Knowingly Undersold

August 1, 2019 · 1:12 pm

The Set of 400: #285 – My Favorite Faux Self-Immolation

Today! Because everyone has the right to make an ass out of themselves –

Harold and Maude (1971)

Directed by Hal Ashby

Starring Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort (x2), Vivian Pickles, Cyril Cusack, Eric Christmas, Tom Skerritt (x2), Ellen Geer, Shari Summers, Charles Tyner, William Lucking (x2)

One of the blackest comedies ever made, Harold and Maude became forever known as that movie where a teenage kid dates an elderly woman. And if that concept freaked you out, odds are you never sought the film out, despite its status as a true classic of New Hollywood cinema. It’s kinda like Nabokov’s Lolita – once you know the plot, you have to make the decision whether word of mouth and reviews are enough to get you to actually read it. Can you get out of the way of your own preconceived ideas, really.

(Lolita is an incredible book, by the way, but I doubt you needed me to tell you that.)

It’s weird, but it’s fun

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Tagged as Bud Cort, Eric Christmas, Favorite Movies Ever, Hal Ashby, Harold and Maude, Ruth Gordon, Tom Skerritt, Vivian Pickles

July 31, 2019 · 1:11 pm

The Set of 400: #286 – My Favorite Dropped Milkshake

Today! He may have advanced delusionary schizophrenia with involuntary narcissistic rage, but he’s a very gentle person –

Me, Myself, and Irene (2000)

Directed by the Farrelly Brothers

Starring Jim Carrey (x2), Renee Zellweger (x2), Robert Forster, Chris Cooper, Anthony Anderson, Jerod Mixon, Tony Cox, Richard Jenkins (x2), Mongo Brownlee, Traylor Howard, Anna Kournikova, Shannon Whirry, Cam Neely, Lenny Clarke (x2), Googy Gress

The second and last of the all-out comedies of Jim Carrey to appear on this list, Me, Myself, and Irene came along mid-college for me, and solidly connected, with its brand of hyper-aggressive vulgarity and over-the-top absurdism. Carrey is never better than in his rampant split personality portrayal of good-guy cop Charlie Baileygates and his psychotic alter ego Hank. And yes, Hank is a lot, but the movie manages to parcel him out well, so as not to overwhelm the audience with that intensity – it would almost certainly have led to weariness, and jokes not really landing.

But my favorite part of this movie has always been his sons – at the beginning of the movie, we see his wife run off with a black genius dwarf limo driver, Shonte (played by the always great Tony Cox), but not before leaving Charlie with the triplets he fully convinces himself are his, biologically: Jamal, Lee Harvey, and Shonte Jr. And as grown men, his kids have the best lines in the movie – with genius inherited from their father, they spout “Enrico Fermi’d roll over in his motherfucking grave if he heard that stupid shit,” “I can’t figure out the atomic mass of this motherfuckin’ deuteron!” and “You think polypeptide’s a motherfuckin’ toothpaste!” Anthony Anderson, Jamal Mixon, and Mongo Brownlee – my MVPs of this movie.

Terrific!

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Tagged as Anna Kournikova, Anthony Anderson, Chris Cooper, Farrelly brothers, Favorite Movies Ever, Jerod Mixon, Jim Carrey, Lenny Clarke, Me Myself and Irene, Renee Zellweger, Richard Jenkins, Robert Forster, Shannon Whirry, Tony Cox

July 30, 2019 · 1:21 pm

The Set of 400: #287 – My Favorite Do Wah Diddy Diddy Dum Diddy Do

Today! Because our forefathers were kicked out of every decent country in the world –

Stripes (1981)

Directed by Ivan Reitman

Starring Bill Murray (x3), Harold Ramis (x2), John Candy (x5), Warren Oates (x2), Sean Young, John Larroquette (x3), P.J. Soles, Judge Reinhold, Joe Flaherty (x2), Dave Thomas, Timothy Busfield (x2), Donald Gibb (x3), Bill Paxton (x3), Robert J. Wilke, William Lucking, Conrad Dunn, Antone Pagan

Stripes gathered up half the cast of SCTV, added Bill Murray, had them join the Army, and the whole thing worked. Okay, the first half of the movie is the more memorable one – the second half has them steal a tank and invade Czechoslovakia, sort of, so yeah, if you mostly just recall the basic training sequences, you’re excused. And that part of the movie is terrific, Murray’s John Winger butting heads with Warren Oates’ Sgt. Hulka, the misfit group getting in trouble and rebounding to pull it together, that great graduation drill. Also, as the only movie where Murray and Candy share any significant screen time, Stripes would’ve been significant no matter what. But thankfully it still holds up, for the most part, as these comedians in this era made rare missteps.

Great, messy times!

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Tagged as Bill Murray, Bill Paxton, Dave Thomas, Donald Gibb, Favorite Movies Ever, Harold Ramis, Ivan Reitman, Joe Flaherty, John Candy, John Larroquette, Judge Reinhold, P.J. Soles, Sean Young, Stripes, Timothy Busfield, Warren Oates

July 29, 2019 · 1:07 pm

The Set of 400: #288 – My Favorite Ice Bath

Today! Because I’m gonna get off this merry-go-round. I’m so sick of all sticky things –

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969)

Directed by Sydney Pollack

Starring Jane Fonda, Michael Sarrazin, Gig Young, Red Buttons, Susannah York (x2), Severn Darden, Bonnie Bedelia, Bruce Dern, Al Lewis, Michael Conrad, Art Metrano

Part of my favorite nonsensical sub-genre of films (movies with complete sentences as titles), They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? is based on the very real practice of holding dance marathons during the Great Depression so that poor, hungry people could try to win money and prizes. These folks would have to remain on their feet virtually non-stop for days and weeks at a time, trying to outlast each other not unlike modern contests where people have to keep their hands on a car, or continuously ride a rollercoaster until everyone else quits. The difference, of course, was that these people were desperate, and often died from sheer exhaustion in striving to win. It’s a little talked about, shameful blip in history, with roots back in Roman times – straight-up peasant brutality used to entertain the better off.

Look at the great times these poor bastards are having!

So if that’s your idea of a fun movie, They Shoot Horses is 100% your jam. Gig Young won an Oscar as the fun-loving, heartless ringmaster of this nightmare carnival, but the on-screen suffering and deterioration of Fonda, Sarrazin, Buttons, and York is equally as impressive and shocking. Based on the effective Horace McCoy novel, the movie manages to round complete characters out of this depravity, improving on the source material by adding and/or enhancing the minor roles. The result is Sydney Pollack’s masterpiece (Out of Africa and Tootsie are both great, don’t get me wrong), holding down the odd distinction of being the most nominated movie in Oscar history that didn’t get a Best Picture nod, with nine! But, you know, thank God they saved that spot for Hello, Dolly! Continue reading →

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Tagged as Al Lewis, Bruce Dern, Favorite Movies Ever, Gig Young, Jane Fonda, Michael Sarrazin, Red Buttons, Severn Darden, Susannah York, Sydney Pollack, They Shoot Horses Don't They?

July 26, 2019 · 1:22 pm

The Set of 400: #289 – My Favorite Cornucopia

Today! Because….uh, I believe we have a volunteer –

The Hunger Games (2012)

Directed by Gary Ross

Starring Jennifer Lawrence (x2), Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson (x3), Elizabeth Banks (x3), Donald Sutherland (x3), Wes Bentley, Stanley Tucci, Paula Malcomson (x2), Toby Jones, Lenny Kravitz, Willow Shields, Alexander Ludwig

The rare YA novel that completely succeeds in the transfer to the big screen, The Hunger Games is a blatant rip-off of the Japanese movie Battle Royale from 2000, yes. However, that movie has sat on my Netflix queue unwatched for years, so I don’t have anything to go on besides the internet howling of Japanese film fans. But does Battle Royale have a drunken, bewigged Woody Harrelson cavorting through it though? Then shush.

It’s such an instantly iconic movie, and the capital is so cartoonish, that glancingly people might forget how gritty an action movie this film is. The murder! There are only a handful of movies I can think of where more than one or two kids die – this one slaughters loads of children. That’s a tough sell! And yet, Hunger Games works through the fairly tasteful framing of scenes in the arena, and the totally committed performances of the leads. Jennifer Lawrence had done X-Men: First Class at this point, and really broke onto everyone’s radar with 2010’s Winter’s Bone, but her balls-to-the-wall, 100% Katniss Everdeen will obviously go down as her forever role – no matter how many times she Mystiques it up. Hell, she won an Oscar for a different movie this same year and you don’t hear it talked about much anymore (Silver Linings Playbook is perfectly fine).

She does kick a metric ton of ass in this movie, though

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Tagged as Donald Sutherland, Elizabeth Banks, Favorite Movies Ever, Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Lenny Kravitz, Liam Hemsworth, Paula Malcomson, Stanley Tucci, The Hunger Games, Toby Jones, Wes Bentley, Woody Harrelson

July 25, 2019 · 1:15 pm

The Set of 400: #290 – My Favorite Insurance Convention

Today! Because I do a pretty convincing Omar from the HBO program, The Wire –

Cedar Rapids (2011)

Directed by Miguel Arteta

Starring Ed Helms (x2), John C. Reilly (x3), Anne Heche, Sigourney Weaver (x3), Isiah Whitlock Jr., Stephen Root (x2), Alia Shawkat, Kurtwood Smith, Thomas Lennon (x3), Rob Corddry, Mike O’Malley, Mike Birbiglia

A movie that snuck in and out of theaters with little fanfare, Cedar Rapids is a terrific character-driven comedy about a rollicking business trip to Iowa as the backdrop to personal and professional crossroads. Director Arteta (of Chuck & Buck fame) compiled a fantastic cast of comedy greats, working from a script by Phil Johnston, who would go on to write a pair of tremendous animated films – Wreck it Ralph and Zootopia.

But yeah, this little indie – filmed through some tax breaks, I assume, not in Cedar Rapids, but the equally uncinematic Ann Arbor, Michigan (sorry, Wolverines fans) – didn’t crack $7 million total at the box office, and doesn’t seem to have a second life on cable, yet, so far as I can tell. Maybe there is a little too much adult melancholy surrounding the wilder sequences in the film – massive drug parties, semi-nude hotel shenanigans – so that it crossed up the marketers and the audiences alike. It’s hard to say the demographic this is aimed at, exactly, but probably not the age group who would really enjoy this type of movie – high-brow-ish masquerading as low-brow-ish. Medium brow? Is that a filmic delineation?

Maeby Funke straddles this line particularly well herein

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Tagged as Alia Shawkat, Anne Heche, Cedar Rapids, Ed Helms, Favorite Movies Ever, Isiah Whitlock Jr., John C. Reilly, Kurtwood Smith, Mike Birbiglia, Mike O'Malley, Rob Corddry, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Root, Thomas Lennon

July 24, 2019 · 1:15 pm

The Set of 400: #291 – My Favorite Nazi Heckler

Today! Because it’s help me or help the Nazis –

Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942)

Directed by John Rawlins

Starring Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Evelyn Ankers, Reginald Denny, Henry Daniell, Leyland Hodgson, Mary Gordon, Hillary Brooke, Thomas Gomez, Montagu Love, Harry Cording

The best of the Rathbone/Bruce Sherlock Holmes series with the updated World War II setting, and the only one on this list, The Voice of Terror has a standard mystery film of the era title – The Voice of Terror? What? And like many of the later films in the series (and by later, I mean everything after the first two), this one appears to have been cranked out on the cheap, skimping on sets and run time to maximize the efficiency necessary to churn out multiple movies a year.

However, they stumbled into a pretty effective yarn with Voice of Terror. Based loosely on the original Doyle story “His Last Bow” and the real-life adventures of the Nazi villain Lord Haw-haw (!), this third movie in the group (and the first at Universal, after leaving the big budgets of 20th Century Fox) concerns the government bringing Holmes in to help identify the source of the terrorist radio broadcasts of the Voice, announcing major British setbacks at the hands of the Nazis seemingly as they happen. There are a load of suspects – Holmes quickly figures a member of the illustrious war council may be behind this plot – and plenty of stock footage utilized to depict catastrophes far and wide in Great Britain.

This dude’s wrist is a key plot point

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Tagged as Basil Rathbone, Evelyn Ankers, Favorite Movies Ever, Henry Daniell, Nigel Bruce, Reginald Denny, Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror

July 23, 2019 · 1:21 pm

The Set of 400: #292 – My Favorite Merman

Today! Because this is Zombie Redneck Torture Family, see? They’re entirely separate species. Like the difference between an elephant and an elephant seal –

The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

Directed by Drew Goddard

Starring Richard Jenkins, Bradley Whitford, Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Fran Kranz, Jesse Williams, Anna Hutchison, Sigourney Weaver, Brian White

Not really being a horror guy myself, it’s probably fitting that this not-really-a-horror-movie is my favorite horror movie of recent years. I mean, it has a lot of basic horror elements – kids partying at the desolate cabin in the woods, maniacal killers, spooky atmosphere. But right from the beginning, right from the opening credits, something is obviously wrong in this film. What follows is a frankly amazing subverting of the entire genre, a parody inside of a science fiction/fantasy/mythology that is as funny as any horror movie ever made, which I know is a pretty weird endorsement. I saw this based almost entirely on reviews – the studio clearly had no idea how to market it without giving the entire film away – and audiences were clearly conflicted. While it did okay at the box office, it got savaged by Cinemascore (if you give any credit to that outfit). Rotten Tomatoes places the movie at a robust 91% with critics, yet Cinemascore gave it a C, with female audience goers (usually a very supportive demographic to horror) handing out a D+! Clearly, few were prepared for the non-horror horror movie from Goddard and co-screenwriting god Joss Whedon. Continue reading →

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Tagged as Bradley Whitford, Chris Hemsworth, Drew Goddard, Favorite Movies Ever, Joss Whedon, Kristen Connolly, Richard Jenkins, Rondo Hatton, Sigourney Weaver, The Cabin in the Woods

July 22, 2019 · 1:12 pm

The Set of 400: #293 – My Favorite Human Catapult

Today! Because it’s dull, you twit! It’ll hurt more!

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)

Directed by Kevin Reynolds

Starring Kevin Costner (x3), Morgan Freeman, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Alan Rickman, Christian Slater, Brian Blessed (x2), Sean Connery (x3), Geraldine McEwan, Micheal McShane, Michael Wincott, Nick Brimble

I’m under the assumption this movie is the reason we’re treated to new, shitty Robin Hood remakes every few years. This is the blueprint – and this is based largely in tone on the original, rollicking rich-robbing good time The Adventures of Robin Hood with Errol Flynn. Sure, it’s updated some, featuring a solid if unremarkable Costner performance (so, a standard Costner performance) balanced by a good Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Marian, a solid Morgan Freeman as the Moor Azeem, and a fantastic, movie-stealing villain turn by Alan Rickman. I saw Robin Hood way more times growing up than I did Die Hard, so for me, Rickman will always be the Sheriff of Nottingham first, Hans Gruber second, Severus Snape like ninth.

Never mind Rickman’s fabulous coiffure

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Tagged as Alan Rickman, Brian Blessed, Christian Slater, Favorite Movies Ever, Kevin Costner, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Morgan Freeman, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Sean Connery

July 19, 2019 · 1:19 pm

The Set of 400: #294 – My Favorite Rolling Ferris Wheel

Today! Because I fought your kind in the Great War, and we kicked the living shit out of you –

1941 (1979)

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Starring John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd (x3), Ned Beatty (x2), Christopher Lee (x4), Tim Matheson, Toshiro Mifune (x2), John Candy (x4), Nancy Allen, Lorraine Gary (x2), Warren Oates, Slim Pickens, Robert Stack, Treat Williams, Murray Hamilton (x3), Elisha Cook Jr., Patti LuPone, Eddie Deezen, Perry Lang, Wendie Jo Sperber, Joe Flaherty, David L. Lander, Michael McKean (x3), Don Calfa, Susan Backlinie, Jerry Hardin, Audrey Landers, Dick Miller (x3), Mickey Rourke

For those of you unfamiliar with this movie – can you believe the above cast got together in ’79 and put on an epic war comedy? And under the direction of the king, Steven Spielberg, following his massive success with Jaws and Close Encounters? Doesn’t it make you want to run out and see what this movie could possibly be?? How have you avoided it all these years? Do it!

And for those of you already familiar with this movie, SHUT UP.

I’m not Titanic-level defensive about 1941, but that’s because most people either didn’t see it or don’t remember it enough to argue about it. And look, I know there is a lot wrong with this movie. It only sort of functions as a comedy – it’s like a less funny It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World with explosions and extended choreographed fistfights – and sort of functions as a war movie. But the premise is solid enough and the cast is terrific that, even though it doesn’t totally deliver, it’s still a pretty entertaining movie. Continue reading →

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Tagged as 1941, Christopher Lee, Dan Aykroyd, David L. Lander, Dick Miller, Elisha Cook Jr., Favorite Movies Ever, Joe Flaherty, John Belushi, John Candy, Lorraine Gary, Michael McKean, Mickey Rourke, Murray Hamilton, Nancy Allen, Ned Beatty, Patti LuPone, Robert Stack, Slim Pickens, Steven Spielberg, Tim Matheson, Toshiro Mifune, Treat Williams, Warren Oates

July 18, 2019 · 1:13 pm

The Set of 400: #295 – My Favorite Touch of Grey

Today! Because I know I’m the last guy in the world you’d peg as a Deadhead –

The Music Never Stopped (2011)

Directed by Jim Kohlberg

Starring J.K. Simmons (x3), Lou Taylor Pucci, Cara Seymour, Scott Adsit, Julia Ormond, Mia Maestro, Tammy Blanchard

How do we possibly follow the biggest movie of all-time on this list? Are all my favorite films just populist studio marketed tentpoles (don’t judge me!)? Well, in 2011 the Music Box Theatre in Chicago participated in the Sundance Across America project, stemming from the film festival, where they ship an indie to different cities that otherwise might not get nationwide play. And so I caught The Music Never Stopped, a movie that went on to gross $258,223 according to Box Office Mojo, 1/2,326th the total Titanic pulled down in its initial release.

And it’s hard to say why this movie has stuck with me – it’s a pretty sentimental, sorta-true story (based loosely on brain disorder king Oliver Sacks’ essay The Last Hippie) about an estranged father and son who reunite only after both come down with severe medical issues – heart disease and brain tumor, respectively. Son Gabriel’s tumor prevents him from making new memories, but through his favorite music – lots of Grateful Dead, Beatles, Bob Dylan on the soundtrack – the fog in his brain manages to lift somewhat temporarily.

Plus, dope threads

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Tagged as Favorite Movies Ever, J.K. Simmons, Julia Ormond, Lou Taylor Pucci, Scott Adsit, The Grateful Dead, The Music Never Stopped

July 17, 2019 · 1:25 pm

The Set of 400: #296 – My Favorite Heart of the Ocean

Today! Because I’d rather be his whore than your wife –

Titanic (1997)

Directed by James Cameron

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio (x2), Kate Winslet, Billy Zane (x3), Bill Paxton (x2), Kathy Bates (x2), Frances Fisher, David Warner, Bernard Hill, Victor Garber (x2), Gloria Stuart, Suzy Amis, Danny Nucci, Ioan Gruffudd, Jonny Phillips, Ewan Stewart, Bernard Fox, Jason Barry

First off, let me begin by saying SHUT UP. I am fully aware of the awesome shortcomings of this film. The dialogue is often atrocious, some of the poor actors forced to play ethic stereotypes get completely mangled in the gears of this film (we forever honor you, Fabrizio!), and the plot – the driving romantic engine of the film – is the most hackneyed, retread, unimaginative piffle they could’ve lit upon. I get all of that. It’s way too long – like, a good forty to fifty minutes too long – and in retrospect can be viewed as pretentiously so, given everything connected to this film that was to follow – Oscar speeches, no follow-up Cameron film for a dozen years, etc.

Ugh, this guy

All that being said, people who regularly slam this movie – then and now – are you seriously telling me you don’t think the second half of Titanic is an amazing movie? I know, it’s half a movie, and you’ve had to slog through nearly two hours of set dressing and nonsense to get there, but once they hit that iceberg straight until that old lady is tossing her baubles overboard, it is as impressive a piece of moviemaking as exists. Continue reading →

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Tagged as Bernard Hill, Bill Paxton, Billy Zane, David Warner, Favorite Movies Ever, Frances Fisher, Gloria Stuart, James Cameron, Kate Winslet, Kathy Bates, Leonardo DiCaprio, Titanic, Victor Garber

July 16, 2019 · 1:22 pm

The Set of 400: #297 – My Favorite Artificial Tail Fin

Today! Because any food that grows here is tough and tasteless. The people that grow here are even more so –

How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

Directed by Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders

Starring Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, America Ferrera, Craig Ferguson, Jonah Hill (x3), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (x2), T.J. Miller, Kristen Wiig (x2), David Tennant

A surprisingly great animated offering from Dreamworks, How to Train Your Dragon took a lot of standard big screen cartoon elements – Kid heroes! Cute big-eyed animals! Parents who just don’t understand! – and mixed them with a stirring story of acceptance and striving to fit in. In retrospect, it strikes me as a movie that’s really better than it needs to be – the critical expectations of animated movies released in March aren’t terribly high. Hell, The Boss Baby came out in a March and made a ton of money, so did The Croods, so did Monsters vs. Aliens – all Dreamworks movies, by the way. But outside of the Shreks, nothing grossed more for the studio than HTTYD, still (I believe) the best reviewed animated movie from SKG (according to Rotten Tomatoes, anyway, at 98%).

Also, has this movie ever gotten the true credit it deserves for paving the way for Game of Thrones? Sure, GoT would probably have been a massive hit regardless, but it’s not like dragon-based films and shows have done particularly well over the years. With the exception – I guess – of the second Hobbit movie, there isn’t even really another successful dragon movie – Dragonheart, anyone? Eragon? Reign of Fire? Sure, Dragonslayer is sorta cute, and Pete’s Dragon has a little staying power I guess, but really, it’s Smaug, Toothless, that one scene in Harry Potter 4, and that zombie dragon knocking down The Wall – that’s dragon screen history. You’ve gotta go back to like Sleeping Beauty to find anything else sorta popular that has the scaly beasts in aa major film role. I could totally be forgetting something, I suppose.

Not that Peter MacNicol doesn’t give it his all

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Tagged as America Ferrera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Craig Ferguson, David Tennant, Favorite Movies Ever, Gerard Butler, How to Train Your Dragon, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Kristen Wiig, T.J. Miller

July 15, 2019 · 1:18 pm

The Set of 400: #298 – My Favorite 2nd O Come, All Ye Faithful Verse Appearance

Today! Because I’ve only one reason to be angry – you broke my record –

A Christmas Carol (1938)

Directed by Edwin Marin

Starring Reginald Owen, Gene Lockhart, Terry Kilburn, Leo G. Carroll (x2), Ann Rutherford, Kathleen Lockhart, Barry MacKay, Lynne Carver, Lionel Braham, Halliwell Hobbes, June Lockhart, Ronald Sinclair

Like the pervasive Sherlock Holmes-ness of this list, you’re going to find more versions of Ebenezer Scrooge’s Psychotic Yuletide in the days to come than you probably would’ve expected. As avid viewers of my Instagram story could tell you, come December I really bang through a lot of Christmas movies, with the Dickens classic featuring heavily in the rotation. This list would’ve had more Scrooge on it, honestly, had so many of the best productions not been television adaptations. So just quickly – Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol is the best musical version of this story ever made, hands down. Mickey’s Christmas Carol likely would’ve been right in its league, had not all the songs been excised, leaving the 24-ish minute edit that remains. The Patrick Stewart version from the late-’90s has some terrific variations on the old standard, and the George C. Scott version is one of the best straight renditions out there.

My guess is few hardcore Marley-o-philes would place the 1938 version near the top of their lists. It changes so many little things, and a few major ones, that some may shout blasphemy. I don’t have this issue – even if some of the differences are a bit frustrating, narratively speaking. If you don’t immediately recognize this as the Reginald Owen version, it’ll probably ring a bell that this is the Christmas Carol with all the sliding. Right? No? Continue reading →

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Tagged as A Christmas Carol, Ann Rutherford, Favorite Movies Ever, Gene Lockhart, June Lockhart, Leo G. Carroll, Reginald Owen, Scrooge, Terry Kilburn

July 12, 2019 · 1:36 pm

The Set of 400: #299 – My Favorite St. Bernard Nursemaid

Today! Because I have the strangest feeling that I’ve seen that ship before. A long time ago, when I was very young –

Peter Pan (1953)

Directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, and Hamilton Luske

Starring Bobby Driscoll, Kathryn Beaumont, Hans Conried, Tom Conway, Paul Collins, Lucille Bliss, June Foray, Mel Blanc

Cast your mind back with me, if you will. No, not to the early days of the Eisenhower administration, when this charming, somewhat racist cartoon was made – but to the Christmas movie season of 1991. Twelve year old Joe was on the cusp of publishing his first Favorite Movie List – I’m sure you remember, it was in all the major news outlets of the day, all shuttered now by a general lack of interest in journalism. Perhaps some preliminary versions of it had already floated out to the world, through gossip mongerers or paid informants. And the going word was that Steven Spielberg’s new take on the old J.M. Barrie classic was making a big impact in dorky Joe’s life, that it might even supplant the long-understood top movie of his list (Tim Burton’s exceedingly dark and campy take on a ’60s superhero TV show).