Summer Movie Rentals!

[Craig Marinaro]

We all know how those looong dog-days of summer tend to drag on...seems no matter how much time we waste floating in the pool, reading a good book, reading a bad book, hanging with friends, and doing whatever the heck else it is you people do, there's still a little time left over. And what better way to kill those empty hours than by renting some flicks from the video store, and rotting your brain away in front of the tube in a nice air-conditioned room?

I know what divergent entertainment tastes we all have here, and thought it might be fun if we traded suggestions for movie rentals we figured most of the others hadn't seen. So, I'll start the ball rolling!

Not necessarily my favorite films of all time, but some that I've thoroughly enjoyed. In no particular order:

What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966) - One of Woody Allen's earliest films - a Japanese spy flick redubbed with ridiculous English dialogue, as our hero searches for a secret egg salad recipe. Very silly.

The Fortune Cookie (1966) - A lesser-known comedy / drama classic by director Billy Wilder (Some Like It Hot, Sunset Blvd.). The first teaming of the wonderful Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, with lawyer Matthau convincing his brother-in-law Lemmon to exaggerate an injury he's received so's to get more money.

High Society (1956) - Musical version of The Philadelphia Story. Grace Kelly's last film role finds her as a spoiled rich dame who's planning on getting remarried, but her former husband Bing Crosby still loves her. Frank Sinatra and Celeste Holm are two reporters sent to cover the wedding, and Louis Armstrong plays himself. Some great songs (Crosby and Sinatra's duet "What a Swell Party This Is" is a personal fave).

State of the Union (1948) - Frank Capra classic, with mild-mannered Spencer Tracy being pushed into running for President by an overbearing Angela Lansbury. He winds up manipulating his family (including wife Katharine Hepburn) and compromising himself to get votes, and must decide whether he's really doing the right thing. Van Johnson is a lot of fun as campaign manager Spike.

Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) - Audrey Hepburn is charming as the society girl who's afraid of commitment, and George Peppard is the guy who finds out there's more to her than meets the eye. A neat little offbeat, unpredictable romance story, directed by Blake Edwards. Henry Mancini's "Moon River" is one of my all-time favorite songs.

Murder by Death (1976) - Neil Simon wrote the hilarious script for this sendup of mystery films, with a fabulous cast: David Niven and Maggie Smith as spoofs of Nick & Nora Charles; Peter Falk as a Sam Spade sendup; Peter Sellers as a Charlie Chan lookalike; Elsa Lanchester as a Miss Marple parody; James Coco as a Hercule Poirot ripoff; author Truman Capote (in his only real acting role) as the villain; and Alec Guinness in a hilarious role as the blind butler.

Horse Feathers (1932) - My favoritest Marx Brothers film. Groucho as Professor Wagstaff at Huxley U., and Chico and Harpo are the two thugs he hires to capture a rival college's star football players. Tons of great scenes and gags.

That's about it. Even if nobody cares, at least I killed a few minutes typing this up. ;)

-C

[DR. BELCH]

The Exorcist. My all-time favorite horror movie. I've heard a lot of hype about the re-released version that came out last year with a remastered musical score, some demon faces spliced into the mix, and a new ending, but some viewers say they really don't add a devil of a lot (forgive the pun). Besides, I've seen what the original does to a woman--the new-and-improved would probably cause her head to explode.

Monty Python and the Meaning of Life. The greatest movie John Cleese and the boys ever made, IMO. The feeding of the world's fattest man is not for the weak of stomanch. "Oh, [expletive deleted]! It's Mr. Creosote!" "[Bugger] off, I'm full." "Oh, but it's, uh, wafer-thin." "You don't go for the [expletive deleted] like a bull at the gate! You kiss her first!"

Star Wars. I haven't seen it in a while, and I loved to listen to the radio show on KASU back in '97. Somehow I always miss it when it's on TV, but I may just break down and rent it...if my brother ever returns our VCR. Should I start with the first one from 1975, or with "Phantom Menace", being a prequel and all?

The Green Mile. I've read the book and now I want to see the movie. Most movies adapted from Stephen King novels are miserably executed or well-done in themselves but total 180s from the source material. Hopefully I'll be able to say GM's closer to the latter, as was The Shawshank Redemption or The Shining.

Soup to Nuts. My oldest pick. Rube Goldberg (the old geezer referenced in the A! short "Of Course You Know This Means Warners") wrote the script for this 1930's B&W classic, and it even features one of his famous convoluted multistep devices. The Three Stooges (a young Larry Fine, Shemp Howard, and Moe Howard, billed oddly as "Harry") appear in it with their mentor Ted Healy, although much of the movie centers around Healy and his bickering blonde dim-bulb girlfriend (Frances McCoy, who sounds a lot like Billie). Plus there's the caterpillar-eyebrowed mute Freddie Sanborn with his comic xylophone playing and his persistent efforts to hand an important piece of paper to Healy.

[Sharklady]

As Craig mentioned, folks on this Board have variant tastes, and mine tend to be on the mellow side. So if you're in the mood for that- say, because you've come to the end of a particularly tiring day- here's a few you might find suitable:

'Life with Father' One of the original Americana comedies, set in turn-of-the-century (the 19th, that is) New York City. Wiliam Powell is a comically overbearing patriarch, Irene Dunne the loving but wily wife who manages to get her own way without directly challenging Dad's authority. Their four young sons provide the sub-plots; they're into ill-considered money-making schemes, cutting short their Catacysm lessons to play first base, and discovering girls (at least *a* girl, and you can't blame 'em- it's Elizabeth Taylor in one of her earliest roles.) A warm and gentle comedy.

For laughs on the more frentic side, there's 'Liar, Liar.' I'm not a big Jim Carrey fan, but the central premise of this movie is hilarious, and Jim plays it to the hilt. He's a sleazy lawyer who loses his capasity to lie for one whole day, courtesy of his son's birthday wish (tho he truly loves his little boy, Dad is far too blase about breaking appointments with him.) And that one day includes an importaint court appearence where Truth is the *last* thing Jim's case needs. The Importaint Lesson Learned aspect is counter-balanced by the sheer visceral humor of Carrey frantically trying to force even one untruth from his lips- his contortionist talents have never been put to better use. Or filled up more of the screen.

'Dave' also has a definite sweetness content, mostly as personified by the Decent Regular Guy title-character (Kevin Kline.) He's a presidential look-alike who's called to do a bit of stand-in work, then gets the job full-time when the real Head of State has a stroke under embarassing circumstances. Frank Langella is deliciously vile as the manipulative chief-of-staff, who intends to be the real Power behind the puppet. But the puppet develops an independent streak, and he's got friends- just about everybody else in the cast turns out to be a Good Guy. Including the initially aloof First Lady (Sigorney Weaver, wearing a radically different wardrobe from her 'Alien' togs, but still tough as nails.) Poor Frank never had a chance. If you're in the mood for a Feel-Good, this one's particularly fun to watch for the many D.C.-player cameos; look for a particularly amusing one by Oliver Stone.

For animation fans:
I highly recommend at least one look at 'Fantasia 2000', just for the variety of cartoon styles, a number of truly stunning visuals, and to see Al Hirschfeld's drawings in motion. But you may want to fast-foward thru the introductory sequences- most of the celebrity speakers don't have much to add beyond their celebrity.
And if you haven't yet seen 'Watership Down', do try it. It's a well-realized alternate view of the world- specifically, as seen thru the eyes of wild rabbits seaching for new homes. Don't mistake this for a kid's movie: in a nod to animal reality, there's a certain amount of terror, pain, blood and death (the surrealistic destruction-of-the-warren sequence is more frightening than stuff I've seen in horror movies.) There's also one haunting song; 'Bright Eyes', preformed by Art Garfunkle.

The choice, as always, is yours.

[Anthonynotes]

Let's see....figuring my tastes are probably decidedly different from others on here, and a zillion other factors, I'll throw out some stuff at random/in no particular order:

- "Back to the Future": Still an all-time favorite film of mine...the fading photographs, the 1950's culture shock bits, the DeLorean time machine...plus, of course, Biff Tannen. Rated: PG

- "Wayne's World": a fairly goofy/dumb, but amusing, film....which I saw before I'd even seen the original SNL sketches it came from (not having been a regular SNL viewer circa 1991... :-) Rated: PG-13

- "Hairspray": Jon Waters' first mainstream film (of which I haven't seen any of his other flicks, admittedly), and still amusing. Featuring cheesy early-sixties trappings, civil rights protests, and Ricki Lake pre-"Ricki Lake" (the talk show). Rated: PG(IIRC?)

- "Almost Famous": entertaining drama/comedy, about a teenaged kid in the early 70's who writes for "Rolling Stone", and gets sent on a road-trip assignment to cover his favorite rock band on a typical tour of theirs. More entertaining than I expected (esp. since I don't see a lot of dramatic-type films). Rated: R (mostly for language; as Roger Ebert noted, it probably could've been PG-13 easily/doesn't seem to have much about it that merited an "R" rating, vs. the likes of "Scary Movie")

- "Twenty Bucks": seen this past weekend, a film about how various individuals lead their lives while spending the same $20 bill that moves from hand to hand...so-so film, admittedly. Rated: PG-13 or R (don't recall which)

- "The Birdcage": fairly amusing comedy starring Robin Williams (when he was still actually doing comedies instead of going for syrupy dramatic roles), Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman, and Hank Azaria. Remake of "La Cage Aux Folles" (which I've also seen; "Birdcage" follows this French film scene-for-scene and line-for-line save for one line/a few Americanizations and updates). Rated: R.

- "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan": Great villain (YAKKO: "It's Ricardo Montalbaun and his big plastic chest!"), OK plot and great moments make this probably the best of the "Trek" films.... Rated: PG

Re: Animated Films: "The Iron Giant", "Cats Don't Dance" (both rated G)

-B.

[Calhoun07]

Even tho I work in a video store, I don't rent nearly as much as you might think. I buy most of the movies I want to see on DVD. And it is actually a fact that people tend to start buying more movies when they get a DVD player rather than renting them.

[E. Penrose]

"Dead of Night," 40's English horror anthology movie. Get a print with a good soundtrack: some of the comments are hilarious. Fast forward through the golf story and the girl's story. But some of the segments -- particularly the mirror and mannikin stories -- are some of the most subtle and horrifying bits ever made. And keep on watching through the credits. Think about what the ending means. And -- don't watch it at night. ;-)

"The Night of the Hunter." Another horror movie, this time 50's and American. One of the few truely Christian films.

"Some Like It Hot," I think, is a summer movie in the most recent sense. Sex, violence and fun, fast-moving.

"Journey to the Center of the Earth." If you can stick Pat Boone as a Scot, you'll find some real fun, and a subtext about democracy in the '50's.

"Fourty-Second Street" is still funny. Again, get a copy with a good soundtrack. Also from the 30's, "Mystery of the Wax Museum" (with a girl reporter) and "The Thirty-Nine Steps."

E. Penrose

[Craig Marinaro]

Calhoun07:

And it is actually a fact that people tend to start buying more movies when they get a DVD player rather than renting them.

True, to an extent. But: (A) a good portion of the posters here don't have DVD players; and, (B) I do, but I still rent plenty. Being the pauper that I am, it's a rare occasion where I'll get my hands on the $25+ it takes to buy a DVD. I'm a movie maniac, and I like to experiment with different styles and types of movies to broaden my horizons, to see what I like and don't like, and just generally to watch as many movies as I can whenever I can. Most of my rentals are films I've never seen before. I'm sure as heck not gonna spend a quarter of a hundred dollars on a DVD of a film I'm not even sure I'll like.

Others: Thanks for humoring me! Several of those I haven't seen sound interesting (this..."Star Wars" thing Belch suggests sounds particularly enticing..... ;).

-C

[Captain Caps]

-"Victor/Victoria"-A hilarious and oftentimes thoughtful look at sexuality and its attitudes/implications. Great performances all around, from Julie Andrews and Robert Preston to Lesley Ann Warren and James Garner. (If you want to see a major change-up role by Ms. Warren, look for the music video "Janie's Got A Gun" by Aerosmith)

-"The 'Axel Foley' Film Festival"-Or, if you want to be technical, the movies "Trading Places", "Coming To America" and "Eddie Murphy-Delirious"

-"Network"-It's more than just "I'm As Mad As Hell, and I'm Not Gonna Take It Anymore".

-"Reform School Girls"-Spoof of the "women-in-prison" genre of movies. Sherri Stoner, the voice of Slappy Squirrel, is in here, and she looks good.

-"Streets Of Fire"-80s meets 50s in this musically-charged action drama, featuring Diane Lane and Rick Moranis.

-"The Jerk" and "Pennies From Heaven"-One is hilarious, the other is interestingly dramatic, and both have great performances by Steve Martin. Highlights of "The Jerk" include a humorous script, church-towing, and "The Thermos Song". Highlights of "PFH" include Bernadette Peters (for all A! fans), songs from the 30s (for Craig), and Christopher Walken as a tap-dancing pimp (for robert).

More to come...

Sincerely,

John "Captain Caps" Kilduff

[Anthonynotes]

A friend and I tried to watch "Network" once, but weren't too thrilled with it....said friend stated he preferred the mid-80's film "Broadcast News" (along a similar theme IIRC, the faults of TV news production), which I still don't think I've seen...

-B.

[Calhoun07]

Craig, I have to say it looks like you have a fine taste in films there. I might have to check some of those out myself!

As for what isn't on DVD yet, that I would have to rent if I wanted to seem them, I'd pick Leap of Faith with Steve Martin. I loved that movie. And Wild at Heart, that movie by David Lynch. I would love to have that one on DVD.

But I don't rent as much as I used to. When I do rent, it is to watch movies that I think might me marginally good, ones I want to see but can't quite decide if I want to buy them. The two I rented most recently are Monkeybone and Sugar and Spice.