tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post8372793319881950357..comments2024-03-27T21:42:56.131-05:00Comments on 1001plus: What I've Caught Up With, February 2021SJHoneywellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550007053995112090noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-64106319277691889932021-03-07T20:29:19.690-06:002021-03-07T20:29:19.690-06:00Okay, now I feel like I have to track it down just...Okay, now I feel like I have to track it down just for mental casting possibilities.SJHoneywellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13550007053995112090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-73453891031475403532021-03-07T19:15:02.428-06:002021-03-07T19:15:02.428-06:00Girl on the Run had so much unrealized potential b...Girl on the Run had so much unrealized potential because of the constraints of its budget and less than assured direction. However that lack of dollars lent it the rough seedy air that ran through the film. <br /><br />Yes Sam Fuller would have done wonders with it! I also thought of Fritz Lang or Tod Browning as being good fits. All the way through though I kept thinking "This baby would really snap if Robert Ryan and Marie Windsor (or Audrey Totter) were playing the lead couple instead of these drab nonentities."joel65913https://www.blogger.com/profile/14526657073681774683noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-18924590030940176292021-03-07T17:31:16.591-06:002021-03-07T17:31:16.591-06:00Of everything new to me in February, October Sky w...Of everything new to me in February, <i>October Sky</i> would definitely be in the top three, along with <i>Ready or Not</i> and <i>Portrait of a Lady on Fire</i>. <i>Innocent Blood</i> and <i>Bernie</i> would round out a top-5. <br /><br />I'll be very interested to here what you have to say about <i>Bernie</i>. You could include it in your birthday project--August 28 (Jack Black), April 24 (Shirley MacLaine), or November 4 (Matthew McConaughey). <i>Beatriz at Dinner</i> isn't terrible, but isn't worth a second watch. Hayek is good, as is Lithgow, but there's not much else here. <br /><br /><i>And Soon the Darkness</i> has been on the They Shoot Zombies list, which means I should be getting to it eventually. Knowing that you, as a non-horror fan, found it worth seeing makes me a lot more interested in tracking it down. <br /><br /><i>Girl on the Run</i> sounds like it should have been directed by Samuel Fuller. Or at least could have been!SJHoneywellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13550007053995112090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-24382460511495865752021-03-07T12:37:02.527-06:002021-03-07T12:37:02.527-06:00I LOVE October Sky!! When I went to see it in the ...I LOVE October Sky!! When I went to see it in the theatre I wasn't sure what to expect not having read the book but was swept into the story from the beginning. This was my first exposure to Jake Gyllenhaal and you just felt that he was going places, there was an intensity and pull to his presence along with his acting talent. I agree that Chris Cooper is great as his father, a difficult man but Cooper makes you see the problems he faces that makes him the way he is. I even admired Laura Dern's work, not always the case. One other thing of note, the film has the most beautifully evocative score. I don't understand how the film missed out entirely at Oscar time. <br /><br />I haven't seen Run Silent, Run Deep in years but I did like it. Interesting to see two actors with such strong onscreen personas as Gable and Lancaster go head to head. <br /><br />I've steered away from Bernie, it always seemed too strange for me but with your recommendation I'll give it a shot. <br /><br />I like Salma Hayek too, but Beatriz at Dinner doesn't sound too intriguing. <br /><br />My birthday project is still running apace and like most months I have less than a handful of flicks to recommend. <br /><br />My first “Girl on the Run” (1953) comes with a qualified warning. I cannot do better than the description given for the movie- “A hootchy-kootchy whodunit set at a small seedy carnival where a reporter tries to discover who killed his boss while his girlfriend inexplicably joins the burlesque show!” It has a wonderfully sleazy noirish feel, intriguingly strange supporting characters and off kilter camera angles but the leading pair are bland and its low budget constraints keep it from being special. If you watch keep a sharp eye out around the four-minute mark and you’ll clearly see Steve McQueen as a wordless extra!<br /><br />Next is “And Then the Darkness” (1970). Two young women, Jane and Cathy are backpacking together in the French countryside, have a disagreement and separate. When Jane (Pamela Franklin) returns to make amends, the other girl has vanished. Jane, unable to speak the language, attempts to locate Cathy as a sense of lurking dread creeps over her. It was very taut with a strong performance by Pamela Franklin.<br /><br />The last is “The Rocking Horse Winner” (1949). Initially it seemed like a simple little picture about an isolated young boy who wants to help his distant, financially troubled parents with the help of their gardener (John Mills) but it became increasingly surreal as it went along. joel65913https://www.blogger.com/profile/14526657073681774683noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-11703337121882103992021-03-07T09:11:57.197-06:002021-03-07T09:11:57.197-06:00I am, as mentioned above, predisposed to like Salm...I am, as mentioned above, predisposed to like Salma Hayek. <br /><br /><i>October Sky</i> is a lovely movie. I also love that the title is an anagram of the book it was based on--Rocket Boys. <br /><br />Of all of these, though, <i>Bernie</i> was the discovery. Wildly entertaining and unexpected.SJHoneywellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13550007053995112090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-91668136119840455162021-03-06T20:30:24.594-06:002021-03-06T20:30:24.594-06:00I liked Beatriz at Dinner as I just thought Salma ...I liked <i>Beatriz at Dinner</i> as I just thought Salma Hayek was great as I also liked <i>October Sky</i> while <i>Bernie</i> I think is one of the most underrated films of the 2010s. Notably as I think it's the film that really began the seeds of the McConaughsainnce as it also featured Matthew McConaughey's mother and a lot of revelations about the state of Texas and why it's so fucked up politically. <br /><br />I haven't seen a lot of the <i>Pink Panther</i> movies except in bits involving Peter Sellers and that one movie with Roger Moore as Chief Inspector Clouseau and the one movie with Roberto Benigni as Clouseau's son. thevoid99https://www.blogger.com/profile/03055459287396592446noreply@blogger.com