How to write quickly...that’s tough for me but I shall try so let’s go and read what I watched in July...oh and this is just a portion of the DVDs we own.
MOVIES
1. MY LEFT FOOT-1989
A great film performance by Daniel Day Lewis as the famous poet and artist Christy Brown who could only use his left foot as he had cerebral palsy. Hugh O’Connor plays Christy as a kid and is also excellent. Such a great movie and so, so, so happy Day Lewis won the Oscar over The favourite, Tom Cruise, in “Born on the 4th of July.”
2. DOWNTON ABBEY #2- 2022
Glad I saw the movie but a bit disappointed. I think Julian Fellowes tried to please with too many sub-plots. Way too many...still fun though.
3. TOPPER-1937
I still laugh out loud with the great performance by Roland Young as the meek, hen-pecked Cosmo Topper who knows that Cary Grant and wife, Constance Bennett are ghosts having died in a car crash. These madcap marrieds decide to make meek Young their reason to get into heaven. Very funny and entertaining although Grant was not a fan of Diva Bennett...who can blame him.
4. SUICIDE SQUAD- 2016
Stupid! How’s that for short?
5. THE COMMAND - 2018
Excellent film based on the Kursk submarine disaster where a Russian Sub blows up a good chunk of their sub, by accident, but 23 men live. The Russians, with their old, crappy submersibles can’t get afixed to the door to save the men and, when the British and others offer their help to save these men, the Russians turn them down. A few months after Putin was in power, he was still vacationing for 4 days after this disaster. I remember when this happened and it disgusted me but did not surprise me. Effective performances from everyone involved, from Matthias Schoenaerts as the leader of the 23 men, his wife played by the last James Bond love, Lea Seydoux and Colin Firth as the British admiral offering to help.
TV SHOWS
1. THE CAPOTE TAPES- 2019
A 2 part documentary based on the life of the weird, acerbic but intelligent Truman Capote, the author of "Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and “ In Cold Blood.” It is worth a watch for sure.
2. DAVID SUZUKI: THE NATURE OF THINGS-BODY LANGUAGE-1960 TO PRESENT
Yes, this show started in 1960 on the CBC and is, in many ways, a Canadian institution that gives some great information on wildlife, culture, science and this was a really good one on Body Language from 2017. It was so interesting to learn the subtle nuances that we give without saying a word. I love anything like this.
3. KEN BURNS: JACKIE ROBINSON-2016
Anything Ken Burns does, I watch and this was no different, about the famous baseball player that had to deal with so much racial prejudice when he played professional baseball. This is one sports person I do admire and respect.
4. THE ORVILLE-2017- PRESENT
I love this show, created by Seth McFarlane of Family Guy fame plus movies and Oscar host. He clearly loves Star Trek and pays homage with this series. The first 2 seasons were, for the most part, much lighter, than the 3rd but he is knocking it out of the ball park with this latest season. The 2 episodes based on the child of Bortus brought tears to my eyes. Deeply moving.
What did you watch??
THE Suicude Squad is so much better than the 2016 version. Udder shit lol.
ReplyDeleteHi, Birgit!
ReplyDeleteWe need to stop meeting like this, dear friend! :) Shucks, I spend more time with you than with Mrs. Shady. :)
(The future) Mrs. S introduced me to My Left Foot during the early years of our courtship, and we watched it again as a married couple a few years ago. I agree that Daniel Day Lewis turns in a remarkable performance. It brings to mind Patty Duke as Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker and John Hurt as Joseph "John" Merrick in David Lynch's The Elephant Man.
Mrs. Shady and I loved the Downton Abbey Masterpiece series, but have not yet seen the film. Thanks for the review. I highly recommend "Lady Mary," Michelle Dockery, starring in David E. Kelley's thriller courtroom drama miniseries Anatomy of a Scandal.
I have often mentioned to you that I regularly watched the Topper TV series starring Leo. G. Carroll in the title role, but I haven't seen the film. Now I want to. I always get a kick out of Cary Grant, and I see that the cast also includes "Glinda, the Good Witch" - Billie Burke.
You called Will Smith's Suicide Squad "stupid." Isn't that a slap in the face?
Mrs. Shady and I would enjoy The Command because we both have a fascination with submarines. She and I have watched The Hunt For Red October at least half a dozen times, and I watched Run Silent, Run Deep (1958) when I was a boy.
We also share an interest in Truman Capote and would enjoy the TV documentary you mentioned. The Nature of Things looks like the kind of series Mrs. Shady binges on while she's crocketing. The principles of Body Language are widely taught in the motivational seminars I attended over the years. You and Mrs. Shady share an admiration for Ken Burns' documentaries, and she is also a baseball fan. Therefore, the volume on Jackie Robinson is a sure thing.
We started watching The Orville a few months ago and are still in season 1. I am already flipping for the series and can't wait to get to the meatier season 3 you just described. Seth M is brilliant, and part of a fabulous cast on The Orville. Adrianne Palicki was a favorite of ours on Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Scott Grimes is a sensational comic actor who can also do pathos extremely well. We loved him in his long-running role of a doctor on ER. Halston Sage played Ainsley Whitly on the TV crime procedural Prodigal Son. Penny Johnson Jerald was on The Larry Sanders Show.
In addition to the Michelle Dockery miniseries I mentioned, Anatomy Of A Scandal, Mrs. S and I watched the wonderful Nicola Walker in two series - The Split, and season 4 of Unforgotten. If you want to see a wonderful show reminiscent of Doc Martin, please watch Nicola's Unforgotten co-star, Sanjeev Bhaskar, starring in The Indian Doctor, a series set in Wales. We also watched and recommend the BBC legal drama Silk starring Maxine Peake.
Have a safe and happy weekend, dear friend BB!
I would have to say I appreciated My Left Foot more than liked it. I agree the acting was next level from DDL and both Hugh O’Connor and Brenda Fricker were excellent. But the film is a tough sit especially since Christy Brown for all his admirable accomplishments over his adversity had such a flinty and irascible personality it was nearly impossible to warm to him.
ReplyDeleteLOVE the new Downton Abbey film even with its flights of fancy and excess storylines. I was a devout watcher so I am the core audience that will hang in there more or less no matter what. 😊
Topper is a delight! Cary and Constance have a great rapport, whatever their relationship behind the scenes-she was infamously a bit of a pill when she was working (a very marked contrast to her sister Joan who was well-known to be one of the fellows with a salty tongue on set) though quite the charmer socially. Roland Young is great as the put-upon Toppy with the beloved ditz Billie Burke at his side. I also saw the 70’s TV remake that Kate Jackson & Andrew Stevens made during their brief marriage. Good cast, mediocre results.
I have not seen Suicide Squad, but I’d heard it stank so kept far away. However, the Colin Firth film is new to me and sounds right up my alley so I’ll have to research and see if I can find it. Thanks!!
Same goes for The Capote Tapes and that Jackie Robinson doc.
I didn’t see anything great this month but did watch a pair of obscurities that were better than I expected. The first was Bodyhold-a bit of silliness wherein a plumber becomes a wrestler for a crooked promoter. It was average but had a good cast, though the main star Willard Parker was dull, I watched it expressly for Allen Jenkins and Lola Albright.
The other was the 1946 version of The Dark Horse. It was a remake of an early Bette Davis film-a political satire with one of Joan Crawford’s exes (Philip Terry) in the lead. He was competent but bland but again the supporting cast was an embarrassment of riches-Allen Jenkins again (I’m a huge fan and have almost completed his filmography), Jane Darwell, Donald MacBride, Ann Savage and on and on.
I did watch a slew of Dead-End Kids/Bowery Boys/East Side Kids movies which are all pretty much “you’ve seen one you’ve seen ‘em all” affairs but I get a kick out of them nonetheless and I stumbled across a trove so I’m working my way through.
BIRGIT ~
ReplyDeleteI love all of the 'Topper' movies. That's really fun stuffs from the Golden Age.
And you have an impressive DVD collection there! It looks quite a bit like my own (which I'm constantly reorganizing).
~ D-FensDogG
STMcC Presents BATTLE OF THE BANDS
As you know, I've been watching the Orville, too. I do want to see the new Downton Abbey movie, but it isn't streaming on anything I subscribe to yet.
ReplyDeletePlease read my post
ReplyDeleteYour DVD collection looks like the HHs:) I must be the only person out there who hasn't watched Downton Abbey.
ReplyDeleteHave a great one.
Hi Birgit - I'm afraid I haven't watched any of those ... just started looking at some of the Downton ones ... I must watch My Left Foot ... but the David Suzuki entices - I loved the Canadian cinematic documentaries I came across when I was over - in fact very impressed with them. Incredible collection of DVDs ... cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteI love Ken Burns and spent July watching his doc on WWII. He has a new one on the Holocaust starting here in September.
ReplyDeleteSo much to add to my to-be-watched list! Thanks Birgit!
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen any of these but of your mentions, I'm most interested in watching Downton Abbey. I've heard it's really good. Have a boogietastic week!
ReplyDeleteI remember Topper.
ReplyDeleteSandra sandracox.blogspot.com