Author: temporalparadox

Breaking In

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Breaking In. Samuel Goldwyn Company 1989.

Before watching the movie:

This is a comedy about safe cracker mentoring. When I think of safe crackers, I think of No Deposit No Return, and there’s room for similar cracking hijinks, but beyond that, I have little to go on.

I don’t know what to expect in terms of performances because it’s Burt Reynolds playing an older man but not his reputation “self” and an actor I think I only know because he was part of a gang in one of the Back to the Future movies.

This movie was made in 1989, but doesn’t this poster look more late 70s/early 80s? Maybe I don’t have as good of a feel on poster styles as I thought.

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Sixteen Candles

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Sixteen Candles. Universal Pictures 1984.

Before watching the movie:

From what I’ve read about the plot… haven’t I seen this movie? Wait, no. It’s just that half of the teen angst movies in existence use similar plots. Molly Ringwald won’t be happy with anybody but the most popular boy in school, while there’s a dorky kid hovering over her who’s got a crush on her.

There’s also something about her family forgetting her birthday, so she’s extra keen to get noticed by said popular boy. I’d rather not be so sarcastic, but it’s such a stock story. It’s going to have a lot to make up for in the execution.

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The Best of Times

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The Best of Times. Kings Road Entertainment 1986.

Before watching the movie:

This is an interesting approach to a nostalgic high school sports movie. Normally, such a movie would either actually have high school characters through whom the writers and audience can wax nostalgic, and the main stories I’ve seen where adult characters want to recapture their youth, either they just reconnect with old friends or time travel is involved. Here, a bunch of adults stage a rematch of The Big Game as adults, around fifteen years later.

They’d be in their late 20s/early 30s by my reckoning, so they should still be young enough to do it decently, but not as well as they used to. Before I did the numbers, I was expecting late 40s, old enough to be firmly in middle age and midlife crises. Not that I was a star athlete in high school, but I’m now realizing the ages I can expect to see are basically what’s coming up next for me. That’s a chilling thought to go into a comedy with.

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Stir Crazy

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June is no longer Non-Alliterative Silver Screen Classic Movie Month!

Stir Crazy. Columbia Pictures Corporation 1980.

Before watching the movie:

Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor (whom I’ve only seen together in one other movie) get thrown in jail for a crime they didn’t commit. Comedy ensues. Escaping? Surviving? I’m expecting both. Other than that, I’m not sure what’s going to happen, because the last time I saw them together, they were playing blind and deaf, which seems like it would make a big difference.

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Metropolis

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May is Non-Alliterative Silver Screen Classic Movie Month!

Metropolis. Universum Film 1927.

Before watching the movie:

For such a historically important movie, I’ve heard surprisingly little about this. Again. I’m not even sure off-hand why it’s important, because I want to say “first science fiction film”, but that ought to be Meliès’s A Journey From the Earth to the Moon.

The robot Maria is pretty much the only thing people mention about this film, to the point that she’s the icon for it. But the skant summary I’ve found doesn’t indicate her role in it at all.

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The Flying Deuces

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May is Non-Alliterative Silver Screen Classic Movie Month!

The Flying Deuces. Boris Morros Productions 1939.

Before watching the movie:

This is the only film I hadn’t heard of when planning this series, but I wanted a Laurel and Hardy. Well, I wanted a Buster Keaton and a Harold Lloyd, but suitable Keaton and Lloyd films weren’t available to me. Anyway, I wanted something fun to follow last week. I’ll close the month on a serious film.

So, Laurel and Hardy in the Foreign Legion. Comedy ensues, of course. Having so little go go on, I have a hard time conveying how much I’m looking forward to it. I expect a lot of schemes to getout of the Foreign Legion.

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The Birth of a Nation

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May is Non-Alliterative Silver Screen Classic Movie Month!

The Birth of a Nation. David W. Griffith Corp. 1915.

Before watching the movie:

This is the oldest movie you’ll ever see on Yesterday’s Movies, because it’s more or less the oldest movie. I know there are earlier motion picture narratives, but this is historically important for reasons I shouldn’t need to rehash here.

It’s odd that I was never shown this in any film classes, but the reason is probably the length and debatably the racial issues. These are also reasons I’ve been holding onto this until creating this special event. Because it’s not a party until somebody burns a cross, I guess?

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The Great Dictator

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The Great Dictator. Charles Chaplin Productions 1940.

May is Non-Alliterative Silver Screen Classic Movie Month!

Before watching the movie:

This came close to being my first Charlie Chaplin picture ever, but it was beaten out by Modern Times. I get the sense this will be largely different, since he’s playing someone other than the Tramp and this is entirely talking.

This holds particular interest to me since it’s a satire of Nazi Germany contemporary to Nazi Germany, as opposed to The Producers or Hogan’s Heroes.

I assume a lot of prior knowledge for this film since film buffs love to gush about it, but I only really know the dance with the globe and the speech that’s recently become popular.

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Philadelphia

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Philadelphia. TriStar Pictures 1993.

Before watching the movie:

This is a big award-winning film. Tom Hanks’s first Oscar. Apparently he liked drama so much only Pixar can get him to come back to comedy anymore.

This feels like one of those safe messages that Hollywood likes to play with to net awards, but a lot has changed since 1993. The stance was more controversial at the time. Well, it’s still controversial, but the prevailing opinion is now more aligned with the film. I can’t really speak to how it was received because I was five years old at the time.

So much as I’m ever excited, I’m looking forward to starting something fun next week.

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Edward Scissorhands

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Edward Scissorhands. 20th Century Fox 1990.

Before watching the movie:

As I think about what to write about my preconceptions, I realize that I know a lot about this movie, more than I remember at first glance, but I still don’t reallyknow about it. It’s just a thing that’s been there, and at the same time it makes perfect sense and is completely alien.

Johnny Depp’s character is a Frankenstein-type monster, I guess? That or an automaton. What’s important is that through a quirk of fate, he has vicious blades instead of hands, which is ironic because he’s actually very gentle. But somehow, that doesn’t seem powerful enough for such a popular movie.

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