Movies as Mental Junk FoodSo, yeah. Free Hulu figures prominently in this edition of "Movies I've watched while socially distant". Truth is I have done more than just watch movies- I've read, played board games, played a lot of driveway basketball, kayaked, mowed, but movies seem like more fun to write about. This group is mostly cinematic junk food brought to you by a free month-long trial of Hulu I started last week. Unfortunately, my free trial of the Criterion Channel was only 2 weeks and already ended. Hulu isn't burdened with as many movie masterpieces (or any movie masterpieces, really) but that hasn't stopped me from checking it out. 5. Blind Date- No this isn't the 1987 Blind Date with Bruce Willis that Best Friend Tony totally ruined for me when we were 12 by describing every single scene in detail one afternoon while we jumped on my trampoline. This was much, much worse. This is a French movie on Netflix that wife and I decided to watch one night in order to have the living room to ourselves. As it involved subtitles and a distinct lack of things getting blow'd up, we knew the kids would have zero interest. Turns out, neither did I. This was a profoundly stupid movie and we ended up turning it off 20 minutes in. I'd like to get those minutes of my life back. Worst movie of the quarantine, and does not qualify for a picture in my blog post, as I refuse to look it up. 4 (tie). Bumblebee- Junk food courtesy of Hulu. I loved Transformers when I was a kid and I almost universally loathe movies made by Michael Bay. So it's been a rough 15 or so years for me as far as Transformers movies go. I actually went to see the first one with high hopes and I think I allowed my brother to drag me to another one, but those movies are so, so bad. So Bumblebee came out and I refused to spend money on it at the theater, but it wasn't directed by Michael Bay and I thought I'd eventually give it a chance. Free on Hulu? I'm down. And.... It's not bad, really. Probably better than the 5th or 6th movie in a franchise about 1980s toy robots from outer space has any right to be. John Cena growls and glowers a lot, stuff blows up, good guys win in the end. Not bad. The movie is helped immeasurably by the casting of Hailee Steinfeld who is awesome as usual. In fact, she's way to good for a movie this dumb. I hope she made bank. Anyway, if you want to see her absolutely own a movie, check out True Grit (2010 version). Probably best performance I've ever seen by a child actor. 3 (tie). Madea's Big Happy Family- Madea movies are stupid, but they don't pretend to be anything else. They're also usually hillarious and this one was often laugh out loud funny. Tyler Perry in a dress and Mr. Brown in whatever it is they dress him in are epic in this one. My favorite characters, though, are Madea's brother Joe and Madea's gold, 1974 Cadillac. The Caddy had a nice role in this one, but Joe was a little underused and not as bent on getting high as he is in some of the other movies. However, his impersonation of the floor joists begging for mercy when Madea, Mr. Brown and Cora are all in the same room together is greatness. 2. 13 Assassins- So this one is Hulu, too, but a way more artistic movie than Bumblebee or Madea. If you consider a sadistically evil feudal Japan warlord and the 13 noble Samurai bent on shooting, slicing, stabbing, bludgeoning, and decapitating him and his likewise evil minions to be high art. I do. Anyway, made a couple of years ago, this is a lightly re-imagined version of Akria Kurosawa's much-revered classic, Seven Samurai. I love that it doesn't put Seven Samurai into a different setting and pretend like its not similar. It's set in feudal Japan and the Samurai are Samurai, not Old West gunfighters, WWII soldiers or Jedi. Subtitled, bloody and awesome. 1. Seven Samurai- Got this one in right before the Criterion Channel trial ended. It's soooo good! Also: soooo long (3hrs 20min). Akira Kurosawa was a great Japanese film maker in the post-WWII era of 1950s-60s Japan and hugely influential on modern Hollywood filmmakers. George Lucas was a big fan and borrowed heavily from this movie for Star Wars. It's subtitled, long and black and white, all of which make it even better than it would be otherwise. As the band Bare Naked Ladies said, "Like Kurosawa I make mad films. Ok I don't make films. But if I did they'd have a Samurai". See the movie, you'll get the sentiment.
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Movies! Get Your Movies Right Here! Got another top-5 raking of movies for you, although only one was something I'd never seen before. Youngest son is becoming a bit of a movie buff and we've been watching some flicks I love and think he should see.
5. X-Men: First Class- No apologies, I love superhero movies. This one is pretty good too. I remember going to see it with my brother when it came out several years ago. I bought the DVD at some point, but never watched it. Anyway, was looking for something to watch the other day and came across it again. Enjoyed it a lot. Stuff blows up. Michael Fassbender as Magneto is pretty cool. More stuff blows up. 4. Minority Report- This one is currently on Neflix. I've already revealed that I'm a sucker for Tom Cruise movies, so this one checks that box. I'll also watch any Steven Spielberg movie with no hesitation, so Minority Report is kind of a special treat. Tightly written, acted and directed just like you'd expect. A couple of scenes instantly mark it as a Spielberg movie, even if you didn't know he directed it- especially the one with the eyeballs bouncing/rolling down the ramp. That one could've come straight out of E.T. or Gremlins or Indiana Jones. If you haven't seen it, in the future the police department uses psychics to stop crime before it happens. Then stuff goes wrong and Tom Cruise is there to fix it. What else do you need? 3. Love in the Afternoon- This is the one I hadn't seen before, but as I've mentioned before, the free preview of the Criterion Channel is super cool. This is from 1957 and stars an older Gary Cooper and a very young Audrey Hepburn as a May-December romance. Obviously, youngest son didn't pick this one, but my wife did enjoy it. Beautifully shot beautiful people with an enjoyable story. Nothing not to like. 2. Master and Commander- I have already proclaimed my love for anything written by Patrick O'Brian, and since I recently read two more of his books, I had to get this movie out and watch it with youngest son. This one has Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany as the two main characters. This is one of those movies I could watch 100 times in a row and not even be the least bit bored. It has tall ships, battles, heroic dudes fighting battles in tall ships... I could go on. I really love this movie. 1. Dr. Stangelove (or how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb)- Have I mentioned that the Criterion Channel is awesome? Well, it is. This is one of my all time favorite movies and is currently featured on the Criterion Channel in a special edition. "But what's so great about it, Mr. McCraw?" So glad you asked, you curious hypothetical student, you! This is one of the all-time great satires, a brilliant send up of the stupidity of war in general and the Cold War, specifically. Directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring George C. Scott and Peter Sellers (who are both awesome in this movie- Sellers plays three roles), this is just a beautiful movie. This is the movie that has the iconic scene of Slim Pickens riding an atomic bomb all the way to the ground waving his cowboy hat around and yelling "yahoo!" the whole time. But for me, that's not even the best scene. My favorite is when a Soviet ambassador is allowed into the "War Room" in the Pentagon. The general played by George C. Scott, flips out that a "commie" is in the room and he and ambassador get into a fight. The President (Peter Sellers) tells them to knock it off and that "There's no fighting in the War Room!" Classic. I used to show it to my AP European History classes and have seen it about 100 times, but it's still funny every time I see it. Check it out whenever you get a chance. A little slower goingSo I'm well ahead of my book reading pace from last year. I finished 18 "grown up" books (ones for me, not counting ones I read to my daughter) and 25 total in 2019. I'm already at 10 "grown up books" and 15 total for 2020, but I have slowed down a little over the past two weeks.
Sometimes I'll have two books going at a time, but usually one is fiction and kind of "light" reading and the other will be something non-fiction or a little deeper. Recently I ended up with two deeper, non-fiction books and I just haven't been going as fast. Anyway, since the last time I posted about books, I've finished 3 more: 3. The Magician's Nephew- I read this one to my daughter, but it's a CS Lewis book from the Chronicles of Narnia series. Kind of a kid book, but not in a Ramona the Pest kind of way. It's about the first people to be able to travel to the different worlds beside our own (there are more than just Narnia). Anyway during this process, the kids free the evil White Queen/Witch who ends up being the main antagonist in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. 2. I Am N- This one is a tough read. Not because the language is hard, but because it is true stories of Christian converts persecuted in Muslim countries. Each chapter is one person's story. Not always happy endings, but very inspiring. 1. In Search of the Source- This was really great- it's a true story of a missionary to the Folopa people of Papua New Guinea. They're one of hundreds of different language groups in one of the most remote places in the world. They're also recently reformed cannibals. The Folopa are a primitive people and have no written language. Part of the mission is developing an alphabet for Folopa and then teaching the people to be able to read it. Form there they spend 40 years working to translate the entire Bible into the Folopa language. The book details the struggle to translate the story and the idea to a language and culture where there is apparently no basis for those concepts. The people are fascinated by the idea of a loving God and their reactions when they truly understand a concept are remarkable. My favorite saying of theirs, when they are engrossed in a story or really understanding something, is "We are dying of the deliciousness of these words". More MoviesStill have't been watching movies at the pace I thought I would've if you would have told me a month ago I'd still be in lock down mode, but I have seen some really good ones recently. This is going to be a top-ten list, but it is about as strong a list a 10 as you can get. Only one really bad movie- and a friend recommended it (awkward!).
As always, post in the comments if you've seen something good or have a recommendation!
Top 5 movies watched while remaining socially distant5. Ip Man 4. The Last Samurai 3. A Tuba to Cuba 2. Ferris Bueller's Day Off 1. Inception Kind of a soft top-5 so far. Really thought I'd be watching more movies by this point in the lock down. This is pretty much the whole list for me at the moment, but I've got about 15 that I plan to watch soon. I'll update the list if there is anything that breaks into the top 5. Ip Man is a Hong Kong kung fu flick with Donnie Yen. I'm a total sucker for a good kung fu movie and this one is pretty good stuff. There are a handful of sequels, but I'm not sure if this one is so good it needs sequels. I'll probably watch them at some point though- I loves me some kung fu. I'm also a sucker for Tom Cruise movies, so Last Samurai was a natural for me. I've probably seen it a half dozen times, but it has both samurai and ninjas in it and my main movie watching son hadn't seen it. It was just as good the 7th time. A Tuba to Cuba is a documentary about the Preservation Hall Jazz Band going on a musical outreach trip to Cuba. I'm even more of a sucker for jazz than I am for kung fu or Tom Cruise, so this was a natural. I was in hog heaven watching it, but I did notice that no one in my family watched for more than about 15 minutes. I might be kind of a geek about some things. Ferris Bueller's Day Off is an absolute classic. One of my other sons hadn't seen it, so we made time to watch it. Just as funny as it ever was. Good grief Inception is a such a good movie! If you haven't seen this one yet, it's on Netflix and it's a just a remakable piece of film making. I won't geek out more than I already have, but this one is really good. Post your Top-5 quarantine movies in the comments. Even if you don't have a full 5, at least give us some recommendations!
I love the Nick Hornby novel High Fidelity (as well as the movie version with John Cusak). One of the organizing concepts that the main character, Rob, uses to manage his life is the "Top 5 List"-- top 5 rock bands, top five love songs, top five breakups, etc. The idea totally fits how my brain is wired as well, so, in honor of Rob from High Fidelity, I bring you my top 5's from life socially distanced: Top 5 books read while socially distancing5. Ribsy by Beverly Cleary 4. Keep the Door Open by Kristen Berry 3. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury 2. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell 1. The Yellow Admiral by Patrick O'Brian so yeah, I've only read 5 (so far), so that rounds out the top 5 list. Ribsey is typical Beverly Cleary fare (she also wrote Ramona & Beezus, The Mouse and the Motorcycle, etc.) It isn't her best book, but it's not that bad. Mostly I'm just tired of reading Beverly Cleary books right now. My daughter has requested about a million and six of them in a row. I put my foot down after Ribsy. We're reading The Magician's Nephew by CS Lewis next. Keep the Door Open is a non-fiction book about a family that says "yes" to every foster child placement presented to them over the course of a year. My family provides respite foster care, so this one was interesting to read from that perspective. Fahrenheit 451 is one I read either in high school or college. It's a great book and since I'm assigning it for the English II kids to read, I figured it was time to re-read it. Interesting to read it from the perspective of being an adult compared to the first time I read it. Outliers was the first book by Malcolm Gladwell I'd ever read. He's a talented writer and the book poses and tries to answer some interesting questions in way I'd not really ever thought about. I've found myself telling other people about this book a lot more than anything else I've read in a long time. The Yellow Admiral is the 18th book in a series by Patrick O'Brian who may well be the very best writer, word for word, that I've ever read. His ability to paint word pictures is only rivaled by his mastery of dialogue. A pure pleasure to read. A couple of his books were mashed together to make the movie Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World- A great movie if you haven't seen it yet. You got a book to recommend for reading while socially distant? Post in the comments!
The journalist and author Tom Wolfe died earlier this summer. He'd been a character of interest to me for a long time and I'd read several of his long form articles and essays, but never one of his novels. So, I decided to start reading The Right Stuff a couple of weeks ago. Not quite finished with it yet, but it's fantastic. I loved the 80s movie version of it when I was a kid-- I was a big time space nerd, even went to Space Camp. So I realized the other day that I'm kind of a sucker for astronaut movies. Except for Space Camp (the movie), that one is pretty bad. Here's my top 5: 5. Top Gun. This is more of an honorary place on the list. I went to Space Camp shortly after it came out so everyone there had the "Need for Speed". Also, I wanted to be Chuck Yeager just as badly as I wanted to be an actual astronaut. 4. 2001: A Space Odyssey. I was about 9 the first time I saw it and I kept waiting for it to be like Star Wars. It's not...at all...not even a little bit, but I still couldn't take my eyes off of it. 3. Interstellar. Tremendous movie. About 30 minutes too long, but I really like the story telling. 2. The Right Stuff. Like Interstellar, the movie version of The Right Stuff also suffers from being too long. The source material is so good, though, I can forgive them trying to get it all in there. 1. The Martian. I've re-watched this one as much as I've re-watched any movie as an adult. I look for Mars just about anytime I'm outside at night. Disagree with my astronaut top-5? Got one I missed? Post in the comments!
Here's post #1, coming to you at the end of the second day of school. This has been a lot of fun so far, but I'm so tired! it takes awhile to get back into "teaching shape". I'm excited about the potential for the year; I've got a good group of kids.
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Mr. McCrawTeacher, dreamer, father, husband. Not necessarily in that order. ArchivesCategories |