By now I am on the third week of community quarantine, which I hope ends mid-April but might get extended. How is everyone doing? This week’s theme is a bit apt for the news cycle as there still isn’t mass testing from where I am, and those with no symptoms are the ones getting tested. Here are my picks for the week:
The Brass Teapot - I think this movie gives a fantastic example of how far people would go just to have a lot of money. The film is about this couple who finds a teapot that dispenses cash. The trick is however, they must be in some kind of physical pain for the teapot to give out cash. It just escalates from there, but this was a well-made film. I loved the chemistry between Michael Angarano and Juno Temple, and this film does get a lot crazy the more it escalates.
The Wolf of Wall Street - This might be a popular pick this week, considering how insane this film is. The quaaludes scene is one of the funniest scenes I’ve seen in a movie that’s not meant to be at all comedic. Leonardo DiCaprio gives a fantastic performance as the leader and main perpetrator of the group. While he’s quite a seasoned actor, I wonder if he’ll choose a project that will challenge him from his usual wheelhouse. In terms of projects, this is probably the most comedic we’ll ever see from him.
The Aristocats - I could possibly come up with another movie, but I don’t want to. Unlike the first two where greed plays a major part of the story, it’s only a side-arc here, but it does perpetuate the events that transpire. A wealthy woman decides to leave her fortune to the cats, which infuriated her butler so in order to get the inheritance, he had to get rid of the cats. I think the most famous thing that came out from this movie is the scene where Marie (one of the kittens) say something along the lines of ‘ladies don’t start fights, they finish them’.
I LOVE that you thought of The Brass Teapot. I wish I had lol. We match on The Wolf of Wall Street.
ReplyDeleteYou just made me realize I don't remember the plot of Atristocats.
I LOVE The Aristocats!! I'm not a big fan of animation at all but perhaps because I was still a young kid when I saw it, in a theatre!, and I loved the voice work of all involved I've always had a soft spot for this.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen the other two though I've heard of both. Wolf is very popular today but I just have zero desire to see it. Brass Teapot is one I just haven't gotten to yet though. They both fit very well!
I devised a mini theme within the theme since my second two picks owe a debt for inspiration in some way from my first.
Greed (1924)-Small town dentist John McTeague (Gibson Gowland) makes an enemy for life when he falls for his best friend Marcus’s (Jean Hersholt) girl Trina (ZaSu Pitts) and marries her. Unexpectedly Trina wins a $5000 lottery (equivalent to almost 80 thousand in current dollars) which turns the once docile and retiring woman into an obsessed miser leading to enormous tragedy for all three. Director Erich von Stroheim’s controversial epic was originally over nine hours long and for the few who saw it said to be a masterwork. MGM demanded cuts with various editors hacking it down to just over two hours and destroying the rest. It has been restored to 239 minutes through the use of existing elements but the original is lost.
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)-In Mexico wanderers Fred C. Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart) and Bob Curtin (Tim Holt) befriend old prospector Howard (director John Huston’s father Walter who won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar) and together they head to the Sierra Madre mountains to look for gold. They find treasure but it comes at a high price, first in the form of bandits roaming the wilderness but ultimately more so by the greed that consumes them. Though based on the B. Traven novel director Huston sited the ’24 Greed as a major influence.
Greedy (1994)-Elderly tycoon Joe McTeague (Kirk Douglas) is surrounded by his family, a pack of greedy vultures that include Phil Hartman, Ed Begley, Jr. and Bob Balaban, all circling him looking to get their hands on his cash. Joe seeing through their machinations lets it be known he might leave his money to his nurse Robin (Nancy Travis). In an attempt to convince him they are sincere they find estranged grandson Daniel (Michael J. Fox) but that leads to more trouble than they counted on. The ’24 film is given a comic twist here.
TWoWS is just hilarious. I lost it when he was rolling down the stairs and did not stop laughing until that whole sequence with jonah was over
ReplyDeleteThe Wolf of Wall Street... what a film. The Quaaludes sequence where Leo gets nearly disabled remains the funniest thing I had ever seen. I remember watching it in the theater and even though it was a small audience that was watching it. We laughed our fucking asses off so hard. Someone actually did pee himself but we were like "aw fuck it, it's funny as fuck". Leo needs to be in more comedies because he's such a natural at it.
ReplyDeleteNever heard of your first pick and wasn't a fan of The Wolf of Wall Street but I loved The Aristocats when I was a kid.
ReplyDelete