Movie #23 - Along Came Polly

Along Came Polly
Universal Pictures
2004 - Rated PG-13 - 1 hr 30 min
Director: John Hamburg
Starring: Ben Stiller, Jennifer Aniston, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Debra Messing, Hank Azaria, Alec Baldwin

Ben Stiller plays the same goofy, lovestruck, hopeless guy he does in most of his movies. In this, he's an insurance adjuster who can't take risks. When his wife unexpectedly cheats on him (on the first day of the honeymoon), he freaks out, goes home, and bumps into the least likely woman to be interested in him... Surprisingly, she is interested (What is it that the ladies love so much about Ben?)

Overall, it's just a funny rom-com with a basic plotline, cast of characters, and a few choice one-liners thrown in for fun. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Alec Baldwin are probably the best parts about this movie. Still, I enjoyed watching it for the first time in a few years.

Movie #22 - Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Alice In Wonderland
Walt Disney Pictures
2010 - Rated PG - 1 hr 49 min
Director: Tim Burton
Starring: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Crispin Glover, Matt Lucas, Mia Wasikowska

Alright, I really really wanted to love this movie when I saw it in the theater last spring. To be honest, I didn't hate it but I really didn't love it either. It's another Burton/Depp/Bonham-Carter collaboration, so of course, it's dark and quirky, with just a side of mania. I liked the premise of the grown up Alice returning to Wonderland (or Underland) to slay the Jabberwocky, since it was a fresh way to adapt the classic story. Still, there were times where I felt like Tim Burton was too busy being Tim Burton... you know what I mean?

Overall, it's not bad. Johnny Depp does a great job, since he is at his core a talented character actor. The Scottish accent thing, I didn't even mind, although some people did. Helena Bonham-Carter is also entertaining, as usual. And they cast a great newcomer as Alice. I really enjoyed this movie, but I didn't feel like it lived up to all the hype. I don't know how it could have been improved, I just know that it could've been. Does that make sense?