Before watching the movie:
Our culture will probably never get tired of telling stories about Sherlock Holmes. I wasn’t sure if this was an adaptation or an original story until I remembered it was about the Jack the Ripper case, but I’m just looking forward to seeing Christopher Plummer try the role. He’s always interesting to watch, but I don’t think he’s the best at disappearing into a role. Particularly for a larger than life character like Holmes, I expect some scenery chewing.
Before watching the movie:
I’ve seen a handful of episodes of the series, but I couldn’t say I know it very well. As I understand it, the book this is based on is intensely serious, the movie is a dark comedy, and the series started out almost at Hogan’s Heroes-level hilarity before getting even more morose than the movie (perhaps because the series lasted so long the war was longer for them than in reality).
So I guess what I’m expecting here is a cynical but amusing picture of the Korean War. I don’t know what characters from the series are there, and which are played by different actors, but I don’t know half of them anyway. There’s probably going to be a lot more money on the screen than a television sitcom can afford.
Before watching the movie:
Grill some hamburgers, butter some corn, …load some muskets? warm up your singing voice? A brief look and page turn at your calendar will point out that next week is Independence Day. And what better movie to mark the event with than 1776? Okay, there are better choices, but I’d seen most of the ones that came to mind and/or couldn’t get them on short notice.
I can see the potential for the War for Independence to be a musical epic, but no individual major events really suggest songs to me. The writing and signing of the Declaration will probably have centerpiece song(s), but beyond that, I have no idea.
Before watching the movie:
What interested me in this movie was James Coburn. I think it was automatically recommended to me when I selected Bank Shot. I’m curious as to how a movie about building a pickpocketing ring can build tension, aside from the inner tension when the group doesn’t want to work together anymore.
From this poster, it looks more exploitative than I expected. But then, it was the early 70s, and I mainly know James Coburn from Our Man Flint and its sequel, a pair of somewhat exploitative James Bond spoofs.
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.
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.
September is Stage Musicals Lunar Cycle
Before watching the movie:
Skin and Nazis. Music and propaganda.
I’m not really sure how the setting correlates with the show, but it’s probably in ways that ask tricky questions that add up to “the Holocaust was bad, mmkay?”
September is Stage Musicals Lunar Cycle
Before watching the movie:
Pretty much everything I know about this show is from the songs. I can guess that there’s poverty, generational shift, and probably a changing world. Meanwhile, an older man stands on his roof and plays his violin. Why? Maybe because, what else can he do?
This is the last entry in this series which was made available to me through my great aunt’s estate.
Before watching the movie:
I’m not sure if this movie would be more effective for me if I was more familiar with Rudolph Valentino, but actually the fact that I know he existed and had such a reputation is probably more than I could say for a lot of my generation.
I’d like to say more, but there really doesn’t seem to be more to this than a Valentino parody. And Gene Wilder being Gene Wilder when he’s not being Valentino.
Before watching the movie:
The more I learned about this movie, the less I expected to like it. Since it’s got work of art status and it’s about a romance, it sounds dull to me.
Then I learned that Woody Allen basically wrote the part for Diane Keaton and they had been a couple, which was a red flag since nepotism tends to make films worse (I read a book about awful films with potential, and one of the most recurring themes is that someone was dating someone else).
Finally, this movie is the B-plot salvaged from an awful mystery in the edit. How often does “fixing it in post” work out? Well, four Academy Awards say I’m wrong.
Yesterday's Movies 