‘Miracle on 34th Street’ is a Christmas movie where more of the action takes place on Thanksgiving than on Christmas.
Tag: Movies
There aren’t as many movies that integrate Thanksgiving into their plot as Christmas, but there are a lot more than you think.
Almost everyone familiar with Hollywood already knows the secrets of “Psycho” going in, but that was not the case when it was first released. Psycho” prefigures the contemporary dominance of literary irony as the tone of choice for the overwhelming majority of films made today. This foreknowledge of what to expect allowed Van Sant to remake “Psycho” almost exactly as Hitchcock did but defy contemporary conventions by eliminating the irony and creating a film that is actually rather radical in its emotional sincerity.
October 15 is I Love Lucy Day, But don’t despair, there are Lucys in this world to love than the one you probably don’t.
Celebrate the great movie grouches on October 15. That is National Grouch Day. And wouldn’t you rather spend time celebrating this day with movie grouches than real ones?
Horror films are supposed to be dark. These three go beyond darkness.
There are two songs in particular that I think are superior candidates for exactly this type of twisting of expectations. One is considered among the most romantic standards of all time, as well as the very model of slow-dance doo-wop song. The Flamingos recorded the ultimate version of “I Only Have Eyes For You.” I don’t know if it’s the bass line, those shoo-bop-shoo-bop or the incessantly repetitive tinkling of the same piano keys, but something about this song gives it an unsettling, almost macabre edge to it. There is a feeling to this song of something dark and dangerous beneath its lyrics of undying love.
Don’t believe the title. “World Without End” manages to present a 1950’s vision of the apocalypse that strings together time travel, nuclear war, enormous spiders, mutated human beings, reverse gender roles and class distinction.
Just when Hollywood was on the verge of potentially losing the battle to dominate world cinema due to its commitment to crushing homogeneity of product, Hitler unexpectedly saved the day by sending us the greatest directors and writers of the 1930’s.
Is the image of white guys playing the Indians in westerns offensive to you? Imagine how offensive it must be to Native Americans. Of course, an argument can be made that laughter is the most subversive form of insurrection.
