Enough about Romania

Just a couple of short items …

● A film I saw at Toronto in 2006, VINCE VAUGHN’S WILD WEST COMEDY SHOW was released Friday and I’ve added a link at the right to my review from then. I didn’t really recommend it back then, but I must acknowledge that the memory of it plays better in my head now than the film did at the time.

● I’ve started my 2008 Ten Best List, now that there’s at least 10 films that have releases made or scheduled that I have seen and graded at least 5/”mixed.” This is still only February, so I note simply that there’s only three films on that list that are certain shoo-ins, with two others that are “on the bubble.” The other five, though I’d recommend all at least somewhat, will not even be Honorable Mentions.

● The critics at Christianity Today revealed a couple of days ago their list of the year’s 10 Best Films (technically called Critics Choice), with JUNO on top, followed by the Evangelical Self-Hate Masterpiece THERE WILL BE BLOOD, and ATONEMENT, with NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN and INTO GREAT SILENCE on the list. (The slightly different list of the 10 Most Redeeming Films, topped by the German Monk Movie, is here. I’m stunned at the poor showings for HOT FUZZ and GRINDHOUSE!!!) I think I’ll repeat something I said a few weeks ago when the Oscars were announced: that the best films of the year so clearly declared themselves, that there was no denying them.

By way of explanation

I have not abandoned my film blogging, as some of you have asked me upon seeing that my longtime site is no longer available.

I probably have abandoned that Blogspot site, though. This move to WordPress was completely unplanned and forced on me last night. To make a long story short, I was trying to delete a G-Mail account that I don’t use, without realizing that it was also the email address that the Google-Blogger merger had made my “official” address since it was the one attached to my Google account. (Though I always had been logging in with the same Yahoo email address I’ve had for years.) So when I deleted the G-Mail account late Sunday night … all my sites were gone, along with several posts in “draft form” including my nearly done Day 8 TIFF capsules.

To cut another long story short, I tried to get some technical help and found myself completely at sea. I really am not a technically unsophisticated person, but being told to post something in a public place and hope for a reply and being directed to FAQ sthat might not (in this case, weren’t) on point and with no opportunity for either phone or email contact … that’s not helpful.

After a day of waiting I decided not to wait and to try to reconstruct what I’ve lost. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be using Google Cache and Web Archive (plus hoping Blogger will get back to me) to recover and repost here, with manipulated time stamps, as much of the last five years of my writing as I can. I’ll also try to put together my links again, if someone can tell me how to subdivide them by category as I had done.
I have already put up my 2007 Toronto postings (and added pix, something I wasn’t able to do up there) since that was so recent and I know people. I’ll do my best to finish the capsules over the next week.