My holiday movie watching

I did my best to disconnect for a 2 week+ holiday at the end of this year.  It’s winding down and while the kids are napping (and the wife) I am bored and thought I’d post my list of movies I watched this break.  Having a full-time job that also happens to be your hobby plus two kids doesn’t leave a ton of time for theater going.  So this holiday I maximized my Netflix subscription both in DVD and (mostly) online instant watch via my XBOX.  Here’s some of my favorites. 

• The Yes Men – an interesting indie film of two guys’ satire site for the WTO turns them into representatives and gets them invited (by people who think they *are* the WTO) to conferences, etc.  What’s funny is that the only audience who called their BS and outlandish statements were university students.  Other world leaders and business executives didn’t budge on their absurdities.
• The Way We Get By – a touching documentary of a senior citizen group in Maine (gotta love those accents) and how they greet EVERY incoming US armed forces troops back to the states.  The dedication of this group is pretty humbling.
• MonsterCamp – no idea why I started watching this one, but didn’t last long – fantasy games are just not my thing…then introduce real-life re-enactments…sigh.  It was pretty funny to watch people call out their strengths: My destroy power 10 eliminates your 2 power power fist…or something like that.
• Food, Inc. – hands down, my favorite movie of the year.  You must set aside some time and watch this.  Amazing.  About the food industry over time and how very few actual companies control the food production in the US.  And the story of Monsanto is a bit frightening.
• McLibel – a close second to my favorite.  Apparently there is a law in the UK (not sure if it still exists) that people must apologize in public if a company thinks they are wronged.  Two people (not companies) refuse to do this and stand by their claims against McDonald’s.  The film documents their trial.  Stick it to the man.
• Outfoxed: Murdoch’s War on Journalism – interesting behind-the-scenes expose film about the FOX news network.  Truth be told, I bet similar things could be found about all media agencies.  This film though challenges your thought on mainstream media.
• America the Beautiful – a documentary about perception of beauty in America.  Film was ‘meh’ for me.  Not well done.
• Google Me – watch as Jim Killeen sets out to interview his search results.  I actually really enjoyed this one.  It was fun if anything for the voyeuristic nature of learning about different people.  The best part of the film is near the end with the rapid-pace answers by each of the 7 Jim Killeens hailing from all over the world.  Incidentally I had a question about the film, wrote to Jim (the director) and he quickly wrote me back…cool.
• 9/11: Press for Truth – chronicles mostly the Jersey wives that were in the news about getting the government to actually launch the 9/11 commission…and some of their disappointments.  I know 9/11 is a hot topic for people who are passionate about all sort of issues around the subject.  I was interested, and watched this film.  I leave no opinion here about the content.
• The Soloist – was hoping this would be a good movie for me.  I found myself doing other things in the background.  I think it was just too slow for me.
• The Maiden Heist – meh.  Lots of reviews of how funny it was.  It wasn’t.
• Watchmen – it took a while to get through near 3 hours of this film.  Was hoping for a little more comic book-ness out of it rather than what I got.  I liked the style of the film though.  Could have cut a lot of time out of the movie…like the superhero sex.  We get it, they hooked up.  I don’t need to see the dude’s arse.
• The Corporation – a documentary about the entity of ‘corporation’ and the history.  This was recommended to me by a few.  The style was not attention grabbing and I lost a lot of interest as I watched it.  It was, however, insightful of the history of the corporation.  Reminded me of learning about copyright laws from Lessig.
• Sherlock Holmes (theater) – I never remembered ol’ chap Sherlock being such a bad arse.  But he is in this movie.  I guess it’s the modern day budget interpretation of all the quirks of dear Holmes.  Entertaining flick.  Jude Law was the winner in this film.  I’m going to be him for Halloween…or the Butcher from Gangs of New York.
• Old Dogs (theater) – I thought this was an entertaining flick.  Call me lame, but it was some fun humor.
• The Blind Side (theater) – wow, great movie.  Had no idea about this story.  Cool to see how recent it was.  Recommend seeing this one.

Yes, I killed a lot of brain cells in the name of film entertainment for my holiday.  When you don’t sleep well and everyone’s doing their own thing, heck Netflix instant watch is a good thing to have on hand!  And yes, I like documentaries.  I like things that challenge mainstream thought as well as my own.  I enjoy ‘fun’ movies as well, but there hasn’t been a lot that have really reached my favorite bar in a while.  NOTE: My favorite movie is The Big Lebowski.  I’m looking forward to A Serious Man and The Informant.