1923 - Hitchcock

I'm a film nerd, and part of my collection is a whole shitload of Hitchcock - some of which I'm embarrassed to admit I've still never seen.  The trick is I need to develop a Hitchcock type project to give me the excuse to watch all those films.  I still think North by Northwest is my favorite, but there's a special place in my heart for Psycho as well.
I don't know if there's a whole lot of new discovery in this film - for anyone that's even a moderate fan of Hitch it feels like you could have gotten all of the little tidbits of info by just scouring the internet a bit.  The film seems to focus on the relationship between Hitchcock and his wife, resulting in him appearing to have a change of heart with his view on his women in his films by the end, and putting his focus onto his wife. Ironic that the next film he makes is The Birds where the famous story of his obsession with Tippi Hedren comes from - which just makes the ending of his "bio-pic" feel a bit like bullshit.
That said, Hopkins disappearing inside of Alfred Hitchcock and gives a fantastic performance, as does Johanson - both worth watching it for that alone.  I was hoping it would be a bit more exciting, or at the very least offer new substance and behind the scene stuff that the average Hitchcock nerd is already aware of.  Alas.  It's on Netflix if you want to give it a shot - although I think the making of documentary on the DVD of the film likely provides much stronger material.  So there's that :)

1768 - Psycho

I saw the Hitchcock trailer the other day and ever since it made me want to revisit this.  I wish I knew someone who saw this film when it was originally released, before it became such a pop culture phenomenon and all of it's sweet surprises were spoilt.  As it stands it's hard to be overly impressed by it given we're fifty years later in the history of cinema and it's techniques are over-used by today's standards and we're so used to twist endings.  I imagine at it's time it was something spectacular.  Even the shower scene now seems tame - although, again, it must have set the standard to beat for all horror films that have come since.  What's most impressive for the time though, must have been the way it shifts it's narrative from characters - to me that's the true brilliance of this film. 
I've never delved into the sequels to the series, never felt the need, and I'm curious if anyone out there thinks it's worth the effort.
If you've never seen this and you're a lover of film you almost have to just out of obligation, but I just can't imagine you'll get out of it what it's original audience must have. 

1078 - Dial M for Murder (in 3D!!!)

'The Fox' in the beaches is having a 3D festival and when I saw this in the line-up I couldn't resist. Of all the Hitchcock movies this is probably the last one I would expect to be turned into a 3D film (maybe last right after Rope). It's not that it's not a good movie, it's really enjoyable. It's just not all that exciting in terms of actions, etc... It's essentially a chamber piece shot by a visually gifted director. It's refreshing, and I imagine challenging to shoot the same room for almost an entire film. I need to read up more on Hitch's process as he never ceases to impress me in a lot of ways.
It'd be interesting to see a stage play version of this with good actors just to see the difference with Hitch's visuals. Grace Kelly is beautiful as usual, the rest of the cast is quite enjoyable as well. If you haven't seen this - DO IT! Don't kill yourself to see the 3D version unless you're a big geek.