Myrna Loy bribes a member of Santa's crew.
Film. Comics. Sci-Fi. Superheroes. Pulp. Noir. History. Superman. 20th Century Archaeology.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Holiday Party 2012: Wrapped
If I kind of disappeared the past few days, we've been prepping for, and then having, our mostly-annual holiday party.
When we moved back to Austin from Phoenix, we decided that we wanted to have a Christmas party to catch up with friends, many of whom we see all too rarely these days. The first party was both a great "welcome back" party, with a completely packed house, and also, as it turned out, served as one of the last parties before babies, etc... as evidenced by the fact that I dismissed the last guest at 4:00 AM.
We've had the party almost every year since then, with, I believe, only one hiccup. We try to have it early, before December is really in full swing and you're in competition with a thousand other parties. We try very hard not to be jerks about it, but it's a cocktail party and while we adore your kids, this is not the house nor party for having the wee ones running about underfoot. This is grown-up drinking time.
When we moved back to Austin from Phoenix, we decided that we wanted to have a Christmas party to catch up with friends, many of whom we see all too rarely these days. The first party was both a great "welcome back" party, with a completely packed house, and also, as it turned out, served as one of the last parties before babies, etc... as evidenced by the fact that I dismissed the last guest at 4:00 AM.
We've had the party almost every year since then, with, I believe, only one hiccup. We try to have it early, before December is really in full swing and you're in competition with a thousand other parties. We try very hard not to be jerks about it, but it's a cocktail party and while we adore your kids, this is not the house nor party for having the wee ones running about underfoot. This is grown-up drinking time.
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Noir Watch: The Unsuspected (1947)
A few points:
1. Everyone is familiar with Claude Rains from some of his bigger pictures like Casablanca, but he was truly the Michael Caine/ Gene Hackman of his time. He was a terrifically talented performer who fit neatly into film after film, and despite the fact he is obviously and indelibly Claude Rains, he just works in every role, no matter how good or bad the film.
2. A special thanks to Jenifer out in San Fran for making sure I paid attention to Audrey Totter. I still haven't seen that many of Totter's film, but she's a terrific talent.
The Unsuspected (1947) played a few nights ago on TCM and I managed to record it. It's an interesting film, and I don't think host Robert Osbourne was wrong to make comparisons to Laura prior to the film starting. It may borrow an idea or three from the film, but director Michael Curtiz (of Mildred Pierce, Casablanca and many, many other films) instills the film with his own vision and more than enough suspects and twists to keep you going for the duration. It may not be one of his better known efforts, but it is extremely well directed, even as it hinges on "new technology" to tell its stories - something that often doesn't age well with movies.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Happy Birthday, Gloria Grahame
Actress Gloria Grahame would have been 89 today. Unfortunately, Grahame passed in the early 1980's, well before her time.
We've profiled Ms. Grahame here before, and it's likely she'll get mentioned here again in the future.
Ms. Grahame is a bright point in the constellation of lady-actors from a certain era whose work I go out of my way to find. It's hard not to love the work she does in movies like Crossfire and The Big Heat.
A little digging will turn up a lot of evidence that Ms. Grahame led a deeply complicated life, but its hard not to love what she did on the screen.
Here's to Ms. Grahame.
We've profiled Ms. Grahame here before, and it's likely she'll get mentioned here again in the future.
Ms. Grahame is a bright point in the constellation of lady-actors from a certain era whose work I go out of my way to find. It's hard not to love the work she does in movies like Crossfire and The Big Heat.
A little digging will turn up a lot of evidence that Ms. Grahame led a deeply complicated life, but its hard not to love what she did on the screen.
Here's to Ms. Grahame.
Signal Watch Watches: Killer School Girls From Outer Space (2011)
So, life is funny how it surprised you sometimes.
Not that long ago I was sitting in my office at work making digital libraries happen when a guy from my building who I talk to now and again, mostly "howdy" and "hello" as we pass, asked me about some posters from Mondo I have hanging up in my office.
"You like sci-fi?"
"Yeah! It's kind of my thing. Not so much the modern stuff, but I kind of dig mid-century stuff and maybe up to the 80's the best."
"Cool!"
And we parted ways.
A few days later Bill appeared in my doorway with a DVD in his hand.
"A while back, my son and I made this movie."
My stomach dropped. I like a good Birdemic trainwreck, but I like it from a casual distance. I do not like to have to nod and smile and say "that was super!" when it was not super at all. Then I looked down at the cover.
"...is that Ron Jeremy?"
Bill nodded. "Yeah, we hired him for a day. All green screen. He was really nice."
"This is... like, everything awesome about movies."
Not that long ago I was sitting in my office at work making digital libraries happen when a guy from my building who I talk to now and again, mostly "howdy" and "hello" as we pass, asked me about some posters from Mondo I have hanging up in my office.
"You like sci-fi?"
"Yeah! It's kind of my thing. Not so much the modern stuff, but I kind of dig mid-century stuff and maybe up to the 80's the best."
"Cool!"
And we parted ways.
A few days later Bill appeared in my doorway with a DVD in his hand.
"A while back, my son and I made this movie."
My stomach dropped. I like a good Birdemic trainwreck, but I like it from a casual distance. I do not like to have to nod and smile and say "that was super!" when it was not super at all. Then I looked down at the cover.
"...is that Ron Jeremy?"
Bill nodded. "Yeah, we hired him for a day. All green screen. He was really nice."
"This is... like, everything awesome about movies."
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Noir Watch: Hotel Noir (2012)
The story on this movie is that it's a low-budget affair and a passion project that's made it's way to In-Demand on cable before theaters or BluRay. The movie sports some pretty big names from Danny DeVito to Robert Forster to Carla Gugino and the perhaps too always-game Rosario Dawson.
The film is a tribute to various offshoots of the noir genre, recognizing the occasionally laconic pacing and low-rent nature of many of the stories in these films, of low-level cops and grifters making bad decisions for sex and money or some combination of the pair.
The film is a tribute to various offshoots of the noir genre, recognizing the occasionally laconic pacing and low-rent nature of many of the stories in these films, of low-level cops and grifters making bad decisions for sex and money or some combination of the pair.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Holiday Watch: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)
editor's note: This review appears in a different format at the Texas Public Radio website. We were provided a review copy of Kino Lorber's BluRay release of the film, for which we are tremendously grateful.
While the Lifetime and Hallmark networks will duke it out for weeks ahead of Christmas, airing competing schmaltzy movies in which divorcees find love under the mistletoe, there has long been a tradition of quickly and cheaply produced Christmas movies intended for the kiddies. These movies usually assume that no adult will even attempt to watch the flick, and so all bets are off when it comes to bothering with appealing to anyone with more than two digits in their age.
To better understand the pleasantly cynical take on making some green during your White Christmas, it is not hard to imagine an entrepreneur sitting on his cot, looking up at the ceiling and trying to make two things kids like go together into one entirely new package. In our case, the space race is on, and, heck, who doesn’t like Santa?
While the Lifetime and Hallmark networks will duke it out for weeks ahead of Christmas, airing competing schmaltzy movies in which divorcees find love under the mistletoe, there has long been a tradition of quickly and cheaply produced Christmas movies intended for the kiddies. These movies usually assume that no adult will even attempt to watch the flick, and so all bets are off when it comes to bothering with appealing to anyone with more than two digits in their age.
To better understand the pleasantly cynical take on making some green during your White Christmas, it is not hard to imagine an entrepreneur sitting on his cot, looking up at the ceiling and trying to make two things kids like go together into one entirely new package. In our case, the space race is on, and, heck, who doesn’t like Santa?
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