Movie Review: One Night Only

 

Michael's Movie Grade: D-

An R-rated romantic comedy that is neither funny nor romantic.

In this film, pre-marital sex has been outlawed in the U.S. However single people are legally allowed to have sex one day a year. A man (Callum Turner) and a woman (Monica Barbaro) go out looking for romance on this night, while everyone around them are simply only interested in sex. 

I can't get over how stupid the concept for this movie is. The premise is completely nonsensical and doesn't even make sense in the context of a raunchy comedy. In the film's defense it never treats this insane premise as some serious commentary but rather just as a set up for the story. Still, to me at least, when such a premise sets the story in motion, I find myself constantly taken out of the movie because the stupidity is simply too distracting. 

Perhaps this could be forgiven if the film was either funny or romantic. However, it is neither. I don't think I laughed once during this movie. It seems to mistake being over the top and very vulgar as being funny. However, it simply tries too hard to be both those things that it never is actually funny. The romance on the other hand feels way too rushed. The romance is never given enough time to be fleshed out in any way. Because of this it never feels like any character believably falls in love with another. Therefore, when such a thing is supposed to have happened it feels completely forced. 

 Don't waste your time with this. 

Cowboy Church #280

 Hello my friends and welcome back for another service of Cowboy Church. 

Today's musical selection begins with Roy Rogers and Dale Evans with Jesus Loves the Little Children.  Jesus would state, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me." There is no doubt that Jesus did love the little children and he loves us big children too. If we will humble ourselves and become like little children, the blessings he has for us are immeasurable. 

This is followed by the Hee Haw Gospel Quartet (Buck Owens, Roy Clark, Grandpa Jones, Gordie Tapp) with Where the Soul Never Dies. My grandparents watching reruns of the countrified variety show Hee Haw is how I was introduced to and fell in love with country music. Introduced to the show in the mid 1970's (the show premiered in 1969), the Hee Haw Gospel Quartet was a wonderful addition to the show, featuring some of the show's regulars singing classic hymns and gospel songs. 

Afterwards is Flatt and Scruggs with their 1952 recording of Preachin, Prayin, Singin.

Next comes The Charlie Daniels Band with Lay it on the Line. This song comes from the group's 1994 album, The Door. In his memoir, Never Look at the Empty Seats, Charlie Daniels wrote, "I think the most pressure I was ever under as a songwriter was when I wrote the songs for our first gospel album, The Door. It was such a special project to me. I wanted it to be much more than just another gospel album. I wanted the lyrics to have impact and hopefully speak to some of the people who, like me, had such a hard time understanding the gospel message and were falling through the cracks." (Daniels, 260) Charlie worked very hard on each song and rewrote some multiple times. The effort paid off. This fantastic 1994 album shows The Charlie Daniels Band at their best and it won them their first Dove Award.

Then comes Faron Young with My Wonderful Lord. 

Then comes The Sons of the Pioneers with their 1937 recording of Power in the Blood. Though it may be simple doctrine that we have heard since Sunday school, I hope we never forget how much power there truly is in the blood of Jesus. No matter what temptations and struggles we may face in life, Jesus' blood spilled on Calvary's cross has overcome all of it. With man something may be impossible but with God all things are possible. 

Today's musical selection ends with Lary Sparks with When the Savior Reached Down for Me.

Now for the 21st episode of TV's The Lone Ranger. 

Now for a message from the Reverand Billy Graham.

Obadiah 

Obadiah’s Vision

1 The vision of Obadiah.

This is what the Sovereign Lord says about Edom—

We have heard a message from the Lord:

    An envoy was sent to the nations to say,

“Rise, let us go against her for battle”—

2 “See, I will make you small among the nations;

    you will be utterly despised.

3 The pride of your heart has deceived you,

    you who live in the clefts of the rocks

    and make your home on the heights,

you who say to yourself,

    ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’

4 Though you soar like the eagle

    and make your nest among the stars,

    from there I will bring you down,”

declares the Lord.

5 “If thieves came to you,

    if robbers in the night—

oh, what a disaster awaits you!—

    would they not steal only as much as they wanted?

If grape pickers came to you,

    would they not leave a few grapes?

6 But how Esau will be ransacked,

    his hidden treasures pillaged!

7 All your allies will force you to the border;

    your friends will deceive and overpower you;

those who eat your bread will set a trap for you,

    but you will not detect it.

8 “In that day,” declares the Lord,

    “will I not destroy the wise men of Edom,

    those of understanding in the mountains of Esau?

9 Your warriors, Teman, will be terrified,

    and everyone in Esau’s mountains

    will be cut down in the slaughter.

10 Because of the violence against your brother Jacob,

    you will be covered with shame;

    you will be destroyed forever.

11 On the day you stood aloof

    while strangers carried off his wealth

and foreigners entered his gates

    and cast lots for Jerusalem,

    you were like one of them.

12 You should not gloat over your brother

    in the day of his misfortune,

nor rejoice over the people of Judah

    in the day of their destruction,

nor boast so much

    in the day of their trouble.

13 You should not march through the gates of my people

    in the day of their disaster,

nor gloat over them in their calamity

    in the day of their disaster,

nor seize their wealth

    in the day of their disaster.

14 You should not wait at the crossroads

    to cut down their fugitives,

nor hand over their survivors

    in the day of their trouble.

15 “The day of the Lord is near

    for all nations.

As you have done, it will be done to you;

    your deeds will return upon your own head.

16 Just as you drank on my holy hill,

    so all the nations will drink continually;

they will drink and drink

    and be as if they had never been.

17 But on Mount Zion will be deliverance;

    it will be holy,

    and Jacob will possess his inheritance.

18 Jacob will be a fire

    and Joseph a flame;

Esau will be stubble,

    and they will set him on fire and destroy him.

There will be no survivors

    from Esau.”

The Lord has spoken.

19 People from the Negev will occupy

    the mountains of Esau,

and people from the foothills will possess

    the land of the Philistines.

They will occupy the fields of Ephraim and Samaria,

    and Benjamin will possess Gilead.

20 This company of Israelite exiles who are in Canaan

    will possess the land as far as Zarephath;

the exiles from Jerusalem who are in Sepharad

    will possess the towns of the Negev.

21 Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion

    to govern the mountains of Esau.

    And the kingdom will be the Lord’s.

 

Thank you for joining me. Come back next week for another service of Cowboy Church. Happy trails to you until we meet again. 

Some Cartoons for Saturday Morning #290

 Hello my friends and happy Saturday morning. Once again, it is time for some classic cartoons. 

Today's cartoon selection begins with Donald Duck in Donald's Garden (1942). In this short film, Donald tries to plant a garden but unfortunately for him a pesky gopher arrives to eat all his produce. This is one of four Donald Duck cartoons spun off from an unfinished storyline called Donald's Roadside Market. In 1939, this cartoon's production was cancelled because Walt felt that the farmyard setting of that cartoon was not being utilized to its best. However, a farm setting was still a great idea for a Donald cartoon. Walt himself stated in a story meeting for Donald's Roadside Market that took place on August 8, 1939, "I think there are a hell of a lot of gags around a farm that could be very funny with the Duck." Other cartoons spun off from this proposed story were Golden Eggs (1941), Old MacDonald Duck (1941) and Honey Harvester (1949). 

Next is the Fleischer Screen Song cartoon, I Feel Like a Feather in the Breeze (1936). This cartoon stars the character of Wiffle Piffle, a character who would appear in both solo and Betty Boop cartoons. Though the animators here aren't as well known to animation buffs as the Disney and Warner Brothers animators, they do a great job and deserve to be given attention. Harold Walker animates the scene of the people walking into the restaurant including the revolving door gag. Tom Johnson animates Wiffle Piffle after he enters the restaurant to where he grabs a plate. Dave Hoffman animates the introduction of the opera singer and Wiffle Piffle getting beer for the customers. Tom Johnson animates Wiffle's little dance as he brings the beer out. Dave Hoffman animates Wiffle going through the door and coming out with sandwich. Harold Walker animates Wiffle giving the customer his sandwich as well as the chicken gag. Harold Walker animates Wiffle making the spaghetti. The title song was written by Mack Gordon and Harry Revel. Lyricist Mack Gordon also wrote lyrics for such songs as Chattanooga Choo-Choo, Did You Ever See a Dream Walking and You Make Me Feel So Young. Composer Harry Revel had worked as a composer for feature films for Paramount studio. 

Next comes another real classic, Falling Hare (1943). This cartoon features one of the few characters to get the upper hand of Bugs, the gremlin. Despite only appearing in this one short, the character has proven quite popular and has appeared in quite a few Looney Tunes spin offs. The original title for this movie was going to be Bugs Bunny and the Gremlin. However, since Disney was working on an animated feature film about Gremlins (a movie that would never be finished), the studio took the word Gremlin out of the title of this cartoon to appease the Disney studio. The following is a review from The Film Daily, "Literally and figuratively, Bugs Bunny, already a prime favorite among current cartoon characters, gets off to a flying start in the distribution season just started. The buck-toothed, long-eared clown meets up with a gremlin, and both find themselves aloft in an airplane, with Bugs or what's left of him being darn glad to get back to earth. There are plenty of laughs throughout. The tough Bunny, if this initial '43-'44 offering of his producer Leon Schlesinger, is any criterion, is in for a further rise in popularity among fans who like humor. Of course, the reel is in Technicolor. It was supervised by Robert Clampett and animated by Roderick Scribner. Warner Foster wrote the story and Carl W. Stalling handled the musical direction." This movie amounts to one of my favorite Bugs Bunny cartoons, and it is appropriately in Jerry Beck's book, The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes. 

Now for the Terry Toon short, Canadian Capers (1931). This cartoon features our good friend Farmer Al Falfa. Animators on this film include Frank Moser, Jerry Shields, Bill Tytla and Art Babbitt.  Unfortunately, this is an edited for TV version. 

Now for a commercial break.

Now for the Walter Lantz cartoon, Salt Water Daffy (1941). When this cartoon was released in 1941, the United States had not yet entered World War 2. However, most Americans could see that war was likely on their horizons. America's first peace time draft had recently been instated, making this cartoon especially timely. 

Next is first pairing of Daffy Duck and Speedy Gonzales, It's Nice to Have a Mouse Around the House (1965). The two would be paired together in 25 more cartoons.

Enjoy the Krazy Kat cartoon, Love Krazy (1932). This film is full of the type of early 1930's cartoon charm that so many of us love. 

Now to close with a song. 

Thanks for joining me. Come back next week for more animated treasures. Until then may all your tunes be looney and your melodies merry. 

Resources Used

The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes edited by Jerry Beck

Of Mice and Magic: A History of the American Animated Cartoon by Leonard Maltin.

Donald Duck: The Ultimate History by J.B. Kaufman and David Gerstein

https://mediahistoryproject.org/

 

Movie Review: Her Private Hell

 

Michael's Movie Grae: D-

An incoherent mess of an art film. 

There is no use in me giving any sort of a story summary here because the story is too big of a mess to effectively describe here. The story somehow manages to be too simplistic and incoherently complex at the same time. The result is a movie that constantly tries to prove itself as something artistic yet has nothing to actually say. So do not go into this film trying to find the deeper meaning underneath all incoherent weirdness. There simply isn't any. I love art house cinema and that is why I hate movies like this. They give artsy a bad name and make many movie goers believe art films are a bunch of pretentious slop like this. This may be Her Private Hell but that doesn't mean it has to feel like Hell for the viewers as well. There is only so much visual randomness, poorly defined characters, painfully pretentious dialogue and incoherent storytelling that one can take. This movie may be under two hours, but it felt longer than some four-hour movies I have seen. I kept waiting for it to end but kept being disappointed whenever the story continued. Even the visuals, which even some of the film's harshest critics like, are simply too much. There is too much going on visually that after a while it simply gets tiring to look at. 

A great cast (lead by the always wonderful Sophie Thatcher) and a truly wonderful musical score (by Pino Donaggio) can't even come close to saving this mess of a movie. 

MGM Short Subjects 1930-1931

 A 1930 issue of Exhibitors Hearld dedicated a large section to promotion for upcoming films for MGM. Here is part of that section, which is dedicated to the short subjects that MGM would be making a distributing (including the films from Hal Roach Studios) in 1930 and 1931. It states, "The Greatest Short Product Line Up MGM Has Ever Offered." While this is obviously just publicity, it is hard to argue with a lineup that includes Laurel and Hardy, Our Gang (AKA The Little Rascals), The Boy Friends, Charley Chase and Ub Iwerks' bizarre Flip the Frog cartoons. 

Now enjoy some shorts from 1930 and 1931.

You have seen Burton Holmes in the article. This is a name that you may not be familiar with. So here is a short video about him and his films. 

Movie Review: The Odyssey

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B+

An excellent big screen epic. 

Christopher Nolan has always been a filmmaker who has not been afraid to take chances. However, adapting The Odyssey may be one of his riskiest ventures yet. Still the result paid off with flying colors. While this may not be a fully faithful adaptation, it manages to capture the story's epic scale. This movie feels larger than life. It looks like an old school Hollywood epic in all the best ways possible. It is rare to find a modern movie that truly has this larger than life feel and that is exactly what this film does. That Nolan relies heavily on practical effects of course plays no small role in this. This alone would be reason enough to recommend it. Yet there is still much more to recommend here. The action scenes are excellent, and the best Nolan has done since Dunkirk. There is a strong emotion center here. The scene in Hades as a scene towards the end of the picture hit all the right emotional marks. What surprised me though is how well the horror scenes worked. I did not expect this movie to dip as far into the horror genre as it did and here Nolan proves himself to be an excellent horror filmmaker. The Cerci scene made me feel incredibly uncomfortable in a way that even some real horror films never have.

The casting is often excellent but sometimes misses the mark. Matt Damon is perfect as the lead, making this character feel larger than life and yet still human at the same time. Elliott Paige is fantastic in a smaller but important role. He is very much responsible for the film's most emotionally impactful moments. Anne Hathaway is great as the queen, and you forget you are watching a well-known actress. Samantha Norton is terrifying as Cerci. However, Tom Holland and Robert Patterson seem out of place here, like their characters don't belong in a period epic but instead in a modern-day story. There is nothing wrong Zendaya's performance. However, she is too recognizable as Zendaya, and the script gives her too little to actually do. Since most of the time when she is on screen, there is no opportunity for her to stretch her acting muscles, we are always aware we are looking at Zendaya instead of seeing the character. 

With so many characters, there is little time to flesh many of them out. This can make some characters feel more like plot devices than actually people (especially Robert Patterson's bully). The movie can also feature bits of clumsy dialogue that are disappointing in an adaption of a classic work of literature.  

This may not be perfect. However, it is a great movie going experience, especially if seen on a big IMAX screen. 

Aladdin: The Return of Jafar (1994)

 

Aladdin: The Return of Jafar marked the first of many direct to video movies for the Disney studio. 

In this movie, the villainous Jafar, now a genie, concocts a plan to get revenge on Aladdin and his friends.  

As well as being a sequel to Aladdin (1992), this is also essentially a feature length pilot for the Aladdin TV series, which premiered the same year. The directors (Toby Shelton, Tad Stones, Alan Zaslove) and writers even worked on that TV series. With its lower budget animation and villain of the week story, the movie itself feels more like an extended episode of a TV series than a proper sequel to a Disney classic. However, it feels like a pretty good extended TV episode. The best part of this movie is Iago's character arc. This movie takes a comedic sidekick and makes him into a much more interesting character. He at first attaches himself to Aladdin for selfish reasons but ends up actually caring for them. This is done completely convincingly, and you actually end up caring for him in an unexpected way. Also, even if the storyline is very villain of the week, Jafar as a genie is an incredibly big threat to our heroes. There are even some good suspense scenes here as we wonder just how our heroes are going to make it out alive. While obviously on a smaller budget and scale the final action scene is quite exciting.

 This movie does have its flaws though. Unlike the great and memorable Alan Menkin songs from the first film, the songs here are completely forgettable and bland. If you try to remember any of these songs a couple days after watching the film, you will forget them. On the other hand, you can go years without watching the original Aladdin and still find the songs randomly getting stuck in your head. The humor here is also significantly weaker than that of the first movie. Part of this is naturally not having Robin Willaims as the genie. Dan Castellenta (best known as the voice of Homer Simpson) does a fine job providing the voice but without the improvisation of Willaims, the character simply isn't as funny. The basic slapstick gags involving the other characters also fail to get the laughs they should. Part of Jafar's evil plan is to use an incompetent thief, who gets a hold of his lamp, to help him get revenge on Aladdin (who they both hate). Unfortunately, this character can get rather annoying at times, and his incompetence is never as funny as the writers seem to think. 

This is not a great movie by any stretch, but it is an enjoyable enough watch for Disney fans.