Thursday Movie Picks: TV Edition- Revenge

 

I know there is a TV show called Revenge but I only saw the first episode and then lost track. Wandering through the Shelves stumped me at first but then the dusty cogs started turning and I came up with 3 that, I think, fit. 

1. GENERAL HOSPITAL-1963-PRESENT

Revenge is a constant in Soaps and this is one I have watched since I was a little kid. My mom watched this soap since it started which is why I watched it so long ago. In fact, there is an actor on the show whom I recall as being a young tween who often sought revenge…Scotty Baldwin. He fell in love with Laura but she ended up running away with Luke Spencer. This was at the time when the show was nearly cancelled until Luke no Laura ran away. Luke’s sister, Bobby Spencer ( played by Jaclyn Zemon who just died of cancer at age 70 and made her last appearance a month ago) wanted Scotty and sought revenge against Laura whereas Scotty sought revenge against Luke. Later on Bobbie softened and was not a meanie but others came and went and revenge was always big. Just recently, a character, that I can’t stand,  got her Royal twit in a knot and sought revenge against her boyfriend’s ex-wife but, obviously, it backfired. They never learn.

2. DALLAS-1978-1991

This is the daddy of the night time soaps and started the rage of the soaps from the 90s with big hair and big shoulder pads. This starred Patrick Duffy and Victoria Principal as newlyweds but from 2 bickering families who happen to be rich. Patrick is a nice guy( well, he was the man from Atlantis after all) but his brother, played by Larry Hagman is anything but nice. He is J. R. Ewing who loves to be mean because he can. In fact, this soap started the season ending Cliffhanger. The most famous is the “Who Shot JR” episode which, I remember, sweeping not just here but the world! It was revenge for how mean he was  and..shock! It was Bing Crosby’s daughter. 

3. DYNASTY-1981-1989

This is the one night time soap I never missed( anyone remember the Moldavian wedding massacre episode?) this starred John Forsythe as Blake Carrington who recently married his sweet secretary played by Linda Evans. Of course, his grown children dislike her, except for one…if I remember, and try to out her. It was not doing well in the ratings when Forsythe, up on murder charges, realizes he is in deep doodoo, when a mystery lady for the prosecution comes in. Of course that was the season cliff hanger which grabbed people’s attention so when it premiered and turned out to be Joan Collins chewing the scenery in all her shoulder-padded glory. It turns out she is his ex-wife and is seeking revenge! Joan brought the right spice along with glistening lips, fancy outfits and many sequins to see which person she was out to get.  When Joan and Linda Evans fight it out in the fountain pool, we weren’t sure who to route for. 

All 3 are fun, stupid and silly but you have to love the outfits and the stare downs.

Which tv shows make you think about revenge?

Wednesday Music- The Beatles...kind of

 

No, not that type of beetle! The English invasion known as the Beatles was the theme over at Monday Music Moves Me. It was suggested by Patrick from Adventures in Wiseland. Everyone did many songs from The Beatles which are, rightly, famous. I love the band but, strangely, I don't own an album of theirs...weird. I went a bit different but still all about the Beatles...

1. SUBROSA SUBWAY BY KLAATU-1976

I love this band that happens to be Canadian and have a prog rock feel ( am I right with that assessment??). Someone suggested that they were actually the Beatles who were hiding under this name and it became quite the talk of the town for a while. You can hear the influence with this song.

2. IMAGINE BY JOHN LENNON-1971

I love, love, love this song by John Lennon which, I think, is a powerful song. Many get their butts in the air about " no religion too," but many wars were started as a result of religion( Crusades anyone, never mind the zealots in the name of their God who commit aatrocities). I have seen people on TV  say they believe in the Bible and place their gun on top of it...WTF? Some of the worst people I have met or seen are ready to judge and vilify another person because they disagree with their own beliefs. So, I think it's perfect to have that in the song. Sorry for my rant.

3. CELEBRATION BY PAUL MCCARTNEY-1997

I had to place in a classical piece that Sir Paul composed  and he has composed more than one classical composition. The sadness is that the so called high brow snots scoff at his orchestral works which is such a shame because I think it's quite good. 

So these are 3 of my choices which are odd, except for Imagine(maybe), but it works. I do love The Beatles and my fav was always George. Loved him in The Travelling Willburys. 

More Wedding Movies

 

It's still June and Weddings are the thing to do in June and the rest of the summer. I've been a bride once and a divorcee now but I still love looking back at my wedding. I've been many bridesmaids having to wear some outfits that just should never be. I never had to wear a seafoam green taffeta number with netting in the arms and skirt which catch a lot of bugs. This was a dress a friend had to wear. Anyhoo, I am picking 3 more recent films that can be considered rom-coms and here they are...

1. MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING- 1997

Julia Roberts played in quite a few of these flicks and, in this one, she is the best friend of a man she used to date but now are just best buds....until she meets his fiancée played by Cameron Diaz. Now, Julia wants her best friend back as her boyfriend and tries all sorts of tricks to get him back. She even brings in her other friend, who is gay and very handsome, to help her or, at least, tell her to smarten up. This is a fun flick where you can just watch and not worry about the world.

2. MY BIG, FAT, GREEK WEDDING- 2002

This was the surprise sleeper hit for the summer. It stars Nia Vangelos( who also wrote the script) as a mousy daughter of a large, boisterous Greek family that run a restaurant. She has a dad that believes windex is a cure all for everything, a loving mom, a crazy aunt ( played beautifully by Andrea Martin), a sister who thinks it's time to marry and have 6,000 kids and, in your face, brothers. Did I mention the nutty grandmother who sneaks into the next door neighbour's yard? In comes handsome John Corbett who finds this gal interesting but Nia, who likes him, feels she needs to stand on her own 2 feet and start looking a little better. She goes to school, finds a razor and calms down her big hair before meeting him again. We go through their courtship and see what he must deal with since he is marrying into this family. This was written in a somewhat autobiographical way and I enjoyed every minute! 

3. THE WEDDING CRASHERS-2005

I bet Joel hates this film...lol. it stars 2 semi-irritating stars in Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughan as 2 best friends who crash weddings to score. They have a system from getting into weddings, how to portray themselves and how to get available women. They go to a very fancy wedding held by a senator, played by Christopher Walkin and his drunk, nympho wife, played by Jane Seymour and meet 2 sisters played by Rachel McAdams and scene stealing Isla Fischer who is hilarious. Owen falls for Rachel and agrees to go the senator’s compound meeting the rest of the weird family and Rachel’s ass fiance, played by Bradley Cooper. They end up getting more than they bargained for when they end up on the stately island. I find this funny…stupid, but Funny and love the scenes with the freaky sister, played by Fischer and their weird brother who is on the other side of weird. I enjoy watching it when it comes on tv. 

What other Wedding movies can you think of?

By the way, the Oscar winner music from yesterday, was “ Can You Feel the Love Tonight” with the nominated song being, “Circle of Life” and the song that got nuttin’ was “Let Me Be Your Wings”. I  kind of like that song better than the Oscar winner.

Oscar Songs 1994

 

This year, 1994, seems rather sucky when it comes to great Oscar worthy songs. I dug into Animation so let's see if you can guess which won the Oscar, which was nominated and which won got the loser badge. I'm joining the Monday Music Moves Me over at Curious as a Cathy. It's fun to listen to all the songs. Here we go...

1. CIRCLE OF LIFE SUNG BY CARMEN TWILLIE & LEBO M.

This song comes from “The Lion King” which is a really good animated film about a young male cub who, after witnessing his dad's death ( yup, Disney), goes out on his own and is befriended by a warthog and a meerkat. All the songs were written by Elton John, starting his demise into blank white-toast dull musak. This is better but...meh

2. LET ME BE YOUR WINGS SUNG BY JODI BENSON & GARY IMHOFF

This song comes from the animated film, "Thumbelina" a fairy tale created by Hans Christian Anderson. If you've ever read his tales you know he must have suffered from depression( truth...the little mermaid dies and never gets her man. Oh, and every step she takes is excruciatingly painful). Thumbelina is the size of a thumb and wishes to be a fairy but she's to be betrothed to a toad( no, her real name is not Melania). All the music was written by Barry Manilow, white bread himself, with lyrics by Bruce Sussman & Jack Feldman.

3. CAN YOU FEEL THE LOVE TONIGHT SUNG BY THE CAST

This song is also from "The Lion King" not the porn version but the legit one ( the title just makes me think it should be from a porn film).  The music is also by Elton with lyrics by Tim Rice.

So, let's see if this is an easy one or not. Who won? Who was nominated and which got nadda?

Thursday Film Fest- Weddings

 

I love my Jade who is 15 and still loves, loves, loves. It's June which means there are weddings galore, followed by a new home, new baby, more debt, and....divorce. lol I am such a romantic. There are so many movies about weddings I could do a part 2...maybe. Here are my 3...

1. THE PHILADELPHIA STORY-1940

This is a great comedy with Katherine Hepburn, who held the rights to the story having starred on Broadway, Cary Grant  and Jommy Stewart in an Oscar winning role ax a reporter who falls for the haughty socialite, played by Hepburn. You see, this rich gal is going to marry a dull moron but her ex husband, Grant, decides to come to the wedding to see her off. Her ditzy mother, alcoholic father and wise-ass younger sister all are viewers to the antics of their snotty loved one and Stewart and Ruth Hussey are sent by their Newspaper ( remember those?) to document the whole affair. This is funny, witty and intelligent.. a real gem.

2. FATHER OF THE BRIDE-1950

I like Steve Martin but, with due respect, forget his remake of this classic comedy that stars Spencer Tracy as the father having to foot the bill, his home and his soul for his daughter, bride to be Elizabeth Taylor. We witness when she gets engaged to the time she actually marries the man she loves( this is fiction because she will love only this one guy and stay married unlike the real Liz who married 8 times). We see everything mainly through the eyes of her dad who is not happy with any of it. His wife, played by the wonderful Joan Bennett, does her best to keep her husband calm while she enjoys planning the wedding. This film actually coincides with Liz’s first marriage to Nicky Hilton( of the famous hotel chain and Paris Hilton’s great Uncle or Uncle..who cares) in a gown that looks similar to the one she wore on camera. Too bad Nicky was an abusive, alcoholic a-hole dooming that marriage in less than a year.

3. HIGH SOCIETY-1956

This is a musical remake of The Philadelphia Story starring Grace Kelly in the Hepburn role, Bing Crosby in the Cary Grant role and Frank Sinatra in the Stewart role. It s a pretty good remake and fun to watch especially the number with Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong and Crosby when they sing about Jazz. Kelly was perfect in this role since she was a socialite and was destined to become a Princess. No one talked about Kelly loving just about every co-star she starred with from Crosby, Gary Cooper to Clark Gable and William Holden. I don’t know if she had fun with Sinatra, but the only 2 men she did not bed down with was James Stewart and Cary Grant. She was young and her dad was not a nice person so she was looking for love which, I think, adds to her acting in this fun movie…strangely enough.

What wedding movies come into your mind?

Music on a Wednesday - Teenage Artists & Belated Happy Birthday Joel

 

The lady above is Linda Darnell, a famous actress from yesteryear, whom Joel loves and this is for his Birthday, which was yesterday when he turned ….29?…39? Who cares! He’s a great commenter on mine and other film nuts’ blogs and I always look forward to reading what he says. I decided to join the Monday Music Moves Me, which I always do on Wednesdays because, that’s just me. This week it’s about teenage artists and 2 came to mind and, I think, Joel will like these gals.

1. LA TRAVIATA SUNG BY DEANNA DURBIN-1937

Deanna Durbin, that beautiful, operatic-singing, Canadian was born in 1921 who single-handedly saved Universal Studios from Bankruptcy. Here she is, before she turned 16, performing with the famous Conductor, Leopold Stokowski. The Met was truly interested in her but she felt she was not up to snuff yet…wow! This gal, disillusioned with her career, married, retired and settled in Paris never to talk about Hollywood again ( except for a rare interview in the early 1980s). She was happy, content and lived to be 91.

2. YOU MADE ME LOVE YOU SUNG BY JUDY GARLAND-1937

What more can one say about Judy. We know about her tragic life and early death at the age of 47 from a drug overdose but we forget that she was part of the Gumm Sisters (her real last name) and was the break out star. When she sang this song for Clark Gable at an MGM birthday party for him, the studio was so impressed that they placed her in the film, “Broadway Melody of 1938” where she played a lovelorn teen pining for Dear Mr. Gable. This song was written in 1913 by James Monaco with lyrics by Joseph McCarthy ( not the nut job senator from the 50s) and became one of her many signature tunes. She was only 15 here.

3. SWING SUNG BY JUDY GARLAND AND DEANNA DURBIN-1936

This song comes from a short called “ Every Sunday”  which was, basically, a screen test for the 2 young teens. MGM boss, Louis B. Mayer wanted to sign both up but Durbin’s contract lapsed and was swooped up by Universal. I just thought it was fun to show these 2 different musical artists together plus I love the old guy going 1,000 mph in his wheelchair…cracks me up every time.

Hope you had a great birthday Joel.

Thursday Movie Picks- Seasons in Title

 

Wandering Through The Shelves decided on the seasons which is a good theme and more difficult than I thought it would be but I think I found 3 that work. Let’s get this going…

1.  SUMMER STOCK-1950

I like this movie with some quite good musical numbers aside from the justly famous “Get Happy” number with Judy Garland. I love the routine Gene Kelly created with newspaper and the dance between Garland and Kelly. This is the last film Garland made for MGM before being fired by them due to her addictions and mental state. You can see that Garland does not look all that well…tired but she does a great job, regardless, as the sister who works the farm singing away on a tractor( yeah, not a great opening scene of Garland) whose other sister comes with a troop of performers and her boyfriend, Kelly, only to leave everyone stranded when given a better offer. Enter Garland to save the day and the musical troop. Not one of the better films they made but still enjoyable.

2. THE FOUR SEASONS-1981

This film was written, directed and stars Alan Alda as a happily married man to Carol Burnett who have 2 other married couples as friends who vacation each season together. This idyllic fun is blitzed when the one  couple split because he is unhappy in his marriage and winds up with a much younger woman. The other 2 couples must deal with their own feelings about this and what to do with their friendship with the former wife who now feels betrayed by everyone. I saw this film when it first came out and again a few years later but have not seen this in decades. I thought it was funny and thought provoking. I remember liking Carol Burnett and Rita Moreno in their roles. This is when Alan Alda, famous as Hawkeye Pierce from MASH, wrote, directed and starred in quite a few films during this time.

3. DEAD OF WINTER-1987

This is a horror thriller film more than just a horror movie starring Mary Steenbergen in 3 roles and co-starring Roddy McDowell as a creepy valet/right-hand man of this old coot in a wheelchair. Mary plays an actress approached by McDowell to appear at an audition to a director ( I think, it’s been a while) out of the city in some country mansion. You know this is not a good idea but now she is in it up to her fingers and slowly realizes that she is in some deep doodoo. I find this is more of a thriller than horror as there are no zombies or killers that keep coming back no matter how many times they die. It’s well done overall and there are some good surprises. 

So, what films can you think up that have a season in the title.