DVDizzy Forum

Today's update is the first in a series called "References, Homages and Tributes", a series in which I investigate some of the classic film references found in today's movies, TV shows and even videogames.

The first in the series takes a look at a Japanese series called "REC" in which the main character aspires to be none other than Audrey Hepburn!

http://filmstripmemories.blogspot.com/2 ... s-and.html

Awesome! Good luck with your blogging!

You know, I probably need to give Some Like It Hot another spin. It's one of my lesser favorite Wilder flicks, but maybe I was just in a bad mood when I watched it.

Nice review blog; they're brief but to the point, which is good, especially for pacing yourself. Can't wait to see what you have in store next.

Thanks for the comments, guys!

Here's tonight's update, Singin' in the Rain with Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Donald O' Connor:
http://filmstripmemories.blogspot.com/2 ... -1952.html

Avaitor wrote:You know, I probably need to give Some Like It Hot another spin. It's one of my lesser favorite Wilder flicks, but maybe I was just in a bad mood when I watched it.

If that's the case, then you're not alone. I didn't find much in the film to rave about either. Other than, maybe, Tony Curtis's amazing butt. I don't find Marilyn Monroe very intriguing or funny. The humor was fairly dull. The songs were just kinda there. And then, with the inevitable string of predictable gags that come along with crossdressing-men comedies (even if this movie was the original and all the others were just pale copycats), I was more uncomfortable than amused.

pap64 wrote:Here's tonight's update, Singin' in the Rain with Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Donald O' Connor:
http://filmstripmemories.blogspot.com/2 ... -1952.html

I feel the exact same way you do about that movie. King Kong was the first B&W movie I ever saw and it was soo good that it got me into classic movies. The very next film I watched was Singin' in the Rain and it killed my phobia of musicals (eventually westerns too). I was soo pissed that I had been missing all these great movies all these years. Singin' in the Rain is still my favorite musical of all time; with the wonderful characters, clever parody plot, and classic songs/musical numbers. It's just fun to watch!

Anyways, while certainly not as good, I found that On the Town and Take Me Out to the Ball Game (Kelly and Donen's other efforts) had the same colorful fun that Singin' in the Rain has.

Lazario wrote:I don't find Marilyn Monroe very intriguing or funny.

Thank you, I thought it was just me. She always looks drugged up and to be having a terrible time delivering her lines (according to cast and crew, she was). She never really worked for me outside of her background bits in The Asphalt Jungle or All Bout Eve as she just wasn't lead material. To me, its all about Jack Lemmon, as he makes this movie.

Anyways, I don't think a repeat viewing will change whether you like this film or not (it can for certain movies but usually not comedies). I love Superbad and The Hangover but I know people who absolutely hate them but then I hate Annie Hall and most Woody Allen movies while other people I know LOVE them. As I've noticed in theaters, everyone laughs at different things.

jpanimation wrote:Anyways, I don't think a repeat viewing will change whether you like this film or not (it can for certain movies but usually not comedies). I love Superbad and The Hangover but I know people who absolutely hate them but then I hate Annie Hall and most Woody Allen movies while other people I know LOVE them. As I've noticed in theaters, everyone laughs at different things.

This is true. Humor tends to be a very subjective thing. One time, me and my friends went to see Dead Man's Chest and the theater was full. We all laughed at the obvious jokes. But then my best friend was the ONLY one to laugh out loud at a line that no one found funny (really, have you seen someone laugh alone at a full theater? very weird feeling...). I then asked him what was funny, but he forgot what was the line that made him laugh.

Like you guys know, I loved Some like it Hot. I guess its because when I first saw it I had no idea of its legacy and had very mild to low expectations of it. So when I saw it I was more than pleased.

If there's one movie that everyone raved that I didn't like at all is West Side Story. It's considered to be one of the best romances and one of the best musicals ever, yet I found the plot and characters to be extremely paper thin to the point where I didn't care at all (and me being a Puertorican watching stereotypical Puertoricans didn't help one bit). Plus, it doesn't know if to be a splashy musical or a melodrama.

Great Singin' In the Rain review! While I wouldn't personally call it the best film ever made, it is such a wonderful and fun film!

I don't know, I think repeated viewings can work well for comedies, to get something you may have missed earlier, specifically for stuff like Dr. Strangelove. If Some Like It Hot is really one of the best comedies of all time I should be able to laugh more if I take the jokes at another angle.

Comedy can be subjective, yes. I can laugh at sexual humor in movies like The Hangover or whatever Kevin Smith works on, but cross-dressing humor seems to be off for me, as Some Like It Hot and Tootsie have proven for me, but there are defintely people who don't find Hangover or Clerks that funny but find a lot of humor in seeing Jack Lemmon and Dustin Hoffman attempt to relate to womanhood.

That said, Some Like It Hot has one of the funniest endings of any movie ever, and I adore Singin' in the Rain, so keep the good work up.

I personally love Kevin Smith's style of humor .

I've yet to see The Hangover. I keep hearing mixed things about it. Its either the greatest comedy ever or one of the worst. There's no clear consensus.

As for Tootsie, I saw that recently and while I enjoyed it I wouldn't call it the best comedy ever. At the very least, Some like it Hot was very humorous and never took itself seriously. Tootsie at times bordered on preaching about female empowerment, even though the preacher was a man in drag!

Guess that's what makes it funny for some.

pap64 wrote:I personally love Kevin Smith's style of humor .

Excellent. Have a personal favorite film of his? Me, I love Clerks to death. I relate to Dante's post-college struggle and at the same time envy Randall's carefree attitude about where he is. But then I wish that Dante would do something with his life, because he's clearly smarter than he lets himself admit to be, and the fact that Randall doesn't take much seriously makes me wonder if being so laid back is really for the best, and he also happens to be a real dick. I think that's a tribute to Smith's ability to write character if I can think of Dante and Randall like that.

The reason I like Kevin Smith's movies is the same as to why I like Wilder's. He has this nack for writing characters that I should hate but finds a way to make them likable and hilarious, but not by necessarily toning them down. Some Like It Hot does that well, but to see Wilder doing this at his best, check out Sunset Boulevard and Double Indemnity.

pap64 wrote:I've yet to see The Hangover. I keep hearing mixed things about it. Its either the greatest comedy ever or one of the worst. There's no clear consensus.

I'll say this; if you don't mind this type of humor, you'll probably get a kick out of it. If not, this probably isn't your movie. I prefer it to most of the Apatow movies, mainly because it feels like it was actually casted instead of the producer just letting all of his friends get roles in because they walked on set, and the four guys have great chemistry with each other.

pap64 wrote:As for Tootsie, I saw that recently and while I enjoyed it I wouldn't call it the best comedy ever. At the very least, Some like it Hot was very humorous and never took itself seriously. Tootsie at times bordered on preaching about female empowerment, even though the preacher was a man in drag!

Guess that's what makes it funny for some.

Agreed, that's probably why I don't like it so much. Tootsie an get really preachy but doesn't do much with it's story. It's not a horrible movie but I couldn't really get into it.

Avaitor wrote:

pap64 wrote:I personally love Kevin Smith's style of humor .

Excellent. Have a personal favorite film of his? Me, I love Clerks to death. I relate to Dante's post-college struggle and at the same time envy Randall's carefree attitude about where he is. But then I wish that Dante would do something with his life, because he's clearly smarter than he lets himself admit to be, and the fact that Randall doesn't take much seriously makes me wonder if being so laid back is really for the best, and he also happens to be a real dick. I think that's a tribute to Smith's ability to write character if I can think of Dante and Randall like that.

The reason I like Kevin Smith's movies is the same as to why I like Wilder's. He has this nack for writing characters that I should hate but finds a way to make them likable and hilarious, but not by necessarily toning them down. Some Like It Hot does that well, but to see Wilder doing this at his best, check out Sunset Boulevard and Double Indemnity.

Believe it or not, I enjoy all of Smith's films equally. I see them as different types of comedies but with the same type of witty dialogue you would expect from Smith. Clerks was the film that introduced me to his work and I loved it. I then saw Mallrats which I loved too. I then saw Dogma and thought it was a fun, if a tad pretentious, religious story. Chasing Amy may have been a light romantic comedy but I still liked it. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is a really funny grandiose comedy. I liked how it tied the stories together, even if it was done for parody purposes.

Finally, I loved Clerks II. I admit that it may not be as honest as the first one, and at times I thought Smith pushed it in some of the jokes, but I loved how Randall matures, even if its for just a few moments. There he is, being his old, wacky, irresponsible self, and during all that time he is bottling up the fact that his best friend is moving away and that he is doing it because its convenient for him. It shows that even in all the vulgarity seen in Smith's work there's a maturity that few people will notice, but when they do it makes the film better for them.

pap64 wrote:I've yet to see The Hangover. I keep hearing mixed things about it. Its either the greatest comedy ever or one of the worst. There's no clear consensus.

I'll say this; if you don't mind this type of humor, you'll probably get a kick out of it. If not, this probably isn't your movie. I prefer it to most of the Apatow movies, mainly because it feels like it was actually casted instead of the producer just letting all of his friends get roles in because they walked on set, and the four guys have great chemistry with each other.

I'll give it a fair chance once I have the time for it .

pap64 wrote:As for Tootsie, I saw that recently and while I enjoyed it I wouldn't call it the best comedy ever. At the very least, Some like it Hot was very humorous and never took itself seriously. Tootsie at times bordered on preaching about female empowerment, even though the preacher was a man in drag!

Guess that's what makes it funny for some.

Agreed, that's probably why I don't like it so much. Tootsie an get really preachy but doesn't do much with it's story. It's not a horrible movie but I couldn't really get into it.

Not to compare Tootsie to other drag movies, but I feel as if the film didn't know if it wanted to be an all out comedy or something far more serious. Some like it Hot knew it was a comedy, and didn't try to be anything else. Meanwhile, Mrs. Doubtfire, another drag comedy, mixed comedy and drama very well. But Tootsie doesn't quite know what it wants to be. There are moments where its trying to be comedic, but instead comes off as being a serious look at being a woman through the eyes of a man.

Once again, I think the movie is really good, and Hoffman nails both characters. It's just that I find it hard to see it as a comedy when it feels more like a drama where the guy has to pose as the other sex in order to prove a point.

Anyways, here's my latest review, Sullivan's Travels:
http://filmstripmemories.blogspot.com/2 ... -1941.html

pap64 wrote:Anyways, here's my latest review, Sullivan's Travels:
http://filmstripmemories.blogspot.com/2 ... -1941.html

Well I first saw Sullivan's Travels just a couple years ago on TCM by John Lasseter's recommendation (I believe he says it one of his favorite movies of all time). It was part of a Preston Sturges marathon, of which I had never seen any of his movies before outside of a couple movies he wrote (Remember the Night and Twentieth Century), and I really loved the intros Robert Osborne gave to set it all up (gave me an idea of who this famous Paramount writer-turn-director was). I watched The Palm Beach Story, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, The Lady Eve and finally Sullivan's Travels, in that order. I actually enjoyed Remember the Night more then any of the movies he directed but I felt there was something special about his movies. He wrote these fun characters that we could get behind, much like Billy Wilder, and he did a fantastic job casting them. I liked The Lady Eve and Sullivan's Travels equally (I'm a sucker for the animated opening titles on The Lady Eve), I felt The Palm Beach Story was alright (we never see enough of Joel McCrea), and I hated The Miracle of Morgan's Creek.

As for Sullivan's Travels, I avoided seeing it for the longest of time because I for some reason thought it was Gulliver's Travels, just maybe with a twist. Then I heard Lasseter hyping it up and when AFI re-did their Top 100 list with this on it, I just had to see it. Does it deserve to be on that list? No (like many movies on it). That doesn't mean it was bad. I actually felt the movie got off to a great start with some fantastic pacing and it really sucked me in. I just don't like the ending much and felt it all came to a preachy halt. Like I said, I love the characters and the acting (my first encounter with Veronica Lake, who is great). I absolutely love the setup of the movie that offers us a different look at Hollywood (Paramount also gave us a good look at Hollywood with Sunset Boulevard). I recommend people see this movie as while it may not be as good as its hyped to be, it was still enjoyable.

Edit: I forgot to mention I watched The Sin of Harold Diddlebock, sequel to the original Harold Lloyd silent classic The Freshman, as part of the Preston Sturges marathon. This movie is not worth anyone's time, not even Preston Sturges or Harold Lloyd fans.

Funny you should mention John Lasseter and Sullivan's Travels. I recall reading an article saying how the original treatment for American Dog (aka Bolt) featured a storyline that was very similar to that movie. And, Cars features a storyline similar to the one in Sullivan's Travels. The movie was clearly an inspiration at Pixar.

As for the movie being preachy, I didn't feel as if it got very preachy. On the contrary, I think the movie's message came a bit too late in the story. I feel it should have been developed during the journey, not just have Sullivan go through hell in the end in order to get it.

Now if you truly want preachiness, Frank Capra can't be beat. As much as I love his work there's no denying that his films can get overly preachy.

pap64 wrote:Now if you truly want preachiness, Frank Capra can't be beat. As much as I love his work there's no denying that his films can get overly preachy.

What I meant by preachiness was the message of the film bombarding us all at the end. Capra films are extremely preachy but we get that all throughout the film. I just can't help but love his positive view of the world, the protagonist always seems to overcome the bad people and events they encounter. I just love those feel-good films!

jpanimation wrote:

pap64 wrote:Now if you truly want preachiness, Frank Capra can't be beat. As much as I love his work there's no denying that his films can get overly preachy.

What I meant by preachiness was the message of the film bombarding us all at the end. Capra films are extremely preachy but we get that all throughout the film. I just can't help but love his positive view of the world, the protagonist always seems to overcome the bad people and events they encounter. I just love those feel-good films!

Ah I see what you mean. Yeah, I agree. With Capra, the message is developed throughout the whole movie, while with Sullivan's it waited till the end to talk about it.

Good to know I am not the only one that loves Capra's films due to his positive views on the world . Which one is your favorite? My top three are Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and It's a Wonderful Life.

pap64 wrote:Good to know I am not the only one that loves Capra's films due to his positive views on the world . Which one is your favorite? My top three are Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and It's a Wonderful Life.

It Happened One Night, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and It's a Wonderful Life do it for me. You Can't Take It with You and Arsenic and Old Lace are pretty funny, love them too.

The others I saw: Dirigible (mainly to see Fay Wray), Lady for a Day, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Lost Horizon (Metroplis gives me hope that the lost scenes may one day be found), Meet John Doe, and Pocketful of Miracles were good but not great.

yes, Arsenic and Old Lace and It Happened One Night were awesome, too. I think Mr. Deeds is a brilliant film, and in many ways a warm up before the big James Stewart epics. Hell, I think Mr. Smith is a political, dramatic remake of Mr. Deeds. It's while I love it so much.

Anyways, here's a review I think you might like, jpanimation
http://filmstripmemories.blogspot.com/2 ... -1950.html

pap64 wrote:Anyways, here's a review I think you might like, jpanimation
http://filmstripmemories.blogspot.com/2 ... -1950.html

Yep, love that film. The first time I saw it, I didn't like how dark it was (probably caught me off guard being my first Wilder film) but the more I watch it, the more I love it. It's amazing and was the only other best picture nominee of 1950 that even had a chance at beating All About Eve, another one of my favorites. Being a giant classic Hollywood fan, the cameos and usage of Paramount's backlot absolutely excite me, while at the same time lending to the whole "reality" of the movie. I don't know but I'm tempted to use the word masterpiece when describing this one.

I also took the chance to read your Filmstrip Reflections #1: The Desire for Classic Films post. Beautifully said, you summed up why I love classic Hollywood soo much. It was a simpler time when the escapist pictures helped lift the spirits of soo many struggling through the Great Depression or worrying for loved ones through the wars. These movies continue to lift spirits today.

BUMP!

Sorry for bumping the thread, but the site made it to 10 reviews! Only 90 are left!

Here's a rundown of the films I've reviewed so far:
http://filmstripmemories.blogspot.com/2 ... views.html

jpanimation, thanks for the kind words regarding my first reflections article. That night I WAS frustrated with the current media thanks to a show called "First Impact" which is the biggest piece of sensationalistic turd I have ever seen.

The blog has gotten some great support as well as readers. I hope to go very far with this.