Category: movies

Film 101

Karen

Did you know Charlie Chaplin made a movie with sound? That made fun of Hitler? In 1940? I think this is like my Orson Welles moment years ago where it’s common knowledge–but I just found out about The Great Dictator.

And I found out about it because the big speech at the end is maybe even more relevant 65 years later:

We have developed speed but we have shut ourselves in: machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little: More than machinery we need humanity; More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness.

Last Day Of The Year

Karen

I realized a few years ago that the reason I always hated New Year’s Eve was because it required leaving the house,  going to places where there were other people, and often drinking gross things. So I came up with a better plan, which I will enact tonight:

Stay home with the your true love (meow!), drink something nice, and watch the second Thin Man movie. “They’ve come to make your holiday happy,” after all.

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I approve of this plan. Toby approves of this plan. Nora Charles does, too.

 

 

Friday Unrelated Information

Karen1 Comment

1. I know I can’t do anything about it, but the more children there are in those family stick figure cartoons on cars, the more they irritate me. That’s why I loved today’s xkcd comic (click to enlarge):



2. It’s Labor Day on Monday and you know that means I’ll be watching Picnic. I won’t post anything on the holiday, but be sure to celebrate the last day of summer, listen to “Moonglow,” and go cause a scandal in your small town.

In Which I Go To Sundance And Get A New Imaginary Boyfriend

Karen1 Comment

Despite being a native Utahan, I’ve never been to Sundance (I’ve never been downhill skiing, either). But a friend had an extra ticket this year, so last night I got to see The Ledge. It was a thriller/love story/exploration of faith and it was really good–but I liked the Q&A with the writer/director Matthew Chapman most of all.

You can get a taste of him in the video linked to above, but he was just so smart and insightful and logical, talking about how the world needs “mercy more than condemnation.” Sigh–rational humanists do it for me every time.

Also, if you want to stick out at Sundance, just wear a color. Especially and orange coat.

I Know It’s Called "Before," But A Lot Of "After" Was Left Out

Karen2 Comments

I finally watched Coco Before Chanel last night and it was about what I expected: More romance than fashion, with lots of montages. It started out pretty well but ended with Chanel being reflected in endless mirrors while models who were 2010-skinny put on a fashion show. I know there was more to the “after” of her career than that.

I enjoyed that the film’s first half presented her as so cynical about love…until “the love of her life” died and the penultimate montage made it seem like she spent the rest of her life mourning him. (What about Stravinsky? Or that German officer she met in WWII? Talk about a pretext for a film.)

But it was enjoyable, if only to see some sewing and fabric on film. My favorite part was near the end, when she unrolled a bolt of powder-pink boucle suiting in that same “my lover is dead and I’m sewing through my grief” montage. I want some of that boucle!

Maybe The Universe Is Telling Me I’d Really Hate This Movie And, Therefore, Doing Me A Favor

Karen3 Comments

I tried to go to the Sherlock Holmes movie at Brewvies again last night (a week after my work friend and I got to see five minutes of it before the film broke) and, as you might guess from the title of this, no deal. When I had checked the schedule online Monday night there was an 8:00 showing, but when we got to the theater it had been pushed back to 9:30 to accommodate a special event for Engineers Without Borders.

Dammit, Brewvies, as much as I want to continue liking you, you’re making it really difficult. You should probably consider hiring projectionists who aren’t so stoned they put the film in wrong. Perhaps updating your website a little sooner than the day of an event would be a good idea, too. (And universe, I know the film is in no way faithful to the Conan Doyle stories, but I really like Robert Downey, Jr. And now this has become a challenge.)

Like Christmas Morning

Karen2 Comments

Last week started looking up when I discovered nearly 30 full-length Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes on Google Video*. Thirty of them! That I don’t have to wait to arrive via Netflix!

Over the weekend I was finally able to see Space Mutiny, featuring the many nicknames of the hero (seriously, watch it):

And I watched Final Sacrifice, featuring the sidekick…ROWSDOWER:

I love this show so much. Toby is affronted by my laughter in the evenings.

How Little We Know

Karen

You can’t binge on Humphrey Bogart movies without running into Lauren Bacall. Here she is singing “How Little We Know” from To Have and Have Not.

That dress kind of makes me want to try a pattern from the 40’s. Usually I avoid that era because older patterns=sparser directions, and I’ve never cared for that strong shoulder. But all these old movies are making me reconsider.

Capable

Karen1 Comment

I’ve been watching a lot of Humphrey Bogart movies lately (Sabrina, To Have and Have Not, The Big Sleep, Key Largo, The Maltese Falcon), and when my mom called last week and I was watching another one, she said, “I don’t think he’s that handsome, really.”

And I said, “No, but he seems so capable.”