Tonight I am flying solo, as my adorable wife is on the West Coast right now, enjoying zoo animals of all varieties. Thus it is I alone who is your tour guide into the deep dark unknown, known only as 1955. Without further adieu (and proceed with caution), here is the rundown...
As stated earlier, the winner this year was Marty, although Herb Stemple (played by John Turturro in Quiz Show) would try to tell you otherwise. I was trying to find the movie clip, but I'll do you one better with the actual footage of the famous scandal. Anyway, we loved Marty (Kim especially), so it was going to be hard to beat.
The first movie we watched was Kim's pick, Guys and Dolls. It starred Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra (both did a great job in this movie - and Brando can sing!). It was basically about these guys who just wanted to shoot craps all the time and make bets, so Brando bet Sinatra he could take this straight edge bible chick to Havana with him, and thus crazy events and a lot of singing and dancing ensue. It's a rock solid musical filled with laughs, classic tunes, and a warm-filled ending. It's like they say with books - a very easy read - this was a very easy watch.
And then there was my pick, Rebel Without a Cause. To give you a background, the actors who played the 3 main roles (James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo) all died tragically at ages way too young. In fact, James Dean was killed in a car crash one month before this film was released. That is especially eerie, considering the famous scene from this film is a wholesome, family friendly game of chicken off a cliff between Dean's character Jim Stark and some goon named Buzz. This movie was basically about this loner guy, played by Dean, who is really cool and tough but for some reason doesn't fit in with all the other cool and tough guys in school. He falls for Natalie Wood, who is basically the groupie of the tough and cool guys, and thus crazy events but no singing or dancing ensue. We both felt it was a good film, but it got a little cheezy and silly at times, and may be a bit overrated due to the tragedy that followed the stars of this film.
To tie things up short and sweet, neither Guys and Dolls or Rebel Without a Cause could quite live up to the Best Picture this year. Marty wins. Marty wins.
We've selected our next year, and it's a good one! Stay tuned.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Year #6 and Year #7: 1938 & 1955
By now, you're possibly wondering, why are there 2 years on this post? Or maybe you're not wondering at all. Or maybe you've already figured it out. Or maybe you don't really care and you just want me to get on with this post. Well for those of you who chose Choices A or D, today is your lucky day (sorry to those who chose Choice B, and if you chose Choice C, quit it you're freakin me out). Anyway, we first selected 1938. The Best Picture that year was an oldie and a goodie, called You Can't Take it With You. This was good ole Frank Capra pic, whom we loved throughout our 1st Movie Challenge (he also directed It Happened One Night which you will learn about at an unspecified later date). You Can't Take it With You scored a nifty 9.8 (I gave it a 5, Kim gave it a 4.8). It was a wonderful film starring James Stewart, filled with great laughs, very endearing characters and a nice overall message. As it turns out, no other film from that year will even get the chance to compete with this film, because this is what happened.....
Adam: PASS (Adam 2/10 used, Kim 0/10 used)
Kim: Bringing up Baby: VETOED (Adam 1/5 used, Kim 1/5 used)
So yeah...no movie this year. I'm not sure if Kim or I have mentioned this yet, but all my passes have been pre-selected, so basically when I picked all my movies, I left 10 years blank. Kim actually picked a movie every year, but will use passes if she decides she doesn't want to watch the movie she picked that year. In this case, she debated about using a pass, but ultimately went with Bringing up Baby, a comedy starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. I think she picked it because it has a leopard in it. It sounded like it had some potential, but I decided I really needed a break from all these old movies (our 3rd 30's year already) and I decided my interest level wasn't high enough to sit through it, so BAM i vetoed it.
So with no 1938 movie, we moved on to our next year. 17 years later, and we've landed in 1955. This was another good year for a Best Picture. Maaaaaaaaarty. Good stuff. This was about a fat, ugly dude named Marty (played brilliantly by Ernest Borgnine) who is like the nicest guy in the world but can't seem to get a date. Very cute and very funny, we both loved it. It scored a 9.4 (4.5 from me and 4.9 from Kim). This was the only movie in the whole challenge that Kim nearly broke into tears. That's how good it was. So, the 2 movies we picked for this year have a lot to live up to...
Adam: Rebel Without a Cause
Kim: Guys and Dolls
Yes, this could get interesting. I picked Rebel because of its cultural significance and whatnot, but really because it looks like a cool and tough film. It stars two of the more tragic figures in Hollywood history - James Dean and Natalie Wood. I'm really looking forward to it. Kim chose Guys and Dolls because she had worked on the play in high school and had a lot of fun with it, so she watched this movie way back when and really liked it then, so she wanted me to see it (she also plans on showing me her High School's production) It stars a singing Marlon Brando, which I'm sure will be fun.
Ok...We want to hear from you! 2 questions tonight....1) Favorite film: Marty, Rebel Without a Cause, or Guys and Dolls? 2) Were there any movies from 1938 that you may have enjoyed? (I know, it was a long time ago, so you may have never even SEEN a movie from 1938, but if you have, let us know!)
We will post back shortly after we've seen the films!
Adam: PASS (Adam 2/10 used, Kim 0/10 used)
Kim: Bringing up Baby: VETOED (Adam 1/5 used, Kim 1/5 used)
So yeah...no movie this year. I'm not sure if Kim or I have mentioned this yet, but all my passes have been pre-selected, so basically when I picked all my movies, I left 10 years blank. Kim actually picked a movie every year, but will use passes if she decides she doesn't want to watch the movie she picked that year. In this case, she debated about using a pass, but ultimately went with Bringing up Baby, a comedy starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. I think she picked it because it has a leopard in it. It sounded like it had some potential, but I decided I really needed a break from all these old movies (our 3rd 30's year already) and I decided my interest level wasn't high enough to sit through it, so BAM i vetoed it.
So with no 1938 movie, we moved on to our next year. 17 years later, and we've landed in 1955. This was another good year for a Best Picture. Maaaaaaaaarty. Good stuff. This was about a fat, ugly dude named Marty (played brilliantly by Ernest Borgnine) who is like the nicest guy in the world but can't seem to get a date. Very cute and very funny, we both loved it. It scored a 9.4 (4.5 from me and 4.9 from Kim). This was the only movie in the whole challenge that Kim nearly broke into tears. That's how good it was. So, the 2 movies we picked for this year have a lot to live up to...
Adam: Rebel Without a Cause
Kim: Guys and Dolls
Yes, this could get interesting. I picked Rebel because of its cultural significance and whatnot, but really because it looks like a cool and tough film. It stars two of the more tragic figures in Hollywood history - James Dean and Natalie Wood. I'm really looking forward to it. Kim chose Guys and Dolls because she had worked on the play in high school and had a lot of fun with it, so she watched this movie way back when and really liked it then, so she wanted me to see it (she also plans on showing me her High School's production) It stars a singing Marlon Brando, which I'm sure will be fun.
Ok...We want to hear from you! 2 questions tonight....1) Favorite film: Marty, Rebel Without a Cause, or Guys and Dolls? 2) Were there any movies from 1938 that you may have enjoyed? (I know, it was a long time ago, so you may have never even SEEN a movie from 1938, but if you have, let us know!)
We will post back shortly after we've seen the films!
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
1968: Odd and Odder
Before I begin on our 2 selections from 1968, I forgot to give all you fine readers our overall score for Oliver! I gave it a 4, while Kim gave it a 4.275 (she's very specific in her scores hehe), totaling a very respectable, but not exceptional 8.275. OK, let's get to the picks!
The first movie we watched was Kim's pick, The Odd Couple. Kim has seen it before (and enjoys it thoroughly), but I had never seen it, thus I will give you my take on it. I thought this was a very clever, funny little film. Jack Lemmon (whom I love from the 1960s best Picture The Apartment) and Walter Mattheau had excellent chemistry. They bounced off each other like that old video game pong, which by the way since I'm such a nice guy can be played here . It had some good ole fashioned slap stick comedy, but it also contained sophisticated humor, which as you know I can truly appreciate. It may not have been your typical Best Picture type, but it was quality stuff.
Then we watched my film. Whew. 2001: A Space Odyssey. It was an odyssey alright. I had watched it in high school, but I think we skipped through scenes back then, so much of what we just watched was new to me. And Kim realized as well how little of this movie she had previously seen. But seriously, this movie needs an attached user guide or something. Certainly very interesting and completely ahead of its time (nice call by Kubrick - a moon landing one year before the apollo), but this movie is whacked. It's filled with crazy symbolism and hidden themes and practically zero explanation of anything. First you got the monkeys, and boom then you're on the moon, and wham then you're heading to Jupiter, and then kapow you're in this white room. It's like whoa. And in between all that, like practically nothing happens, but it's all still something. It's basically up for you to decide what everything means. We did enjoy the HAL 9000 - he was about as creepy as a monotoned small circular red light could be. So yeah, good times.
Oliver!, The Odd Couple and 2001 were all very very different kinds of movies. It's hard to say for sure which we enjoyed the most. But we're both picking The Odd Couple, and here is why. We were able to just sit back, relax and enjoy The Odd Couple. It was a nice, lighthearted comedy that didn't require much thought. Certainly, if you're in the mood for a big production Musical, go with Oliver! and if you're in the mood to be provoked/confused, 2001 is your choice for the night.
Well, we've selected our next movies - and there was a little bit of drama - so stay tuned!
The first movie we watched was Kim's pick, The Odd Couple. Kim has seen it before (and enjoys it thoroughly), but I had never seen it, thus I will give you my take on it. I thought this was a very clever, funny little film. Jack Lemmon (whom I love from the 1960s best Picture The Apartment) and Walter Mattheau had excellent chemistry. They bounced off each other like that old video game pong, which by the way since I'm such a nice guy can be played here . It had some good ole fashioned slap stick comedy, but it also contained sophisticated humor, which as you know I can truly appreciate. It may not have been your typical Best Picture type, but it was quality stuff.
Then we watched my film. Whew. 2001: A Space Odyssey. It was an odyssey alright. I had watched it in high school, but I think we skipped through scenes back then, so much of what we just watched was new to me. And Kim realized as well how little of this movie she had previously seen. But seriously, this movie needs an attached user guide or something. Certainly very interesting and completely ahead of its time (nice call by Kubrick - a moon landing one year before the apollo), but this movie is whacked. It's filled with crazy symbolism and hidden themes and practically zero explanation of anything. First you got the monkeys, and boom then you're on the moon, and wham then you're heading to Jupiter, and then kapow you're in this white room. It's like whoa. And in between all that, like practically nothing happens, but it's all still something. It's basically up for you to decide what everything means. We did enjoy the HAL 9000 - he was about as creepy as a monotoned small circular red light could be. So yeah, good times.
Oliver!, The Odd Couple and 2001 were all very very different kinds of movies. It's hard to say for sure which we enjoyed the most. But we're both picking The Odd Couple, and here is why. We were able to just sit back, relax and enjoy The Odd Couple. It was a nice, lighthearted comedy that didn't require much thought. Certainly, if you're in the mood for a big production Musical, go with Oliver! and if you're in the mood to be provoked/confused, 2001 is your choice for the night.
Well, we've selected our next movies - and there was a little bit of drama - so stay tuned!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Year #5: 1968
Hello, 1968! It's nice to be back in more recent times after the last 2 selections. The Best Picture for this year was Oliver! This was one of the many musicals we watched throughout our first challenge. We thought this movie was very fun and enjoyable to watch. Kim had seen it before, so she knew what to expect, but she still found it entertaining. Most of the songs were good, especially the one where Fagin (our favorite character) plays the flute with an umbrella, which can be seen here. Anyway, on to our picks...
Kim: The Odd Couple.
Adam: 2001: A Space Odyssey
Kim had originally selected Rosemary's Baby, but changed her mind at the last second to the Mattheau/Lemmon comedy The Odd Couple. This was ok with me - I have seen Rosemary's Baby and didn't care for it. She has seen the Odd Couple and really enjoys it, plus she was more in a comedy mood than horror mood especially considering Rosemary's Baby was about a possessed baby. I haven't seen Odd Couple, so I'm looking forward to it as well.
I selected 2001: A Space Odyssey because it's one of those interesting, strange, bizarre movies that's culturally significant and fun to watch from time to time. I last watched it in high school, whereas Kim has seen parts, but never sat through the whole movie.
We may be watching the Odd Couple tonight, and 2001 in the near future, so stay tuned for our results.
In the meantime, I am introducing a brand new interactive segment to the blog. We would like to know which of our 3 movies this year (if you've seen them) you liked the most. Is it Oliver!, The Odd Couple, or 2001: A Space Odyssey? Also, feel free to post any of your other favorite movies from 1968!
Kim: The Odd Couple.
Adam: 2001: A Space Odyssey
Kim had originally selected Rosemary's Baby, but changed her mind at the last second to the Mattheau/Lemmon comedy The Odd Couple. This was ok with me - I have seen Rosemary's Baby and didn't care for it. She has seen the Odd Couple and really enjoys it, plus she was more in a comedy mood than horror mood especially considering Rosemary's Baby was about a possessed baby. I haven't seen Odd Couple, so I'm looking forward to it as well.
I selected 2001: A Space Odyssey because it's one of those interesting, strange, bizarre movies that's culturally significant and fun to watch from time to time. I last watched it in high school, whereas Kim has seen parts, but never sat through the whole movie.
We may be watching the Odd Couple tonight, and 2001 in the near future, so stay tuned for our results.
In the meantime, I am introducing a brand new interactive segment to the blog. We would like to know which of our 3 movies this year (if you've seen them) you liked the most. Is it Oliver!, The Odd Couple, or 2001: A Space Odyssey? Also, feel free to post any of your other favorite movies from 1968!
Friday, October 23, 2009
1936 done
Ok, so for 1936 we watched "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town" and we were disappointed. (To sum things up for you, Adam now refers to this movie as "Mr. Stupid-head goes to Loserville" starring Hairy Loser)
Directed by Frank Capra, needless to say we had high hopes going in. We have really enjoyed several of his other films (You Can't Take it With You, It Happened One Night and Its a Wonderful Life) and this one let us down a little bit. It was a nice movie, a simple story and had a good moral, but we just couldn't... get into it. We felt absolutely no attachment to Gary Cooper, who plays the main character, Mr. Deeds. Even the supporting roles we felt were weakly portrayed and while this movie had potential to be good, it just couldn't win us over.
The best picture from this year, The Great Zigfeld, deserved the win over this one. Ziggy was much more entertaining, and it probably helped that going into it we didn't have very high expectations (which worked to this movies disadvantage)
That's really all I have to say, and all I think needs to be said. We have drawn the next year and our movies have been selected, so that will be coming soon. In the meantime, stay classy.
Directed by Frank Capra, needless to say we had high hopes going in. We have really enjoyed several of his other films (You Can't Take it With You, It Happened One Night and Its a Wonderful Life) and this one let us down a little bit. It was a nice movie, a simple story and had a good moral, but we just couldn't... get into it. We felt absolutely no attachment to Gary Cooper, who plays the main character, Mr. Deeds. Even the supporting roles we felt were weakly portrayed and while this movie had potential to be good, it just couldn't win us over.
The best picture from this year, The Great Zigfeld, deserved the win over this one. Ziggy was much more entertaining, and it probably helped that going into it we didn't have very high expectations (which worked to this movies disadvantage)
That's really all I have to say, and all I think needs to be said. We have drawn the next year and our movies have been selected, so that will be coming soon. In the meantime, stay classy.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Year #4: 1936...One freakin year later!
The next year we "randomly" selected just happened to be one year after our last pick. Tough luck on this one...2 really old movies in a row, but what can ya do? Well, you don't have to do anything, reader. It is us, Kim and I, who must do. And what we must do is each pick another old movie to watch. And then watch them, of course. Or do we? More on that later. First, I will briefly review the Best Picture of 1936...The Great Zigfield.
We both liked Flo Ziggy (as we call it - the movie was about legendary stage show producer Florenz Zigfield and his follies). It definitely had its entertaining moments (see: It's Delightful to Be Married number), but otherwise it wasn't anything special, though for some reason we reference this movie more often these days than most of the other Best Pictures. I gave it a 3.5/5, whereas Kim scored it a 4.3/5. Not bad, not bad - overall 7.8 is a respectable score. Also, for those keeping score, we failed to report in our previous post our scores for the last movie Mutiny on the Bounty, which I gave a 3.5 as well, but Kim only gave it a 3.45. Total score: 6.95.
Ok, on to our 1936 picks!
Adam: Romeo & Juliet (VETOED!)
Kim: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
So, the first veto made its appearance for this year (we each get 5, Kim now has 4 left). I wanted to watch the first full length "talkie" version of Romeo & Juliet.
Kim says: Let me butt in here- Ok, so the way I see it, Romeo and Juliet is Romeo and Juliet. I've seen many versions of it, read the play several times, and especially having been made in 1936, I'm sure it won't be any kind of special interpretation. I mean, they're probably just gonna put on silly costumes and go word-for-word from the play, which isn't one of my favorites by old Billy Shakespeare anyway, and I just wasn't in the mood. Of course, you could argue that I've wasted a veto on a movie that could have been easily suffered through considering I would know what I'm getting into, but I'm not interested in suffering through anything if I can help it. Back to Adam...
ok.....thanks honey for that "brief" explanation of why you didn't want to watch it (I got in a quick nap!) haha. So, basically, we're not watching Romeo & Juliet.
Kim picked Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (which I did not veto), and you may recognize the name, as it was "remade" a few years back by Adam Sandler, simply called Little Nicky. Yeah, that's a joke. It's basically about a schmo who inherits a lot of money and, well, 2 hours later and it's over. Kim picked it because it was directed by Frank Capra (who directed 2 of our favorite Best Pictures - It Happened One Night, You Can't Take it With You) and also because she confused it with Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, another Capra film, starring Jimmy Stewart. Mr. Deeds stars Gary Cooper, for those who want to know.
We'll watch the movie and post back soon! (we already have it, so it hopefully won't be too long, less than a month at least!)
We both liked Flo Ziggy (as we call it - the movie was about legendary stage show producer Florenz Zigfield and his follies). It definitely had its entertaining moments (see: It's Delightful to Be Married number), but otherwise it wasn't anything special, though for some reason we reference this movie more often these days than most of the other Best Pictures. I gave it a 3.5/5, whereas Kim scored it a 4.3/5. Not bad, not bad - overall 7.8 is a respectable score. Also, for those keeping score, we failed to report in our previous post our scores for the last movie Mutiny on the Bounty, which I gave a 3.5 as well, but Kim only gave it a 3.45. Total score: 6.95.
Ok, on to our 1936 picks!
Adam: Romeo & Juliet (VETOED!)
Kim: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
So, the first veto made its appearance for this year (we each get 5, Kim now has 4 left). I wanted to watch the first full length "talkie" version of Romeo & Juliet.
Kim says: Let me butt in here- Ok, so the way I see it, Romeo and Juliet is Romeo and Juliet. I've seen many versions of it, read the play several times, and especially having been made in 1936, I'm sure it won't be any kind of special interpretation. I mean, they're probably just gonna put on silly costumes and go word-for-word from the play, which isn't one of my favorites by old Billy Shakespeare anyway, and I just wasn't in the mood. Of course, you could argue that I've wasted a veto on a movie that could have been easily suffered through considering I would know what I'm getting into, but I'm not interested in suffering through anything if I can help it. Back to Adam...
ok.....thanks honey for that "brief" explanation of why you didn't want to watch it (I got in a quick nap!) haha. So, basically, we're not watching Romeo & Juliet.
Kim picked Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (which I did not veto), and you may recognize the name, as it was "remade" a few years back by Adam Sandler, simply called Little Nicky. Yeah, that's a joke. It's basically about a schmo who inherits a lot of money and, well, 2 hours later and it's over. Kim picked it because it was directed by Frank Capra (who directed 2 of our favorite Best Pictures - It Happened One Night, You Can't Take it With You) and also because she confused it with Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, another Capra film, starring Jimmy Stewart. Mr. Deeds stars Gary Cooper, for those who want to know.
We'll watch the movie and post back soon! (we already have it, so it hopefully won't be too long, less than a month at least!)
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
1935 LES NOT SO MISERABLES
So, hey everyone. This is Adam speaking. Yeah, I know. Don't get used to it. Haha. It's been a few weeks since we've posted, but we FINALLY watched Les Miserables. WOO HOO! As what often happened during our Best Picture Challenge, we hit a little rut. Sometimes it happens. We'll watch a bunch of movies all at once, and then go a month without watching one. If you're one of these crazy people who follows this blog, get used to it. But I digress. Wow, I can say anything I want on this thing, because it's MY blog. Well, our blog - but I'm writing it this time! Wanna hear a joke? What do you get when you cross an elephant with a rhino? Elephino! OK, back to movie business.
The Best Picture of 1935 was Mutiny on the Bounty, as we already told you. About this guy on a ship who decides things are unjust and starts a mutiny. Things get crazy, men go overboard, a little Gilligan's Island stuff going on there, you know the deal. Clark Gable, by the way, is the best actor in history. Just pointing it out there. Anyway, for this challenge I used one of my big fat passes (we each get 10) because there was nothing I wanted to watch from this year. Trust me, not a great year for movies. Kim found Les Mis, because she had seen the musical or something like that. Plus, come on, it's Les Mis!
We decided right away that we both liked Les Mis and found it very watchable. It kept our interest and was definitely very well made. I particularly liked Charles Laughton (who was also in Mutiny) mainly due to all the funny faces he made in the movie. Kim said she would even watch it again without a problem. That means it couldn't have been too bad. For those who don't know or haven't seen the film (or read the book, or seen the musical), it's about this guy who steals some bread and ends up in the Gallows (our favorite place from Ben-Hur), which is basically torture jail. He spends 10 years there, then is free but has to show up for parole and such every once in a while. He becomes poor and wretched, but some super nice priest guy lets him in and straightens him up into a giving person, as opposed to a taking person. Flash forward years later, and this same guy, under a different name, is now also a super nice guy, but now he's rich too. And then there's this police guy (played by Laughton) who suspects he's this former convict who missed a parole date years ago. Horse chase ensues, and, well, you can find out the rest on your own time. Good stuff though.
If faced with the choice of Les Miserables or Mutiny on the Bounty - it's definitely a close call. We watched Mutiny so long ago, that it's almost unfair to decide. But I think I would go with Les Mis. The jury is still out with Kim.
We already chose our next year and movies, but we'll post that in the next day or two just to keep you hanging!!!
The Best Picture of 1935 was Mutiny on the Bounty, as we already told you. About this guy on a ship who decides things are unjust and starts a mutiny. Things get crazy, men go overboard, a little Gilligan's Island stuff going on there, you know the deal. Clark Gable, by the way, is the best actor in history. Just pointing it out there. Anyway, for this challenge I used one of my big fat passes (we each get 10) because there was nothing I wanted to watch from this year. Trust me, not a great year for movies. Kim found Les Mis, because she had seen the musical or something like that. Plus, come on, it's Les Mis!
We decided right away that we both liked Les Mis and found it very watchable. It kept our interest and was definitely very well made. I particularly liked Charles Laughton (who was also in Mutiny) mainly due to all the funny faces he made in the movie. Kim said she would even watch it again without a problem. That means it couldn't have been too bad. For those who don't know or haven't seen the film (or read the book, or seen the musical), it's about this guy who steals some bread and ends up in the Gallows (our favorite place from Ben-Hur), which is basically torture jail. He spends 10 years there, then is free but has to show up for parole and such every once in a while. He becomes poor and wretched, but some super nice priest guy lets him in and straightens him up into a giving person, as opposed to a taking person. Flash forward years later, and this same guy, under a different name, is now also a super nice guy, but now he's rich too. And then there's this police guy (played by Laughton) who suspects he's this former convict who missed a parole date years ago. Horse chase ensues, and, well, you can find out the rest on your own time. Good stuff though.
If faced with the choice of Les Miserables or Mutiny on the Bounty - it's definitely a close call. We watched Mutiny so long ago, that it's almost unfair to decide. But I think I would go with Les Mis. The jury is still out with Kim.
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