Our featured film on Home Fry-ed Movies for April/May is The Flying Deuces starring Laurel and Hardy, one of cinema's greatest comedy teams. I love Laurel and Hardy, but personally, I'd probably rank the Marx Brothers as my favorite comedy team with Abbott and Costello following close behind. Of course, there are many others that I also love. The Monty Python guys, of course, Martin and Lewis, and what about Walter Matthau and Jack Lemon?
Do you have a favorite comedy team from the movies? Let us know.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Is Sherlock Holmes relevant?
February's featured "Home Fry-ed Movie" is The Woman in Green (1945), a Sherlock Holmes mystery starring Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson. In the 1930s and 40s, Rathbone and Bruce created the iconic figures of the world's greatest detective and his bumbling assistant for film and radio. In 2009, we saw a revival of interest in Holmes with the Hollywood blockbuster Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, portraying the characters as modernistic action heroes.
One of the interesting things about Rathbone and Bruce's portrayals is that for most of the films, the characters were set in contemporary times. The stories, which were originally set in Victorian England, were flash forwarded to the 1940s, so Holmes and Watson could fight the Nazis. So, in a way, Rathbone and Bruce were more modernistic than Downey and Law.
One thing I've noticed is that the Holmesian-type detective has become more popular on television. For many years, TV detectives were tough guys, using their fists and their guns rather than their wits to solve crimes. We can see the roots of these tough guy cops in movies from the 1970s, like Dirty Harry and The French Connection. More recently, TV detectives use their keen sense of observation and deduction to solve crimes. And like Holmes, these modern detectives are quirky and difficult to get along with.
Think Monk, the obsessive-compulsive detective, who like Holmes walks into a room and can figure out everything that happened. Or Det. Goren from Law & Order: Criminal Intent, who uses his vast knowledge of a variety of subjects to solve crimes, while at the same time freaking people out with his odd personality. There's also the investigators from Psych and The Mentalist, who are keen observers. And the most obvious comparison is not a detective at all, but a doctor: House, M. D. There's no denying the pun between the names "Holmes" and "House." The series creator admits he is a Sherlock Holmes fan, and the character of Dr. House is very similar to Holmes. House even has his own Dr. Watson, his friend Dr. Wilson, whose relationship with House is very similar to Watson's relationship with Holmes, especially since they moved in together.
So I think Holmes is very relevant, and was so even before this new movie came out.
Watch The Woman in Green on Friday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. or Sunday, Feb. 28 at 10 a.m. on UALR University Telelvision (Channel 62 on Little Rock Comcast Cable)!
One of the interesting things about Rathbone and Bruce's portrayals is that for most of the films, the characters were set in contemporary times. The stories, which were originally set in Victorian England, were flash forwarded to the 1940s, so Holmes and Watson could fight the Nazis. So, in a way, Rathbone and Bruce were more modernistic than Downey and Law.
One thing I've noticed is that the Holmesian-type detective has become more popular on television. For many years, TV detectives were tough guys, using their fists and their guns rather than their wits to solve crimes. We can see the roots of these tough guy cops in movies from the 1970s, like Dirty Harry and The French Connection. More recently, TV detectives use their keen sense of observation and deduction to solve crimes. And like Holmes, these modern detectives are quirky and difficult to get along with.
Think Monk, the obsessive-compulsive detective, who like Holmes walks into a room and can figure out everything that happened. Or Det. Goren from Law & Order: Criminal Intent, who uses his vast knowledge of a variety of subjects to solve crimes, while at the same time freaking people out with his odd personality. There's also the investigators from Psych and The Mentalist, who are keen observers. And the most obvious comparison is not a detective at all, but a doctor: House, M. D. There's no denying the pun between the names "Holmes" and "House." The series creator admits he is a Sherlock Holmes fan, and the character of Dr. House is very similar to Holmes. House even has his own Dr. Watson, his friend Dr. Wilson, whose relationship with House is very similar to Watson's relationship with Holmes, especially since they moved in together.
So I think Holmes is very relevant, and was so even before this new movie came out.
Watch The Woman in Green on Friday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. or Sunday, Feb. 28 at 10 a.m. on UALR University Telelvision (Channel 62 on Little Rock Comcast Cable)!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Are disease movies spreading?
January's featured "Home Fry-ed Movie" is The Last Man on Earth (1964), based on the book I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, about a world-wide vampirism plague. The two best known remakes, The Omega Man (1971) with Charlton Heston and I Am Legend (2007) with Will Smith, both drop the vampirism angle but keep the idea of a worldwide plague. Movies about plagues and disease have been popular in the science fiction and horror genres since that time, especially zombie movies.
It seems, however, that disease movies are spreading lately. In addition to remakes of George Romero's Living Dead movies, there are 28 Days Later (2003) and its sequel 28 Weeks Later (2007), Cabin Fever (2003), the parodies Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Slither (2006), the "Planet Terror" segment from Grindhouse (2007), Quarantine (2008), Zombieland (2009) and most recently, Daybreakers (2010), which harkens back to Last Man on Earth, with a plague of vampirism.
So is fear of H1N1, SARS and all the other nasty ailments running rampant out there making these "diseased" movies more popular than ever? Is it just a reflection of our fears? Or do we just love zombies, despite their lack of personality and bad table manners?
It seems, however, that disease movies are spreading lately. In addition to remakes of George Romero's Living Dead movies, there are 28 Days Later (2003) and its sequel 28 Weeks Later (2007), Cabin Fever (2003), the parodies Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Slither (2006), the "Planet Terror" segment from Grindhouse (2007), Quarantine (2008), Zombieland (2009) and most recently, Daybreakers (2010), which harkens back to Last Man on Earth, with a plague of vampirism.
So is fear of H1N1, SARS and all the other nasty ailments running rampant out there making these "diseased" movies more popular than ever? Is it just a reflection of our fears? Or do we just love zombies, despite their lack of personality and bad table manners?
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