Flickchart Staff’s Current Interests, Loathings, & Favorites – Summer 2012
Some of the regular writers here on the Flickchart blog have decided to list a few things that are on our collective radars on a semi-regular basis for your reading pleasure. We’re here to talk about what’s cool, and what’s not – from movies to music to games to tv to anything else that’s worth mentioning. We’ll start the conversation, but we’d love to hear your current interests, dislikes, and favorite recently watched movies too in the comments!
Nicholas Vargo (nicholasvargo)
Interests: Movies, movie music, billards, school, work, NYPD Pizza (Best pizza in the world! You must come to Phoenix and try some!), Pittsburgh Steelers, San Diego Chargers (So glad Tomlinson is coming back and retiring as one!), occasional video games (Crazy Taxi is one I’ve been playing a lot recently), and the Wii (Been on a Just Dance kick as of late).
Dislikes: Lack of money, lack of second job, 115 degree heat, my car being boiling hot when I get into it, being behind on my rent, Bratz (Incompetent filmmaking at its worst).
Watching: Moonrise Kingdom (2012) (#76/3241), Safety Not Guaranteed (2012) [Need to finish and submit my review for that one] (#84/3241), Dave (1993) (#121/3241), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) (#135/3241), Little Shop of Horrors (1986) (#167/3241), Ishtar (1987) (#625/3241), Loser (2000) (#682/3241), Rookie of the Year (1993) (#694/3241), Under Siege (1992) (#702/3241), In & Out (1997) (#918/3241), Hudson Hawk (1991) (#1326/3241), Bratz (2007) (#3241/3241) [Why oh why did I actually bother watching this?].
Aaron Cochrane (aaron75)
Interests: I’m currently grooving on Curtis Mayfield, Jelly Babies, the last scene of Moonrise Kingdom, anything that features Alison Brie, and the BBC’s Sherlock. If you haven’t watched it yet, go get caught up, then come back and thank me.
Dislikes: Pretty much every stupid movie in wide release right now is boring me to tears. Try harder, movies! I’m hopeful that The Dark Knight Rises will tide me over until the The Master, Django Unchained, and of course, the new James Bond movie are released.
Watching: My wife and I discovered Ip Man recently and have taken to shouting “IP MAN!” at each other. We don’t entertain a lot of guests. (Ip Man 2 is also good.)
Amy Matthew (bigtuna22)
Interests: DIY crafts (Pinterest makes me all warm and fuzzy inside, so what?), Cartoon Network, Paul Simon, cocktails, Exploring my inner hipster by listening to Vampire Weekend and wearing oxfords, Mad Men (though I am going through intense withdrawal at the moment since the season ended), Saying “grazie” instead of “thanks,” falling in love with Ryan Gosling and Jon Hamm.
Dislikes: Exercise, the positive rush that I get after exercising because it causes self-loathing in a twisted way since I didn’t want to exercise in the first place, music festival crop-tops (what’s up with them), parents who take their kids to PG-13 & R-rated films and then complain, the mouse that is currently occupying our walls.
Watching: Roman Holiday – I loves me some Audrey (269/2267), Moonrise Kingdom (144/2267) Shopgirl (246/2267), Parenthood – it’s only coincidental that they both star Steve Martin (382/2267), Mary & Max (163/2267)
Ross Bonaime (rbonaime)
Interests: Watching movies (of course), going to waaaaay too many concerts, new albums from Lotus Plaza and Father John Misty, podcasts, “The Wire”, “How I Met Your Mother” and “Adventure Time”, Paste Magazine (check me out!), The A.V. Club, my main girl celebrity crushes, Emma Stone and Aubrey Plaza, anything directed by Wes Anderson, Paul Thomas Anderson or Jeff Nichols, HBO’s “Girls”
Dislikes: E3’s mostly disappointing announcements, DC traffic, Jennifer Lopez, the fact that I have to wait almost a month for “Breaking Bad” to start again, Verizon stopping unlimited plans, people who love Halo way too much (it’s not that great people), toaster ovens (you’ve got a toaster, you’ve got an oven, c’mon now) and the fact that Adam Sandler is pretty much just making the films he made fun of in Funny People.
Watching: Moonrise Kingdom (best movie of 2012 so far) (102/2361), The Graduate (146/2361), Planet of the Apes (1968) (276/2361), Prometheus (how do people not love this movie?!?) (375/2361), Aliens (650/2361), The Producers (1968) (1182/2361), The Ten (1219/2361)
Chad Hoolihan (kingofpain)
Interests: Viewing the entire filmography of Diana Dors. This is my favorite two minutes ever. I’m not much of a video game fan, but I often reminisce about my many spectacular kills while playing the TimeSplitters series. I hope another sequel comes out soon.
Dislikes: When people willfully ignore the unpleasant parts of reality they don’t want to deal with and then act dumbfounded when those same unpleasant parts bite them in the a** later. It’s better just to acknowledge one’s stupid behavior and embrace the consequences like an old friend.
Watching: Top 10 movies I watched for the first time recently that were most acceptable: I Love You Phillip Morris (371/1106), Attenberg (172/1106), The Avengers (270/1106), Molière (173/1106), Bad Teacher (245/1106), A Dangerous Method (127/1106), Lady Oscar (126/1106), Super (205/1106), Drive (190/1106), The Outside Man (129/1106)
Top 5 worst: Exorcismus, Bloodlust Zombies, Domino, Submarine, London
Ryan Stuckey (sirstuckey)
Interests: Podcasts (Who Charted?, The Todd Glass Show, Professor Blastoff, Comedy Bang Bang, and Men in Blazers just to name a few). The 49ers season starting again (hopefully this one won’t end in heartbreak). Diablo III. “Loser” by The Belle Brigade. M&Ms with the pretzels inside.
Dislikes: Mad Men’s season ending. Dan Harmon getting fired from “Community.” Robert Griffin III getting drafted by a team with a racist mascot. The fact that there is an exhibit on corn in the Indiana State Museum. It feels like some stupid joke a person who has never left the coast would put in a terrible rom-com that’s set in the Midwest.
Watching: Ravenous (Good), Moonrise Kingdom (Great), Rock of Ages (Terrible), All About Eve (Great), Birdemic: Shock and Terror (Unbelievable)
Travis McClain (TravisSMcclain)
Interests: Pulled pork BBQ, honeysuckle, and lightning bugs make the world go round. This season has been really good so far for my beloved Cincinnati Reds. The return of J.R. Ewing in TNT’s Dallas has excited me more than anything on TV in a very long time. I’m in love with Melody Gardot and her latest album, The Absence. Also still digging DC Comics’s Batgirl and Detective Comics.
Dislikes: Crohn’s disease, dating, dating with Crohn’s disease, having to continue waiting for The Dark Knight Rises, and having to continue waiting for The Dark Knight Rises with Crohn’s disease.
Watching: I’ve recently started a virtual film club (watching and discussing one movie a week). So far, my favorite first-time viewing is The Lady Vanishes. I’m also participating in a month-long Historical Appreciation Movie Challenge. My favorite from that so far has been Battleship Potemkin. Lastly, my friends have been hosting a monthly outdoor screening get together using their projector. I’ve finally seen The Blues Brothers and really enjoyed that. I’m also in the peculiar situation where I’m more excited by the chance to see several classic movies on the big screen this summer than I am by new movies. Seriously, I get to see Tombstone in August!
Jandy Stone (faithx5)
Interests: Planning big projects in Minecraft, strategizing in Pocket Planes, carpooling with Jonathan, getting better cameras at work, Tuesday Night Trivia, getting In ‘N’ Out on Sundays, seeing rare silent films every month at Cinefamily, Metric’s Synthetica, nearing 3000 films ranked on Flickchart.
Dislikes: Not having enough time to do ANYTHING (it seems like), Game of Thrones being over for the season, hour-and-a-half commutes home, cat hair that gets everywhere (I love the cats, just not the cat hair), figuring out how to afford an awesome house in an awesome part of LA, not having the Adventure update in Minecraft on XBLA yet, and feeling lack of sleep like I never did ten years ago.
Watching: The History of Future Folk (440/2977), Safety Not Guaranteed (571/2977), Celine and Julie Go Boating (436/2977), Four Rooms (2533/2977), Alien³ (2058/2977), Prometheus (462/2977)
Jonathan Hardesty (movieguyjon)
Interests: Playing the heck out of Pocket Planes from Nimblebit, writing an animated webseries, writing #DaveAndKiller screenplays, drawing a webcomic (or rather, thinking about drawing a webcomic), the new Metric album, my new Samsung Galaxy Nexus with the most recent version of Android, revising an old playlist featuring my favorite band ever, listening to podcasts (Savage Love, The Rowthree Cinecast, Scriptnotes), using Fountain to write screenplays.
Dislikes: The lack of time to work on any personal projects, the inability to draw quite the way I’d like, the recent increase in car issues (three expensive repairs in a row), not getting the “free” items I was under the impression I would be getting this week due to an ordering snafu most likely not my fault.
Watching: Kind of a diverse month for movie-watching! Safety Not Guaranteed (456/1359), Celine and Julie Go Boating (451/1359), Four Rooms (836/1359), Alien 3 (680/1359), Prometheus (340/1359), The Lady Vanishes (553/1359).
Emil Ekelund (Eshegnev)
Interests: Rereading books I had to read in uni, discovering underlined passages in said books, Rock of Ages, Diablo 3, ice tea, and Steel Panther.
Dislikes: Apartment hunting, the unstable Swedish summer weather, and bugs.
Watching: High Tension (#254/1274), Prometheus (#255/1274), Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel (#293/1274), Turn Me On Dammit! (#319/1274), Red State (#434/1274), Fast Times at Ridgemont High (#770/1274)
Nigel Druitt (johnmason)
Interests: New albums this year from some of my favorite ’90s groups: Smashing Pumpkins, Garbage, Our Lady Peace. The Dark Knight Rises. (Yeah, I know it’s not here yet.) The Hobbit. (Yeah, I know it’s not here yet.) The fact that I’ve actually been able to get to more movies in a theater this year than I have in a decade. Finally getting around to getting myself a Netflix account. www.teefury.com.
Dislikes: The way time seems to be conspiring to speed up on me even faster with every passing month. The lack of discipline that keeps me from writing anything for the Flickchart blog. Disposing of week-old broccoli from the fridge.
Watching: Moon (343/1383), Fantastic Mr. Fox (681/1383), Captain America: The First Avenger (118/1383), Men in Black III (188/1383), The Avengers (194/1383). Next up: probably True Grit (2010), The Secret of Kells (2009) and The A-Team (2010). Hoping to finally get to Prometheus next week.
Nathan Chase (Zampa)
Interests: Pocket Planes. Zombie Jombie. All things Magic (playing a ton of the CCG with friends, Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 and the newly released 2013, trying to avoid spending any more money on it). Max Payne 3 (decent, not great). Syndicate. The Secret World closed beta. Vessel. Sniper Elite V2. Uncharted 3. Heavy Rain. Super Meat Boy. Adabesi Shank. Badbadnotgood.
Dislikes: How long it’s taking to get the Flickchart iPhone app out there. Having to sleep. Too many rainy days lately. Not being on vacation. Being poked in the eye by your 1-year old.
Watching: Prometheus, Indie Game: The Movie, The Princess and The Frog, The Third Man, The Grey, Monsters, Chronicle, The Raid, Titanic (3D re-release), all the additional featurettes in the Blu-ray Alien Anthology
Ryan! The Belle Brigade! I love you for mentioning them. They’re pretty awesome, right?
Funny how mine and Jonathan’s movie lists are almost identical. Amazing coincidence, that.
I just noticed that we have some similar movie lists this time around as well. What a whacky coinky-dink! Who would have thought? I mean, like seriously…how do these things–okay, I’ll stop. :P
As always I am here to please (too bad the song is Losers and not Loser). Some fan I am.
Aaron: I just finally watched the first Sherlock, “A Study in Pink”. Loved it.
Very much looking forward to Martin Freeman in The Hobbit and Benedict Cumberbatch in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek sequel.
Aaron and Nigel: Jandy and I have seen all of series one of Sherlock and have really liked it. The only complaint (and it’s not a serious one) is that the episodes are long and there’s just not a lot of time in the evening to catch up with the greatest detective of all time and still do other things….like play Minecraft or Pocket Planes. :P
Travis: You mentioned still being into Batgirl. How have the other D.C. titles fared for you so far? I noticed you weren’t too keen on Batwoman. Still with it or have you dropped?
After I finish out the current Batwoman arc, I’m going to begin trade waiting on that book. It’s structured like a serialized graphic novel anyway, so I’m hoping that maybe it’ll read better that way than as the very inconsistent monthly that it’s been.
The only other New 52 book I’ve stayed with is Detective Comics. I still dig it. It hasn’t been as sharp as the opening “Dollmaker” arc but I’ve enjoyed it. I wish it hadn’t expanded to a 40 page/$3.99 book, but I confess I like the Two-Face back-up story that’s been running.
When I was at C2E2 in April, I wound up buying a couple issues of Men of War (one of which I got signed by, I think, the writer). It’s already been canceled, but there were only eight issues so I’m planning to get the rest of that series and at least read it after the fact. For whatever reason, only the first six issues are in the collected edition. I suspect issues #7 and 8 will appear in the collected edition of its reboot/replacement title, whose name escapes me.
I’m likewise interested in All-Star Western. I liked the first issue and I have a couple of the others but I haven’t got issue #2 so I’m gonna start filling in those gaps so I can get caught up with that.
I’ve also got my eye on DC Universe Presents but I’m waiting for them to showcase a character who actually interests me.
Oh, and DC has resurrected my all-time favorite Batman book, Legends of the Dark Knight as a digital series! I don’t have an e-reader, so I’m hoping it gets a print edition soon. The first story was written by Damon Lindelof, so if that’s an indication of the kind of talent they’re recruiting for this incarnation of the anthology then it could be made of awesomesauce!
Yeah, it’s been a bit tough to keep up with each new issue of Batwoman and figure out where things left off. I’ll probably stick with it as long as Jandy does, but maybe this would translate better as something read in larger chunks.
Kinda lost interest in All Star Western after a couple of issues. Liked the art style but other comics kind of took it’s place and then I forgot about it and suddenly I’m so insanely behind.
I finally got around to picking up Batwoman #11 this past Saturday, which concludes the second arc of the series. I originally had thought about extending my reading through issue #0 (two issues from now), but I was so underwhelmed by #11 that I’m stopping there.
Tony Daniel is leaving Detective Comics soon, and I’ll be interested to see what I think of the new creative team. If they don’t wow me, I might not stick with that book, either – though I confess it’s been a series of diminishing returns with that one.
Thankfully, there’s still Batgirl. It may wind up the only book I continue to read regularly, but it has been superb. It’s a highlight of my month.