Of All The Blogs, In All The World...
The Reel Deal • Published 17 Jan 2011 23:30
So this is my first actual-factual-blog.
Somewhere between defeating seven evil exes and setting fire to witches I saw Casablanca and The Odd Couple.
Watching the films is easy. Finding the motivation to write and stay away from the xbox is much harder...
(Casablanca in 140 characters or less)
@SandyK1LL Humphrey Bogart is re-united with past love Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca. But Bogart holds the tickets to save her husband from the Nazis.
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Black and white films make me want to buy a trench coat, fedora and stand in the rain.
That shouldn't be taken negatively, I'm a romantic.
Sure b&w is classy, full of atmosphere but I never saw past King Kong and old dinosaurs movies until "It's A Wonderful Life". Back in the day, Andy (my dad, fool) barricaded us in the conservatory - literally with the couch - and forced us to watch the James Stewart and Donna Reed classic on VHS.
Remember tapes?!
Now I watch it every Christmas, along with Home Alone 1 & 2 and Gremlins (which incidentally also appears in all three).
I can count how many b&w films I've seen on one hand. Now I can add Casablanca to the list - and I know where in the world it actually is. Morocco ^_^
One thing I thought I knew about the 1942 movie was that famous quote: "Play it again, Sam."
Misquoted more like. What Bogart actually says is "If she can stand it, I can! Play it!"
Good to know, if you're ever on Eggheads or something.
Obviously I was going to love this. It's a tragic love story! for crying' out loud.
But just like how "Cloverfield" ends on a high with the video tape cutting to Coney Island, Bogie and Bergman will always have Paris.
Of course the young, hot Americans are killed horrifically by the city-destroying-monster... but at least they had a good day at the shows!
And those bloody Nazis. I actually got goose bumps when the French took to playing their instruments, began singing and drowned out the Germans rendition of Fatherland. Take that, bloody Nazis.
And Bergman, just so you know. I'd tap that.
BUY?! http://tinyurl.com/64xmejv
(The Odd Couple in a tweet)
@SandyK1LL Slob, Walter Matthau and OCD, Jack Lemmon though circumstance end up sharing an apartment. Hilarity ensues.
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If I spend too much time with someone I'll start to argue with them.
Maybe that's why I could relate to Jack Lemmon's obsessive compulsive, suicidal news reporter and Walter Matthau's slobbish, obnoxious sports reporter.
Or maybe it's because Chronicle Sports Reporter Alistair Neil finds every opportunity to burp and fart at my meticulous desk while I cry facedown into my keyboard.
Maybe it's Maybelline.
Similarities and ingrained adverts aside, Lemmon's character Felix starts to bug fairly early on.
Matthau on the other hand, who I will forever associate with "Mr Wilson!" from Dennis, is more relatable as roommate Oscar.
It all starts out well enough. Felix cleans up. Oscar does nothing.
Then after missed dinners, ruined nights of pleasure, and misunderstandings they end up at each others throats.
But in the end it all works out. ^_^
I think Oscar is a slightly ungrateful despite having someone waiting hand and foot on him, making him dinner and tidying the apartment.
So if someone makes you tea every day, is always buying you a paper, and picks up caramel treats when you're low the least you could do is give them a frickin' hug!
I CAN HAS DVD?! http://tinyurl.com/5s5rpnf
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To clarify on the list, this isn't a 100 films to see before you die.
Films have been chosen on two factors.
1. Douglas Skelton, Chronicle Editor and film buff, has seen them and finds them entertaining.
2. I have not see them. (Otherwise "Charade", "The Magnificent Seven" and the Dollars Trilogy would be here as well).
The List So Far...
1. White Heat.
2. Sunset Boulevard.
3. Ace In The Hole.
4. His Girl Friday.
5. The Thing From Another World!
6. Casablanca. X
7. Training Day.
8. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
9. Cool Hand Luke.
10. The Big Sleep.
11. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid,
12. The French Connection,
13. The Taking of Pelham 123 (1974)
14. Rocky.
15. Soylent Green (is people!)
16. Planet of The Apes (1986)
17. The Great Escape.
18. A Bridge Too Far.
19. Citizen Kane.
20. Lawrence of Arabia.
21. Doctor Zhivago.
22. The Dirty Dozen,
23. Angels With Dirty Faces.
24. Shane.
25. Red River.
26. Executive Decision
27. Dirty Harry.
28. When Harry Met Sally (Not a sequel to 27)
29. Absence of Malice.
30. Outland.
31. The Man Who Would Be King.
32. Flight of the Phoenix.
33. The Departed.
34. JFK.
35. The Paper.
36. Naked Gun.
37. Reign Over Me.
38/39. Miracle of 34th Street. (Original and remake)
40. The Italian Job. (1969)
41. Zulu.
42. The Ipcress File,
43. Maltese Falcon.
44. Where Eagles Dare.
45. The Exorcist.
46. The Omen,
47. Four Weddings and a Funeral.
48. The Haunting (1962)
49. The Odd Couple. X
50. Blade Runner.
51/52/53. The Godfather Trilogy.
54. Halloween.
55. Magic.
56. The Lion In Winter.
57. Goodbye Girl.
58. High Plains Drifter
59. Stagecoach.
60. Twelve Angry Men
61. Bullitt
62. Mystic River
63. The Princess Bride
64 - 100 (Douglas is working on it.)
*Point of advice for anyone reading this who is still at Sanquhar Academy: Never yell "Hey Mr Wilson!" down the corridor to a Physics teacher who shares that name. In no uncertain terms you will be told: "This is the real world, young boy."
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