Went to Universal Studios again yesterday. That place really is a once every few years kind of theme park. There isn't too much to do there, although the Jurassic Park ride was at least open this time around. That's your ride if you ever need to cool off on a hot summer day. I was soaked by the end ...
The Seven Year Itch (1955): It's movies like this that prove Marilyn Monroe was more than a pretty face. She had a great comic persona, and her delivery and timing were excellent. The dumb blonde is a cliche character now, but Monroe made them still charming and likable instead of just dumb enough for a cruel laugh. Really like all the imaginative dream sequences in this, too; the lead is a meek guy who goes on several flights of fancy, and the funniest one is a dream sequence where his wife finds out he has been hanging out with Monroe's character, so she marches home and shoots him. The ending is kind of basic, but eh. I laughed a lot; that's what counts to me.
Hermes: Winds of Love (1997): Another animated feature from our pals at Happy Science. This time they take ancient Greece and somehow shoehorn Buddhism in there. Also, it's a True Story!! It even says so at the beginning of the movie, so you know it's accurate. It's kind of boring for the most part until the end, where everything goes nuts because Happy Science is kind of weird.
To Catch a Thief (1955): Liked it but didn't love it because I couldn't really buy into the main romance. Cary Grant and Grace Kelly had good chemistry and all, but I'm finding myself increasingly resistant to Hollywood romance. I did enjoy the scene where Grace Kelly takes Cary Grant on a joyride, though. The mom from Ponyo have got some lessons from her ...
An American in Paris (1951): I'm of two minds about this movie: On the one hand, I found the story pretty boring. Again, this is a movie where I couldn't buy the main romance at all (the one in Singin' in the Rain is done infinitely better), and the entire movie hinges on that romance. Plus, a lot of the characters are assholes, haha. I don't know if the movie's just a product of its time (and, therefore, different values), or if the characters were deliberately written that way, but I'm guessing it's the former. On the other hand, the technical elements of the movie are fantastic. The music is wonderful, the colors are great to look at, and, as always, Gene Kelly's dancing is out of this world. I could seriously watch him dance for hours; only Gene Kelly could have the audacity to include a 12-minute ballet sequence right at the end of a movie and pull it off perfectly.
On the queue for this week: Ninotchka (1939) and Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Total Movies: 117 (Blazing Saddles, The Descent, Gundam 00 the Movie: Awakening of the Trailblazer, Village of the Damned, Children of the Damned, Trigun: Badlands Rumble, The Night of the Hunter, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha the Movie 1st, Dawn of the Dead, Black Swan, Clue, Scarface, Dracula: Sovereign of the Damned, True Grit, Perfect Blue, The Quick and the Dead, High Sierra, Shutter Island, A Serious Man, Kite, The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Broken Blade 3, Kite Liberator, Machete, The Manchurian Candidate (2004), Heathers, The Prince of Tennis: The Two Samurai, The First Game, Notes on a Scandal, The American, King of Thorn), The Expendables, Sword of the Stranger, The Hangover, Welcome to the Space Show, Broken Blade 4, The Social Network, End of Evangelion, Neo Tokyo, Red, Dreamcatcher, Jason X, Wag the Dog, The Naked Gun, Dirty Work, 8mm, The Wicker Man (2006), Blood: The Last Vampire, Winter's Bone, The Road, Heartcatch Precure! Hana no To de Fashion Show ... Desu ka?!, Broadcast News, Bulletproof, Dead Leaves, Dirty Dancing, Hot Tub Time Machine, Eureka Seven: Pocketful of Rainbows, Cloverfield, Best in Show, Play Misty for Me, Paprika, The Cat Returns, Welcome to the Dollhouse, 12 Monkeys, The Killer, Metropolis, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, The Third Man, The King's Speech, Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus, The Abyss, The Fighter, Mega Piranha, Dumb and Dumber, The Rebirth of Buddha, 127 Hours, The Kids Are All Right, The Town, Willow, Akira, Morning Glory, The Verdict, I Love You Phillip Morris, Phantasm II, American Splendor, Broken Blade 5, Tangled, Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, The Rock, Wanted, Green Zone, Despicable Me, Waiting for Guffman, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, X-Men: First Class, X-Men, Hereafter, X2, Zatoichi, All About Eve, The Thing, Odin: Photon Space Sailer Starlight, City of God, Das Boot, Some Like it Hot, Downfall, X-Men: The Last Stand, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1, Winnie the Pooh, Bullitt, Hard Eight, Memories of Matsuko, Double Indemnity, Freaks, Break Blade 6, Key Largo, The Grand Illusion, The Seven Year Itch, Hermes: Winds of Love, To Catch a Thief, An American in Paris)
