Last film you saw, vol. 6

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Gun Crazy (1949)

"You're the only thing that's real. The rest is a nightmare."

A boy obsessed with guns grows up and while seeing the carnival with old childhood friends, he meets a trick shooting woman. After outperforming her he gets a job in the carnival and falls for her, but after they're both fired they turn to crime rather than get honest jobs. As their spree continues things grow tense and they earn the wrath of the law, things become truly desperate and they make a nerve-wracked last stand.

Very Bonnie-and-Clyde, but damn if it isn't done incredibly well. I really love the beginning, the rainy night in town and the boy smashing the store window to steal the revolver. We actually get a pretty good look at Bart's life as he grows up, obsessed with firearms, until John Dall does a great portrayal of him as a young man newly home from the Army.

Peggy Cummins is both charming and chilling as Laurie. She's beautiful, talented, and affectionate, but the same as Dall has a need for guns, she has a crippling need for the high life, and her fears drive her to kill at times. Her panic-driven actions really worsen any number of situations and put the pair right where they don't want to be.

One thing both my dad and I liked were the driving long-shots, during the first big heist when they're in costume and then a later shot. Just such great camerawork (though I'm unsure if it's a very particularly skilled editor or if they really did the shots, but it looks beautiful either way).

Overall a great gem from the '40s, and glad I found it.

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North Country (2005)

"Oh, now you're the same as me?
-Oh no, there's a few differences. You don't go to work scared of what they write about you on the walls, or what kind of disgusting thing you might find in your locker. You don't gotta be scared that one of these days you'll come to work and get raped."

An excellent, but fictionalized adaptation of the real first class-action lawsuit over workplace sexism (the real one starting in 1984 in a Minnesota mine, but this one pushing it to '89, presumably to capitalize on the Anita Hill hearings as a backdrop). Well done.

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Toy Story 4 review.

https://www.dailyuv.com/980636

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Life (2015)

"I don't wanna play their stupid game."

Decent (not great) biopic of Stock's famous photos of James Dean and showing their lives intersecting.

[Trey Strain Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Trey Strain]

Gun Crazy (1949)

"You're the only thing that's real. The rest is a nightmare."

A boy obsessed with guns grows up and while seeing the carnival with old childhood friends, he meets a trick shooting woman. After outperforming her he gets a job in the carnival and falls for her, but after they're both fired they turn to crime rather than get honest jobs. As their spree continues things grow tense and they earn the wrath of the law, things become truly desperate and they make a nerve-wracked last stand.

Very Bonnie-and-Clyde, but damn if it isn't done incredibly well. I really love the beginning, the rainy night in town and the boy smashing the store window to steal the revolver. We actually get a pretty good look at Bart's life as he grows up, obsessed with firearms, until John Dall does a great portrayal of him as a young man newly home from the Army.

Peggy Cummins is both charming and chilling as Laurie. She's beautiful, talented, and affectionate, but the same as Dall has a need for guns, she has a crippling need for the high life, and her fears drive her to kill at times. Her panic-driven actions really worsen any number of situations and put the pair right where they don't want to be.

One thing both my dad and I liked were the driving long-shots, during the first big heist when they're in costume and then a later shot. Just such great camerawork (though I'm unsure if it's a very particularly skilled editor or if they really did the shots, but it looks beautiful either way).

Overall a great gem from the '40s, and glad I found it.

The screenplay was by the blacklisted Dalton Trumbo. Millard Kaufman served as a front for him.

The further the blacklist recedes into the past, the more shameful it looks.

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Forrest Gump (1994)

"Lieutenant Dan got me invested in some kind of fruit company. So then I got a call from him, saying we don't have to worry about money no more. And I said, that's good! One less thing."

25th anniversary. Man, I remember what a big deal this was that year. Sure, it's overly sentimental and corny, but there's a lot of good stuff here and I hadn't re-watched it in some years.

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Batman (1989)

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Forrest Gump (1994)

I haven't watched that in a very long time. I remember being genuinely upset to a pretty high degree during the scene where little Jenny and Forrest are running from her asshole father, because the idea that a parent could be abusive to their own child was totally unknown and frightening to me then.

Over the years, one scene that has piqued my brain more than it already did as a child was how he was outrunning a goddamn truck. I mean, that is some astounding ass-hauling right there.

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Wyatt Earp (1994)

"My mama always told me never put off till tomorrow people you can kill today."

Another flick that turned 25 (6/24). Probably the closest to the actual history, which isn't saying a lot. Still, pretty good; not the most interesting Earp movie.

I haven't watched that in a very long time. I remember being genuinely upset to a pretty high degree during the scene where little Jenny and Forrest are running from her asshole father, because the idea that a parent could be abusive to their own child was totally unknown and frightening to me then. . .

I would've been 14, going on 15 when I saw it, but either way it is disturbing and Forrest's childlike understanding of the abuse ("he was a loving man--always touching and kissing her") just underlies it. Despite being a sentimental, life-is-good-type flick, they do deal with some heavy issues (though the pace of the movie doesn't let them linger).

Batman (1989)...

Yea, someone else celebrated too.

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TMNT (2007)

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The Killer Shrews and
The Giant Gila Monster (1959)

"Why, that's as big as a full-grown wolf!"
"I ask you what time it is and you tell me how to build a clock."

Last night (6/25), the family and I watched these together (which were made by the same people and released as a drive-in double bill exactly 60 years earlier). I grew up with GGM as a fam favorite.

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Did you remember to raise a knee while watching Giant Gila Monster? If not, shame on you.

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City of God (2002)

"I can read only the pictures."

Did you remember to raise a knee while watching Giant Gila Monster? If not, shame on you.

We counted them out. My mom doesn't remember watching the MST3K version of either movie, though I know I've watched them with and without her.

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Batman Vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2019)

[Trey Strain Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Trey Strain]

The Killer Shrews and
The Giant Gila Monster (1959)

"Why, that's as big as a full-grown wolf!"
"I ask you what time it is and you tell me how to build a clock."

Last night (6/25), the family and I watched these together (which were made by the same people and released as a drive-in double bill exactly 60 years earlier). I grew up with GGM as a fam favorite.

These two movies were produced by Ken Curtis, who played Festus on Gunsmoke for 13 seasons.