HF's Intro to Film

Comedies are always sketchy because what kids today find funny usually isn't funny and what I think is funny and is actually funny, kids don't get it. So he likes Nic Cage and he likes John Goodman. He's gotta like a movie starring both of them right? Sort of. He liked Raising Arizona but didn't think it's as funny as it is. That's a him problem, I guess. Admittedly, this is a movie that works much better on a big screen which isn't usually the case with comedies. The Bros'. Coen fill up every square inch of screen in the making of this and it should be watched in a theater. Things like the doberman, Glen and the tree, heck just the wonderful shots of landscapes work better on a big screen. I will never forget watching the movies epic chase at the old moving picture house and how crazy the audience was during that entire segment but on a small screen it loses a little of the impact.

I told him, before the movie ever started, look at this as a cartoon. Don't think to much and just go with it. I think he tried and he did enjoy it. Will he watch it again? I sure hope so as I think the more time you spend with these characters the better it gets. What he liked were a lot of the little one liners. Hit the deck boy got a huge laugh from him as did the "No, unless round is funny." Those were the kinds of things that tickled him more than anything. Overall this wasn't a waste of time so I think he has it around

. He liked the story well enough and loved the ending which isn't surprising as downer endings are a pet peeve of his.

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Got him to watch a couple of classic, classics. One from the 70's and one from the 60's. Both war films. The day after the 4th, while we were both nursing headaches of grand proportion (why? It's a mystery), he asks "wanna watch a movie?" I must have signaled ok because the next thing you know he was flipping through the library looking for a film. "How about this?" he asks. I look up, squinting through the sunlight I see he's on Redux. I manage an "ugh, not that one. The other one." And just like that were watching Apocalypse Now - Theatrical Version.

I had warned him that this is NOT a traditional war film it's a little surreal, so don't expect a lot Black Hawk Down type of firefights. Alright. 2.5 hours later, a fifteen minute snooze on my part and I get a "That was not what I was expecting." What were you expecting?" "Not that." We get deep sometimes and this is one of them times. It's hard to say if he liked the movie, there were aspects he was really into. He couldn't wait to meet Kurtz - Him: "Are we ever going to see Kurtz?" Me: "I don't remember." So the build up of the Col. worked very well for him. I think he was a little let down when the Col. turned out to be a fat guying laying in bed, talking about snails but it's his first time seeing the movie. I'm cutting him some slack.



Something about Apocalypse Now he sure as hell liked and that's how it all looked. He kept mentioning how films today don't look like this, that this looks "real". He's brought this up a few times now about movies from the 70's/80's. I guess he likes the on location filming. Well, they were really in the jungle filming this on a real river with real helicopters and real explosions so....Something else he said: "When people would talk about movies being art I never really understood what they meant." What about the Lighthouse? "That was black and white."

If he needs to see it again to get more into Willards journey, I get it. It's not an easy film to grasp especially if you've grown up in the MCU. I think he'll watch this again, just on visuals alone, but he may skip the cow scene. He did not like that. I have no clue what he'd give this so I'm gonna middle ground it and say

Next we started District 9 but as soon as he heard the guy talking with an accent he said "Is it gonna be like this the entire movie?" "It sure is." "Lets watch something else." He'll watch a movie in a foreign language with subs before he'll watch a movie in English with a heavy accent. Worked for me as the next movie in my library, alphabetically, is one of my all time favorites and that's what he chose. "How about Dr. Strangelove?"


YES! YES! YES! How about it? One of my all time fav's. A movie I absolutely HATED the first time I saw it so if you hate it just watch it again.

He didn't hate it, at least that's what he told me (I think he was trying not to offend me), but I'm not sure satire is his thing. At least Cold War satire. Is the threat of nuclear war and total destruction even a thing anymore? I didn't get the impression that he thought this entire scenario was plausible, whereas I think it's entirely plausible. If you don't buy the premise are you gonna get the humor?

He thought Gen. Turgidsen was funny and so was the Good Dr. but I'm not entirely sure he followed everything as I did have to explain a few things like "You know, OPE, POE was on the bathroom wall in Raising Arizona..." and once I did there was a big, interesting "Ohhh!"

The scene he remembers from his yute is Major Kong riding the bomb which he always thought looked ridiculous. He has come around on that scene after watching how it was set up but did it save the movie for him? I think it was a case of too little too late. My guess is it's a but that's me giving it a curve. I sure hope he watches it again.

Knocked out a couple not real big classics but decent movies. The first was The Fugitive and he really liked it. He's a little hesitant about Harrison Ford because of Han Solo and Indy, two characters he has no use for, but he liked him in this. He loves Tommy Lee Jones and knowing how he has so far liked anything that has won an Academy Award, I told him TLJ was that years winner. That's kinda how I got him to watch it. I think he's giving this one a as he had no complaints at all. He even commented about how fast the first hour went. "Jeez, it's already an hour in?"



Next was an 80's classic teen comedy/drama starring a munchkin that would go on to become one of the biggest stars of all time - Curtis Armstrong. Whoops! Tom Cruise and that movie was - bum-bum-bum-bum-bum-bum-bum - Risky Business. This went over very well. "This is where that comes from?" as Tom starts his underwear dance. He thought it was pretty funny at times, especially liked the "Looks like it the University of Illinois!" line and goofy face. He seems to enjoy the teen comedy/drama from the 80's more than just straight teen comedy, Porky's 2 being the exception so far. Again, there were no complaints from this one at all in fact when it was over he asked for more movies like this.

Hit up a couple of biggies the last few nights. The first is a movie I think everybody should see at least once and he's been wanting to see it for awhile it just took some time to find it streaming somewhere.

I must respectfully disagree.
The Color Of Money is still probably my second-favorite Scorsese film but it's also one of my favorite Paul Newman performances and I sure have seen a lot of his film. It's very subtle and nuanced and I think that's why it was such an easy one for the Academy. They wanted to give it to him and he just made it easy for them.
It's funny, I was only 13 when I saw this and even then it was obvious to me I wanted to be Paul Newman. And definitely not Tom Cruise.

I like 10 To Midnight but I really wanna hear about his response to Savage Streets.

Looking over the nominees for that year, he may have deserved it. I saw Woods in Salvador but other than that, nada from that year. I don't think it's a bad performance at all, it's very good, it's just not my favorite from an actor that has at least a dozen great performances to choose from. If somebody thinks this is his best performance I'm fine with that.

As for Savage Streets he almost got up and walked out when I put it on because he thought it was one of my crappy b-movies, which it kind of is. I told him to give it a chance so he sat there being all frumpy but I could tell he was getting into it. I think it was how over the top everything was but not over the top in A Toxic Avenger way. That's something that's kind of new to him. A lot of the dialogue cracked him up. I know Linda Blair just walking down the street grabbed his attention early and that's probably what kept him around - "Who's that?" "The little girl from the Exorcist." "Really?!?" The fact that she was a "tough little bitch" didn't hurt either. This, 10 to Midnight and a couple others, these are not movies he would watch if I didn't nudge him a little.

It's been awhile. The Lad started a new job which made him re-prioritize his available fun time. Watching movies with the Old Man is a bit down the list compared to just about everything else. Personally, I think he saw Caligula climbing up the watch list and jetted. Anyway, after binging Barry, we managed to watch a couple real flickers this week. The first one I picked because it stars his second favorite actor (Willem Dafoe), the second one he chose because he's fascinated with history.


Now I'll admit the first one was a bit of a reach. I wanted Streets of Fire but couldn't find it streaming anywhere so I went with the next most fun movie with Willem. No, not the one where he portrays Jesus, the one where his grieving wife beats the hell out of him and ..."chaos reigns"



He had never heard of Antichrist and had said previously that he would never watch a movie that was on the Criterion Channel ("they're all old"). So, I squeaked this past one of his phobia's. Might have helped when I mentioned how it's a good date movie knowing how he does love his rom-com's. Lying is a good motivator and a useful tool for successful parenting. As you may know, Antichrist is a story of a husband and wife who go off to their cabin, Eden, to grieve the loss of their young child who died due to their neglect. Once there, the husband tries to help (diagnose) his wife, a real ball breaker who is off her meds and is becoming slightly unpredictable. His methods are not really working, animals start talking and things go kind of downhill from there.

This was one of the more "arty" films I think he has ever watched and he was into it but I think if the lead was anybody other than Dafoe he might have tuned out. It's not an easy watch, that's for sure. I asked him after Part 2 through what he thought and he says "I have no idea where this is going." After Part 3, a part that induced a "No...NO!...NOOOO!! AHHHHH!" he had an idea where it was going. When it was over I asked him where it went and he had it pretty close to my interpretation. Not quite there but close. I asked, "Should we watch it again, see if you pick up on a few more details?" Him: "I think I'm good for now." Overall, I think he would give Antichrist a

as he was still thinking about it the next day and said the more he thinks about it, the better he thinks it was.