Movies, Mom & Me

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  Commentary:  Under construction.
    Can you believe I have never seen this movie all the way through, of a piece? I've watched scenes from it here and there, usually in a program about movies and/or horror movies, but I've never seen "the whole thing". I can't even remember why I thought of it this morning when I was doing some clean-up of many of my recent entries in this journal.
    You don't have to look far, as it turns out, to find a very cheap, unused copy of it. It doesn't seem to be very popular, at the moment. So, I purchased it to add to my "horror" collection, on which I've been concentrating, lately. And, of course, now that I've been reminded of it, I'm very curious about it.
    So far, all I've learned about it is that it isn't considered "folk-horror". In addition, I've learned more than a little about what distinguishes "folk-horror" (which I've added as a subject label over there to the left) from just plain "horror". It seems, unless I'm misunderstanding everything I've read this morning, the main differences between the two categories is that folk-horror seems to require a rural setting and attributes "evil" to the setting, rather than to people. "Carrie", of course, does not take place in a rural setting and, if I'm recalling correctly, the "evil" resides within a person, although from what little I know about the movie, it seems to me that an argument can be made for Piper Laurie, who plays Carrie's mother, being the source of the "evil" and Carrie merely being in possession of a neutral talent and a victim of domestic abuse.
    I'll clean up this post, add links and think and write more (about lots of things regarding horror/folk-horror) when I've watched the film, of course, and satisfied myself, as well, that nobody considers this movie an example of folk-horror.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Sissy Spacek	Carrie White	Amy Irving	Sue Snell	William Katt	Tommy Ross	Nancy Allen	Chris Hargensen
  John Travolta	Billy Nolan	Betty Buckley	Miss Collins	P. J. Soles	Norma	Sydney Lassick	Mr. Fromm
  Stefan Gierasch	Mr. Morton	Priscilla Pointer	Mrs. Snell	Piper Laurie	Margaret White	Edie McClurg	Helen Shyres

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1976
    Directed by Brian de Palma.

Labels: brian-de-palma, horror3, john-travolta, nancy-allen, piper-laurie, sissy-spacek

# posted by gail @ 12:01    0 comments    email......this post

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  Commentary:  This film is included as a Special Feature with Blow Out. I just found this out (9/23/22). It came as a surprise to me, so I have not yet watched it. The film is talked about as "25" in a list of De Palma films (with short reviews for each film) at the link attached to the title of this post. More later.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Andra Akers	Tracy	William Finley	Otto	Margo Norton	Karen	Jared Martin	Chris
  Ken Burrows	Wiley	Jennifer Salt	Bird	Lorenzo Catlett	Policeman	Jack L. Harrell	Salesman

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1968
    Directed by Brian De Palma.

Labels: §5, brian-de-palma

# posted by gail @ 17:46    0 comments    email......this post

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  Commentary:  Under construction.
    I'm a Sound Man: Blow Out at 40
    Nancy Allen on "Blow Out", Women in Film
    John Travolta: "Blow Out" in Chicago
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  John Travolta	Jack Terry	John Lithgow	Burke	Nancy Allen	Sally Bedina	Dennis Franz	Manny Karp

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1981
    Directed by Brian De Palma.

Labels: §3, brian-de-palma, john-lithgow, john-travolta, mystery2, nancy-allen, neo-noirA, thriller2

# posted by gail @ 18:39    0 comments    email......this post

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  Commentary:  I'm finally catching up (including rewatching) with films I haven't yet commented on. This is one of those films.
    Frankly, it's hard to say whether or not I consider it a "winner" of my affections. This is not a movie I saw, or of which I was even aware, when it was released in 1980 and caused such a furor. It has some spectacular scenes that I love watching, like the flirtatious museum scene at the beginning, and some intriguing split scene work, but the truth is, when I rewatched the film, all of this caught me by repeat surprise. When I looked at the cover of the movie prior to rewatching it, just before writing it up, I didn't recall anything about the film except Angie Dickinson in the shower and the startling reveal of her character's strawberry blonde pubic hair. Having said this, I have a small number of Brian De Palma films that I both enjoy and consider significant in his career. This is one of them.
    Here is a review of the movie 35 years after its initial release by one of the reviewers at RogerEbert.com, which is specifically about the Criterion release, which is the release I have. It is an admiring retrospective that I enjoyed reading and took into serious consideration when deciding whether to keep or cull this movie. I landed, once again, on the "keeper" side.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Michael Caine	Dr. Robert Elliott	Angie Dickinson	Kate Miller	Nancy Allen	Liz Blake	Keith Gordon	Peter Miller
  Dennis Franz	Detective Marino	David Margulies	Dr. Levy	Susanna Clemm	Betty Luce	Ken Baker	Warren Lockman

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1980
    Directed by Brian De Palma.

Labels: §3, brian-de-palma, erotic, michael-caine, nancy-allen, neo-noirA, thriller2

# posted by gail @ 16:28    0 comments    email......this post

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  Commentary:  I watched this movie last night, 3/20/22. It is yet another in a group of off-center horror movies that I purchased not too long ago. This one is clearly a Brian De Palma film. It was one of his early efforts. He doesn't have as firm a handle on his art, yet, but his promise is clear and the result is entertaining. It was impossible for me to take it seriously consistently. It continually drops into a bit of a puddle of made-for-TV-movies-cum-it's-supposed-to-be-funny-folks, rises out of it as an earnest effort, then drops back, again, and again, and again. The performances are crystalline, but the direction was not, which was clear even to me, who loves movies but is far from educated in film or savvy about all aspects of filmography. However, it was fun for me to watch, being a huge fan of some of De Palma's later films, especially those he released in the 1980's, some of which I gladly own. This one made me very curious about films he's done since then that I haven't seen, which are many. I think I might need to make a trip to the local library. The thing is, in this film, you can see his spark and his genius, but you can also clearly see how far he had yet to come. Thank the movie gods he continued on the journey, and is on that road, still!
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Margot Kidder	Danielle Breton/Dominique Blanchion	Jennifer Salt	Grace Collier	Charles Durning	Joseph Larch	Olympia Dukakis	Louise Wilanski

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1972
    Directed by Brian De Palma.

Labels: brian-de-palma, Criterion4, detective1, horror1, neo-noirA, suspense3, thriller2, violence4

# posted by gail @ 22:49    0 comments    email......this post

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  • Commentary:  This is such a smooth, well crafted story and movie that, of course, I own it, have watched it more than once and expect to watch it again. And, again. Highlights are Sean Connery's character and performance, of course, followed closely by Robert DeNiro's (who is almost unrecognizable in his part) characterization of Al Capone. Kevin Costner's ubiquitous "cool" is perfect for this part. Andy Garcia is, appropriately, subservient to the script, thus, I think it's one of his best performances.
      By the way, see my write-up for Battleship Potemkin for information on the baby carriage scene in this movie.
      

    Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
    Kevin Costner	Eliot Ness	Sean Connery	Jim Malone	Robert De Niro	Al Capone	Charles Martin Smith	Oscar Wallace
    Andy García	George Stone	Billy Drago	Nitti	Patricia Clarkson	Edna Ness	Richard Bradford	Mike

    
      Here's the Wikipedia write-up for this movie.
      Release Date: 1987
      Directed by Brian De Palma.

  Labels: action2, adventure2, andy-garcía, brian-de-palma, detective1, drama1, historical1, period1, political1, popcorn-and-soda1, robert-de-niro, violence1

  
  
  # posted by gail @ 00:44    0 comments    email......this post

• Who's watched:  M & G
• Mentions:  *1*
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  Commentary:  This is one of my very favorite movies. It is one of my mother's least favorite movies. She watched it once when some friends were visiting, one of them noticed I had the movie and wanted to watch it. The visit became a Scarface Fest. When the movie was over my mother turned to me and said, "I don't know why you like watching all that blood-letting, girl!" Neither do I.
  Update 2/9/18:  By the way, Roger Ebert wrote about this movie twice, which is why I am using his reviews (here's the other one) instead of Wikipedia's write-up (Okay, I'll link to that, too). One other thing: If you read the comments, you'll notice a link to a site called The Scarface World. The link is now dead, so I performed a cursory search and couldn't find it. [No, I have not linked to the site, only to a site that indicates that, yes, this site did exist, but has since been deprecated (who knows how long; I only now, on 6/18/21, found this site]. I noticed, however, a plethora of commentary on the movie all over the web. Just punch in its name, if you're curious, and you'll be overwhelmed with content. There's even a Scarface video game.
  RE-WATCHED: 7/30-31/2020 Including bonus materials on disc 2. The bonus materials for this movie are especially interesting and there are loads of them, relatively speaking. They include one bonus on the changes made for a TV version and another on why it became so popular among gang members of the time. Al Pacino being interviewed for one of the bonuses dealing with acting the role was a treat. This movie remains an absolute favorite of mine. I can't imagine a time when I won't look forward to watching it ... again.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Al Pacino	Tony Montana	Steven Bauer	Manny Ray	Michelle Pfeiffer	Elvira	Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio	Gina
  Robert Loggia	Frank Lopez	Míriam Colón	Mama Montana	F. Murray Abraham	Omar	Paul Shenar	Alejandro Sosa

  
    One of Roger Ebert's Great Movies.
    Release Date: 1983
    Directed by Brian De Palma.
  

Labels: action3, al-pacino, brian-de-palma, dramaC, f-murray-abraham, gang-movie, me-favorite4, neo-noirA, oliver-stone, popcorn-and-soda6, violence3

# posted by gail @ 19:13    3 comments    email......this post