Trifecta

In the midst of all this contemplation of Sabrina and remade movies I realized, to my horror, that I've never written about the ultimate remake series: The Shop Around the Corner, In the Good Old Summertime, and You've Got Mail. A trifecta of hatred, romance, and comedy. A couple months ago a group of very dedicated friends sat down and watched all three movies with me, for a marathon of awesomeness.

The Shop Around the Corner started it all in 1940 with Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan. It's a nice little movie, based in Hungary (??), our main characters work together in a gift shop and quickly grow to hate each other, all the while unknowingly writing love letters back and forth. It's funny and sweet, but I don't especially love it. The problem is, it has an unfair advantage considering that I loved the two later movies long before I even saw this one.

In the Good Old Summertime was the first of these three that I saw, during my childhood Judy Garland obsession. I believe that my loyalty to Judy and the sentimental value it holds for me make it my favorite of the three. It continues our themes of love blooming from extreme hatred, with our two main characters working together in a music shop. It's entertaining and fun, however, Judy is extra mean in it and many of the songs are forgettable.

So that brings us to You've Got Mail. Basically the same story, lead characters hate each other in real life, but love each other on paper ... or email as it were. Look, I love this movie. It's funny and romantic and basically lovely. I can't bring myself to say that I like it more than Summertime, but I don't like it less. And I can't really think of anything bad to say about it.

So is this another case of a superior remake (or two)? I'd say yes, though I know there are many people that love the original. I would highly recommend watching all three of them together if you're into that sort of thing. There are quotes and gags and characters that survived all three films, and they're all quality movies.

Sabrina vs. Sabrina

The other night I made my husband watch the 1995 version of Sabrina. I picked this film because I really wanted to watch a girly, romantic movie that my husband can also enjoy. And since Harrison Ford is in some of my husband's favorite movies, I figured this would be a good option. It's basically the same as Indiana Jones, really.

So a lot of people (by "a lot" I mean just a few) argue passionately (by which I mean, discuss briefly) which version of Sabrina is superior: 1995 or 1954. Despite my loyalties to films made before 1970, I have to say I think I prefer the new Sabrina, and here's why:

1. Harrison Ford. Look, Humphry Bogart could never even come close to comparing to the loveliness, manliness, and general awesomeness of Harrison Ford. He is dreamy. Humphry? Old. Kinda ugly. No comparison.

2. The mom. Holy smokes, the mom in the new Sabrina is a riot!

3. Sabrina doesn't try to kill herself. It always very much bothers me when Audrey Hepburn tries to kill herself over David in the old one. It's very extreme and kind of disturbing.

4. Harrison Ford. Yeah, he's that important.

Now I'm not saying I don't love the old Sabrina because I do. And I am an Audrey Hepburn fan, she may be better than the new girl. It's just that, the whole point of a romantic comedy is to feel warm fuzzy at the end. To get us so sucked into the love story that we lose touch with reality and are incapable of having normal relationships in real life on account of the inflated expectations of love and romance that these films provide. The old one just doesn't do that for me.

Tony Curtis

Well it's true, people, Tony Curtis is gone from us forever. It's too bad because he was a funny, inappropriate old man. It's always hard to lose one of those.

I got to see him a few years ago at a movie theater near me and he was very entertaining. I took some terrible quality, illegal videos, but you get the idea:

Sound of Music Happenings

 Well, this year marks the 45th anniversary of The Sound of Music and to celebrate, Oprah is hosting the entire cast on her show on October 29th. Even Christopher Plummer will be there, which should be interesting since he's generally offensive and bratty when discussing the film.

They're also releasing a 45th anniversary edition of the DVD/Blu Ray to add to the 85 previous copies that you've already had to buy because they had new extras. But I'm sure this one will be even better and more necissary.



"Quit stealing my Captain"



Finally, the film itself will be showing in a number of theaters in sing-a-long form October 19 & 26. I've been to the sing-a-long maybe 4 times and it's fun, but one thing has always bothered me. One of the sing-a-long activities is hissing at the baroness every time she's on screen. First of all, this is annoying because she's on screen a lot. That's a lot of hissing. Secondly, I understand we're not really supposed to like her, but what did she ever do to us? What are her real offenses in the movie? Ok, she tries to get rid of Maria. Who wouldn't do that if the nanny was making a play for your dream-boat captain? It's somewhat less forgivable when she talks about sending the kids off to boarding school, but seriously people, there's seven of them. I bet even Maria wanted to send them off to boarding school sometimes.

Fast Forward

The other night I was watching the classic, Annie, with my husband.

Sidenote: Yes, I made my husband watch Annie. I felt it was important for him to see this movie that I watched many, many times as a child.

Anyway, to make it a little less painful for him, I told him we could watch my "edited" version in which I fast forward through all the parts I don't like. This appalled him.

The thing is, I've spent most of my movie-watching years fast forwarding through the parts of movies that I don't like. Sometimes there just isn't enough time to watch the entire film. Or sometimes there are some just plain boring parts that I don't want to waste my time on. Once you've seen a movie enough times, it's easy to find some fast forward moments.

So I thought I'd compile a list of my top fast forward moments from some of my favorite movies:

1. The Sound of Music. To be honest, I fast forward through a lot of this movie. Basically any scene without Maria is a good candidate for some fast forwarding. Also, pretty much anything after Maria and The Captian return from their honeymoon.

2. Summer Stock. That terrible dog song at the very end. Also the Howdy Neighbor reprise with those truly awful outfits.

3. Easter Parade. That scene when Judy and Peter Lawford are in the restaurant and the waiter goes into way too much detail about their salad. It literally takes 10 minutes. Fast forward.

4. My Fair Lady. This is probably my least fast forwarded movie, but I've never been a big fan of the part when they go to the embassy ball. It's just a bunch of rich people dancing for like 10 minutes. I also don't usually watch the parts with Eliza's father. They're silly, but not that great. I have more important things to do.

5. Mary Poppins. Anything before Mary shows up is subject to skipping. Also when the dad brings the kids to the bank and they sing that dumb song. Actually, it's possible that the taped-off-TV version I had as a child cut out that song, so now I just don't see a point in it.

6. The King and I. This goes without saying, but the Uncle Tom's Cabin part. I don't know that I've ever watched more than 30 seconds of it and it literally goes on for 20 minutes. And this leads me to ...

7. Oklahoma. What's with the super weird, long ballet/interpretive dance in the middle of the movie? Fast forward.

8. Singin' in the Rain. My favorite part of this movie, when Cyd Charisse shows up in her green dress, is followed by my least favorite part: when the dance sequence goes on for an hour and a half!!

9. The Parent Trap. Any parts involving camp or camping.

10. The Music Man. One word: Shipoopi.

Truthfully, my list could go on and on. Am I the only one who likes to fast forward? I doubt it.

What do you fast forward?

Ode to Netflix

Last week my husband and I signed up with Netflix and so far it's been life changing. I read this ridiculous "poem" and it inspired me to become a poet, because it clearly doesn't take much. Here's my Netflix poem.

Judy Garland
Cary Grant
I know I should stop
But I can't

Streaming live
Always connected
My husband wishes
He wasn't neglected

The Seven Year Itch

I just got Netflix. It's becoming a bit of a disturbing obsession, but on the bright side, I think it will allow me to watch more old movies than I ever thought possible.

My first Netflix old movie was The Seven Year Itch. I'd never seen it before, which is probably bad since it's so iconic, but honestly I just haven't watched that many Marilyn Monroe movies and I have a sneaking suspicion that none of them will live up to Some Like it Hot.

But I watched it anyway because I was curious and my husband was up for it. Basic premise: Nerdy middle-aged man lives in New York City with his wife and son. Wife and son shove off for the summer leaving nerdy husband at home by himself to work (and maybe have an affair) which was apparently the norm. Nerdy man, home alone, suddenly realizes there's a super hot blond living in the apartment above him. Nerdy man spends the rest of the movie trying to have or not have an affair with hot blond. The End.

So first of all, did this actually happen in the olden days? The women and children leaving for the entire summer? Don't get me wrong, it sounds fabulous and I think if it still happened many more women would be stay at home moms. It's just not anything I'd heard of and the insinuation that all the men were going to go have affairs with the hot single women that were left behind for the summer was a little disturbing.

But anyway, the movie ... It was ok. I wasn't blown away by it, but there were some funny moments. Half the movie was spent inside the nerdy man's quite delusional imagination where he was fawned over by every woman who came along. But when he finally gets attention from the hot blond, he gets a little freaked out and has a serious moral dilemma.

Marilyn played her usual ditzy blond character, so if you're a fan of that, you'll probably like the film. She had some cute outfits which I also enjoyed. And yes, she shows some leg in the skirt-flying-up scene, if that's your sort of thing.

But other than that, it just didn't feel like there was much to the movie. It's some light entertainment if you're interested in a Marilyn Monroe film, but don't expect it to change your life or anything. Unless, of course, you're a nerdy NYC man left all alone for the summer.