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The Monday Morning Question: Yes, I Lied
Monday, December 8, 2008
I lied. I missed not doing the Monday Morning Question, so they're back sooner than expected. And today you also get The Monday Morning Request for Help and the Monday Morning Announcement! Yippee!
The Request for Help: I would like to direct everyone to a charity auction and fundraiser for Vera Nazarian, creator of Norilana Books. Vera is losing her home due to foreclosure, and many of her friends and colleagues have formed a LiveJournal community to help her. You can read about her story here, where you can also donate via Paypal. If you'd rather offer something on auction or bid on one of the auctions -- all proceeds from the auctions go to help Vera -- the details are here. Note that you must have a LiveJournal account to participate in auctions, but only need a Paypal account for donations.
I hope some of you can spare a dollar or two to help Vera out. There are a lot of amazing things up for auction as well.
The Announcement: Because of asshole spammers, I am now turning off comments on various posts as they get targeted. A note will be appended to any post that has comments turned off. If this upsets you, please take it out on a spammer by punching them in the neck. Thank you.
The Question: My question is just a general one: What movies have you watched lately? What did you like, what did you hate?
You may have noticed I've been fiddling with the sidebars. A couple weeks ago I added a new section called "Recently Watched", which I try to keep updated with everything I've seen. It's been eye-opening, to say the least. And I think we can all agree that anyone who watches 7 movies in one day has a problem.
Lots of the movies I've seen lately were good, but I'd say that "Coma" (1978) was the real surprise. Surprisingly well done, structured nicely, built tension very well. Simple enough to be believable. Too bad they added a misguided attempt at feminism to the plot. Bujold carried her part very well, but the overdone "Damn women! Why don't they just stay at home and bring me beers?" attitudes weren't convincing or necessary. My husband and I argued over just how feminist the ending was, because
[SPOILER ALERT!]
I was angry that Bujold still had to be rescued by the big manly man at the end. My husband thinks she was intelligent and resourceful to the very end, though, and it wasn't so bad. I did notice no one questioned her ability to be a surgeon, and even nowadays we see TV shows and movies make a big deal about "women doctors", so I guess "Coma" was sort of progressive. However, the overall point of the movie was to follow the trials of a plucky young female doctor as she uncovers what those creepy immoral men are doing. You could find lesser versions of that basic idea back in the 30s. Three words: "Mary Stevens, M.D." There was also a hint of moral indignation in "Coma" at her friend having an abortion, and they made sure the friend was killed off completely for her sins.
Pictured is Alice White in some crazy art deco costume for who knows what. Ganked from Profiles in History's list of lots at their upcoming auction. Thanks to Amy Jeanne at It'll Take the Snap Out of Your Garters for pointing it out to me. There are thousands of pics to browse through; I will never sleep again.
Posted by Stacia at 1:22 AM 9 comments
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9 comments:
I watched Bottle Rocket recently and found interesting similarities between it and Darjeeling Limited (the emphasis on three guys, for instance).
Excellent: The Fat Man (1951). Great little crime movie with an early appearance by Rock Hudson and Julie London looking as great as ever.
Totally sucked hobbit-nuts: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008). I WILL NEVER WATCH ANOTHER MOVIE WITH CGI. Thanks to Industrial Light and Magic for FUCKING that up for ALL eternity.
I thought "14 Hours" was really impressive. In a more contemporary realm, I also enjoyed "Chapter 27" way more than I anticipated.
Too bad about the spammers' attack. I changed my comments setting to one where I have to approve any before they are posted. Have you tried that?
Sidenote: I watched the latest INDY too; I didn't mind some of it, but the use of CGI in certain action scenes totally ruined any sense of credibility and suspense. Granted, it's suppose to be a larky adventure movie, but there's a limit to over-the-top cartoon action in a live action film until it becomes a joke.
Otherwise, I'm in comfort-zone mode with DVDs lately--rewatching old favorites, including the newly reissued Abbott & Costello set. I have a stack of 2007/2008 movies awaiting viewing, but they take more committment in time and concentration.
Ooh, I'm never going to see the most recent Indiana Jones movie. I have zero interest in it.
Shahn, I thought about that but it looks like I'd have to moderate everything on the blog, not just individual posts. Since I don't keep the same hours as everyone else, replies to Monday Morning Questions wouldn't show up until the afternoon or later, which kind of defeats the purpose.
Several of the movies on your list are also on mine: Payment Deferred, Sidewalks of New York, Skyscraper Souls and 3:10 to Yuma (a rewatch). Yuma’s a movie for which I’ll drop anything I’m doing to sit down and stare; both Payment and Souls were new to me and I enjoyed the hell out of them—particularly for the Maureen O’Sullivan factor. Sidewalks of New York was severely disappointing—I keep hoping there’s a Keaton MGM talkie out there that will match even the poorest of his silent works (Speak Easily comes the closest, which still doesn’t speak well of Buster) but I get discouraged with each passing film.
I’ve been logging in quite a few B-films courtesy of Columbia’s film library with the likes of Blazing the Western Trail (The Durango Kid series) and Crime Doctor/Crime Doctor’s Strangest Case. All three movies are the equivalent of comfort food—no great shakes, but you’re guaranteed to be entertained for the better part of an hour. I also watched one of the few Roy Rogers Republic oaters that has eluded me for some time now—On the Old Spanish Trail…not prime Rogers to be sure, but any movie with noir icon Charles McGraw as the bad guy is worth something.
Add to this rewatchings of Rio Grande, Journey Into Fear (it had been so long since I saw this one it was almost like seeing it for the first time), The Magnificent Ambersons, The Parallax View and The Pelican Brief—don’t ask me why I sat through this last one again, I’m still trying to figure out that one myself. I’ve only managed to log time with one brand-new movie, 4 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days)—a fascinating suspense-thriller about two women attempting to get an illegal abortion in 1980s Romania. Definitely knocked my socks off.
I saw Coma when it was first released (it was part of a movie outing with some Sunday School people—it came down to either this or The Other Side of Midnight Part 2) and though I think I may have revisited once or twice since then, it’s still a crackerjack thriller. I think the main thing I took away from it was that when it came to cinematic rat bastards, Richard Widmark had no equal.
I tried to see "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Geritol Tablets" but a tornado warning interrupted the film right before the climax. Alas, nothing I saw gives me any desire to see how it ends.
I did manage to catch Paul Leni's 1927 version of "The Cat and the Canary" a couple nights ago and enjoyed the heck out of it. (Full write-up here: microbrewreviews.blogspot.com)
Also caught a really strange movie called House a/k/a Hausa by Nobuhiko Obayashi about seven Japanese school girls who basically visit a haunted inn and get devoured by the furniture that completely blew my mind.
And I took a Criterion binge. "Le Doulos" was slick, spiffy and great, and if you'll forgive the euphemism, I'm about to pop my Godard cherry this weekend with "Breathless."
Hey, Beerman, me too! I'm planning on watching "Breathless" through Netflix this week, and it's also my first Godard, although I've seen a ton of clips from "Pierre le fou".
Augh, I missed "The Cat and the Canary"! Dang!
Ivan, I thought some parts of "Sidewalks of New York" were very funny, but it wasn't as good as any of his silents. Buster started out with a nice subtle snobbish accent but quickly fell back into his Midwestern twang. Anita Page just... well, she can't act. There, I said it.
Watched Van Heflin out-act Alan Ladd in Shane recently, which made me think of him in 1954's Black Widow. Also a French romantic comedy called Priceless which had its moments, but went for the sappy ending instead of the cynical one.
I also watched the Indiana Jones movie, and agree with the South Park episode. The Holy Grail was, to me, the perfect culmination of the series and Lucas should be shot. With frozen Ewok heads. Decorated with razor blades.
Chris McG.
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