Yesterday's Movies

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

January 18, 2013temporalparadoxLeave a comment

Before watching the movie:

I’ve heard of this movie, and the basic synopsis, but I never got the impression it was a musical. So I don’t know much of anything. I’d even forgotten until I looked it up that the reason it reminds me of the legend of the Rape of the Sabine Women is because it’s based on it.

When I think of frontier musicals, I think of the infamy of Paint Your Wagon. Which I haven’t actually seen and would probably like better than its reputation.

I think Howard Keel wore the same mustache that’s pictured in the last movie I saw him in. I think I’d like him better without it.

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Bank Shot

January 11, 2013temporalparadoxLeave a comment

Before watching the movie:

This is based on a book that I’ve read, but I don’t remember very much of it. A gang of misfits that I recall as fairly large decides that instead of stealing from a bank, they’ll steal the bank itself, thanks to its temporary home in a trailer. Beyond the premise, I only remember one particular scene, and that while it’s a comedy, it was the kind of comedy that I had to keep stopping to remind myself that this wasn’t a drama with a bunch of one-off comic relief jokes. The situation sounds farcical, but in context I took it completely seriously. On the other hand, I was just a little too young to get it. I think I wasn’t even in middle school yet, and it’s definitely a book for adults.

I discovered it as an automatic recommendation along with other George C. Scott movies when I saw They Might Be Giants. The actor is probably the only similarity between the two movies.

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The Shining

January 4, 2013January 4, 2013temporalparadoxLeave a comment

Before watching the movie:

Well, we’re out of a stealth theme month. First person to send their guess as to what December’s theme was to me via Astral Projection wins a genuine No-Prize.

Here’s another selection from the “how did you miss that one?” files. As I think I’ve discussed previously, I avoided horror movies for years because I didn’t like being scared, and then when I started catching up on them in my 20s, I found myself at best unaffected, and at worst cringing at the cheese. This one seems to be mostly psychological horror, so it should be better than the classic slashers I saw previously.

Thanks to pop cultural osmosis, I know more about the movie than I’d prefer to be going in with, but that’s usually the case when The Simpsons parodies a movie wholesale.

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Ocean’s Eleven

December 28, 2012December 28, 2012temporalparadoxLeave a comment

Before watching the movie:

Well, Christmas is over. Hope everybody got their Christmas paraphernalia put away and locked up by 12:01 AM on the 26th.

So, this is probably the quintessential heist movie. Even though I’ve seen it (or rather, the remake and its sequels) parodied endlessly, the main thing I’m curious about is whether this is a romp or a drama. Not that humor and suspense are incompatible.

I wouldn’t be surprised when I get to the remake to find that this movie has better chemistry than the new one, since I’m pretty sure this includes the entire Rat Pack. I don’t think I’ve seen any Rat Pack films before, but I know their reputation.

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Christmas in Connecticut

December 21, 2012December 21, 2012temporalparadoxLeave a comment

Before watching the movie:

Here’s a cheery little comedy about how society’s changed so much women can become functioning adults without knowing how to cook! What a crazy, upside-down world! At least the lead can fake it in print.

I feel a little bad that I’m most interested in seeing what Sydney Greenstreet brings to this movie, when he appears to be in a supporting role. I come across Barbara Stanwyck so much I ought to know more about her. Unfortunately, she’s from an era where it seems like everyone in Hollywood, and especially women, were encouraged to be interchangeable. From what I’ve seen of her she’s pretty good, but she ends up failing to leave an impression on me because I can’t tell her apart from any other woman on film in the 40s. Also, speaking of interchangeable, I’ve never heard of Dennis Morgan.

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Mixed Nuts

December 14, 2012December 14, 2012temporalparadoxLeave a comment

Before watching the movie:

I found this because I was looking for Christmas movies. I thought I knew what this movie was about, then I read more than one description. Now I’m less sure. Something about a crisis hotline, and somehow a tangled mess of relationships is involved.

Lots of big-to-medium names here. It’s sold as a comedy, and Steve Martin is in it, so it should be fun.

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Holiday Inn

December 6, 2012December 6, 2012temporalparadoxLeave a comment

Before watching the movie:

What can this film offer to audiences seventy years later? It appears to be a show made of a bunch of Christmas songs (which have since become old standards) woven together with the lightest touch of plot. I’m sure some of the songs haven’t passed into the zeitgeist, but I wonder if the performances can be enough to really make a variety show with a plot worthwhile.

Maybe I’m coming at this too negatively. It’s very likely a fun, light way to get into the holiday spirit. Art doesn’t have to be weighty or novel to be good, what matters is if it elicited the response the artist and the audience wanted. Anyway, we’re still talking about it almost three quarters of a century later, so it’s clearly not garbage.

The Holiday Season is here, folks. Try to take it slowly enough to still enjoy it when your holiday of choice is here.

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The Godfather

November 30, 2012November 30, 2012temporalparadoxLeave a comment

Before watching the movie:

Everything I know about this movie comes down to atmosphere and a few lines that get parodied frequently. I don’t even remember the plot of The Godson or the tribute episode of Quantum Leap, so I’m not sure if I’ve come across anything more substantial about this movie than Marlon Brando’s mushmouthed Italian and the wedding day favors. It probably concerns a rival family, tensions within the family, or both. I think I can expect Don Corleone to die by the end of this, because he’s clearly not in the sequels.

This movie is probably to organized crime what Wall Street is to ~~disorganized legal crime~~ stock trading, though I think I’ve heard that Italian-American mobsters often don’t like what it’s done to their image.

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Blackout Friday

November 22, 2012November 23, 2012temporalparadoxLeave a comment

In order to give you more time to bolster the economy and get a jump start on all your Christmas movies and specials, Yesterday’s Movies is not updating this week. Of course it has nothing to do with me needing time to catch up on other projects and having to work at the time of the week that I normally do reviews, because that could have been planned around.

When you’ve finished brawling over the purple Furby and the $30 60-inch television, if you find that there’s still a Yesterday’s Movies-shaped hole in your day, why not consider watching some episodes of Black Books, Castle, Archer, or WKRP in Cincinnati?

Titanic

November 16, 2012temporalparadox1 Comment

Before watching the movie:

My impression of this movie is that in many respects, it got out of hand. The intent was to deliver a realistic example of what traveling on the Titanic would have been like, but the detail got out of hand. Also it’s impossible to get people to sit in the theater for over three hours of beauty passes over grand staircases, so a generic love story had to be dropped in, which also got out of hand.

Finally, Neil Degrasse Tyson got out of hand. I have a lot of respect for the docent astrophysicist, but even though I’ve heard the argument for fixing the sky to have accurate stars several times, I don’t buy it. Yes, there was a lot of detail lavished on the ship and costumes that would go overlooked by most people, but that detail has a lot more chance to impart valuable information about the setting than the positions of points of light in the sky. I like to be complete, but there’s a point where returns on detail diminish. Nobody was looking at the stars before Tyson complained.

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