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Spring Season: Week 13
I am... very tired. And very out of words. But I'm still here! Still hanging in there, baby! I guess!
Got to see my grandmother for the first time in months, which was very exciting! The hospital is still under lockdown, but she discovered that they can't actually stop her from leaving the building if she wants to, only the hospital grounds, so as long as she can get herself all the way downstairs and outside, we can visit (at a distance and thoroughly masked)! It's very difficult for her to do that, mind, considering her severe mobility issues and the fact that we're too poor to get her a motorized wheelchair, so it takes her a while, but ain't nothing keeping her from her smoking, so. I might actually get to see her on her birthday, which I had not anticipated! We're back up to four active cases of the 'rona, which isn't great, but the worry is easing somewhat, at least.
Cut a VERY deep chunk out of my thumb about four hours into my time off last week (so much blood), which totally fucked all of my productivity plans for the week, but at least I can type again (obviously) and will hopefully be getting my shit in order at... some point. Man, I don't even know any more, I've still got four and a half more days of work to go before I can human again.
Movies are my only constant, and they continue to make me very happy while I'm watching them (for the most part, one of these was a real chore to get through -- try to guess which one before clicking through!):
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946): Holy crap this was so much better than I was expecting! It's almost three damn hours long, and I didn't put it on until after midnight, so I expected to watch it until I started to drift off and then finish it in the morning, and then OOP it was three o'clock! I always kinda had Wyler pegged as one of those old workhorse directors, good but without any particular style of his own, with his three Academy Award wins mostly due to his making extremely Oscar-bait war movies at a time when that was KIND OF A BIG DEAL. But fuck, man, I was super wrong, he really had the goods! Also, oh my god, this movie just LOOKS amazing, there are so many absolutely brilliant shots in it. There's this one scene where Homer and Butch are playing the piano in the foreground on the right, while in the middle distance to the left of the screen a couple of guys at the bar are watching them, AND way in the background, you can see Fred in the phone booth, framed perfectly in between the two groups, WHILE Al stands behind the piano, looking BACK at Fred, drawing this perfect line through all three layers of the shot?? And it's only in 1.33:1??? A FUCKING RENAISSANCE PAINTER COULD NEVER. And it's FULL of shit like that, and it's always primarily in the name of good storytelling, not just style! So good!
Dodsworth (1936): Interesting! AARP romantic drama!
The Westerner (1940): who is this gcoops
The Portrait of a Lady (1996): Smart and stylish and so very, very boring. Holy shit what a long, pretentious snoozer.
Tabloid (2010): Absolute batshit insanity, from beginning to end, but in that way that makes me feel a little bad for gawking because this woman is clearly extremely delusional and unwell? But she's also probably a rapist, so WEVS. Is this what people watch Tiger King for? Whatever, it's amazing.
L'Armée des ombres (1969): Still bleak as fuq, THANKS MELVILLE.
On the Waterfront (1954): Is there any movie that suffers more for the history of its director than this one? Like, I watched a Polanski movie this week and obviously all his shit is tainted in a very particular way, but his being scum doesn't ruin any specific movie of his because of just who he is, you know? Whereas this is such a good movie, but when you remember it's the tale of a noble narc taking a stand against the tyranny of the eeeeeeevil unions, then Kazan's whole deal just makes the whole thing SUPER gross. Whatever, fuckboi Brando makes it work.
His Girl Friday (1940): IT'S MY QUEEN, ROSALIND RUSSELL, OH MY GOD I LOVE HER EVERYTHING SO MUCH YOU GUYS. It's kind of a good thing I saw The Front Page before seeing this, because that movie was pretty good, and this would have ruined it for me entirely. Absolute screwball perfection. This review gets it.
Repulsion (1965): Catherine Deneuve is very pretty, and once the hallucinations and murders kick into gear in the back half, it gets pretty good, but so much of it is just a lot of beautifully shot nothing. Eh.
Pal Joey (1957): "Haha he tried to fuck an underage girl!" is one hell of an introduction to the hero, I'll give this movie that. Some great numbers, but that's about all to write home about here. What a flat, unsatisfying ending (THE ANSWER SHOULD ALWAYS JUST BE THREESOME).
Fly Away Home (1996): I had a revelation about myself watching this for the first time since I was a kid and I don't want to talk about it.
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988): Nobody does live action cartoons like Gilliam. So silly and so fun.
You Were Never Lovelier (1942): SO goddamn delightful, my god, just instant happy-making stuff. Fred Astaire makes the best faces, the plot is total nonsense (Adolphe Menjou catfishes his daughter??) and it doesn't matter in the slightest, I LOVED this.
You'll Never Get Rich (1941): I can't believe A) Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth only ever made two movies together, and B) I WATCHED THEM BOTH IN A SINGLE AFTERNOON LIKE A DAMN FOOL. NOW THERE'S NONE LEFT.
Only Angels Have Wings (1939): All Jean Arthur wants in this movie is to fuck Cary Grant and wear unflattering pants, what a relatable icon for the ages, I love her so much. This was real good.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964): I kinda had to after watching Fail Safe the other week???
The Lady from Shanghai (1947): WELL, WELL, WELL, IF IT ISN'T MY OLD FRIEND, COLUMBIA NOIR. Oh, it's absolutely time to tumble down that hole again. Anyway, Oirish Orson Welles is ridiculous, this movie rules, and it was also the first time I actually kinda believed that Rita Hayworth can act? That is including the Oscar-nominated performance of hers that I'd already seen, womp womp.
Gilda (1946): She's really good in this, too! Apparently noir is just where she shines! I kinda can't believe it took me this long to watch this, considering the Mulholland Dr. connection, but here we are. I had no idea what was going on in the plot for most of this and I didn't care at all. Hayworth and Ford are so hot I thought my TV was gonna melt. Good shit.
Edge of the City (1957): John Cassavetes: DID WE JUST BECOME BEST FRIENDS? Sidney Poitier: YUP. That's it, that's the movie, don't care about anything else that happens, just a couple of BFFs having a good time FOREVER.
Cover Girl (1944): Excellently stuffed full of musical numbers, which is more than enough to overcome the nothingburger of a plot. A lot of them were pretty forgettable, but Gene Kelly dancing with his reflection? Hell yeah.
The Pawnbroker (1964): Holy GOD this is bleak. Good, but straight up almost ruined my Saturday. Legit never realized how much of a chameleon Rod Stiger can be???
Angels Over Broadway (1940): Confidence game turned elaborate suicide intervention scheme? Short and silly and fun, I saved my Saturday!
Salome (1953): Literally everyone in this movie is awful, but I guess that's the Bible for you. A truly weird take on the story where Salome ends up doing the the Dance of the Seven Veils with a big cheesy grin pasted on her face in order to... save John the Baptist's life from her evil mother?? Gorgeous Technicolor costumes, at least.
Murder by Contract (1958): Still the most ridiculously catchy score in noir. Vince Edwards still STUPID hot, goddamn. How does he manage to seem so cool even though he bungles like every part of the big hit??
Anna Christie (1930): I'd seen this before, but remembered next to nothing about it beyond "Garbo = yes", and I don't know if any more will stick this time, tbh. God, every man in this is just awful.
The Strawberry Blonde (1941): Scrappy jailbird dentist Cagney! The title character is third billed and barely factors into it after the first half hour! And it ends with a SING ALONG. WHAT. This was super fun, Amy fucking ruled, and old Hollywood's obsessive nostalgia with the 1890s will always be SO WEIRD, even if logically I know that it's no different than '60s nostalgia is now. The advent of film really makes everything that came before it seem so much further away.
Tomboy (2011): Kid-centric films are always a tough sell for me, but this was very good and sweet and sad.
Los Bandoleros (2009): Dom and Letty are so cute, you guys. :3
Fast & Furious (2009): TIME TO WATCH HER GET FRIDGED. It's okay, these movies finally start getting good after this one.
There are a few more, but I'll save them for the Monday update, I really gotta get some work done. >_>
Got to see my grandmother for the first time in months, which was very exciting! The hospital is still under lockdown, but she discovered that they can't actually stop her from leaving the building if she wants to, only the hospital grounds, so as long as she can get herself all the way downstairs and outside, we can visit (at a distance and thoroughly masked)! It's very difficult for her to do that, mind, considering her severe mobility issues and the fact that we're too poor to get her a motorized wheelchair, so it takes her a while, but ain't nothing keeping her from her smoking, so. I might actually get to see her on her birthday, which I had not anticipated! We're back up to four active cases of the 'rona, which isn't great, but the worry is easing somewhat, at least.
- Coronavirus is a Preview of Our Self-Isolating Future (OneZero)
- There Are Two Types of People Now: Online Shoppers and the People Who Serve Them (Vice)
- “I’m Not an Epidemiologist But…": The Rise of the Coronavirus Influencers (BuzzFeed)
- You Have a Moral Responsibility to Post Your Boring Life on Instagram (The Atlantic)
- The Coronavirus Has Brought the Dawn of the Virtual Happy Hour (Forbes)
- Inside Cash App Friday, the Weekly Phenomenon Where People Ask for Money on Twitter (and Get it) (Money)
- TikTok is Quietly Snapping Up Creatives from YouTube and Instagram for a Full Africa Roll-Out (Quartz Africa)
- Invisible Censorship: TikTok Told Moderators to Supress Posts by "Ugly" People and the Poor to Attract New Users (The Intercept)
- Guide to Allyship (this is the only one that's particularly relevent at the moment)
Cut a VERY deep chunk out of my thumb about four hours into my time off last week (so much blood), which totally fucked all of my productivity plans for the week, but at least I can type again (obviously) and will hopefully be getting my shit in order at... some point. Man, I don't even know any more, I've still got four and a half more days of work to go before I can human again.
Movies are my only constant, and they continue to make me very happy while I'm watching them (for the most part, one of these was a real chore to get through -- try to guess which one before clicking through!):
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946): Holy crap this was so much better than I was expecting! It's almost three damn hours long, and I didn't put it on until after midnight, so I expected to watch it until I started to drift off and then finish it in the morning, and then OOP it was three o'clock! I always kinda had Wyler pegged as one of those old workhorse directors, good but without any particular style of his own, with his three Academy Award wins mostly due to his making extremely Oscar-bait war movies at a time when that was KIND OF A BIG DEAL. But fuck, man, I was super wrong, he really had the goods! Also, oh my god, this movie just LOOKS amazing, there are so many absolutely brilliant shots in it. There's this one scene where Homer and Butch are playing the piano in the foreground on the right, while in the middle distance to the left of the screen a couple of guys at the bar are watching them, AND way in the background, you can see Fred in the phone booth, framed perfectly in between the two groups, WHILE Al stands behind the piano, looking BACK at Fred, drawing this perfect line through all three layers of the shot?? And it's only in 1.33:1??? A FUCKING RENAISSANCE PAINTER COULD NEVER. And it's FULL of shit like that, and it's always primarily in the name of good storytelling, not just style! So good!
Dodsworth (1936): Interesting! AARP romantic drama!
The Westerner (1940): who is this gcoops
The Portrait of a Lady (1996): Smart and stylish and so very, very boring. Holy shit what a long, pretentious snoozer.
Tabloid (2010): Absolute batshit insanity, from beginning to end, but in that way that makes me feel a little bad for gawking because this woman is clearly extremely delusional and unwell? But she's also probably a rapist, so WEVS. Is this what people watch Tiger King for? Whatever, it's amazing.
L'Armée des ombres (1969): Still bleak as fuq, THANKS MELVILLE.
On the Waterfront (1954): Is there any movie that suffers more for the history of its director than this one? Like, I watched a Polanski movie this week and obviously all his shit is tainted in a very particular way, but his being scum doesn't ruin any specific movie of his because of just who he is, you know? Whereas this is such a good movie, but when you remember it's the tale of a noble narc taking a stand against the tyranny of the eeeeeeevil unions, then Kazan's whole deal just makes the whole thing SUPER gross. Whatever, fuckboi Brando makes it work.
His Girl Friday (1940): IT'S MY QUEEN, ROSALIND RUSSELL, OH MY GOD I LOVE HER EVERYTHING SO MUCH YOU GUYS. It's kind of a good thing I saw The Front Page before seeing this, because that movie was pretty good, and this would have ruined it for me entirely. Absolute screwball perfection. This review gets it.
Repulsion (1965): Catherine Deneuve is very pretty, and once the hallucinations and murders kick into gear in the back half, it gets pretty good, but so much of it is just a lot of beautifully shot nothing. Eh.
Pal Joey (1957): "Haha he tried to fuck an underage girl!" is one hell of an introduction to the hero, I'll give this movie that. Some great numbers, but that's about all to write home about here. What a flat, unsatisfying ending (THE ANSWER SHOULD ALWAYS JUST BE THREESOME).
Fly Away Home (1996): I had a revelation about myself watching this for the first time since I was a kid and I don't want to talk about it.
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988): Nobody does live action cartoons like Gilliam. So silly and so fun.
You Were Never Lovelier (1942): SO goddamn delightful, my god, just instant happy-making stuff. Fred Astaire makes the best faces, the plot is total nonsense (Adolphe Menjou catfishes his daughter??) and it doesn't matter in the slightest, I LOVED this.
You'll Never Get Rich (1941): I can't believe A) Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth only ever made two movies together, and B) I WATCHED THEM BOTH IN A SINGLE AFTERNOON LIKE A DAMN FOOL. NOW THERE'S NONE LEFT.
Only Angels Have Wings (1939): All Jean Arthur wants in this movie is to fuck Cary Grant and wear unflattering pants, what a relatable icon for the ages, I love her so much. This was real good.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964): I kinda had to after watching Fail Safe the other week???
The Lady from Shanghai (1947): WELL, WELL, WELL, IF IT ISN'T MY OLD FRIEND, COLUMBIA NOIR. Oh, it's absolutely time to tumble down that hole again. Anyway, Oirish Orson Welles is ridiculous, this movie rules, and it was also the first time I actually kinda believed that Rita Hayworth can act? That is including the Oscar-nominated performance of hers that I'd already seen, womp womp.
Gilda (1946): She's really good in this, too! Apparently noir is just where she shines! I kinda can't believe it took me this long to watch this, considering the Mulholland Dr. connection, but here we are. I had no idea what was going on in the plot for most of this and I didn't care at all. Hayworth and Ford are so hot I thought my TV was gonna melt. Good shit.
Edge of the City (1957): John Cassavetes: DID WE JUST BECOME BEST FRIENDS? Sidney Poitier: YUP. That's it, that's the movie, don't care about anything else that happens, just a couple of BFFs having a good time FOREVER.
Cover Girl (1944): Excellently stuffed full of musical numbers, which is more than enough to overcome the nothingburger of a plot. A lot of them were pretty forgettable, but Gene Kelly dancing with his reflection? Hell yeah.
The Pawnbroker (1964): Holy GOD this is bleak. Good, but straight up almost ruined my Saturday. Legit never realized how much of a chameleon Rod Stiger can be???
Angels Over Broadway (1940): Confidence game turned elaborate suicide intervention scheme? Short and silly and fun, I saved my Saturday!
Salome (1953): Literally everyone in this movie is awful, but I guess that's the Bible for you. A truly weird take on the story where Salome ends up doing the the Dance of the Seven Veils with a big cheesy grin pasted on her face in order to... save John the Baptist's life from her evil mother?? Gorgeous Technicolor costumes, at least.
Murder by Contract (1958): Still the most ridiculously catchy score in noir. Vince Edwards still STUPID hot, goddamn. How does he manage to seem so cool even though he bungles like every part of the big hit??
Anna Christie (1930): I'd seen this before, but remembered next to nothing about it beyond "Garbo = yes", and I don't know if any more will stick this time, tbh. God, every man in this is just awful.
The Strawberry Blonde (1941): Scrappy jailbird dentist Cagney! The title character is third billed and barely factors into it after the first half hour! And it ends with a SING ALONG. WHAT. This was super fun, Amy fucking ruled, and old Hollywood's obsessive nostalgia with the 1890s will always be SO WEIRD, even if logically I know that it's no different than '60s nostalgia is now. The advent of film really makes everything that came before it seem so much further away.
Tomboy (2011): Kid-centric films are always a tough sell for me, but this was very good and sweet and sad.
Los Bandoleros (2009): Dom and Letty are so cute, you guys. :3
Fast & Furious (2009): TIME TO WATCH HER GET FRIDGED. It's okay, these movies finally start getting good after this one.
There are a few more, but I'll save them for the Monday update, I really gotta get some work done. >_>
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YOUR POOR THUMB. When you are back on your off week, now that you can type again, I want a thread with Reggie and Molly, thx.
GILDA IS SO FUCKING GOOD. And yeahhhhh, On the Waterfront is such a good movie, with SUCH a phenomenal score, and then you think about it and it's sorta....... icky.
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And I actually managed to do a bit of tagging at work yesterday (!), so I will try to do more today (Sunday v. Monday workload might make it tricky though), and also I need to think of a hook to put up a post for Molly since you are the one I flake on THE MOST and I need themmmmmmm
IT'S SUPES ICKY BUT SO SO SO GOOD. HE COULD'VE BEEN SOMEBODY.
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yesssss GIMME. I am good with WHATEVER. We could backtrack and do something at the festival, even? Orrrrrr idk, what kind of mood do we want, fun or serious?
That big famous line was somewhat ruined for me by the joke in the pirate song in Muppet Treasure Island when the one guy, doing his best Brando impression, says, "Me, I could've been a contender." I knew that first, I will always associate it with that first. True story. But hey, at least that one doesn't have the icky evil union sentiment!
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fight club time, lol
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he's like one of two friends molly still has, she would like him not to get himself killed or hospitalized or something, thank you
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Starting to get back into movies myself, tho, (albeit the trashy kind I've already seen 500 times) so these lists are v. appreciated. Sending good thumb healing vibes your way. Sid and I miss you.
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I traced my weird childhood crushes on both Bill Pullman and Jeff Daniels down to the 'inventor dad' archetype AND IT DIDN'T MAKE THEM ANY LESS WEIRD. And it always pleases me to hear that people are reading these dumb things, ME AND MY THUMB MISS YOU AND SID TOOOOOO