Alphabetical Movie – I was a Male War Bride
I was a Male War Bride stars Cary Grant as a WWII French espionage agent who marries an American and has trouble emigrating to the United States. It is pretty much an opportunity for Grant to look really annoyed and/or resigned to his fate. He was really good at that.
Basically, the movie is Father Goose without Leslie Caron and a gaggle of French school girls.
For the entire film, though, I was distracted by one niggling detail. A name.
Alphabetical Movie – The Hustler
I’ll bet that most people I know haven’t seen The Hustler.
Oh, they’ve heard of the film. I’m sure they have. Heck, many of them have seen the sequel, The Color of Money but they have never felt the need to visit the original film for reasons that have more to do with laziness than actual lack of interest.
Alphabetical Movie – The Hurt Locker
Francois Truffaut famously said it is impossible to make an anti-war film.
His meaning, I think, was to suggest that any film about war – no matter the perspective of the filmmaker – ends up glorifying war to some degree. I see what he meant although I don’t agree with him. One needs only watch Paths of Glory to see a film about war that doesn’t glorify it in the slightest.
Alphabetical Movie – The Hunt for Red October
As movies about a silent submarines go, The Hunt for Red October is a surprisingly effective thriller. I keep meaning to show it to my eldest son as I think he’d enjoy it. Thing is, I’m just not sure how to explain the Cold War to him.
Alphabetical Movie – The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney)
This film is a problem.
I applaud Disney for having made an attempt to grapple with some very adult themes (lust, racism, fanaticism) in a movie for kids. If they’d actually gone further, I wouldn’t find the film quite so maddening. The combination of some stunningly brilliant stuff coupled with scenes that are puzzlingly inept is what makes the movie so fascinating to think about.
Shit that Pissed me off This Week – 4/27
This isn’t the first time WI State Senator has put his foot in it. Now has claimed women actually want to be single mothers and that women are “trained” to tell doctors their pregnancies are unplanned so they can get an abortion.
Where did this come from? There must be a woman in his past who really shafted him and now he is taking it out on her entire sex.
I might be reading too much into the situation. It’s possible he’s just an asshole.
Alphabetical Movie – Hugo
Here’s where I describe, in far too painful detail, the question of whether or not I was actually going to watch Hugo for the alphabetical movie project.
As I discuss in the rules of the Alphabetical Movie Project, there is a recently watched clause. If I’ve watched a movie recently, I don’t need to watch it again right away. I’m close enough so it still counts. This rule, however, is rather vague. What does “recently” really mean? A week? A month?
That lack of clarity is what caused a concern when considering Hugo.
Alphabetical Movie – Howl’s Moving Castle
Think about this for a minute: Studio Ghibli is one of the few studios regularly producing films with female protagonists. Howl’s Moving Castle is one example but thinking through most of Ghibli films with which Americans would be familiar – Kiki’s Delivery Service, Spirited Away, Castle in the Sky – their stories are all centered on young women.
I’m not a huge devourer of Anime so I admit that this trend may be indicative of where the films are produced (Japan) more than it is of a particular filmmaker (Miyazaki). Keep in mind, the majority of Americans have only one window into Anime and that window is the imagination of Hiyao Miyazaki. His worlds are frequently focused on young women.
Alphabetical Movie – How to Train Your Dragon
Here’s my problem with How to Train Your Dragon: Physics.
The movie is quite good. I’m generally underwhelmed by Dreamworks animation (especially the Shrek franchise) but this film works on just about every level. Except one.
Physics.
And I’m not talking about the physics of Dragon flight (although that is pretty dubious). My concern is the final battle sequence. I’m going to have to go into spoilers below the fold.
Grail Diary 