I've actually stumbled upon some decent stuff on Netflix lately.

A really good documentary about Jewish refugees hiding in a cave in the Ukraine during WWII called: No Place On Earth.

Another holocaust based movie called The Boy In The Striped Pajamas. An interesting film that looks at the effects of the war on a family of an SS member who runs a concentration camp. Fiction, but makes you think about the humanity of the families of Nazis and the horrors of the war in general.

Hachi- a movie about a dumb dog that waits for years for his master to come home after he dies. Based on true events. Stupid mutt. Did someone start cutting onions in here?

A Christian movie called Upside. Actually a decent Christian film. Good writing and decent acting. A rarity in Christian cinema. A great delivery of the message without wooden, preachy dialog.

I just watched The Sum of all Fears. A little late, I know- but good movie.

And Jack Reacher- good also. I don't think there was maybe one swear word. Good movie that felt like watching a cop drama from the old days. Not an explosion a minute, but drama and suspense.

You catch any good ones lately?

The last four movies I've seen (over the past couple of months) were Gravity, American Hustle, August: Osage County, and The Wolf of Wall Street. I thought the middle two were very, very good, and the other two were fairly good. Word of warning, though- Wolf of Wall Street is very long and has a ton of nudity.

I just saw "The Butler" with Forest Whitaker. Really good.

Twelve Years a Slave and Nebraska. Both worth seeing.

I haven't seen it yet but I hear The Lone Survivor is pretty intense from start to finish and rivals Saving Private Ryan. The only difference being The Lone Survivor is a true story. I plan on seeing it this week or next.

If you get a chance, go see The Book Thief.

I was pleasantly surprised by "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone." Also saw the newest Hunger Games (in a rare trip to the theater because I got passes for my birthday) and I am enjoying that series far more than I expected. I usually watch documentaries and "America the Beautiful 2: The Thin Commandments" is very interesting. "Deceptive Practices" about Ricky Jay is also on Netflix. Pretty similar to the last doc I saw about him but kind of interesting anyway.

I'd like to see the new Hunger Games. I watched the first one out of desperation and was pleasantly surprised.

Gravity- I really want to see this one. I really like Sandra Bullock. I just saw The Blindside recently and really liked that.

I think I'll pass on Wolf of Wall Street. lol

My son really liked Lone Survivor and my daughter loved The Book Thief.

Oh yeah Critter, I've got the Ricky Jay movie in my list. Glad to hear it's an interesting watch.

La Camioneta ........Netflix. A nice documentary following a used school bus from an auction yard here in the states to its end purpose: a privately run city bus in a big Guatemalan city...where drivers are shot by the dozens by the mafia for not paying off mo they. Interesting, sad, chilling, revelatory. It's a nice hour-ten.

Do TV movies count? If so, I really enjoyed Lizzie Borden Took an Axe, that premiered this past weekend.

Wolf of Wall Street was spectacular...and not in any way a family film. It's a VERY hard R.
Captain Phillips was also incredible. I was physically tired at the end of it, due to the suspense that builds. Definitely a great film.
Saving Mr. Banks was also a lot of fun, and I was surprised that Emma Thompson didn't receive a Best Actress nomination from the Academy. She was very good.
Gravity...beautifully shot. I'm glad I saw it in a theater.

I think that's all I've seen.

Captain Phillips! Want to see that one too.

Yes Michael- TV movies very much count! I'm usually priced out of the theater. lol

Tom- that sounds interesting, I'll have to check it out.

I rented Captain Phillips for my Mom. I'll have to ask her if she liked it.

Looking for a movie to go see on Sunday Afternoon. Not much is playing in Seattle that I haven't already seen. Probably go see American Hustle of The Invisible woman.

I heard from a friend today American Hustle is a good movie. That's on my list too.

"Taking Chance" with Kevin Bacon.

A Day at the Races

I've seen American Hustle (A+), Nebraska (okay, depressing, black and white, and not as good as Sideways. beautifully filmed, Durn should have been in better films, this was his parting shot to show his chops and he delivers, but it makes you wish hollywood had treasured him more. Good film, but not the career defining role I'm sure he was hoping for), Inside Llewellian Davis - I was really looking forward to this one having taken lessons from Dave Van Ronk, the character the film was billed as loosly based on. Instead of giving us DVR, they gave us an ahole, unlikable character that happened to play Dave's repretroire. I would have liked it better had I not known the character they were assasinating. But with all of the Coen Brothers work, it was interesting and interesting to watch. And it was great that they allowed the songs to be played in their entirity: full song performances with no cutaways to show us something other than the musician playing and singing. I loved that and realized that the only time I've seen that in another film was Annie Hall (and maybe the Blue Angel).

I finally saw Blue Jasmine and thought it was absolutely brilliant. Incredible performances all the way around but Cate Blanchett took film acting to a complete new level. She deserves every award she gets for this career defining role. The film itself was smart, made you think, had a great twist, and kept me guessing and entertained every second. Say what you want about Woody, but he knows how to create a great film when he wants.

Slide, I second your opinion of Blue Jasmine. Great movie, and Cate Blanchett absolutely deserves an Oscar for her performance.

I enjoyed Blue Jasmine, I liked Cate Blanchett and the other actress who played the poorer sister was also very good. The movie as a whole didn't completely satisfy me however. It was a nice change of pace though to see a Woody Allen movie where some of the main characters are working class.

I haven't seen Inside Llewelyn Davis yet. Slide, I had a good friend who also studied guitar with DVR and she would tell the funniest stories about him. He was, from her stories, a lovable gruff curmudgeon.