Posted on 12/13/2006 5:40:45 PM PST by EveningStar
"Miracle of 34th Street" is a very touching movie with the true Santa Claus in it (Edmund Gwyn is magnificent, unparalled).
I know what you mean about masterpiece and I think it's alot of blowhard stuff. Why not just go by how it actually strikes you, 1st-blush kind of thing? Why pick it apart? Sure, you can if you like, LATER, but is that really how you "film" (buzzword) nuts watch a new movie the 1st time? Can't you just sit back & relax and see how it hits you? I really don't mean to be insulting, but then, frankly, the references to "the masses" by such film nuts is insulting.
We can argue about IAWL all day. Bottom line is it is a GOOD movie that is enjoyable to watch. But it's not something that makes me say, "hey, I GOTTA watch that every month!"
"Die Hard" is still the best Christmas movie ever. :)
WRONG.
Singin' in the Rain was preferred in box-office sales at its release compared to American in Paris. It is PARIS that is MORE preferred by critics. Never mind it continued having more popularity since then, all along.
Thankfully, it is so good that even critics can't "criticize" it, as they do most "mass-appeal" pieces.
As far as the "Xmas movie" thing, I think I agree to an extent. Although, while it is sometimes shown at holiday time (and will be this Xmas Eve and the Day itself), "Meet Me in St. Louis" I've never heard referred to as an "Xmas movie", although it has a wonderful setting during winter & Christmas specifically. Thus, the fact that IAWL starts and ends at Xmas only pushes my limits of the definition. Sure it's convenient that it was at Xmas, but it wasn't really BECAUSE of Xmas that anything happened. And most of the movie spent time giving George's biography. Not extremely Christmasy to me!
Yes indeedy. She had me hysterical in that episode. I knew JUST how she felt.
Why didn't you just go to sleep?
never heard of it...
Howard Brackett (Kevin Kline) is a high school teacher in a small town in Indiana with everything going for him; a nice job, an attractive fiancé named Emily (Joan Cusack) and respect from everyone. Everything changes in one night when a former high school student of his, named Cameron Drake (Matt Dillon), now a famous actor living in Hollywood, makes an acceptance speech after receiving an Academy Award for his portrayal of a homosexual army soldier and 'outs' Howard Brackett as his inspiration for his role. The media circus immediately begins as Howard desperately tries keep his life from falling apart by protesting that he is not gay and that the whole thing with Cameron's speech is a simple misunderstanding. While most of the townspeople want to believe Howard, Peter Malloy (Tom Selleck), an openly gay TV reporter who arrives in town to cover the story, suspects that the teacher is in denial.
Story rumored to be loosely based upon Tom Hanks acceptance speech when receiving his Academy Award for "Philadelphia".
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119360/plotsummary
ahh.. always with the gay overtones... thats Hollywood for ya.
I recently saw "Hollywood Knights" for the first time in years. I had forgotten how funny that movie was. Robert Wuhl was an absolute riot as Newbomb Turk.
I highly doubt that was true 40-50 years ago. Although I don't doubt they at least had a good view of it. Hadn't gotten the impression critics "hated" it, just that it wasn't the darling that Paris was. After all, Paris won *Best Picture* and Rain wasn't even nominated. That's telling right there.
Most UNDERRATED movies:
Airplane
The Police Academy movies
Revenge of the Nerds
My Cousin Vinny
Beverly Hills Cop
Spaceballs
;-)
They didn't hate it. It's just not regarded as all it was cracked to be at the time. And Oscars are strictly a Hollywood thing. Critics don't get a vote.
Yes, but frankly, "Hollywood" tends to be much closer to critics in what it thinks is great than to the "masses".
I think you're confusing the "its" - you seem to be talking about Paris when I was talking about Rain.
They didn't hate either. But at the time, they seemed to prefer Paris.
I kept trying, but my wife kept jabbing me in the ribs every time I started snoring and drooling.
I'm not a huge DVD collector by any stretch of the imagination, but I own five of the films on your list.
Remind me never to invite you to the movies.
Critics make fun of the Oscars all the time which tend to avoid overly edgy for the safe and prestigious (An American Paris over 'A Street Car Named Desire' 'My Fair Lady' over 'Dr. Strangelove', 'A Man for All Seasons' over 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf' etc.) Critics polls tend to go differently almost all the time.
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