OT: The Movies Thread

[nuraman00]

I saw "It's A Wonderful Life" for the first time, these past few days.

Here are my thoughts.

Ok, finished watching the movie last night. I would not recommend watching this with young kids. It's a scary movie, especially the last hour. There is:

* Mr. Gower committing felony assault (on a minor too) when he repeatedly hits George at the pharmacy.

* Discussions of suicide, themes about not being born, and eery scenes of George in the alternate universe where he wasn't born.

* George creating a tense domestic situation by yelling at his wife and kids, even muttering that he had too many kids, and then kicking and breaking things in his house.

* George facing the prospect of bankruptcy.

* George possibly committing misdemeanor assault and possibly misdemeanor battery when he grabs and chases Mary, trying to convince her that she knows him. Not all conditions of assault or battery may have been met, but a lawyer would have to at least consult him on that one, if she had filed charges.

* The cop Bert firing a gun at George as he tries to run away.


Yes, it does turn out ok at the end as George's friends and townspeople give him money to help him, and he realizes he likes his life, kids, and wife. But there is so much negativity building up until the end that the ending doesn't make up for it.

And there are some pretty violent scenes, considering the time it was made. And considering I thought it was a "family" movie, something safe to watch with kids without getting questions about suicide or physical violence. And not something I would want to think about around the holidays.


Moving beyond that, I thought it was worth watching once, but I wouldn't watch it again, especially given the movie length. As espn_hall_of_famer mentioned, there have been similar movies with similar themes, that probably aren't as dated. Especially the way they talked back then, IMO.


I did like how the Black housekeeper / cook contributed money at the end. That's probably a progressive role, for the era the movie was made in. Showing a minority character with enough wealth to make a financial contribution. So while most of the movie did have a white male-dominated workplace (whether it was the bank, the bar, the cab driver, the cops, or George's Building & Loan), as was true to the era back then, I did like how it had moment for her character at the end.


Die Hard (also considered a Christmas movie according to wiki - List of Christmas films - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) might have violence, but it's not sexual or racial or domestic or violence in the workplace.

 

[nuraman00]

Also, while watching the movie, here were some reactions:

* Everyone just jumps into the swimming pool?!

* So I watched 1:10 of the broadcast last night. My initial thoughts are that the dialogue is a little hard to understand at times, because of the way they spoke back then.

And the pool scene was too weird.

I'll post when I resume watching it.

I liked the awkward date between Mary and George, when Mary invited George back to her house.

 

[nuraman00]

Will start "A Christmas Story" in a bit. I've never seen that movie neither.

 

[nuraman00]

BTW, I wasn't the first to notice the violence of George beaten. They mentioned this in an episode of the TV show Friends, in which Monica suggests to Phoebe to watch "It's A Wonderful Life", to restore her faith in humanity.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Friends



MONICA: Alright, you wanna feel better?

PHOEBE: Yeah.

MONICA: Ok, here, watch this.

PHOEBE: It's a Wonderful Life. Yes I've heard of this.

MONICA: So you can't lose, it's there in the title. Wonderfullness is baked right in.

PHOEBE:
Please, I almost fell for that with, uh, Pride of the Yankees, I
thought I was gonna see a film about Yankee pride and then, boom, the
guy gets Lou Gehrig's disease.

RICHARD: Uh, the guy was Lou Gehrig. Didn't you kinda see it coming?


++++++++++++++++++++



PHOEBE: Hey. Oh thanks for the great movie tip.

MONICA: Did you like it?

PHOEBE:
Oh yeah. You know, I don't know if I was happier when um George Bailey
destroyed the family business or um, Donna Reid cried, or when the mean
pharmacist made his ear bleed.

MONICA: Alright, I'll give you the ear thing but don't you think the ending was pretty wonderful?

PHOEBE: I didn't watch the ending, I was too depressed. It just kept getting worse and worse, it should have been called, "It's a sucky life and just when you think it can't suck any more it does."

 

[nuraman00]

I probably prefer lighter, funnier holiday movies, like the Home Alones; or Scrooged; or the Muppets Christmas Carol.

 

[MHSL82]

Well, It's a Wonderful Life is much better than Life is Beautiful for kids.

Have you seen the Charlie Brown Holiday movies/shows? This next one is not a holiday Christmas movie and not fit for kids, but I liked Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.

Just saw Les Miserables yesterday. Great movie if you like musicals. Good movie if you don't care either way. Terrible movie if you hate anyone to ever sing in a movie. There's only one real complaint by my sister, a musical aficionado. She didn't like Russell Crowe because when he tried to sing, it was alright, but he stopped acting. It looked, to her, that he was so focused on singing that he couldn't act.

They did not overdub the movie, so he had to really sing it like he wanted there at the set. Cool if you can sing, but a bad choice if you are primarily an actor. That to me was like shooting half court shots - sure, when it goes in, great, but your game suffers by it. The movie was negatively affected by doing so and the only saving grace was being able to say, "wow, you know they really sang it on set." To me, "so what, the acting or singing was worse because of it." The effect of the movie should be within the movie, not some trivia for outside of the movie.

I hated the singer for Phantom of the Opera (Gérard Butler). Some say he was more attractive, but that does nothing for me. The Phantom is supposed to be hideous, this the mask that covers any attractiveness. So all they got was some average looking (for Hollywood) actor who couldn't sing - even when overdubbing. At least Crowe could sing a bit. They should have made a strong pitch to Antonio Banderas if they wanted some star - he had just made Evita, the musical movie.

 

[MHSL82]

Banderas may be too Spanish for a French Phantom and I realize the poor singing of Gerard isn't obvious in the below video - you'd have to see the whole movie. The best is Michael Crawford. If you are curious, here's the difference.

Gerard Butler - 1 minute mark


Antonio Banderas - 3 minute mark.


Michael Crawford - 1 minute mark

 

[nuraman00]

I just saw a cardboard cutout of Snow White, in the toy store.

I could tell this was the 80s version of Snow White, compared to a more modern looking one, because I used to have one of the children's versions of the book Show White.

I also used to have several Disney records, which featured their songs from movies, and I remember Snow White looked similar on that record cover too.

I don't remember what the series of records were called, but it was like a greatest-hits series of songs from their movies. I had at least 2 such records, there might have been a third too.

 

[nuraman00]

Well, It's a Wonderful Life is much better than Life is Beautiful for kids.

Have you seen the Charlie Brown Holiday movies/shows? This next one is not a holiday Christmas movie and not fit for kids, but I liked Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.

Just saw Les Miserables yesterday. Great movie if you like musicals. Good movie if you don't care either way. Terrible movie if you hate anyone to ever sing in a movie. There's only one real complaint by my sister, a musical aficionado. She didn't like Russell Crowe because when he tried to sing, it was alright, but he stopped acting. It looked, to her, that he was so focused on singing that he couldn't act.

They did not overdub the movie, so he had to really sing it like he wanted there at the set. Cool if you can sing, but a bad choice if you are primarily an actor. That to me was like shooting half court shots - sure, when it goes in, great, but your game suffers by it. The movie was negatively affected by doing so and the only saving grace was being able to say, "wow, you know they really sang it on set." To me, "so what, the acting or singing was worse because of it." The effect of the movie should be within the movie, not some trivia for outside of the movie.

I hated the singer for Phantom of the Opera (Gérard Butler). Some say he was more attractive, but that does nothing for me. The Phantom is supposed to be hideous, this the mask that covers any attractiveness. So all they got was some average looking (for Hollywood) actor who couldn't sing - even when overdubbing. At least Crowe could sing a bit. They should have made a strong pitch to Antonio Banderas if they wanted some star - he had just made Evita, the musical movie.

Yeah I like the Charlie Brown movies.

Never seen Life is Beautiful, I just now read the recap of it.

Never seen Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.

I read Les Miserables in high school. (We didn't read the entire thing, there were some portions we skipped, but we read most of it.) I liked it. I also have an mp3 of Castle On A Cloud. That was from the play.


Never seen Phantom of the Opera nor Evita.

 

[nuraman00]

So what did you think of It's a Wonderful Life?

 

[nuraman00]

Banderas may be too Spanish for a French Phantom and I realize the poor singing of Gerard isn't obvious in the below video - you'd have to see the whole movie. The best is Michael Crawford. If you are curious, here's the difference.

Gerard Butler - 1 minute mark


Antonio Banderas - 3 minute mark.


Michael Crawford - 1 minute mark

I'll get back to these later. The same with your Krispy Kreme video in the other thread.

 

[MHSL82]

So what did you think of It's a Wonderful Life?

Haven't seen it for years, but I've always held it as one of the best - mainly because I hold a special affection for the classics - it gets a head start. Perhaps if it came out now or I was young then, I'd have a different view. So I suppose you could say I've accepted that it's a classic and thus am brainwashed into it being great. But, as I said, haven't seen it for a long time so I don't know my real current thoughts on it. It's interesting that you said it's not a movie for kids, as I saw it at school in elementary school. I don't know how we got to see it, since it was religious, but I think they probably felt it was just holidays in general and time spent together - even atheists have to love their families, right? (I know some do, some don't, just as some religious people do and don't, too.)

 

[nuraman00]

RE: A Christmas Story.

Funny movie. Good movie. I liked it.

 

[nuraman00]

We saw "Miracle On 34th Street" in school, at least two different years.

We also saw the Civil War movie, Glory, when we were in 5th grade. And that carried a R rating. No permission slips needed or anything.

 

[beardown07]

Will start "A Christmas Story" in a bit. I've never seen that movie neither.

Blasphemy.

 

[nuraman00]

It's interesting that you said it's not a movie for kids,

I would say there are scenes and topics that would make it uncomfortable for kids, especially younger ones.

The extent suicide is discussed, for example, would be one of them.

So is the scene when George takes his anger out on his family, or a Young George is beaten by the pharmacist.

Some of the elements discussed here, and in the previous post, don't make it as pleasant to watch, around the holidays.

Even something to a lesser extent, like the alternate-universe homeless Mr. Gower, getting sprayed in the face by a water bottle from the bar tender, and thrown out of the bar. Just a mean thing to watch, if you're in the mood for something more pleasant.

Yes, A Christmas Story has kids fighting and being bullies, but they're kids, not adults. The motives, as well as degree of strength, between the kids from A Christmas Story, to the adult bar tender or pharmacist in It's A Wonderful Life, are different.

And the way George chases after Mary in the alternate universe, with how aggressive he is, could be considered some sort of misdemeanor assault and misdemeanor battery. Especially since the chaser is a male, and the person trying to run away is a female. It might not be battery, as George might not have known his actions were offensive, according to the definition in wiki. But it's close.

++++++++++++++++

Battery (crime) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Specific rules regarding battery vary among different jurisdictions, but some elements remain constant across jurisdictions. Battery generally requires that:

an offensive touching or contact is made upon the victim, instigated by the actor; and
the actor intends or knows that his action will cause the offensive touching.

Under the Model Penal Code and in some jurisdictions, there is battery when the actor acts recklessly without specific intent of causing an offensive contact. Battery is typically classified as either simple or aggravated.

Although battery typically occurs in the context of physical altercations, it may also occur under other circumstances, such as in medical cases where a doctor performs a non-consented medical procedure.

 

[nuraman00]

Blasphemy.

Good thing I've seen it now.

How's it going?

 

[beardown07]

Good thing I've seen it now.

How's it going?

Xmas Story is great stuff...glad you liked it...it is a prerequisite for xmas at my house

 

[nuraman00]

Xmas Story is great stuff...glad you liked it...it is a prerequisite for xmas at my house

Do you watch it every year or something?

What other holiday movies do you like, or have you seen?

I would put A Christmas Story up there with Scrooged, and the Home Alone movies. All pretty light and funny.

 

[beardown07]

The ref
Bad Santa...both very funny...prolly not for kids tho.