Tag Archives: movies

What’s In a Lame?

Posted on March 10, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

Get it?  Like “What’s in a name?”  I came up with the title after I wrote the following:

No, this is not my date for Friday night.

I didn’t have any bright ideas for this week’s Friday Lame Post, but when I was on Facebook, somebody on one of my monster movie pages shared this picture of Max Schreck as Nosferatu.  I immediately downloaded it, and you know my motto (one of them, anyways): waste not, want not.

Incidentally, every time I mention Max Schreck, I have to look up the spelling of his name.  I feel certain I am getting it mixed up with a certain green ogre voiced by Mike Myers (another name I must look up).

“What do you mean, you’ve never seen the movie?”

Shrek.  That is how the ogre spells it.  And it’s Myers not Meyers, Mike not Michael.  I guess Michael Meyers is the bad guy from the Halloween movies.  Full disclosure:  I have never seen any of the Shrek movies, and it comes as no small disappointment to me to find out it is spelled differently from Max Schreck.  I’ve heard the Shrek movies are full of pop culture references.  I think a reference to an iconic silent horror movie would have been nice.  Perhaps they did mean it as a reference but changed the spelling.  If I was a real cinema writer, I would research these things (and once again, we come to the ugly truth about me).

“No, I was not a regular on Saturday Night Live.”

I just looked up Halloween, the movie, and found that Michael Myers spells his name the same way Mike Myers did.  I’m glad we got that cleared up.

 

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Wrist to Forehead Sunday: Oscar Edition

Posted on March 5, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

Like I know anything about the Oscars.  My husband, Steven, has always been a big Oscar fan and is quite knowledgeable about The Academy.  As regular readers know, I am more enamored of old cheesy horror movies.  Oh, I like some Oscar movies.  In fact, of recent movies, I certainly like Oscar movies better than huge, effects-heavy actioners or superhero movies, or asinine comedies replete with toilet humor.  I can’t say I’m a snob, given my love of William Castle and Roger Corman.  Let’s say my tastes are.. not mainstream.

All that said, when we had a chance to see all or most of the main Oscar nominees, we did.  Ever since we returned to the Mohawk Valley, however, it has not been so easy.  Sometimes it just seems such an effort to get to the area cinemas, even when they show the films we want to see.  Munson Williams shows movies, but even getting to Utica can be problematic, especially given Steven’s work hours.

Oh, don’t accuse me of whining. I suppose I am whining, but I don’t mean to be. After all, one does not whine on Wrist to Forehead Sunday.  One swoons, in a dramatic fashion, the back of one’s wrist against one’s forehead, because life has become too much to be borne.  Alas!  Alack the day! You call that whining?  I call that an honest, if slightly exaggerated, response to the trauma of life.

So, on the brighter side, I get to stay up and watch the Oscars, because I have tomorrow off.  Normally I go to bed early on Sunday, to recruit my energies for the week ahead.  Additionally, I have taken two short naps today.  I feel in fine, TV-viewing fettle.  On the dimmer side, I have not seen any of the moves nominated, and I don’t even know most of the stars, especially since we let our subscription to Entertainment Weekly lapse (we found ourselves increasingly less entertained by it).

Back on the brighter side, I hear Steven washing the dishes, so I don’t have to do it.  That’s pretty nice of him on his Fabulous Four-Day Birthday Weekend.  That’s more on the brighter side than on the dimmer.  Maybe I should peel my wrist off my forehead and get back to enjoying my Sunday.  In the meantime, how about an Oscar nomination for that swoon?

 

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Film Noir, Blog Post Dull

Posted on February 19, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

As I type in lead after lead and backspace it out, I realize, it IS Wrist to Forehead Sunday.  I know, I ended yesterday’s post with several places I wanted to give a better shout-out to.  Did anybody seriously think I was going to do that today?  I didn’t.  I thought I might write a little something about shoveling the driveway this morning, because I felt like much woman, as my sister Victoria would say.  I also thought I might take a walk with my Tablet and take some pictures of the lovely gray sky. Well, I didn’t, so just excuse the hell out of me!

I did a little bit of writing on my murder mystery, Secrets at Suiter House.  It is practically finished, but not quite there yet.  I’ll work on it.

In the meantime, I need to make a blog post.  Maybe a few pictures would help (oh WHY did I not take that walk with the Tablet?).

Can you feel the sex in the air?

Earlier today we watched Double Indemnity, a favorite of ours.  Film noir at its best.  If only I had had some Pinot Noir to drink with it.  Well, you can’t have everything.  I did have a little wine, because I saw on Facebook that it is National Wine Drinking Day.  According to Facebook, that seems to come more than once a year, but I won’t complain about that.  I don’t think you HAVE to observe these things.

A little venom in the air over here,

Since I said pictures, plural, I include a photo from another film noir we enjoyed recently, Sudden Fear.  I do like murder and mayhem, as Steven calls it.  Speaking of which, I think new episode of Snapped is about to start.  That, regular readers may recall, is my real Sunday staple.  Once again, sorry for the sloppy blog post.  I hope to see you all on Monday for whatever kind of a post I can manage.

 

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We Went with Murder

Posted on February 12, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

When my husband Steven and I debated what movies to watch this afternoon, I said, “Murder or monsters.”  I thought that would make a good blog post title, then I decided to go with the above.  I hope I made the right decision.

Remember cigarette lighters? I remember my grandmother having one.

Our first movie was Strangers on a Train, a Hitchcock I am especially fond of.  I like that Farley Granger, who also starred in Rope, one of my all-time favorites.  He was a very good-looking young man, but in the extras of Rope, I see he became this really cool-looking older guy.  He looked like somebody you would enjoy to hang out with.  Alas, I never got the chance.  So many cool people to hang out with.  So little opportunity to do so.  But I must not wax philosophical on Wrist to Forehead Sunday.

Looks sexy and mysterious, no?

After Strangers and dinner (roasted eggplant, yum!), we decided on A Perfect Murder, a rather stylish tale of suspense. So we have had two movies involving murder, and neither were mystery but were fine stories of suspense.  What direction shall we go in next?  The same?  Different?  Murder suspense, murder mystery, or maybe my original choice, monster?  Last night we opted for suspense noir, with Sudden Fear.  Joan Crawford and Gloria Grahame, what’s not to like?

“So pleased to meet you. Which of us will kill the other?”

You can’t see Gloria Grahame so good in this picture, but it’s a nice shot of Crawford and of the other point in the triangle, Jack Palance.  I confess to not being a particular fan of Palance, but that is not important now.  What is important now is that I am over 250 words on my blog post.  Quite respectable for a Wrist to Forehead Sunday post.  I must get on with fixing my husband some dessert.

 

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Blogging is for The Birds

Posted on January 26, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

“To think that I’ve been feeding these little S.O.B.s!”

My bad blogging but good movie-watching week continues with a fast Non-Sequitur Thursday post.  I am into Alfred Hitchcock today.  I offered Steven a choice of The Birds or Psycho, and he chose The Birds. Murder and mayhem without being too disturbing.  And we get to make fun of Annie the doormat.  It is rather unbecoming of me, come to think about it, because I have sometimes acted the doormat myself, in my sordid, low-self-esteemed past.  I try to avoid such behavior these days, but you just never now what you might do given the right (or wrong) circumstances.

Not the party they were hoping for.

This was the only photo I could find quickly featuring Annie the doormat.  I can’t think of anything witty to say about Rod Taylor or Veronica Cartwright, so I will merely note their presence.

I’d scream, too!

Maybe I can talk Steven into watching Psycho next.  It starts slow then picks up and become quite satisfyingly creepy.  In the meantime, I am missing The Birds while I type in this blog post.  Full disclosure:  I think I am coming down with a stupid cold.  I hope I am feeling better tomorrow.  Perhaps I could forgo Lame Post Friday and write a good post, to make up for my bad blogging week.  No promises.  Happy Thursday, though.

 

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More Movies on Wuss-out Wednesday

Posted on January 25, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

Yeah, it’s a bad blogging week.  I offer no excuses, but there it is.  At least I am making Wednesday’s post on Wednesday.  I thought I would look for pictures of the movies we are watching today.  I like movies.

Don’t they look fun?

When I got up from a nap (headache, what a surprise), Steven was watching A Mighty Wind, because of the good music.  I would really like to get the soundtrack of that sometime.

OK, I can’t find a picture of The Big Chill and I’m tired of looking.  That is the second movie we watched, because it also has a good soundtrack.  Then I could not think of a worthy direction to go, so I just kept suggesting movies I felt like watching till Steven agreed to Lake Placid.  I wonder if I can find a picture for that.

Now here’s a movie with some teeth.

Ah, I had some success with finding photos.  That is good, since I am having a problem coming up with more interesting words.

At least nobody is throwing a head at her in this shot.

 

One of my favorite aspects of the movie is the unlikely friendship that develops between Oliver Platt and the big-bellied sheriff.

Lake Placid is a surprisingly humorous monster movie, with likable characters and a few surprises in the plot.  I believe I have written about it at least once (what a surprise, I am too lazy to find the post and make a link).

I’ll call this a Wuss-out Wednesday post and take comfort from the fact that at least I didn’t wait and make it on Thursday. Happy mid-week, everyone.

 

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Did You See What I Did?

Posted on January 24, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

It is getting to be a bad habit for me to miss a day of posting then make two posts the next day.  In my defense, I was having such a fine time yesterday watching cheesy movies with my husband, Steven, I just kept going with it till I was too tired and lazy.  OK, that was a lousy defense. I’ll share a couple of monster movie pictures, hit publish, and try for a Mohawk Valley adventure later on for a better blog post today.

Gee I wish I’d have said that.

This photo was on one of my monster movie pages, but the comments (including mine) also made a lot of puns, some of them rather racy.  I suggested we watch The Brain That Wouldn’t Die first, for cheesy fun on a rainy day.  It is really better to watch movies on a rainy day at our house, because our television is in between two windows which have rather inadequate curtains.  At least, I guess they are adequate, because nobody can see in, and it is nice for the most part that they let sunlight in, oh, never mind about my curtains, let’s go on with the monster movies.

He looked considerably less distinguished as the vampire.

Next I suggested something from our DVD Collection of 50 Horror Classics (they use the term loosely).  We chose Dead Men Walk, starring the “marvelously theatrical” George Zucco (that is how he is described in one of the movie summaries).  I could not find a picture of the movie (well I can’t spend all day looking for pictures, you know I am not adept at internet searches), so I settled for one of Zucco.

Anyways, that movie was disappointingly, so Steven wanted something that moved a little faster.  I wanted to continue with the cheese theme, so we settled on I Saw What You Did, a William Castle production with Joan Crawford.  Steven saw it at the drive-in back in the day.  He subsequently called a neighbor’s house, which was situated so they could see through the windows.  His sister, Ruby, answered the phone and Steven whispered, “I saw what you did, and I know who you are.”  Ruby was startled.  Last night I double dog dared him to repeat the prank.  He dialed Ruby’s number, but when she picked up he said, “Hi, Ruby.”

Oh, she’s mad.

You can’t see it so well in the picture, but it’s a really awesome necklace.  After that movie, we watched a Dateline On Demand.  Some days I just can’t get enough murder and mayhem.

 

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Snapped then Swoon?

Posted on January 22, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

I pause in my Sunday activities to make a Wrist to Forehead post.  I am not currently posing with my wrist on my forehead (about to swoon on a chaise lounge, of course), because it is so far a pretty good day.  But I’m thinking this will not be a very good post, so perhaps I will swoon after I hit publish.  No matter.  These things happen, and we must make the best of them.

The 1920’s, Julie Andrews, what’s not to like?

My husband Steven and I watched this movie last night and earlier this afternoon. I purchased it at a garage sale over the summer.  Last night after watching Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte, Steven suggested we put in something silly we would not mind turning off.   In fact, we got into it and did mind turning it off.  Luckily, there was an intermission, because Steven had to be up early to get to work this morning.  When one reaches a good leaving off place, one likes to take advantage of it.

I made spaghetti sauce and meatballs earlier, the way my mother and grandmother used to make, although I forgot to add the tomato paste so it was not thick.  Nobody is perfect, after all.  Now Steven (dear, sweet man) is dong the dishes, and I am looking at Snapped, my usual Sunday guilty pleasure. And I thought, Ooh, it would be a good idea to make my blog post.

Naturally they are only showing episodes I have already seen, but you’ll have that. Especially as often as I watch Snapped.

When Steven is finished doing the dishes, I would like to watch a monster movie.  I am rather obsessed with monster movies.  I wonder which one we will choose.  Not knowing, I will close with a random monster movie picture from my Media Library.

I imagine he hates to be interrupted when he is eating.

Happy Sunday, everyone!

 

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Bette and Joan on Tired Tuesday

Posted on January 17, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

I’ve got the I CAN’T POST THAT disease,  also known as the Type It In Backspace It Out disease.

They look how I feel.

When in doubt, post a picture.  I confess to not being a great fan of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? although I adore both Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, as well as old horror movies.  You may ask me, what’s that all about? But I will not have a good answer.  After all, one can’t like everything.

“I can just about spit in your eye!”

I may not have that quote right, but here is Davis in a movie I thoroughly enjoy, Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte, which ironically enough (given my enjoyment of one and dislike of the other) was originally titled Whatever Happened to Cousin Charlotte?  I read all about it in a wonderful book called The Divine Feud by Shaun Considine.  Ooh, now I should find a picture of Crawford in a movie I like, preferably horror.  How about Straitjacket?

The caption is not a line from the movie. Also, Miss Crawford did not appreciate being referred to as a “broad.”

I may flatter myself, but I think this is turning out to be a not bad silly post. I haven’t even mentioned my headache (that was one of the lines I typed in and backspaced out, as mentioned earlier) (oops.  Well, go ahead and judge me for whining).  I’ll keep it short and end with another favorite picture.

She really lost her head over that movie.

Happy Tuesday, everybody.

 

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Murder or Monsters on Wrist to Forehead Sunday

Posted on January 15, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

Are they plotting somebody’s demise?

I interrupt the movie-watching portion of my day for a fast blog post.  Of course I am having a Wrist to Forehead Sunday.  I would swoon onto a lounge if I had one, but that is not the important thing.  The important thing is to make a blog post. My husband, Steven, and I just watched Evil Under the Sun, a star-studded Agatha Christie adaptation, one of our favorites.  We are now looking at House of Wax, the 1953 version starring Vincent Price.  I said I wanted either monsters or more murder.  This is kind of both.

“As you see, my hands are not capable of great art any more.”

A Facebook friend shared the above picture, which got me thinking about House of Wax.  This movie also features Carolyn Jones, in a sadly small role.  That makes me think about watching Invasion of the Body Snatchers, which I would call more monster than murder, although I suppose that would be open to debate.  Feel free to discuss amongst yourselves.

And before this, they were drinking martinis. Mmmm…. martinis…

Carolyn Jones doesn’t have too big a part in Body Snatchers, either.  Maybe I should invest in a couple of DVDs of the old Addams Family TV show.

In the meantime, I’m over 200 words.  I call that acceptable.  We’ll see if I can do better as the week wears on.  Happy Sunday, everyone.

 

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