I feel honored to be among the members of this great list of movie bloggers. But I promise I won't let it go to my head. I promise to be the same humble blogger you have come to love (or at least tolerate...)
I love these forays into musings on questionnaires provided by others. One of the ubiquitous such questionnaires is The Sunshine Blogger Award, in which one blogger will answer questions posed by a separate blogger who nominated them for the award. Then said second blogger will create their own set of questions and nominate several more fellow bloggers for the award. Essentially it's kind of like a chain letter (without having to send the original blogger a dollar...) My friend Rachel @ Hamlette's Soliloquy was nominated for the award, and. although she didn't peg me for a nomination, I thought the questions intriguing enough to give my own answers as if she had. After all, when have I ever let anything like normalcy govern my actions? No rules...
So the questions are:
1. What classic movie have you seen recently?
"Classic"? Does this count? Saturday I saw the 41st Anniversary release of This is Spinal Tap. I didn't get a chance to see it in the theater, but I've watched it at least 1/2 a dozen times on DVD. An iconic movie, worth the price, especially in surround sound.
2. What modern movie have you seen recently?
Actually haven't seen a new release since Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Don't get to the theater very often these days.
3. What movie that was made in your birth year that you really enjoy?
The Guns of Navarone and The Hustler are fantastic. One that is still due to appear at The Midnite Drive-In, and one that you may never have heard of, however, is Atlantis: The Lost Continent.
4. What's a movie you wish you had seen much earlier than you did?
I'm ashamed to admit it but I didn't see Big Trouble in Little China in the theater. Which is amazing because I loved John Carpenter movies by then. And it is now my second favorite movie.
5. What's a movie you are hoping to watch soon?
I am greatly anticipating both The Running Man (which I have heard is more faithful to it's original source) and The Long Walk. Both based on Stephen King books he wrote as "Richard Bachman".
6. What's a movie you've been wanting to see for years, but still haven't?
Too many to name. But there is a list of movies they used clips from in It Came From Hollywood, a comedic pseudo-documentary that covered some really cheesy flicks from the 50's and 60's.
7. Have you ever watched the same movie more than once in a theater?
I saw An American Werewolf in London once a week every week it was out when it was released.
8. What's a movie that needs a sequel but never got one?
They teased a sequel at the end of The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, but it never got made. There was a novel sequel a few years back, which could have been a good one.
9/ How do you watch most movies? (Streaming? DVD? Theater, TV?)
Mostly DVD. Most of the movies I like were made well before I was old enough to go to the theater, and rarely are shown on TV.
10. Have you ever changed your mind and started liking an actor/actress you formerly disliked?
In a word, NO. I absolutely refuse to watch a movie with that whackadoodle Tom Cruise. And the Kevin Costner movies I DO like have some other actor that make them worth watching.
11. Have you ever visited a filming location? (Share pictures if you can.)
The 1988 remake of D.O.A. had scenes which were filmed at the university I attended. But I didn't go there to see them. As a matter of fact I didn't even know parts of it were filmed there until I saw it in the theater. In one scene the main characters are in a girl's dormitory, which in reality was the library and another had a scene at a church, which was the Theater Center.
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| Library/ Girl's dorm |
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| Church/ Theater Center |
Quiggy
A Public Service Announcement from the folks at The Midnite Drive-In!
Do you ever think about the messages that movies can teach us?
There are dangers out there that should be taken seriously when dealing with day to day life. These warning signs ought to be posted everywhere. The problem is most people don't know about the threats in this world. So, as a public service The Midnite Drive-In has taken on the role of presenting you with this announcement.
Be wary of these threats! It could be YOUR life you save!
There's no place like home to start with the warnings:
While still in the house, there should be some additional warning signs:
But don't bother your family while you are taking precautions ...
Maybe its better if, in the first place, you just...
But, if you leave...
And if you do go out...
Sometimes it might be better if you...
But seriously, folks.
Because this is all just a dream....
Right now you're probably thinking you have a warning for me...
Ha! The joke's on you... This IS my day job!
Quiggy
Well, folks, it's been about two months since I last logged on. In the interim I transitioned the drive-in (and by the same token, my residence) from south Texas to north Texas, where I am now living with my sister. As a result, I had to put the drive-in on hiatus. And entries will be less frequent over the next couple of months, at least until I can get internet set up at my sister's house. But rejoice, dear hearts, because following this post will be a new entry, and it's going to be one of my infrequent book reviews.
Keep watching the ether.
Quiggy
Sunshine Blogger Award is an award designed to get a blogger out of his or her comfort zone. It is an honor bestowed by one fellow blogger on another blogger, and gets the fellow blogger to answer some questions that the first blogger created. Rachel at Hamlette's Soliloquy picked me as one of the honorees. Thanks, Rachel. I always like to answer these kinds of questions.
Then I have to come up with my own set of questions. Which takes some effort to find a theme, but they come easy when I finally find one. The "out of comfort zone" I mentioned is having to come up my own set of nominees for the award. I have an aversion to this, mainly because of the "chain mail" sense it gives me. As usual, I will skip this and just say "anyone who wants to can try their hand at the questions and claim me as their nominator.
The rules, as stated, are as follows:
1. What was the first movie you have memory of watching?
In the theater? Probably Bedknobs and Broomsticks was one of the first, but I really don't remember it. Since I don't really remember most of the ones I saw as a youngster, the one I really remember vividly seeing was going to the drive-in (of course) with family to see The Golden Voyage of Sinbad. I must have been 12.
2. Have you ever written a fan letter to a celebrity? (If so, did you get a response?)
Not to a film celebrity, but I wrote a fan letter to Bill Pronzini (a mystery author), trying to get a line on the nom de plumes under which he had been published. Not only did I get a response, he sent me a 7 or 8 page printout of all the stuff he had done up to that point. Thanks, Bill. Still remember that honor some 35 years later.
3. What are the three funniest movies you've ever seen?
4. What movie do you really want to change the ending of?
This is a tough question, because movies I like I don't want to change and movies I don't like, I don't really care. But the ending of Taps always didn't set well with me, although I liked it up until the final ending.
5. What movie do you wish had a sequel, but it doesn't?
This one is easy. It even had the promise of said sequel in the end credits. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension The promised sequel, "Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League" virtually guaranteed we'd find out more about Hanoi Xan, a character that was hinted at during the first movie but never introduced,
6. Who were your favorite actor and actress when you were a teen?
Already stated numerous times that my favorite actor was John Wayne. Favorite actress? Probably Goldie Hawn.
7. Who are your favorite actor and actress now?
If you mean still active, probably Sly and Sigourney Weaver.
8. Does anyone else in your family love movies?
Well my sister and I have entirely different tastes in movies, but she DOES like movies.
9. If you could pick an actor/actress to play you in a movie who would you choose?
Begs the question: Me now or me as a younger person? If he were playing me at 60 I'd pick someone who could pull off the cynical without being annoying at it (which I like to think I am). Somebody like Jason Alexander (although he would have to slim down a bit.) And wear a toupee since i am not balding...
10. Do you ever watch a movie in the theater more than once?
Only did that once. I saw An American Werewolf in London once a week for every week it was in the theater (as I recall, 4 times).
11. Are there any movies coming out in 2024 that you are looking forward to?
I heard there is another installment in the Lethal Weapon franchise forthcoming, although maybe not until next year. And Marvel is going to pair Deadpool and Wolverine in one film, due to be released this summer.
Now for the questions I came up with: Since I am doing an ongoing Marvel Cinematic Universe series of reviews I chose superheroes as a theme..
1. Here's a basic one: Marvel or DC? And why did you pick that option?
2 Along those lines: Who is the best Marvel comics superhero?
3. And who is the best DC superhero?
4. If you were a superhero, what would be your super power(s)?
5. If you were a superhero, would you have a sidekick or would you go solo?
5. Every superhero has a weakness. Be honest. What's your?
7. You are asked to join a superhero team. Honor, or No, thanks?
8. Your super nemesis: What is his or her main attribute?
9. What is your favorite superhero movie? Why?
10. And what is your least favorite? Why?
11. What superhero from the comics is overdue for his or her own movie?
As I said, I have an aversion to tagging people, so feel free to consider yourself tagged if you want it, or don't. That way no one is obligated or hurt by the picking.
Quiggy
The past comes up as I grow older. My father operated a gas station/garage all his life. When I was younger, he also catered to the lake crowd. (We lived on the edge of Lake Texoma, which for years was a weekend mecca for Dallas and other residents, in the days before Dallas built their own lakes.) He stocked his store with groceries and even had a magazine rack. He would go to the magazine stand in Denison, the next town over, every week or so and restock his magazine rack with various magazines and comic books.
(BTW, the operator of that magazine stand, called "Main Street News", was known to me as "Hightower", Only his last name was known to me, and I always called him that. He eschewed being called "Mr.", at least as my memory serves. He was the father of Jim Hightower, however, a Texas politician and author, so if I really wanted to do some research I could find out what his first name was. Maybe Jim Hightower himself will read this post and enlighten me...)
Anyway, among the stuff that my father would get were comic books which included such things as superhero comics. And since I was in the store all the time, I got to read any magazines he had. I always preferred Marvel over DC, mainly because the characters had more human foibles. Superman rarely had anything more complicated in his personal life than keeping his identity a secret from Lois Lane. But Spider-man, on the other hand, was originally just a kid who dealt with the problems that young guys had to deal with as well as his new found abilities. And, my favorite character, The Thing (from the Fantastic Four) was actually a grousing cranky geezer who often bitched about everything.
There were various attempts to bring Marvel characters to the big and small screen over the years. Captain America (1944) got a 15 part serial featuring Dick Purcell, although that character had a drastic change from the comic book origin. In the comic book, of course, the character was a soldier who got dosed with a super serum that transformed him into a super soldier, the Captain America of the serial was a district attorney And he wasn't a superhero in the sense that he had been given super powers. He was more like Batman, just an average Joe who dressed up in a costume to fight crime.
There was a long time before any other Marvel characters would be given a chance to shine. The next time would not be until the 60's when The Fantastic Four and Spider-man got their shots at the screen, albeit as animated cartoon series, Both aired in the late 60's. Live action would not return for several years however.
One of the first attempts was with Captain America (again). Starring Reb Brown, these were decent, but got mixed reviews, so a TV series was not produced. Several years later, in 1990, another attempt was made at the TV screen, with, once again, Captain America and starring Matt Salinger. This attempt, too, was not a huge hit. Captain America, it seems was not as popular as he was when fighting WWII villains like the Nazis.
By the time Marvel was ready to try theaters again, it was the 21st century. The first to get a shot was a band of superheroes, the X-Men, featuring Patrick Stewart as the mentor, Dr. X. The first X-Men (2000) opened the door for a few sequels, as well as some other superhero characters from the Marvel vaults. Spider-Man, featuring Tobey MacGuire generated a trilogy of movies and The Fantastic Fouralso got a couple of films. Between 200 and 2007 some 15 movies were released featuring on or another of Marvel characters.
But the real heyday of Marvel films began with what is now referred to as the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) which had a running story line, with all of the characters in it eventually melding to a final confrontation in Avengers:Endgame in 2019. And the MCU story line continued on after that movie with a new story that continues even today.
Next year (beginning in January 2024) , I have plans to cover the entire run of the first three phases of the MCU story, beginning with 2008's Iron Man. As the plan is now, these will appear one per week, and the plan is to review each one in order of their appearance in the theater. (I had originally thought to do it in a historical time line of the films, but I like this idea better, because it simplifies things.)
Most of them I actually saw in the theater when they were released. The coolest thing, and one that many people were slow to catch on to, is you HAVE to watch the whole movie, including the credits, because at the end, after credits rolled, there was always a tantalizing teaser of the next installment in the series. Sort of like those 15 part serials from the 30's and 40's, if you ever watched any of those. (As a side note: Apparently producer Kevin Feige got the idea from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, which had an after credits scene with Ferris (Matthew Broderick) addressing the audience. ("Are you still here? It's over. Go home")
OK, so come back next year for the films. I'll still be here until then doing other stuff, not to worry, but the MCU saga will be started, hopefully, Jan. 6)
Quiggy
My favorite John Wayne movie is El Dorado so many of these answers naturally come from that movie. No apologies, just saying.
Ok. So I was listening to a Spotify playlist of "One-Hit Wonders". Don't knock it. There are some fantastic songs that an artist had a hit with, but it was the only time they managed to crack the American Top 40 list with it. Although anybody's list would be subjective, to say the least. I mean a VH1 list I saw has Los Del Rio's "Macarena" at #1 while a Rolling Stone list puts a-ha"s "Take on Me" at the top. Most of my favorites in the "one hit" category are from the 70's which had no limit to the artists that came and went like a flash in the pan. ("Convoy" anyone?)
Disco was pretty much a one-shot genre. Sure, you had some bands with staying power to hit the charts more than once (Village People, Kool and the Gang). But you also had Patrick Hernandez (Born to Be Alive), Anita Ward (Ring My Bell), Amii Stewart (Knock on Wood) etc. One of my favorites is one that often also makes lists of "worst" or"most annoying" songs "Disco Duck" by Rick Dees.
Anyway, during that playlist I was subjected to, among others, hits by actors who tried their hand at singing (if you can call it that). I heard Eddie Murphy's "Party All the Time", Bruce Willis' "Respect Yourself", Patrick Swayze's "She's Like the Wind", Don Johnson's "Heartbeat" and David Soul's "Don't Give Up On Us".
And I came to the conclusion: Actors should act and singers should sing and ne'er the twain should meet.
The reason I include singers that shouldn't be actors in that is I have seen a few movies in which singers tried their hand at acting, proving time and again that it doesn't always work in reverse either.
Now, there are singers who turned out to be pretty good actors. Many of Frank Sinatra's movies are among my favorites. (:Von Ryan's Express", "The Man with the Golden Arm", "From Here to Eternity", "The Manchurian Candidate"). Bing Crosby and Bob Hope did the road movies and some of those were good. And I absolutely LOVE Burl Ives' turn as Big Daddy in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof".
Sure, there are some more recent names that did the acting scene decently. I will always say Marky Mark was better as an actor, but then I never took to him as a "singer" anyway. But then you have those people who should have left the acting to those who are better qualified. (Does anybody really think Neil Diamond was a great actor in "The Jazz Singer"?)
Now I'm not suggesting that any singer who tries his or her hand at acting should be at the Academy Award level. But the singer in question should be able to be distinguished enough as an actor that you could tell the difference between him and a mannequin. Maybe plot has a lot to do with the way the singer comes across on the screen. Surely nobody thinks the plot to "From Justin to Kelly" is a high caliber concept for a film.
To name but just a few singers that managed to transition the chasm to the big screen I would give a lot of kudos to Harry Connick, Jr. He was OK in "Independence Day" (having to share screen time with Will Smith is liable to reduce your own cache, I think), but if you've never seen "Copycat" you really ought to. And since I mentioned him in the previous sentence, we can't ignore Will Smith. Bette Midler has been in at least two great roles ("Down and Out in Beverly Hills" and "Ruthless People").Cher does a pretty good job in her movies, especially "Moonstruck".
So, yes, there are exceptions to the idea that singers should just sing. But I will still stand behind my first half of this post that actors should just act. I can't name one actor who put out a song that was any good. and by that I mean an actor who wasn't actually also a singer, so John Travolta gets a pass since he actually sang his parts in "Grease", even though I don't like "Let Her In", one of his solo efforts.
This is not the most conclusive post I could make it. If I addressed every incidence of actors trying to sing or singers trying to act this post would be a book instead... But feel free to comment with your own additions if you think I left off something that should have been included.
Quiggy
Sometimes it takes a lot of effort to get motivated. I need the occasional inspiration to make a commitment work. and sometimes the best inspiration just comes from out of nowhere.
I was playing around on Spotify, looking for songs from movies I like when I happened to search for a song "This Is The life", the opening song by Weird Al Yankovic to the movie "Johnny Dangerously", (Guess what? There's another movie I never got around to reviewing on here.)
(Note: Update. I have now. Johnny Dangerously )
Anyway, along with that song I saw a link to a podcast called "Bad Movies Rule"
The podcast, apparently the inspiration of a few friends, is a weekly jaw session between a few guys (and occasionally a girl or two) about what are essentially movies that a consensus of critics and/or the public consider "bad". The gang of reviewers on the podcast, for the most part, usually disagree with the status hence the name "Bad Movies RULE"
There is, as near as I can tell, only one consistent, week after week, host, a guy named James Hauser. So I won't disrespect anyone by forgetting to name them, I'll just leave it with his name as being the leader, but all of them are good in their own right. The pic above is from their website. Typically only 3-5 of them appear on each episode.
The list of movies they have done so far (up to #108 as of this writing) is also a list of movies that I thoroughly enjoy and some of which have made this blog. The reason I have restarted this blog now is because these guys have inspired me to go back and review those ones that I like that have not made this blog yet, as well as some of the ones they reviewed that I am now watching for the first time. Only a few of them have I never even heard of before. They are all familiar names, whether you have actually seen them or not.
There are several things I really like about the podcast. One of the frequent questions that come up at the end of the review is "Would Arnold Schwarzenegger have made this a better movie?" (Spoiler Alert: The answer is usually "yes...") They also have an award session at the end. One of the awards they give out is what they call the Will Patton award for best acting in a non- central role. (It was named after the actor Will Patton who has been a secondary character in some 100+ movies and TV shows). Another award is the "Trash Can Full of Dirt" award (given to the worst actor in the movie, and a reference to a comment made about an actor in one of the movies they reviewed early in the series.)
In retrospect, after having listened to about half of the shows oeuvre, I have to say that I agree with most of the ultimate reviews (one exception being how they treated one of my favorite movies, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension). But all in all, these guys are a blast to listen to. Expect a smattering of those movies they reviewed to crop up over the next few months.
Thanks, James and the rest of the gang for motivating me.
Quiggy
