Alphabetical Movie – L.A. Confidential
L.A. Confidential is the perfect film to open the L section of the Alphabetical movie project because I have to admit, I’d been rushing to get to the L’s for a while.
I like most of the movies I own. I mean, I wouldn’t own them if I didn’t. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I like some more than others. That means there are some letters that get me more excited than others as well.
Take the letter D, for instance. Man was I looking forward to the letter D. I started out with movies like Dark City and The Day the Earth Stood Still and near the end I got to watch Dr. No and Dr. Strangelove. It was a great letter.
Right off the bat, though, you can see the potential in the letter L. L.A. Confidential is an amazing film. Just knowing I got to start the next batch of movies with such a great one got me really excited.
Alphabetical Movie – Kung-Fu Panda I & II
One night, my youngest was in the mood to watch Kung-fu Panda. It was a Friday night and the entire family was hanging out and enjoying unstructured time. We told him that he could watch whatever he wanted and he said he wanted to watch Kung-fu Panda.
He was telling a lie. it wasn’t a big lie. But it was a lie that had consequences. And not to him.
Alphabetical Movie – Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
By strange coincidence, I am writing about this movie just as I’ve been thinking about movies I call “gift movies”. By that I mean movies that I like to “give” to people.
If you are a movie fan to any degree, you have movies that fall into that category. You love it too much to keep it to yourself. The Dish has always been a film that falls into that category for me. I’m always eager to give that movie to another person.
I don’t mean “give” in the physical sense. Rather I mean giving the opportunity to share the experience of watching that film with as many people as possible.
Alphabetical Movie – King Kong (1933) and King Kong (2005)
The first time I saw King Kong was at Butt-Numb-a-Thon 3 in 2001. I know, I’m a movie geek and it is ridicoulous I’d never seen the film. As I’m fond of saying, there are way more films that I haven’t seen than films that I have.
Now, if you are going to have a first experience watching King Kong, seeing a newly struck print of the film projected on the big screen is pretty much the best way to go. I was in love with the movie from the moment the title hit the screen. I knew that new print of King Kong was out there and eventually would be available on DVD. When that DVD finally hit the market, I bought it the same day.
The first time I saw Peter Jackson’s re-make of King Kong was at Butt-Numb-a-Thon 7 in 2005. I liked it a lot. But as I mentioned in my blog about Kick-Ass, when you watch a movie at Butt-Numb-a-Thon, it can be difficult to determine how good or bad it is outside the context of Butt-Numb-a-Thon.
Alphabetical Movie – The King and I
Two characters, separated by over forty years. Both of them are characters who died tragically – perhaps before their time. Both died for the same reason. Both of them leave their audiences asking the same question.
“Wait – what did they die of again?”
I’m talking, of course, of the King of Siam and Padme Amidala.
Think about it now. Why do they die? Both of them die because they lost the will to live. Amidala loses the will to live because her husband crossed over to the dark side and force choked her. The King of Siam lost the will to live because the woman he secretly loved convinced him to show compassion.
The horror.
Alphabetical Movie – Kim Possible: So the Drama
You know, I really didn’t think I was going to have to watch this movie. I was pretty sure it was straight to video and the rules clearly state that I’m only watching films that received a theatrical release. I figured I’d be skipping right over this one.
Unfortunately, my wife had to tell me that she was pretty sure at least one Kim Possible movie was in movie theatres and because she told me that, I was forced to look it up. Once I looked it up, I discovered that I was, in fact, going to have to watch the film.
Movies like this one can prove to be a rather major obstacle for the Alphabetical Movie Project because I really don’t want to watch them. The movie isn’t awful but it is pretty banal. Sure, you say, I could have skipped it. There is nothing forcing me to watch it except an arbitrary set of rules that I put in place because I decided that I should really watch every movie we own at least once.
Alphabetical Movie – Kill Bill Vol I & II
When I talk about Kill Bill, I typically refer to the two films as my favorite Tarantino films. I differentiate them from what I consider his best film because those are two distinctly different concepts. One is talking about the movie I derive the most pleasure from watching. The other is evaluating the skill of the filmmaker.
Both are subjective measures, of course. Calling a film your favorite is a far more honest measure and one that doesn’t invite any useful argument. How can you possibly disagree with me about which Tarantino film is my favorite?
We can disagree all over the internet about which film is his best. Yet those arguments are always informed, at least a little bit, by which ones are our favorites. Read More…
Alphabetical Movie – Kiki’s Delivery Service
My youngest is at the age where he is capable of watching movies over and over again. He’s reached the point, though, where he doesn’t watch the entire movie. He’ll only watch parts of it.
He seems to be keyed in to the Alphabetical Movie Project a little bit. This may be a result of the fact that I try to watch most kids’ movies with the kids. Makes it a nice family event. What it means, though, is that Devon has typically already been watching the next movie on the list.
He won’t watch the movie all the way through, though. He’ll just watch his favorite parts over and over again. Often he’ll watch the end of the movie and then skip to somewhere in the middle and then skip to someplace near the end again and then go back to the beginning. It’s as if he is taking these films and trying to cut them together the way Quentin Tarantino might.
Alphabetical Movie – Kick-Ass
I’ve written about Butt-Numb-a-Thon a few times over the course of the Alphabetical Movie Project. It is one of those unique moviegoing experiences that I’m supremely fortunate to experience every year.
One thing about being in a room filled with rabid, cheering film geeks, however, is that I never really know how good a film is.
I mean, Harry tosses something awful at us almost every year, but that’s on purpose. He also shows us a lot of premieres that I inevitably enjoy because of where I am watching them. When I sit down and try to evaluate them later, I’m left puzzled to determine if I liked them because they were good movies or if I liked them because of the unreal environment that is Butt-Numb-a-Thon.
Alphabetical Movie – The Kennel Murder Case
If there is one thing that I really enjoy about the availability of cheap DVDs, it is the ability to pick up an old film I’ve never heard of for just a couple of bucks. Most are horrible, grainy copies of movies that are in the public domain but they aren’t on Netflix so how else am I supposed to watch them?
Aside: Why aren’t they on Netflix? They are in the public domain!!!!
The Kennel Murder Case is just such a movie. I was browsing the shelves at half price books and there it was for a measly $2.00.
Now Half Price Books has a lot of cheap old movies for sale. I don’t buy every one of them. Hell, I hardly buy any of them.
But this one had William Powell in it and I have a hard time saying no to a $2.00 movie starring William Powell.
Grail Diary 