GBGoodies 2015 Movie Logbook

Allegro Non Troppo (1976) - I watched this movie for the Animated Musicals Hall of Fame. I saw this movie once before, about a year ago, and while I didn't remember much about it, I remembered that I loved some of the animations, and I was looking forward to watching the movie again.

This movie is good on a re-watch, but I think I liked it a little bit more the first time I watched it than I did this time. It's still a good movie, but I remember being completely mesmerized by the animations, and they just didn't do that as much as they did previously. Maybe because I had no expectations the first time I watched the movie?

The animations are a bit crude in comparison to most other animated movies, but the images fit the music perfectly. Some of the segments weren't really my type of humor, but the ones that I liked were so good that they made the movie worth watching.

My favorite segment was probably the Boléro "Evolution" segment, which was kind of cool the way it paralleled "The Rite of Spring" segment from Fantasia. The live action segments were very strange, and kind of distracting. I would have preferred if the animations just flowed one into the next.

This movie is kind of a spoof of Disney's Fantasia, so you should definitely watch Fantasia before watching this movie to fully appreciate this movie.

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Quoted for truth.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

Sleeping Beauty (1959) - I watched this movie for the Animated Musicals Hall of Fame. I also watched this movie for the Animation List a while back, so this was a re-watch for me.

This is a very good movie, but it's really more about the three fairy godmothers than about Sleeping Beauty. In fact, she's only in the movie for about 20 - 30 minutes total. I like the fairy godmothers, but I would have liked to see some more scenes with Aurora and Phillip, before they realized that they were royalty.

One of my favorite scenes is the scene where the fairies are arguing about the color of her dress, and they keep changing it. If you watch closely, at the end of the movie when Aurora and Prince Phillip are dancing in the clouds, her dress changes colors between pink and blue several times.

This is another movie that I wish had more songs because the few songs that it has are very good. The song "Once Upon A Dream" is a beautiful song. I wish there were more songs like it in the movie. It's a shame that there weren't more songs for the Prince to sing because Bill Shirley has an amazing voice. (For those who don't know who he is, he's possibly best known for dubbing the singing voice of Freddy singing "On the Street Where You Live" in the movie My Fair Lady.) Also, Maleficent is a great villain, but the movie lacks a good villain's song.

On a side note, I think this is one of the few Disney movies where the parents of the Prince and Princess are alive, and nothing tragic happens to them in the movie.

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The Lion King (1994) - I watched this movie for the Animated Musicals Hall of Fame. I think the last time I saw this movie was around the time it was first released on cable or DVD, so it's been many years since I've seen this movie, and I didn't remember much about it.

I enjoyed this movie a lot, but I also thought that this movie was kind of dark for a Disney movie.

Scar is a great villain, maybe even one of the scariest of the Disney villains, but I thought the hyenas were kind of goofy. There was nothing scary about them until the end of the movie.

There are several great songs so it's hard to pick a favorite, but if I had to, it would probably be either "The Circle of Life" or "Can You Feel the Love Tonight". I especially like the way the movie starts and ends with the "Circle of Life".

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The Lion King 1 1/2 (2004) - This movie wasn't part of the Animated Musicals Hall of Fame, but I watched it because I was curious about the story from a different point of view.

Unfortunately this movie doesn't quite live up the the first "Lion King" movie, but it's an interesting movie. It shows the same story, but from Timon and Pumbaa's point of view. They weren't in the first movie for the first 40 minutes, so the beginning is totally different. This movie shows how they met, and then continues from there. The problem is that their story just isn't as interesting as Simba's story.

The "Mystery Science Theater" thing is cute, but it's kind of annoying too, but the end is very funny.

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Charlotte's Web (1973) - I watched this movie for the Animated Musicals Hall of Fame. I also watched it for the Animation List recently, and I was hoping that it would be easier to watch it this time because I already knew what to expect from the spider. (And that she didn't sound like Vincent Price. )

I have to admit that this is a very cute movie, but I still have a hard time getting past the spider. For the most part, the story is uplifting. The animation is nice, but it's not quite up to the same level as Disney, (but I wouldn't expect it to be either.)

Musically, this is definitely a top-notch nomination. It doesn't have a lot of songs, but the songs are all good songs. My favorite song is probably "Chin Up", but "Zuckerman's Famous Pig" is kind of catchy too.

I'm glad the spider's voice was voiced by Debbie Reynolds because I still picture Vincent Price when I look at Charlotte, but Debbie Reynolds has a beautiful voice, so she made it easier for me to get through the movie.

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Anastasia (1997) - I watched this movie for the Animated Musicals Hall of Fame. This movie was my nomination, so obviously I love this movie. For me, this rivals most of the classic Disney movies.

This movie has a terrific combination of romance, comedy, adventure, and more. I love the way Anastasia and Dimitri don't get along when they first meet, but little by little they fall in love. Rasputin is one of my favorite villains, and Bartok the Bat is adorable.

The voice cast is terrific. Even in animation, Meg Ryan and John Cusack have wonderful chemistry together. Plus with a voice cast including Kelsey Grammer, Christopher Lloyd, Hank Azaria, and Angela Lansbury, how could you go wrong?

I love all the songs in this movie, but my favorites are "Once Upon A December" and "In the Dark of the Night". I even have a real music box just like the one in the movie, and it plays the song "Once Upon A December".

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From the Hip (1987)

IMO, this is a very underrated movie. Judd Nelson stars as a young lawyer who uses all kinds of shocking theatrics to try to win his case. You have to suspend disbelief a bit because the things that he does would probably never be allowed in a real courtroom, but they make this a very entertaining movie. The first half of the movie is fun and entertaining, and the second half of the movie is tense and dramatic.

The entire cast is terrific, with outstanding performances by Judd Nelson and John Hurt. This could even be Judd Nelson's best performance.

Don't miss this terrific hidden gem.

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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

It took a little while for me to understand what was happening, but once I started to understand the basic concept of the movie, I was hooked. My only issue with the movie was that it didn't feel like Joel (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet) belonged together. They were just two very different people.

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I don't ever remember hearing about this movie. I will have to look into it. I will see if the library has a copy in a couple of weeks. If they do have one, I can't check it out now because I have reached my limit with what I've checked out at one time.

__________________
I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity - Edgar Allan Poe

It used to be in Walmart's $5 DVD bin, and I found it at my local supermarket for $1.99 on their bargain DVD rack, so you might be able to find it pretty cheap somewhere.

Carla's Song (1996) - This movie was recommended by Honeykid when I asked about movies with Robert Carlyle (Rumpelstiltskin/Mr. Gold on "Once Upon A Time").

Overall, this is a good movie, but it wasn't as good as I had hoped. I liked the first half of the movie, when it focused on the relationship between George and Carla, but I lost interest in the second half when the film became more about what was happening in Nicaragua than about the couple. The movie was very emotional in the first half, but I never got to know most of the characters in the second half to really care about what happened to anyone other than George and Carla.

Robert Carlyle and Oyanka Cabezas were both great in this movie, and I really wanted to see their characters end up together. However on a side note, their accents were so strong that at times, it was hard to understand what they were saying.

Thank You to Honeykid for this recommendation. It's a terrific performance by Robert Carlyle, so I'm very happy that I watched this movie.

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GBG, have you seen "Angela's Ashes".. Robert Carlyle is in that... as well as "28 Weeks Later" and "Ravenous" which are both movies I doubt you will watch.

I think you will like "Angela's Ashes".. its sad but extremely good... based on the memoirs of a real person....

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0145653/...nm_flmg_act_34

Eragon (2006) - This movie was recommended by Dadgumblah when I asked about movies with Robert Carlyle (Rumpelstiltskin/Mr. Gold on "Once Upon A Time").

This is a good adventure movie, but it's not great. I liked the relationship between Eragon and Jeremy Irons character, Brom. At times, it reminded me a little bit of Luke and Yoda on Dagobah. The dragon was pretty cool, but also kind of annoying at times.

I know that Eragon was supposed to be a good fighter, but it was way too easy to take out the villain and save the girl. It felt like the fight had just started, and it was already over. Durza seemed like kind of a lame villain. As Eragon said about him in the movie, "I expected more.".

On a side note, Ed Speleers, the actor who played Eragon, could easily play Simon Baker's son or younger brother. They look almost like twins if they were the same age.

Thank You to Dadgumblah for this recommendation. It was a fun movie.

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No, I haven't seen Angela's Ashes, but I've heard that it's supposed to be very good. I didn't know that Robert Carlyle was in it. I'll definitely add it to my watchlist.

Thanks.

My 2015 Movie Logbook:

January 2015 Movies
February 2015 Movies
March 2015 Movies
April 2015 Movies
May 2015 Movies
June 2015 Movies
July 2015 Movies (Scroll Down)
August 2015 Movies
September 2015 Movies


July 2015 Movies:
373) July 1st: From the Hip (1987)
374) July 1st: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
375) July 2nd: Carla's Song (1996)
376) July 2nd: Eragon (2006)
377) July 3rd: The Gazebo (1959)
378) July 3rd: The War Between Men and Women (1972)
379) July 4th: 1776 (1972)
380) July 4th: Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
381) July 4th: Independence Day (1996)
382) July 5th: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
383) July 5th: On the Town (1949)
384) July 5th: West Side Story (1961)
385) July 5th: The Music Man (1962)
386) July 6th: Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
387) July 6th: Peter's Friends (1992)
388) July 6th: The Full Monty (1997)
389) July 7th: Dancer in the Dark (2000)
390) July 7th: Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
391) July 8th: Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)
392) July 8th: Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
393) July 9th: Singin' in the Rain (1952)
394) July 9th: The Band Wagon (1953)
395) July 10th: Man in the Chair (2007)
396) July 10th: 12 Angry Men (1957)
397) July 11th: Hans Christian Andersen (1952)
398) July 11th: Knock on Wood (1954)
399) July 12th: The Happy Road (1957)
400) July 12th: Infamous (2006)
401) July 13th: The Blue Dahlia (1946)
402) July 13th: Duck Soup (1933)
403) July 14th: Some Like It Hot (1959)
404) July 15th: My Cousin Vinny (1992)
405) July 15th: The Mask (1994)
406) July 16th: Dazed and Confused (1993)
407) July 16th: Pure Luck (1991)
408) July 20th: Beyond the Sea (2004)
409) July 20th: Kiss Me Goodbye (1982)
410) July 21st: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) (MoFo Commentary)
411) July 21st: Life of Brian (1979)
412) July 22nd: The Big Lebowski (1998)
413) July 22nd: Damn Yankees! (1958)
414) July 23rd: Barnum! (1986)
415) July 23rd: Oklahoma! (1999)
416) July 23rd: Oklahoma! (1955)
417) July 24th: Carousel (1956)
418) July 24th: The Pirates of Penzance! (1983)
419) July 25th: On the Waterfront (1954)
420) July 25th: The Bad Seed (1956)
421) July 26th: Love in the Afternoon (1957)
422) July 26th: The Mating Game (1959)
423) July 27th: Ruby Sparks (2012)
424) July 27th: Hollywood Homicide (2003)
425) July 28th: Murder by Death (1976)
426) July 28th: Champagne for Caesar (1950)
427) July 29th: The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
428) July 29th: Daddy Long Legs (1955)
429) July 29th: Minions (2015)
430) July 30th: Born Yesterday (1950)
431) July 30th: The Mouse That Roared (1959)
432) July 31st: Suddenly (1954)
433) July 31st: The Big Heat (1953)

I remember going to see From the Hip when it came out. I liked it, but I never thought I'd hear of it again.

It's nice to see someone talking about From The Hip. I've not seen that since the 90's. It used to play over and over on Sky Movies in the early 90's.

That's what I love about the discount DVD rack at the supermarket. I never know what I'll find there, but it's usually very cheap.

I honestly never gave a supermarket a thought to look before, but I have gotten some fairly good movies that cheap ($1.99) from Walgreens. I will have to keep that in my mind the next time I go.