Alphabetical Movie – The Karate Kid
I’ve always enjoyed the song “Cruel Summer” by Bananarama.
I would imagine that is the reason that I’ve had fond memories of the Karate Kid soundtrack. With “Cruel Summer” on there, the whole thing must be golden, right?
It’s been a while since I watched the film. I watched it a lot in the 80’s and 90’s and I remember every dramatic beat in the movie. I can recite huge sections of the film from memory and not just the parts about the Crane Technique. I know the film pretty darn well.
Alphabetical Movie – Just Like Heaven
Anybody remember Terri Schaivo?
I bring her up because Just Like Heaven came out right around the time Schaivo’s name was a big deal on the political scene. In fact, it came out about six months after she finally passed away.
While it is probably just an amazing coincidence, I find it striking every time I watch this film, which involves someone who is in a coma and a doctor who is pressuring her family to pull the plug. While it is just a cute romantic comedy, it feels like there is a deeper message at play.
Alphabetical Movie – Jurassic Park
Life finds a way.
So we are told by Dr. Ian Malcom in Jurassic Park.
We will ignore the problems with the fashion in which this happens in Jurassic Park – it is Science Fiction after all – because I’m really intrigued by the concept that life finds a way.
Alphabetical Movie – The Jungle Book
When I was young, there was no such thing as home video. If you wanted to watch a Disney animated film, you went to see what was in the theatre or watched edited chunks of them on “The Wonderful World of Disney.”
What we did have was record albums of the movies. Specifically, I remember a recording of The Jungle Book that I listened to repeatedly to the point that I knew every sound in The Jungle Book. Literally every sound. It was not a record of the songs from the film. It was a record that was literally the entire film.
Alphabetical Movie – Juno and the Paycock
Around Christmas last year, there was a good deal on a collection of all of Alfred Hitchcock’s British films. I’m a big fan of his work but his British period was pretty much a blank slate for me. Aside from The 39 Steps, I’m pretty ignorant of his developmental period.
I don’t remember the exact price but it was less than $2.00 per movie. As far as I was concerned, it was a great deal if all I’d gotten was The 39 Steps and The Lodger.
Decisions like that are one of the reasons I’m doing the Alphabetical Movie project. I have something like twenty Hitchcock films on four discs. Left to my own devices, I would probably watch one or two in the next five years.
Alphabetical Movie – Journey to the Center of the Earth
Brendan Fraser’s career is by no means dead but I can’t help but wonder if he actually reads scripts before he accepts a role. It seems like he so enjoys acting that he doesn’t much care about the movies he’s making. How else do explain how the guy makes movies like The Quiet American and Crash while also starring in films like…well…Journey to the Center of the Earth.
As an actor, I like Fraser a lot. Yeah, Rachel Weisz was definitely a discovery in The Mummy but without Fraser, the movie wouldn’t have been nearly as fun. He’s someone who can manage to make a bad movie better by his presence. He can’t save Journey to the Center of the Earth but I don’t think anybody can.
Problem is, he keeps choosing to take on films like Furry Vengeance and it gets hard to know if the next movie will be a good Brendan Fraser movie or a bad Brendan Fraser movie. I mean, I suppose that every actor has that problem but there are a lot of actors who seem to be trying to make good movies every time. Fraser doesn’t seem to be one of them.
Alphabetical Movie Blog – Josie and the Pussycats
I don’t think I would have ever seen Josie and the Pussycats had I not watched Mission to Mars.
Mission to Mars is a terrible film. Beginning to end, it is some of the most painful filmmaking you are likely to see in a big budget film. Yet I can’t deny that it resulted in one of the more enjoyable filmgoing experience I’ve ever had.
Alphabetical Movie – Johnny Mnemonic
I’ve been doing this Alphabetical Movie project for just over three years now and Johnny Mnemonic represents the first time I’ve ever been gifted a film just so I would be forced watch it. I’m actually pretty surprised it took so long.
I’ve had friends ask me how the rules work. Then they ask the inevitable follow-up question: “So if I give you a movie, you have to watch it, right?”
With a few caveats, yes, I have to watch it.*
Alphabetical Movie – John Carter
When it comes to evaluating a movie in terms of how well it meshes with the source material, I’m not a great judge. I read all the time but almost everything I read is non fiction. I like reading about history, religion, nature and a host of other topics.
I also love reading fiction but here’s why I don’t: I can’t stop.
I don’t want to know what is going to happen in the middle of the story. I want to know how the story ends. In order to know that, I need to slog through the middle and I want to do that as quickly as possible.
Grail Diary 