Apparently they are both heavily influenced by the French New Wave, which I don't know a whole a lot about. I guess that means I finally have to check out some Goddard, but waahhhh, I feel oddly resistant.
FWIW, Godard is my least favorite New Waver, as both critic and filmmaker. Though, admittedly, I'm not a huge fan of the NW in general. It's very hit or miss for me. It always makes me sad that people get sent to those films first and then think they hate French movies.
I agree about feeling mostly indifferent to Kubrick, but I do like
The Shining
and
Barry Lyndon
a whole lot.
My June "Get Them Before They're Gone" Criterion list:
Jean Arthur:
The Devil and Miss Jones, The Impatient Years
Columbia Noir:
Blind Alley, The Dark Past, The Mob
Saul Bass:
Anatomy of a Murder
70s Style Icons:
Foxy Brown
Westerns:
The Winning of Barbara Worth, The Cowboy and the Lady, Arizona, The Hanging Tree, Red Sun
And then there are a few rewatches I want to get to, but I'm trying to be modest in my ambitions because I really want to get through some of the library films I have out for my Century+ project (silents from the 1910s and 20s). They are not due until 8/1 but it's ridiculous I've watched so few of them at this point.
The More the Merrier is one of my favorite films. All three leads are SO WONDERFUL and the script is perfection.
Jean Arthur is probably my favourite Golden Age Hollywood actress (neck and neck with Barbara Stanwyck) and I am psyched that Criterion is spotlighting her right now.
Jean Arthur Criterion alert: Just watched
The Devil and Miss Jones
and it is an absolute delight. Regency romance meets screwball comedy meets
Undercover Boss.
It reminded me a lot of
It Happened on 5th Avenue,
a wonderful Christmas movie (also from the 40s) that I just discovered this past holiday season.
The Devil and Miss Jones
I saw this eons ago and remember liking it, but don't have much of a recollection other than Charles Coburn (also in The More the Merrier) being a hilarious grouch. Will have to revisit it!
I started watching If You Could Only Cook last night (then had to go to bed about half way through), and cracked up at the Ye Olde "OH NOES THERE IS ONLY ONE BED" trope cropping up. Too bad the actual bed sharing didn't happen (probably against Hays code or something).
Finally watched Booksmart last week. Love!
And finally watched Scott Pilgrim a couple days ago. I really like how much it looked like a comic book. The actual story I can't say I cared for.
A meme I've seen a few times on FB has me wanting to watch The Mummy (1999)
OTOH, this is a good opportunity to watch The Watchmen on HBO, I should probably jump on that...
A meme I've seen a few times on FB has me wanting to watch The Mummy (1999)
Dooooooo eeeeeeeet. (And now I'm wondering if it's streaming anywhere...) (It's not streaming on anything we subscribe to, dang it. But Dirty Dancing is on Amazon Prime! Why didn't I know that? Knives Out is also on Amazon Prime.)
Well, shoot, I just assumed it would be available somewhere, I don't actually want to pay to watch it.
Knives Out is always a good choice, though!
