Movie of the Month - June 2016: Always (1989)

You're welcome.

I hope A Guy Named Joe makes your 1940's list. It's a contender for mine.

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Oh geez, I haven't even thought about the 1940s countdown yet.

We need some more people watching the MotM and posted their thoughts. With any luck the Podcasters will be doing their thing.

I'm always thinking about the MoFo lists.


I haven't heard anything about the podcast, but I hope they do one for this movie. I'd like to hear what they have to say about it.

GBG, thanks for recommending to me, A Guy Named Joe (1943), As you said earlier, that was the movie that Steven Spielberg based his remake Always(1989) on. I read that A Guy Named Joe was one of Spielbergs favorite movies and he had loved it ever since he was a kid.I could really see where the young Spielberg found inspiration for his style of movies in it. I liked it too and I'm glad you mentioned it.

Podcast scheduling troubles mean we might not get to do this one, but a couple of us are likely watching it anyway and should have some thoughts.

I liked Always. It got an undeserved bad rap when it came out because audiences assumed it was a "Ghost" ripoff, but Always had started its production before Ghost. Overall...it was better than Ghost, but it didnt have Swayze & Moores sex appeal or Unchained Melody.

Always came out Christmas 1989, and Ghost in July 1990.

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Thanks for watching both Always and A Guy Named Joe. In addition to A Guy Named Joe being one of Spielberg's favorite movies, Richard Dreyfuss also loves the movie. They talked about filming a remake as far back as when they were making Jaws.

It's disappointing that there might not be a podcast for this movie , but I'll get over it . But I'm looking forward to reading your reviews of the movie .

I hope people are just busy with other things, and maybe a few more people will watch it before the end of the month. (Or after the end of the month would be okay too. )

I love both Always and Ghost, but I never considered either one to be a ripoff of the other movie. Other than the idea of the guy dying and coming back as a ghost and watching over the girl, the stories are totally different. They're both basically love stories, but in very different ways, and they're both great movies.

Decided to give it a shot, wasn't too impressed. Not to say that I hated it but it did feel awfully inconsequential.

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I'd be interesting any hearing more of your thoughts on Always. It be interesting to see if you felt the same as I did. Most of us had some similar reactions. So Iros, what did you like about it? and what didn't work for you?

I want to apologize to gb for not being able to participate in her MotM. I've barely watched any movies in the past couple months, only like 1 or 2 at home and Warcraft in the theaters. However, I'm thrilled that seanc and Iroquois participated. Hopefully more members will give this a shot in the future. I'm also hoping Yoda and the podcast crew will be able to watch it and share their thoughts, even if it's not in podcast form.

Thank you for watching Always. I'm sorry that you didn't enjoy it more, but tbh, after reading your review thread, I probably would have been shocked if you liked it.

Would you care to elaborate on what you liked and/or didn't like about it?

That's okay FW. Hopefully this thread at least put the movie Always on your radar, and maybe you'll watch it someday when you have the time. (And that goes for anyone else who's reading this and hasn't seen Always. Even if you can't watch it this month, hopefully you'll give it a try sometime in the future. )

I'm also glad to see that several people participated in the MotM, and I'm still hoping to read a few more reviews of the movie before the end of the month, but if nothing else, hopefully this thread got the MotM threads back on track for the next host.

I'm trying to be aware of the fact that the whole "dead person remains behind to help the living" premise is a well-worn one and shouldn't judge Always on its overly familiar nature, but I'm not so sure that it provides enough to distinguish itself. Some of the visuals are nice (such as the verdant patch of grass in the middle of a burnt-down forest) but it does seem a little drab compared to other Spielberg efforts of the era (especially since this came out in the same year as Last Crusade). Others have noted some of the weaker aspects (especially Brad Johnson), but while I do sort of like the main performers (especially John Goodman, who's always good even in bad roles), they don't really seem like they're given much to do for the most part. Given how thin the conflict itself is, it also feels like it could have been a little shorter. As a result, Always gives me the same vibe that I got when watching The Terminal - that Spielberg is a competent enough filmmaker so that I can't truly hate it when he takes on emotionally charged material yet I ultimately don't feel remotely enthralled by what's going on anyway (with the occasional exception, such as the ending of this film). I tend to feel like I'm watching the more emotional moments at a significant remove, which does make the film feel like a failure even when it's not doing anything grossly wrong. I do wonder if that's better or worse than outright hating it.

It sounds like you just didn't really feel the emotion in this movie. I wonder how much of that can be blamed on the poor casting of Brad Johnson as Ted. I had the opposite reaction to this movie, but only with Pete and Dorinda. I was totally drawn into this movie every time that Richard Dreyfuss and/or Holly Hunter were on screen. But it loses something every time Ted shows up.

You mentioned that the main characters don't really seem like they're given much to do for the most part. That's probably true for most of the characters, but I disagree with this for Pete, (Dreyfuss). This movie completely revolves around him. It's about his life, his death, him having to let go of his girl, and him having to help the new pilot, even though that guy is trying to get together with his girl. You should feel what Pete's going through while he's watching Dorinda with Ted, and when he helps Dorinda fly the plane at the end. I don't know how anyone can watch those scenes and not feel anything.

Thanks for watching the movie. I'm sorry that you didn't like it more, but I appreciate that you gave it a try.

June 2016 is over, and I want to thank everyone who watched the Movie of the Month. I hope those of you who didn't get a chance to watch it might still give it a try when you get a chance.

I'm looking forward to watching the July 2016 Movie of the Month.
I hope to see you all there.

I did watch this, but I kept my thoughts on ice in case of a podcast. I'll post them within the next few days. Thanks for hosting GBG!

Thanks for watching this. It's too bad that there's no podcast, but I'm looking forward to reading what you thought about the movie.