Author: Ga2so

  • Retro Movie Adventures: The Stranger (1946) and Loretta Young

    Silhouette of Orson Welles and Loretta Young embracing in The Stranger. They are in black and white; the background is rings of dark and bright red.
    Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young, and Orson Welles in a publicity still for The Stranger.

    Orson Welles plays a Nazi who is so smart that he’s destroyed all evidence of who he is and passed himself off as not German to a small town in the middle of America, but still buries bodies in shallow graves within walking distance of his house. Lots of strong performances make the nonsense of the story work.

    Also: Loretta Young and Edward G. Robinson seem to be having an eyebrow contest. Loretta is winning. And speaking of Loretta:

    Composite picture. On the left, a mockup of Loretta Young's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On the Right, a black and white portrait photo of Loretta Young.

    This is exactly the kind of person that made me start this Walk of Fame project. An Acadamey Award winner who was in over 100 films, and I’d somehow seen none of them. But what you probably want to know is “did she have a recipe for chicken curry?”

    Yes she did.

    This movie officially finishes 6100 Hollywood Boulevard on the Walk of Fame! It’s my first step eastward, and it only took three days! At this rate I’ll be done in less than a couple of decades!

    Today’s poster doesn’t quite make sense, but I loved it and the movie it came from so much that I forced it to work. Mostly.

    A poster for The Stranger mimicking the poster for All About Eve.
    Fediverse reactions

  • Retro Movie Adventures: All About Eve (1950) and Gregory Ratoff

    Bette Davis as Margo in All Abut Eve.
    Bette Davis and Anne Baxter as Margo and Eve in All About Eve.

    This is a movie I’d seen referenced a million times but never bothered to see. What a mistake- this thing is a hoot and a half! Bette Davis is made of fire and acid.

    Walk of Fame Watch: Gregory Ratoff

    Composite picture. On the left, a mockup of JGregory Ratoff's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On the Right, a black and white portrait photo of Gregory Ratoff.

    Why would you put this guy on the same corner as Gregory Peck? Sure, the guy was a big producer and director, but a much less famous actor than Peck. In All About Eve he plays something he played a lot: a producer. Big stretch, buddy!

    Okay, this fake poster made me chuckle.

    A poster for All About Eve mimicking the poster for What About Bob?.
    Based on another movie from the “<word> About <3 letter name>” title collection.

    Fediverse reactions

  • Retro Movie Adventures: Imitation of Life (1959) featuring Juanita Moore

    Juanita Moore as Annie Johnson in Imitation of Life.
    The eyes of Lana Turner and Juanita Moore in Imitation of Flife

    This is a movie that has a heavy racial equality message. It’s also a movie where a black woman lives and works in the home of a white woman for for over a decade and the white woman doesn’t realize the black woman has friends. It’s a movie where Lora treats Annie as an equal, but lets Annie call her “Miss Lora” for her entire life. It’s a movie where Annie’s daughter is berated for wanting to pass as white, but expects her to limit her life to “acceptable” jobs for black people.

    Walk of Fame Watch: Juanita Moore

    Composite picture. On the left, a mockup of Juanita Moore's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On the Right, a black and white portrait photo of Juanita Moore.

    Juanita Moore was nominated for an Academy Award and A Golden Globe for this part. She appeared in over 50 films, and worked for 40 years after this movie came out.

    And when did she get her star on the Walk of Fame?

    October of 2024, ten years after she died. Way to be timely, Hollywood.

    Today’s poster inspiration is another movie about the imitation of life.

    A poster for Imitation of Life mimicking the poster for Night of the Living Dead.
    I went a little more “used poster” on this one.
    Fediverse reactions

  • Ancient Movie Adventures: Miss Lulu Bett (1921) AND a new project!

    Stylized image of Lois Wilson in Miss Lulu Bett. She is red with a white outline. The background, a messy kitchen, is magenta.
    Theodore Roberts is served dinner by Lois Wilson in Miss Lulu Bett.

    I’m starting a new project (because lord knows I need more projects). The Hollywood Walk of Fame has not-quite 3000 stars on it, and about 1200 of those were awarded for motion picture achievements. My goal: to have seen at least one movie that each one of the honorees worked on. One movie can represent multiple people/groups, so it should be far fewer than 1200 movies total. I’m going to start on the southeast end of Hollywood Boulevard, work my way down the south side, then come back up the north side. After that, the same idea going up and down Vine. I’m using Wikipedia’s version of the list. If someone doesn’t have a motion picture star (even if they’ve done a ton of movies) I’m not counting them.

    There are seven stars at 6100 Hollywood. I remember seeing movies from three of them:

    • Stanley Kramer: Produced High Noon, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, and It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.
    • Gregory Peck: starred in To Kill a Mockingbird, The Omen, and a billion other movies.
    • Jimmy Smits: surprisingly few films. I’ve definitely seen him in Attack of the Clones & Rogue One, though.

    The other four: William C. de Mille, Juanita Moore, and Gregory Ratoff.

    Today’s movie takes care of director William C. de Mille, older brother of Cecil B. DeMille (who changed the spelling of his name to look cool). He wrote a lot of scripts based on plays. Miss Lulu Betts was originally a novel, then a play.

    A recreation of William C. de Mille's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fam next to a portrait of young William C. de Mille. The background is black with white flecks.
    That’s him!

    This is a comedy based on a nonsense premise: two people pretending to marry are told the wedding was accidentally real. It’s about as feminist as a 105 year old movie directed by a man could manage, and it’s pretty fun. It’s on Youtube.

    Today’s fake poster is a Lulu.

    A poster for Miss Lulu Bett mimicking the poster for To Sir, With Love.

    Three more movies and I get to move all the way to 6104 Hollywood Boulevard!

    Fediverse reactions

  • Streaming Movie Adventures: Happy Gilmore 2

    An illustration Happy Gilmore about to take a swing with a golf club while a crowd behind him watches. He is orange and black and the rest of the image is two shades of blue.
    Shooter McGavin and Happy Gilmore face each other in a graveyard.

    My theory for how Adam Sandler movies get cast:

    Sandler hangs out with someone. Somewhere along the way (and with ZERO pressure) he says “Hey, I’m making a movie. Wanna be in it?” If the other person asks if the movie is good, Sandler says “it’ll be fun.” The other person knows Sandler is right, so they say “Why not?”

    I knew when this movie was announced that I almost certainly wouldn’t care about it. I only watched because I read about the insane opening sequence and had to see if it was as bizarre as it sounded (and yes it is). But I have nothing against it. It’s a silly, pretty harmless story made by a bunch of people enjoying getting paid for goofing around; who could complain about that?

    …and now, can I interest you in a fake poster?

    A poster for Happy Gilmore 2 mimicking the poster for Fight Club.
    Fediverse reactions

  • Movie Pass Adventures: The Fantastic Four: First Steps

    stylized image of The Fantastic Four. They are blue silhouettes with white highlights, including their "4" chest symbols. The are surrounded by alternating red and white lines.
    The Fantastic four, mostly their heads, in line smiling toward the camera

    I’d bet that I would have enjoyed this movie much more if I hadn’t just seen Superman. They take different approaches to the same idea: making classic superhero stories work in a more modern way. I really thought I’d enjoy the FF’s retro-future Earth more than I did, but there’s too much style and not enough substance.

    I enjoyed it while I watched, but it isn’t lingering in my head.

    Today’s fake poster is based on a different “Superlative and a Number” team.

    A poster for The Fantastic Four: First Steps mimicking the poster for The Magnificent Seven.
    This doesn’t look nearly as retro as the actual movie.
    Fediverse reactions

  • Movie (no) Pass Adventures: Kill the Jockey

    Stylized image of Daniel Giménez Cacho as Lola in Kill the Jockey, all shades of red and black.
    Daniel Giménez Cacho as Remo laying in the dirt in Kill the Jockey.

    This movie is either too surreal or not surreal enough. I’m leaning toward the latter. There’s also a weird implication that gender dysphoria is caused by brain injuries that I could have done without.

    Today’s fake poster is based on a different horse movie.

    A fake poster for Kill the Jockey mimicking the poster for The Electric Horseman.
    Fediverse reactions

  • Classic Movie Pass Adventures – The Birds (1963)

    Stylized image of Tippi Hedren getting attacked by a bird in The Birds. She is shades of green- the bird is shades if red. The background is a negative image of birds on a schoolyard playset.
    Suzanne Pleshette as Annie in The Birds.

    This was playing as part of Alamo Drafthouse’s Queer Theory 101 series. I hadn’t seen it for at least thirty years so I had completely forgotten (or missed) the Melanie/Annie subtext. Watching now, it’s amazing how much more chemistry they have than Melanie and Mitch. If they ever manage to get the remake off the ground, I wouldn’t be surprised if Mitch dies and Melanie & Annie end up together.

    Also: Suzanne Pleshette was a smokeshow, and Rod Taylor looked like a heroic cartoon.

    Today’s fake poster is a lazy pun.

    A fake poster for The Birds mimicking the poster for The 'Burbs.
    Fediverse reactions

  • Movie Pass Adventures: Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight

    A stylized image of Lexi Venter as Bobo in Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight. She is rendered in browns and yellows. The background is abstract shapes in different shades of red.
    Bobo and her parents in Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight.

    Sometimes new directors make insane decisions, like “I think I’ll make this whole movie rest on the performance of an unknown seven year old kid.” It totally works. Lexi Venter is in nearly every frame of this movie, and she is brilliant.

    I was sure I had already used this poster for a parody, but I couldn’t find it so I made it anyway.

    A poster for Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight mimicking the poster for The Silence of the Lambs.
    The significance of the gun is change, I guess.
    Fediverse reactions

  • Movie Pass Adventures: Eddington

    Stylized image of Joaquin Phoenix in Eddington.He is rendered in warm tones: yellow, burnt orange, and brown. The background is red and deep red concentric circles
    Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal face off in Eddington.

    Boy, who would have expected an Ari Aster movie to have a third act where everything goes off the rails?

    The source for today’s fake poster was chosen solely because of the similar sounding title. I actually had a bunch of posters to choose from, but I went with the simple one because it’s eleven at night and I want to make sleep.

    A poster for Eddington mimicking the poster for Paddington
    Fediverse reactions
→←