Frank, aka PCGuyIV, is back with another episode of Truthful Tuesday. The idea behind Truthful Tuesday is for us to respond to the question (or questions) Frank asks and to be 100% truthful in our responses. No glib answers, no funny business, no fibs. Just raw honesty.
For this week’s Truthful Tuesday, Frank wants to know…
Considering Halloween is only two days away, are you a horror fan? If so, what makes it so enjoyable for you? If you’re not, are there any exceptions that you actually like? In a broader sense, are you a seasonal movie watcher? (Watch horror movies at Halloween, run Christmas movie marathons in December, watch religious movies around Easter, etc.)
My short answer is no.
My long answer is that when I was a lot younger I used to enjoy horror movies, but these days I am not really into blood and gore anymore. I do enjoy psychological thrillers and good dramas that may include murder and mayhem, but that’s about as far as it goes with respect to the “horror” genre.
As for Christmas, Easter, or movies with blatantly or overtly religious themes, I must admit, I find them rather tedious. I eagerly anticipate January when the incessant Christmas music, movies, and TV shows will finally come to an end. While Easter may not be as commercialized, I don’t actively seek out Easter-themed movies or shows.
Yay! Frank, aka PCGuyIV, is back, after a brief hiatus, with another episode of Truthful Tuesday. The idea behind Truthful Tuesday is for us to respond to the question (or questions) Frank asks and to be 100% truthful in our responses. No glib answers, no funny business, no fibs. Just raw honesty.
For this week’s Truthful Tuesday, Frank suggests that, “Many have complained about the number of remakes coming out of Hollywood. Well, Hollywood finally started to listen, but now they have a new problem. They still don’t want to come up with any new or original IP, so rather than rebooting or remaking old movies, they’ve started adding sequels.” Then Frank asks:
Do you find this trend better or worse than simply rebooting or remaking old movies? Are there any of these sequels that you enjoyed or are excited to see? Is there any movie that you feel deserves a sequel?
Before I answer Frank’s specific questions, let me say that, for me, my moviegoing habits have changed dramatically since 2019. I used to love going to the movies and my wife and I would typically go weekly. But then the pandemic hit in 2020 and since then we’ve only gone out out to see a movie one time.
Most of the movies I watch now are those available on various streaming services, like MAX, Netflix, Prime, or Hulu. But these days I tend to binge-watch whole seasons of series more than movies.
A word about Beetlejuice. Like Frank, I saw the original. Unlike Frank, I really loved the movie. So when I heard a sequel was coming out, my interest was piqued. I do want to see it, but I will most likely wait until I can stream it on my TV. Will I enjoy it as much as the 1988 original? Who knows? But Rotten Tomatoes gave it a good review.
So finally to Frank’s question. Last week’s Truthful Tuesday was about ambivalence and apathy. My answer about remakes versus sequels or prequels is that most of the time they are not as good as the original. But I personally don’t feel strongly one way or the other. So I suppose that makes me apathetic or possibly ambivalent.
Di (aka Pensitivity101) hosts Fibbing Friday, a silly little exercise where we are to write a post with our answers to the ten questions below. But as the title suggests, truth is not an option. The idea is to fib a little, a lot, tell whoppers, and be inventive, silly, or even outrageous, in our responses. For this week’s Fibbing Friday, Di is asking us for a brief description as to what the following films/books could be about.
1. Gray Lady Down. An old lady with gray hair lives alone in a big old Victorian house down the block. The neighborhood kids think she’s a witch and the house is haunted, but they ultimately find out that she is a sweet old lady who bakes cakes and pies for them.
2. Ladyhawke. The latest Marvel superhero is a beautiful lady who has the power to transform herself into a giant hawk with deadly talons.
3. Black Hawk Down. Ladyhawke declares victory when she defeats her arch nemesis and takes the Black Hawk down.
4. All The President’s Men. A new tell-all book about all Donald Trump’s three wives and the 16 known women he sexually abused. It will be retitled, “All the President’s Women.”
5. The Green Mile. A book about the lonely, difficult path toward going green and defeating climate change.
6. The Color Purple. What’s going to happen to people’s skin right before they die when there is no more clean air to breath.
7. 50 First Dates. Another name for Fandango’s 2024 A to Z Blogging Challenge.
8. Geronimo. An animated cartoon movie all about Finding Nemo’s little cousin, Geronimo.
9. The Sum of All Fears. “Project 2025 if Donald Trump gets reelected.
10. Stagecoach. The autobiography of one of the best Broadway acting coach in history.
Frank, aka PCGuyIV, is back with another episode of Truthful Tuesday. The idea behind Truthful Tuesday is for us to respond to the question (or questions) Frank asks and to be 100% truthful in our responses. No glib answers, no funny business, no fibs. Just raw honesty.
For this week’s Truthful Tuesday, Frank wants to know…
When it comes to books, movies, [and TV shows], do you enjoy murder mysteries? If so, do you prefer those focused around police detectives that take on more of a procedural approach; those about sleuths who solve the cases with their odd idiosyncrasies, keen powers of observation, and indominable wit and intellect; or those about hard-boiled noir private eyes? If murder mysteries aren’t really your thing, what genre do you tend to gravitate towards?
My answer to Frank’s question is “yes.” and I enjoy all three types: police procdurals (e.g, Law and Order, NCIS, CSI), idiosyncratic sleuths (e.g., Monk, Columbo, Hercule Poirot), and hard-boiled private eyes (e.g., Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe).
I’ve added another category to Frank’s list of murder mysteries: lawyers as detectives (e.g., Perry Mason, Matlock) and many of the lawyers from novelists like Scott Turow and John Grisham.
I also added TV shows to Frank’s books and movies because these days, aside from blogging for me, TV is our primary form of entertainment. Over the past couple of years I have become addicted to British (as well as Scandinavian) crime dramas and, between BritBox, Prime Video, Netflix, and Hulu, there are plenty of them. Some of them, like Midsomer Murders, span 24 seasons. It’s interesting to me to see how these long-running series have evolved from the pre-DNA testing, pre-internet, pre-cellphones, and pre-CCTV times of the 80s to the more high-tech capabilities of current times.
Frank, aka PCGuyIV, is back with another episode of Truthful Tuesday. The idea behind Truthful Tuesday is for us to respond to the question (or questions) Frank asks and to be 100% truthful in our responses. No glib answers, no funny business, no fibs. Just raw honesty.
For this week’s Truthful Tuesday, Frank wants to know…
Some producer just got the rights to your favorite book. Would you rather they make a movie of it (e.g., Dune, Jurassic Park, Pride & Prejudice), or a TV series (e.g., Game of Thrones, Shōgun)? Why?
First, let me say that before the pandemic hit in 2020, I used to love going to the movies. We went out to movie theaters at least weekly. Since late 2019, however, we have gone to a movie theater just once, and that was last summer. So whether it’s a movie or a TV series, we will likely be watching it on TV from the comfort of our family room.
Second, let me say that movies adapted from books are rarely as good as the source books. Why do I say that? I’m glad you asked. When I read a well-written book, the words on the pages paint pictures inside my head. What do the characters look like? How do they carry themselves? What do they sound like? In my mind’s eye, I visualize the scenes in which the action takes place. But then I watch the movie and nothing bothers me more than if the main characters are miscast. The actor doesn’t look like, sound like, or act like the character my mind’s eye created.
There are exceptions, of course, where the actor who portrays an iconic character is effective enough in his or her role to supplant the character I envisioned in my head when I read the book. Or there may be cases where I read the book so long ago before seeing the movie that the image of the character in my head has faded enough that the actor can more easily fit the role.
Now to answer Frank’s question. If it’s a relatively short book and its adaptation can be fit into two to two-and-a-half hours without sacrificing any salient parts of the book, then I suppose a movie is okay. But with all of the streaming services available, why sacrifice portions of the book to fit within a single movie timeframe? Why not spread it out over three, four, six, or even eight episodes?
So my vote is for a TV series where I can binge-watch the whole thing in one or two or even three sittings from the comfort of my recliner.
Welcome once again to Fandango’s Provocative Question. Each week I will pose what I think is a provocative question for your consideration.
By provocative, I don’t mean a question that will cause annoyance or anger. Nor do I mean a question intended to arouse sexual desire or interest.
What I do mean is a question that is likely to get you to think, to be creative, and to provoke a response. Hopefully a positive response.
Back before the pandemic, I used to love to go to the movies in theaters. But once the pandemic hit, my wife and I, as did almost everyone else, stopped going out to theaters to see movies on the big screen. Since then, at least in my area, a number of multiplex movie houses have permanently closed. But some in my area have managed to keep operating.
For my birthday a few months back, my wife and I went to see our first movie at a movie theater since December 2019. It was nice to get out and go to the movies again, but we haven’t been back since then and have no real plans to do so! We are still relying on Max and Netflix and Prime and Hulu for the movies we watch, rather than going out to a theater.
And that brings me to this week’s provocative question.
When was the last time you actually went out to a movie theater? What movie did you see? Are you planning to go out to theaters for movies in the future, or will you most likely continue streaming them in the comfort of your own home?
If you choose to participate in Fandango’s Provocative Question, you may respond with a comment or write your own post in response to the question. Once you are done, tag your post with #FPQ and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments. But remember to check to confirm that your pingback or your link shows up in the comments.
What movies or TV series have you watched more than 5 times?
I have never watched a TV series more than five times. And there are only two movies I can think of that I’ve watched more than five times. One is this:
“Pretty Woman” is the ultimate chick-flick and it happens to be my wife’s favorite movie. I can’t tell you how many times she’s watched it, but it’s way more than five times. And as her husband and life partner, I watch it with her when she asks me to, which is most of the time.
As for me, my favorite movie of all time is Mel Brooks’ “Young Frankenstein.”
I think this is the funniest movie ever made and I have watched it countless times and it always cracks me up. Here is a detailed post I wrote about it from last year’s A to Z challenge, when my theme was movies.
For this year’s A-To-Z Challenge, my theme is MOVIES. I will be working my way through the alphabet during the month of April with movie titles and short blurbs about each movie. Today’s movie, the last one in this year’s challenge, is “Zorba the Greek.”
“Zorba the Greek” was a 1964 comedy-drama film written, produced, edited, and directed by Greek Cypriot filmmaker Michael Cacoyannis. It starred Anthony Quinn, Alan Bates, Lila Kedrova, Irene Papas, and Sotiris Moustakas. The film was based on the 1946 novel The Life And Times Of Alexis Zorba by Nikos Kazantzakis.
“Zorba the Greek” was a critical and commercial success, grossing over nine-times its production budget at the U.S. box office alone. At the 37th Academy Awards, the film won awards for Best Supporting Actress (Kedrova), Best Cinematography, and Best Art Direction. Other nominations included Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Anthony Quinn, whose performance has been cited as one of the most iconic in film history.
The film focused on a young well-dressed, introverted English writer of Anglo-Greek origins, Basil (Alan Bates), with a case of writer’s block. He returned to his Greek roots when he learned he’d inherited an old lignite mine from his Greek father. Basil is met upon his arrival in Greece by Alexis Zorba (Anthony Quinn), an eccentric, crude, exuberant, and impulsive Greek peasant. Basil decided to take Zorba with him to Crete on a whim. Zorba promised to teach Basil about mining and how to be a real Greek and have a zest for life just by letting himself go using Greek culture to pursue wine, women, and song.
In Crete, in the poor rural village, Basil was introduced to the lovely widow (Irene Papas), the love object of everyone on the island. With Zorba’s help, Basil got over his shyness and made love to her. Meanwhile, Zorba took up with the woman who ran their hotel (Lila Kedrova). When things go wrong on Crete, Zorba told Basil that there’s a silver lining in all this misery and that is to learn to live with the inescapable suffering that is part of life and, therefore, when things go well one can truly taste life’s sweetness. The answer to combating life’s downward turns is doing Zorba’s unique Greek dance, as Basil learns to accept the things in life he can’t control and to enjoy life even under the most trying circumstances.
“Zorba the Greek” is a paean to life in all its diverse aspects, ranging from the farcical to the tragic, as epitomized by the lusty title character, Zorba, a wise and aging peasant, a free soul who is totally committed to life no matter what it holds.
For this year’s A-To-Z Challenge, my theme is MOVIES. I will be working my way through the alphabet during the month of April with movie titles and short blurbs about each movie. Today’s movie is “Young Frankenstein.”
“Young Frankenstein” is, arguably my favorite movie. Certainly my favorite comedy movie. It was a 1974 American comedy/horror film directed by Mel Brooks. The screenplay was co-written by Brooks and Gene Wilder. Wilder also starred in the lead role as the title character, a descendant of the infamous Dr. Victor Frankenstein, and Peter Boyle as the monster. The film co-starred Teri Garr, Cloris Leachman, Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn, Kenneth Mars, Richard Haydn, and Gene Hackman.
The film is considered to be one of writer-producer-director Mel Brooks’ best films. It’s a nostalgic, hilarious spoof-tribute to classic horror films. “Young Frankenstein” was, like many of Brooks’ films, filled with physical gags, terrible puns, one-liners, and shattered taboos. Old-style wipes, fades to black and iris shots were numerous throughout the movie.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) is the grandson of the infamous Baron Von Frankenstein. But he wants to distance himself from this legacy, going so far as to insisting that his name be pronounced “Fronk-en-steen.” After telling his students at an American university that there is no way to generate life after nerves are severed and declaring that the work of his grandfather was “doodoo,” he is confronted and informed by Herr Falkstein (Richard Haydn) that he has inherited his family’s Transylvania estate and must travel there immediately.
Upon his arrival, Dr. Frankenstein meets Igor, (Marty Feldman), pronounced “Eye-gore,” his hunchback servant, and Inga (Teri Garr), his beautiful assistant. At the castle, he meets the frightening housekeeper, Frau Blücher (Cloris Leachman). Soon, Dr. Frankenstein discovers a secret entrance into his grandfather’s laboratory, where he finds a book written by his grandfather entitled, How I Did It, by Victor Frankenstein. Dr. Frankenstein, along with his sidekicks, and driven by a curiosity about his grandfather’s work, begins to experiment with creating life. Stealing the body of a hanged criminal (Peter Boyle), Dr. Frankenstein begins to recreate and improve upon his grandfather’s legacy. Igor, entrusted with the task of procuring the brain of a famed historian, drops the container holding the brain, damaging it beyond use. Instead, he takes the abnormal brain, assumed to be the brain of a criminal. Dr. Frankenstein is successful in his experiment and “The Monster” is brought to life.
Hilarity ensues as Dr. Frankenstein and his sidekicks, along with Inspector Kemp (Kenneth Mars), and a group of angry villagers, trying to contain “The Monster” who only wants to be loved, hates being mocked, and will only be soothed by the melancholy music of the violin. All ends well as Dr. Frankenstein succeeds with a partial “transference” meant to switch the brains of himself and “The Monster” in order to make “The Monster” more human. Dr. Frankenstein then marries Inga, and “The Monster” marries Elizabeth (Madeline Kahn), Dr. Frankenstein’s ex-fiancé.
A bit of trivia. You’re heard of the band Aerosmith, right? Well, band member Joe Perry came up with the guitar riff for a song and the band developed the track, but four days later Steven Tyler still didn’t have any lyrics for the song. With no lyrics forthcoming, they considered dumping the track, but inspiration struck when the band (minus Tyler and Perry) took a break and went for a walk around New York City, where they were recording.
“Young Frankenstein” was playing in Times Square, so they went to see it. There is a famous scene in the movie where Igor tells Dr. Frankenstein to “Walk This Way,” meaning to follow him. Dr. Frankenstein imitates Igor’s walk, which the band thought was hilarious. When they saw Tyler the next day, they informed him that the title of the song would be “Walk This Way.” Other than the title of the song, though, it and the movie had nothing in common.
Interesting factoid: “Young Frankenstein” was filmed in the same castle and with the same props and lab equipment (created and loaned by property manager Ken Strickfaden) as the original James Whale 1931 horror film “Frankenstein.”
If you’ve never seen this movie, and if you like to laugh, I highly recommend watching it. I promise you won’t regret it.
Facts, Fictions & Fantasies 