Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts

Saturday, December 11, 2021

Sorta Holiday Watch: The Bells of St. Mary's (1945)



Watched:  12/11/2021
Format:  VOD from TCM
Viewing:  Unknown
Decade:  1940's
Director:  Leo McCarey

I don't watch The Bells of St. Mary's (1945) every year - and it's been a while - but when I do, I'm weirdly weepy through the whole thing.  And I do not know why.  Ingrid Bergman smiling in soft lighting in close-up is certainly part of it.  But... I'm not Catholic.  I've only spoken to like one or two nuns in my life.  

The message of the film is not as on the nose as It's a Wonderful Life or a Pixar film where you more or less get why you're having the feels.  But who can argue with the kind of belief in people's better natures, that kindness is its own reward and the value of good cheer that the movie puts forward?  And, for those of you so inclined, it's a look at faith and service that's remarkable.

The Bells of St. Mary's is considered a Christmas movie, and it... is not.  It has exactly one sequence of a movie that takes place over an academic year that takes place anywhere around Christmas.  That scene is a banger, but it barely even advances the plot.  The original release date - Dec. 6th, 1945 - fell in the holiday season (it's on the marquee at the Bedford Falls cinema as George Bailey runs down Main Street), and paired with the song becoming not exactly a staple, but a bit of a standard, of holiday music - it's locked in.  

Wednesday, December 8, 2021

PODCAST: "Die Hard" (1988) & "Die Hard 2" (1990) - Christmas 2021 w/ SimonUK and Ryan




Watched:  11/22 and 11/24
Format:  Amazon
Viewing: Unknown
Decade:  1980's and 1990's
Director:  Jon McTiernan and Renny Harlin




Yippee ki-yay, y'all! It ain't Christmas til Nakatomi tower is smoldering, paper and glass are everywhere, several Europeans and a coke head are dead, Al has eaten a Twinkie and one Bonnie Bedelia has recognized her husband's handiwork. Yup, it's the one I've personally been refusing to do for years, paired with the (sigh) sequel.




Music:
Ode to Joy - Michael Kamen, Die Hard OST 
Let it Snow - Vaughn Moore, Die Hard OST 


Christmas 2021

Saturday, December 4, 2021

Watch Party Christmas Watch: The Bishop's Wife (1947)




Watched:  12/3/2021
Format:  Amazon Watch Party
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1940's
Director:  Henry Koster

The Bishop's Wife (1947) is one of those movies that I've known existed since the 1990's, but I never got around to seeing.  I'd watched clips here and there, and I knew the basic plot outline, but just wasn't in a rush to see it.  And, I did want to see the 1990's version, but I try to see the original before I see a remake 2 out of 3 times.  

Anyhoo... I was originally going to program Bob Clark's Black Christmas for my Christmas Surprise package movie, but I just wasn't up for it on Friday, and Loretta Young is Loretta Young (which is good for *me* as a viewer, anyway), and who doesn't like Cary Grant?  Or David Niven, for that matter? I'm a fan of all three, plus Christmas, plus a sort of fable-ish fairy tale seemed like the right thing to do.

That said, the movie was 80% exactly what I figured it might be - a comedy so light it's like watching dandelion bristles float away and making points like (as Jenifer said) "be nice" and "don't be a jerk", which... you know, *fair enough* I say as 2021 draws to a close.  It's not like a whole lot of people can't learn basic lessons in not being horrible, selfish, and cruel.  

The basic story is that a local and fairly newly minted Bishop (I'm assuming Episcopalian) has become consumed by the need to build a new Cathedral and other duties of his place.  All of which are of a noble mindset, but have created the problem of both making him compromise in the name of the greater good in ways that make him unhappy, and that he is so focused on his work issues, he's both ignoring his wife and what once made them unhappy.  Dude is in crisis, and so is Loretta Young.

Cary Grant plays an angel named Dudley who arrives on scene to assist - which mostly seems to consist of taking Loretta Young off David Niven's hands.  Yeah, it would be super weird, but David Niven *believes* Dudley when he says he's an angel, so why not entrust him with his wife?  This is not Zeus or Pan we're talking about here.  Except - maybe Dudley wants to smash?

Anyway - it's a sweet movie, has two of the kids from It's a Wonderful Life (both Zuzu and young George Bailey), Elsa Lanchester as a domestic who just kinda *gets* Dudley, Gladys Cooper as a wealthy dowager, and a handful of "that guy!" supporting players.  Still, the funniest joke in the film is some slapsticky physical comedy with a chair and David Niven, so maybe it's just too gentle for it's own good.  Well, that and a never-ending bottle of liquor.  

I'm not mad I saw it, it was all right and Christmassy - and I like the fact it works in so many story arcs, but it just wasn't my cup of tea, necessarily.  

Friday, December 3, 2021

WATCH PARTY FRIDAY - a Christmas Surprise!

 


Ho-Ho-HO!!!!

Tis the Season for Friday Watch Parties!

Each week, we're going to watch a different film that will be a surprise when you click on through at the link.  So until you do so, you'll be filled with the anticipation of Christmas, not knowing what is in the box under the tree!

oh, boy!  It's (insert movie name here)!

No, I am not telling you what it is.  All I'll say about this week's movie is that I haven't seen it, but it's supposed to be watchable.


Day:  Friday - 12/3/2021
Time:  8:30 Central, 6:30 Pacific
Service:  Amazon Prime
Cost:  FREE



Thursday, December 2, 2021

PODCAST 172: "Scrooged" (1988) - Christmas 2021 w/ MRSHL & Ryan



Watched:  11/12/2021
Format:  Amazon
Viewing: Unknown
Decade:  1980's
Director:  Richard Donner




Marshall delivers a visitation upon the podcast to impart the lesson he knew in life - everyone likes Bill Murray as Frank Cross. Join he and Ryan as they talk an 80's Christmas favorite, one of the best retellings of Dicken's immortal classic, and much is made of television then and now. It's a Christmas favorite here at Signal Watch HQ, and we're delighted to get to talk on it.




Music:
Scrooged Suite - Danny Elfman, Scrooged OST 
Put a Little Love in Your Heart - Al Green and Annie Lennox, Scrooged OST 


Christmas 2021 PodCasts

Monday, November 29, 2021

Signal Watch Christmas Music Playlist




Hey! 

Here's just over an hour of carefully selected Christmas tunes for you to rock to all month long. Play 'em in order and have an egg nog or cider and know The Signal Watch is giving you a confident nod and a lifting of the glass to share in your holiday merriment.


Sunday, November 28, 2021

Holiday Watch: Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)




Watched:  11/28/2021
Format:  Amazon
Viewing:  unknown
Decade:  1980's
Director:  John Hughes

This may be a misperception, but it often seems to me that people discuss and possibly remember Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) differently from what the movie actually is (to me).  The film definitely has some large and broad comedic moments, but it's not really a slapsticky comedy.  And for long stretches, it's not actually funny.  

I wouldn't say I don't like it, but it's also not a movie I rush into rewatching - as evidenced by the fact that Jamie and I have been married 21 years and tonight she mentioned she'd never seen this film.  So, we put it on.

John Hughes wrote, directed and produced the film and it was part of his move away from the Ringwald teen movies and his move to not just be known as a director of those famous films.  What's curious is how odd it feels seeing the same flow of his teen comedies, that move from comedy to more serious beats in the third act where lessons are sincerely learned, is applied here as well.  And it works - I'm not saying it doesn't, but I think when I hear people discuss this movie, they always just laugh and say "those aren't pillows!", which, honestly is a gag that aged kinda badly and is nowhere near the funniest part of the movie (that's the car bursting into flames as they sit on the trunk on the side of the road).

Friday, November 26, 2021

Holiday Regret/ Rifftrax Watch: The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)

I like how you can see Harrison Ford thinking about literally anything but where he is in this moment



Watched:  11/22/2021
Format:  YouTube
Viewing:  third?
Decade:  1970's
Director:  Steve Binder

Hubris, thy name is Signal Watch.  

Jamie put up three options for us to watch the other night, and I was like "ha ha!  I'm feeling daffy!  Let's watch The Star Wars Holiday Special!  It'll be great with Rifftrax!"  

Friends, it was not great.

Look, Rifftrax is/ are fun, but they can't turn a broken sewer line into the fountain in front of the Bellagio.  It's more about standing there, cracking wise at the broken sewer line.  I mean, Lucas disavowed and tried to hide the existence of the Star Wars Holiday Special (1978) for decades, but early tape decks and bootlegs at sci-fi conventions kept it alive and kicking despite best efforts to quash this thing's existence.  

Star Wars was once upon a time a thing where there wasn't that much of it - unlike today's Disney-fueled production factory, we got a movie every three years and then some occasional oddball items.  But every attempt to expand beyond the narrow confines of the feature films seemed to be met in disaster.  I was jamming to Christmas in the Stars as a kid (a record that drives Jamie into a fury when I put it on), live-action Ewok movies, an Ewok cartoon and a Droid cartoon, all of which were...  not great.  But I hadn't even heard of the Holiday Special until college.

Thursday, November 25, 2021

Happy Thanksgiving


I know that Thanksgiving is not always ideal.  May you have as good a day as possible, and if you can, spend it with your squad, no matter what that looks like.  Lord knows, ain't none of us perfect.

Take a beat and be grateful for what you've got.  Maybe this isn't the year where it's a lot, and that's okay.  Maybe next year.  The holidays can be tough.

Wishing you the best.  

Wednesday, November 24, 2021

PODCAST 171: "Jingle All The Way" (1996) - Christmas 2021 w/ Stuart and Ryan


Watched:  11/03/2021
Format:  YouTube
Viewing: Second?  Third?
Decade:  1990's
Director:   Brian Levant




Stuart and Ryan are in a mad-cap race to find the perfect gift for you, our listeners - and that would be a terrific podcast, just like all the other kids want this year. Will we deliver as trip each other, threaten media outlets, terrorize children and generally fail to deliver as podcast hosts and law-abiding citizens? We take a look at a movie that was panned upon its release, but that younger generations have decided is GREAT (they are wrong). But you gotta love Arnie. And Sinbad, too.




Music:
Jingle Bells - Brian Stezer Orchestra 
It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Johnny Mathis


Christmas 2021

Thanksgiving - to the tune of "Africa" by Toto




This is not by me.  This is by The Dug, my brother-in-law.  Credit where it's due.

Thanksgiving (to the tune of "Africa" by Toto)

I hear the drumsticks calling me to biiite /
in between the whispers of some racist conversaaaation /
I show up tired from the flight /
Scents compose a symphony of promised masticaaation /
I saw my uncle nine sheets to the wind /
braced myself for Trump quotes and his new conspiracy theeeory /
Mom turned to me as if to say, "Hurry boy, there's gravy there for youuuu" /
Gonna smile and nod and then preteeend to praaay /
Gonna gain a hundred pounds and chug some Caberneeet /
It's Thanksgiving not in Aaafrica /
Gonna drink a lot and pass the yams and humor Daaaaad



you're welcome


Hallmark Christmas Watch: Christmas Together With You (2021)




Watched:  11/24/2021
Format:  Hallmark Channel!
Viewing:  First
Decade:  2020's
Director:  Kevin Fair

This year vis-a-vis Hallmark movies has been an emotional rollercoaster.  We had to switch cable services and wound up on YouTubeTV (recommended), but it had no Hallmark Channel.  I was a little sad, but I don't *need* to see my Hallmark Christmas stories, so I figured: time to move on.  But then, I was informed a week or so ago that, NO, YouTubeTV now carried all three Hallmark networks.  Feliz navidad, indeed!

But, Jamie now has a pretty hard rule about not putting on Hallmark movies til Thanksgiving night, so I honestly hadn't been watching.  But this last week, the network debuted a new movie, Christmas Together With You (2021) - and the stars caught my eye.  Harry Lennix portrayed General Swann in Man of Steel, and Laura Vandervoort played Supergirl (sort of) on Smallville off and on for half the show's run.  Thus, it got recorded.  

And, then, I needed to watch something that needed minimal attention while I worked out.  So here we are.

Thursday, November 18, 2021

Christmas Watch Parties! - Every Week - a Gift to Unwrap!

 


December brings us the merriest season of all!  I hope you've got your peppermint sticks and twinkly lights!

On the first three Fridays of December, we'll hold a Christmas watch party!  And much like receiving a gift under the tree, we're going to keep it under wraps til the last minute!  

What will we watch?  I AM NOT TELLING.

But we will enjoy the finest in Christmas offerings!  I would not steer you wrong!*  

When:

  • December 3
  • December 10
  • December 17

Time:  8:30 PM Central

How:

  • Amazon Streaming
  • Posts will be up by Tuesday each week at http://signal-watch.com or you can check up at the "Watch Party" tab at the top of that page to sort it out and review info about Watch Parties
  • We will let you know if the movie will cost anything by Tuesday the week of the screening
  • Be festive!

Texas DPS has no time for your jolliness




*this is a lie.  I will drive this bus right off a cliff and take all of you with me.


Sunday, October 31, 2021

Happy Halloween 2021

May the Queen of Halloween bid you an Excellent All Hallows Eve

Well, 2021 is in the books at our house.  And we had a good one.  

Halloween sort of starts for me now in July as I start working on podcasts and actual Halloween night is pretty chill.  But we did 5 episodes of Podcast, five Watch Parties and I watched a bucket ton of Halloween/ horror stuff this year.  


Elvira would want you to trick or treat

Happy Halloween, every buddy!

 


I do love the spooky season, and I hope you do, too.  Movies, candy, stories, ghosts and witches - it's all good stuff.  Gimme the staples of Halloween any day.  Well, specifically, October 31 and the days before.

I hope your Halloween is full of fun, however you do it!  There is nothing wrong with ignoring it all and watching some sports, but there's also nothing wrong with a party and costumes, or tricks and treats.

At our house, Halloween started when my mom (The Karebear) would tell us to get the Scotch Tape and cardboard decorations out a few weeks ahead of the big day, and we'd tape stuff up on windows and in the kitchen.  Cats, ghosts, draculas and whatnot.  Throw in some Great Pumpkin and other TV specials, and then it was time to figure out a costume.  And at least two of mine were hand-made by mom and grandma (I had a full-body ET costume that nearly killed me in the Houston humidity).   

This year, we're sitting on our porch and shooting candy down 5' PVC tubes into buckets to keep the kids and ourselves entertained.  Costumes look doubtful, but you never know.

Anyway - have a great day and night!  May it be SPOOKTACULAR!!!

Sunday, July 4, 2021

Fourth of July


July 4, 1776 is the date that the Second Continental Congress voted to adopt the Declaration of Independence.  A vote had been held on July 2, 1776 to agree to seek independence from Britain in the form of the Lee Resolution.  However, a formal Declaration of Independence did not appear until July 4th.

Perhaps the date we observe has as much to do with the stirring text of the Declaration as anything - and it is the formal document eventually signed by most of the delegates to the Congress. 

While not a document which laid down the manner in which the government would be run, which would not arrive for over a decade in the form of the Constitution of the United States, the Declaration of Independence does lay down the moral reasoning for our separation from England.  The Preamble, often memorized by school children over the years, and familiar to most Americans, formed the ethos of America as a state which required the consent of the governed, and that the government would serve the needs of the people.  But also that government not be changed on a whim - but when the government no longer responded to the needs of the governed.  

Sunday, February 14, 2021

Friday, January 1, 2021

Christmas Noir Watch: Cover-Up (1949)




Watched:  12/23/2020
Format:  Noir Alley on TCM
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1940's
Director:  Alfred E. Green

An insurance detective comes to a small town to look into the apparent suicide of a wealthy man with a considerable settlement coming to the benficiaries.  Arriving in town, he finds everyone hated the guy, it sure looks like murder, and everyone - including the foxy young lady he met on the bus on the way in, are in on a cover-up.  Thus, the name of the movie.

Stars William Bendix and Dennis O'Keefe.

The ending is weird and super chipper.