Well, seemingly endless week for me....I don't know about anybody else. So, a day late--but here we go!
Movie #1: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966, with Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton)
--The non-musical "Rocky Horror Picture Show" of the '60s.
Bizarre, extreme closeup shots. Fast, incessant dialogue--which is often funny, if you can keep up. (I often found myself overstimulated and inefficient at keeping up with the warp speed talking.) Based on a play, this movie is carried by drama and dialogue. There is no apparent plot or action to provide a center. Elizabeth Taylor (Martha)--brash, violently opinionated, repressed. Richard Burton (husband George)--cruel, unforgiving, morose. A young couple (Sandy Dennis, George Segal) spend a night with George and Martha drinking and spiraling ever downward into a dark, psychotic abyss, dragging us with them. If you're going to watch it, please research the play first because the movie doesn't provide enough context or backstory to understand where the hell all this psychotic drama is coming from. The acting, however, is indeed outstanding. What we liked: Elizabeth Taylor's reference to, and imitation of, Bette Davis at the top of the movie. Favorite line: "I swear if you existed, I'd divorce you!"
Rating: Jason and Kathy--both give it 4 out of 5 stars. Me--(considering I got continually lost in the ziplining dialogue, didn't get the "point", and kept wondering why the hell that younger couple didn't just get up and leave...) 1 out of 5. (No offense to "Lizzie" and "Richie")
Movie #2: Frogs (1972, with Sam Elliott, Ray Milland, Joan van Ark)
--NATURE BITES BACK! (should be the tagline of this movie)
We stumbled upon this little "treasure" while deciding what our second movie was going to be Tuesday night. The poster and synopsis promised killer frogs. Turns out every creature in the swamp is a killer EXCEPT the frogs! It's your basic "pollution has ruined the earth, now nature must take its revenge" story. Centered around a Southern aristocrat (Dial M for Murder's cool as a cucumber Milland) and his sprawling low-country plantation estate, the movie is typical 1970s cheese. There is the controversial inter-racial relationship, the young generation fighting the old traditions, and the careless attitude towards the environment that unleashes terror in the end. Enter--Sam Elliott. A young, firm, smokingly hot Sam Elliott (pre-mustache). His voice was mesmerizing, and for 1 hour and 32 minutes, we were thanking God for the extremely tight, "cut-off-the-circulation-to-the-legs" jeans of the '70s. (He was a long, cool drink of water, people.) So anyway..... Everyone's toast on the island--some done in by snakes, some by spiders, some by poisonous gas, and the best death scene (hands down for all 3 of us)--LEECHES! (ew) Every few minutes you got shots of frogs, but as gorgeous Sam Elliott narrowly escapes, the stubborn patriarch is frightened into what we assumed was a fatal heart-attack by witnessing an invasion of frogs into his ancestral home. It was false advertising in the worst way. A poster that promised man-eating frogs did not deliver such horrific oddities. Side notes-- Joan van Ark wears a bright, mustard-yellow "onesie"which we thought was odd. The musical score was just strange.
My favorite lines for this movie did not come from the actual screenplay. Here they are:
"I don't like nature! It scares me!"....terrifyingly whispered by Jason as Sam Elliott is delving deep into the swamp to investigate the frog phenomena.
" I'm gonna have nightmares! I just know I'm gonna have nightmares!"....shrieked by Kathy during the "death by leeches" scene.
Ratings: Jason--2 out of 5 stars; Kathy--1 star for the movie, 5 stars for the poster; Me--1 star for the movie, 100 stars for Sam Elliott's hotness
Tonight's wine list: Woodbridge Merlot; Redwood Creek Chardonnay
The night's final overall thought: LONG LIVE THE CAFTAN!!!!!!
See....a onesie!
You need to incorporate one liners from you three in each blog! Love it!!!
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