Our internet was a real pain in the butt in July, so instead of streaming a bunch of new stuff, we picked through some DVDs to find oldies to watch again. Here's what we found:
Catch Me If You Can is, in a weird way, inspiring. Of course what happened in the movie could never (okay, almost never) happen again. There's just too much technology out there these days to allow someone to get away with this kind of identity change. But I have said before (and I will say again) that I think all this technology which prevents us from becoming new people is really problematic. Most people wouldn't take it to the extent that the main character in this movie does, but what if you just want to move past some stupid things that you did or posted when you were in high school? Or you want to move to a new town without your ex being able to track you down so easily? No longer. But back to the matter at hand, this is a pretty entertaining movie. Given the era, I do think the soundtrack could have been better. Also,
Tom Hanks. And also including
Christopher Walken,
Martin Sheen,
Amy Adams,
James Brolin,
Jennifer Garner,
Ellen Pompeo, and
Elizabeth Banks. Worth watching again.
The Cutting Edge is straight out of the 1980s (actually 1992). The hair, the outfits, the lead actors (
Moira Kelly and
D.B. Sweeney). The latter plays a top-notch hockey player who has to quit playing when he loses his peripheral vision; the former is a miserable pairs figure skater in need of a new partner. The witty banter at the beginning was fun, but was supplanted by all the sap (and then some) one would expect towards the end.
S actually had not seen
Apollo 13 before, which I couldn't believe. A few days prior to picking this, we watched the new Apollo 11 documentary that popped upon one of the streaming services. This seemed like an appropriate follow-up. This is a good movie. I have read Jim Lovell's book and of course had seen the movie before (mom and I even saw it in the theater, as I recall), but it was tense viewing nevertheless. I expressed that to S, and his response was, "you can't kill
Tom Hanks!" I'll spare you the plot details since everybody already knows them. Lots of people, including Hanks (or
Hanx, as he calls himself) were well cast; this might be
Ed Harris's greatest role.
Gary Sinise as Ken Mattingly is the movie's tragic hero. The whole thing is a truly incredible story.
Sometimes I forget that John Corbett has played anyone other than Aidan Shaw on Sex and the City, but he surely was. One of his most adorable roles was as Ian Miller in My Big Fat Greek Wedding (which, incidentally, came out concurrent with his run on SATC). The story, in case you it isn't obvious from the movie cover or title, is the love story between Ian and the very Greek Toula Portokalos ... and her very large Greek family who disapproves of the decided non-Greek Ian. The totally adorable Ian eventually wins them over. (Most of the fame for My Big Fat Greek Wedding was directed at Nia Vardalos, who had done some acting prior to that, but MBFGW was her first writing credit, and of course she played Toula as well. I think, in addition to the writing props, she deserved credit for her excellent facial expressions!)
When it came to light that S had never seen Father of the Bride (the Steve Martin version), especially since we happened to be together with mom, K, and J at the time, there was simply no choice but to watch it. What a spectacular movie this is! The three of us sisters routinely quote from it, but those little vignettes don't do justice to the whole shebang. Totally, fully, one hundred percent, worth a re-watch. (Side note: S slept through some of it so still hasn't seen it in all its glory!) (Fun fact: Kimberly Williams, who played Annie, is married to Brad Paisley.)
I didn't say it above, but
Tom Hanks is am American treasure. If you disagree with me, you're simply wrong. Another recent re-watch was
Cast Away. As with so many of his movies where he just plays a guy who makes the best out of whatever situation he finds himself in, Hanks' marooned, lonely (other than Wilson), mostly silent character just seems like some version of himself. And he's awesome. Truly, I had a hard time looking away from the screen, despite having seen this one before. Some of that may be because there's so little speaking that you really do have to watch to know what's going on, but that's also a testament to what he can do as an actor without speaking.
What child of the 80s did not grow up watching
The Goonies? Well, in case you didn't know, it's available on HBO Max. You're welcome. I grew up wishing I could go on wild adventures with Mikey, Mouth, Data, and Chunk. Even though I never found any pirate treasure, it turns out I can still have all the fun I used to thanks to the wonder of the internet. This movie certainly isn't for everyone, but it is for people of a certain age.
Another movie that will date me, but I will post about it nevertheless, is
Empire Records. If this movie didn't want to make you work in a record store, you weren't a teenager in the 90s. The movie chronicles a single day in the lives of the employees of an about-to-go-under store, and their struggle to stick it to the man. But really it's just a good movie about accepting people for being the weirdos they are. And, as any record store movie should, it has an amazing soundtrack.
