Modern Times (1936) - "Buck up! Never say die - we'll get along!"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027977/

One of my ALL TIME favourite movies.

Yesterday with windchill it hit -31 degrees Celsius outside and snowed a LOT. Something about that kind of weather just makes me want to curl up on a couch and watch a great movie so I invited a few friends over and decided to watch Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times.

This movie is absolutely timeless.. I don't care if you hate silent movies, or black and white film; if you can't find something to like in this one then I fee

l sorry for you. Despite it being set a lifetime ago it is entirely valid in it's core to what people are going through right now. General struggles to survive in a modernized world. Just about everyone should be able to relate to that. Putting aside all serious critique, the actual sentiment and gags in this movie work no matter when you were born or where you are from and the beauty of being able to make someone laugh or smile or cry without depending on dialo

gue or voice is a pretty amazing feat. Charlie Chaplin is definitely one of the greatest film-makers and personalities of all time and I am so glad that we are able to enjoy his legacy even so long after the man himself is gone.

Great film that everyone enjoyed watching. :)

Watched this one with a couple of different peo

ple since Amanda has recently not had the time to hang out and in watching this one, realised that I have a lot of options for movie-watching binges. My friend Gavin loves these old movies as much as I do and so I'm probably going to keep watching them with him instead along with whoever else wants to indulge in a little cinematic history :)

For the next movie I'm thinking of going in an entirely different direction.. hopefully I'll be able to watch it tonight. Watching the Dark Knight over again last week reminded me of a few early movies with Eric Roberts.. that led to a short debate about his acting ability and me coming to the realisation that a lot of people haven't seen h

is earlier work. Coca Cola Kid or Pope

of Greenwich Village maybe?

:D

-moose
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/user/927153/lists/

Romancing the Stone (1984) - 'What did you do, wake up this morning and say, "Today, I'm going to ruin a man's life"?'

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088011/

We watched Romancing the Stone right after the African Queen. I thought that their similar genres would compliment nicely and I was right. It was really neat to see two movies made 30 years apart that have so many similarities. I'm mainly referring to the characters and the genre of course (silly 80s movies have quite a different general feel than a movie made in the 30s haha) but they worked very well together nevertheless.

Romancing the Stone is one of my absolute favorites of the genre. They give you all the action, comedy, romance and adventure you could ask for in a movie like this and they pull off all aspects really well. Such a fun movie to watch and one just about anyone can enjoy I think. Micheal Douglas and Kathleen Turner are so fun together. Even though it was probably my 5th time watching it, it was just as great as the first time. :)

Amanda thought it was great too.. :P SO WATCH IT!


This is the last of the movies Amanda and I watched together... next movie with this concept in mind didn't come for at least a few more months.

Jumped back to the silent era for the 4th movie in my list :)

-moose

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/user/927153/lists/view.php?id=909413146_134951

The African Queen (1951) - What a time we had, Rosie.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043265/

We actually watched this one a lot closer to Casablanca but a lot of things got in the way of me posting anything about it and since then, my friend and I have been unable to get together to watch any movies. As it seems like nothing is going to change there, I've decided to carry on myself. Hopefully I can bring a few friends with me along the way. I've since found a partner in crime who is more than willing to sit through any amount of old movies with me! I'm hoping to continue a lot more frequently with my movie watching from here on out accompanied by Gavin and assorted other friends! ONWARD.

Since the second movie Amanda and I watched together was The

African Queen I'd like to do a quick post about that before I carry on with any other movies.

I absolutely loved the African Queen. This is probably the oldest movie I've ever seen in the adventure genre (I know, I have a lot to catch up on) and considering how saturated we are with predominately ACTION-themed adventures (explosions galorrre) this one holds up really well I think where it is as much a character drama as an adventure story.

Humphrey Bogart was as different a character as you can get from his role in Casablanca but he seemed to be just as charming. This is the first of Katharine Hepburns films I have watched so it was interesting to see her with an older face than the more famous pictures of her. Amanda and I had a lot of fun watching this one (although it may have dragged in a few parts just because of our being used to faster paced movies). A really good follow up to Casablanca I think :)

Excited to watch MORE.

We actually followed this one with a similar movie of the same genre but fast-forwarding to 30 years later :D

-moose
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/user/927153/lists/view.php?id=909413146_134951

Casablanca (1942) - Here's looking at you, kid.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034583/
I'm not trying to go crazy here. I'm pretty bad at keeping any sort of blog going so this is mainly for my own benefit; so that I can keep a record of the movies we watch as we carry on. We'll see how long I can keep it up though :) And hopefully I can make it a little entertaining at least.

CASAAAABLANCAAAAA. Pretty much one of the most famous movies every made. It's hard sometimes to watch older movies now that we are all used to the fast-paced, simple-plot, multiple moving camera angled film of today. They seem boring or forced or too dramatic to people who just aren't used to it. Sometimes they are too dated to enjoy. I'm not saying that every movie in black and white with ladies that throw their hands to their foreheads dramatically is an absolute masterpiece. This one is though.

The plot was completely engaging and the characters were fantastic. We watched it on a huge old clunky tube TV with it's convex screen and it's oldschool 4:3 aspect ratio but that just seemed to add to the authenticity of the film. Completely deserving (in my humble opinion) of it's "all-time classic" reputation the movie held my interest from start to finish even though I'd found myself reciting lines I had never actually heard in context. I knew how it would end and it didn't dampen the experience at all for me.

After it finished, my friend and I looked at each other with the same thought in our heads: "We must watch more". Within a half an hour discussion we had covered a multitude of genres and actors and styles of movies which we wanted to find the time to enjoy and thus the plan was formed to, at least once a week, watch an "old movie"; whether it be an all time classic like Casablanca, or a formative film of a certain genre that paved the way that type of movie would be made, or a lesser known slice of life film that may not be on everyone's top 100 movies of all time.

With a father that can name 100 must see movies in the span of 25 minutes and the only working internet connection between the two of us I took the honour of starting the list and with this honour I also started this blog. I don't know if anyone is ever going to read it but I figure it will be a good exercise for me and by the end of it (if we ever get there) it's going to be one hell of a good movie list.

After going through a few possible follow ups Amanda declared her wish to watch an old-school adventure genre film. I went home and consulted my father and after an hour long conversation in which he named movie after movie and I told him to wait because I had no pen or paper I remembered a film he had mentioned ages ago. The perfect film to follow Casablanca? Maybe.. maybe not. But it is another Bogart film and it fits the adventure genre so it'll absolutely do.

Now to go find The African Queen.

- moose
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/user/927153/lists/view.php?id=909413146_134951

An Introduction

So I got a call from my friend saying that she found Casablanca at the library. Despite being a self-proclaimed "movie buff" and an encyclopedia of information on actors and movies (even those I have never seen) I have NOT seen this cinematic masterpiece. Actually.. for a self-proclaimed "movie buff" there are a lot of movies I haven't seen be it Oscar-winning films, cult flicks or iconic movies from the formative decades of cinematic history. A lot of my film education compromises entirely of movies from my dad's favorites list and, although I have seen a LOT of movies in my 21 years there are many decades and many actors, directors and genres that I have neglected.

To make a long story short, we decided to watch it. And it was great.

But it DID bring me to the realisation that my film education is FAR from complete.

Casablanca inspired us to expand our repetoire and start an exploration of the history of movies from the very beginning. As a fitting starting point, Casablanca will be the first in hopefully a long list of great stories and adventures, exceptional acting and directing, gorgeous cinematography and art, and of course simply some fantastic entertainment from all genres and decades of cinematic history. Movies have always meant a lot to me and have been my first choice for entertainment and enjoyment of art from a very early age. Now, I'd like to experience everything they have to offer, whether it be a certain genre, actor, director or decade.

This blog is merely a way for me to personally keep track of what we have watched.

And so it begins... with Casablanca.

- moose