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| gromit |
 Posted: Wed Dec 25, 2013 12:08 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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I finally figured out what Peeping Tom & A Christmas Story have in common.
Both films were not that well-received initially but went on to become cult classics. Also both have a blond lead who is kind of shy and awkward. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Wed Dec 25, 2013 12:32 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 3784
Location: AZ
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| When I saw a bit of A Christmas Story for the first time a few years ago.......just the idea that the boy wanted a gun for Christmas turned me off. Sorry.......no, not sorry........I HATE guns. |
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Lost in my own private I dunno. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Wed Dec 25, 2013 12:51 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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| Well, it's a bb-gun, and still three different people warn him that it is dangerous.. And then his very first shot injures him. So it's hardly pro-gun in any way. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Dec 25, 2013 12:56 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| And it's certainly true to the time period and the locale. I hate guns too--hate--but I love A Christmas Story. |
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| yambu |
| Posted: Wed Dec 25, 2013 1:58 pm |
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Joined: 23 May 2004
Posts: 6441
Location: SF Bay Area
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| My father, then me, then my two sons, and now my grandson all love professional target practice. Like any skill, it feels good to measure one's improvement. |
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That was great for you. How was it for me? |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Wed Dec 25, 2013 3:18 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 3784
Location: AZ
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Maybe............I'll watch the whole thing.
When I was a kid there was a boy from another neighborhood who used to come up the hill and threaten us with his bb gun. That didn't make me think bb guns were harmless. |
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Lost in my own private I dunno. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Wed Dec 25, 2013 3:39 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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Befade wrote: Maybe............I'll watch the whole thing.
When I was a kid there was a boy from another neighborhood who used to come up the hill and threaten us with his bb gun. That didn't make me think bb guns were harmless.
The bb gun is sort of a McGuffin anyway. It can be anything you desperately want that people tell you that you can't, and shouldn't, have. |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Wed Dec 25, 2013 10:58 pm |
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| Just saw Top Hat for the first time. I'm so glad I hadn't seen some of the best Astaire movies. Top Hat was 100% entertaining and of course a number of terrific dance pieces. And funny. As I'm sure everyone on here knows that they don't make any movies like this any more. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Thu Dec 26, 2013 1:47 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| It's a wonderful movie, Gary. I'm glad you enjoyed it. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Thu Dec 26, 2013 2:01 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Houston
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billyweeds wrote: I love A Christmas Story, a lotta lotta lot, but the original critical reaction to the film was more along the lines of gromit's. I went with my then-wife and my then almost-eight-year-old daughter on the opening day. We came out loving the movie--loving it--and were shocked to see the one-star review in the New York Daily News and the lukewarm-to-hostile reviews everywhere else.
Gromit's double-bill was weird to be sure, but more appropriate (if you're going for horror and heartwarming) would have been pairing A Christmas Story with Black Christmas (the original, not the remake). Both are excellent, and both are directed by Bob Clark, the infamous director of Porky's, who proved with his two wildly disparate Yuletide movies that he was a director of enormous talent. Black Christmas out-creeps Halloween, and features Andrea Martin, of all people--along with Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, and John Saxon. It's set on a Canadian college campus during Christmas break, and...I can't go on, it's just too creepy. But I love it.
I agree about Black Christmas.
I'll go ahead and say it: I think Porky's is a classic, too. It's the only teen sex movie that, to me, captures the I-shouldn't-be-telling-this-story-but-I think-it's-hilarious nature of an adolescent's dirty joke. The movie is a celebration of the inner id, so of course it goes way beyond anything "appropriate." I really don't give a shit about things like that: who wants to hear an "appropriate" dirty joke? It's written from the unconscious in a lot of ways. It goes from pleasure to humor to horror just about the way people often do with sex, considering how fucked up we are about it. That makes it harder to watch now that you have to watch it in a lit room around people you know rather than in a dark movie house with strangers.
I do find it interesting that the women aren't fools and generally are in control of their own sex lives, and there's a real sense of bonding among the kids. All this is what American Pie was celebrated for, but I think it's more naturally and more honestly accomplished in this movie. To my mind, American Pie is more in line with the Doris Day-Rock Hudson films than with Porky's: it pretends to be about raunch but really it's about the sentimentality of settling down. I think Porky's is impeccably made: well-shot, great sense of atmosphere, and good performances. I'm glad Bob Clark always defended it. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Thu Dec 26, 2013 7:44 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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marantzo wrote: Just saw Top Hat for the first time. I'm so glad I hadn't seen some of the best Astaire movies. Top Hat was 100% entertaining and of course a number of terrific dance pieces. And funny. As I'm sure everyone on here knows that they don't make any movies like this any more. |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu Dec 26, 2013 8:12 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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My take: Top Hat, though the musical numbers are fantastic, is overrated in the Astaire-Rogers filmography. It's generally regarded as the best, but IMO it is a very poor relation to the sublime Swing Time, and even less amazing than Follow the Fleet. All three have terrible scripts, but Swing Time is much less turgid than the other two. Follow the Fleet has a sensational Irving Berlin score and a great supporting cast including Randolph Scott, then-chorine Betty Grable, and (as the second female lead) Harriet Hilliard (the "maiden name" of Harriet [Ozzie and Harriet] Nelson).
Top Hat is good, Follow the Fleet is very good, and Swing Time is great. As I say, just my opinion.
Meanwhile, the best script of any Astaire-Rogers movie is in Carefree, which is otherwise negligible. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Thu Dec 26, 2013 10:26 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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| Script on an Astaire-Rogers movie? I am reminded of the time I watched Horse Feathers with my mom o ly to have her tell me she tbought the plot was far-fetched. |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Thu Dec 26, 2013 11:14 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6958
Location: Black Hills
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Odd man out - never much warmed to xmas movies - may relate to familial issues crescendoing around xmas. So am DEF going to seek out "Black Christmas."
The Fighter and Cinderella Man should be a pleasant double-feature for today, which is Boxing Day. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Thu Dec 26, 2013 1:01 pm |
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whiskeypriest wrote: Script on an Astaire-Rogers movie? I am reminded of the time I watched Horse Feathers with my mom o ly to have her tell me she tbought the plot was far-fetched.
That's hilarious. I'd liked to know of a Marx Brothers' movie that has an un-far-fetched plot.  |
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