24/50 movies
Jul. 30th, 2008 08:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
valarltdThe P/F is whether it passes or fails the Bechdel Test 1) there must be 2 female characters, 2)who talk to each other, 3) about something besides a man.
1) Sweeney Todd--I played chaperone to 8 teenagers after a full day of work. This was great. Depp and Bonham-Carter were brilliant and Jamie Campbell Bower is so pretty & femme, my daughter was getting lesbian subtext during the Joanna romance. Alan Rickman was perfect, as always. (f, pt 2)
2) Full Metal Alchemist: The Conquest of Shamballa--interesting piece of work. A nifty alternate history, with the Nazi Thule Society actually achieving a goal.(P, landlady gives the girl a job)
3) Smokey and the Bandit--A shame for a driver to admit it, but I'd never seen this. Funny, if a bit dated. (f, 1)
4) Ever After--Still not sure why this is PG-13 and not a G, except for one bit of crude language. My kids were iffy about it, but soon got into it. Anjelica Huston is wonderfully loathesome, and Drew Barrymore still has the pretty and innocent thing. (P in spades)
5) Bridge to Terabithia--I never read this book, and it's a shame, since it's the sort of thing I would have loved at 10-14. The SPFX are good, the story is a fairly predictable YA piece. (p nicely)
6) Blazing Saddles--The A&E bleeped version. A classic comedy, with the best fart joke ever put on screen. The kids were rolling at that scene.(f, 2)
7) Night at the Museum--Sweet and predictable. Nice FX, very funny. Dick van Dyke sorely underused.(f, 2)
8) Captain Blood--Erroll Flynn vs. Basil Rathbone as rival pirates. Three of the four kids enjoyed a lot. Bun wants more Flynn/DeHavilland movies, and I will oblige her. (f, 3)
9) The Thief of Bagdad--Douglas Fairbanks is having a wonderful time. Pity this thing moves so very slowly. (p, odd for a silent, but it does)
10) Gremlins 2: The New Batch--Gremlins take over the Clamp office building. Lots of pop culture references and Christopher Lee, John Glover, cameos by John Astin, Henry Gibson, Hulk Hogan, Paul Bartel and Leonard Maltin. Very funny, if kinda gross.(p on several fronts)
11) Kim (1950)-- I hadn't read the book, but an aging Errol Flynn and a very very young Dean Stockwell carry this film. Technicolor and gorgeous, it moves in slow tense circles until the Great Game is played out.(f, 1)
12) It's a Great Feeling (1949). Doris Day before she was a virgin, being bamboozled by Dennis Morgan and Jack Carlson. Every Hollywood star of the era has a cameo as themselves. And Errol Flynn is the punchline to 90 minutes of mediocre musical tedium. (f, 3)
13) The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). Glorious Technicolor. Basil Rathbone and Claude Rains being deliciously evil. Olivia deHavilland, as always, luminously beautiful. And Errol Flynn in his greatest role. One of those movies where you sit and bask. (p. They conspire to get a message to Robin and his men)
14) Howl's Moving Castle. Anime. Very interesting piece about a wizard, a girl and all sorts of complications. Billy Crystal is pretty good as the fire demon. (p)
15) Godspell. Musical. Actually, we saw this at Easter. The Gospel as musical. More stylized and less grim than Jesus Christ Superstar. We IMDB'd the cast. Three are dead. Victor Garber is still working. And the rest did nothing else. Wonderful piece full of early 70's Jesus people zeitgeist. My favorite bit "It says 'rejoice'!"/"It says Keds." (hard to tell, no conversations, really)
16) The Court Jester. Danny Kaye in fine form. Basil Rathbone being villainous and Angela Landsbury being very very young. The Induction of the Knights and the Pellet with the Poison sequences are classics. (p)
17) The Sun also Rises. Lady Brett and her four admirers go to Pamplona for the fiesta. IOW, a bunch of drunks do dumb things and realize nothing ever changes. Entertaining in spots, downer. Errol Flynn spent most of the filming as drunk as his character. (p)
18) The Young Rajah. One of Valentino's Lost Films, this was a reconstruction with stills, extant footage and titles. Very beautiful man. Odd plot. (f)
19) Dogma. A dead black apostle, two foul-mouthed prophets, a muse and Jesus' great-great-ever-so-great-grand-niece team up to stop a pair of renegade angels from entering a church and negating all existence. Brilliantly funny. Alan Rickman (as the Voice of God) alone is worth the price of a rental. Bun about fell out of her chair laughing several time. The scene with God and Bartleby always makes me cry. (p. Bethany talks to her friend and the muse and God (Alanis Morrisette) on all sorts of things.)
20) Winter Solstice. A father and his two sons try to connect after the death of his wife. I watched it mainly because Aaron Stanford is in it. Artsy, quiet, not a movie for people who don't know how to interpret movies. For those who want plot, it's thin on the ground. The dialogue is leaden and mundane, reflecting their lives and inability to really talk. Awkward pauses abound. This is more a series of images and feelings set to slack-key guitar music. Iron and Wine's "Sunset soon forgotten" lends the perfect touch to the sound track. Left me all sad and melancholy. (f, 2. 3 female characters, none share a scene, but nobody really has conversations in this film)
21) The Adventures of Errol Flynn. Biographical documentary made in 2005, using archival movie, interviews and TV footage. Patrice Wymore and Olivia DeHavilland do most of the talking, along with second wife, Nora Eddington and daughters Deirdre and Rory. Excellent. And the To Tell the Truth segment where Don Knotts--sporting a pencil thin mustache--claims to be Errol is worth watching. (f, since the whole movie was talking about one man)
22) The Seventh Seal. Ingmar Bergman's classic, starring Max von Sydow. A knight journeying across Plague ravaged Sweden plays a game of chess with death to buy time. (f, 2. 4 female characters but none of them talks to each other, one doesn't talk at all from trauma)
23) The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex. Beautiful technicolor piece about Elizabeth I, and her love/feud with the earl of Essex. Olivia DeHavilland is the bad one here, in the hire of Vincent Price. (p)
24) For the Bible Tells Me So. A documentary about how gayness affects the Christian families, leading some to a new understanding and others to hid behind their Bibles. (p, a mother and daughter talk about the daughter's partner)
1) Sweeney Todd--I played chaperone to 8 teenagers after a full day of work. This was great. Depp and Bonham-Carter were brilliant and Jamie Campbell Bower is so pretty & femme, my daughter was getting lesbian subtext during the Joanna romance. Alan Rickman was perfect, as always. (f, pt 2)
2) Full Metal Alchemist: The Conquest of Shamballa--interesting piece of work. A nifty alternate history, with the Nazi Thule Society actually achieving a goal.(P, landlady gives the girl a job)
3) Smokey and the Bandit--A shame for a driver to admit it, but I'd never seen this. Funny, if a bit dated. (f, 1)
4) Ever After--Still not sure why this is PG-13 and not a G, except for one bit of crude language. My kids were iffy about it, but soon got into it. Anjelica Huston is wonderfully loathesome, and Drew Barrymore still has the pretty and innocent thing. (P in spades)
5) Bridge to Terabithia--I never read this book, and it's a shame, since it's the sort of thing I would have loved at 10-14. The SPFX are good, the story is a fairly predictable YA piece. (p nicely)
6) Blazing Saddles--The A&E bleeped version. A classic comedy, with the best fart joke ever put on screen. The kids were rolling at that scene.(f, 2)
7) Night at the Museum--Sweet and predictable. Nice FX, very funny. Dick van Dyke sorely underused.(f, 2)
8) Captain Blood--Erroll Flynn vs. Basil Rathbone as rival pirates. Three of the four kids enjoyed a lot. Bun wants more Flynn/DeHavilland movies, and I will oblige her. (f, 3)
9) The Thief of Bagdad--Douglas Fairbanks is having a wonderful time. Pity this thing moves so very slowly. (p, odd for a silent, but it does)
10) Gremlins 2: The New Batch--Gremlins take over the Clamp office building. Lots of pop culture references and Christopher Lee, John Glover, cameos by John Astin, Henry Gibson, Hulk Hogan, Paul Bartel and Leonard Maltin. Very funny, if kinda gross.(p on several fronts)
11) Kim (1950)-- I hadn't read the book, but an aging Errol Flynn and a very very young Dean Stockwell carry this film. Technicolor and gorgeous, it moves in slow tense circles until the Great Game is played out.(f, 1)
12) It's a Great Feeling (1949). Doris Day before she was a virgin, being bamboozled by Dennis Morgan and Jack Carlson. Every Hollywood star of the era has a cameo as themselves. And Errol Flynn is the punchline to 90 minutes of mediocre musical tedium. (f, 3)
13) The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). Glorious Technicolor. Basil Rathbone and Claude Rains being deliciously evil. Olivia deHavilland, as always, luminously beautiful. And Errol Flynn in his greatest role. One of those movies where you sit and bask. (p. They conspire to get a message to Robin and his men)
14) Howl's Moving Castle. Anime. Very interesting piece about a wizard, a girl and all sorts of complications. Billy Crystal is pretty good as the fire demon. (p)
15) Godspell. Musical. Actually, we saw this at Easter. The Gospel as musical. More stylized and less grim than Jesus Christ Superstar. We IMDB'd the cast. Three are dead. Victor Garber is still working. And the rest did nothing else. Wonderful piece full of early 70's Jesus people zeitgeist. My favorite bit "It says 'rejoice'!"/"It says Keds." (hard to tell, no conversations, really)
16) The Court Jester. Danny Kaye in fine form. Basil Rathbone being villainous and Angela Landsbury being very very young. The Induction of the Knights and the Pellet with the Poison sequences are classics. (p)
17) The Sun also Rises. Lady Brett and her four admirers go to Pamplona for the fiesta. IOW, a bunch of drunks do dumb things and realize nothing ever changes. Entertaining in spots, downer. Errol Flynn spent most of the filming as drunk as his character. (p)
18) The Young Rajah. One of Valentino's Lost Films, this was a reconstruction with stills, extant footage and titles. Very beautiful man. Odd plot. (f)
19) Dogma. A dead black apostle, two foul-mouthed prophets, a muse and Jesus' great-great-ever-so-great-grand-niece team up to stop a pair of renegade angels from entering a church and negating all existence. Brilliantly funny. Alan Rickman (as the Voice of God) alone is worth the price of a rental. Bun about fell out of her chair laughing several time. The scene with God and Bartleby always makes me cry. (p. Bethany talks to her friend and the muse and God (Alanis Morrisette) on all sorts of things.)
20) Winter Solstice. A father and his two sons try to connect after the death of his wife. I watched it mainly because Aaron Stanford is in it. Artsy, quiet, not a movie for people who don't know how to interpret movies. For those who want plot, it's thin on the ground. The dialogue is leaden and mundane, reflecting their lives and inability to really talk. Awkward pauses abound. This is more a series of images and feelings set to slack-key guitar music. Iron and Wine's "Sunset soon forgotten" lends the perfect touch to the sound track. Left me all sad and melancholy. (f, 2. 3 female characters, none share a scene, but nobody really has conversations in this film)
21) The Adventures of Errol Flynn. Biographical documentary made in 2005, using archival movie, interviews and TV footage. Patrice Wymore and Olivia DeHavilland do most of the talking, along with second wife, Nora Eddington and daughters Deirdre and Rory. Excellent. And the To Tell the Truth segment where Don Knotts--sporting a pencil thin mustache--claims to be Errol is worth watching. (f, since the whole movie was talking about one man)
22) The Seventh Seal. Ingmar Bergman's classic, starring Max von Sydow. A knight journeying across Plague ravaged Sweden plays a game of chess with death to buy time. (f, 2. 4 female characters but none of them talks to each other, one doesn't talk at all from trauma)
23) The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex. Beautiful technicolor piece about Elizabeth I, and her love/feud with the earl of Essex. Olivia DeHavilland is the bad one here, in the hire of Vincent Price. (p)
24) For the Bible Tells Me So. A documentary about how gayness affects the Christian families, leading some to a new understanding and others to hid behind their Bibles. (p, a mother and daughter talk about the daughter's partner)
