“IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT”, “The Barretts of Wimpole Street”, “Cleopatra”, “Flirtation Walk”, “The Gay Divorcee”, “Here Comes the Navy”, “The House of Rothschild”, “Imitation of Life”, “One Night of Love”, “The Thin Man”, “Viva Villa!”, “The White Parade”
Seen NONE of these, or Frank Morgan (the Wizard in “The Wizard of Oz”) in “Affairs of Cellini”. Of course, I’ve seen various clips of “It Happened One Night”; must see that film.
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From a discussion the Buffalo guy noted about copyright comes this YouTube video about fair use, featuring your favorite Disney characters; also available on the Stanford University site.
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The Silver Surfer quarter to promote the new Fantastic Four film.
Category: movies
Oscar-Worthy Movies I Have Seen: 1932-1933
Picture:
“CAVALCADE”, “A Farewell to Arms”, “42nd Street”, “I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang”, “Lady for a Day”, “Little Women”, “The Private Life of Henry VIII”, “She Done Him Wrong”, “Smilin’ Through”, “State Fair”.
Don’t think I’ve seen any of these, though I did see a later version of “State Fair”. Heck, I still remember the title song: “Our state fair is a great state fair. Don’t miss it; don’t even be late.”
This, BTW, was the last year of the midyear to midyear awards. The eligibility period for these films was August 1932-December 1933, and awarded in March 1934. From this point forward, the award covered the calendar year.
What? No nominations of the Mummy or the Invisible Man? None for King Kong?! I’ve seen all of these on TV at some point in my childhood.
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So, what did I spend my yesterday doing instead of finding exciting bloggable material for you? Mowing the lawn – does WD-40 fix gas leaks? apparently; challenging a nearly 100% increase in our property assessment since 2003; and getting a haircut. Then my wife was out during the evening, so the child and I negotiated the from-dinner-to-bed routine.
ROG
MOVIE REVIEW: Raging Bull
I didn’t go to church on Easter Sunday. I felt pretty crummy. Carol had gone to her parents’ house with Lydia. So, the day before, I went to the library and borrowed Raging Bull, which, inexplicably, I had never seen.
OK, that’s not entirely true. I had recorded it on my DVR some months ago, and started watching it at a point when I was running out of room on the machine. I got really impatient and zapped it shortly after the first scene.
So, this time, I had an unusual block of time to see it. Initially, I found the boxing sequences more compelling than the other scenes, but as the movie progressed, I found myself engrossed in both aspects of Jake LaMotta’s life. This is such a highly regarded film that I shan’t bother with the (pardon the expression) blow-by-blow. I do think that, even though the fight scenes were sometimes rough, the black-and-white film made the scenes, if not palatable, then at least bearable.
I AM going to suggest that, on the second disc of this two-disc DVD, I found the making of the film to be the most compelling extras I’ve ever viewed. The whole making of the film, how Robert de Niro had found a book that he didn’t think was all that well-written, yet told an interesting story. How director Martin Scorcese initially balked at doing the film at all because he’s not a sports guy, but that he ultimately understood boxing as a life struggle. How the script was written, and re-written. Specifically, how the boxing scenes were all shot first, with different cinematic palates, which made me want to watch them all again. How all the other boxers were played by real boxers. How the filmmakers found Joe Pesci, who was all but retired from acting, and how he directed them to Cathy Moriarity and others in the cast.
If you’ve never seen the movie, see the movie, then see the extras. If you love the movie, or hate the movie, watch the extras; it’ll make you want to see the movie again.
ROG
Oscar-Worthy Movies I Have Seen: 1931-1932
Production (Picture):
“GRAND HOTEL”, “Arrowsmith”, “Bad Girl”, “The Champ”, “Five Star Final”, “One Hour With You”, “Shanghai Express”, “The Smiling Lieutenant”
Nada, though I was in the room once when “The Champ” was playing on TV some years ago.
BTW, this guy named Walt Disney won a special award for his four-year-old creation, Mickey Mouse.
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I forgot to mention that I appeared in some State University newsletter called The SUNY Watch, dated April 2007:
Your Name: Roger Green
Your Title and Name of Your Office: Information Specialist
Winter Techniques
What winter? The first half was so mild – an average of 12 degrees above normal over a 38-day period in December and January – that I didn’t even get into winter survival mode until mid-January. For me, winter is for seeing movies, usually at the Spectrum, usually Oscar nominated films.
I’ve most recently seen, in reverse chronological order, Notes on a Scandal, Volver, The Queen and The Pursuit of Happyness.
My favorite pictures of 2006, though, were Little Miss Sunshine and Stranger Than Fiction, because they both are intelligent, funny, and a little offbeat.
ROG
Oscar-Worthy Movies I Have Seen: 1930-1931
Production (Picture):
“CIMARRON”, “East Lynne”, “The Front Page”, “Skippy”, “Trader Horn”
Was watching some chunk of “The Front Page” on TCM in the past few years, but not enough that I’d count it.
But wait! There were some interesting films in this period that weren’t even nominated: Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights, The Blue Angel with Marlene Dietrich, Dracula with Bela Lugosi, and James Whale’s Frankenstein with Boris Karloff were all unnominated. I’ve seen at least portions of all of them, probably all of City Lights over time, which undoubtedly suffered from being a silent film in the talkies era.
ROG