Classic Movie Monday: Top Hat

Title: Top Hat
Stars: Fred Astaire, Fred Astaire, Fred Astaire...
Music By: Irving Berlin
Genre: Hollywood Musical
Year: 1935
Black & White



Summary: This is a classic Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers Musical. Fred Astaire plays song and dance man and bachelor Jerry Travers. Late one night in his producer's hotel room, Travers, naturally, starts to dance. His tapping wakes the sleeping Dale Tremont (Ginger Rogers). When Dale goes up to the room to request silence for her sweet dreams, Jerry becomes infatuated. Dale plays hard to get, though. They run in to each other again and hit it off, but then a case of mistaken identity leads Dale to believe that Jerry is a married man. He does not know that she think so, and he continues to pursue her. He hot and cold behavior baffles him, but he is in love. This confusion, however, could prove detrimental to Jerry's hopes.

The Stars: Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers did ten movies together. The pair were known for their elegant song and dance numbers. The brains behind all of it, though, was Fred Astaire. He was a work-a-holic and perfectionist. He was singing and dancing since a very young age, starting out in his family's act on stage. He is still considered one of the greatest dancers of all time and there is not a list of best musicals that does not include Fred Astaire. Ginger Rogers...she's nothing special.

Why Should You Watch This? Musicals are some of the most happy films in existence, particularly the Hollywood Musical. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musicals stick to a very specific formula, so you know what you are going to get is pure happiness. The music is by Irving Berlin, one of my favorites, and the dances are magnificently choreographed. The plot is a little bit contrived, but if you just go with it, it is quite fun and entertaining. It is one of my favorite Fred Astaire musicals.

I hope you enjoy this film, too. I love Fred Astaire, if you could not already tell. He is wonderful to watch dance and his acting is just right for this comedic story. Let me know what you think!

Classic Movie Mondays: Bringing Up Baby

Title: Bringing Up Baby
Stars: Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant
Director: Howard Hawks
Genre: Screwball Comedy
Year: 1938
Black & White

Summary: In this screwball comedy Cary Grant stars as Dr. David Huxley, a paleontologist who is one bone away from finishing a dinosaur for his museum and soon to be married to assistant Alice Swallow. He is also hoping to get a one million dollar donation for his museum from a client of Alexander Peabody's. He is enjoying a golf game with Mr. Peabody, trying to put his best foot forward, when things start to go wrong. A woman, Susan Vance played by Katharine Hepburn, hits his ball. He runs after her and tries to explain her mistake, but she will not understand it and talks in circles bringing much frustration to Huxley. He gets his ball back and heads back to the game only to see Susan take his car. From that point on, Susan and David seem to keep running into each other and mishap after mishap occurs. Eventually, David is forced to work with Susan because of a leopard named Baby. On his wedding day, David assists Susan in transporting Baby to her Aunt's country house, quite frantically to his dismay, but not hers--she has her own agenda in keeping him busy on the day he is to be married. The situation continues to decline for David when he makes a bad impression on Susan's Aunt Elizabeth, who just so happens to Mr. Peabody's client interested in making the donation to the museum--but David has a plan to not let this ruin the museums chances, as long as Aunt Elizabeth does not know his real name. So, thanks to Susan, David becomes Mr. Bone. Susan continues to lead David on a wild leopard chase that ultimately leads to a very odd situation.

The Stars: Katharine Hepburn made her comedic debut in this film. Before this, her experience was basically dramatic acting. Many of her films, including the now classic and loved Bringing Up Baby, did not do well in the box office, earning her the label 'box office poison.' She continued with comedy though and redeemed her career with the second film she did with Cary Grant, called The Philadelphia Story. Cary Grant, best known for his work with Alfred Hitchcock also did extensive dramatic acting , but he is best in his comedic roles as well. The two together made three delightful movies that are super enjoyable.

Why Should You Watch This? This is a hilarious romantic comedy. It is full of mishaps that some find frustrating, but each one is brilliant. There are a lot of good, memorable lines and Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grand work well together. The beginning starts out slow, but things pick up once you understand the character of Susan and see what she is trying. It really shows a woman in control because she really is the driving force for the plot. The supporting cast is also wonderful. I think this is a good classic comedy to watch because it is representational of a lot of what was going on in Hollywood at the time with it's style. As I was typing the summary, I realized what I never had before--there is a lot of sexual imagery in the story that is subtle. That was just the movies way of working around the strict Production Code which controlled the amount of sexuality in films to keep them clean and pure. Many movies tried to work around this code and they got quite creative, as this plot shows.

Once again, I hope you enjoy this film and let me know what you think! This is one of my personal favorites and I love Katherine Hepburn with Cary Grant and recomment The Philadelphia Story, and Holiday, too.

Classic Movie Mondays: Rear Window

Title: Rear Window
Stars: James Stewart, Grace Kelly
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Genre: Suspense, Thriller
Year: 1954
In Color

Summary: "Rear Window" is a classic Hitchcock suspense film about a photographer, L. B. Jefferies (James Stewart), who is confined to a wheelchair for weeks due to an accident. He is cared for by a nurse, Stella, played by Thelma Ritter and by his girlfriend who wants nothing more than to settle down with him, Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly). Due to the extensive confinement, Jeff finds a not so common hobby in spying on the neighbors. He gets their schedules down to a 't'. He is warned against it numerous times by Stella and Lisa, but he continues to allow his peeping to occupy his time. Finally, he becomes convinced that one of his neighbors has killed his wife. He explains his theory to Lisa, Stella and a friend, Detective Doyle, but all of them insist that this is just a side effect of the heat and his confinement. But is his imagination just running away with him or is it possible that a killer is in the neighborhood?

The Stars: In this brilliant masterpiece directed by the king of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, James Stewart stars as L. B. Jeffries, a thrill seeking photographer. James Stewart worked with Hitchcock several times and even if you have not seen many classics, you might know him as George Baily from "It's a Wonderful Life," which is a Christmas classic that is played on television every year around Christmas, several times. James Stewart was known for his boy scout persona and 'awe shucks' charm. He is suited for this role because he brings to life the idea of an average guy thrust into a situation most people think will never happen to them. Also starring in this film is the beautiful princess, Grace Kelly. I am not sure that you will really know her from anything, but she brings elegant sex appeal to every role she plays. She also does not allow herself to be the typical stereotype of women this is too often portrayed in older films. She shows a brilliance in her roles and was also a favorite of Hitchcock's.

The Director: It is a shame that some people do not know who Alfred Hitchcock is anymore. He was a master of suspense. He knew how to keep the audience on their toes and had a specific vision for every film he brought to live. At one point, he was one of the most recognizable directors because he made a cameo appearance in every one of his movies. His most recognizable work would be "Psycho," a Halloween classic that you may have seen. His movies are able to capture suspense in ways that many modern directors have yet to achieve.

Why should you watch this? This is my absolute favorite Alfred Hitchcock movie, and I am a fan of of Hitchcock. I have seen almost all of his films. Many of my friends do not even know who he is and that is just a shame. If you like suspense, you will love this. There is something for everyone in this film. There is suspense and Grace Kelly for the guys and suspense, romance, and James Stewart for the girls. I love James Stewart and he is a delight in this role as is Grace Kelly, who is gorgeous and has a fabulous wardrobe in this film. Once again I would says this film is not too dated, yet it is older than my first Classic Movie Monday pick. It is, however, still in color (a am working my way to black and white, though, so get ready). You should also watch it to see if you can spot Hitchcock's cameo appearance. It is quite fun to try and spot him, just make sure you know what he looks like, first.

I hope you enjoy this movie, so let me know!

Classic Movie Mondays: The Odd Couple

Title: The Odd Couple
Stars: Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon
Director: Gene Saks
Genre: Comedy
Year: 1968
In Color


Summary: "The Odd Couple" is a comedy about two friends, Oscar (Walter Matthau) and Felix (Jack Lemmon). Oscar is divorced and hosts a poker night every week for some friends. One poker nigh his best friend, Felix, does not show up and Oscar gets a phone call from Felix's wife saying they are getting a divorce and that Felix said he was going to kill himself. When Felix arrives at the poker night, Oscar tries to cheer him up and offers him shelter. They move in together because Felix has nowhere else to go. This sets things up for them to be the odd couple and conflict ensues between the Oscar the slob and Felix the neat freak. This is a touching comedy about friendship full of comedic goodness and touching moments.

The Stars: You might know Walter Matthau as the grumpy Mr. Wilson from "Dennis the Menace," but he has had a variety of different roles, including some dramatic roles. His dramatic acting is what makes him so good at comedic roles because of his deadpan delivery. Jack Lemmon might be familiar to you because of "Tuesdays with Morrie." He also has comedic and dramatic roles and plays the pathetic, sympathetic, nervous type very well. I find him to be quite lovable.

Why should you watch this? I just recently discovered this movie and fell in love with it. Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon work well together and it is full of intelligent comedy. It is not full of cheap comedic attempts. Instead, the characters a funny without being aware that they are funny. I am starting out easy for you, so this is in color and not as dated as some other classic movies. It also has some actors that I think you would be more familiar with. I hope you choose to watch this and let me know what you think.

Happy Watching!

Don't know where to find it? If you have Netflix, it is available to watch instantly, or you might be able to find it at Blockbuster or your local Library.

Introducing: Classic Movie Mondays

It has been brought to my attention that fewer and fewer people are taking it upon themselves to watch classic movies. By "classic movies," I don't mean the movies that people go watch in the theater and say, "that's going to be a classic." I mean old movies. The movies that inspired modern filmmakers and those that started it all. That includes black and white movies. I feel very passionate about this. I have known many people that just will not watch black and white movies. I know some readers of this will probably feel that way, so I just want to express my feelings on this subject. I think it is unfair to exclude an entire collection of films simply because they are not in color. Believe it or not, color was not always an option just like HD was not always an option. It took a lot of work to perfect it. Just because a movie is not in color does not mean that it is not good. They are worth watching and after time, you don't even notice it anymore. I have seen so many black and white films that I have to check the DVD case to remind myself if it is color or black and white. I also feel that when films are black and white, they allow you to focus more on character development and on the story. If you can learn to appreciate this, then you can open your world up to a whole lot of wonderful films.

For some, black and white is not the problem. Some people just do not know where to begin with classic movies because they don't know what actors are good or what movies are worth seeing. This is why I decided to create Classic Movie Mondays. I will (hopefully) lead you in the right direction. Like with modern movies, you have to find the actors you like, because not everyone will like the same actors. I am a huge fan of Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, James Stewart, Cary Grant, and Katharine Hepburn, but not everyone is going to like these same actors. Because of this, I will try to get a good variety of movies.

Here is how Classic Movie Mondays will work:

Each Monday I will do a post about a Classic Movie. I will give you basic information on the movie, a summary, why I like it and a bit of information about the stars and director. I will also let you know if it is in black and white or color, because some will be in color. Hopefully, it will be enough information for you to decide if you want to watch it or not. If you choose to watch it, let me know how much you liked it and why, or let me know if you did not like it and why. I hope this will encourage more people to watch classic movies and come to love them the way I do.

(Not Little) Red Riding Hood

Movie Title: Red Riding Hood
Starring: Amanda Seyfried, Gary Oldman
Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Romance
Released: March 11, 2011


Hoot Rating: I give this film One Hoot. It is classified as a horror film, but I never really felt like it was one either time I saw it. The film was mostly a fantasy-romance flick. It was enjoyable and it did keep me guessing as to who the wolf was till the very end which kept me intrigued. Some of the acting was a little laughable on the supporting end as well as some of the plot. Some of it was just a bit of a stretch. I do think it is worth seeing, but don't expect it to be the best movie you've seen in a long time or to be very traditional when it comes to the story.

The Critical Eye: "Red Riding Hood' is not the fairytale you were read as a kid. It takes the usual cautionary story and turns it into a romance. Amanda Seyfried stars as Valerie, who lives in a small village that lives in fear of the wolf. This fear is so strong the villagers sacrifice their best animals to it in order to stay safe from its wrath. This however, does not seem to worry Valerie, who is more focused on her love affair with Peter (Shilo Fernandez), who she is in love with but cannot be with because she is to marry Henry (Max Irons). As Valerie is frolicking in the woods with Peter, the Wolf defies the village's agreement and kills someone close to Valerie. This causes the village priest to seek the help of Father Solomon (Gary Oldman), who is an expert at hunting werewolves. Before he arrives, the villagers go do some wolf hunting of their own and are lead to believe they were victorious when they have only killed a normal wolf. Father Solomon arrives and tells them they have made a mistake, but they ignore his warnings and celebrate anyway. When they learn they are still in danger, they turn all power over to Father Solomon, who conducts a Salem Witch Trial-esque hunt. He informs the village that the wolf could be anyone, even those you are closest to. This makes Valerie suspicious of everyone and even places Valerie in danger herself.

"Red Riding Hood" is, overall, an entertaining movie. Although it focuses on the forbidden romance between Valerie and Peter, it does provide suspense about who the wolf is. We get the sense that Valerie knows it is someone close to her and therefor she is conflicted throughout the movie as to who to trust and love. It is directed by the same woman who directed "Twilight," so that says something about the movie. The camerawork is better in this than in "Twilight," though. I had a similar feel as "Twilight" which could be attributed to the soundtrack. The special effects are good (minus one obvious puppet wolf head) and there is little gore, which is good for some people and disappointing for others. There are some humorous parts, whether they were intentional or not is hard to say. The plot is pretty simple and straightforward, until the ending, which I find problematic in terms of Valerie's emotions, but I won't get into it because I would have to spoil the ending. I would say, though, that the end leaves room for sequels, if they choose to go the saga route.

The Bottom Line: The movie is entertaining, but if you want 'can't sleep for weeks' horror and 'pee your pants' thrills, that is not what you are going to get. It is more so a movie about relationships and trust with a CGI wolf thrown in. It is worth seeing once, but you might want to wait to rent it. Don't see it twice. The second time is quite boring. If you want to take kids to see this, I would say it is okay if you are worried about gore, but be careful because there are a few parts (maybe two parts) that are quite sexual, especially during the village celebration, which is a bit like Mardi Gras.

Just Go With It?

Movie Title: Just Go With It

Starring: Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Released: February 11, 2011

Hoot Rating: I give this film One Hoot. There were slight moments of laugh-out-loud fun. Some of the humor was crude, but there were other genuinely funny moments which prevent this film from being entirely Hoot-less. Other than these brief funny moments, there is not much there to be desired.

The Critical Eye: Just Go With It is a romantic comedy where Adam Sandler plays Danny, a plastic surgeon who, because of a past heartbreak, uses a wedding band and lies of a bad wife to get dumb, but willing women to have sex with him. He has many successful years of one-night stands who swoon for a guy stuck in a bad marriage, until he meets and falls for Palmer, a girl who is not so cool with the idea of being a home-wrecker. After their roll in the sand, she finds his symbol of everlasting love (the fake ring) in his pants pocket. Rather than telling the truth and risking sounding like a douche, Danny does what comes so naturally to him and lies. The lie, of course, is not enough for the girl who wants to meet the ex, so Danny enlists the help of his assistant, Katherine, divorced mother of two and the one woman that knows all his truths, played by Jennifer Aniston. She poses as his not-so-nice, soon-to-be ex-wife. Things go smoothly during their little meeting, until she slips up and reveals she has kids, which means that she and Danny have kids. This makes Palmer like Danny even more and she wants to bond with the children. A sick and twisted extended family vacation to Hawaii ensues as well as a tangled mess of plot complications and Adam Sanldler humor.

"Just go with it" seems to be what the writers of this screenplay said to producers any time they examined the plot too closely. The focus seemed to be more on individual moments of comedy rather than on comical situations that build to a plausible climax and ending, the way a good comedy should. This is not to say that there were not some rather unique displays of comedic genius, as the crowd in the theater with me were not stingy on their laughs during certain points throughout the film. For the most part though, the physical comedies, jokes and perverted wit are an attempt to distract the audience away from all of the flows in the plot.

The writing is not the only thing to blame, however. I find it hard to believe that, given the large number of cast and crew that go into making any movie, there was not one person who campaigned hard enough to get the hideous false nose out of the movie. Yes, you read right...hideous false nose. It was a lame attempt to give Danny (Sandler) motivation to ditch vulnerability of being in love and become a liar and plastic surgeon. I must insist there had to have been a better way. I suppose it is supposed to be humorous, but it is just disturbing and a big turn-off so early in the movie. The nose goes away though, so things get a little better...at least, as much as the acting will allow it to get. This movie is what it is: A cross between a Jennifer Aniston movie and an Adam Sandler movie with the best of each cut out. Jennifer Aniston is sweet and likable while Adam Sandler is perverted and comical. Basically, they are both every character they have ever played. I suppose there is not much wrong with this except for the fact that this time they are in the same movie. I suspect I was not the only one who was a bit surprised to see them in a movie together, but I thought I'd give it a chance. Unfortunately, I was not wrong about thinking them to be a bad combination. There is no chemistry between them. Moments where I should have found myself sighing "how sweet," with my heart fluttering, I felt a bit disturbed.

The acting done by the kids was surprisingly touching and comical. Bailee Madison and Griffin Gluck played Maggie and Michael, Katherine's (Aniston) kids in this movie, and they did the comedic moments and touching moments well. However, this is a bit overshadowed by the way they are treated and talked to by Danny (Sandler). He is hardly a loving father figure and I never really believe that he cares about them the way Katherine (Aniston) seems to think he does. This is just one of the issues with the plot. The kids are treated this way because it was thought to be comical and the attempt to make the movie comical led to the neglect of creating a likable lead character. He is only a good guy in the eyes of Katherine (Aniston). Danny is a character prepared to be invested in a relationship based on lies and is willing to pull anyone in with him to make it all happen. It is okay for the main character to be comical, but he must also be likable with redeeming qualities.

Hopefully you do not think I am being too critical. I do think it is worth One Hoot because there are some very funny moments including one involving a coconut that was very funny and disturbing at the same time. You will also come away with a new term for going to the bathroom (specifically number two). It is a good escape from reality and enjoyable, just don't analyze the plot too much.

The Bottom Line: Basically, If you plan to see this movie because you love Adam Sandler's movies like Waterboy, Billy Madison, and Happy Gilmore, don't see it. If you plan to see this movie because you want to see Jennifer Aniston fall in love and have touching relationship revelations, don't see this movie. If you care at all about having a realistic plot, don't see this movie. If you care at all about having a well put together romantic comedy plot, don't see this movie. If you want to see a stupid movie that will make you laugh a lot and that has perverted moments, go see this movie. If you were planning on seeing this with your significant other for Valentine's day, don't go see this movie. Basically, I thought it was alright and worth it for the laughs.