I dunno what to say about it. Somehow Shane Black made a movie that managed to utterly surprise in every scene, was absolutely wrong, and absolutely hilarious. Had a killer soundtrack, featured Keith David and gave Kim Basinger stuff to do.
I am not sure liking this movie this much makes me a good person, but there we are.
So... I'm always on the hunt for something new to watch with folks during Friday Night Watch Parties. For some reason unknown to me, Salome's Last Dance (1988) popped up as a suggestion from Amazon, and after reading the description - roughly: Oscar Wilde attends a production of his banned play performed in a brothel - I was like "huh, no idea. Let's look."
I got maybe 45 seconds in and saw "Directed by Ken Russell", and know more about Russell's reputation than his actual work, which is always at least *interesting* if you've seen Altered States, Lair of the White Worm or even Tommy. So - I gave it a whirl.
In general I think of Michael Curtiz as one of the most versatile and best directors of the Studio Era of Hollywood. This is not the movie I'd use as Exhibit A for that argument.
I don't really get it. This movie is well liked and features a cast of solid, well-known actors (I *do* include Aldo Ray in that statement. I like Nightfall). But it has a very, very strange pacing - like, a snail's pace - is not immediately or obviously terribly *funny*. And, yeah, it's a comedy. It's listed by AFI as one of the 500 funniest movies ever made, so... what the hell do I know?
But, yeah, it's about three Devil's Island prisoners (Humphrey Bogart, Aldo Ray and Peter Ustinov) who hide out in a shop/ home owned by Joan Bennett and Leo G. Carroll - and, along the way - wind up helping out the shop and solving all of their problems.
I do feel less crazy as I was not the only one watching the movie and I don't think any of us were fans of the thing.
I dunno, maybe none of us were in the mood or something - but I think something about the stageyness of the production - that they seemed to pace it as a play they hadn't quite figured out the timing for - just really impacted the watchability.
All that said - it did have one of the darkest/ most leaning on gallows humor endings to a movie I can think of from this period, and maybe that has a great deal to do with how it's been received. No idea.
I learned a long time ago that posting on Christmas Eve is a fool's errand. I'll get about three clicks on this.
But here we go!
This year it's just Jamie and me for Christmas Eve. While my family lives in town, it's too complicated with kids involved to co-quarantine with the other folks who live here. So, my brother and his family are with my parents having a very traditional sort of Christmas Eve and morning. My brother and the kids swung by today to drop off some gifts, and I got to see the wee ones go bananas in the front yard for a bit and we got to wish them a Merry Christmas. We'll Zoom tomorrow, so that's okay.
Tonight we'll Zoom with Jamie's family and tomorrow Jamie's Dad will zip up from San Marcos for a bit so he can collect his Turkey dinner from us and to be festive for a while.
Tonight: tamales and queso. I bought those red and green tortilla chips from HEB. Jamie had to be up at the crack of dark for dialysis, so she's shutting down early. But I figure we'll squeeze in part of A Christmas Story tonight (we already watched the new Star Trek). Also, thank the little baby Jesus for Netflix's selection of Yuletide firelog videos - that's making some nice filler while I do this.
But - hey.
It's been a hell of a year with the pandemic and the crazy "president" and the general f'd up state of the world. A few things have gotten me through this. There's Jamie, of course, who is a champ and listens to my insane ranting. There's family who check in on us. Scout, who makes sure I'm getting out and about.
And there's y'all. Who are out there reading the posts, listening to podcasts, making podcasts, and joining in on Watch Parties. You kids are the absolute best.
Also: booze. Booze has helped a LOT.
Up above is Ms. Darlene Love, who performed the greatest of the modern Christmas music staples and set the stage for the moody Christmas music I generally prefer (although the Kylie Minogue Christmas album is a banger). May the spirit of Darlene Love get you through the evening. And may we all work toward a Christmas where we can be with loved ones next year.
Every time I rewatch Wonder Woman (2017), I'm stunned at the complexity and completeness of the character arc for Diana in the film. But here, at the end of 2020, how much Diana's illusions and how she deals with them being shattered, resonates.
From the first time I saw this movie, I know I've been saying it's one of the only superhero films to actually understand what a superhero is and what they do. It's something comics themselves have forgotten as the writers have fallen into the traps of Hollywood script rules - and the movie itself does, in fact, play with those same rules. But as a character, Diana is pure. She's not out for revenge against someone who performed an injury of some sort upon her or a loved one. She's outraged at the world of man and what they allow to occur - saying there's nothing that can be done.
Arguably, no one involved with this movie knows how anything works in real life and everyone but Danica McKellar's character should be fired. And Dolly, of course, should always be held blameless.
We've watched a lot of parts of Hallmark movies this year, but watched almost none from start to finish - but when a movie promises to serve up Dolly in prime, post 2000 incarnation of Dolly as glamorous wise songstress and embodiment of goodness - I'm in. I have, in fact, watched a good chunk of "The Coat of Many Colors" movie and everything.
Jamie and Ryan talk the 2005 neo-noir by Shane Black and starring RDJ jr. and Val Kilmer. We hadn't seen it and were heartily surprised by the film - a noir murder mystery sort of thing with a lot of classic detective pulpy roots as both text and plot.
