I make it a point to catch up on movies that are referenced but I’ve never seen. I still need to see the 1st half of Jaws, Citizen Kane, Terminator, ET, and Rocky but I’ll work on that. Today I bring you a list of 5 movies that I’ve watched over the past months that I felt deserved my time. 4 of them I watched for the first time and one I re-watched.
Rhett and Scarlett
This movie is a staple amongst famous movies. It’s constantly called wonderful and this urged me to sit through this 3 hour 45 minute flick. Everyone has heard the, “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn” by the man of men Rhett Butler aka Clark Gable. Vivian Leigh plays Scarlett O’hara who has to be in 90% of the scenes. The movie is set in the civil war period and follows Scarlett around on her love quest for far too long. I would never, ever, want to watch this movie again. Once was enough but I’m glad I did if that makes sense. The dialogue is pretty good and I picked up on weird insect lines like, “angry as a hornet” and “waiting like a spider” so I will certainly say there is plenty of thought into this movie. I liked Scarlett throughout but I didn’t care about her romance.
Mystic River – 2003
I don’t know what urged me to DVR Mystic River other than the description in Comcast. It received a few Academy Award nominations, has the elite Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, and Tim Robbins for stars and is directed by Clint Eastwood. To its credit, it manages to hold the attention of the audience within the first 5 minutes and doesn’t let up. Unfortunately it doesn’t improve that much but it also doesn’t get worse. It grabs you in, holds you, then drops you at the end. I thought the mystery throughout was intriguing but not a movie that I would say is that next level. A solid B. Here’s the trailer if you’re interested.
Beetlejuice – 1988
It just isn’t that good. I’ve heard about it in popular culture but never had the chance to watch it and I’m happy to watch it once, but won’t watch it again. Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis play the dopey leads, Michael Keaton is fine as the foul mouthed Beetlejuice, and Winona Ryder steals my heart as 17 year old Lydia just as she did in Edward Scissorhands. The dance scenes are great but the plot sucked. Simple as that.
Miracle – 2004
Disney’s adaptation of the USA’s Gold Medal in the 1980 Olympics
After being in Lake Placid this summer, it seemed only fitting to watch this movie. Getting the full glimpse of Herb Brooks stadium and the Legends of the Oval, I knew I was finally ready to watch this flick. Kurt Russell was believable as Herb Brooks and that was all there was in terms of acting. The team members were mildly appealing but I couldn’t find much to grab on to in the movie. The Russian game was oddly hyped considering how big of a game it was in reality. The movie needed to focus more on what was happening around the games and less on the hockey to make it have more of an impact. I understand it’s a Disney movie made for kids but than that’s what I’m going to treat it as.
Austin Powers International Man of Mystery – 1997
I’ve seen this movie more than once but probably not for 10 years so I am familiar with it. I’m not going to review it as a movie because it’s not about being a movie. The plot isn’t pivotal and you watch this movie for the laughs. You can pick it up anywhere and know where your at. All that being said, I did have a few favorite parts.
The “Right” is classic as this point. Had me cracking up.
Nerd Alert, Evan will like this.
And this wonderfully timed line.
Very odd that you watched Austin Power’s because I also watched that for the first time in years on Saturday. It wasn’t as funny as I remembered when I was 12, but I did catch some things that I would have missed as a kid and overall found it an enjoyable watch.
I remember as a kid thinking the following scene was hilarious. To be fair it did get a laugh out of me again. Also, I forgot Will Ferrell was in this.