Hello, everyone. Let's start this Monday Movie Madness with a couple of movies I watched over the Easter weekend, shall we? Beginning with the Old Testament...
The Ten Commandments
I watch this thing every year and I don't know why. The acting is over the top, the special effects are sort of cheesy and I have deep personal issues with Charlton Heston. But I love this movie. It is so colorful, so sweeping and just flat out gorgeous to look at. I adore Anne Baxter, and I think I've told ya'll about the wee crush I have on Yul Brynner, right?
When I was a kid, I would try every year to stay up long enough to see the parting of the Red Sea, but the movie is sooo long and it is always shown on a Sunday, I never made it. Watch the original trailer here, watch a hilarious send up of the trailer below....
Jesus of Nazareth (1977)
Moving on the the New Testament. I watched half of this at Christmas and half yesterday. It was shown on the History Channel. This 8 hour (!) mini-series had an all-star cast including Ernest Borgnine, Anne Bancroft, James Earl Jones, and Laurence Olivier. Robert Powell's green eyed Jesus talks really slowly, and starts to irritate after a while like here when he is reciting the Beatitudes, but the rest of the cast is super and the locations are gorgeous.
Ian McShane (from Deadwood) played Judas and can I just say 'Hubba Hubba!'. He is so handsome and mesmerising I couldn't take my eyes off of him. Great performance from an amazing actor.
The Sound of Music
They showed this one on the Family Channel, loudly proclaiming it to be 'The First Time On Cable'. Whoopty-Doo. This is such a fun and wonderful movie. Julie Andrews is delightful, Christopher Plummer as Cpt. Von Trapp is both foreboding and sexy and the children are simply splendid.
I love how it blends the serious story of the occupation of Austria by the Nazis with the love story of Maria and the Captain. It's seamless.
Watch the original trailer here.
To this day I get chills at the end of the "So Long, Farewell" number when the members of the party sing 'Goodbye' to the children. Watch that here.
I cannot imagine what Gwen Stefani was thinking when she used the refrain from "The Lonely Goatherd" for her song "Wind It Up". Most. Annoying. Pop. Song. Ever. Watch it here, if you don't value your sanity.
Harvey
I didn't see this one this weekend, but it does feature a giant rabbit so I thought I would include it in my MMM this week.
Jimmy Stewart plays a wonderful, childlike drunk named Elwood P Dowd. Elwood's best friend is a 6-foot tall, invisible rabbit named Harvey. Everyone thinks Elwood is nuts and needs to be hospitalized, but you and I know better don't we?
The part in this movie that always cracks me up is when Elwood has had a painting done of himself and Harvey. Hilarious. Do yourself a favor and rent this one. If you don't fall in love with Jimmy Stewart, you don't have a heart. Original trailer here.
In other news: I hope everyone had a terrific Easter. My mincemeat pie turned out pretty good, I think. I don't think it will replace pumpkin as my favorite all-time pie, but I like it better than blueberry or cherry.
I'm bummed that 'Prison Break' is on summer break. How am I supposed to get through the week without a little T-Bag insanity? Le sigh.
Tomorrow a book review I think you'll like, so until then...
Monday, April 09, 2007
Monday Movie Madness...The Easter Edition
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 have spoken:
Oh, I LOVE the Ten Commandments. Chuck Heston sort of sexes Moses up, doesn't he? I watched that one and The Sound of Music. Love Julie Andrews' over the top wedding dress. And I love love LOVE "I am 16, Going on 17." I learned the meaning of the word "ken" from that song.
Hmm. I see your point about the Gwen Stefani song. Hmm.
Isn't Edward G. Robinson in The Ten Commandments? Somehow, his "accent" didn't seem right!!
I thought Robert Powell as Jesus was wonderful. I have this on tape from years ago when it was broadcast on TV. I'll have to look for it on DVD.
Glad your mincemeat pie turned out OK. I still have 18 jars left!!
Cupcake, I think ALL the songs in "The Sound of Music" are perfect. That girl who played Leisel was just wonderful.
Kitty, you are brave to have checked that link. I usually like Stefani, but that...ugh.
Lynne, yeah Robinson was totally miscast in "Ten Commandments", but Vincent Price wasn't quite right either.
I thought Powell's look was perfect. Large sympathic eyes, long sensitive hands, lanky frame...everything you think of when you think of Jesus, but his delivery bored me.
I would never make it through all that mincemeat. Good luck
I never did make my mincemeat pie on Sunday. Couldn't find it in the store I was in! I will have to continue looking because now I really want a mincemeat pie.
Hmmm, I found the mincemeat in the section with other canned and jarred pie filling. They also kept raisins and other dried fruit in that section. Most grocery stores stock in similar ways, (although I've had my share of wondering around grocery stores...looking). Good luck.
Post a Comment