It’s the Most Movie-ful Time of the Year

Well, I don’t know about “most” movie-ful, but I needed a cute title to bring you in. 🙂

Still Crazy (1998)

Cable, original British
I was a little surprised this wasn’t a real rock band, because the music was quite good. Decent “middle-aged friends reconnect” piece. Very British humor.

I spent the whole film wondering why I knew the band’s drummer…because he’s a hallucination of the Despair Squid in Red Dwarf Series V, that’s why. Good times.

The UFO Incident (1975)

YouTube, original English
Based on the story of the Betty and Barney Hill by aliens in 1961. I was really psyched for James Earl Jones, but most of the script seemed to be Estelle Parsons in screaming hysterics with a Masshole accent, and I find that sort of film difficult to enjoy.

The Phenomenon (2020)

YouTube, original English
Content Warning: Unblurred footage of the Searchlight Strangler.

If you’ve been wondering what some of this UAP/AATIP/Lue Elizondo/Harry Reid secret slush fund/Congressional hearing stuff is all about, this is a good entry-level documentary. I found it on YouTube, but it looks like now you’ll need to check a few other places.

I don’t think I learned anything new, but I was delighted Evelyn Trent was still alive and James Fox took the time to interview her.

Seven Chances (1925)

arte, original English
There are a lot of old versions of this Buster Keaton rom-com floating around streaming sites, but arte aired a newly remastered 2022 version from French company Lobster Films (which hasn’t updated its English-language website since 2018…).

I laughed more and harder than I have at any 21st-century rom-com on my list. F’n brilliant. Even the dog. And it holds up: a 2023 remake would have to substitute Twitter for the afternoon newspaper, since the latter no longer exists, but a thousand gold-digging women (and maybe a dozen men) chasing after a shy nerdy guy with a fortune? Absolute early mid-21st century.

Barbara (2012)

arte, original Deutsch
From the director of Undine and starring Nina Hoss, who stars in other historical dramas (most recently the TV series The Defeated, which we saw on Netflix) that I have enjoyed. Here she stars as a doctor in 1980 East Germany, who has been sent to work at a children’s hospital on the edge of nowhere as punishment for applying for permission to leave the country. The film takes you through her everyday dealings with patients, other doctors, and being spied on–including periodic cavity searches–by the Stasi.

The plot centers on Barbara’s relationships with a girl abused at a local “re-education” camp for teens who comes into the hospital, and an intriguing male co-worker.

When I first saw this movie on DVD in Indiana, I was impressed by the scenery and the colors. I’ve since seen both Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and other, more colorful movies. Now I am impressed by the sheer weight of the totalitarian surveillance state–and with easier, faster, and cheaper ways of harassing dissidents now, it’s only going to get worse.

The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)

YouTube, original English
If I ask you “What do you want to watch tonight?” the answer should never be “I don’t care.”

The Spirit of St. Louis (1957)

Cable, original English
An adaptation of Charles Lindbergh’s memoir about becoming the first pilot to cross the Atlantic in 1927, starring Jimmy Stewart (who, as you already knew, flew bombers over Europe in WWII).

Funnier than I expected; some Old Man and the Sea vibes going on during the flight sequences. Recommended.

Comfort Film Festival 2022

After a full week of uncomfortable holiday togetherness combined with sinus headaches from the Föhn, I desperately needed a week completely alone with Britcom binge-watching, tacos, pizza, and taco pizza.

All I managed to get was a couple of what I will now call “comfort films”, a play on the phrase “comfort food.” I can see the action with my eyes closed, I can chant the catchphrases (in English), I have been humming the soundtracks for thirty years.

Not exactly taco pizza, but at least mac-n-cheese.

The X Files (1998)

Cable, original English
Everything I said last year. Plus the warm memories of sitting nearly alone in a freezing-cold movie theater in Nora for the noon matinee on the day of the premiere washing over me, between having to pause every five minutes to answer questions about when I’m going to reheat the leftovers.

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)

German free TV, Deutsch
Michael Kamen was an F’n genius. I hadn’t seen this film in about twenty years, but the theme from the opening credits is embedded in my soul.

Yeah, yeah. The auteurs hate this one. Bad accent, silly stunts. But I have seen the Errol Flynn Robin Hood twice since 2019–silly stunts *and* sparkly tights!–and I could see its imprint on this film, and this made me feel warm and fuzzy inside. More importantly–this film was also quite popular among my high school peers, along with Naked Gun and Tim Burton’s Batman, so there are more warm fuzzies there. “Because it hurts more, you twit!!”

And…and…AND! The witch is Cassandra from Red Dwarf, which I should have recognized in 1998…or in any of the later rewatches…but I never made the connection until now. Unglaublich.

Note for people who try to watch movies in German free TV: There were three seven-minute commercial breaks in the first 45 minutes of the film, followed by a 55-minute uninterrupted stretch where I desperately had to pee. Tja.

Jurassic Park (1993)

zdf_neo, Deutsch
German tax-funded TV showed a lot of classic American films during the holidays, most of which I did not get an opportunity to see. Anyway, we saw the two Jurassic World reboots during Eternal Lockdown, and the one with Julianne Moore over the summer, but despite my endearing habit of humming the theme every time I encounter dinosaurs or cats, it’s been at least twenty years since I had seen this one. (The theater where I saw it in Ames was flooded out a short time later, and I don’t think it ever came back.)

Anyway, it was both better and worse than I remembered. Dinosaurs! But a 12-year-old girl brings up a massive Unix system in two minutes, by clicking on some graphics. C’mon.

Troll (2022)

Netflix, English
1) He’s a Norwegian Godzilla. I like Godzilla films.
2) One of the buildings in Oslo he stepped on was where I ate reindeer pizza in 2017.

Decent enough disaster flick, fun way to end the year.