Movie Rob Takes Part in the latest ABC Film Challenge, feel free to join the challenge.

“Don’t beat yourself up over this, Mitch. It’s not your fault. Dammit, Blue was old. That’s what old people do. They die. ” – Beanie

Number of Times Seen – Twice (30 Jun 2003, 27 Jan 2008 and 14 Nov 2018)

Brief Synopsis – Three middle aged men start a fraternity in order to relive their college days.

My Take on it – When Darren told me that he chose this genre for November, I was quite excited and debated for quite a long time what movies I would review for this challenge.

My first pick was this film which I have now seen 3 times and it gets even better upon multiple watches.

They do a great job showing the way that middle age life can sometimes get people down and they therefore want to revert back to living the carefree days that they spent back in college.

The cast of this film is perfect and they help set a great tone for it all.

Luke Wilson and Vince Vaughn are both great in their respective roles and they would later be typecast in similar kinds of roles for years afterwards.

The best piece of casting tho in this film is that of Will Ferrell as Frank and it seems as if he was born to play such a great role that seems like an extension of roles he played while he was part of SNL for so many years.

He commandeers EVERY scene he is in and none of the other actors come close to outshining him at all.

The style of humor in this film is very similar to Animal House (1978) and in some ways feels like a modernized version of that classic college fraternity film.

The story just gets funnier and funnier as things move along and works on so many levels.

Bottom Line – Really fun film that shows how men wanting to relive their days of partying in college are faced with the conflicts of a ‘grown up life’.  The cast is hilarious with Wilson and Vaughn giving great performances, but Ferrel was born for this kind of role and steals every scene he is in.  The humor is perfect for an Animal House (1978) style film set in the 21st Century and it just gets funnier and funnier as the story moves along. Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Frank’s streaking scene was shot on a city street. As Will Ferrell remembered it, one of the storefronts was a twenty-four-hour gym with Stairmasters and treadmills in the window. “I was rehearsing in a robe, and all these people are in the gym, watching me. I asked one of the Production Assistants, ‘Shouldn’t we tell them I’m going to be naked?’ Sure enough, I dropped my robe and there were shrieks of pure horror. After the first take, nobody was at the window anymore. I took that as a sign of approval.” (From IMDB)

Rating – Globe Worthy (8/10)

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“When people believed the earth was flat, the idea of a round world scared them silly. Then they found out how the round world works. It’s the same with the world of the supernatural. Until we know how it works, we’ll continue to carry around this unnecessary burden of fear” – Dr. John Markway

Number of Times Seen – 1 (8 Oct 2018)

Brief Synopsis – A Paranormal expert travels to a house that is perceived to be haunted in order to try and discover its secrets.

My Take on it – I will be the first to admit that I am far from being the biggest fan of films of the horror genre. In fact, I avoid them as much as possible.

I decided to watch this film because it was chosen as the LAMB MOTM for October and it’s always fun to have seen a film before I listen to a podcast of fans discussing the movie.

In addition, I could also use this film as an entry for Darren’s ABC challenge and therefore get away without having to endure yet another horror film that I probably wouldn’t enjoy very much.

Personally, I didn’t find this film thrilling at all and in fact, most of it seemed to just creep along at a pretty slow pace.

By the end, they had presented more questions than answers which is usually quite frustrating for me since I like having definitive closure instead of ambiguous strings of a plot.

The cast is quite competent here and makes us believe what they are trying to accomplish and I loved seeing Russ Tamblyn in a different kind of role for him.

The problem was I kept waiting for him to break out in songs about Sharks and Jets. 🙂

The special effects seem quite mild here, yet they do manage to make things feel realistic in a way that they can be interpreted as being possibly supernatural or just natural.

This film was probably perceived as being much more suspenseful when it was made 55 years ago, but watching it now, it doesn’t seem to come even close to having that same kind of effect.

Bottom Line – Not very thrilling IMHO. As with many horror films things creep along very slowly and even by the end there are more questions asked than answered. The cast is pretty good and it was fun seeing Russ Tamblyn in this film without the need to have him sing. The effects all seem quite mild and even if this film was perceived as being quite scary when it came out 55 years ago, it doesn’t manage to have the same effect now.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Claire Bloom was intrigued to the play the role of a woman who was attracted to another woman. She said she got along with everyone on the set, except for Julie Harris, who tried everything to avoid her and not talk to her. At the end of the shoot, Harris went over to Bloom’s house with a present and explained that the reason she had kept to herself was to stay in character, because Harris’ role in the film was that of an outsider that none of the others understand or will listen to. Bloom was happy to hear the real reason behind Harris’ behavior, since Bloom stated that she really liked Harris and could not understand what she herself had done wrong to be treated like that by her co-star. (From IMDB)

Rating – BAFTA Worthy (6/10)

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Movie Rob joined me for the latest pick, head over to his site to see his reviews.

“It has nothing to do with Satan, Mama. It’s me. Me. If I concentrate hard enough, I can move things.” – Carrie

Number of Times Seen – 1 (2 Oct 2018)

Brief Synopsis – A teenager whose mother is overprotective of her due to her own religious stances is bullied by her classmates which helps her realize that she has the power to move objects.

My Take on it – As a non-fan of the horror genre, this October is never an easy month since the whole world loves horror films besides me.

When I joined Darren’s challenge, I was a bit skeptical as to whether would partake this month, but decided that there are some films that I finally need to see even if they are outside of my comfort zone.

This film was high on that list.

I am a big fan of Stephen King’s work and always like the way that he is able to explore other aspects of life along with horror, so I was a bit intrigued to see what would happen with this one.

The idea of bullying and abuse is presented really well and the fact that the main character is effected both at home and school by these issues works quite well because they are both done in very realistic ways.

She is bombarded by bullies in all facets of her life and still tries to continue to live a normal life despite it all.

The aspect of having a superpower like telekinesis is explored nicely and we get to see how her power begins to slowly grow.

The cast is great and it was quite fun seeing actors and actresses in key roles who wold eventually go on to bigger and better things like Sissy Spacek, John Travolta, Nancy Allen, Amy Irving and William Kaat.

Spacek was deservingly nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress for this role even if she had little chance of winning against Faye Dunaway in Network (1976).

Bottom Line – Interesting idea that shows a different view of the effects of both abuse at home and abuse at school. The way that both situations are handled very differently works quite well in showing the realism of the situations presented. The cast is superb especially since most are actors and actresses who are at the beginning of their careers but would go on to much bigger things. Spacek was deservingly nominated for Best Actress at the Oscars for this role. Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – While speaking at a book event in Fort Myers, Florida in 2010, Stephen King recalled that he was paid just $2,500 for the movie rights to Carrie (1976), which may seem like a pittance, but he has no regrets. “I was fortunate to have that happen to my first book,” King said. (From IMDB)

Rating – Globe Worthy (7/10)

ABC Film Challenge Non-Review Selection

I won’t be doing reviews for everything letter, so here are my pick for today.

ABC Film Challenge

Romance

Z

Renee Zellweger – Bridget Jones’s Diary

Why I’ve Picked this choice – Miss Zellweger stepped into the role of Bridget Jones for the first time in 2001 she went on to play the role three times in total and this a trilogy I have never seen, this point of including it is simple, this is the promise to one day go and watch all three and learn to apricate the trilogy for what it is. I have never read the books and that simply won’t be happening, but the movies will become part of a future weekend franchise.

ABC Film Challenge

Romance

Y

You’ve Got Mail

Why I’ve Picked this choice – I did my full review on this film back in March, Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks were one of the best on screen couples of the 90’s, this being their third outing together and this time we follow a small book shop owner Kathleen Kelly (Ryan) who in search of love uses online dating, here she meets Joe Fox (Hanks) a large book chain business owner that usually eliminates the competition with his cheaper, larger selection of books.

This is a romantic comedy and does hit the jokes very well throughout the film reminding the audience that Hanks is just as capable of doing comedy as he is the more serious film, which is he most known for in the 90s. the idea of online dating was just starting out and while this is a remake of ‘The Shop Around the Corner’ it does show us how we changed our dating habits through the years.

This is one of the best rom coms from the 90s, it can be watched and enjoyed by all, even if some of the next generation might find it hard to see the first signs of online dating with the world circling around fast ways to chat.