GBGoodies 2015 Movie Logbook

I agree that The Awful Truth is the second place pairing of Grant & Dunne. My first favorite is My Favorite Wife (1940). Which is your first favorite?

I don't really have a favorite leading lady for Cary Grant. He's so good with just about everyone.

My favorite is "Penny Serenade". Obviously a different type of movie than the other two, but I love it. They are so good in it, and I always thought the way that the story was told was kind of clever - with the help of the different records.

I know! Isn't he? I also really liked him with Myrna Loy. Did you ever see their movies together?

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

I've seen them together in Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, which I like a lot, but I haven't seen it recently.

I really want to see her in The Thin Man movies. I've seen bits and pieces of those movies, but I don't think I've ever sat through the whole movies. I want to watch them as a marathon one day.

Hey GB, I noticed you have a couple movies with John Ritter in them.
A favorite of mine when I was young was called Hero At Large (1980).
Ritter played an actor who happens to stop a robbery while wearing a superhero costume for a film he's promoting - he ends up trying to become a real life vigilante costumed hero. It's a feel good movie that's not as silly as it sounds - it's not all laughs as Ritter's character gets injured, etc.
Maybe I liked it due to my being a comic geek. Not sure how it stands up to the test of time (sadly, I had a copy of my own that I lent to a friend and never saw again!)

And then, for Ritter fans, there's always Sling Blade!

I've seen Hero At Large. It's been a while since I've seen it, but if I remember correctly, it's a pretty good movie.

I haven't seen Sling Blade, but when I read a little bit about it, it didn't sound like my kind of movie. I'm also kind of hit or miss with Billy Bob Thornton, so I'm not sure if he would help or hurt the movie for me.

If you like John Ritter, you should check out the movie The Dreamer of Oz, about L. Frank Baum. It's actually a TV movie from back around 1990, but it's available on some editions of The Wizard of Oz DVD sets.

Oh, you've GOT to see Sling Blade. One of the greatest movies of all time. And don't worry about Billy Bob - the character of "Carl" is so unique, so believable, and so complete that you won't even recognize him (fortunately, it's the first thing I ever saw him in, so I didn't recognize him in anything AFTER that). Warning - I don't know anyone who's seen it who doesn't then go around repeating Carl's lines for days or weeks afterward.

It's not visually graphic. Any violence is all implied (you never actually SEE any). It's hard to describe without giving too much away, but it is a deeply emotional movie.

It's one of those movies where, if I catch any part of it, I then have to watch the rest of it even though I've seen it so many times. The performances are just unbelievably moving (and John Ritter's performance just makes me cry my eyes out).

Okay, I'll add Sling Blade to my watchlist. I like John Ritter, and I have nothing against Billy Bob Thornton, so hopefully I'll like the movie.

Did you see Billy Bob Thornton in "The Big Bang Theory"? He was so funny in that episode.

I missed that one, GB.
And I'm not a huge Billy Bob fan or anything (he never impressed me much in anything else), but when I first saw him in Sling Blade it almost seemed like his character was a real person (almost like no actor could be so convincing, but then no real person like "Carl" could be put in a movie and told to act either).

Trivia: I once owned a copy of the short black & white film that the movie evolved from (it was Thornton's study of the character) and guest starred Molly Ringwald. I discovered "Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade" (1994) after I'd seen Sling Blade the motion picture.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108181/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
A lot of people aren't aware of this short's existence.

It's funny, I'm telling you that you've "GOT" to see it, and I remember my dentist asking me if I'd seen any good movies lately (this was back when Sling Blade came out) and he said, "I just saw this new movie, Sling Blade! Have you seen it?"
I said, "No."
And he said, "You haven't seen it?!? Oh, you've GOT to see Sling Blade! Oh my God, what a movie!"

If I can find the short "Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade", should watch it before the movie?

Do you watch "The Big Bang Theory"? It's definitely your kind of show.

No, you don't need to watch the short first because most of the scene is contained in the beginning of the feature film. It's almost like a first take of the main film's opening. It's more just an interesting aside after seeing the main film to see that Thornton filmed a short study of the character - the only real differences between the two is the short is in b&w and Molly Ringwald does not reprise her role in the feature film.

I watch Big Bang, but not religiously. (I know I should since I'm both interested in science and I'm a comic book geek - so I get all the references that a lot of people don't. I remember watching episodes with people and having to explain half the things the characters were talking about on the show while in the comic shop or when discussing their collectibles, comic movies or comic-cons.)

I'm glad that Molly Ringwald isn't in the movie because I'm not a fan of hers at all. I find her annoying in almost everything that I've seen her in. (I had a roommate in college who practically worshipped Molly Ringwald. I saw enough of her back then to last the rest of my life.)


I watch Big Bang religiously. I even watch it in reruns as often as I can. I think it's one of the funniest shows ever. I think one of the things that scares me a little bit about that show is that I can see a lot of my own quirks in Sheldon. Some of the things that he does that annoy people, I can see in myself sometimes.

I love the Thin Man series. I hope you get to a chance to see them someday. I love Myrna Loy in there. And I think William Powell is good in anything he's in.

Holiday (1938)

This is a good rom-com movie, but it feels like more of a light drama than a comedy. It's a charming movie that made me smile more than laugh. Overall, the movie is a bit predictable, but it has a great ending.

Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant are both terrific actors, and they are wonderful together, but this isn't my favorite movie from either of them. But it's a nice movie that I would recommend if you're a fan of either Hepburn or Grant.

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Finnegan Begin Again (TV Movie - 1985)

I saw this movie on HBO back in the mid-80's and it was one of those movies that just stuck with me all these years, so I was thrilled when I stumbled across it on YouTube recently.

This is an emotional movie that is fun, and heartwarming, and even kind of sad at times. It's a wonderful movie, but it's probably more for the mature movie watcher. I doubt that the younger generation will appreciate this movie.

Robert Preston and Mary Tyler Moore are terrific together.

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Some Came Running (1958)

This is an enjoyable movie, but it starts out slow, and gets better as it goes along. The problem for me was that I never really felt much for any of the characters. I don't know why, but I just didn't care much about anyone. But the movie has a powerful ending.

Frank Sinatra has much better chemistry with Shirley MacLaine than he has with Martha Hyer, but I didn't really feel like he "belonged" with either of them. Dean Martin as a drunk gambler was the most interesting character in the movie.

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Rio Bravo (1959)

I'm not much of a fan of westerns, but this movie was entertaining. It's not a "light" movie, but it doesn't have the heavy drama feeling that most of the westerns I've seen have either. It's just a pretty basic good vs. evil story, but I liked the way that the good guys stood their ground, regardless of their deficiencies, (a drunk, a cripple, and a gunfighter who is too young).

It has a great cast that includes John Wayne, Dean Martin, Walter Brennan, Ricky Nelson, and Angie Dickinson. (Any movie that has Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson singing can't be all bad.)

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The Bishop's Wife (1947)

This is one of the few Cary Grant movies that I've actually avoided over the years, mostly because I thought it was a religious movie. But it was on Turner Classic Movies recently, so I decided to watch it, and I'm very glad that I did.

This is actually a very charming movie with a great cast. David Niven and Loretta Young are great, but Cary Grant pretty much steals every scene that he's in.

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The War of the Worlds (1953)

This is a suspenseful and exciting movie, but the ending is kind of lame. Sadly, none of the characters really made me care enough about them to care if they lived or died.

On the plus side, it has pretty good special effects for its time.

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Hit the Deck (1955)

This is an entertaining movie with some fun scenes and a great cast, but it's a bit chaotic at times. It has some good songs including "Hallelujah", "A Kiss or Two", "Why, Oh Why?" and "I Know That You Know", but unfortunately they're mostly forgettable songs too.

However, Vic Damone has an amazing voice, and I'd listen to him sing anytime.

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