Archives for October 2009

October 31, 2009 By idawson Leave a Comment

Happy Halloween!

Movie poster for 'Cat People' In the spirit of the day, I have a movie recommendation: Cat People, the 1942 feature produced by Val Lewton. The films saved the studio RKO from financial disaster.

I have been somewhat ambivalent to the film myself, but other more noted film scholars; published reports indicate that it is one of Roger Ebert’s favorite films. Here is a link to the essay from Mr. Ebert himself.

So unlike most movie recommendations that come fully supported by their author, I submit that you view Cat People and judge for yourself. Feel free to post your comments below.

Happy viewing and Happy Halloween!

October 30, 2009 By idawson Leave a Comment

Programming Notice: East of Eden next Tuesday at 8PM EST

It was just this past week when I mentioned my affinity for the literary works of John Steinbeck and how those efforts translated to the screen. Well you will have an opportunity to view it for yourself next week. On TCM (where else), they are showing East of Eden Tuesday night (November 3, 2009) at 8:00PM Eastern Standard Time.

In fact – Tuesday night’s theme in primetime is called Based on John Steinbeck and features the classic films The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, The Red Pony, and Tortilla Flat.

October 29, 2009 By idawson 1 Comment

Tennis Movies (Hollywood at the Net)

I am a self-confessed tennis junkie. No two ways about it. I just finished watching a round robin match of the Sony Ericsson WTA season ending the tour season. It got me thinking about movies that features tennis as a sport. Yeah we have baseball, basketball, football (US and World–soccer), race car driving … you name it. In my research I have stumbled upon this really cool website: Sports In Movies.

I then did the obligatory task of searching under the sport of tennis and this is what the search yielded:

Alphabetical List of Tennis Movies
TITLE	YEAR	RATING
Match Point	2005	R
Nobody’s Perfect	1989	PG-13
Tennis Anyone…?	2005	NR
Wimbledon	2004	PG-13

Chart Source: SportsInMovies.com

ONLY FOUR MOVIES? How can that be? Before I rundown this list, there is obviously one significant omission Strangers on a Train. Who can forget this?

Now back to the list … I have seen 3 out of 4 the movies listed (Never heard of “Nobody’s Perfect” until I did the search). And while Match Point features a tennis player, it is essentially a very minor plot point (and part of the title). Tennis Anyone is pretty much a turkey made by folks who obviously love the game and just wanted to make a film about it. But it has Draco Malfoy’s dad in it so it cannot be too horrific of a watch.

That just leaves Wimbledon. I was at first skeptical about this film because it was in and out of theater, which did not bode well. But I finally caught it on HBO a number of years ago. And I am glad I did. Paul Bettany and a pre-overly famous James McAvoy? And it is shot in and around London? You really cannot get sweeter than that. Besides it is a cute story with characters who were doppelgangers/composites of real life players. If you love tennis I highly recommend this film.