Welcome to the busiest and most awesomely lopsided MMM yet! Featuring more films watched on TCM than on DVD or something else! That's never happened! EVER! I half-can't believe I'm actually doing one this week! They seem so isolated! Exclamation! This week's thoughts are incredibly fractured, rushed, half-baked, what have you. It's trainwreck-y at some points, I think! I can't avoid that mark, can I! I mean, "?"! GAH! I have no self-esteem.
Anna Christie -- If you haven't guessed already, I lost my Garbo virginity last week. It ended up being an orgy, but more on that later. Weirdly enough, I started with her first talkie. So the first time I heard her deep, iconic voice was the first time anyone did! How apt. She's very wonderful as Anna. Sadly, the movie isn't. It's positively dull from start to finish, and I can't think of any significantly good things in it outside of Garbo's performance. Yet, her presence makes everything else worth it, and she truly elevates it. She really does.
Caesar and Cleopatra -- My impulse watch of this was fueled by two things: Claude Rains (I really like him), and because Robert Osborne said that the filmmakers apparently attempted to make it "the British Gone with the Wind." That's very inaccurate, not only because it isn't, but because Atonement is the British Gone with the Wind. Dunkirk = Burning of Atlanta, duh. Anyway... I sort of loved it? It's so technicolor-y! And the performances of Rains and the incomparable Vivien Leigh are great. And "Ftatateeta" is the funniest damn thing I've ever heard, especially the way Leigh speaks it. It's really good, and underseen, I guess. I probably wouldn't recommend it, but I enjoyed it in some really odd ways.The Miracle Worker -- I've never seen it, and I'm really confused why I never have. It checks so many boxes on the "J.D. Loves" list! It's a performance showcase, a psychological horror film, disabilities, and it has a tear-jerking inspirational message that's bogged down in negatively and despair! Plus, it has CHILD BEATING. (!!!) It's morbidly entertaining, and definitely one of the best films I've seen. Really, it is!
Queen Christina -- The MVP of this unbelievable week. It'll probably end up as a comfort food movie for me. Every single second was exuberantly palatable. I usually love when people epically romanticize things, but this is a whole new frontier. GARBO. GARBO. My god. I think I have a new hero now. I have never seen an actress do what she did, not even Cate Blanchett (total rip-off, btw). This has also cemented my love for the Kingdom of Sweden. Yay, Sweden! I love you, Sweden! Seriously, marry me. Please? Holy hell, I just proposed to a country. LOL! I need to lay off the tequila. Tee-hee.
Ninotchka -- One of the finest comedies I've ever seen, by far. I didn't love it exactly as much as Queen Christina, but performance-wise, this might be the better of the two. Garbo's monotone sternness is done with such careful, intricate detail that would be extremely hard for an actress of any age to accomplish with as much conviction. Then after the tagline's arrival ("Garbo Laughs!"), it's all levity and wonderment. Ninotchka is really an excellent character in the first place, but it's all Garbo nonetheless. An absolutely delightful and meaningful film.
The Story of Qiu Ju -- Instead of watching the fantastic Opening Ceremonies of the XXIX Olympiad, I watched this. Without even realizing it, I was replacing Zhang Yimou with... Zhang Yimou. Except this had Gong Li! She's always a big plus. It's a very, very, very, very slow film, designed as a docudrama, about stubborn people and modern China. Gong is obviously great. There's no big scene for her, though, it's just subtlety after subtlety, but she's an actress who can deal with that just fine. Zhang's direction is beautiful - if I wasn't convinced he make make the pace of a film practically comatose and have it still be exhilarating, I am now.The Wings of the Dove -- Totally gorgeous. From the people, to the photography, to the costumes and sets, and the story itself. It's enrapturing, and it's always nice to feel a film command your thoughts and attention, even with such alluring sirens as Eduardo Serra and Helena Bonham Carter (minus a rat's nest).
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay -- I can't decide whether it's better than the first one or not. They're both so fucking awesome! I especially love how they covertly turn the shenanigans of two stoners into a scathing indictment of our times. And the cherry on the bong, NPH, will never stop making it a-may-zing.Dick Tracy -- It was... colorful. Very bright, and ridiculous. And annoying. And no one seemed like they were actually trying... except Madonna, weirdly enough. Storaro was robbed. That's really all I got.
So, how was your week? Are you watching to Olympics? How's Pineapple Express? I haven't seen it yet. Are you as pumped for Star Wars: The Clone Wars as I am?! I probably shouldn't have said that. ...awkward...
13 people love me:
I love The Miracle Worker. I studied it in English class last year and I was pretty much the only one in the class who was completely mesmerized by the film. Anne Bancroft is excellent, but Patty Duke delivers one of the best child performances ever. And the movie is just gorgeously filmed. I love it a lot.
Queen Christina was the first black-and-white movie I saw because my uncle rented it on video. I didn't get to finish it, but I might want to see it again someday.
My adoration of Dick Tracy cannot be logically explained with concrete evidence. I love the ridiculously colors, I love the performances, and I love the songs.
I'm glad you're finally getting around to witnessing the Divine Greta Garbo in action. She's second only to Bette Davis in my books as the greatest actress ever and they're pretty much neck and neck. I can never decide which of her performances is my favorite: I'm between Ninotchka, Queen Christina and Camille but I don't know if I'll ever have a definitive answer. By modern standards, Anna Christie is kind of an awful film (Garbo aside, of course). Compared to other early talkies of the time, however, and it's actually quite a gem.
I just saw Caesar and Cleopatra myself a couple of weeks ago and I definitely agree that it's no Gone With the Wind. It's sure is lavish and there's plenty of spectacle, but it's all pretty empty and vapid. Rains and Leigh are amazing though (but when weren't they?)
LOVE!!!!
No way any of our weeks can top that. No way. Garbo is a gem...I still need to see "Queen Christina" though. ASAP I hope.
I don't like "Dick Tracy" much, but yeah, the colours.
How much do you love Anne Bancroft in The Miracle Worker? She's brilliant.
See, now I thought even Garbo was bad in Anna Christie- the only thing that made it bearable was Marie Dressler, and she vanished like half-way through. I barely made it through the rest of the film. Ninotchka, however, is supreme- and you should check out Flesh and the Devil, a gorgeous (and sexy) Garbo silent.
And Dick Tracy is just fun. I had a ball watching that film.
Marcy: They're incredible. I sorta can't believe they BOTH won! That's unbelievably awesome.
I get where you're coming from with Dick Tracy; film from your childhood that ain't that great but ingrained too much into your mind to do anything but love. BELIEVE ME, I know.
James: I loved her as soon as she showed up in AC. But, like, really? LOL, that's distressing, since AC is the oldest movie I've ever seen! So now I'm scared, lol.
Nick: Youse better. <3
Catherine: A LOT.
Dave: Marie Dressler was really good, I'll admit. And maybe it was just my wonderment at Garbo herself, but I didn't find anything wrong with her performance.
Dick Tracy IS fun, if anything.
The Wings of the Dove is so brilliant. I hate that I can't give HBC the win over Julie Christie in '97.
She is. My winner for that year is Kate Winslet for Titanic, though. DON'T ASK ME.
I'm really loving 1997 as a film year, btw.
Yeah, The Wings of the Dove is really superb. It's my 3 for 1997 after The Sweet Hereafter and Boogie Nights. (Lol, and I'm suddenly finding it very funny how instead of actually praising films and performances, we all just say "It's my number 3 of the year such-and-such, or she wins my Best Actress for this year, etc.". So so lazy we are... :P)
But it's easier to do that! And we are the ultimate generation of ease. :)
I actually calculated it, and Wings would be like my #6, lol. Like I said, '97 is a GREAT film year.
I am so glad you watch Ninotchka and loved it. It's also one of my favorite comedies. The scene in the restaurant when that young rather ymmy Melvyn Douglas tells the bad joke, then she finally starts laughing at him when falls out of his.....priceless. Keep it up kiddo.
Dick Tracy is one of my all time favourite films. As pure cinema, it's hard to beat in my books. Every single frame makes me giddy.
It's an absolutely ridiculous film, but I'd definitely be lying if I said I didn't love it. It's sly, entertaining, as beautiful as any serious films I've ever seen, and has songs by STEPHEN SONDHEIM! (!!!) I mean, come on!
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