Noir Watch: Lured (1947)

Watched:  01/17/2019
Format:  Noir Alley on TCM on DVR
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1940s

Anything with Lucille Ball pre-I Love Lucy is a weird watch.

I do not know what to do with Sexy Lucy.

Talking Heads Watch: True Stories (1986)

Watched:  01/15/2019
Format:  Criterion BluRay
Viewing:  6th or 7th
Decade:  1980's

PODCAST! "Valerie and Her Week of Wonders" (1970) - It's a "New to me" extravaganza with AmyC and Ryan

Watched:  01/06/2019
Format:  Amazon Streaming
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1970
Country of Origin:  Czechoslovakia

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We welcome you to join Ryan as he bears witness to a "new to him" movie as Amy brings a 1970 film from former Eastern bloc nation, Czechoslovakia! A meditation and tone poem on the transition from girlhood to womanhood - forces internal and external, allegorical and real, secular and religious. Vampires, live human bonfires, magical earrings and a polecat.

This movie has everything.





Music:
The Magic Yard - Luboš Fišer, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders OST


AmyC Cinema Select Series

Catching Up Watch: Ocean's 8 (2018)

Watched:  01/11/2019
Format:  Airplane
Viewing:  first
Decade: 2010

I dunno, guys.

Catching-Up Watch: BlackkKlansman (2018)

Watched:  01/08/2018
Format:  Airplane screen
Viewing  First
Decade:  2010's

PODCAST! Marvel Watch! "Iron Man 3" w/ Jamie and Ryan

watched:  01/02/2019
Format:  Amazon streaming
Viewing:  5th?
Decade: 2010's


We hit the post "Avengers" doldrums with Iron Man 3, a box office smash that just sorta, kinda works. Jamie and Ryan take a look the final Iron Man stand-alone movie and talk about how it fits in, how it didn't do what they wanted it to do, and seasonal superheroics.





Avengers Chronological Countdown

Krypto Awards: Worst and Best of 2018

It's been a few days since 2018 wrapped, so it's fair to call it a year and take a look over the list of movies we watched and name a few as outstanding and a few...  we'll still say "outstanding", just, you know, in a different way.  I'll mostly discuss "new to me" movies, of which I watched over 100 (my life is a shallow, meaningless parade of nothing-better-to-do).  This list might look different in a month, so, you know, this is what I think today.

You can see the complete list from 2018 here.  Check the tabs for filtering by categories.

As always, there were movies I had to go back and look up and say "what was that again?".  It happens.  But this is why I write them up.  There aren't that many "this is terrible" movies because I generally don't go to see movies unless I *think* they'll hit the mark for me, but fate is a funny thing and it happens.  Also, unless RiffTrax or MST3K is involved, I turn off movies I'm not enjoying, which disqualifies them from consideration.

With that - Let's consider this the "Krypto Awards" for 2018.

Did Not Like

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)

Watched:  01/05/2019
Format:  cable on DVR
viewing: first
decade:  2010's

A lot of this movie worked for me for what it was.  I suspect the less than amazing box office (a total domestic take of $9.6 million - no international numbers reported) for the movie may be attributed to the oddball place it found itself in, demographically.  Had this movie arrived in the early 00's, I think it would have been a $60 million or more earner, but the approach hails from the 90's and 00's - where the structure is utterly predictable, it's far more about what the movie hangs on that skeleton via gags and jokes.  The stars of the film and pop scene isn't really the focus of Gen-X'ers, and, to be kind, the view of Millennials re: pop music seems to be a hearty embrace, free from irony and with a big thumbs up to being marketed to.

But, yeah, if you're into Andy Samberg's brand of humor, this is that. For 90 minutes.  And there are so, so many cameos, many of which are almost funnier just based on the timing of when and how the star appears (hats off to Mariah Carey, in particular).   And, Tim Meadows, as always, the most underutilized, funniest guy in anything. 

This is in no way essential viewing, but Jamie watched it once and said "yeah, it's better than you think", so we watched it.  And, yeah, it did the trick for a second movie on a Saturday evening (especially after Thor 2). 

Noir Watch: Double Indemnity (1944)

Watched:  01/04/2018
Format:  Noir Alley TCM on DVR
Viewing:  Unknown.  4th?  5th?
Decade:  1940's

Whole books have been written about Double Indemnity (1944), so I'll keep it brief while the more scholarly pursue it's winding journey through the souls of a couple of grifters.  And Eddie Muller's intros and outro's were, as ever, insightful, knowledgeable and refreshing.

MST3K Watch: Atlantic Rim (2013)

Watched:  01/03/2019
Format:  MST3K on Netflix
Viewing: first
Decade:  2010's

It's not often you see a movie and you think "this isn't a patch on Robot Jox".   Made for... someone? by The Asylum - which raises the question about the market and outlets for movies like this in 2019.

Yes, this was a quick cash grab by The Asylum to make some coin off the dummies who think Pacific Rim and Atlantic Rim (2013) must be related, and probably honestly can't tell the different between the two, anyway.  I do wonder what has to happen to you along the way to decide this is going to be what you do for money, but I also don't blame them. 

In closing: I am pretty sure they made the movie up as they went along and the cast was drunk through 40-60% of the movie, and I'm not kidding.  Our lead seems pickled a huge amount of this movie.

Movies 2018 - Running the Numbers

So.  Here's a rundown of what we watched in 2018.

The categories and methodology here are my own, but I think they work and they're fairly understandable.

In 2018, I watched 179 movies.

The numbers are derived from my blog posts, and should be fairly accurate.  It is likely I missed a movie or three somehow.

You can view the spreadsheet here.

I do not include movies I watched only in part, especially on television.  Example: I did not include National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, as I only watched 45 minutes of the movie in the largest chunk, and other chunks I caught out of order on cable television.

I am also not including anything that is a television series or part of a serial of episodes.  I am including movies that were intended for an initial release on television, streaming services, etc...  The movie does not need to have had a theatrical release.

(edit:  NathanC released his watch list for 2018 within minutes of this post going up.  Here you go.)

So... how'd it go?

Musical Watch: Call Me Madam (1953)

Watched:  12/30/2018

Format:  disc

viewing:  first
decade:  1950's

When we were kids Ethel Merman was still part of the popular consciousness, but I'm not sure what folks my parents' age thought of her (I can pretty much guarantee my dad found her annoying).  Merman was a Broadway performer with a brassy voice and who had a sort of streetwise persona paired with a self-deprecating wit.  I think. 

Call Me Madam (1953) was originally a Broadway show with music by Irving Berlin and starring Merman, apparently a Tony Award-winning show.  I only listened to about five minutes of the commentary, but the narrator was quick to leap on the notion "look, this was based on stuff everyone in 1953 would have just known from the news, but hasn't really remained in the zeitgeist".  Despite the fairytale-like story, apparently Call Me Madam is loosely based on a real person and events. 

Action Watch: The Raid (2011)

Watched:  12/30/2018
Format:  DVD
Viewing: First
Decade:  2010's

Jamie Watch: Santa Jaws (2018)

Watched:  12/23/2018
Format:  DVR from SyFy
Viewing:  2nd
Decade:  2010

Before I forget, we rewatched Santa Jaws (2018) while Jamie's brother and sister-in-law (The Dug and K) were in town. 

Second Watch: Spider-Man - Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

Watched:  12/28/2018
Format:  Alamo
Viewing:  Second
Decade:  2010's

No real write-up other than to mark that Jamie and I caught Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse a second time.  Generally prepared for what we were going to see, I think I was able to appreciate the animation far more this time, and... dang.

Catching Up Watch: Boyhood (2014)

Watched:  12/30/2018
Format:  Netflix
Viewing:  First
Decade:  2010's

I missed Boyhood (2014) during its theatrical release, and it's basically taken me this long to slog through the gushing, near-manic insistence folks had that I HAD to see this movie.*  I'm okay with some of Linklater's output, but aside from Slacker, haven't ever really responded to it the way you're supposed to.  Especially as an Austinite of a certain generation. 

Noir Watch: The Hunted (1948)

Watched:  12/28/2018
Format:  Noir Alley on TCM
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1940's

DC Movies Watch: Aquaman (2018)

Watched:  12/28/2018
Format:  Alamo Slaughter Lane
Viewing:  First
Decade:  2010's

Who is Aquaman?

MST3K Watch: Mac and Me (1988)

Watched:  12/27/2018
Format:  MST3K on Netflix
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1980's

What the actual @#$% was that?

Holiday Watch: White Christmas (1954)

Watched:  Some time in December
Viewing:  Unknown
Format:  Netflix
Decade:  1950s

I watched White Christmas (1954) a couple of weeks ago and forgot to write it up.  It's a Michael Curtiz flick, which means it's automatically a decent sort of film.  I understand Bing Crosby thought the film's final product was a disappointment, and I have to say - there's something odd about the movie I can never quite put my finger on that doesn't work.

Likely my main issue is that the third act misunderstanding between Rosemary Clooney and Crosby makes no sense at all (and seems like a single question posed by Clooney's character would have cleared things up).  And I learned this viewing that the part played by Danny Kaye was originally supposed to be Donald O'Connor, which...  we'll just have to let our imaginations fill in the blanks, but some of what's in the script makes more sense if that's who you wrote the part for.

While mostly a bit of holiday fluff, it is an interesting peek into the Post WWII American mindset and does give us a bit of the returning soldier's melancholy as some try to find their useful place in society when they aren't commanding a regiment.

Also, Rosemary Clooney wears a black dress that Jamie and I are going to have to agree to disagree about.