October Watch: Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

Probably the weirdest thing about this movie, an all ages movie featuring classic Universal Monsters at their least scary meeting the comedy duo of Abbott & Costello, is that there's a sort of continuity to the Universal Monster pictures, and this movie is absolutely a part of the long narrative tied together by meetings of Frankenstein, Wolfman and Dracula.

In fact, in addition to the stars in the title, this movie also features Bela Lugosi as Dracula, Lon Chaney Jr. as Talbot/ The Wolfman, and Glenn Strange as Frankenstein's monster (who he'd played in at least 2 prior films).  It's 17 years after the first Dracula film and 16 years after Frankenstein (and 7 years after The Wolfman, so you don't need to look that up).

Octoberama! Fridays with Elvira!

Elvira has her own line of wine, but for some reason we can't get it in Texas.  No idea why.  I'd like to try the "Macabrenet".  Californians are encouraged to get me box.

Nice to know Elvira hangs out in her sofa with her laptop during her downtime, too.

Signal Watch Watches: Test Pilot (1938)

This was a pretty great movie.

Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy and Myrna Loy star in Test Pilot (1938), a movie that sets the tone for a lot of future films, right up to and including one of my favorite movies of all time, The Right Stuff.*  Gable plays the titular test pilot, Jim Lane, in the post-barn-storming days as aviation was really hitting its stride and the technology and engineering in airplanes was revving up for the incredible feats of technology that came with WWII.  Tracy plays his side-kick/ mechanic/ nanny who is all too keenly aware of the endgame that comes with taking a job that's all about going out and cheating death.

Clark Gable will haunt your dreams...

Octoberama! Esther Williams!

You will not recognize Ms. Williams at first as she is nowhere near a swimming pool or dozens of other swimmers.  But Ms. Williams takes some time off from submerging herself to enjoy the holiday.

Animated Watch: Dark Knight Returns (Part 1)

When I was in 6th grade, I walked into Austin Books and Comics and had some birthday or Christmas money to spend.  I don't remember much about my early days of comics collecting, or chronological order of events, but I most certainly remember standing in ABC, flipping through the pages of a collection of Dark Knight Returns and not buying it.  I've always regretted the decision.

Because it was a whole 3-6 months later that I bought a trade paperback of the comic that changed everything for me.  And I could have read that comic much, much earlier.

Today that copy of Dark Knight Returns is in a sealed bag with a board.  It's worn from wear from the literally dozens of times its been read cover to cover, not counting the hundreds of times it was simply picked up and leafed through, nor the times it was handed off to friends (even as they were told: do not lose this, do not tear the pages, do not read it while eating, do not in any way harm this book) and, when I was making some early decisions about Jamie, she took it with her as assigned reading.

Flat out, I have most of the book memorized.  Like some people spent their middle-school years memorizing baseball stats or all the words to their favorite sci-fi movie, I (and a lot of you, I'd guess) were memorizing every caption and thought bubble in Miller's comic attributed to Batman.  I was a Batman nut.

Octoberama! Cyd Charisse!

You didn't really think I'd make it through a themed series without posting Cyd Charisse, did you?

No Post Wednesday

I had an impromptu dinner with a pal from out of town, and then came home and started watching the very-not-Halloween-themed movie, Test Pilot.

It will surprise you to learn this movie is about a pilot who tests planes.

We have recently hung new art around the house.  We've never lived anywhere this long together, and I am on track to have lived in this house as long as I've lived anywhere, the previous record held by the house I lived in from 1984 - 1990.  Time for some changes.  Its cheaper and easier than moving.

After watching Looper last night, I realized this movie will be remade in 15-20 years with someone who is currently a child actor and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.  But you can't get hung up on remakes.

Anyone who tells you that all Hollywood does these days is remakes is missing the part where all anyone has ever done is remakes.  This is from Arthurian legend to most mythologies, to Hollywood adapting books and plays during its pre-Hollywood days in New York, to the fact that A Star is Born is remade approximately every seven years when an actress decides she's found her vehicle for getting some Oscar attention.*  Remakes are a Hollywood tradition.  Truly new movies are the exception, by far.  Or, at least new movies worth slogging through.

Tomorrow night, Jason and I will delve into the cartoon movie of The Dark Knight Returns, Vol. 1.  DC Animation finally took on this massive project, and I am not exactly thrilled.  It's a work of its medium, and I'm not sure even the talented folks at DC Animation can pull this off.  But they did break it up into two movies, surely a marketing ploy as much as breaking up the last, plotless Twilight film into two parts, but at least my usual criticism of worrying about cramming too much story into 80 minutes shouldn't be a problem.

I have a lot of travel planned for work.  I will actually be in Houston, if anyone is there.

Then Lubbock(!) and then Denver.

Help me.



*I wrote this as a joke and then checked, and, yes, there's one on IMDB listed for 2013.

Octoberama! Carole Lombard!

We will forgive Ms. Lombard her whack jack-o-lantern and focus on the ruffle on that blouse.  That's amazing.

Signal Watch Watches: Looper (2012)

Like all non-comedies about time travel, this movie becomes primarily about the mechanics of the plot devices and which corner our characters will get painted into to make the plot make any sense.

Like all time travel movies, this one basically falls apart if you think too hard about the mechanics of what they're saying and doing - and once the movie concludes and you have time to think on it - no, it won't make sense, but that doesn't mean I didn't like the movie.  Also, no, I haven't seen Primer (I expect the comment section to get filled with Nag Troll Comments), but I basically expect for time travel movies to not really work as well as one might hope.  In fact, the last one I thought did work pretty well was 12 Monkeys, which also sent Bruce Willis cartwheeling through time and space.

So what did I like?

Octoberama! Betty Grable!

In my long history of blogging, I've use this picture before, but I don't believe I knew this was Betty Grable.  Nonetheless, let us join Betty in her spooky moment.