Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Let's talk about movies: Holiday movie traditions
Let's talk about movies: Holiday movie traditions: Do you have a holiday movie tradition, one in which you have to watch a certain movie during the holidays? Well let's explore this, for...
Holiday movie traditions
Do you have a holiday movie tradition, one in which you have to watch a certain movie during the holidays?
Well let's explore this, for me during Christmas I have to watch It's a Wonderful Life, that is one of my all time favorite movies. Of course maybe it isn't movies but all the holiday cartoons that come on T.V. , because who doesn't enjoy those. It all starts during Halloween and now there are some many different cartoons, unlike when I was growing up and it seemed like all they had was Charlie Brown but I still couldn't wait to see it. Now that my daughter is older we've introduced some of the horror classics to watch during Halloween, so that's a lot of fun, watching through her eyes what we've grow up with.
On a Personal level Thanksgiving is not my favorite time of the year, although I am working on it. This does bring up a time a few years back when I hosted Thanksgiving and had my family over, this was not an easy time for us but we made the best of it. I've always enjoyed simple things like having friends and family over to eat and watch movies. This was definitely one of those times, in fact I think we started by watching the first Austin Powers movie which my brothers and sisters and my mom hadn't seen, so that was a lot of fun. We followed that with So I Married an Axe Murderer, The Fifth Element and Sling Blade, definitely not holiday movies but who cares we were together having a blast and to me that is what your holiday movie tradition is about togetherness and fun!!
Now Christmas is a whole different thing, I love Christmas and especially all the holiday movies and cartoons that accompany it. This year I've already started a mental list of what I'm hoping to watch, of course as I've stated earlier It's a Wonderful Life is a must, another one is The Bishop's Wife, a great movie for those who've never seen it. They always do the Christmas Story marathon on TBS so I'm sure I'll catch that one and Elf which I think is this generations Christmas Story. I wish I still had my family close by because it would be a lot of fun hanging out and watching movies and who knows what non-traditional holiday movie we'd watch this time.
So maybe if you haven't started this tradition it's something you can start with your family or for yourself and it doesn't have to follow any kind of theme, just something you enjoy watching. I'd be interested in what some of your choices might be because maybe I'll include those in my holiday viewing. As I stated before it doesn't matter what you watch, it's all about having fun. Who knows maybe you enjoy going to the movies to watch movies, I've done that and that's a blast as well.
Well to everyone happy holidays and as always let's enjoy watching movies, you know I will.
Well let's explore this, for me during Christmas I have to watch It's a Wonderful Life, that is one of my all time favorite movies. Of course maybe it isn't movies but all the holiday cartoons that come on T.V. , because who doesn't enjoy those. It all starts during Halloween and now there are some many different cartoons, unlike when I was growing up and it seemed like all they had was Charlie Brown but I still couldn't wait to see it. Now that my daughter is older we've introduced some of the horror classics to watch during Halloween, so that's a lot of fun, watching through her eyes what we've grow up with.
On a Personal level Thanksgiving is not my favorite time of the year, although I am working on it. This does bring up a time a few years back when I hosted Thanksgiving and had my family over, this was not an easy time for us but we made the best of it. I've always enjoyed simple things like having friends and family over to eat and watch movies. This was definitely one of those times, in fact I think we started by watching the first Austin Powers movie which my brothers and sisters and my mom hadn't seen, so that was a lot of fun. We followed that with So I Married an Axe Murderer, The Fifth Element and Sling Blade, definitely not holiday movies but who cares we were together having a blast and to me that is what your holiday movie tradition is about togetherness and fun!!
Now Christmas is a whole different thing, I love Christmas and especially all the holiday movies and cartoons that accompany it. This year I've already started a mental list of what I'm hoping to watch, of course as I've stated earlier It's a Wonderful Life is a must, another one is The Bishop's Wife, a great movie for those who've never seen it. They always do the Christmas Story marathon on TBS so I'm sure I'll catch that one and Elf which I think is this generations Christmas Story. I wish I still had my family close by because it would be a lot of fun hanging out and watching movies and who knows what non-traditional holiday movie we'd watch this time.
So maybe if you haven't started this tradition it's something you can start with your family or for yourself and it doesn't have to follow any kind of theme, just something you enjoy watching. I'd be interested in what some of your choices might be because maybe I'll include those in my holiday viewing. As I stated before it doesn't matter what you watch, it's all about having fun. Who knows maybe you enjoy going to the movies to watch movies, I've done that and that's a blast as well.
Well to everyone happy holidays and as always let's enjoy watching movies, you know I will.
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Let's talk about movies: Comedies
Let's talk about movies: Comedies: I was recently in a discussion about a co-workers all time favorite comedy, which happens to be "The Hangover". I think it was a v...
Comedies
I was recently in a discussion about a co-workers all time favorite comedy, which happens to be "The Hangover". I think it was a very funny comedy at the time, but it is not my favorite, I don't know that it would be in my top ten. What I most enjoy is how passionate we are about our favorite movies and how we take it personally if someone doesn't agree with us.Comedies are one of those things, what I might find funny, others are sure to disagree or be in total agreement with me. Point is I'm always right and these people have a lot to learn when it comes to movies...... I'm just kidding of course.
Will Ferrell is the man still until he stops being funny which can happen because comedy is cyclical and you can only stay on top for so long before something new tickles our fancy. Right now we're still in the raunch phase of comedy which was started by the Farelly Brothers in the 90's when they crossed that line we thought couldn't be crossed. It started in "King Pin" and was exemplified in "There's Something About Mary" which are a couple of my all time favorite comedies.
Charlie Chaplin is someone who made some great comedies and where would we be today if not for him and Harold Llyod and Buster Keaton. When you watch these guys and how they choreographed their stunts, even by todays standards it's still amazing and quite funny. Chaplin though for me is still amazing and very funny especially in the "Gold Rush" and "City Lights", a tremendous talent. Later in the talkie era we got the Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello and of course most peoples favorite The Three Stooges. One of the greatest comedy routines is by Abbott and Costello's Who's on first routine which is in their movie the "Naughty Nineties", even in today's world it's a classic, I urge you to see it, it's amazing. I'm sure it can be found on You Tube.
A couple more of my favorites are from Mel Brooks, "Young Frankenstein and "Blazing Saddles", of course I enjoyed the Naked Guns when they were out. Of course one can't forget "Airplane", although I recently watched it again and unfortunately it didn't hold up as well as I'd hoped but it's still fun.
Some more of my personal favorites are "Better Off Dead", "Three O'Clock High", "Clifford" and of course "Midnight Run". The bottom line is as long as it made you laugh that's all that matters, even if it's "Scarey Movie" or "White Chicks", which I personally don't find funny. I do have to give credit to one more movie that came at a time when I needed it most and that is "Old School", another classic.
Well I hope you enjoy reading this and I hope maybe some of you will give me some feed back and a couple of your favorite comedies. Till next time have fun watching movies because I know I will.
Will Ferrell is the man still until he stops being funny which can happen because comedy is cyclical and you can only stay on top for so long before something new tickles our fancy. Right now we're still in the raunch phase of comedy which was started by the Farelly Brothers in the 90's when they crossed that line we thought couldn't be crossed. It started in "King Pin" and was exemplified in "There's Something About Mary" which are a couple of my all time favorite comedies.
Charlie Chaplin is someone who made some great comedies and where would we be today if not for him and Harold Llyod and Buster Keaton. When you watch these guys and how they choreographed their stunts, even by todays standards it's still amazing and quite funny. Chaplin though for me is still amazing and very funny especially in the "Gold Rush" and "City Lights", a tremendous talent. Later in the talkie era we got the Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello and of course most peoples favorite The Three Stooges. One of the greatest comedy routines is by Abbott and Costello's Who's on first routine which is in their movie the "Naughty Nineties", even in today's world it's a classic, I urge you to see it, it's amazing. I'm sure it can be found on You Tube.
A couple more of my favorites are from Mel Brooks, "Young Frankenstein and "Blazing Saddles", of course I enjoyed the Naked Guns when they were out. Of course one can't forget "Airplane", although I recently watched it again and unfortunately it didn't hold up as well as I'd hoped but it's still fun.
Some more of my personal favorites are "Better Off Dead", "Three O'Clock High", "Clifford" and of course "Midnight Run". The bottom line is as long as it made you laugh that's all that matters, even if it's "Scarey Movie" or "White Chicks", which I personally don't find funny. I do have to give credit to one more movie that came at a time when I needed it most and that is "Old School", another classic.
Well I hope you enjoy reading this and I hope maybe some of you will give me some feed back and a couple of your favorite comedies. Till next time have fun watching movies because I know I will.
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Let's talk about movies: Movies of 2013 thus far
Let's talk about movies: Movies of 2013 thus far: My own blog and I can't be consistent but here I go. This has not been a banner year for movies thus far, really it's looking to be ...
Movies of 2013 thus far
My own blog and I can't be consistent but here I go. This has not been a banner year for movies thus far, really it's looking to be one of the worst in my opinion, just not enough good movies. There have been a few sprinkled in but it's just not a good year. This year could get saved by the coming fall movies which I'm hoping for, there looks to be some really good ones coming soon, I can't wait.
You always kind of expect a drop off from the oscar push at the end of the year, in which maybe there's a couple of films that start the new year off on a good note. That has not been the case and I expected bigger things once the summer season was upon us and I can honestly say it's a big let down. I'm not just talking about the summer blockbuster, but even the smaller independent movies. It didn't help that one of my favorite places to catch up on my independent films closed down this year, the Cinedome in Concord, such a a travesty, so many great films that I saw there, gone now. Not only that but all these smaller films are only in the theaters for a short period before there gone and I guess I have to wait for the dvd to rent.
I'm glad I've begun posting mini reviews on facebook but I was taken to task recently regarding one of my reviews, it all stemmed from the fact that I didn't agree with someone from my work about The Man of Steel. You see I gave Pacific Rim a good review, I never said the movie was great, but I said it was a fun time at the movies and I found Man of Steel to be underwhelming, so he didn't agree with me. In fact my co-worker said it was one of the best films of the year for him and I'm glad he holds on to his conviction because that's what I love to hear, people who love movies even though in this case he's wrong, no I'm joking of course.
My problem with The Man of Steel is that I never felt a real connection with the character and I wished they'd have fleshed out more of his back story, of course there's more but that's not what this blog is about.
I can say this about Pacific Rim it never pretended to be anything other than it was, no it wasn't great but I could just go in watch the movie and escape for a couple of hours while having a good time. Or as my good friend Chris always says "It wasn't a couple of hours I wasted and can't get back".
Here's a list of movies I've really enjoyed for this year thus far:
Side Effects
Disconnect
The Place Beyond the Pines
Blue Jasmine
World War Z
Star Trek Into Darkness
Of course I'm hoping to catch up on all those independents I missed as they're released on dvd because there were quite a few I missed.
One last thing, I don't know about you but I used to always enjoy when the lights would go down and the trailers would start, but now it seems that there are literally a million trailers before each film and it's as if you don't have to watch the film because they give away the whole movie in that trailer. Note to film industry cut down on how many trailers you bombard us with and how much plot you give away in the trailers.
Until next time, let's keep watching movies because it's what I love doing.
You always kind of expect a drop off from the oscar push at the end of the year, in which maybe there's a couple of films that start the new year off on a good note. That has not been the case and I expected bigger things once the summer season was upon us and I can honestly say it's a big let down. I'm not just talking about the summer blockbuster, but even the smaller independent movies. It didn't help that one of my favorite places to catch up on my independent films closed down this year, the Cinedome in Concord, such a a travesty, so many great films that I saw there, gone now. Not only that but all these smaller films are only in the theaters for a short period before there gone and I guess I have to wait for the dvd to rent.
I'm glad I've begun posting mini reviews on facebook but I was taken to task recently regarding one of my reviews, it all stemmed from the fact that I didn't agree with someone from my work about The Man of Steel. You see I gave Pacific Rim a good review, I never said the movie was great, but I said it was a fun time at the movies and I found Man of Steel to be underwhelming, so he didn't agree with me. In fact my co-worker said it was one of the best films of the year for him and I'm glad he holds on to his conviction because that's what I love to hear, people who love movies even though in this case he's wrong, no I'm joking of course.
My problem with The Man of Steel is that I never felt a real connection with the character and I wished they'd have fleshed out more of his back story, of course there's more but that's not what this blog is about.
I can say this about Pacific Rim it never pretended to be anything other than it was, no it wasn't great but I could just go in watch the movie and escape for a couple of hours while having a good time. Or as my good friend Chris always says "It wasn't a couple of hours I wasted and can't get back".
Here's a list of movies I've really enjoyed for this year thus far:
Side Effects
Disconnect
The Place Beyond the Pines
Blue Jasmine
World War Z
Star Trek Into Darkness
Of course I'm hoping to catch up on all those independents I missed as they're released on dvd because there were quite a few I missed.
One last thing, I don't know about you but I used to always enjoy when the lights would go down and the trailers would start, but now it seems that there are literally a million trailers before each film and it's as if you don't have to watch the film because they give away the whole movie in that trailer. Note to film industry cut down on how many trailers you bombard us with and how much plot you give away in the trailers.
Until next time, let's keep watching movies because it's what I love doing.
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Roger Ebert
It is a sad day for those who enjoyed watching Roger on At the Movies, but I remember when he and Gene Siskel were on PBS Sneek Previews. Recently I was asked if I used to watch these guys and I said yes, the reason I was asked this question is because I had shown these individuals my top ten for last year and of course they didn't agree with my selections. Which brings me to Mister Ebert, in the beginning I didn't really like him and it was because we weren't seeing eye to eye on his reviews and it seemed Gene and I were more alike, but of course there were times when Gene and I didn't agree on movies either. I kept watching these two for many years and in the course of watching these two I began to appreciate their love of movies because I felt like we were separate from everyone else in our love of movies. It was a sad day when Gene Siskel died but Roger kept going and my earlier dislike for him changed, I began to appreciate him and his reviews, yes we didn't always agree on movies but what I appreciated was his conviction on his reviews. It wasn't that he had to be right, he either liked what he saw or he didn't and wasn't afraid of telling you.
When at the Movies was canceled I was saddened by the news because it was apart of my life for so long, it was like when your a kid and you move away you feel like your losing your friends and that's what this felt like, like I was losing a good friend. Roger and his wife Chaz were able to bring back his show, in fact he went back to where he started on PBS, unfortunately it only lasted a year. I kept waiting to hear word that they may bring it back, but it didn't happen. So Roger I'll miss you and our disagreements but I'll mostly miss another who loved movies as much as I do.
As I've gotten older I've learned that we all get something out of movies differently, what I might like someone else might not but that's okay because all that matters is that you were entertained. I'll always be someone who stands by my convictions and I don't always expect anyone to understand why I like certain movies but it's probably because it touched me or moved me. I would love to have my own show and talk movies, that would be my dream come true.
When at the Movies was canceled I was saddened by the news because it was apart of my life for so long, it was like when your a kid and you move away you feel like your losing your friends and that's what this felt like, like I was losing a good friend. Roger and his wife Chaz were able to bring back his show, in fact he went back to where he started on PBS, unfortunately it only lasted a year. I kept waiting to hear word that they may bring it back, but it didn't happen. So Roger I'll miss you and our disagreements but I'll mostly miss another who loved movies as much as I do.
As I've gotten older I've learned that we all get something out of movies differently, what I might like someone else might not but that's okay because all that matters is that you were entertained. I'll always be someone who stands by my convictions and I don't always expect anyone to understand why I like certain movies but it's probably because it touched me or moved me. I would love to have my own show and talk movies, that would be my dream come true.
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