Weekend Viewing

Saturday we "chilled" with family animation:
Happy Feet (2006) - it's a musical!!!
Ice Age (2002) - reminded me of Jungle Book
Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006) - environmental awareness

Serious Sunday: The Song of Bernadette (1943)
similar to The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima (1952)

Back to Classics

After watching a number of sci-fi movies/series lately ...
decided to watch a few classics the last couple of days.

The Fountainhead (1949) - thought provoking
It's about intellectual property - an architect's work.
He dared to design his own way and demanded ownership.
His unique designs reminds me of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Three Coins in the Fountain (1954) - romance abroad
Three American girls working in Rome find love.

Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) - AFI pick of the week

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) - fantasy romance

Weekend Movies

Saturday was crime drama movies.
We wanted something more intelligent.
They all had to do with computers/hackers.

Swordfish (2001) starring John Travolta
Convicted hacker played by Hugh Jackman
is recruited by Halle Berry to work for Travolta.
He has to do it because his daughter is being held.
In the end the federal authorities recognize that.
So he and his daughter are allowed to reunite.

Firewall (2006) starring Harrison Ford
Bank's security expert is forced to hack for crocks.
His family was held in their home while he was to continue
to go to work and find a way for them to hack into system.
His wife was played by Virginia Madsen
and his assistant was Mary Lynn Rajskub.

Johnny Mnemonic (1995) starring Keanu Reeves
This one had a sci fi element.
He was hired to carry in his brain data.
The problem is they overload him causing problems.
The challenge is to get the information out
preferably without him losing his life.

Sunday night Randy watched the Detroits Tigers.
So I decided to watch a few movies on my own.

Flirting with Disaster (1996)
A comedy starring so many good people.
The cast aside this was a pretty odd story.

Casanova's Big Night (1954)
A classic comedy starring Bob Hope.
I had seen this before; wanted to see it again.

Adventure Movies

The AFI movie tonight was Easy Rider (1969).
I guess it depicted the hippie-stoner life style.
Rather than find other movies like that ...
I decided to take the "adventure" element
to find other movies to watch with it.

Earthsea (2004)
Listed genres as fantasy, drama, adventure
Admittedly I have never read the books it is based on.
I really liked this - it kept my interest thru out
moreso than Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.
It does seem to be a cross between the two -
it has a magic school for wizards like Harry Potter
and there is the adventure/quest like the Lord of the Rings.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
Listed genres as adventure, comedy, sci-fi
All I can really say is this is very odd.

Flint not Clint

Thursday movies in review -

I am not big into action movies.
I probably have not see much with Clint Eastwood ...
but I do like Derek Flint and found out so did Randy.
Derek Flint is played by James Coburn in
Our Man Flint (1966) and In Like Flint (1967).
These movies are a spoof of James Bond "007" movies.
The Flint character is very intelliegent on many subjects ...
"Flint is the worlds greatest secret agent, ...
an expert on electronics and Dolphin speech
and goes to Moscow for Ballet (To Teach!)"

We only had one of the Flint movies so had to rent the other.
At the rental place Randy also picked up a horror flick ...

Bug (2006) - suppose to be a dramatic horror thriller
I saw quite a bit before falling asleep and saw NO horror.
Randy said he also never saw bugs. (scratch head now)
Randy said it was moreso a physchological thriller.
It stars Ashley Judd which is usually pretty good.

Music Everywhere

The AFI pick was The Jazz Singer (1927).
It was mostly a silent movie with musical numbers.
I'll let Randy post more about it later.
We decided to stay with the music theme.

Walk the Line (2005) about Johnny Cash.
I was pleasantly surprised at liking this movie.
Johnny Cash was played by Joaquin Phoenix.
June Carter was played by Reese Witherspoon.
They both performed all the songs themselves.

Chicago (2002) is a great contemporary musical.
While it is a remake the action onscreen was ALIVE.
As with all good musicals it was colorful and energetic.
It was interesting to see well known stars singing and dancing:
Starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renée Zellweger, and Richard Gere.
Christine Baranski plays the reporter Mary Sunshine.
Queen Latifah plays Matron Mama Morton.

Classic Comedy

Last night we watched The Trouble with Angels (1966).
Two young rambunctious girls attending catholic boarding school.
The lead troublemaker is played by a 20 year old Hayley Mills.
Mother Superior is wonderfully played by Rosalind Russell.
Also of note: Mary Wickes played one of the nuns.

This morning we watched another comedy from the sixties.
With Six You Get Eggroll (1968) has an intriguing title.
Its about two widowers that marry and try combining families.
The mother, Doris Day, has three sons (one is a teenager).
The father, Brian Keith, has just one teenage daughter.

I wholeheartedly recommend both movies above to anyone.
Sadly we followed those with Millions (2004).
Its an okay family drama but NOT a comedy.

Family Fantasy Explored

The first two movies we watched Monday.
And the latter two were viewed Tuesday.
The first three are Irish for St Patty's Day.
They all have accents to varying degrees.

Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959)
Darby explores the land of the little people.
He believes in leprechauns and banshees.
A relatively young (29) Sean Connery is in it.

The Secret of Roan Inish (1994)
Two children explore the island of their forefathers.
They hear many tales of events that happened there.
They come to believe in mermaids which is part of their family tree.
And they spot a lost sibling once thought to have been drowned.
But instead his seal relatives of the sea have taken care of him.
These young people also rebuild the family's abandoned homes.
It's amazing what they can do and what they know how to do.
I totally recommend this family fantasy to all.

Finian's Rainbow (1968)
Finian explores the best use of his fortunes in Rainbow Valley.
Rainbow - Irish - yes, there is a leprechaun in this adventure.
I remember watching this musical when I was a young adult.
I like the storyline about people of all colors living in harmony.
It was directed by a 29 year old (hippie) Francis Ford Coppola.
It stars Fred Astaire as Finian and his daughter is Petula Clark.

Five Children and It (2004)
The five children explore their uncle's home.
They find a doorway to a mystical land with an "IT".
The sand fairy grants them wishes to teach them lessons.
As with leprechauns it usually does not work out.

Romance for the evening

After watching horror movies we switched
to romance with an element of fantasy.

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)
It stars Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison
It looked like a good movie but sadly the VHS had trouble.
So we will have to watch it all another time.

Bell Book and Candle (1958)
I had been waiting to have Randy see it.
It stars James Stewart and Kim Novak.
As well as Jack Lemmon and Elsa Lanchester.
Interesting to note that Rex Harrison played
the male lead in the Broadway production.

Big Dark House

We are spending the day watching movies.
The first three today were horror in big dark houses.
We watched them in order from newest to oldest.

The Others (2001) - starring Nicole Kidman
I thought it was fairly predictable yet still a good movie.
The only thing I did not totally understand -
was why the dad did not stay once he was reunited.

The Haunting (1963) - starring Julie Harris
Pretty awesome when you consider it was
a black and white independent movie.
Of note: Russ Tamblyn played the nephew

The Spiral Staircase (1945) - starring a mute!!! -
at least Dorothy McGuire was until the very end.
It's a psychological thriller which includes mystery.
Of note: Ethel Barrymore and Elsa Lanchester

After dinner we are headed in a different direction.
Some fantasy and romance and comedy. Oh my!!!
Stay tuned to see what we watch next.

Black and White Romantic Classics

The day started with the furnace getting cleaned.
Yeah - we've had heat all day - first time in 4 days.

The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss (1936)
Starring Cary Grant and Mary Brian.
It's a drama, comedy and romance.

Pot o' Gold (1941)
Starring James Stewart and Paulette Goddard.
It's a musical, comedy and romance.

Made for Each Other (1939)
Starring Carole Lmbard and James Stewart.
It's a drama, comedy and romance.

Heat update

The furnace shut off a couple other times yesterday.
The last time Randy reset it a little after midnight.
Seems to be working at this point in time.
Still waiting to hear back from landlady.

Yesterday when Randy was out doing errands ...
I watched Father's Little Dividend (1951).
It's the sequel to Father of the Bride (1950).
These star Spenser Tracy as the father
and Elizabeth Taylor as the daughter.

Serious Sunday

We decided to watch some more serious movies today.
We are thinking we may continue to do that on Sundays.
Maybe movies about actual events and maybe religious.

Come to the Stable (1949)
It was about two nuns from France who came to America.
They are determined to build a children's hospital.
They have great faith and friends to help.
It was written by Clare Boothe Luce.

Schindler's List (1993) *** WOW ***
This was a first time watch for both of us.
It was really good and seemed realistic to me.
There were disturbing scenes but not sensationalized.
It was a good follow up movie to seeing Freedom Writers.

I found this actual copy of Schindler's List.
Schindler and his wife Emilie are both individually
included in the Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations.
Steven Spielberg was the director and all his royalties/residuals
go to Shoah Foundation which preserves history of genocide.

The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima (1952)
I had seen this when young at my grandmother's house.
Three children living outside Fatima claim to see a lady in a cloud.
It is presumed to be the Blessed Mary who wants to use them.
It is based on actual events that occurred in the summer of 1917.

Sister Lucia was the only surviving visionary.
On February 13, 2008 the process towards sainthood for her began.
Francisco and Jacinta were declared venerable and then blessed.
Other associated links at wikipedia follow:
Our Lady of Fatima, Miracle of the Sun, Three Secrets of Fatima

Romance for Cathy and Action for Randy

Tuesday:

Paris Holiday with Bob Hope and Fernandel
The tagline is "The Comedy Team Of The Century".
Fernandel is Bob's comedian counterpart in his homeland of France.

Deja Vu with Denzel Washington and Val Kilmer
I am not big into action but I liked the intrigue in this one.
It was a combination of drama, romance and sci fi.

Wednesday:

Paris - When It Sizzles with William Holden and Audrey Hepburn
It's marked as a romantic comedy but I just consider it a comedy.
The romance seemed contrived as they wrote a screen play.

Sky High with Kurt Russell and Kelly Preston
It's a great movie - action, adventure, comedy, family, sci -fi.
Another of the super hero movies I would recommend to others.

A New Kind of Love with Paul Newman and (wife) Joanne Woodward
Also in it are George Tobias aka Abner Kravitv from Bewitched.
Thelma Ritter and Eva Gabor were also a part of this great movie.

Batman Begins with Christian Bale, Michael Caine and Liam Neeson
Randy calls it a "reinventure of Batman".
There is more looking into his young adulthood.

Oldies but Goodies

I was surprised I had not seen either one of these oldies but goodies.

Sunday I watched the musical Hit the Deck (1955).
There were so many great folks in it ...
The ladies - Jane Powell, Debbie Reynolds and Ann Miller
The gents - Walter Pidgeon, Vic Damone and Richard Anderson
Randy was surprised to see a young Russ Tamblyn, Amber's dad.
Richard Anderson we knew better (in the 70's) as Oscar Goldman.

Today I watched the romantic comedy with music Honolulu (1939).
Eleanor Powell was the female lead and did many tap numbers.
Robert Young was the male lead playing multiple roles.
Husband and wife, George Burns and Gracie Allen were in it.
I believe this is the first movie I've seen Gracie in - she's funny.
Young George I did not easily recognize until I heard him talk.

Week ending 02-09-08

At the beginning of the week we purchased our first HDTV.
We spent the week watching Alien Nation the series from 1989.
Among those 22 episodes we also did watch some other movies ...

White Noise (2005) and Good Luck Chuck (2007).
I was not impressed with White Noise at all.
Good Luck Chuck was an okay romantic comedy.

The Country Girl (1954) and Blue Skies (1946).
I also was not impressed with The Country Girl.
Blue Skies' story got lost in the 32 Irving Berlin hits.

Friday night's AFI selection was Pulp Fiction. I did not watch it.
There simply was too much foul language for my liking.
Instead I watched an episode of CSI: Las Vegas.

Week ending 02-02-08

I did not blog last week but wanted to mention some things that we did do partly for our own benefit so we remember what we did when. I tried a few new recipes. The first new recipe was Macaroon Cookie Cake, a chocolate cake with coconut topping made with pre-melted chocolate. It was from an OLD cookbook my mother had given me from the sixties, a Pillsbury Cook Off compilation. I asked my mom if that ingredient still existed today and found that it did. Me thinks I will use it again; it beats melting chocolate squares. The second new recipe, Potato Bacon Casserole, was my first use of our crockpot. It went well enough. The original recipe called for hash browns but I replaced it with potatoes thinly sliced. Only slight problem was that even after cooking for 6 hours the potatoes were somewhat hard. We both did like it so will be doing it again with precooked potatoes. I will be backdating the recipes a little later and adding links in this post.

If you know us you know we love movies. I was still a little out of it health wise so spent even more time than usual watching movies. I'll list by genre things we or just I watched. Later I may backdate entries to expand on some of these so look for last weeks entries a little later. The sci-fi picks included Taken (mini series), Lost Room (mini series), Alien Nation (original movie), and Stargate (original movie). Musicals watched Babes on Broadway, Broadway Melody of 1936, Broadway Melody of 1940, Ziegfield Follies and Words and Music. Comedies including romantic comedies included My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Repli-Kate, Just Like Heaven, My First Mister, Music and Lyrics and The List. The latter is the best romantic comedy I have seen in a long time.

During the last week we also found imdb's My Movies feature. It's your personal subset of their database. We each created an account over there. Randy is inputting all our movies and tv shows. Right now he is doing the DVDs and later the VHS. I am keeping track of what movies we actually watch. I have it set up by genre according to us (not imdb). Some of these will be linked on our website. Needless to say we are keeping busy.

AFI Movie Date Night #4

Tonight was Bringing Up Baby (#97), starring Katharine Hepburn & Cary Grant. It's known as one of the best screwball comedies of all time. I can't remember if I'd seen it before but this time I really didn't enjoy it. Maybe it's because I'm not used to seeing Miss Hepburn in such a dingbatty role, but I found her character to be quite annoying. I didn't think much of Cary Grant's performance either. Sure, there are quite a few laughs but there's also quite a few "roll your eyes" moments as well.

That Funny Feeling

That Funny Feeling stars with Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin.
I like Sandra but could take or leave this movie- it was okay.
Some of the other actors I knew from other places as well.
Sandra I knew as character Tambrey 'Tammy' Tyree.
Donald O'Connor as Cosmo in Singin' In the Rain.
Nita Talbot I remember from Hogan's Heroes (Marya).
Larry Storch on "F Troop" as Cpl. Randolph Agarn.
Reta Shaw (lady at phone booth) is a great supporting actress.
I remember her on Bewitched as Aunt Hagatha.

Movies Day

Originally Monday we were going to do a movie marathon.
With the snow storm to shovel out of did not really have the time.
So decided to kick back today and relax with different movies.

Late Monday into Tuesday we watched Libeled Lady.
It had an impressive cast of actors from the 1930's:
Jean Harlow, William Powell, Myrna Loy, and Spenser Tracy.

Mid morning we watched The Reaping starring Hillary Swank.
"... a small town ... suffering from the 10 biblical plagues."
You are never sure if you are in the real world or just dreaming.

Late afternoon we watched Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984).
I thought I'd seen it before but realized I had not.
It starred John Hurt and was based on George Orwell novel.

In the evening we watched Fracture with Anthony Hopkins.
It's a crime, drama, mystery, thriller with mind games.
Ryan Gosling costars as the sometimes reluctant DA.