misswonderly3
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Posts posted by misswonderly3
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Fred, please read my post again, especially the highlighted part.
"This is my take on Turner Classic Movies:
I love this television station. It is unique;it is the only tv channel I can think of that does the following. These are the reasons I value TCM:
...(points 1 through 3 in earlier post )
*4) TurnerClassicMovies IS FREE. Don't give me this rubbish about "no, but I have to pay my cable bill" or "no, I have to buy a DVR to really get the most out of tcm" . You pay a cable bill, yes, and it may be more than you would like to pay, and rates vary according to where you live and what cable company provides your service. BUT ! if you were to factor out how much you pay a month, and divide your bill up station by station, I'm guessing that the most anybody would have to pay for TCM would work out to about $10.00 a month tops, and for most I bet it works out to something like $3.00. Not your entire cable bill, of course, I'm talking about if you figure out what it costs on a monthly basis to receive Turner Classic Movies.*
*Let's say it is $10.00 a month (which it wouldn't be): Even at that price, think about it: You are receiving, for a mere $10.00 monthly, a great television station which provides you with commercial free movies, 24 hours a day, movies that you would have to go to a great deal of trouble to seek out and probably wouldn't find many of them, movies that you would have to pay at least $10.00 to purchase (probably a lot more), when for that same amount of money you get an entire month's worth of great film viewing.*
People talk about being " consumers" of TCM, but I do not feel that I am a consumer of this station. I am a very grateful recipient of its exceptional broadcasting for just a few dollars a month."
(Point 5 on earlier post)
Fred, my response to what you just said is: please read point #4, I bolded it for you.
Edited by: misswonderly on Jan 6, 2011 5:40 PM
Edited by: misswonderly on Jan 6, 2011 7:45 PM
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This is my take on Turner Classic Movies:
I love this television station. It is unique;it is the only tv channel I can think of that does the following. These are the reasons I value TCM:
1)Turner Classic Movies airs a large variety of movies, most from before 1960 (yes, Fred). I love movies in general, not just old ones. If a film is good, it's good, whether it be from 1931 or 2001. TCM shows "classic" movies, foreign films (great !), silent films, cult movies, "shorts", and everything in between. The vast majority of their programming is of interest to me. This does not mean that I watch it all the time, or even record much of what they show, I just have too many other things to do. But it is the only television station I can think of (and this includes PBS and TVO, that last being a tv channel in Ontario similar to PBS ) that shows so many great films, such variety, and such carefully considered programming.
2) TCM really does show films "commercial free". ( I'm not sure about "uncut", but I do believe that if there are cuts or edits, it was not the fault nor the intention of Turner Classic Movies to do that; perhaps that is how they received the film.)
COMMERCIAL FREE is very important. I cannot stand most commercials anymore, the nagging, the stupidity, the noise of them. Not to mention the interruption to the film, and how this breaks the flow of a movie. I value that commercial free policy of TCM's very highly, it contributes enormously to my enjoyment of watching a film.
3) TCM makes every effort, as far as I can see, to provide a variety of programming, as lzcutter and others have pointed out on this thread many times. Of course you're not always going to like what they show; whether it be the Star of the Month you dislike, or a Laurel and Harvey marathon, or those "shorts" with John Benchley (name right?) or too many movies from 1966, or whatever your complaint may be, think about this: was there anything like it before? I know some of you remember some halcyon time when something called AMC was commercial free and aired a veritable cornucopia of fabulous vintage films. I don't think I ever experienced this heavenly time, or this legendary television station, so I remain indifferent to these fond reminiscences.
4) TurnerClassicMovies IS FREE. Don't give me this rubbish about "no, but I have to pay my cable bill" or "no, I have to buy a DVR to really get the most out of tcm" . You pay a cable bill, yes, and it may be more than you would like to pay, and rates vary according to where you live and what cable company provides your service. BUT ! if you were to factor out how much you pay a month, and divide your bill up station by station, I'm guessing that the most anybody would have to pay for TCM would work out to about $10.00 a month tops, and for most I bet it works out to something like $3.00. Not your entire cable bill, of course, I'm talking about if you figure out what it costs on a monthly basis to receive Turner Classic Movies.
Let's say it is $10.00 a month (which it wouldn't be): Even at that price, think about it: You are receiving, for a mere $10.00 monthly, a great television station which provides you with commercial free movies, 24 hours a day, movies that you would have to go to a great deal of trouble to seek out and probably wouldn't find many of them, movies that you would have to pay at least $10.00 to purchase (probably a lot more), when for that same amount of money you get an entire month's worth of great film viewing.
People talk about being " consumers" of TCM, but I do not feel that I am a consumer of this station. I am a very grateful recipient of its exceptional broadcasting for just a few dollars a month.
5) A lot of people (this is NOT aimed at anyone in particular, believe me, it is just a trend I've noticed in a general way since I've been participating on these forums) seem to have almost a sense of entitlement about Turner Classic Movies. We don't have "a right" to a free, commercial-free, high quality television station that airs rare, old, and foreign films 24 hours a day. This is, to me, a gift. I appreciate it. I am grateful, not in a sycophantic way (nobody around here is sycophantic as far as I can tell anyway; just because you like and defend something does not mean you are "sucking up" to it).
I live in Canada; until a few years ago there were some silly and misguided rules and regulations here (the CRTC, "Canadian Radio and Television Commission") which foolishly thought it was somehow protecting and maintaining Canada's "identity" if they limited the amount of television stations from the U.S. that could be aired in Canada. (It made no sense, don't even ask...) TCM was one of the stations that was unavailable to me , even though I knew about it and was mad to get it, until , I believe, around this time 2007. So it's a 4-year anniversary coming up that TCM has been accessible for me, and I am grateful for all of those 4 years ( it does sound like a relationship !)
What a long post -sorry, but when I read complaints about what TCM does or does not show, when they show it, their hosts are ignoramuses, they push too many DVDs and film catalogues, why do they show so many silents, why don't they show more silents, Ben Mankiewicz needs to iron his shirt, get rid of those Bowery Boys movies, bring in a thousand Bowery Boys movies, JUST WHY DOESN'T TCM SHOW EXACTLY WHAT I WANT WHEN I WANT IT??? It's not going to happen, this station accomodates thousands (millions ?) of people, that means thousands of different likes and dislikes. It's free, it's great, just be happy with it. They show stuff all the time that I'm not interested in; good, maybe I should catch up on that book I put down two days ago and haven't read since. Maybe I can call my cousin, go on a bike ride, take a walk, take a nap, write a poem (about Joel McCrea, of course ) clean out a closet (and find a treasure trove of ancient videos recorded years ago), or watch something I've recorded but never had the chance to watch til now, because TCM is showing, say, *Dr.Zhivago* again.
Do I like *Dr. Zhivago*? No, I hate it. Do I care, am I mad, that TCM is showing it? No, I have many other things to do, and I know that later in the week they're bound to air something I love or have always wanted to see.
People, let's get things into perspective.
OK, the end.
Edited by: misswonderly on Jan 6, 2011 3:34 PM
Edited by: misswonderly on Jan 6, 2011 5:29 PM
Fred, my response to what you just said is: please read point #4, I bolded it for you.
Edited by: misswonderly on Jan 6, 2011 5:31 PM
Edited by: misswonderly on Jan 6, 2011 5:34 PM
technical difficulties
Edited by: misswonderly on Jan 6, 2011 10:47 PM
too much editing - well, it was a long post.
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That was another surprising disappointment from Wilder. He kind of went downhill a bit after *The Apartment*. And, yes, I think *Irma La Douce* is wretched, too. That dumb song, and the far-fetched "Jack Lemmon will impersonate someone else, and then pretend that he's dead" scenario is not so ridiculous it's funny, it's just ridiculous.
Actually, I've never been the biggest Shirley MacLaine fan.
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Yup, one of them.
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I agree, johnbabe, *Kiss Me, Stupid* is very stupid. I wouldn't care so much about the tasteless sex jokes if it were funny, but it's stupendously unfunny. And this from Billy Wilder.
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If Brian May from rock group Queen can be an astrophysicist, I don't see why Jayne Mansfield couldn't be a nuclear physicist.
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Moonshadow is my very favourite Cat Stevens song. Should have posted it the night of the full lunar eclipse, a couple of weeks ago.
Songwriter Gerry Rafferty died this week. It was a toss-up between this song or Baker Street, but Stuck in the Middle with You wins out on account of its cool quotient. Famously used, of course, in *Reservoir Dogs* (but I'm not using the video from that) :
Edited by: misswonderly on Jan 6, 2011 6:42 PM
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brian34, I am from Ontario and have visited PEI for my summer holidays several times. (drove all the way there and back ! ) I absolutely love it ! I'm seriously thinking of moving there - in a few years. I hope it doesn't change too much before then...all the Maritime Provinces are fantastic, beautiful and interesting in many ways, but Prince Edward Island is the loveliest.
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> {quote:title=FredCDobbs wrote:}{quote}
> Hey folks, is anyone going to be up tonight at 3 AM Eastern time to see "They Shall Have Music", 1939, with Joel McCrea?
Joel McCrea !
Joel McCrea !
Hope I remember
To record it next day.
(Although I don't really consider 3 AM to be day or night -some twilight area in between. )
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Just proves how versatile Jeff Bridges is. He's very good in last year's *Crazy Heart*, too.
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Ah, la nostalgie. "1979", another "yearning" song. They were good, those Smashing Gourds.
Well, since you're still thinking about "holiday" music (the Slade tune), perhaps I'll squeeze in something I was going to post New Year's Eve day . ( ended up posting the obvious but good "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?" ). The Band played a great concert one New Year's Eve , and it gets off to a kickass start with "Baby, Don't You Do It". Turn your computer volume icon up as loud as it will go, you've got to savour the punchy horns on this. Even though the silly camera person doesn't even show the horn players. Play it, you Canadian rockers ! (except for Levon Helm.)
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> {quote:title=traceyk65 wrote:}{quote}
> Thanks. I know next to nothing about horse racing and nothing at all about betting.
For some reason, that sounds like a film noir line itself.
Edited by: misswonderly on Jan 5, 2011 10:50 PM
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Well, you know my opinion of Miss Gardner, we've been over this before...I don't "get" the fascination with her. I know, I know, she has some ineffable erotic appeal that heterosexual woman cannot fathom (although having said that, there are plenty of other lovely noir ladies for whom I can understand why men would lust after - that does not sound grammatical -oh well, when speaking of lust, it probably doesn't matter.)
Anyway, Ava Gardner almost annoys me, I find her not only not the sex queen she is so often said to be (yes, yes, we've discussed this numerous times -remember the photo of her on the beach that I posted?) , but also rather wooden and uninteresting as an actress.
Except, come to think of it, in that African thing with Grace Kelly and Rock Hudson. Ava was funny and likable in that.
edit -not Rock Hudson, Clark Gable. I would be terrible at those trivia games.
Edited by: misswonderly on Jan 3, 2011 7:07 PM
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Hey, I just turned on the set to while away a few minutes, and *Mystery Street* was on ! If I'd known in advance that TCM was airing this today, I'd have posted a heads up about it here. I love it- it's a great little noir.Detective Ricardo Montalban looking askance at racist rich men, Elsa Lanchester being even dottier than usual, the "procedural" format which includes bizarre skeleton faces on slides, trashy but pretty Jan Sterling tripping down the boarding house stairs in mules and a fluffy dressing gown to take a phone call, the battle in the train yard, the bird in the cage with the secret - great stuff !
Anybody else seen this?
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Yeah, speaking of guilty pleasures, Abba is everybody's. I'm in a confessional mood: all right, dammit, I saw *Mama MiaI* (the film) when it came out a couple of years ago, and I totally enjoyed it. It was fun, I hummed along to the songs (very quietly) and found myself kind of bopping in my seat a couple of times. Abba Abba Abba ! Now just watch, all the guilty Abba fans will be crawling out of the closet. My favourite is "Waterloo."
Change of pace: Calexico is this cool little TexMex band, they're pretty good. Here's a danceable little tune by them, "El Gatillo". Looks as though they recruited Josh Brolin to play the trumpet.
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I was wondering about *In a Lonely Place* too. But the Gloria Grahame character didn't do anything, even unconsciously, to make Humph crazier. It wasn't even jealousy that put the Bogart character over the top; he was just a rage-filled kind of guy. It's a very good, very sad film. A "tragedy" in the classic sense of the word: the protagonist brings about his own downfall through a weakness/defect in his character. It's so sad, because when he isn't going crazy with irrational anger, Dixon Steele is an intelligent, kind, and likeable person.
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> {quote:title=finance wrote:}{quote}
> Since I have not seen THE PAJAMA GAME, I assume that TCM has shown it rarely, if it all. Maybe there is a rights issue.
I could have sworn you posted a comment once about the songs in *The Pajama Game*, at least that one, "Hey There, You with the Stars in Your Eyes". Maybe you'd heard the song, but not seen the film, which just proves that the music from the film was so good it got airplay on the radio.
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Yes, I've also read that the Coens were fans of *Night of the Hunter*.
I'll reiterate that the soundtrack music in Ethan and Joel Coen movies is one of their strengths as filmmakers.
Edited by: misswonderly on Jan 3, 2011 1:48 PM
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That's it ! "Copacabana" is the title of that song - all I could remember was the first line, "Her name was Lo-lah ! She was a sho-gal" ; not to be confused with the Kinks' "Lola", of course.
Well, I suppose Barry Manilow has his place - as cujas said, she only listens to him in the car. Everyone probably has a few guilty car listening pleasures.
Gordon Lightfoot was a podiatrist before he switched to song-writing, hence the name change. He legally changed his name to Lightfoot to encourage happy customers. (didn't we have some kind of film noir nonsense about podiatrists a while back?)
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> {quote:title=Kinokima wrote:}{quote}
> I am not sure if it is the best score I heard this year but it is a shame it can't be nominated since it was a nice score that worked really well with the film. It was influenced by 19th century Christian hymns especially Leaning on the Everlasting Arms (which was the ending song)
Kinokima, as you probably know, that hymn "Leaning" is used to great effect in *Night of the Hunter*. It is a particularly graceful and sweet melody which is rendered simultaneously seductive and menacing by Robert Mitchum's terrifying character singing it throughout the film. Turns out Mitch has a very fine voice, and his "duet" of the hymn with Lillian Gish is one of the most memorable scenes in a movie replete with haunting and unforgettable moments. Here is a clip of that song, and that scene:
There is something very powerful and evocative about this song, and apparently the Coen Brothers think so too, as it is used, as you point out, repeatedly in *True Grit*. Soundtrack composer Carter Burwell deserves recognition for his fine work here; the many variations of "Leaning" that he arranges, each one according to the mood and action of the individual scenes, reveals a deep understanding of both the old 19th century hymn and the True Grit story.
One reason I love the Coen brothers' work is that I feel they love and celebrate really good and authentic music, and that they know how to weave this music seamlessly into their films.
It is lamentable and ridiculous that the soundtrack to the new *True Grit* is not being nominated for an Oscar, but since I place little value or credence on the Oscars in general (although I always watch them ! ) it doesn't really matter much to me.
ps -One last comment on the Coen brothers and their soundtracks: I love *Oh Brother Where Art Thou?*, both the film and the music from it, and I strongly recommend both to anyone who hasn't already seen it.
Edited by: misswonderly on Jan 2, 2011 10:37 PM
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Good points, tracey. Plus, why do the "bad" female characters get a special label, while their male counterparts are just doing their thing? Why are so many female characters in noir either evil femme fatales or passive goody two shoes? There are exceptions, of course; often the characters Ida Lupino plays are smart but not wicked, " good" but not cloying. One example: Lily Stevens in *Road House*
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Even a casual Van Morrison fan is probably familiar with his joyful anthem, *Into the Mystic*. Here is a live version from Van the Man; another optimistic and inspiring song to greet the new year: (to greet something, anyway) :
Edited by: misswonderly on Jan 2, 2011 5:31 PM
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They have to protect their heads from the projectiles that dissident anti-Royalist troublemakers are wont to hurl at them.
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So, Lombard81, what are some of yours' ?
Edited by: misswonderly on Jan 2, 2011 4:24 PM
12/26 schedule: seriously TCM, you just quit trying, didn't you?
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Fred, I appreciate the smiley face and I know you were probably joking (don't you hate it when people take something you're joking about seriously?) but still, I think I make a valid point cable and TCM.