Thursday, November 15, 2018

Thursday Movie Picks-Museum


I love museums especially art museums...I know...yawn for many, but I think they are great and have had the privilege of seeing many great works of art. I have also been to Niagara Falls many times and Clifton Hill to be exact where the tacky museums are...overpriced and quite dumb but strangely fun. I have to say one of the better ones is Ripley’s Believe It or Not. I am picking no art museum movies even though I like The Da Vinci Code. Let’s see what the others have chosen so head over to Wandering Through The Shelves. So here are my 3...

1. BRINGING UP BABY-1938


This is a fun movie that I love watching and I am due to see it again. It stars the great Cary Grant as a nerdish(!) palaeontologist who is trying to gain funding for his museum. He meets up with the daffy Katherine Hepburn who is related to a very rich lady who could help Grant’s money woes. Unfortunately, the dog steels the dinosaur bone, the couple get arrested and baby goes missing...baby is a pet leopard who is quite tame but there is a wild leopard that escaped from a circus on the loose as well. One of the best screwball comedies ever made with brilliant performances by everyone involved. It showcases Cary Grant’s great comedic skills and how well he gets along with his frequent co-star, Katherine Hepburn...a must see.

2. HOUSE OF WAX-1953


I know October is over but this seems to fit for this week. It is a remake of an earlier film(1933) starring Fay Wray (which I will see one day) and I choose this fun flick with Vincent Price since I love this actor. This film was one of the first 3D films that tried to make it big in the 1950’s and was the first by a big studio and with Stereophonic sound. Price stars as a great sculptor who becomes insane after he is deceived by his partner who burns down the wax museum. Years later Price is back and decides to create his waxwork masterpieces using dead bodies. He becomes obsessed and you know things won’t go well. One of the first times we see Price as a horror star and a great campy film.

3. NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM-2006


I have a feeling this will be popular this week but I don’t care because I like this movie. Ben Stiller always looks like he has a boil up his ass making him look always confused and pained looking.  He plays a man who can’t seem to hold down a job and ends up as a night watchman at the New York natural history museum. Little does he know that all the artifacts come alive at night until he finds out the hard way and goes running for his life since he has a T-Rex after him, Attila the Hun and a nasty monkey. Soon, he becomes friends with some of the museum pieces like Teddy Roosevelt played with compassion and fun by the great Robin Williams. This is a feel good movie that brings out friendships, father/son relationships  and feelings of self worth. I  love the camaraderie between Owen Wilson and Steve Coogan as the tiny cowboy and Roman soldier and I love seeing Dick Van Dyke and even Mickey Rooney in this movie. Dick Van Dyke is still going strong with a cameo in the newest Mary Poppins film but, hopefully, without his bad cockney accent.


By the way that man is 92!

What films would you choose?

48 comments:

  1. Man, I still need to see House of Wax. I saw the remake of that one...yeah, the one with Paris Hilton. Most people hate it, but I actually enjoyed it. Been promising myself the Vincent Price version but haven't gotten around to it yet. The first Night at the Museum was charming and fun. Didn't need sequels, though.

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    1. If Paris Hilton ends up in molten wax, I’m all for seeing the sequel of the sequel. I agree that no remakes were needed

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  2. Hello Brigit, great choices and I've actually seen all three. I love Katherine Hepburn and she and Cary Grant made a fabulous team, and Vincent price always raised the hairs on the back of my neck. Night at the Museum is a hugely entertaining film, in fact it's on UK tv tonght, Kate x

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    1. Cary and Kate did make a great team and, I think, they truly liked each other...as fr8ends I mean. Vincent was so good and yet he loved art and cooking. Night at the Museum is a fun movie

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  3. We match with Bringing Up Baby, and almost with House of Wax as I used the remake. I love museums too.

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    1. Yeah! We match with 1 1/2 movies...hahahaaa. Glad you love museums

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  4. Bringing Up Baby didn't even occur to me but it makes perfect sense. Such a fun jolly ride with poor befuddled David and Swingin' Door Susie! In a fractured way we match on House of Wax since I chose the original version but Vincent Price makes this one a pleasure. I've toyed with seeing Night at the Museum but it looks so CGI heavy plus the added deficit of Owen Wilson has kept me away but I'm sure I'll see it one day.

    I am a museum lover two which lead to me coming up with four and I just couldn't trim down further.

    Mysteries of the Wax Museum (1933)-Sculptor Ivan Igor (Lionel Atwill) and his partner, Joe Worth (Edwin Maxwell), run a famous wax museum in London. Joe burns down the place down for the insurance money leaving Igor trapped inside. Though terribly burned he survives. Decades pass and Ivan surfaces in New York as the curator of a new wax museum, boasting incredibly lifelike statues. When model Joan Gale (Monica Bannister) goes missing reporter Florence Dempsey (Glenda Farrell) follows the clues to Igor's museum, where she discovers a terrible secret. Remade with Vincent Price as House of Wax.

    One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing (1975)-Lord Southmere (Derek Nimmo) is being chased by a ring of Chinese spies pursuing him to gain possession of a secret microfilm he holding which reveals the formula for the mysterious Lotus X. While being chased through London’s Natural History Museum, Southmere hides the film in the bones of a Brontosaurus skeleton. When he’s captured it's up to his old nanny Hettie (Helen Hayes) and her hardy band of fellow nannies to find the film and keep it from the clutches of the evil Hnup Wan (Peter Ustinov). Pleasant Disney fare.

    The Hot Rock (1972)-Fresh out of the slammer John Dortmunder (Robert Redford) is approached by his brother-in-law Andy Kelp (George Segal) to steal a priceless diamond from the Brooklyn Museum and return it to the African nation it was originally taken from. Helped by an expert getaway man and an explosives wizard, they steal the gem with a little assistance from bombs, a faked car crash and dressing up as uniformed guards and doctors. However, almost as soon as they get their hands on the loot and prepare to transfer it to an African diplomat, they lose it. Breezy caper film with a light touch.

    How to Steal a Million (1966)-Cat burglar Simon Dermott (Peter O'Toole) is hired by the chic Nicole Bonnet (Audrey Hepburn) to steal the reproduction of a priceless sculpture made by her father Charles (Hugh Griffith) a master forger from to the Kléber-Lafayette Museum in Paris before it is examined and found to be a fake and ruins père Bonnet’s reputation. Comic complications and romance ensue.

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    1. I have wanted to see the original House of Wax but it has not been on TV. I’d love to see the next 2 films you talk about...you bring up so many great ones I haven’t seen. I have had chances to see How to Steal a Million but for some reason it never grabbed me even though I like both actors...I should give it another shot

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    2. Ack! If I read it right I've stumped you Birgit, I don't think I've ever done that before. :-)

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  5. Cool! I've seen all of these. Your comment about Ben Stiller made me laugh. It's so true! Robin Williams as Teddy Roosevelt was a standout in that movie.

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  6. I haven't seen Night at the Museum in years so I don't remember much about it but I don't think I enjoyed it that much.

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    1. Yeah, I get it especially Owen Wilson can make me want to punch him

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  7. I love Bringing Up Baby. One of my favorites.

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  8. I saw all three of the NatM films

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  9. Haven't seen any of the three.
    Literally? Don't know any movies literally in museums. Last Year at Marienbad. The characters/people have always been there and always will. Abstractly they're in a museum.

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    1. I have not seen that film but heard it is one strange movie

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  10. I can always stop and watch Bringing Up Baby when I come across it on TV. Cary & Kate were magic together. And, the writing, whoo-hoo! Snappy and sparkling, just like the actors.
    House of Wax was my introduction to horror movies. Oh my gosh, Vincent Price creeped me out way into my 30s. Shudder!
    I like your last choice, too. Robin Williams was delightful as Pres. Roosevelt.

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    1. Cary and Kate were magic and really liked each other. Vincent Price was so good as a horror villain and, yet, in his real life, he was gentle and loved art and cooking. I miss Robin Williams

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  11. Night At The Museum was great fun, and the sequel was also surprisingly good, with sequels so often failing to be as good as the first.

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  12. Hi Birgit - never heard of the first two ... but enjoyed Night at the Museum ... and as always some other excellent recommendations from your readers ... cheers Hilary

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    1. I think you would like the snappy dialogue of Bringing Up Baby...you should try that one

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  13. Seen a few versions of house of wax. Night at The Museum was good too. Although yeah, he does always act like he has a stick up there lol

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    1. Love to see the first film of House of Wax and the first Night of the Museum is the best in my humble book.

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  14. Hmm. The only one I haven't seen is house of wax. I have to say bringing up baby is a super movie and probably my favorite of the 3. I can't wait to see the new Mary Poppins film though. Mary Poppins is one of my favorites. Happy Thursday. hugs-Erika

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    1. Mary Poppins is a great movie and I hope the remake does it justice

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  15. 'NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM' seems like something I might like.

    Right now, at this moment, I can't seem to think of any Museum movies I've seen and really liked. Hmmm..... This genre file seems to be empty for me.

    ~ D-FensDogG at STMcC Presents 'BATTLE OF THE BANDS'

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    1. I like how the monkey abuses Ben Stiller and you might like it. I bet you could think of a couple if given some time

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  16. Whoops. Haven't seen these.
    Do you have any desire to see Front Runner?

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    1. Oh my gosh..Yes!! I really liked Gary Hart and when the news came out about his affair, I was disappointed in the man but I still thought he would have been a good president. Maybe I was missing something but I thought it should not have ruined his career..I mean look at JFK? I love Hugh Jackman so I want to see this

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    2. I completely agree. For me it's like church and state. Having an affair has no bearing on running the country.

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  17. Well, I am three for three if not sitting down and watching them all the way through counts. I think all of these are movies that were on the TV while I was busy doing something else. Vincent Price manages to be creepy just being Vincent Price.

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    1. Hey, at least you saw them in between dusting and cooking:) Vincent was so good as this horror villain but he was actually such a gentle man who loved art and was an expert in that and in cooking. He even wrote cookbooks

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  18. You won't believe this, but I am doing a happy dance. I have actually seen Night at the Museum. I'm not a fan of comedy, but this was SO good. Happy to say I've finally seen at least one film you recommend in the past year!

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  19. Only seen Bringing up Baby, but it was fun.

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  20. I don't recall seeing Bringing Up Baby even though it is frequently shown on TCM. The other two are good choices that I've seen.

    I know I've seen many museum related movies, but not many are rushing into my thoughts yet. I know that some of the "Mummy" films have had museum settings at some point so I'll add those without being specific as to which ones.

    The film that first popped into my head was Wise Blood, based on the Flannery O'Connor novel. In an integral part of the story the main character steals a small mummy from the town museum in order to make it into some kind of representation of baby Jesus. It's a very weird movie, but directed by John Huston it definitely has some good qualities. But it is really weird like the book.

    Arlee Bird
    Tossing It Out

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    1. One other just popped into my head: The Greatest Showman. The story is about P T Barnum who before he started his circus his entertainment facility in NYC was promoted as a museum of oddities. This has become one of my new favorite movies--maybe somewhere in the top 5.

      Arlee Bird
      Tossing It Out

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  21. Cary Grant was great in any role he embraced, wasn't he? Comedic or drama.

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  22. 92? Well if he doesn't inspire, nobody does.
    I wouldn't mind bringing up a baby of any sort with Carey Grant (I mean, if he was alive. Preferably).

    Hugs, Birgit.

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  23. Birgit,

    "Bringing Up Baby" is a vintage film I'd like to see. I think I saw 'House of Wax' eons ago and I definitely recall seeing 'A Night at the Musuem' (all three). 'Ghost Busters II' takes place around a musuem. We watched both of these films for Halloween. :) Great picks! Have a good week and let me say, how thankful I am to have you as my friend. God bless!

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  24. Vincent Price was a genius at madness and horror and he had the gift of scaring the beejesus out of audiences. A true Hollywood Star who knew his craft, I watch lots of his movies when I was a kid and the voice, hehe was part of the magic. He drew you in..... You see Birgid these guys, Stiller, Teddy Roosevelt, Robin Williams, Owen Wilson, Steve Coogan, Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney had the talent which flowed in this Mary Poppins musical. The whole audience stands when dick appears which was probably the whole idea. I mean the guy is 92 years old for petes sake and not even a cane, isn't he great! He certainly reach the 100 mark, no doubt - still full of life. Dam just listening to him talk and move makes me marvel and God rest Stan Lee.

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  25. Soon to be The Goldfinch, I'll bet.

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  26. I’d only seen a couple of these. Jilda has probably seen most of the ones you’ve seen.
    When I sit down and watch old movies I usually like them. The exception are movies made from plays. Those I don’t care for. I’m not sure why.
    R

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  27. I haven't seen this House of Wax, only the one that was made in the 2000s which wasn't very good.

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  28. I've worked at two different museums, and both were mostly good gigs, so I'd never diss them.

    There's a great horror-parody movie that I believe is called Wax Museum (not House of Wax). It's so cheesy it's hilarious.

    Not really a museum movie, but there's that great moment in Some Kind of Wonderful when Eric Stolz takes Lea Thompson into the art museum after hours to see the portrait he'd painted of her.

    And then there's the Mummy movies...or Indiana Jones? I believe there were some museum tie-ins there, but there needs to be more horror movies set in museums, because they're naturally creepy, especially at night when everyone's gone home.

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