I’m back! I’ve been meaning to get back to doing this little segment since the blogs came back on-line and discovering the comments on my last post as inspired me to get to work. So I’m putting hereditary spherocytosis aside for the moment and focusing on this. I’m sure I’ll be much better off…

I’m going to have to update my movie lists on this page. I started keeping track of them in a spreadsheet with the blogs went down and I’ve really come to enjoy managing them that way. I also converted myself to a 10/10 system rather than a 4 star system. It’s really rather arbitrary to assign a rating to any movie, but it does help me keep track of things and it’s a nice way to give someone else a general idea of what you thought of a film without having to write a paragraph for each one you see.

November was a fairly productive month considering how busy work has gotten.

’50s: 1

’60s: 2

’70s: 2

’00s: 2

My sole new release and theater viewing was Quantum of Solace. I liked it particularly well and have the feeling that its reputation will increase with time. The action is sloppy and it’s overall a backstep from its immediate predecessor, but otherwise it’s one of the best Bonds. This same month I sat down to finally watch Lazenby’s sole outing as 007, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. It’s an often mentioned installment when talking about the best Bonds of all time, but it didn’t quite reach that standard for me. I enjoyed it and Lazenby did an admirable job with the role. After slamming through the fourth wall with the force of a Daniel Craig lunge in the opening minutes Lazenby settles nicely but never establishes a presence that rivals the greats. He is minor Bond, despite his efforts here. The film includes one of the best Bond girls of all time and the final scene is utterly heartbreaking. That’s what really lifts the film, because otherwise it’s a bit of a snooze. Despite the villain being Blofeld himself, things are rather dull when it’s just Bond pretending to be a heraldry professor the entire middle act. It’s a respectable entry, far greater than the majority of Bond films, but it falls beneath Craig’s pair and most of Connery’s.

Roman Holiday is absolutely delightful and the best I saw all month. I didn’t care for A History of Violence much at all, while I enjoyed my introduction to Woody Allen and Peter O’Toole.

New Viewings:
Roman Holiday
A History of Violence
All the President’s Men
Annie Hall
Lawrence of Arabia
Quantum of Solace
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

Rewatches: Robocop 2, Die Hard