I don't think I've seen Vivacious Lady, but I've seen all the rest. I think I'd add "I Was A Male Warbride" to the list, too. Who can resist Cary Grant in a skirt?
Congratulations to the class of 1999. You all proved more or less adequate.
Snyder ,'Chosen'
Buffista Movies 5: Development Hell
A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
SailAweigh - Dec 30, 2006 8:52:32 am PST #6692 of 10001
Nana korobi, ya oki. (Fall down seven times, stand up eight.) ~Yuzuru Hanyu/Japanese proverb
Scrappy - Dec 30, 2006 9:41:12 am PST #6693 of 10001
Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
The More the Merrier is fabulous! McCrea is so sexy and understated and charming. And Jean Arthur is funny and sharp and also charming. Great script, too!
DavidS - Dec 30, 2006 10:14:09 am PST #6694 of 10001
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
The More the Merrier is fabulous! McCrea is so sexy and understated and charming. And Jean Arthur is funny and sharp and also charming. Great script, too!
All this and more. Exceptionally charming. Watch and see how Lucille Ball copped many of her comic moves from Jean Arthur (something she's acknowledged in many interviews). Charles Coburn - totally cool and deserving of his supporting Oscar. Also, it's just a rare picture set in DC in the 40s that gives a sense of life lived at that time.
Also, for better or worse, I think this is the template for Buffy and Riley. They were really going for a Jean Arthur / Joel McCrea vibe with the tiny, tart, smart blonde and the big, lunk, ethical midwesterner.
Matt the Bruins fan - Dec 30, 2006 3:59:17 pm PST #6695 of 10001
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand
Who can resist Cary Grant in a skirt?
We should ask Randolph Scott.
Vonnie K - Dec 30, 2006 4:23:38 pm PST #6696 of 10001
Kiss me, my girl, before I'm sick.
Holiday
Hmmm. This is probably one of my all-time favourite movies, but I don't know if I'd consider it a screwball comedy. Despite the sommersault scene, it's just not madcap enough, plus it's twinged with too much melancholy and fragility (which is the reason why I love it so much, actually.)
I love Sullivan's Travels, but the social commentary probably skewes it out of the screwball territory. But Joel McCrea is so dreeeeamy, even in hobo gears. t /one-track mind
Would Ninotchka and His Girl Friday qualify? They're borderline, I think.
megan walker - Dec 30, 2006 4:49:06 pm PST #6697 of 10001
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist
My Favorite Wife (practically the same movie as the Awful Truth)
Except My Favorite Wife doesn't contain the best line ever (“I wouldn't go on living with you if you were dipped in platinum!”)
Desert Island Screwball Comedies:
His Girl Friday
The Awful Truth
It Happened One Night
My Man Godfrey
The Palm Beach Story
The Thin Man
Cashmere - Dec 30, 2006 5:31:46 pm PST #6698 of 10001
Now tagless for your comfort.
Just watched Beerfest. Stupid. But funny. So funny.
The only complaint I have is that the Welsh were not represented in the international drinking competition. That was a big oversight.
Cloris Leachman is fucking hilarious.
Polter-Cow - Dec 30, 2006 6:34:21 pm PST #6699 of 10001
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
I just saw Children of Men, and I...don't get it. Maybe because I was sitting in the second row, maybe because I was tired and nodded off for a few minutes somewhere in the middle, but I wasn't really affected by it. The unedited shots were incredibly impressive, but that's about all I can say.
Stay away from spoilers, though, because it's a huge shock when Julian is killed so fucking early. I could not believe it. Even when they were burying her, I couldn't believe it. Even when they said it on the news, I couldn't believe it. She got SECOND BILLING, for Christ's sake!
But I didn't think the movie actually rose above its premise. I mean, I don't think I really got any more out of seeing the movie itself than what I knew from the trailers.
Nutty - Dec 30, 2006 7:48:34 pm PST #6700 of 10001
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."
I have now seen two movies this weekend where the protagonist wears presbyopic glasses that magnify his blue peepers. Except that they made Elijah Wood look like the Incredible Mister Limpet ( Everything is Illuminated, and, a very nice, logical movie only vaguely related to the thoroughly nonlinear book) and they made Matt Damon just look old ( The Good Shepherd. )
That latter is a movie that takes true CIA history, stuffs it all in a blender, and purees on High. There were several true-life incidents that I knew about, that got completely rearranged like echoes of life. Probably you are better off walking into the movie with no idea the history of the CIA.
Also, it was very weird for Damon to be the protagonist, because he was the shortest person in every single scene, and halfway through the movie I suddenly realized how much like a young Ned Beatty he can look like. Not exactly the WASP patrician look that I think the script intended for him.
Kathy A - Dec 30, 2006 8:12:09 pm PST #6701 of 10001
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil
I liked the Alec (both Sr. and Jr.) moments in EII--Eugene Hutz is wonderful as Alec Jr. EW is good in his very limited role as the cipher Jonathan, but I wish that Schrieber had developed that character more.