sewhite2000

While Clint has kept right on directing, this will be his first acting role in six years. He last appeared in The Trouble with the Curve in 2012, an increasingly rare example of him acting in a film he didn't direct. I will definitely go see this movie. There's been a lot of hoopla about what Robert Redford has said is going to be his final acting appearance. Since it certainly seems possible this might be Eastwood's as well, I will definitely check it out.

I do want to say there are always a couple of surprises every year, something from Fox or Universal or a modern movie you might not have been expecting. You have to dig deep to find them sometimes, but there's almost always a nugget or two there. It clearly appears to be harder than anyone on these message boards wants to work to find, given the extreme, overwhelming hate for 31 Days among message board members. I feel sad and isolated year after year as if I'm the format's only defender. I do wish there was even more diversity. But at the risk of appearing pathetic, I do hold out hope and look forward optimistically to each year's lineup.

Okay, also in chronological order of release, here are the movies I'm likely to watch in the second half of December: Little Women (RKO, 1933) The Young in Heart (United Artists, 1938) Bachelor Mother (RKO, 1939) Christmas in July (Paramount, 1940) Remember the Night (Paramount, 1940) The Maltese Falcon (Warner Bros., 1941) Meet Me in St. Louis (MGM, 1944) Murder, My Sweet (RKO, 1944) Lady on a Train (Universal, 1945) Lady in the Lake (MGM, 1947) The Bishop's Wife (RKO, 1947) You Never Can Tell (Universal, 1951) A Christmas Carol (Dist. in US by United Artists, 1951) Monkey Business (20th Century Fox, 1952) High Society (MGM, 1956) Jailhouse Rock (MGM, 1957) Some Like It Hot (United Artists, 1959) Midnight Lace (Univeral, 1960) The Absent-Minded Professor (Disney, 1961) The Thrill of It All (Universal, 1963) A Hard Day's Night (United Artists, 1964) The Way We Were (Columbia, 1973) Smokey and the Bandit (Universal, 1977) Smokey and the Bandit II (Universal, 1980) Little Women (Columbia, 1994)

Sleep is calling me, so I'm stopping after just looking at the schedule for the first two weeks. Here, listed in chronological order of release, are the films I'm most likely to watch during that time. At some point, I'll post a Part Two covering the second half of the month: Blessed Event (Warner Bros., 1932) The Kennel Muder Case (Warner Bros., 1933) It's a Gift (Paramount, 1934) Colleen (Warner Bros., 1936) Boys Town (MGM, 1938) Beyond Tomorrow (RKO, 1940) The Shop Around the Corner (MGM, 1940) The Monster and the Girl (Paramount, 1941) Holiday Inn (Paramount, 1942) It Happened on Fifth Avenue (Allied Artists, 1947) Blackboard Jungle (MGM, 1955) Marriage - Italian Style (Embassy, 1964) Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolfe? (Warner Bros., 1966) The Graduate (Embassy, 1967) Norma Rae (20th Century Fox, 1979)

Wait, what, how did I miss this? Feels like this was about four days after the November schedule was finally posted. We're on Page Two already before I was even aware this thread existed. I will have to look at the films and then post later with some reactions.

If you want to read a bunch of actual Crowther films, I would recommend buying one of those 1,000 Greatest New York Times Movie Reviews books. There have been at least two different editions. While he curiously is not listed as an author on the cover, I would suspect the majority of reviews in the book, given his very long tenure at the newspaper, are by him. His career was pretty much over, I guess, after he refused to soften his hateful review of Bonnie and Clyde, and increasingly everyone else began to look at him as seriously old and out of touch. Edit: Oops, that should have read "Crowther film reviews", not "Crowther films!"

Yeah, I heard about this on the radio earlier today. Sarah Silverman, the Jewish comedienne and actress, tweeted Gibson's quote the night he was arrested that "the Jews have caused all of the world's wars" immediately followed by a link to the announcement.

Ha ha ha, I'll never forget Shatner pointing at Jon Lovitz, wearing Spock ears, and asking him, "You. Have you ever kissed a girl?", and he hangs his head in shame.

What is the movie where he takes over a newspaper and actually gets to be a (admittedly flawed) hero? I quite enjoyed that one.

I haven't even been able to start reading the posts yet because I'm mesmerized by SpeedRacer's moving avatar. Is that a first for these message boards? (And I still can't even successfully load a damn still pic!)

I don't know, but Nipkow would say it's a better film!!!! (Let the laughing emojis commence!)

I don't know, but Nipkow would say it's a better film! Shoot, forgot to quote the previous post. Le'ts try this again!

This is such a rarity that I imagine virtually all the examples have already been given. The only other instances that immediately jump to mind are alternate-language remakes, such as Von Sternberg shooting both German and English language versions of The Blue Angel. In modern times, Michael Haneke did a virtual shot-for-shot remake of the German films Funny Games with an English-speaking cast.

Once in a blue moon I stumble across an article about classic cinema on an all-encompassing pop culture website like AVClub. This article is from four years ago and compares 1932's Best Picture winner to a more recent movie, although one that's now old enough that I doubt few people under 30 have seen it. https://film.avclub.com/an-early-best-picture-winner-plays-like-the-magnolia-of-1798266749

A local radio personality I listen to was bemoaning how his two sons, both born after 2005, totally crush his soul every time he tries to introduce them to a pop culture concept that he loved by asking, "Is that from the 1900s?" To him, the 1900s literally means 1900, the Wright Brothers, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and Teddy Roosevelt. But to his kids, the 1900s means Mariah Carey, the original Jurassic Park, Seinfeld and Nirvana. That is so extreme ancient history for them, they consider it the last century and stare blankly at their father and have zero comprehension why their comments make him feel old. So, I am not surprised Chaplin draws blank stares when Mariah Carey and Nirvana draw blank stares. It's just the way of things with the young.

There's a brand new movie out which I saw in the theaters within just the last couple of weeks where the characters are shown watching Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. I'm trying to force out of my long-term memory banks what that movie was. Aggh!!! I can remember, I will come back and post.

I, uh, no one has mentioned Silence of the Lambs?

I would probably have to go with Out of the Past. It was one of the movies I saw in my freshman Intro to Film class in college. I don't think I listed it on the Fassbinder thread where I brought up all the films I watched in that class, but I won't go and revive that thread, I guess, just for my own gratification. I guess I prefer slightly more empathetic Mitchum, although his out-and-out evil roles in Night of the Hunter and Cape Fear are also great. I would go with Friends of Eddie Coyle for later-era Mitchum.

Ha ha ha you make me think of Planes, Trains and Automobiles when Steve Martin tries to lead the bus in a singalong of "Three Coins in the Fountain" only to discover he's the only person on the entire bus who's ever heard the song, and John Candy steps in and saves the day by leading everyone into The Flinstones theme.

Hard to imagine anyone else in this role. I think Fonda's buddy Jimmy Stewart could have shown Tom Joad's integrity, but I think only Fonda could have produced that accompanying air of menace.

Wow, I just had a revelation that I think only solidifies my point that only Harrison Ford could play Han Solo. I actually momentarily forgot someone else DID play Han Solo, and just a few months ago! And I saw that movie in the theater!

I think Selleck would have been fine in the part of Indiana Jones. He would have brought a similar flippancy and world-weariness to the role as Ford. But for me, Ford also brought a certain fanatic intensity of purpose that I don't know that Selleck would have matched.

Burt Reynolds said he turned down the part, and George Lucas allegedly pursued Al Pacino, but for me, it's unthinkable anyone else could have ever played this role:

When Johnny Depp did this same role years later, he knew he had to go a completely different direction with it, and I guess I give him props for that, but there's no matching this man in this role:

Oh, Good grief, the first post in this thread is five years old! I should check these things more carefully. I just put a thanks emoji on it ... The information is still relevant, though and should probably re-quoted whenever someone asks, "Why can't TCM only show old movies like the way they used to?"