You’ve gotta like this movie. Not all the jokes work any more, by any means, but Young Frankenstein must be the finest parody-homage of any genre, ever. And at a completely decadent time of day, too, thanks to the Hebden Bridge Picture House’s Thursday morning “Elevenses” deal.
Clare’s birthday was yesterday but it passed without comment on here. We took each other out tonight though, including to the movies to see The Creator. Verdict? Well, it’s a damn fine-looking movie, that’s undeniable but a) it doesn’t always make a great deal of sense and b) in true Hollywood style, it takes some complex philosophical and ethical issues and treats them as mere trivia. As I followed C up the aisle on the way out, and the other two guys went through the box of old posters, I was none the wiser as to the point of it all.
OK, maybe you’ve see The Jungle Book like 38 times or whatever, but until this afternoon, I had never seen it all the way through. Bits of it — the songs, mainly — on Disney Time that we used to get on TV when it was a public holiday in the 1970s (“I’m the king of the swingers…. a jungle VIP”, that stuff) but never all the way through. And it might be a little archaic in its depictions of this or that but it is a pretty good movie, don’t you think? It’s certainly the only thing that happened to me today.
26th August: my birthday. I have emerged, somewhat sluggishly, from my 40s — I am fifty years old today. Sheesh. Part of the celebrations involved a trip to the Picture House, with party bags and all, and also a guided tour of the projection booth, which was the main draw for me as despite being a movie fan I have never before been in one, the true business end of a cinema. Not that most movies still run on the sort of 35mm projector shown here; almost all are digital these days. And no, I haven’t worked out myself what is being depicted on this frame of celluloid. Some bizarre floating alien of some kind? Anyway — here’s to the next, well, probably not 50 years, but what will be, will be.
I don’t care if it is a cheat to take pictures off a cinema screen — this is a great movie, and was the major event of the day. “They’re all going to laugh at you….” Carrie is just the ultimate revenge fantasy, isn’t it?
I know it’s a cheat to take photos of a movie screen but I don’t care. This was the major event of my day, a film I have admired for a long time now, and my first chance to see it on the big screen thanks to the BFI reissuing a restored print this year. If you’ve never seen it — go! If you’ve already seen it, well, go and see it again, because you know it’s a brilliant movie. (The book’s a favourite of mine too: as this shot proves.)
I love this scene in particular. Is there any doubt here that Jack Nicholson isn’t ‘acting’…. he has utterly become Randall Patrick McMurphy, he is straining with every sinew and muscle in his body to lift that damn control unit and escape from the institution in which he is incarcerated?
Being 42 