Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Movies I Watched at Home in 2014, List #5

I did a little better in May. I'm continuing my list of movies I watched (from start to finish, no matter how boring). Same deal as before -- chronological order of watching with a grade I gave it at the time and a comment or two about what I remember now.
  • Pennies from Heaven (1981) - B+ / I want to schedule a double feature of this and The Purple Rose of Cairo at a revival house.
  • Marty (1955) - B / Never give up!
  • The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965) - A- / I wish I had been in the theater with all the folks who had not yet read this book back in 1965.
  • It Should Happen to You (1954)  - B- / The movie never lived up to the easy charm and cheery sentimentality of the first 10 minutes. If it had --> A+! My favorite character was the male department store employee. (No kiddin!)
  • The Shop on Main Street (1965) - A+ / Worldwide horror plays out on the smallest of scales. Someone please find and buy me either or both of these posters.
  • Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) - B+ / There is no way you do not love Mr. Chips.
  • Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969) - C- / Unless it's this Mr. Chips which is Peter O'Toole for crying out loud but I just did not like this one. They should have made a different movie about Ursula!
  • Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) - A / Life lesson: What would Judge Haywood do?
  • Lilies of the Field (1963) - B+ / I had Jester Hairston's "Amen" stuck in my head for days. (And it's back.)
  • Libeled Lady (1936) - B- /  It is incredible how much we have not only not changed as a culture but have just gotten so much worse.
  • Now, Voyager (1942) C / I thought we were heading toward a Marty but in the end we got a Ms. Chips.
  • Death on the Nile (1978) C- / I love this kind of shit but this was made like a TV movie with a lot of (amazing!) special guest stars. Oh well, time well spent for me but it is not very good.
  • How Green Was My Valley (1941) A- / One thing I've learned watching all these classic movies: There are few things as evil as a gossipy old biddy.
  • Morgan! (1966) B+ / Every character is simultaneously adorable and annoying. I am looking forward to watching it again and seeing which side sticks (I'm optimistic).
  • Executive Suite (1954) B+ /  Watching now, it's easy to think of Mad Men with respect to both the plot (office politics) and the characters (especially the women).  Sidenote: I have found that Mad Men significantly informs my viewing of a lot of these films from the 50s and 60s, and vice versa. Anybody wanna watch some movies, get drunk, and talk about it?

1 comment:

Boxcar said...

I do! I do! Great list. Really makes me want to track these down and watch them. Good job on the grading too. I feel as though the grades match the description perfectly.