Movies, Mom & Me

• Who's watched: M & G
• Mentions: None
• 
  Commentary:  Mom: Really enjoys this one, although not as much as Monster's, Inc.
    Me: I'm with Mom on this one. It's one of the very few animated movies I can handle, but not my favorite. I often do chores when Mom watches it.
  Update 8/10/21:  As the post implies, I did not watch this movie after Mom died and, when the culling of my collection came around, I was sure I never would, so, to the library it went. As of today, my county library system has many copies of this movie, so if I every get a yen for it ... but, I probably won't.
  Update 11/17/2021:  This post was originally published February 6, 2005. It was one of the accidental deletions that occurred, which is covered in this post.
  Update 5/17/2025:  Once again, I had to move this post. Since I've had so many problems with these transferred posts, this one in particular, I decided to bring it up to the top where it will stay until I enter more movies. I suppose this seems silly to do this for a movie that I long ago passed out of my collection and onto the library, but I'm nothing if not meticulous, yes, sometimes to a fault!
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Dave Foley	Flik	Kevin Spacey	Hopper	Julia Louis-Dreyfus	Princess Atta	Denis Leary	Francis
  David Hyde Pierce	Slim	Madeline Kahn	Gypsy	Bonnie Hunt	Rosie	John Ratzenberger	P.T. Flea
  Brad Garrett	Dim	Richard Kind	Molt	Phyllis Diller	The Queen	Roddy McDowall	Mr. Soil

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1998
    Directed by John Lasseter.

Labels: animated, dramedy3, kids

# posted by gail @ 17:43    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  Under construction.
    Yep, I've seen this movie, a couple of times, since it came out early in this century. I've often been reminded of it and, when I am, I always think, "Oh, yeah! Delightful movie! I must add that to my collection!" And then I go on to think of something else and I forget. Well, now, I've remembered for sure. It'll be here in a couple of days. I'm really looking forward to watching it again. And again. I was, you see, involved in a friendship very much like the one depicted. We fell into friendship in high school. We even went on a road-trip, of sorts, except it was a move to a city with which both of us were unfamiliar. We are, by the way, still friends, very comfortable friends, although quite distant, at the moment, being involved in unlocked and very busy separate lives. I expect that at some time before we die we will come together again. In the meantime, I'll watch this movie. Maybe, some day, we'll watch this movie together. She's not a movie person, so she may not relate to it as I do, but I think she'll appreciate it.
    More later.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Paul Giamatti	Miles Raymond	Thomas Haden Church	Jack Cole	Virginia Madsen	Maya Randall	Sandra Oh	Stephane
  Marylouise Burke	Mrs. Raymond	Jessica Hecht	Victoria Cortland	Lee Brooks	Ken Cortland	Missy Doty	Cammi
  MC Gainey	Cammi's Husband	Alysia Reiner	Christine Erganian	Shake Tukhmanyan	Mrs. Erganian	Shaun Duke	Mike Erganian

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 2004
    Directed by Alexander Payne.

Labels: dramedy3, paul-giamatti, road-movie

# posted by gail @ 00:30    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  Under construction.
    Directed by Various.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  • 
    Major Barbara
    Commentary:  Under construction.
      

    Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
    Wendy Hiller	Major Barbara Undershaft	Rex Harrison	Adolphus Cusins	Robert Morley	Andrew Undershaft	Robert Newton	Bill Walker
    Sybil Thorndike	The General	Emlyn Williams	Snobby Price	Miles Malleson	Morrison the Butler	Donald Calthrop	Peter Shirley
    Marie Lohr	Lady Britomart	Stanley Holloway	Policeman	Marie Ault	Rummy Mitchens	Penelope Dudley-Ward	Sarah Undershaft

    
      Release Date: 1941
      Directed by Gabriel Pascal.
      Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    
    
  • 
    Caesar and Cleopatra
    Commentary:  Under construction.
      

    Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
    Vivien Leigh	Cleopatra	Claude Rains	Caesar	Stewart Granger	Apollodorus	Flora Robson	Ftatateeta
    Francis L. Sullivan	Pothinus	Basil Sydney	Rufio	Cecil Parker	Britannus	Raymond Lovell	Lucius Septimus
    Anthony Eustrel	Achillas	Ernest Thesiger	Theodotus	Anthony Harvey	Ptolemy	Robert Adams	Nubian Slave

    
      Release Date: 1945
      Directed by Gabriel Pascal.
      Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    
    
  • 
    Androcles and the Lion
    Commentary:  Under construction.
      

    Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
    Jean Simmons	Lavinia	Victor Mature	The Captain	Alan Young	Androcles	Robert Newton	Ferrovius
    Maurice Evans	Caesar	Elsa Lanchester	Megaera	Reginald Gardiner	Lentulus	Gene Lockhart	Menagerie Keeper
    Alan Mowbray	Editor of Gladiators	Noel Willman	Spintho	John Hoyt	Cato	Jim Backus	The Centurion
    Lowell Gilmore	Metellus	Woody Strode	The Lion	Strother Martin	Soldier	Sylvia Lewis	Chief Vestal Virgin

    
      Release Date: 1952
      Directed by Chester Erskine.
      Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    
    
    I had to append the DVD Savant's review of this set [Glenn Erickson] as he always has interesting things to say beyond the scope of the mainstream critics/reviewers. So, you know, check out his take on this set of movies. Scurry on over there right now!
  

Labels: claude-rains, Criterion8, dramedy3, jean-simmons, wendy-hiller

# posted by gail @ 14:36    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  Under construction.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Keiji Sada	Heiichiro Fukui	Yoshiko Kuga	Setsuko Arita	Chishū Ryū	Keitaro Hayashi	Kuniko Miyake	Tamiko Hayashi
  Haruko Sugimura	Kikue Haraguchi	Shitara Koji	Minoru Hayashi	Masahiko Shimazu	Isamu Hayashi	Kyoko Izumi	Midori Maruyama

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1959
    Directed by Yasujirō Ozu.

Labels: chishū-ryū, Criterion6, dramedy3, yasujirō-ozu

# posted by gail @ 00:09    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  Under construction.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Matthew K. Lane	John Green	Coral Fiedler	Natalie Ghoulson	R. Scott Purdy	Bradford Guinness	Guy Wicke	Hodges
  Shane Rhoades	Tim Thompson	Jennifer Cheung	Evelyn	Max Fabian	Greasy Dude	Erin Ellagood	Cheating Wife
  William Ellagood	Cheating Husband	Vito Glazers	Accountant	Kat Bäckstrom	Receptionist	Serge Bodnarchuk	Man with No Taste

  
    Here's a link to the FilmiFeed write-up of the film. Wikipedia doesn't have a write-up of it, yet.
    Release Date: 2017
    Directed by Serge Bodnarchuk.

Labels: §5, detective1, dramedy3, goflexB

# posted by gail @ 08:40    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  Yes, I've seen this movie, more than once, although likely not more than twice. I was suitably impressed by it, so much so that I wrote about it, briefly and recently, in my write-up for Jaws, another Spielberg movie.
    Ever since I mentioned it in the above linked post I haven't been able to get it out of my head, so I looked it up and found a copy of it at a sweet, ridiculously low price and decided to order it. It will be arriving in a couple of days, so I'll wait until then, after I watch it yet again, to give it its due, here, but, I wanted to, at least, get it posted and linked to the left in the Alpha Index for this site.
    So, yes, under construction, more later.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Tom Hanks	Viktor Navorski	Catherine Zeta-Jones	Amelia Warren	Stanley Tucci	Frank Dixon	Chi McBride	Joe Mulroy
  Diego Luna	Enrique Cruz	Barry Shabaka Henley	Judge Thurman	Kumar Pallana	Gupta Rajan	Zoë Saldaña	Dolores Torres
  Eddie Jones	Richard Salchak	Jude Ciccolella	Karl Iverson	Michael Nouri	Max	Benny Golson	Self

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 2004
    Directed by Steven Spielberg.

Labels: dramedy3, steven-spielberg, tom-hanks

# posted by gail @ 13:48    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  I saw this movie a long time ago, shortly after I became my mother's companion, during the period when she and I pursued our separate lives (mine included work, at that time) and lived together for her emotional comfort and to my enjoyment (my mother and I have been friends since I was a young adult). I didn't see it when it was first released, but a few years later at an art house theater. My memory of it is fuzzy, but my memory of my reaction to it has been very clear ever since that viewing. I think of it as a kind of Dazed and Confused for the "more mature" set. Since I began to investigate my mother's collection of movies on DVD, I've sporadically tried to hunt it down, not knowing if it had even been burnt to disc. Suddenly, today, as it turns out, I watched this video by Daisuke Beppu and, low an behold, there was my movie! Not only that, but he talked about not only the most recent release, but the old one with a booklet of Raymond Chandler's short stories, the edition for which I've been searching all these years!
    Criterion no longer carries their original release of this film (with the booklet). The last place I considered looking was Amazon, but when I ran a search through my favored search engine, that's where it turned up! It's winging it's way to me, as I write, and should arrive a week from tomorrow. Its page indicates that the movie, itself, is "new", which I didn't expect at all, so I'm very excited!
    I have to admit, it's more expensive than the movies I usually buy, but not for a Criterion movie (which I only buy during sales at reduced prices from other places besides Criterion) but, frankly, I consider its price a bargain, considering everything. It is still cheaper than your average, off-sale price of a Criterion movie sold at the Criterion website.
    It's done in what has become known as Robert Altman's style (like Nashville, which I own and love and watch semi-regularly). As is true of a typical Robert Altman work, it features loads of actors, famous, not-so-famous and infamous, and sets each of them in situations which play to their acting strengths. There is an overall "theme", but not like Nashville.
    It's been a long, long time since I've seen it, so watching it will be akin to my memory surprising me over and over. I'll be back, later, to catalog my reaction to seeing it again.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Andie MacDowell	Ann Finnigan	Bruce Davison	Howard Finnigan	Julianne Moore	Marian Wyman	Matthew Modine	Dr. Ralph Wyman
  Anne Archer	Claire Kane	Fred Ward	Stuart Kane	Jennifer Jason Leigh	Lois Kaiser	Chris Penn	Jerry Kaiser
  Lili Taylor	Honey Piggot Bush	Robert Downey Jr.	Bill Bush	Madeleine Stowe	Sherri Shepard	Tim Robbins	Gene Shepard
  Lily Tomlin	Doreen Piggot	Tom Waits	Earl Piggot	Frances McDormand	Betty Weathers	Peter Gallagher	Stormy Weathers
  Annie Ross	Tess Trainer	Lori Singer	Zoe Trainer	Jack Lemmon	Paul Finnigan	Lyle Lovett	Andy Bitkower
  Buck Henry	Gordon Johnson	Huey Lewis	Vern Miller	Charles Rocket	Wally Littleton	Michael Beach	Jim Stone

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1993
    Directed by Robert Altman.

Labels: §5, Criterion4, dramedy3, jennifer-jason-leigh, julianne-moore, matthew-modine, robert-altman, robert-downey-jr, tim-robbins

# posted by gail @ 17:20    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  I know, I know. I should probably be ashamed of myself for ordering this movie. I saw it ages ago (probably over 20 years ago ... I think I saw it in a theatre when it was first released), have not seen it since, but have been keeping my eye out for a cheap copy of it, with or without special features, ever since I became really interested in collecting movies, especially those I can't get out of my head. Anyway, on yet another late night jaunt through my lists of really old movies I'd like in my collection, I found this one at an extremely reasonable price, I mean, more than reasonable. Frankly, I never thought I would, as this movie has remained popular and its price reflects this. But, tonight, I picked it up, including tax, for well under a sawbuck, probably the cheapest I'll ever find it, so I ordered it immediately. I don't know if it contains any special features. It appears to advertise special features but, although it's a blu-ray, the package ad says it contains only one disk, so, you know, I hope so, but, in this case, if it doesn't, I won't be annoyed.
    So why am I adding this extraordinarily violent movie to my collection? Because it's also extraordinarily funny and there's something about funny violence, when masterfully done, that just does a number on me. My memories of watching this movie involve several eruptions of surprised, I mean really surprised, like shocked surprised, laughter, including during killings. Apparently, I'm not the only one who reacts to this movie in this way. So, I want to see it again and again, to figure this out. I won't have the movie for a couple of days but I'm already thinking things like, is this a uniquely U.S.A. movie because of the way it presents violence? What does it say about me, a born-into U.S.A. citizen, that I, well, more than like this movie? Anyway, I'll scribble more later, I'm sure.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Peter Weller	Alex Murphy/RoboCop	Nancy Allen	Anne Lewis	Daniel O'Herlihy	The Old Man	Ronny Cox	Dick Jones

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1987
    Directed by Paul Verhoeven.

Labels: §3, action4, dramedy3, nancy-allen, science-fiction2, super-hero2, violence4

# posted by gail @ 23:23    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  As with the previous Christmas movie, I just received this today and haven't watched it. But I'll be watching it either tomorrow or Friday of this week. I'll post more then.
    By the way, Nell Minow contributed a very interesting and laudatory piece about Stanwyck's involvement in movies, including a bit about her life. If Barbara Stanwyck strikes you, at all, read it.
  Update 5/15/2022:  It's almost six months since I received and posted this movie and I still haven't watched it. I'm between Christmas seasons by almost exactly half, and likely won't watch this until the next season, six months from now. Although I live in a place where the summers are temperate and, during the monsoon, you can almost make yourself believe winter is coming, still, this place also produces a decent winter, including, most years, snow, so, I think I'll wait for another six months to watch this. Maybe over the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend. Remind me, please.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Barbara Stanwyck	Elizabeth	Dennis Morgan	Jefferson Jones	Sydney Greenstreet	Alexander Yardley	Reginald Gardiner	John Sloan
  S.Z. Sakall	Felix Bassenak	Robert Shayne	Dudley Beecham	Una O'Connor	Norah	Frank Jenks	Sinkewicz

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1945
    Directed by Peter Godfrey.

Labels: §, barbara-stanwyck, Christmas, dramedy3

# posted by gail @ 17:19    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  Under construction.
  Update 8/2/21:  Although I haven't "officially" written-up this movie, yet, out of curiosity, I looked it up on Roger Ebert's site and discovered, wow! He wrote about the movie (see the link in the title of this post), Adam Sandler and its director. He enjoyed this movie so much, for a variety of reasons, he wrote about it in innumerable catch-all "recommended movie" posts. Finally, although Roger is no longer with us, his site, mid-2018, published "an excerpt" (quite a lengthy excerpt) of an interestingly ambivalent essay by Ethan Warren published in Bright Wall/Dark Room. I'm including links to both the "excerpt" and the entire article because Bright Wall/Dark Room has a pay-wall that allows several free access visits but I'm not sure how many one gets before one is denied access without a subscription.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Adam Sandler	Barry Egan	Emily Watson	Lena Leonard	Philip Seymour Hoffman	Dean Trumbell	Mary Lynn Rajskub	Elizabeth Egan
  Luis Guzmán	Lance	Robert Smigel	Walter	Rico Bueno	Rico	Hazel Mailloux	Rhonda

  
    Here is the Wikipedia write-up on this movie.
    Release Date: 2002
    Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.

Labels: Criterion3, dramedy3, romance4

# posted by gail @ 20:21    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  Under construction.
    This movie was originally listed in the post Movies I've Seen, Do Not Own but Can't Forget. I own this movie, now. Here is the commentary I wrote for it in my wish list post: "It's taken a long time for me to get around to wanting this movie in my collection. What clinches my decision is that, at odd times throughout any particular month, some event in a day suddenly brings forth a snatch of dialogue between Jack Lemmon's character and one of the many characters he encounters during his messy attempts to climb the corporate ladder, especially Shirley MacClaine's character. In this movie, although the dialogue is dependent on the situation, the dialogue is the scene stealer. It stays with you. For years, decades, even."
    I will be writing more, later, once I have a chance to watch it, again.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Jack Lemmon	Calvin Clifford Baxter	Shirley MacLaine	Fran Kubelik	Fred MacMurray	Jeff D. Sheldrake	Ray Walston	Joe Dobisch
  Jack Kruschen	Dr. David Dreyfuss	David Lewis	Al Kirkeby	Edie Adams	Miss Olsen	Hope Holiday	Mrs. Margie MacDougall
  Joan Shawlee	Sylvia	Naomi Stevens	Mrs. Mildred Dreyfuss	Johnny Seven	Karl Matuschka	Joyce Jameson	Blonde in Bar
  Hal Smith	Santa Claus	Willard Waterman	Mr. Vanderhoff	David White	Mr. Eichelberger	Lynn Cartwright	Elevator Supervisor

  
    One of Roger Ebert's Great Movies.
    The Wikipedia write-up on this film is here.
    Release Date: 1960
    Directed by Billy Wilder.

Labels: dramedy3, romance4, satire3, shirley-maclaine

# posted by gail @ 15:58    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  6/5/2022:  Finally watched this about six months ago. This is one of the silliest, funniest, dearest, most humane comedies I've seen in a long time. The only reason I haven't written about it, yet, is the same reason I haven't written about a lot of videos here that I haven't written about yet. The only videos I haven't seen, yet, are the three I ordered today. So, you know, I have no excuse. Just, under construction.
    My Florida sister sent me this movie. I'm not sure what possessed her to do so, but I'm hilariously ever grateful that she did. I hope to catch some, if not all, of the episodes of the FX TV series, some day. My library has the initial movie but not the series. Amazon has both, and both are pay-per-view. Sorry, Amazon, I don't do pay-per-view. You already charge me enough, yearly, to be a Prime member. And, by the way, your prices per-DVD-per-season are prohibitive.
    This movie is the pilot for a New Zealand TV series franchise, the Wikipedia write-up of which is here.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Taika Waititi	Viago Von Dorna Schmarten Scheden Heimburg	Jemaine Clement	Vladislav the Poker	Jonathan Brugh	Deacon Brucke	Ben Fransham	Petyr
  Cori Gonzalez-Macuer	Nick	Stu Rutherford	Stu	Jackie van Beek	Jackie	Rhys Darby	Anton
  Ethel Robinson	Katherine Heimburg	Elena Stejko	Pauline	Jason Hoyte	Julian	Karen O'Leary	Officer O'Leary

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 2014
    Directed by Jemaine Clement & Taika Waititi.

Labels: §2, dramedy3, popcorn-and-soda1

# posted by gail @ 23:46    0 comments    email......this post

• Who's watched:  M & G
• Mentions:  *1*
• 
  Commentary:  This is one of our Spectacle Movies, sort of like Gone with the Wind. It's too lavish and bright to watch often, but it makes a great dessert. It's one of those movies where we often catch ourselves saying, during the viewing, "Oh, yeah, I forgot about that! I love that!"
  Update 5/9/2022:  I watched this movie very recently, within the last couple of weeks. It had been awhile, like, I'm thinking, maybe a couple of years. I was struck by the brilliance and particularity of the actors' performances, including the smaller parts, so much so that I had to look most of them up to see what they'd done since, see if there was anything that looked promising. I did notice that I no longer consider it "too lavish and bright to watch often". In fact, I so thoroughly enjoyed my "first" watching that, the next night, I turned around and watched it again.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  F. Murray Abraham	Antonio Salieri	Tom Hulce	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart	Elizabeth Berridge	Constanze Mozart	Roy Dotrice	Leopold Mozart
  Simon Callow	Emanuel Schikaneder	Christine Ebersole	Caterina Cavalieri	Jeffrey Jones	Emperor Joseph II	Richard Frank	Father Vogler
  Patrick Hines	Kapellmeister Giuseppe Bonno	Cynthia Nixon	Lori	Vincent Schiavelli	Salieri's Valet	John Strauss	Conductor

  
    One of Roger Ebert's Great Movies.
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up for this movie.
    Release Date: 1984
    Directed by Miloš Forman.

Labels: biography2, cynthia-nixon, dramedy3, f-murray-abraham, historical3, shared-favorite, spectacle2

# posted by gail @ 10:37    0 comments    email......this post