You haven't seen WHAT?!
This is my quest to see if the classics are really all they're cracked up to be.
Ask me what I've seen! There's a LOT that I need to catch up on, and I welcome suggestions.
Any comments about spoilers will be completely ignored.
-
The Gateway to Iceland: an ice cave in Vatnajokull ice cap, southern Iceland by Skarphedinn Thrainsson
-
-
-
liikuma (:
-
No more books by Yoko Minemura
The Avengers (2012): instant classic. Hell yeah.
Who’s Next
By The Who
Date released: August 14, 1971
Date finally listened to all the way through: August 25, 2011
Of course I had already heard ‘Baba O’Riley,’ ‘Behind Blue Eyes,’ and ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ dozens of times, but this was the first time I just sat down and listened to the whole thing.
I’m very very glad I did. It made my morning at work much better than it would have been without its upbeat and groovy soul. The Who has such a distinct sound, and even though I haven’t thoroughly digested all of their catalog, I know and love their style. Phish has covered The Who and even played Quadrophenia (1973) in its entirety at their Halloween 1995 show (boyfriend and I are Phish-obssessed…that’s why I had to throw that in).
Written, directed, and produced by: Joel & Ethan Coen
Starring: Nicholas Cage, Holly Hunter, Trey Wilson, & John Goodman
Date released: March 6, 1987
Date finally watched: August 20, 2011
Not exactly a classic, right? But I generally like Coen brothers movies, so I’m trying to see all of them. This one I liked as well. I really enjoyed the dialect used, and both Cage and Hunter did a great job.
John Goodman too, of course. Coen bros must friggin’ love him.
But what else to say about it? I liked it….it was original and entertaining, but that’s about it. My dad asked me after watching it if I thought it stood the test of time, and I said I guess so. Besides the film quality, this movie could be released today and I feel like it would have the same effect on people as it did in 1987.
The best quote I found in looking this film up on Wikipedia was this: “Raising Arizona is no big deal, but it has rambunctious charm.” -Pauline Kael for the New Yorker
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
No need to catch up here; I’ve definitely seen it. I dressed up as Alex for Halloween when I was 17. Pics or it didn’t happen? Well, shit.
(via 35mmpaul)
awayhegoes Asks:
classicscatchup Said:
I have! I really enjoyed it in all it’s bizarreness. It helps that I think David Bowie is beyond fabulous.
Directed by: David Lester
Starring: Christopher Reeve, Richard Pryor & Margot Kidder (per IMDB, but Margot Kidder was in the first and last scenes only….hardly in it at all)
Date released: June 17, 1983
Date finally watched: August 12, 2011
Overall impression…this flick just upped the corniness factor from the last two and didn’t have a redeemable plot. It was fun(ny) to watch, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone looking for a good classic Superman film.
I think I will split the meat of this post into two parts: the things I liked and the things I didn’t like.
Things I liked:
- Superman goes evil, a total d-bag in fact. It was fun to watch Reeve play a more dynamic character. Plus there’s the great Superman vs. Clark Kent scene, which reminds me of Tyler Durden vs. Unnamed and Gollum vs. Sméagol. I guess I really like when a central character has to battle with two sides of himself, and it’s cool to see what is normally an internal struggle manifested on-screen as an actual physical (or just verbal in Gollum’s case) fight.
- The first part of the movie had a few domino-effect scenes that were neat. For example, a man stops to ogle a blonde and then runs into a pole and falls over on a man selling penguins, which causes a passing roller-skater to stumble and push a rolling food cart over to topple 3 telephone booths…..you get the idea. It’s like a Rube Goldberg machine.
- Computers. 1983 computers. Huge and ridiculous….my, we have come a long way.
Things I didn’t like
- Gene Hackman was not in this. Instead of the diabolical, self-proclaimed ‘genius’ with the nitwit and the plastic blonde bimbo as sidekicks, we get the the power-hungry, over-privileged brother & sister duo with a nitwit savant and a different plastic blonde bimbo as sidekicks. Ross Webster was not a remotely interesting bad guy, Richard Pryor’s spastic computer genius character was pretty irritating to watch, and that blonde chick was GROSS. The only thing I liked about her was that she was secretly intelligent, but they did not play that up enough! It made me miss Hackman yelling “MS TESCHMACHER!!”
- I pretty much didn’t like anything about the Lana Lang subplot. I’m a Lois Lane & Superman fan, so this was total BS to me. If he is gonna make Lois forget everything because he can’t be with a human, then why the hell is he seriously flirting with homegirl and her bobo son? And that huuuuge diamond that he made? Effing ridiculous. What’s even more ridiculous is that she started wearing it like a normal ring! And it was massive! Wouldn’t she have needed to sell at least part of it to start her living in Metropolis? I know it’s not important, but I just hated everything about this subplot, so I’m being petty.
- Scenes with bad Superman and Blonde Bimbo. This can almost go in the “things I liked” category because these were soooooo bad that they were hysterical. My favorite line of the whole movie was when he meets her up on the top of the Statue of Liberty and says, “well I hope you don’t expect me to save you because I don’t do that anymore.” Followed shortly thereafter is a series of lines and awkward shot framing that makes it look like a cheesy-ass 70‘s porno. If this movie didn’t suck so much I would tell you to go watch it just to laugh at this scene.
- Plot. Where the hell was this movie going?
Well, I think I’ll leave it at that for this movie. The bad clearly outweighs the good.
NEXT!
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
Directed by: Sydney J. Furie
Starring: Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, Margot Kidder
Date released: July 24, 1987
Date finally watched: August 13, 2011
This one was much better than the last one but still not as good as the very first. Boyfriend watched all of these with me, and we both agreed that even though this one was better, it was still missing something…we just aren’t sure what exactly it is.
At least Gene Hackman was back in all his glory, this time without Ms. Teschmacher to holler at. Whatever. It was just nice to have him back, the original Superman nemesis.
I also liked that Lois was Superman’s girl again….UNTIL HE FUCKING ERASED HER MEMORY…AGAIN. God, that was frustrating! How rude of him to use her like that! And how did she remember ‘everything’ after they went for their 2nd sappy flight around the world? That doesn’t say much for his obliviating powers; they’re clearly not entirely sound, which may cause some brain damage for Lois in the long run if he keeps it up. I didn’t read any Superman comic books- is this a regular thing that he does? Remind Lois that they are in love and that he needs her to talk to but then gives her the kiss of forgetfulness? Gaaaahhhhhh stupid superhero men. Rah.
Hmmm, what else did I like? Heh, the double-date with Clark & Lacy Warfield and Lois & Superman was amusing what with the same dude switching back and forth between two personalities and two chicks.
Oh, and I should have pointed it out in my review of the first film, but I think it’s cute that the main difference between Clark Kent and Superman (besides the outfit) are the glasses and the way his hair is parted. Oh wow, Superman looks SO different from Clark because his hair is parted on the left while Kent’s is on the right.
I think that’s enough for now. I’ve had too much coffee today, and I need to get up and do something else.
Bottom line, if you are interested in watching a Superman film, see the first one. If you like sappy shit, see the second one. Skip the third one unless you want to make fun of something. See the fourth one if you liked the first one.
Superman
Directed by Richard Donner
Starring Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, & Margot Kidder
Date released: December 15, 1978
Date finally watched: August 7, 2011
Superman II
Directed by Richard Lester
Starring Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, & Margot Kidder
Date released: June 19, 1981
Date finally watched: August 9, 2011
I’m guessing these are Japanese movie posters, which isn’t relevant to my experience with the movies or anything…I just thought they were cool.
Well I finally got around to tackling the Superman franchise, and boy is it dreamy! I mean, seriously. This is some classic dreamboat crap here! All-American 6’4” black hair, blue eyes, moral compass, and oh by the way, DIESEL. Plus, he will do the forbidden and turn the world back in time to save his lady….swoon.
Ok, besides all that girly stuff the movies were still great, and I really respect them. Overall I do think the first one was better though. They both have some pretty hokey lines (like “Why is it I can’t get it on with the good guys?”), but the second one is even more hokey than the first.
Like the whole romantic get-away bit in the 2nd one- it came off as a tad fan-fictiony to me. Did people even write fan fics in the 70s? But you know what I mean…it was pretty ridiculous. Plus the whole thing about “if you want to love a human, you must live as a human, so get rid of your powers.” The fuck? Why?! Romance is always so tragic for superheroes, and it drives me crazy, but I digress…
The story is great, a classic battle of good and evil, and the outdated effects are fun to watch in 2011. I wasn’t thrilled with the soundtrack though! My god John Williams, it sounded ridiculously like Star Wars (Episode IV came out in 1977 BTW). I mean, it’s still good, don’t get me wrong. It’s just that I was raised on Star Wars and know the soundtrack so well that this seems like a ripoff to me. But it’s not really a ripoff because it’s the same composer….whatever. You get it.
Anyway, I’m clearly not gonna get too analytical here. What I’m basically trying to say is that these movies deserve to be classics, plain and simple. There have already been tons of papers and books written delving into the symbolism and iconographic importance of this character and these films. Even though I wasn’t a Superman fan before watching these (I was into X-Men, Spiderman, and Joss Whedon creations), I’d be interested to read more.
I’m excited to watch III and IV, and then I’ll have to wrap it up with Superman Returns (2006). When I get started on a TV show or movie franchise, I have to watch them all in quick succession like a total crackhead.
This is now the background image on my work computer. A taste of the next post to come.
Die Hard
Directed by John McTiernan
Starring Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, & Bonnie Bedelia
Date released: July 15, 1988
Date finally watched: July 11, 2011
Die Hard II
Directed by Renny Harlin
Starring Bruce Willis, William Atherton, & Bonnie Bedelia
Date released: July 4, 1990
Date finally watched: July 13, 2011
Die Hard: With A Vengeance
Directed by John McTiernan
Starring Bruce Willis, Jeremy Irons, & Samuel L. Jackson
Date released: May 19, 1995
Date finally watched: July 13, 2011
OK. So….
These movies rule. HARD. I can’t believe it took me so long to see them!! I already saw Live Free or Die Hard when it came out (I was working at a movie theatre at the time, so I probably saw it before you did!), but even though I loved it I didn’t feel compelled to run out and devour the others. I like action flicks, but I don’t generally crave them.
So why now? I must confess…it was Alan Rickman. He ROCKED MY WORLD in Harry Potter 7 part II, and I just wanted some more of his badassness. The man is seriously talented, and his delivery gives me chills sometimes. I owned the original trilogy already (purchased as a set from Target or something), so boyfriend watched them all with me. He is more caught up on his classics, so he had already seen them.
So are these all they’re made out to be?
YES….and then some. These movies are pretty formulaic (the plot and pace for all 3 are basically the same), but that’s not even a criticism. What these movies were trying to do was to do crazy stuff in action movies that hadn’t been done before and to make it FUN. And you know what? They succeeded; these movies were fun as hell to watch. I’d recommend them to anybody who loves a badass leading man (and Bruce Willis just screams BAMF without saying a word) and lots of BOOM.
I hope all the other classics in my future are as righteous as these are.
Here’s some Alan Rickman/Hans Gruber. Du weißt, du liebst es.
