Movie Lists

All the Trailers That I Have Seen
All the Trailers That I Have Seen
All the Trailers That I Have Seen
Busby Berkeley in Spanish
Five Movies to Watch on Cinco de Mayo
My Ten Favorite Christmas Movies
Special Edition DVDs I'd Like to See
Ten Movies Not to Rent for Father's Day
Ten Movies Not to Rent for Mother's Day
Ten More Movies Not to Rent for Mother's Day

Pensamientos Acerca de Películas (Thoughts About Movies)

Bandidas Perdidas
Big Hollywood Turn Me Loose and Set Me Free
Christmas -- The Holiday That Never Ends
Dreaming of Jeannie with the Light Blonde Hair
I Heart Ginger Rogers
I'm in the Movies... Sorta...
Make It a Biblioteca Night!
Movie Lists
Movies for Christmas
My Love Life Explained in One Movie Still
No Mexicans in Outer Space
Nobody Expects the Spanish Armada!
Quinceañera Wins at Sundance
So Should I Be Upset That This Movie Was Never Released in Local Theatres?
So What's Up with All the Old Movies, Tonio?
Special Edition DVDs I'd Like to See
The Clarissa Complex
The Seven Deadly Sins of Hollywood
The Unified Field Theory of Film Criticism and Other Myths
This Is Depressing
Thoughts on the Movie Lists: Parte I
Trick or Trek
Wait a Minute
What I Learned at the Video Store Today
Why Good People See Bad Movies

The Clarissa Complex

I probably can come up with a hundred theories if Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington became so popular but if I had to pick just one, it would be this:

Almost every American, male or female, can't help identifying with Jean Arthur's Clarissa Saunders character when we look at the American political world. We would like to be as idealistic as Jimmy Stewart's Jefferson Smith but I suspect most of us identify more with Ms. Saunders. Why? Because over the years, we can't help but grow a bit cynical at the difference between what our politicians promise and what they deliver. And although we would like to truly think the best of them, we can't help fearing that we'd end up like suckers if we do so.

Yet every now and then, we meet a politician that gives us hope that the world of politics does not have to be the way that it is. We do not necessarily develop the same type of relationship with them as Ms. Saunders does with Mr. Smith but we do come to trust said politico to the point of abandoning our cynicism in favor of idealism. Perhaps because said politico chooses to encourage our more positive emotions instead of encouraging our most negative ones.

I must confess that I have a tendency to wax more than a little cynical about politics myself. (For example, it is not a coincidence that "trust not in princes" is one of my favorite Biblical quotes.) And yet I am idealistic enough to prefer a politician who encourages me to vote in favor of something over a politician who encourages me to vote against something. A politician who chooses to run a positive campaign as opposed to one who runs a negative one.

In any event, I would rather take a chance that the candidate of my choice is a genuine idealist like Jefferson Smith than to assume that he is more a cynical rogue like the title character of The Great McGinty. And no doubt that is the real reason I like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington so much.

Either that or else I really like the chance to look at Ms. Arthur for about two hours...

Dreaming of Jeannie with the Light Blonde Hair

Heh. First Jean Arthur woos me with her reaction to a coin in Only Angels Have Wings, then she does it again with her reaction to another coin in Easy Living, now she has me smitten with the note she slips Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. What can I say? I guess I'm an old softie.

Of course, it could be just that the contrarian in me hates how Ms. Arthur has been overlooked over the years. Nor do I like how she's been mocked for her distinctive voice -- as if having a distinctive voice is somehow supposed to be a handicap. Or maybe it is the way she manages to steal almost all her movies despite not exactly playing an aggressive character.

All I know is that I have yet to see a movie in which she has disappointed me. And there's not too many modern actresses about whom I can say the same thing.

I'll probably have more to say about Mr. Smith Goes to Washington in the near-future, but for now, I have to admit it had me at "starring Jean Arthur."

Big Hollywood Turn Me Loose and Set Me Free

I was going to post a comment on John Nolte's Big Hollywood site last night until I remembered that Lent starts today and that I promised myself I would give up silly political arguments for Lent. Which means I probably won't be commenting on any site between now and Easter.

Besides, as much as I love many of the old movies that are often discussed on Big Hollywood -- and it should be obvious by now that I have a great deal of affection for old movies -- and as much as I sympathize with certain conservative values -- I love motherhood, America and apple pie as much as the next person -- I don't quite feel comfortable with many of the opinions expressed on that site. There are some conservative sites -- such as Rod Dreher's Crunchy Con site -- that seem quite open to discussion, even with people who disagree with them, as long as said disagreements are expressed in a civil manner. And then there's Big Hollywood.

Plus when you have a grandmother who was dispossessed by the Mexican Revolution and former classmates who were exiled to the US by the fall of Saigon, you get really, really tired of Americans who are always kvetching about how horrible it is to live in a country where not everyone agrees with their political opinions. Americans who would have you believe that they are worse off than people in Cuba and China just because their views are not fashionable. No one likes a person with a perpetual martyr complex -- especially an unearned martyr complex -- and it is hard to have an honest discussion with such a person. I don't like such people when they argue on behalf of the left and I don't like such people when they argue on behalf of the right.

So I am giving up the Big Hollywood site for Lent. Wish me luck.

Wait a Minute



There are people in America who actually don't know how to pronounce the last word in this movie's title?

So Should I Be Upset That This Movie Was Never Released in Local Theatres?



Judging from the reviews I've read online, I doubt it.

I Heart Ginger Rogers

Okay, it's obvious. Like all too many people who view YouTube, I'm in love with a dead woman. And the woman in question is actress Ginger Rogers.

I liked her in 42nd Street. I liked her in Gold Diggers of 1933 and I liked her in the Fred Astaire movies. I also liked her in Vivacious Lady, Stage Door, Bachelor Mother and The Major and the Minor but for some reason, I didn't care for her too much in Roxie Hart, Kitty Foyle or I'll Be Seeing You. I guess I like the comic Ginger much more than I like the dramatic Ginger. For that matter, I liked the plebian Ginger better than the patrician Ginger and the blonde Ginger of the 1930s better than the red-headed Ginger (the ginger Ginger?) of the 1940s.

There's something about the expression on her face when she's skating in that "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" number in 1937's Shall We Dance which touches my heart. I don't know if she's actually having as much fun as that expression suggests or whether she's just a really good actress but that scene does tend to sum up Ginger Rogers's basic appeal as the type of woman most people would like to have fun with. Not "fun" in the dubious way fun is normally interpreted by so-called sophisticates but the traditional kind of fun. I love it when she wise-cracks and I love it when she shows she's a good sport. And of course, I love it when she starts singing and dancing.

I don't much care for the movies where she's too obviously the butt of the joke as in the conclusion of Roxie Hart. And I definitely don't care for movies like Kitty Foyle and I'll Be Seeing You. Both of those movies mean well but there's something about the way Ginger Rogers's character in those movies appears to be doing penance for all the "frivolous" musicals she did in her youth that really irritates the hell out of me. I never expected Ginger to make the exact type of movies in the 1940s that she made in the 1930s but I also didn't expect to see her to make movies that were so gloomy.

Oh, well. She won the Oscar and I didn't. As for her most recent work, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

The Seven Deadly Sins of Hollywood

Okay, religious blogger Tom Hoopes has a less dramatic title for this post, but I kinda like my title better.

All kidding aside, I found his post about the "Seven Mistakes Movies Make" to be actually more thoughtful than the usual conservative boilerplate about how Hollywood is "ruining" America. Just because Hollywood's "immorality" is often exaggerated by professional ax-grinders doesn't necessarily mean that there isn't substantial room for improvement.

Sample quote:

What each of these films recognize, though, is that love isn't an emotion, it's a set of actions. Audiences know that's true; it's one reason Titanic did so well, while Pearl Harbor flopped. Titanic is the biggest money-making movie of all time, in large part because the man dies for the woman; his actions, in the end, show true love -- and girls couldn't see it enough.
--Tom Hoopes, "Seven Mistakes Movies Make"

'Nuff said.

Why Good People See Bad Movies

I suspect most good people go to see bad movies for the same reason they do a lot of stuff that's not good for them: they are seeking escape. Escape from their problems. Escape from the world. Escape from the boss from Hell and the co-worker from Hades.

And sometimes... they find it.

For two hours--or at least ninety minutes -- they get to get caught up with or laugh at someone else's problems and shortcomings for a change. Never mind that the acting isn't always brilliant or the writing all that perfect -- it's the escape from reality that matters.

It would be nice to pretend that someday soon people are going to stop doing this and seek only good movies. But that's not likely.

Sturgeon's Law ("Ninety percent of anything is crap") alone dictates that there's always going to be a certain number of bad movies made and that there always will be. Plus it's obvious from even a brief visit to the average movie messageboard that even smart, well-educated people can disagree on what constitutes a good movie -- or at least one worth watching.

In light of all that, the true wonder is not that so many bad movies are so popular but that so many good movies actually get made.

Movies for Christmas

My politically conservative middle brother recommended on Christmas Day that I watch The Bourne Ultimatum. Obviously, he's not a devout follower of the Libertas site.

He also appears to be a big fan of The Good Shepherd, yet another movie not exactly beloved by cultural conservatives.

Anyway, my mind is still reeling from this development.

Review(s) to come.

Christmas -- The Holiday That Never Ends

Oh, geez. It wasn't even Halloween yet, and already most local stores had their Christmas decorations up.

Every year it seems that the Christmas season starts sooner and sooner.

Even mi novia is getting sick of it. She had the opportunity to see Fred Claus with me last week but she and I chose to see No Reservations instead. Why? Because she thought it was too darn early in the year to be watching Christmas movies. And I agree.

Of course, I wasn't exactly looking forward to seeing Fred Claus, but still...

Nobody Expects the Spanish Armada!

They are making a sequel to Elizabeth called The Golden Age, and if the trailer is any indication, it's all about the Spanish Armada and Queen Elizabeth I's response to it. I must confess I found it a bit amusing to watch the trailer and see Captain Barbossa playing an Elizabethian courtier and Clive Owen playing Sir Walter Raleigh. (What? No cameo for Miranda Richardson?)

And yet...

I have to admit it. I'm getting sick of seeing yet another movie about the British royal family. Not to mention yet more foreign propaganda.

Make It a Biblioteca Night!

Biblioteca, of course, is Spanish for “library” and that's been where I have been spending most of my free time as of late (when I'm not updating this site or surfing elsewhere on the Net, of course).

My favorite biblioteca so far is the Garland Central Library. Not only does it have a good selection of books, but it also has a growing selection of DVDs that compares quite admirably to the collections of local video stores. If I choose, I have the opportunity to rent, say, La Dolce Vita, The Seven Samurai, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Sullivan's Travels, Intolerance, 1776, and many other classic films I can rarely rent any place else.

Yes, I know it's not exactly hip to admit to renting DVDs from the local library, but I don't really care what is hip anymore. Besides, it never hurts to be frugal.

Indeed, it might be argued that it is very unhip to spend money just for the sake of spending money.

Special Edition DVDs I'd Like to See

1. Heavenly Creatures: Special Mother's Day Edition.
2. Marjorie Morningstar: Special Don't Call Me Shirley Edition.
3. Lolita: Special Father's Day Edition.
4. Carrie: Special Prom Night Edition.

I'm in the Movies...

Sorta...

Okay, the movie itself is based on the original Thomas Mann short story which inspired my user name to begin with. Obviously, they've chosen to go with an alternative spelling but it's still inspired by the same source that inspired yours truly.

Too bad it is not available on video or DVD...

What I Learned at the Video Store Today

My Family is an English-language movie about a Mexican-American family, the majority of whom speak English as a first language. Most of the actors are American and the bulk of the storyline takes place within the United States.

Yet the good folks at the local Blockbuster Video store always put it in the Foreign Film section. Ironically, they don't do this with other English-language films like The Godfather -- even though there are often portions in such films in which characters speak a language other than English. For some reason, only My Family gets this treatment. And yet other video chains often put the same film in the Drama section.

Ironic, isn't it?

No Mexicans In Outer Space

Interesting quote by writer/director Robert Towne in an article published in the March 18th edition of The Dallas Morning News. In the article, he described actress Salma Hayek's reluctance to play a certain role in his new movie Ask The Dust:

“She looked stricken. She said, 'I can't play a Mexican waitress. I'd be typecast forever. I came to the United States to get crossover roles.' She had just been turned down for a science-fiction movie. They'd told her no one would believe there were Mexicans in outer space. So she was sensitive.”

I'm not sure how serious I should take this story, but if true, it doesn't exactly say great things about Hollywood liberalism.

Why do I get the feeling that the science fiction movie in question wasn't an adaptation of an Octavia Butler story?

Anyway, the big question here is why exactly are Hollywood executives so sure there were no Mexicans in outer space? How would they know? Is there a “no se habla español” sign on the moon that I don't know about? Is there some law restricting applicants of a certain ancestry from being astronauts?

And why do I get the feeling that Mexicans who look like, say, Charisma Carpenter would be more welcome in Hollywood's version of outer space than Mexicans who look like Salma Hayek?

Inquiring minds want to know...

Quinceañera Wins at Sundance

A new film called Quinceañera won at the Sundance Film Festival. Oddly enough, few of the main film blogs out there have chosen to mention this.

Interesting.

Bandidas Perdidas

According to a recent item in Hispanic Magazine, actress Salma Hayek and Penelope Cruz are supposed to be appearing in a new movie called Bandidas. However, the movie was supposed to be released in January and yet here we are in February with still no sign of Bandidas at the local movie theatres.

What happened? An ambush?