1979 - The Way Way Back

I’d heard lovely things about this film so I was really happy to see it come to netflix.  It’s got an insanely awesome cast and tells the somewhat typical coming of age story of a boy forced to go away for the summer and how he came back a bit more of a man.  Carell plays his mom’s asshole boyfriend.  Toni Collette is the mom in question, and you only need to watch the last scene and shot of the film to know what a force of nature she is as an actor.  She does so much with so little, it’s beautiful.  Sam Rockwell is and will always been a favourite of mine, he’s not doing anything he hasn’t done a million times before here, but he does it well and with charm.  It’s nice to see Amanda Peet, Alison Janney, and Maya Rudolph rounding out the cast, but they’re a tad bit under used here.  If you dig coming of age stories this is a sweet one, and easy to find on Netflix.

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 :)

1830 - Little Miss Sunshine

Revisited this film as a reference for something in the works.  It's hard to think of a film since this one that has hit such a chord an an indie film.  This is a lightning in the bottle kind of film that everyone involved probably had no idea how much of a fire it would start.
Michael Arndt wrote a perfect script with wonderful stories and arcs for each character.  It's got a fantastic visual to it and I love how simple and real the production design is as well.  Films like this are like comfort food and an absolute pleasure to revisit.  If you've never seen this film you need to correct that wrong ASAP.  It's the kind of film where, if someone tells me that they don't like it I just can't imagine how we could possibly be friends...

1584 - The United States of Tara: season three

And so it ends.  Was it really only three seasons?  Feels like it's been a lot more than that.  Alas.  I really really liked the direction of this season, seeing the inside of Tara's mind, her making deal with the alters.  Loved Eddie Izzard's cameo (shame it didn't last the entire season - although it's understandable by, story wise).
This season saw both the kids have to face real life and deal with it.  It saw Tara's sister finally get over herself and see the amazing man that was standing right in front of her.  It also saw Max finally lose his shit and say what's on his mind (the entire building/sequence of which was masterful), but most importantly it saw Tara confronting her alters and the first step of getting her shit together.  I think this show finally found it's legs, and ironically just as they decided to cancel it.  I think getting a glimpse into Tara's mind is a great thing to play with (except for that over the top finale with the water-boarding and being saved by Max entering (eyes rolled a bit there).
I'm disappointed that this show will not continue.  I was looking forward to writing a spec of this series, but it's pointless now.  Although intended to be a season finale, I think that this worked out just as well to have it as the series.  Everyone here felt a little older and wiser, like it mattered that they'd been here and done these things.  For fun I think I'll revisit some season one stuff to just see how far everything has evolved.  
If you've never seen this show you owe it to yourself to check out the first batch of episodes, only a dozen episodes a season - not too hard to catch up.  And remember, it's never too late to discover an amazing new series.
***The other thing that I wanted to add, having thought about it, is that what I really loved about this season was the new alter Bryce, but more so just what it did to the dynamic of ALL the characters.  I loved that, for the first time, we felt genuinely concerned and worried about her and all the other characters.  Good stuff, indeed! 
United States of Tara: Third Season