Oscar Classic Movies on TCM

Beginning February 1st, Turner Classic Movies will air 360 “Oscar winner and nominee” movies, 3 per evening, until the Academy Awards (which airs March 5th). All of them are uncut and commercial free.

Of course, the criteria to qualify as an “Oscar winner or nominee” is pretty open; they’re not talking all “best picture” noms here, but including any movie that was nominated in any category. Which means that Benji and The Karate Kid are among of the selections. (I will be DVR’ing Benji, because I haven’t seen that in years.)

But there’s more than enough great films to jam up your DVR; see TCM’s list here. It’s a bit frustrating that they don’t have a single page with the complete listings to link to. Entertainment Weekly magazine has a great pull-out page with all the movies, times and air dates.

There are quite a few movies on my “to watch” lists, which is really bad considering it’s also sweeps month and the Olympics will be on, too. Good thing I have this new TV, since I’ll be parked in front of it for all of February.

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Super Size Me

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Stephanie and I finally got a chance to watch Super Size Me tonight. We had DVR’ed it last year, but never got around to watching it, and it deleted itself after awhile.
I knew the basics about the film, and we have already seen most of the first season of 30 Days. But actually seeing it was pretty eye-opening, especially some of the facts and figures. I’m going to record it to tape and keep it to watch again, because I want to go over some of the data in the film.
I’m going to bite the bullet and keep a food journal. I’ve tried that off and on over the years, but I’ve never quite made it stick, because I’d eventually get busy and forget to write stuff down, even when I was on weight watchers. I think that was the part of the WW program that was hardest for me, and what made me eventually give up on it; trying to keep track of what I ate all the time was too tough to manage. We’ll see how far I get this time.

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Movies I Need to See (or see again)

Movies that I’ve never seen, or need to see again because it’s been a long time.

  • 2001: A Space Odyssey
  • “The 400 Blows” (1959) Francois Truffaut
  • “8 1/2” (1963) Federico Fellini
  • A Bout de Souffle
  • A Room With a View
  • A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
  • Aguirre: The Wrath of God
  • Around the World in 80 Days
  • Batman Begins
  • “The Battleship Potemkin” (1925) Sergei Eisenstein
  • Better Off Dead
  • The Blues Brothers
  • Bread and Chocolate
  • Brief Encounter
  • Chinatown (1974)
  • D.E.B.S.
  • Dr. Strangelove
  • Fanny and Alexander
  • Finding Nemo
  • Flight Plan
  • Foreign Correspondent
  • The French Connection
  • From Here to Eternity (1953)
  • Full Metal Jacket
  • The Godfather (all 3 parts)
  • Good Night, and Good Luck
  • Ice Storm
  • Inherit the Wind
  • Inside Man
  • It Happened One Night (1934)
  • Junebug
  • Koyaanisqatsi
  • Lagaan: Once Upon A Time in India
  • Lawrence of Arabia
  • Lion King
  • Lost Horizon
  • Me and You and Everyone We Know
  • Meet Me In St. Louis
  • Monsters, Inc.
  • Mulan
  • On the Waterfront (1954)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean
  • Pretty in Pink
  • Pride & Prejudice
  • Raging Bull
  • Reservoir Dogs
  • Schindler’s List (1993)
  • State Fair (1945)
  • The Deer Hunter
  • The French Connection
  • The Graduate (1967)
  • The Seventh Seal
  • Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines
  • Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride
  • Walk the Line
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If you can’t maim them, Auntie Mame them

Mame Dennis: Well, now, uh, read me all the words you don’t understand.
Patrick Dennis: Libido, inferiority complex, stinko, blotto, free love, bathtub gin, monkey glands, Karl Marx… is he one of the Marx Brothers?
Patrick Dennis: …Neurotic, heterosexual…
Mame Dennis: Oh, my my my my, what an eager little mind.
[takes the list]
Mame Dennis: You won’t need some of these words for months and months.

Patrick Dennis: Is the English lady sick, Auntie Mame?
Auntie Mame: She’s not English, darling… she’s from Pittsburgh.
Patrick Dennis: She sounded English.
Auntie Mame: Well, when you’re from Pittsburgh, you have to do something.

Mame Dennis: That’s a B. It’s the first letter of a seven-letter word that means your father.

Auntie Mame: Please dear, your Auntie Mame is hung.

MAME: You know, I was always fascinated by aviation. I never knew they did it all with rubber bands.

Vera Charles: If you kept your hair natural like I do…
Auntie Mame: If I kept my hair natural like yours, I’d be bald.

MAME: Mr. Babbit–
MR. BABCOCK: BabCOCK.
MAME: Yes.

Auntie Mame: Oh, Agnes! Here you’ve been taking my dictations for weeks and you haven’t gotten the message of my book: live!
Agnes Gooch: Live?
Auntie Mame: Yes! Live! Life’s a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!


Gloria: Don’t you just think books are so decorative?

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Favorite Movie List

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I answered this movie meme several years ago. I need to update it quite a bit, but since I received another meme recently asking the 10 movies I hate, I thought I’d combine them.

10 Favorite Comedies

  1. Auntie Mame
  2. Amelie
  3. Shakespeare in Love
  4. Twelfth Night
  5. Much Ado About Nothing
  6. There’s Something About Mary
  7. Breakfast At Tiffany’s
  8. The Truth About Cats and Dogs
  9. Southpark: Bigger, Longer, Uncut
  10. The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love

10 Favorite Dramas

  1. Joan of Arc – the miniseries
  2. The Matrix
  3. Fight Club
  4. Life is Beautiful
  5. All the President’s Men
  6. Pleasantville
  7. Sense and Sensibility
  8. The Usual Suspects
  9. American Beauty
  10. Donnie Darko

10 Favorite Musicals

  1. The Wizard of Oz
  2. The Sound of Music
  3. The Music Man
  4. Grease
  5. Singin’ In the Rain (I can’t put it higher on the list, because the others are childhood favorites)
  6. Camelot
  7. Oklahoma
  8. Oliver
  9. West Side Story

10 Favorite Tear-Jerkers

  1. Terms of Endearment
  2. Beaches
  3. Steel Magnolias
  4. The Madness of King George
  5. It’s a Wonderful Life
  6. Waking Ned Devine

10 Favorite Action/Mystery/Thriller/Western Movies

  1. Rear Window
  2. Vertigo
  3. North By Northwest
  4. Dial ‘M’ for Murder
  5. Marnie
  6. King Kong (1933)
  7. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
  8. Wild Things

Movie Characters You Wish You Could Be

  1. Auntie Mame
  2. Tyler Durden
  3. Gina Gershon’s character in Bound
  4. Professor Harold Hill from The Music Man because as a kid I wanted to kiss Shirley Jones.
  5. George Bailey from “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Jimmy Stewart was a pretty stand-up guy.

Ten Movies You Hate

You have to take into account here that there are lots of crappy movies I didn’t see; these are just ones I did see.

  1. Closer. (read my rant on this movie here)
  2. Jaws (never seen beyond the opening sequence because it’s too scary).
  3. The Piano. New Rule: Harvey Keitel is not allowed to be naked anywhere, even in the shower.
  4. Basic Instinct. Because all lesbians are hot blonde killers. And we have nothing better to do with our lives than chase your lame, paunchy ass around with an ice pick. Right.
  5. Pieces of April (started to watch this dismal movie on HBO, quit halfway through.)
  6. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
  7. Forrest Gump (It’s okay to not think. Smart people will kill themselves.)
  8. Pretty Woman. You don’t need me to explain, do you?
  9. Apocalyse Now. I know I’m supposed to like that “heart of darkness” shit, but I’m sorry, I just can’t sympathize with toxic masculinity.
  10. Chuck & Buck. I’ll admit I only remember this movie after seeing it on other worsts lists. I did hate the hell out of it, though.
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Everything I Need To Know, I Learned From 1980s Horror Movies

David Speakman

With the fast-approaching Halloween season here are some helpful hints:

When it appears that you have killed the monster, *never* check to see if it’s really dead.

If you find that your house is built upon or near a cemetery, was once a church that was used for black masses, had previous inhabitants who went mad or committed suicide or died in some horrible fashion, or had inhabitants who performed satanic practices in your house — move away immediately.

Never read a book of demon summoning aloud, even as a joke.

Do not search the basement, especially if the power has just gone out.

If your children speak to you in Latin or any other language which they should not know, or if they speak to you using a voice which is other than their own, shoot them immediately. It will save you a lot of grief in the long run. NOTE: It will probably take several rounds to kill them, so be prepared.

When you have the benefit of numbers, *never* pair off and go it alone.

As a general rule, don’t solve puzzles that open portals to Hell.

Never stand in, on, above, below, beside, or anywhere near a grave, tomb, crypt, mausoleum, or other place of the dead.

If you’re searching for something which caused a noise and find out that it’s just the cat, *leave the room immediately if you value your life.*

If appliances start operating by themselves, move out.

Do not take *anything* from the dead.

If you find a town which looks deserted, it’s probably for a reason. Take the hint and stay away.

Don’t fool with recombinant DNA technology unless you’re sure you know what you are doing.

If you’re running from the monster, expect to trip or fall down at least twice, more if you are of the female persuasion. Also note that, despite the fact that you are running and the monster is merely shambling along,it’s still moving fast enough to catch up with you.

If your companions suddenly begin to exhibit uncharacteristic behavior such as hissing, fascination for blood, glowing eyes, increasing hairiness,and so on, get away from them as fast as possible.

Stay away from certain geographical locations, some of which are listed here: Amityville, Elm Street, Transylvania, the Bermuda Triangle, or any small town in Maine.

If your car runs out of gas at night, do not go to the nearby deserted-looking house to phone for help.

Beware of strangers bearing tools such as chainsaws, staple guns, hedge trimmers, electric carving knives, combines, lawn mowers, butane torches, soldering irons, band saws, or any device made from deceased companions.

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Movie Review: Closer

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Dan (Jude Law) is walking down the street one day when he runs into Alice (Natalie Portman) who, while staring at Dan, is hit by a car. He helps her to the hospital, and then begins a romance with her, despite the fact that she looks like jailbait and there’s not a single hint of chemistry between them at all.

They’re in a relationship for a year, during which Dan, who is a “writer” without a single original thought in his head, cribs Alice’s life story (you can only do that once, dummy!) and gets a bestseller as a result. During a PR photoshoot for the book, Dan meets Anna (Julia Roberts) and makes a play for her, while admitting that he’s in a relationship with Alice. Anna blows him off, but you can see she’s charmed by him, which hey, when confronted by a lying philanderer who oozes disrespect for you, who wouldn’t be?

As payback for not hopping in the sack with him, Dan picks up nutjob Larry (Clive Owen) in an online chat and sends him in the direction of Anna, a particularly cruel and dangerous joke that no one ever takes him to task for. Larry just manages to conceal that he’s a sexual predator/sociopath while meeting Anna, and they hook up and marry. Because Anna’s into the whole disrespect/degradation thing, as we’ve already seen with Dan.

Eventually Dan and Anna hook up, and Larry tries to make it with Alice but can’t because he’s such a loser, and there’s much stormy confrontation and accusations about everyone’s behavior. And then there’s a weird non-ending that ties up no loose ends, brings about no revelations, and causes no growth or changes in anyone’s behavior. The End.

In case you can’t tell from my outline of the plot, I thought this movie was a steaming pile of… I’d say shit, but that seems too polite. I hated the fact that everyone in the movie was lying and cheating on everyone else, but they each expect the others to tell them the truth and be faithful. And when they didn’t get what they wanted, they had big screaming hissy fits about it.

I especially hate the fact that this movie is getting critical raves — it makes me a little afraid of my fellow man. Um, people are not allowed to act this way, folks, and if you know people who are like this, or if you yourself are like this, I’d like you far away from me, please. Come to think of it, I have some ex-partners who probably LOVED this movie.

I’m sorry, but there was nothing interesting on that screen to me at all. Sure, all the actors were beautiful at first glance, but five minutes into meeting each character made them uglier than dirt. I couldn’t even ignore the actors and stare at the sets, because they were all cold, sterile and hostile. No wonder these people are so unhappy; look at their apartments. The only remotely redeeming thing about this movie, is that in the scene where we meet Anna, she’s wearing some very cool corduroy mens trousers that look great on her. I actually pointed out that I wanted those pants.

Entertainment Weekly is predicting that this movie with get some Oscar consideration with possible nominations for Clive Owen and Natalie Portman for Supporting Actors, and perhaps “Best Adapted Screenplay.” The idea makes me want to vomit. But in I guess we live in George Bush’s America, so viscious, nilhistic behavior and self-righteousness are bound to be rewarded.

Rating

One Half
I’m giving this half a star for Julia Robert’s pants.

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