here's my brief thoughts on what i watched in october.

"the mosquito coast" - a man is fed up with the way things are going in modern life and takes his family to start a utopia. things always go wrong in this sort of story.

"dogfight" - this film and the one above has river phoenix in it. since he wasn't in too many movies before he died, i figured i could watch them all. i was curious about this film when it was released but never watched it until now. it's kind of a sweet film.

"explorers" - another river phoenix film, his major film debut. i wasn't sure if i ever saw this as a kid. i was surprised to see a young ethan hawke in this film. in some ways i see this as such an 80s movie, but kids 80s because well that's who stars in it and that's who it's for. but i kind of feel like it would've been better to see this as a kid. i can't get that into it as an adult.

"life stinks" - mel brooks is great at making parodies and this isn't a parody, that's all i'm saying. ok, i'll say a little more. this is one of those ridiculously wealthy men make a bet where one has to give up everything to pretend he has nothing sort of deals. this subgenre of comedies isn't very interested.

"the apartment" - such a wonderful film! i had no idea how great shirley maclaine could be. i only know her as the cooky older lady. as a young woman, she's terribly cute, charming, and lovable in this film. just really well done. makes me wonder why i've never seen this before.

"an american in paris" - not very memorable but now i know where the song "i got rhythm" comes from.

"8 1/2" - i'm trying to see what critics consider the greatest films of all time and so that's why i got this one and "an american in paris". plus, watching more fellini is necessary for me as a former film major who loved the italian film course she took but somehow always fell asleep during fellini. i think i may still have that problem.

"the l word", season 6 - the final season that i never watched. what the hell did they do to these characters? argh. glad to have finished it though.